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diff --git a/15812.txt b/15812.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..94231f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/15812.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2688 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the +Assumptions of Destructive Criticism, by S. E. Wishard + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Testimony of the Bible Concerning the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism + +Author: S. E. Wishard + +Release Date: May 10, 2005 [EBook #15812] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, David King, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team + + + + + +THE + +TESTIMONY OF THE BIBLE + +CONCERNING THE + +Assumptions of Destructive Criticism + +BY + +S.E. WISHARD, D.D. + +LOS ANGELES, CAL. + +JOHNSON & HANEY + +BIBLE INSTITUTE PRESS + +1909 + +Copyright, 1909 + +By S.E. WISHARD, D.D. + + +Presentation Copy + + * * * * * + +"In the defence and confirmation of the truth" + +--_Phil 1:7_ + + +BIBLE INSTITUTE + +Los Angeles, Calif. + + + + +FOREWORD. + + _This booklet is sent out + To all Sabbath-school teachers, + To the young people of the Christian churches, + And to all believers in the living Word_. + + * * * * * + +The work of the destructive critics has been widely disseminated in +current literature. Magazines, secular newspapers, and some religious +papers are giving currency to these critical attacks on the Word of God. +The young people of our churches are exposed to the insidious poison of +this skepticism. It comes to them under the guise of a broader and more +liberal scholarship. They have neither the time nor the equipment to +enter the field of criticism, nor is this work demanded of them. + +While abler pens are meeting and answering the questions raised by +destructive critics, something may be said that will clear away the fog +produced by them and enable young Christians to come directly to the +truth. + +Hence this booklet is an attempt to "give God a chance" to have his say. +The testimony presented is on the divine plan of giving, "Precept upon +precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line," "lest we +forget." + +There has been no attempt to cover the whole ground of destructive +criticism in the brief compass of this booklet. It will be enough to +permit God to answer; hence, in the following pages he speaks for +himself. We are content that his voice shall be heard. + +S.E. WISHARD. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PAGE + + I. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM 9 + + II. SHOULD REPLY BE MADE? 17 + + III. WAS MOSES A LITERARY FICTION? 25 + + IV. WERE CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES MISTAKEN? 39 + + V. THE ATTACK ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS 59 + + VI. ASSUMPTIONS CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ISAIAH 73 + + VII. GOD'S REPLY TO THESE ASSUMPTIONS. 87 + +VIII. THE HISTORICITY OF THE BOOK OF JONAH 101 + + IX. RADICAL EXPOSITION 111 + + X. GOD HIS OWN INTERPRETER 119 + + + + +I. OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD DESTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. + +_"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, +as Christ also hath loved us." Eph. v. 1, 2._ + +_"Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any +man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to +all men." 1 Thess. v. 14, 15._ + +_"He that believeth shall not make haste." Isa. xxviii. 16._ + +_"The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments +are sure. They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and +uprightness." Psa. cxi. 7, 8._ + +_"My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure." Isa, xlvi. +10._ + + +The attitude which God's people should assume toward destructive +criticism has been questioned. It should certainly be a position of calm +patience, that can deliberately weigh valid testimony, and abide by the +decision of intelligent judgment. The history and life of the Church for +nearly two thousand years should go for something. They are not to be +swept away by the bluff, the egoism of what claims to be the only +"Expert Scholarship." + +There is no occasion for a panic. Truth that has been, and has builded +noble, goodly life, is truth still, and ever will be. It is not a time +for denunciation. The assumptions of the destructive critics are so +enormous, so radically revolutionary, so directly aimed at vital truth, +that one's heart is stirred. There is danger of yielding to the heat of +a righteous indignation. It is not well to lose one's intellectual and +moral poise, even in a contest involving the honor of God and the +welfare of immortal souls. But "he that believeth shall not make haste." + +The lovers of the Book that has safely passed through every storm of +antagonism that the Prince of Darkness could evoke, need not now be +moved to hasty utterance. The eternal foundations of truth, like him who +laid them, are "the same, yesterday, to-day and forever." The Book, with +all its precious doctrines, is here to stay. It can not be destroyed. +Fire has not burned it, water has not quenched it, the edicts of tyrants +and popes have not been able to break its power. The Church of God can +calmly rest on "the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." (1 +Peter i. 23.) Hence we may calmly move on undisturbed in our work. + +Further, our attitude should be marked by an intelligent understanding +of the question involved. It is not a question of fair, honest +criticism, for the purpose of a deeper knowledge of God and his truth. +All reverent and helpful study of the Word of God is critical, and is +the kind of criticism that the Book challenges. Our Lord invites it, and +urges us to "search the Scriptures," which testify of him. + +It is assumed by the rationalistic critics that we have entered a new +era, that the Bible has never been studied until within recent years. +This is an assumption unworthy of scientific scholarship. Critics who +have not sought to destroy the Word of God, but, by thorough +investigation, to determine its claims, have been at work on the +Scriptures in all the past, seeking to know the mind of the Spirit. +There is, and ever has been a legitimate study of the Bible. Hence, +there are absolutely no grounds for the assumption of the rationalists. +The Church of Christ is not opposed to the application of the best +methods and best scholarship in the investigation of revealed truth. +Indeed, the Protestant Church has ever been the mother of the highest +education, and has had an open ear to the call of God--"Come, let us +reason together." + +It is well to understand that the poorly-concealed purpose of the school +of higher critics is not to press the just and holy claims of God's Word +on the human conscience, but to eliminate the supernatural from it. The +Christian Church should understand this. If atheistic scientists can +construct a universe without God, by evolutionary processes, and the +critics can construct a Bible without the supernatural, "the wisdom of +this world" will have pretty thoroughly disposed of God. + +In the attitude of the Church toward destructive criticism, sometimes +called historical, or constructive, we must not fail to discover its +bearing on the character of Christ. For the final conflict of all +skepticism of every grade and quality is in reference to the person and +work of Christ. The elimination of the supernatural from the Bible would +be an invalidation of Christ's claims and testimony. It would place him +before the world as a false teacher, a fraud, a charlatan. Loyalty to +the Word, and to the Incarnate Word, demands, therefore, that we should +clearly understand the end to which this rationalism is drifting. For +Christ's testimony concerning the Old Testament Scriptures, which will +be presented later in this discussion, is so thoroughly in conflict with +the modern critical assumptions that it must be disposed of by those +claiming expert scholarship. In the attempt to accomplish that feat, +they put our Lord under such limitations as would rob him of his +character as Teacher and Redeemer. + +The "experts" are logically driven to one of two conclusions: either +that Christ did not know the facts of the Old Testament Scriptures, +which he believed and was sent to teach, or, knowing the facts, he +deemed it not important to teach them. + +The first assumption puts our Savior on the basis of a fallible human +teacher, and nothing more. The second assumption contradicts all the +professions of the critics. For they affirm to-day that the professed +discoveries of the mistaken views of the Bible are of the utmost +importance, and as honest men they are in conscience obliged to make +them known, while claiming that Christ did not make them known. + +Shall we assume that these views, which they deem so important to-day, +were of no importance when the Church of Christ first took form? We may +ask, what estimate should we have of Christ, who, knowing his people +were in error as to the authorship and origin of the Scriptures, would +leave them in darkness for more than eighteen hundred years? Is it to be +assumed that he would wait through the long centuries for the coming of +critics to enlighten his people? That is what we are logically asked to +accept at their hands. It is thus made clear that the issue of this +conflict, as in all the past, is narrowed down to the person and +character of our Savior. It is well to face the issue calmly, and with a +clear understanding of what is pending. Did Christ know truth? Was he +honest? Hence, the attitude of the Church should be taken in view of the +trend of modern critical discussion. + + + + +II. SHOULD REPLY BE MADE? + +_"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" Psa. xi. +3._ + +_"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 1 Thess. v. 21._ + +_"Buy the truth and sell it not." Prov. xxiii. 23._ + +_"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common +salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that +you should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto +the saints." Jude 3._ + +_"Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have +been taught, whether by word or our epistle." 2 Thess. ii. 15._ + +_"I am set for the defense of the gospel." Paul, Phil. i. 17._ + + +It is a question among earnest Christian men, who are busily engaged in +the work of the Master, as to whether we should turn aside long enough +to make reply to the destructive critics. It is affirmed that, as the +Word of God has already passed through all the attacks that have been +made upon it, it will defend itself in the future as in the past--that +our duty is to preach the gospel. Certainly the victories of the gospel +are a noble defense of its truth and power to save. There should be no +respite from this work. But there are vast multitudes of people that +permit the critics to do their thinking for them. They are not well +informed concerning the Scriptures, and consequently are not prepared to +repel the attacks of skepticism, nor to reply to the specious arguments +or positive assumptions of the critics. These multitudes are in danger +of casting aside the Word of God, and missing the offer of eternal life. + +The fact of the increased activity of the enemies of the truth must be +known to Christian people. Their organized and persistent use of the +press has gained for them a wide hearing. Shall the Christian people +deny themselves this instrumentality of getting a hearing for God and +his truth before the world? Would not silence be construed by the world +as meaning that the cause dear to the heart of God's people is +indefensible? + +It should be known to all lovers of the truth that the skepticism widely +sown by the destructive critics has entered the Protestant Church and +many of our institutions of learning. + +"Read the utterances of representative men and teachers in her +communion, who deny the Incarnation, repudiate vicarious sacrifice, make +light of the story of the resurrection, and refine the risen Son of God +into nothing more than the spirit and essence of truth; or, at most, the +disembodied ghost of a man who called himself a Messiah, mistaken in his +claims, but authoritative in his morals." (Rev. I.M. Holdeman.) + +The author of this statement refers also to the fact that there are +"modern professors of theology who convict the very prophets whom they +hold up as exemplars of righteousness, of absolute literary fraud, and +deliberate piracy." They "demonstrate with cool precision that the +higher critics of to-day are better informed concerning the mistakes of +Moses than was he who claimed that Moses wrote of him, and prove to +their own satisfaction and the belief of many followers that Jesus +Christ, our Lord, was limited in intelligence, and would, if he were +here to-day, deny some of the statements he once so unqualifiedly made." + +We may not shut our eyes to the fact that many of our colleges are more +or less infected with this rationalistic criticism. Some of our +theological professors have substituted the theory of evolution for the +Scriptural doctrine of creation by the Word of God. Our young men +preparing for the work of the ministry are under the influence and +instruction of some of these teachers here in our own country. + +It is a matter for thanksgiving that we have literary and theological +institutions into which the destructive critics have never +entered--institutions that stand for the Word of God as given by the +Holy Spirit, and believed in by God's servants in the past and to-day. + +We do well to recognize the further fact concerning the effort to +eliminate the supernatural from the Bible, that the work of the +rationalists has permeated the literature of the day. In this age of +reading fiction, that form of literature has become a convenient vehicle +for taking everything out of the hands of Providence. It has become easy +to leave God out of his universe and supplant him with the heroic in +man. Hence, the literary appetite, ever craving the human instead of the +divine, turns away from the truth that confronts the conscience of the +reader with God and his claims. + +For the defense of truth we have the example of prophets, apostles, and +Christ himself. Much of the work of the prophets of the Old Testament +was devoted to the exposure of the "New Thought" of their times. Moses +dealt thoroughly with the new theology that asserted: "These be thy +gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." The +heresy was ended as suddenly as it was introduced. + +The Epistle to the Galatians was Paul's reply to the Judiazing teachers +who would substitute ceremonials for the doctrine of justification by +faith. His Epistle to the Ephesians was a constructive work, in answer +to Jewish prejudice and teaching, in which he set forth the unity of +Jews and Gentiles in one Church, which is the body of Christ. In his +Epistle to the Corinthians he answered their false views of marriage. He +shamed their partisan spirit, in which some claimed to be of Paul, some +of Apollos, some of Christ. He labored most earnestly to convince them +of their false views concerning the resurrection, and dealt faithfully +with the errorists concerning the inquiry that was coming to the Church +through their magnifying and perverting the use of the gift of tongues. +He showed them a more excellent way. + +There should be no turning aside from preaching a full and free gospel, +nor should there be any halting in its defense, or against the effort to +eliminate the supernatural from the Word of God. The critical work that +logically leaves us a Savior ignorant of the Scriptures, or, if knowing +them, afraid to meet Jewish prejudice by correcting their mistakes, +should be kindly, candidly, and manfully met by those to whom the truth +has given life. + + + + +III. WAS MOSES "A LITERARY FICTION"? + +_"God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, +Moses. And he said, Here am I.... Come now, therefore, and I will send +thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people, the children +of Israel, out of Egypt!' Exod. iii. 4, 10._ + +_"And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the +Lord God of Israel, Let my people go." Exod. v. 1._ + +_"Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw +out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the +passover.... And the children of Israel did according to the word of +Moses.... And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, +about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children" +Exod. xii. 21, 35, 37._ + +_"And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the +tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." +Exod. xxxiv. 27._ + +_"And it came to pass, when Moses had made an end of writing the words +of this law in a book, until they were finished, that Moses commanded +the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, +Take this book of the law and put it in the side of the ark of the +covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness +against thee" Deut. xxxi. 24-26._ + + +We turn now to the assumption that Moses was not the author, under God, +of the Pentateuch. The destructive critics do not agree among themselves +as to the origin of the Pentateuch. Dates and authors are variously +adjusted among those claiming to be experts. There is, however, +agreement on one point, that Moses did not write the Pentateuch. It is +affirmed that his name has been attached to it to give it authority, +because many of the events recorded and much of the history took place +during the period of Moses' life and in connection with his influence. +But the critics place the _record_ of those events almost altogether +after the exile, between nine hundred and a thousand years after the +time of Moses. + +It was once affirmed that writing was not used in the days of Moses, and +therefore he could not have written the five books that claim him as +their author. But the fact now brought to light, and conceded by the +critics and all well-informed scholars, that writing antedated Moses by +many centuries, has swept out of existence that objection. But the +question is still raised as to the Mosiac authorship of the Pentateuch. +It is said in reply: + +_First_--The Holy Spirit declares by the mouth of Stephen that "Moses +was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words +and deeds." Acts vii. 22. + +Writing was long known to and practiced by the Egyptians, hence the man +trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians _was competent_ to write the +Pentateuch. + +_Second_--The Pentateuch very definitely claims Moses as its author, not +once or twice, but many times, all through these writings. + +"The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and +rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the +remembrance of Amalek from under heaven." Exod. xvii. 14. This was not +the law, parts of which even some of the critics concede that Moses +wrote. It was God's judgment against Amalek. But it was written in a +book. What book? The inspired Scriptures say it was written here in +Exodus xvii. 14. And again it was repeated in Deut. xxv. 19, and that +Moses wrote it. + +In the twenty-fourth chapter of Exodus Moses has given an account of +God's call to him, to Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders, to +come up to Horeb. Moses was called into the immediate presence of God, +while the others remained at a distance. After his interview with +Jehovah it is written: "Moses came and told the people all the words of +the Lord.... And _Moses wrote all the words of the Lord_." Exod. xxiv, +3, 4. + +In the thirty-fourth chapter of Exodus God is represented as giving +definite instructions to Moses concerning worship, at the conclusion of +which "the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words, for after the +tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel." +Exod. xxxiv. 27. + +We turn to the positive statement in Deuteronomy xxxi. 9. The chapter +opens with the declaration that "Moses spake these words unto all +Israel," giving an extended account of what the words were. In the ninth +verse it is stated: ... "_And Moses wrote this law_ and delivered it +unto the priests and unto all the elders of Israel." What became of that +writing of Moses? Was it lost? Or is the statement false? And did some +later writer forge the statement, attributing the writing to Moses, to +give weight and authority to the forgery? To ask the question is to +answer it. "Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." + +In the twenty-fourth verse in this same chapter in Deuteronomy it is +stated that "Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law in a +book." Yet the critics teach that this book, Deuteronomy, was not +written until after the exile, almost a thousand years after the events +narrated. Does not critical credulity make larger demands than are laid +on faith? + +The summing up of the book of Numbers, of what had been said and written +in the book, is stated in the last chapter and last verse, namely, that +"these are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord commanded +_by the hand of Moses_ unto the children of Israel." Again and again it +is affirmed in the Pentateuch that God commanded Moses to write, and +that he did write, but the critics affirm that the hand of Moses had +nothing to do with producing the books of the Pentateuch--that they were +written after the exile! + +Not only does the Pentateuch distinctly teach the Mosaic authorship of +the five books of Moses, appropriately so called, but all the Old +Testament saints entertained the opinion which the Jewish people and the +Christian Church hold to-day, that God spake to Moses, and that _Moses +committed to writing_ the messages that God gave him and commanded him +to write, embracing the story of God's miracles, his instruction and +dealing with them in the wilderness. + +We find the critics contradicted in the Scriptures from Joshua to +Malachi. To Joshua God said: "As I was with Moses, so will I be with +thee." (Joshua i. 5.) Eight times in the first chapter of the book of +Joshua God accredits Moses with having received and having given the law +to Joshua and the people. + +The Pentateuch is the book which God, speaking to Joshua, calls "the law +which my servant Moses commanded thee" (Joshua i. 7), and it was so +accepted by Joshua. Was he mistaken? or the critics? He had long enjoyed +most intimate relations with Moses, and knew what Moses had written by +the command of God. + +David affirms that God had "made known his ways unto Moses, and his acts +unto the children of Israel" (Psa. ciii. 7). We have seen that the man +Moses was competent to write, and did write, what God had made known to +him (Deut xxxi. 24). The Psalms are illuminated and set aflame with the +faith of Israel, that Moses said and wrote what is ascribed to him in +the Pentateuch. + +Ezra, Nehemiah, and the prophets down to Malachi reiterated the same +belief, sung and taught it to their children. Were they mistaken? + +The finding of the Pentateuch during Josiah's reign, which had been lost +in the rubbish of the temple during the wicked reign of Manasseh and +Ammon, is evidently referred to in 2 Chron. xxxiv. 14, 15; "Hilkiah the +priest found the book of the law of Jehovah by the hand of Moses. +(Margin, R.V.) And Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan, I have found +The Book of the law of the house of the Lord." Four times within seven +verses it is called "_The Book_." It was read before the King, who +humbled himself, and prepared himself and the people to observe the +Passover as it had been prescribed in "the law of Moses." Josiah +commanded them to "kill the Passover, and sanctify yourselves and +prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the word of the +Lord _by the hand of Moses_" (2 Chron. xxxv. 6). This took place long +before the exile, which the critics insist was the beginning of Israel's +literature, and after which they say the Pentateuch was written. + +Ezra testifies to the existence of the Mosaic law before his time. His +testimony establishes the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. Ezra vii. +6: "This Ezra ... was a ready scribe _in the law of Moses_." + +After the return from captivity Ezra describes the building of the altar +in these definite terms: "Then stood up Joshua, the son of Jozadak, and +his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his +brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt +offerings thereon, _as it is written in the law of Moses_, the man of +God" (Ezra iii. 2). Was Ezra deceiving the people? + +There are several things to be noted here: + +1. _There was a written law of Moses_, the man of God, then in +existence. It was not a written law of Ezra which the priests palmed off +as the written law of Moses. + +2. _There was a priestly order_, according to the written law of Moses +the man of God, not according to the invention of the exiles returning +from captivity, under the pretense that Moses wrote it. + +3. The altar was built according to the written law of Moses the man of +God. These records by Ezra effectually bar the door against the critical +conjecture that the Pentateuch, in which the written law of Moses the +man of God is found, was fabricated after the exile. + +The definite law for the place of building the altar, by which the +priests proceeded in the days of Ezra, is recorded by "Moses the man of +God," in Deut. xii. 5-7: "Unto the place which the Lord your God shall +choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his +habitation shall ye seek, and thither shalt thou come; and thither shall +ye bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices and your tithes and +heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill +offerings, and the firstlings of your herds, and your flocks; and there +ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that +ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God +hath blessed thee." + +It is Ezra, not the critics, who informs us that this was "written in +the law of Moses the man of God." We will be pardoned for accepting the +testimony of Ezra. He does not mean to forsake his faith in the Mosaic +authorship of the Pentateuch, for he writes in chapter vi. 18: "They set +the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for +the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; _as it is written in the book +of Moses_." + +In the eighth chapter of the book of Nehemiah, that great servant of God +affirms his faith in the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch, which was +also the faith of all the people of his time. In the first verse in this +chapter he informs us that "all the people gathered themselves together, +as one man, into the street that is before the water gate, and they +spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring _the book of the law of Moses_, +which the Lord had commanded to Israel." Ezra was not to make a book and +call it the book of Moses, as some of the critics teach, but to "bring +the book of the law of Moses," a book in their possession already made, +and with which they were already familiar--"_The Book of the Law of +Moses_." + +"The Book of the Law of Moses" was the Jewish title given to the +Pentateuch at that time, and is so recognized again and again. Nehemiah +viii. 14 affirms again: "They found written in the law, which the Lord +had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in +booths in the feast of the seventh month." Nehemiah quotes this "command +of the Lord by Moses" from Lev. xxiii. 39-42, which was a fraud on the +part of Nehemiah, if Moses was not the author of the book. Again he says +in the thirteenth chapter of Nehemiah and first verse: "On that day they +read in the book of Moses, in the audience of the people"; but it was +not the book of Moses if he had not written it, but the book of another +one of the "unknown" so frequently found (?) in Scripture by our +critics. + +The book of Moses in which this last reference from Nehemiah is written +is the command that the "Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into +the congregation of God for ever," and is recorded in Deut. xxiii. 3, 4. + +But our critical friends inform us that Deuteronomy was not written +until after the captivity. Hence, the logic of their position is, that +Nehemiah attributes to Moses what he did not write, and proves himself +to be either ignorant of the truth or practicing a fraud upon the +people. We prefer the testimony of Nehemiah to that of the latter-day +critics. + +It should be repeated that the prophets and inspired writers down to +Malachi reiterated their confidence in the Mosaic authorship of the +Pentateuch. And he, the last messenger of the Old Testament to Israel, +gave them this message from God: "Remember ye _the law of Moses_ my +servant, which I commanded unto him" (Mal. iv. 4). Indeed, the entire +testimony of the Old Testament is in harmony with the positive +statements made in the Pentateuch, that Moses was commanded to write, +and that he actually and positively "wrote all the words of the Lord" +(Exod. xxiv. 4). There is not a word, syllable, hint, or shadow of a +hint assigning these five books of Moses to a later date or author. + +The presumption, or guess, of the critics carries no weight in the face +of the testimony of the entire Old Testament that God commanded Moses to +write, and that he did write, the five books attributed to him. + + + + +IV. WERE CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES MISTAKEN? + +_Christ said to his apostles:_ + +_"Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, +and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." Acts i. 8._ + +_"I speak the truth in Christ and lie not." Paul in 1 Tim. ii. 7._ + +_"Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of +the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth." The Apostle John in +Rev. i. 5._ + +_"We know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these +miracles that thou doest, except God be with him," Nicodemus, in John +iii. 2._ + +_"If I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?" Christ, in John viii. +46._ + +_"I am the way, the truth and the life." Christ, in John xiv. 6._ + + +The opinions and testimony of the apostles are certainly worth +something. They had three years of instruction under our Lord, and the +promise from him that the Holy Spirit should guide them into all truth. +(John xvi. 13.) + +A study of the writers of the New Testament proves that they are in +absolute harmony with the writers of the Old Testament as to the Mosaic +authorship of the five books of the Pentateuch. Luke ii. 22 informs us +that the mother of Jesus, "when the days of her purification were +accomplished according to the _law of Moses_," brought the child "to +present him to the Lord." This was done, according to Leviticus xii. +2-6, and accredits that book to Moses, and not to some imaginary author. + +The Apostle John informs us that "the law was given by Moses, but grace +and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John i, 17). If he has misled us in +reference to Moses and the law, can we trust him in reference to grace +and truth by Jesus Christ? + +When Peter made his address to the people who were surprised at the +healing of the cripple, he said: "_Moses truly said_ unto the fathers, A +prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren," +(See Acts iii. 22.) + +This saying of Moses is recorded in Deut xviii. 15, the contents of +which book are introduced to us in these words; "These be the words +which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, +in the plain over against the Red Sea" (Deut. i. 1), referring to the +whole books spoken by Moses, the learned man, mighty in words and deeds, +but not recorded, the critics say, until after the exile, about a +thousand years! This you are asked to believe on the basis of the +professed or assumed acumen of the critics! + +Further, in his great speech before the Sanhedrim at his martyrdom, +Stephen quotes Moses as having received full and complete directions +from God concerning the tabernacle. (Acts vii. 44.) In the twenty-fifth +chapter of Exodus, the book in which Moses was commanded to write and +did write, these directions are recorded. We accept Stephen's testimony, +added to that of Exod. xxv., rather than the testimony of the critics. + +When Paul was writing to the Corinthians of the blindness of the Jews (2 +Cor. iii. 15) he said: "Even unto _this day, when Moses is read_, the +veil is upon their hearts." + +Moses must have written something if he was read. What has become of his +writings? Is it not the Pentateuch which the Scriptures everywhere call +the writings of Moses? Undoubtedly, yes. + +In Paul's missionary sermon at Antioch in Pisidia, he declared to his +audience that through Christ "all that believe are justified from all +things, from which ye could not be justified _by the law of Moses_" +(Acts xiii. 39). + +Why does Paul refer to the ceremonial of the Jewish ritual as the law of +Moses? It must be answered that Paul was a Jew. He was familiar with the +Jewish scriptures. He had read the following passages and believed them, +and was grounded in the truth which they declare, that "by the hand of +Moses" they were given to the people. + +To satisfy the reader that they were "given by the hand of Moses" the +following Scriptures are furnished: + +1. "Aaron and his sons did all things which were commanded _by the hand +of Moses_." (Lev. viii. 36.) + +2. "That ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the +Lord hath spoken unto them _by the hand of Moses_." (Lev. x. 11.) + +3. "These are the statutes and judgments and laws which the Lord made +between him and the children of Israel in Mount Sinai, _by the hand of +Moses_." (Lev. xxvi. 46.) + +4. "These were they that were numbered of the families of the +Kohathites, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the +congregation, which Moses and Aaron did number, according to the +commandment of the Lord _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. iv. 37.) + +5. "These ... whom Moses and Aaron numbered, according to the word of +the Lord _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. iv. 45.) + +6. "According to the commandment of the Lord they were numbered _by the +hand of Moses_." (Num. iv. 49.) + +7. "They kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment of the Lord, +_by the hand of Moses._" (Num. ix. 23.) + +8. "And they first took their journey according to the commandment of +the Lord _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. x. 13.) + +9. "Even all that the Lord hath commanded you _by the hand of Moses_, +from the day that the Lord commanded Moses." (Num. xv. 23.) + +10. "That no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to +offer incense before the Lord, that he be not as Kora and his company, +as the Lord said to him _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. xvi. 40.) + +11. "And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the Lord +commanded _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. xxvii. 23.) + +12. "These are the commandments and the judgments which the Lord +commanded _by the hand of Moses_." (Num. xxxvi. 13.) + +13. "By lot was their inheritance, as the Lord commanded _by the hand of +Moses_." (Joshua xiv. 2.) + +14. "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you +cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you _by the hand of Moses_." +(Joshua xx. 2.) + +15. "The Lord commanded _by the hand of Moses_ to give us cities to +dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle." (Joshua xxi. 2.) + +16. "And the children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these +cities with their suburbs, as the Lord commanded _by the hand of +Moses_." (Joshua xxi. 8.) + +17. "And the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half +tribe of Manasseh returned, ... according to the word of the Lord _by +the hand of Moses_." (Joshua xxii. 9.) + +18. "And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would +hearken unto the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their +fathers _by the hand of Moses_." (Judges iii. 4.) + +19. "Thou didst separate them from among all the people of the earth, to +be thine inheritance, as thou spakest _by the hand of Moses, thy +servant_." (1 Kings viii. 53.) + +20. "There hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he +promised _by the hand of Moses his servant_." (1 Kings viii. 56.) + +21. "So that they will take heed to do all that I have commanded them, +according to the whole law and the statutes and the ordinances _by the +hand of Moses_." (2 Chron. xxxiii. 8.) + +22. "To kill the passover, and sanctify yourselves, and prepare your +brethren, that they may do according to the word of the Lord, _by the +hand of Moses_." (2 Chron. xxxv. 6.) + +23. "Thou ... madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath, and commandedst +unto them precepts, statutes and laws, _by the hand of Moses thy +servant_." (Neh. ix. 14.) + +24. "Thou leddest thy people like a flock _by the hand of Moses and +Aaron_." (Psa. lxxvii. 20.) + +Paul was familiar with these statements of the Jewish Scriptures. He +believed them. (2 Cor. iv. 13.) He believed that God gave "the whole law +and the statutes and the ordinances _by the hand of Moses_" (2 Chron. +xxxiii. 8), who was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was +mighty in words and deeds. (Acts vii. 22.) Hence he called the +Scriptures "The Law of Moses." + +Some of the critics will concede that many things were done by Moses, +but not recorded until after the exile. Think of it! The laws, statutes, +and ordinances which were vital to the life of the Jewish nation, which +had been given at Sinai, and were announced with the sanctions of life +or death, were not recorded by God's appointed leader, whom he had +trained in all the learning of the times, but were left for almost a +thousand years to uncertain tradition! + +Paul had not forgotten the above statements concerning Moses' personal +connection with the giving of the law. Before Felix he was arraigned, +and testified "what the prophets and Moses did say." (Acts xxvi. 22.) + +To the Jews at Rome "he expounded and testified the kingdom of God, +persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the laws of Moses and out +of the prophets." (Acts xxviii. 23.) + +In his Epistle to the Roman Christians he says (quoting from Lev. xviii. +5): "For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which +is of the law shall live thereby." (Rom. x. 5, R.V.) + +To the Corinthian Christians he says: "It is written in the _law of +Moses_. Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox when he treadeth out +the corn." (1 Cor. ix. 9.) Here again he quotes from Deut. xxv. 4, and +repeats the quotation in 1 Tim. v. 18. But the critics deny that it was +written until after the exile, at least nine hundred or one thousand +years later. + +The Apostle James adds his testimony to that of Paul, while addressing +the assembly of the apostles at Jerusalem, saying: "For Moses of old +time hath in every city them that preach him, _being read_ in the +synagogues every Sabbath." (Acts xv. 21.) + +We have learned in these quotations from Matthew, Luke, John, Stephen, +Peter, and Paul, their repeated testimony, their unvarying faith that +_Moses both spoke and wrote_ the scriptures contained in the Pentateuch. +We have seen that their faith was founded on twenty-four inspired +declarations that these five books were given "_by the hand of Moses_." +These statements are found in the books themselves, from Leviticus to +the Psalms. If inspired testimony is worth anything, the case is closed, +and the critics' case goes out of court, more than disproved. + + +WAS CHRIST MISTAKEN? + + +The reader will be interested to know what Christ has to say of the +critics' denial of the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch. For he who +"spake as never man spake," he of whom the Father said, "This is my +beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, _hear ye him_," this same Jesus +had some very positive opinions on the subject before us. He has spoken +clearly and definitely. We may not turn away from his testimony. + +1. After healing the leper, our Lord said to him: "Go thy way, show +thyself to the priest, and offer the gift that _Moses commanded_ for a +testimony unto them." (See Matt. viii. 4, Mark i. 44, Luke v. 14.) + +Our Savior here quotes from Lev. xiv. 2-8. Moses had been commanded to +write the words that God had given him. (Exod. xxxiv. 27.) "And Moses +wrote all the words of the Lord" (Exod. xxiv. 4), hence our Lord quotes +the passage in Leviticus _from Moses_. + +2. The Pharisees, always captious and controversial, sought to entangle +the Savior in a discussion on the subject of divorce. Replying, "He +saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, suffered +you to put away your wives." (Matt. xix. 8.) Our Lord here quotes from +the Mosaic law (Deut. xxiv. I-4), recognizing Moses as the author of the +same. + +3. He rebuked the scribes and Pharisees also for turning from the word +of God to the traditions of men. "For Moses said, Honor thy father and +thy mother." (Mark vii. 10.) This quotation is from Exod. xx. 12, and +Deut. v. 16. They had made the command of Moses of no effect, had +violated the law which Christ taught had been given by Moses. + +4. The Sadducees came to him with their controversy concerning the +resurrection. They presented to him an unanswerable argument, as they +supposed, against the doctrine, questioning as to whose wife she should +be in the resurrection, who has had seven husbands in this life. Christ +replied (Mark xii. 26, 27): "As touching the dead, that they rise; have +ye not read in the _book of Moses_ how in the bush God spake unto him, +saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of +Jacob? He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living." + +This quotation by our Lord is from Exod. iii. 6, and he calls the book +from which it is made "the book of Moses." Did Christ know whether it +was the book of Moses or of some unknown author who had so artfully +palmed it off under false colors as to deceive the entire Jewish nation? + +Or, as certain of the critics teach, did Christ know that the pretense +that it was the book of Moses was a fraud, but, in view of public +opinion, was unwilling to expose the deception? To ask these questions +is to uncover the animus of the critical assumptions which logically +attack the character of Christ himself. + +Christ knew who was the author of the book, and knowing, he affirmed +that it was "_The Book of Moses_." + +5. In our Lord's parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Dives is +represented as pleading that some one be sent from the dead to warn his +brothers, lest they also come into this place of torment. The reply to +his request was: "They have Moses and the prophets.... If they hear not +Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose +from the dead." (Luke xvi. 29, 30.) "Moses and the prophets" was the +name for the Jewish Bible. If Moses did not write the Pentateuch, the +name of their Bible was false, and the Savior indorsed a falsehood. We +believe "the faithful and true Witness," and reject the critics who +dishonor his character. + +6. After Christ's resurrection he walked and communed with the two +disciples on the way to Emmaus. He instructed them concerning the +Messiah's death, and, "beginning at Moses" (Luke xxiv. 27), informed +them that it was God's plan, foretold in the Old Testament. He appeared +to his apostles and declared to them that "all things must be fulfilled +which are written in the law of Moses and the prophets." (Luke xxiv. +44.) The critics deny Moses' authorship, but Christ affirms it, using +the language that means the Pentateuch. _We believe him_. + +7. In our Lord's conversation with Nicodemus he recognizes Moses in +connection with the book of Numbers. He refers to the historical +incident, if our critical friends will leave us any Biblical history, in +Numbers xxi. 8, 9. He says: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the +wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up," (John iii. 14.) + +Recurring to the passage in Numbers, we learn that, in the dire distress +of the people for their sins, God commanded Moses to make a brazen +serpent, and lift it up before the people, that they might look and +live. + +Certain of the critical school consent that Moses, was connected with +the event, but did not record it. Indeed! And what proof that he failed +to make the record? It was personal to himself. It was symbolically +prophetic of the crucifixion of Christ, as our Savior used it, an event +toward which all prophecy moved. And we have already learned that nine +times it has been stated in the book of Numbers that the acts, precepts, +and statutes of this book were done and given by "_the hand of Moses_." + +8. To the Jews, seeking to murder their Messiah, he said; "Do not think +that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, +even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses ye would have +believed me, _for he wrote of me_." (See John v. 45, 46.) + +When and where did he write of Christ? He wrote of him in the five books +which are ascribed to Moses by all the Old Testament Scriptures, and by +Christ and his apostles. He wrote of him in Gen. iii. 15, when God +promised that "the seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head." +He wrote of Christ in Gen. xii. 3, when God promised Abraham: "In thee +shall all families of the earth be blessed." He wrote of the Messiah +when he recorded Jacob's prophecy in Gen. xlix. 10: "The scepter shall +not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh +come." Moses wrote of Christ, when under divine direction he instituted +the passover, as recorded in the twelfth chapter of Exodus. + +He wrote of Christ in the Levitical ritual, when under God's instruction +he set up the system of types, for the tabernacle and the temple +service, which taught the fundamentals of the New Testament +gospel--_redemption by the blood_. + +The whole tabernacle and its furniture was necessary to complete the +symbolism that should represent the Messiah. The altar, the laver, the +shew bread, the golden candlestick, the mercy seat, and the officiating +high priest. For "Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make +the tabernacle," and received positive direction as to how he should +construct it, that redemption should echo from every part of the +service. Beautiful and glorious was the service that proclaimed "Christ +and him crucified." Christ's testimony here is twofold: That "Moses +wrote," and that he "wrote of me," of Christ, the witness of these +things. + +9. It was at the feast of tabernacles, in the year 29 A.D., that the +Jews attacked the Savior in a fierce controversy, because he healed on +the Sabbath day. He was teaching in the temple when they charged him +with violating the Sabbath. + +To that charge he replied: "_Did not Moses give you the law_? Yet none +of you keepeth the law." (See John vii. 19.) He affirms in most positive +terms, that can not be twisted into the shadow of a negation, that Moses +gave them the law. The interrogative form of his statement is +rhetorically the strongest possible affirmation. + +10. Once more, in the twenty-third verse of the same chapter, Christ +refers to the fact that their children received circumcision on the +Sabbath day, that "the law of Moses be not broken." + +The sum of Christ's testimony to the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch +is before us. Ten times our Lord asserts in the passages quoted that the +law given in the Pentateuch was the "law of Moses." He affirms that in +that law "he wrote of me." From Genesis to Revelation there is continued +affirmation by prophets, apostles, and by Christ, who can not lie, that +the five books of the Pentateuch are the books of Moses, under the +guiding hand of the Spirit of God. + +A recent writer, who has gone over the testimony of the Bible itself +against the critics, says: "We find in them (the writers of the Old +Testament) more than eight hundred quotations from, or references to, +the first five books of the Bible, and not a hint is given that Moses is +not their author," but he is everywhere recognized as the author, under +God. + +Witnesses multiply with every restudy of the book, proving the Mosaic +authorship of the first five books of _The Book_. "What shall we say, +then, to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" + + + + +V. THE ATTACK ON THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. + +_"The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle +of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say +unto them, If any man of you bring an offering, ye shall bring your +offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock." Lev. i. I, +2._ + +_"And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering +shall be of fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it, and put +frankincense thereon." Lev. ii. 2._ + +_"And if his oblation be a sacrifice of peace offering, ... he shall lay +his hand upon the head of his offering, and kill it at the door of the +tabernacle of the congregation, and Aaron's sons the priests shall +sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about," Lev. iii. 1, 2._ + +_"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of +Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the +commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, +... let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock +without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering." Lev. iv. 1, 2, 3._ + +_"His truth endureth to all generations." Psa. c. 5._ + + +Having considered the critical assault on the Pentateuch as a whole, +attention should be called to the special criticisms on the book of +Leviticus. A prominent representative of the school of critics affirmed +in his recent lectures at Long Beach, California, that the Hebrews had +no literature until their connection with the Babylonians while in +captivity, that their literature was developed during their agricultural +life while in Babylon. He affirmed that the sacrificial ritual of the +book of Leviticus had its roots in the heathen sacrifices growing out of +their false conception that their deities must be appeased by the +shedding of blood. The Levitical ritual was, therefore, never written +nor given by Moses. If this gentleman and the critics that hold with him +are correct, we must conclude with them that Moses never saw or heard of +our book of Leviticus. + +In reply let it be said: + +1. The denial of the existence of Hebrew literature prior to the exile +is thoroughly answered and set aside by the records discovered on the +Egyptian monuments and writings before and during Israel's bondage. Many +of the critics have found this criticism untenable, and have abandoned +it. They have been obliged to concede that Egyptian and Babylonian +literature existed long before the time of Moses. The best scholarship +of to-day affirms that "the discovery and first use of writing is +certainly as old as the time of Abraham." (See Schaff-Hergoz, Enc. Art. +Writing.) + +2. If the Bible itself is not a fraud, writing was constantly in use in +the time of Moses. See: + +(1) Exod. vii. 14: "The Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial +in a book." + +(2) Exod. xxiv. 4: "And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord." + +(3) Exod. xxxiv. 27: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these +words." + +(4) Exod. xxxiv. 28: "And he (God) wrote upon the tables the words of +the covenant." + +(5) Num. v. 23: "And the priest shall write these curses in a book." + +(6) Num. xi. 26: "They were of them that were written." + +(7) Num. xvii. 2: "Write thou every man's name upon his rod." + +(8) Num. xvii. 3: "Write Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi." + +(9) Num. xxxiii. 2: "And Moses wrote their goings out according to their +journeyings by the commandment of the Lord." + +(10) Deut. vi. 9: "Thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house and +upon thy gates." + +(11) Deut xi. 20. Repeats the last reference cited. + +(12) Deut. xvii, 18: "When he (the king) sitteth upon the throne of his +kingdom, he shall write him a copy of this law in a book." + +These are a few out of the many passages in the Pentateuch in which God +has commanded his servant to write, and in which it is positively stated +that his servant did write. One of two things is certain, either the +whole Pentateuch is a fraud, having stated repeatedly that writing was +commanded and practiced, or the book is true, and the fraud must be +charged to the belated critics. + +The reader will see very clearly that the purpose of such criticism is +to eliminate the supernatural from the Bible, as has been said, and +destroy its certitude. + +It is too late in the day for the Professor's criticism, that Hebrew +literature had its first development during the exile. "Stephen full of +the Holy Spirit, looking steadfastly into heaven," read the record of +history concerning Moses differently. Stephen could not have heard the +Chautauqua lecturer's statement, for he affirmed that "Moses was learned +in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds." + +3. Consider now the assumptions of the critics in the face of the claims +of the book of Leviticus. In the first verses of the book it is written: +"And the Lord called upon Moses, and spake unto him out of the +tabernacle of the congregation, saying." Then follow God's specific +directions concerning + +(1) The burnt offering; + +(2) The meat offering, and + +(3) The sin offering, occupying the whole of the first three chapters. +The fourth chapter is introduced in the same explicit language. + +(4) The sin offering. + +This definite direction of God to Moses extends to the sixth chapter of +the book. Here again the same formula of speech is employed, God +speaking to Moses gave directions concerning + +(5) The trespass offering. + +In the eighth chapter we have God's direct communication to Moses, and +Moses' response in such phrases as the following, and all in a single +chapter: "And the Lord spake to Moses, ... and Moses did as the Lord +commanded him, ... and Moses said unto the congregation, ... and Moses +brought Aaron and his sons, ... as the Lord commanded Moses, ... and +Moses brought Aaron's sons, as the Lord commanded Moses." Ten times in +this single chapter it is recorded that God spake to Moses, and Moses +obeyed God. + +And yet our critic would have us believe one of two things; God either +took the heathen sacrificial ritual, veneered it with some sort of +divine approval, and handed it over to his people for their use, or by +some sort of evolution the book of Leviticus came up out of the heathen +method of appeasing their malevolent deities! + +Let the facts be summarized. In every one of the twenty-seven chapters +of the book of Leviticus God is represented as commanding Moses, and +Moses is represented as doing the thing which God required of him, and +several times in many of the chapters. In the eighteenth chapter +nineteen definite things are done by Moses, the seventeenth verse +asserting that all this was done "as the Lord commanded Moses." + +The following references are absolutely unanswerable by the critics, +viz.: + +Lev. i. 1: "The Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him." + +Lev. iv. 1: "The Lord spake unto Moses, saying," etc. + +Lev. vi. 1; "And the Lord spake unto Moses." + +Lev. viii. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses." + +Lev. viii. 36: "Aaron and his sons did all things which the Lord +commanded by the hand of Moses." + +Lev. ix. 6: "And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord commanded +that ye should do." + +Lev. xi. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron." + +Lev. xii. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses." + +Lev. xiii. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron." + +Lev. xiv. 1: "And the Lord spake unto Moses." + +Lev. xiv. 33: "And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron." + +Without further repetition of this phraseology, the reader will find the +same in the following references, viz.: xv. 1, xvi. 1, xvii. 1, xviii. +1, xix. 1, xx. 1, xxi. 1, xxii. 1-17, xxiii. 1, xxiv. 1, xxv. 1, xxvii. +1-34. + +Here are twenty-five positive statements that God spake to Moses, or +commanded Moses. Does language mean anything? Is there any escape from +the truth, except by a denial of the entire Word of God? + +God and Moses are the active agents in every chapter in the book of +Leviticus. And this fact is definitely stated in the last verse of +Leviticus: "These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses." + +You might as well attempt to blot the sun from the heavens at high noon +as to eliminate from the book of Leviticus the one great and +divinely-appointed personality, Moses, the lawgiver, the leader the +actor, and under God the author of the book. + +A further word concerning the date of Leviticus. When was it written? As +already stated, the critics place the time of the writing after the +exile, between nine hundred and one thousand years after the decease of +Moses. Something additional should be added to what has already been +said on the subject. + +The reader of the English Bible will see that Leviticus immediately +follows Exodus by the connective "and." The same Hebrew connective +unites Exodus with Genesis, and Numbers with Leviticus. The natural, +grammatical, and logical inference is, that the author of Genesis is the +author of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. + +In addition to this fact we have the testimony of some of the prophets +who lived before the exile, that they were familiar with what the +critics call "the priestly code," which is elaborated in Leviticus. + +Professor Stanley Leathes adduces forty-five allusions to the books of +Moses in the book of Amos. (See _Bible Student and Teacher_, October, +1906.) Amos' prophetic work was "in the northern kingdom, between 807 +and 765 B.C., during the reign of Jeroboam II, when the kingdom of +Israel was at the height of its splendor." (See Schaff-Herzog, Enc. Art. +Amos.) This was more than two hundred years before the restoration from +the exile, long before the captivity, which the critics designate as the +beginning of the literary period. + +Professor Leathes affirms that "there is apparent acquaintance with and +reference to each book of the Pentateuch in this prophecy." He shows +that Leviticus is referred to in nine passages in Amos. The reference in +Amos iv. 5 to "a sacrifice in thanksgiving with leaven" is an allusion +to the law of thanksgiving in Lev. vii. 13. + +In giving God's message to Israel in a time of great backsliding, Amos +said to them: "Though ye offer unto me burnt offerings and meat +offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace +offerings of your fat beasts." (Amos v. 23.) + +This is an allusion to the law of burnt offerings and meat offerings set +forth in the first chapter of Leviticus. But the critics inform us that +there was no law concerning these offerings until several hundred years +after Amos ceased to prophesy! + +Again, enumerating the sins of the people, Amos charges them with giving +the Nazarites wine to drink. "Ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and +commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not." (Amos ii. 12.) This was a +violation of the law of God as found in Num. vi. 2, 3, showing at least +that the Pentateuch, of which Leviticus is an important part, was known +to Amos, long before the period to which Leviticus has been assigned by +the destructive critics. + +Hosea adds his testimony to that of Amos and Ezekiel. Again and again he +refers to the law of sacrifices as taught in Leviticus. "They shall be +ashamed because of their sacrifices." "They sacrifice on the tops of the +mountains and burn incense upon the hills." (Hosea iv. 13, 19.) + +Concerning Ephraim, God says by the prophet Hosea: "I wrote for him ten +thousand things of my law." (Hosea viii. 12, R.V.) He refers to the law +as given to Moses in all its length and breadth. + +The critics demand large credulity from us. They ask us to accept their +position that the Bible itself was mistaken as to its authorship, that +Christ and his apostles were mistaken; or at least did not tell the +truth when they assigned the Pentateuch (Leviticus included) to Moses. +They then ask us to believe that the Bible is not only unimpaired by the +mistakes which the experts claim to have discovered, but is really much +improved by the discovery! + +It passes rational comprehension that we are permitted to expunge from +the Word of God, on the ground of literary criticism, the positive and +repeated statements of inspired men, and of the Son of God, and yet +assume that we have an unimpaired revelation! + +We rather turn to the glorious array of witnesses to the integrity of +the Bible that God has furnished--the book itself, Moses and the +prophets, all the New Testament writers and the "Teacher sent from God." +From these witnesses we rest in the unshaken belief that "God spake all +these words" (Ex. xx. 1) and that "Moses wrote all the words of the +Lord" (Ex. xxiv. 4), including Leviticus. + + + + +VI. ASSUMPTIONS CONCERNING THE BOOK OF ISAIAH. + +_"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too +hard for me?" Jer. xxxii. 27._ + +_"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth +unto God." Psa. lxii. 11._ + +_"Great is our Lord, and of great power; his understanding is infinite." +Psa. cxlvii. 5._ + +_"He revealeth the deep and secret things; he knoweth what is in the +darkness, and that the light dwelleth with him." Dan. ii. 2._ + +_"Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world" Acts +xv. 18._ + +_"The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men." Psa. +xxxiii. 13._ + +_"Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what +thou shalt say." Ex. iv. 12._ + +_"And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand +not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not." Isaiah vi. 9._ + + +The critics claim to have discovered, on literary and other evidence, +that the Church of Christ, in all its branches, has been mistaken in all +the past concerning the author of the book known as the Prophecies of +Isaiah. They assume that all the foremost scholars of the world, and the +faith of God's people, have been misled. Our critical advisers profess +to have discovered that there were at least two, and probably many more +prophets, whose writings compose the book. They refuse to recognize +Isaiah alone as the author; and for several reasons: + +_First_--Because of the change of style of composition from the +thirty-ninth chapter to the close of the book. + +_Second_--On the ground that the theme is more exalted than in the first +thirty-nine chapters. Hence, it is assumed that these last chapters +could not have been written by Isaiah. + +_Third_--On the ground that Cyrus is mentioned by name, in the +forty-fourth and forty-fifth chapters of the book, as the restorer of +Jerusalem. Hence, our critics conclude that this part of the book must +have been written after the event, as the prophet (it is assumed) could +not name Cyrus before his birth. + +_Fourth_--The critics assume that the prophet must prophesy out of his +immediate surroundings, whatever that may mean. They furnish their +troubled disciples the comforting assurance that these discoveries do +not diminish the value of the book, but render it more accurate and +interesting as a literary work. The professor already quoted, a fair +representative of the critical school, in his recent lectures, referred +to on a preceding page, distinguished the authors of the book as "Isaiah +and the Great Unknown Prophet." Other critics multiply, somewhat +indefinitely, the number of "The Unknowns." Our critic regards the +change in _style and theme_ from the thirty-ninth chapter to the end of +the book as valid proof of at least the dual authorship of the book. + +This assumption instantly raises the question as to who is the author of +prophetic themes. Is it the prophet himself or the Holy Spirit? Does the +prophet himself bring forth the prophecy of his own foreknowledge? Or, +is the Holy Spirit the inspirer of themes new and old? Happily God has +settled the question for us. He declares by his Apostle Peter "that no +prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation"; that is, of the +prophet's own disclosure. "For prophecy came not of old time by the will +of man; but _holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy +Spirit_." (2 Peter i. 20, 21.) It is, therefore, bold assumption to +affirm that God could not give to the same prophet new and more exalted +themes in his progressive revelation of truth. It is a limitation of God +himself to the critic's notion of what should, or should not be. This +would eliminate the divine element of the book by a sweep of the +critic's pen. It is an assumption too groundless to need a reply. + +Further, as to the change of style. Nothing is more natural or +reasonable than the fact that a change of theme should produce a change +of style. A more exalted theme must quicken the imagination, set the +emotions aflame, stimulate all the mental and moral powers of the +author. A historical statement, a commonplace theme, can be dealt with +in a commonplace style, while new and uplifting truth awakens new powers +in the writer. Milton's Paradise Lost was entirely different from his +ordinary prose composition. Dr. John Watson's sermons were on a higher +level than his books of fiction. Writers who do much of their literary +work on the level plain on which the people move, frequently rise to +mountain peaks of sublime composition when the occasion and theme demand +it. + +The style in the later chapters of the book of Isaiah is just what we +would expect from the prophet when the Holy Spirit opened to his +enraptured mind the theme of redemption through a suffering Messiah, in +the fifty-third and following chapters of the book. + +The objection to conceding the authorship of the entire book to Isaiah, +because the prophet mentions Cyrus by name before his birth, is made in +the face of the fundamental fact already stated that God inspired the +writer, and is therefore the author of prophecy, "declaring the end from +the beginning." (Isa. xlvi. 10.) He knows all the future and whom he +will choose to accomplish his glorious purposes. To deny this fact is to +deny all prophecy. If God can not foretell future events and the +instruments for their accomplishment, there can be no prophecy, and +God's omniscience is impeached. Isaiah prophesied in the seventh chapter +and fourteenth verse: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, +and shall call his name Immanuel." Matthew affirms that this prophecy +was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. (Matt. i. 22, 23.) He also declares +in the same connection that the announcing angel foretold that the name +"Jesus" was to be given to the Messiah at his birth. These +preannouncements must be cast aside if the critic's dictum is accepted. +Shall we discredit Isaiah, the announcing angel, and Matthew on the +ground of the critic's literary acumen? + +Further, the student of the Word will remember that when Jeroboam was +bringing disaster upon Israel, God sent his prophet to declare: "Behold +a son shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon +thee (the altar at Bethel) shall he offer the priests of the high places +that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee." +More than three hundred years after this prophecy was given, according +to Usher's Chronology, Josiah was born and did the precise things that +were predicted concerning him. (See 1 Kings xiii. 2 and 2 Kings xxiii, +15, 16.) The omniscience of the Holy Spirit can predict the name of the +instrument as readily as the event which is to be accomplished. + +Again, undoubtedly the prophet must speak out of his own environment. He +can speak only where he is. But who is to decide how many and what +allusions he must make to custom or incident in order to satisfy the +critic, as to his time and place in history? + +The tailor who decides that he must have twenty yards of cloth to make a +suit of clothes, when ten yards are sufficient, will shortly be wanting +customers. The critic who has decided how many and what kind of +synchronous events must be furnished by the prophet, in order to secure +his credence as to authorship, will be left without a prophet or a +Bible. + +The erection of an arbitrary law, by which to interpret history or +prophecy in the Bible, is contrary to all the treatment which secular +literature receives from these same critics. + +From these strained, forced and unphilosophical methods of dealing with +prophecy, we turn to the testimony of the inspired book itself. The book +of Isaiah is distinguished by a phraseology peculiar to this prophet. He +speaks of God as "The Holy One of Israel." This title, as applied to +God, is used only seven times in the entire Old Testament; once in 2 +Kings, three times in the Psalms, twice in the prophecies of Jeremiah, +and once in Ezekiel, but never in the minor prophets. But Isaiah uses +this title as applied to God, twenty-two times, running through the +entire book from the first to the sixtieth chapter. + +The reader will be interested to note how the repeated use of the +phrase--"The Holy One of Israel"--attests the unity of the authorship of +the entire book. Hence the passages ("line upon line, line upon line") +are here presented to give their unequivocal testimony to our Sabbath +School teachers. + +1: Isaiah I:4--"They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked _the +Holy One of Israel to anger_." + +2: Isaiah v:18, 19--"Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of +vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: that say ... let the +counsel of _the Holy One of Israel_ draw nigh and come, that we may know +it." + +3: Isaiah v:24--"Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of +hosts, and despised the word of _the Holy One of Israel_." + +4: Isaiah xii:6--"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great +is _the Holy One of Israel_ in the midst of thee." + +5: Isaiah xvii:7--"At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his +eyes shall have respect to _the Holy One of Israel_." + +6: Isaiah xxix:19--"The poor among man shall rejoice in _the Holy One of +Israel_." + +7: Isaiah xxx:11--"Cause _the Holy One of Israel_ to cease from before +us." (The language of a rebellious people.) + +8: Isaiah xxx:12--"Wherefore, thus saith _the Holy One of Israel_, +because ye despise this word ... therefore this iniquity shall be to you +as a breach ready to fall." + +9: Isaiah xxx:15--"Thus saith the Lord God, _the Holy One of Israel_; In +returning and rest shall ye be saved." + +10: Isaiah xxxi:1--"They look not unto _the Holy One of Israel_, neither +seek the Lord." + +11: Isaiah xli:14--"Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I +will help thee, I will help thee saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, _the +Holy One of Israel_." + +12: Isaiah xli:16--"Thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in +_the Holy One of Israel_." + +13: Isaiah xli:20--"That they may see, and know, and consider, and +understand together, that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and _the +Holy One of Israel_ hath created it." + +14: Isaiah xliii:13--"I am the Lord thy God, _the Holy One of Israel, +thy_ Savior." + +15: Isaiah xlv:11--"Thus saith the Lord, _the Holy One of Israel_, and +his Maker, Ask me of things to come, concerning my sons, and concerning +the work of my hands command ye me." + +16: Isaiah xlvii:4--"As for our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, +_the Holy One of Israel_." + +17: Isaiah xlviii:17--"Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, _the Holy One +of Israel_, I am the Lord thy God, which teacheth thee to profit, which +leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." + +18: Isaiah xlix:7--"Thus saith the Lord ... Kings shall see and arise, +princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and +_the Holy One of Israel_, and he shall choose thee." + +19: Isaiah liv:5--"For thy Maker is thine husband; The Lord of hosts is +his name, and thy Redeemer is _the Holy One of Israel_; The God of the +whole earth shall he be called." + +20: Isaiah lv:5--"Nations that knew not thee, shall run unto thee +because of the Lord thy God, and for _the Holy One of Israel_." + +21: Isaiah lx:9--"The Isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish +first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with +them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to _the Holy One of +Israel_, because he hath glorified thee." + +22: Isaiah lx:14--"And they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the +Zion of _the Holy One of Israel_." + +The reader will notice that this phrase, as applied to God is a +characteristic of Isaiah. We have not found it in any of the minor +prophets, and but twice in the prophecies of Jeremiah, and once in +Ezekiel. But Isaiah uses it more than twenty times, running from the +first to the sixtieth chapter. He uses it ten times before reaching the +fortieth chapter, and twelve times in the chapters following, which the +critics have assigned to some unknown author or authors. Shall we be +asked to conclude that the unknown authors adopted Isaiah's style, his +phraseology, from the fortieth chapter to the end of the book? For what +motive? To conceal themselves? The assumption is too large. If the first +thirty-nine chapters of this book are accepted, as the prophecies of +Isaiah, by every law of fair criticism the whole book must claim this +prophet as its author. + + + + +VII. GOD'S REPLY TO THESE ASSUMPTIONS. + +_"Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God?" Rom. ix. 20._ + +_"At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, +shall the matter be established." Deut. xix. 15._ + +_"Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our +learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might +have hope." Rom. xv. 4._ + +_"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are +written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 +Cor. x. 11._ + +_"My people shall know my name, therefore they shall know in that day +that I am he that doth speak, Behold, it is I." Isaiah lii. 6._ + + +In the New Testament we have in the Gospels and the Epistles God's +teachings concerning the Old Testament. The writers of the New Testament +had the promise of our Lord that "The Comforter, who is the Holy Spirit, +whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and +bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." +(John xiv. 26.) + +In the fulfillment of this promise they have given us the testimony of +God, the Holy Spirit, on all the subjects of which they have written. +What, therefore, is their testimony concerning the author of the book of +Isaiah? Did that prophet write the book, or is it a patched book from +various authors? + +Matthew, the inspired author of the book that bears his name, quotes +from Isaiah xl. 3: "The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, +Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway +for our God." (See Matt. iii. 3.) + +The critics inform us that this prophecy was not given by Isaiah, but by +some unknown prophet, and was bound up with Isaiah's prophecies, and +labeled as his. Matthew informs us that it was a prophecy concerning +John the Baptist, and was given by Isaiah himself, and not by another. +He says (iii. 3), referring to John the Baptist: "For this is he that +was spoken of through _Isaiah the prophet_, saying: + +"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the +Lord, Make his paths straight." (R.V.) + +Again, in Matt. viii. 17, the author of this gospel quotes a passage +from the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. The critics have handed this +fifty-third chapter over to the Unknown prophet or prophets. They affirm +again that the theme and literary style of this chapter are such that +Isaiah could not have written it. They base their affirmation on their +own literary discoveries, their ability to detect the footprints of some +other prophet, though they do not inform us who that prophet is. They +are sure that it was not Isaiah, for they have already placed him under +such limitations that, according to their critical decision, he could +not write the chapter. Of course, their conclusion is reached by +practically denying the Holy Spirit's agency--logically denying that +"holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." (2 Peter +i. 21.) + +The inspired author of the gospel of Matthew had a different conception +of the Holy Spirit's agency in giving prophecy to the world. He had not +discovered the limitations of the prophet, which the critics profess to +have found. Hence, in giving the history of God's gracious and +miraculous work of casting out demons and healing the sick, he declares +(Matt. viii. 17), without a shadow of a mistake, that Christ wrought +these miracles, "that it might be fulfilled _which was spoken through +Isaiah the prophet_, saying, Himself took our infirmities and bare our +diseases." (See also Isaiah liii. 4.) + +As Matthew is on the witness stand, the reader will be interested to +hear his testimony further. In his gospel (xii. 17-21) he testifies that +Isaiah wrote the forty-second chapter of the prophecy that bears his +name. Matthew quotes the first four verses of the chapter, in +explanation of the fact that Christ found it necessary during his +ministry to retire from the public excitement which his teaching and +miracles had produced. He says that Christ pursued that course "that it +might be fulfilled which _was spoken through Isaiah the prophet_, +saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul +is well pleased; I will put my Spirit upon him and he shall show +judgment to the Gentiles. He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any +man hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed shall he not break, +and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto +victory, and in his name shall the Gentiles trust." + +This quotation is from Isaiah, forty-second chapter, and first part of +the chapter. The reader will remember that the critics deny this +testimony of Matthew. This forty-second chapter which he (Matthew) +assigns to Isaiah is a part of the book which they affirm has come to us +from some unknown source. + +It is worthy of repetition that three times Matthew, the inspired author +of the first gospel, has affirmed without equivocation that the passages +which he quotes were "_spoken by Isaiah the prophet_." The critics say +"No." Which will the reader believe? + +The author of the third gospel, describing our Lord's visit to Nazareth, +says: "As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, +and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of +the prophet Isaiah, and when he had opened the book, he found the place +where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath +anointed me to preach the gospel; he hath sent me to heal the broken +hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to +the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the +acceptable year of the Lord." Luke iv. 16-19. + +_Luke informs us that it was "the book of the prophet Isaiah_" from +which our Savior made this quotation. We turn to the prophecy and +discover that the passage is found in the sixty-first chapter and first +and second verses of the book. But the critics who are correcting our +Bible for us (?) inform us that their same literary discovery holds good +here--that this part of the book _was not_ written by Isaiah. They +assume to hand over this part of the book, knowingly, to the "Great +Unknown" and unknowable prophets. The testimony of Luke contradicts the +critics. He gives Isaiah full credit as the author of the statement. The +reader will doubtless accept the fact that the inspired writer, the +author of Luke's gospel, obtained his information at first hand, from +God himself, who inspired the record. + +Again Luke contradicts the critics when he puts on record Philip's +interview with the eunuch, as we find it in Acts viii. 30-33. When +Philip joined himself to the eunuch, by direction of the Spirit, he +"heard him reading _Isaiah the prophet_ (Isaiah liii. 7), and said, +Understandest thou what thou readest?" ... Now, the passage of the +Scriptures which he was reading was this: "He was led as a sheep to the +slaughter and as a lamb before his shearer, dumb, so he opened not his +mouth. In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: his generation +who shall declare? For his life is taken from the earth," (R.V., Acts +viii. 30-33.) + +Our critics have robbed Isaiah of this passage. It was written, so their +literary skill claims to have discovered, by some prophet who has +successfully concealed himself, and finally disappeared from sight, +leaving no hope that his name will ever be discovered. + +Luke informs us that he knew who the prophet was that penned that +touching description of the coming Messiah, and that his name was +Isaiah. This question he has settled. + +Turning to the gospel of John, we are furnished the testimony of one of +whom our Lord said, "Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of +woman, there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist." This +witness comes before us, therefore, indorsed by Jesus Christ himself, +"The faithful Witness." We ask him, therefore, to speak for himself as +to who is the author of that part of prophecy which the critics are +attempting to wrest from Isaiah. + +When the priests and Levites came to ask him, "Who art thou? That we may +give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?" he +replied, "I am the Voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight +the way of the Lord, _as said Isaiah the prophet_." (See John i. 22, 23, +R.V.) + +This was his testimony, first concerning himself. We believe him. And +this was his testimony, secondly, concerning the author of the prophecy +which he quoted: "_Isaiah the prophet_." + +Again we believe him, and as confidently, concerning the second +statement as the first. And the Apostle John was so confident of its +truth that he put it on record. + +The passage quoted (Isaiah xl. 3) belongs to that part of the book which +our critic and his fellow critics have decided was predicted by some +stray prophet, unknown to the world, to the Jewish people or the church. +We prefer the statement of John the Baptist, and its indorsement by John +the Apostle. + +The reader will now recall that we have already heard Matthew's +corroboration of the testimony of John the Baptist concerning Isaiah's +claim to this prophecy. (See Matt iii. 3.) + +In the gospel of the Apostle John he puts on record his personal +testimony concerning the author of the book bearing Isaiah's name. +Explaining the amazing unbelief of the Jews, he says (xii. 37, 38): "But +though he (Jesus) did so many signs before them, yet they believed not +on him: _that the word of Isaiah the prophet_ might be fulfilled, which +he spake: + +"Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the +Lord been revealed?" (R.V.) + +The reader will see that this inspired writer of the fourth gospel is +quoting from Isaiah liii. 1, thus testifying to Isaiah's authorship. + +Our literary critics have decided that this chapter was forbidden ground +to Isaiah, that, if we are to believe them, he had no connection with +this prophecy. + +We are asked to believe that the author of this fifty-third chapter, the +most minute and tender prophecy concerning the Messiah's sufferings for +his people, and rejection by them, has dropped out of sight! We are +asked to believe that the name of the prophet who gave this dramatic +picture of what was to take place on Calvary seven hundred years later, +has been lost in the fog of the passing centuries! We are asked to +believe that the name of the author of the first thirty-nine chapters, +the less important part of the book, has been preserved, but oblivion +has overtaken the author of the book from the fortieth chapter to the +end. + +The assumption is an affront to the intelligence of the ordinary reader +of the Bible. It is an impeachment of the honesty of the authors of the +gospels, which the unshaken faith of God's people can never concede. + +The reader can now sum up the testimony of Matthew, Mark (see i. 3, +R.V.), Luke, John, and John the Baptist, all of whom with one voice +contradicts the critics. We also prefer, with these witnesses, to +discredit the men who are picking out clauses, verses and chapters here +and there, and guessing them off to authors of their own invention, who +have never been known or heard of. + +It is not sufficient for the critics to say that these New Testament +authors knew better, but deferred to popular sentiment, based on +tradition. That can not satisfy our estimate of them as God's divinely +appointed teachers, chosen to make record of the momentous truth on +which the salvation of a lost world hangs. Men, ready to lay down their +lives for the truth, were not the men to play fast and loose with the +Word of God, in deference to a supposed popular sentiment. + +Further, our critical friends have assumed to decide for the prophets +that they must prophesy out of their immediate surroundings in such a +marked way, with such continued reference to the events of the period, +that the prophecy must be located in that period. If the critic cannot +find these particular local earmarks, he must push the prophecy to a +point of time with which he can make it synchronize, and which will +satisfy his literary judgment. By this law of determining dates, the +critics claim that the book of Isaiah is a composite work, produced by +different authors and at different times. + +On this assumption the latter part of the book of Revelation was not a +revelation to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. The first part of +the book may be adjudged as his. But presently the matter of the book +passes into a realm beyond the time and circumstances that belong to +that period, hence may not claim him as its author. An assumption that +sets aside the claims of Scripture, as to authorship, in order to +harmonize the book with one's literary and critical judgment, may be +dismissed on its own lack of merit. + +The proposed law above referred to, as a method of locating prophecy as +to time, or determining the author, is arbitrary, and an absurd attempt +to destroy all the testimony of inspired writers, who have settled the +question of authorship and the date of prophecy. + + + + +VIII. THE HISTORICITY OF THE BOOK OF JONAH. + +_"According to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the +hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai the prophet, which was of +Gath-hepher." 2 Kings xiv. 25._ + +_"The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, +Arise go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it: for their +wickedness is come up before me." Jonah i. 1, 2._ + +_"So Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the +Lord." Jonah iii.. 3._ + +_"And he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be +overthrown." Jonah iii. 4._ + +_"So the people of Nineveh believed God." Jonah iii. 5._ + +_"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God +repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them, and he did +it not." Jonah iii. 10._ + +_"The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and +shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas." +Matt. xii. 41._ + + +The book of Jonah has been attacked by the destructive critics. Its +historicity has been denied. The critics, though certain of almost all +of their objections to the Bible, have not all decided whether it is +"based on history, or is a nature myth." Keunen has discovered (?) that +it is "a product of the opposition to the strict and exclusive policy of +Ezra toward heathen nations." Objection is made to the historical +statements of the book on various grounds. The objector interposes this +difficulty: "Can we conceive of a heathen city being converted by an +obscure foreign prophet?" + +This objection is of kin to that which can not conceive that by a +creative act of God the universe was brought into being, or the inspired +statement that "the worlds were framed by the word of God." It is the +presence of the supernatural everywhere that is beyond the conception of +the critics. + +Again, they interpose the difficulty: "How could the Ninevites give +credence to a man who was not a servant of Ashur?" + +Without presenting the multiplied difficulties that rationalism has +supposedly discovered, they may be summed up in their statement +substantially, that the book of Jonah is not historical. Whatever else +it may be, whether legend, myth or allegory, it is not history. + +We turn again from the fancies of "Expert Scholarship" to the testimony +of the Bible concerning itself. We discover that the prophet Jonah is +referred to several hundred years before the critics have permitted him +to live. It is written in 2 Kings xiv. 25 that Jeroboam the Second +secured the restoration of certain territory, "according to the word of +the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, +the son of Amittai the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher." + +The name of Jonah, of his family, and the place of residence of his +family, are definitely stated. The work is accomplished "by the hand of +his servant Jonah," and the date of its accomplishment, is so precisely +recorded that these statements could have been disproved had they been +false. Hence, there was a person named Jonah. + +Our Lord has settled the questions of the personality and work of Jonah, +if anything can be settled for unbelief. He has affirmed the historical +certainty of the two important events which critical assumption declares +impossible. The critical Jews were demanding a sign from our Lord. He +had wrought many miracles, but they wanted something beyond what he had +given, a miracle for their special benefit. He declined to gratify them. +Of that generation he said: "There shall no sign be given it, but the +sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights +in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three +nights in the heart of the earth." (Matt. xii. 39-41.) As Jonah was +miraculously preserved for three days and nights and was brought forth, +as by a resurrection, so was the Son of man to be brought forth from the +tomb. His resurrection was to be the crowning miracle, the sign forever +confronting his nation, Jonah's deliverance from apparent death was such +a miracle as convinced the Ninevites that he had a message from God for +them, so Christ's resurrection was to become the keystone of the arch on +which the whole structure of the redemptive system should rest. "He was +raised for our justification." (Rom. iv. 25.) + +The reader will mark that our Lord referred to the miraculous +preservation of Jonah, and his deliverance, as a historical event, +recorded in the first and second chapters of the book of Jonah, not as a +myth or allegory, but as a historical fact. "_As_ Jonah was three days +and three nights in the whale's belly, _so_ shall the Son of man be +three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." _As_ the one, +_so_ the other. As certainly and literally the one, so certainly and +literally the other. If Jonah's preservation and coming forth from the +fish that God had prepared was only a legend, then was Christ's death, +burial, and resurrection a legend. And in consistency with their +critical theory some of the rationalists have reduced them both to +legend. For _as_ one was, _so_ was the other to be. The statement is +plain, definite narrative, from which there is no escape. + +Others of the critical school hold to the historical verity of Christ's +burial and resurrection, but assert that he made use of the assumed +legend concerning Jonah, as we might illustrate any fact in history by a +familiar statement from fiction. To such an assumption we reply that our +Lord was dealing with tremendous realities, such as could not be +belittled by turning for support or illustration to a fictitious story. +He quoted from Old Testament history to illustrate and enforce New +Testament truth. On another occasion he said: "_As_ Moses lifted up the +serpent in the wilderness, even _so_ must the Son of man be lifted up +that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal +life." Shall we hand over to legendary literature the great historical +fact of the twenty-first chapter of Numbers--God's deliverance of the +people from the fiery serpents--by one look at the uplifted brazen +serpent by the hand of Moses? We may as well reduce one passage to +fiction as the other. "_As_ Jonah ... three days and nights, _so_ the +Son of man. _As_ the serpent was lifted up, _so_ the Son of man shall be +lifted up." This comparison has a definite meaning. The apostle uses it +in his Epistle to the Romans, fifth chapter and twelfth verse. "_As_ by +one man sin entered into the world, ... _so_ death passed upon all men +for that all have sinned." As certainly as sin entered into the world by +one man, so certainly it resulted that death passed upon all men. _As_ +Christ's remaining in the grave three days was not a fiction, _so_ +Jonah's three days and nights in the great fish that God had prepared +was not a fiction. + +Our Lord further certifies to the historicity of the book of Jonah by +his reference to the great prophet's preaching. The critic's objection +is thus stated: "Can we conceive of a heathen city being converted by an +obscure foreign prophet?" + +Of course, the objection to the record of that mighty moral movement +comes from those who have counted God out of Jonah's preaching. If they +can eliminate the divine power from that event, they can easily hand the +whole record over to what they are pleased to call the "folk lore of the +Bible." Here, as ever, the critic must rid the Scriptures of the +supernatural. + +But our Savior knew that "power belongeth unto God" (Psa. lxii. 11), and +he put on record the repentance of the Ninevites, saying, "The men of +Nineveh shall rise up in judgment with this generation and condemn it, +_because they repented at the preaching of Jonah_." (Matt. xii. 41.) But +if the book is not history, our Lord's statement is false, for he says +the Ninevites did repent. + +There is no rational possibility of denying our Lord's positive +statement without impeaching his veracity. + +His words authorize the following conclusions: + +I. There was a prophet whose name was Jonah, as is stated in 2 Kings +xiv. 25. He was not a myth or figment, but a prophet whose personality +is authenticated by Christ himself. + +2. There was a city of Nineveh. The skepticism of other days denied the +existence of Nineveh. So completely was the prophecy concerning the +destruction of Nineveh fulfilled that the enemies of God's Word refused +to believe that the city had ever existed, until the excavations of the +last century revealed the hidden ruins. But the word of God was true, +and in God's time Nineveh was revealed. + +3. God sent this same prophet Jonah to Nineveh to preach. Christ tells +us what took place under "the preaching of Jonah." It terminated in a +great awakening and reformation for: + +4. "The men of Nineveh ... repented at the preaching of Jonah." + +Did the Savior know what he was talking about? Did he know the truth of +the statement he made? Or, knowing (as is assumed) that there were no +such events, did he resort to _fiction_ in order to assert the +_certainty_ of his own resurrection? If the latter, then we must correct +his statement concerning Jonah, and read: "As Jonah has been +fictitiously represented to have been three days and three nights in the +whale's belly, so, fictitiously, shall the Son of man be three days and +three nights in the heart of the earth." + +Our Sunday-school teachers, with the words of Christ before them, will +be able to give the critics important information. They can report the +certainty of the historical facts. + + + + +IX. RADICAL EXPOSITION. + +_"Among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring +in destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, +bringing upon themselves swift destruction." (R.V.) 2 Peter ii. 1._ + +_"O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane +and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called, which +some professing have erred concerning the faith." 1 Tim. vi. 20, 21._ + +_"Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them." 1 +Tim. iv. 16._ + +_"We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that +ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day +dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 2 Peter i. 19._ + + +The destructive critics have pushed their work far into the field of +both prophecy and exposition. They have relegated to the domain of +mythology the clear and unequivocal historical statements of Scripture. +Where the intrusion of their mythological theory was too large a demand +to make on our credulity, they have attempted a radical exegesis in +proof of their assumptions. + +They claim to have discovered that the Church in all the past has +misconceived the first prophetic promise given to man. That promise was +given to our first parents immediately after the fall. God said to the +serpent (Gen. iii. 15): "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, +and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head and thou +shalt bruise his heel." + +Our critics have two objections to the interpretation that has always +been given and maintained by Christian scholars and by the Church as a +whole. First, that "the seed of the woman" does not refer to the +Messiah, but to the human race, which is to bruise the serpent's head. +Second, that the serpent engaged in seducing Eve, and here placed under +the curse, does not refer to Satan. + +In replying to the objection that the Messiah is not referred to in the +passage, let it be said that the pronoun is a pronoun referring to a +person. It is so translated in the Revised Version. "_He_ shall bruise +thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel." It is not the human race, but +he, an individual person. This person was not to be the seed of the man, +but of the woman. + +The announcing angel said to Mary, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon +thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also +that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of +God." (Luke i. 35.) The child to be born was to be literally and truly +"_the seed of the woman_," and that was the Messiah, the only person of +the entire human race of whom that could be said. + +We are not left, however, to an exegetical statement alone, although +that is absolutely unequivocal. The promise was repeated to Abraham, to +Isaac, to Jacob, and to David. The seed of the woman was to be the +Messiah, the Christ, triumphing over the power of Satan. The race has +not triumphed over Satan, but has been a failure. + +The Holy Spirit has settled the question in Paul's Epistle to the +Galatians, iii. 16: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. +_He saith not, and to seeds, as of many_ (or, the human race), _but as +of one, and to thy seed which is Christ_." On the human side, our Savior +was of the line of Abraham, and David, but was singularly and literally +"_the seed of the woman_," being the Son of God. + +He called himself the Son of man only in the sense that he was born of +her who was of the race of man. He ever claimed God as his Father, and +in a different sense from that in which men can claim God as Father. His +claim to be the Son of God was the claim to be equal with God, which no +created being dare make. + +The Holy Spirit further declares, in Hebrews ii. 14; "For as much then +as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself +likewise took part of the same, that through death (his death on the +cross) he might destroy him (Satan) that had the power of +death"--"bruise the serpent's head." It was Satan that inflicted death. +He was the first higher critic who changed and denied the word of God, +saying to the woman, "Ye shall not die." Through his denial of the word +of God, he deceived the woman and brought spiritual death on the race. +This was the work of Satan, according to the New Testament teaching. He +is the same that God calls the serpent in the third chapter of Genesis. +For the Holy Spirit informs us, in 2 Cor. xi. 3, that "the serpent +beguiled Eve," and states definitely who the serpent is--"that old +serpent called the devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world." +(Rev. xii. 9.) + +Having God's testimony that the serpent and the devil are one and the +same, we are prepared for the mark which our Lord puts on him, "A +murderer from the beginning ... and no truth in him." He had always +sought to pervert and discredit the word of God. He suggested to Eve +that she did not understand God's command; she had taken it too +literally, which is a popular form of attacking the Bible today. "Yea, +hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Are you not +mistaken? And when he had injected the doubt into the mind of Eve, had +gained an advantage, he seized it and boldly denied the word of God, "Ye +shall not die." He is an artful critic and successfully did his deadly +work. + +Hence, the first great promise which God gave to the fallen pair, and +through them to the race, set the seed of the woman, the Messiah, in +conflict with "that old serpent called the devil and Satan." That +promise is now in process of fulfillment, and must reach its final +consummation when John's apocalyptic vision is fulfilled, "And the devil +that deceived them (the nations) shall be cast into the lake of fire and +brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be +tormented day and night, forever and ever." + + + + +X. GOD HIS OWN INTERPRETER. + +_"To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not accordingly to this +word, it is because there is no light in them." Isaiah viii. 20._ + +_"Thy law is the truth." Psa. cxix. 142._ + +_"Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very +faithful." Psa. cxix. 138._ + +_"Lead me in thy truth and teach me." Psa. xxv. 5._ + +_"The word of our God shall stand forever." Isaiah xl. 8._ + +_"Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away." +Mark xiii. 31._ + + +The destructive critics have assaulted the most precious prophetic +scriptures. It has been already stated that the final aim of skepticism +is against the person of Christ. If the unbelieving world can be rid of +both the prophecies concerning Christ, and the history of his life, his +sacrificial death and resurrection, they will be rid of that stumbling +stone which they have been pleased to call the "much-abused +supernaturalism." Hence, the strenuous effort is made to destroy +predictive prophecy concerning the person of the Son of God. The fact +that there are more than thirty-five prophecies, containing one hundred +and thirty distinct counts, concerning the birth, the life, the +teaching, the death, and the resurrection of our Lord, greatly disturbs +the critics. + +The prophecy of Isaiah ix. 6 has been troublesome. The prophet foretold, +in distinct and unimpeachable language, the coming of the Messiah: "For +unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government +shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, +Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of +Peace." + +A critic who claims to be loyal to the word of God says concerning this +passage: "The prophet always paints upon the canvas the events of the +_near_ future. I can not believe that Isaiah ix. 6 refers to a far-off +event, because it would not give comfort to his people at that time." As +this prophecy was given more than seven hundred years before the coming +of the Messiah, our critic concludes that it could be of no practical +benefit to Israel, hence, must have referred to some person who must +soon appear. + +To affirm that this promise of the Messiah long before his coming "would +not give comfort to his people" is mere assumption. The time of his +coming was not announced, and the people were to live in expectation of +the event, which expectation was to be their stay and comfort. This +assumption would vitiate the promise of his coming made to our first +parents. Gen. iii. 15, the promises made to Moses; Deut xviii. 15, the +predictions made in Psa. xxii. 1, 8, 16, 18, in which his cry on the +cross, the taunt of his enemies, the piercing of his hands and feet, and +the parting of his raiment among the soldiers, were all predicted. + +The prediction that "Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little +among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto +me, he that is to be the Ruler of Israel; whose goings forth have been +of old, from everlasting" (Micah v. 2) was made seven hundred years +before the coming of Christ, and, according to critical assumption, +could not refer to our Savior, "because it would not give comfort to his +people." + +Indeed, no prophecy preceding the time of Isaiah ix. 6 could be allowed +to refer to Christ, on the assumption of the critic. More than this, the +prediction of Christ's second advent is vitiated by this assumption. It +was more than eighteen hundred years ago that the angels said to the +disciples who were steadfastly watching his ascension: "This same Jesus +who is taken from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye +have seen him go into heaven." Was there no comfort to the disciples in +the promise of his return, though they did not live to witness it? Paul, +enlarging on the promises of Christ's return, said to the Thessalonians: +"Wherefore comfort one another with these words." + +Let us now consider the prophecy in its context. The prophecy of the +seventh and eighth chapters is projected on through the ninth. The first +verse of this chapter predicts some relief of the former sufferings of +the people for their sins. + +"The people that walked in darkness (verse 2) have seen great light." +The prophet informs us who it was, to whom this light should come. The +inhabitants of "the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim," which +embraced the region of Galilee, in which the larger portion of Christ's +ministry was exercised. Matthew quotes this scripture as fulfilled by +the coming of our Savior. (See Matt. iv. 12-16.) "Now when Jesus had +heard that John was cast into prison he departed into Galilee, and +leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea +coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim; _that it might be +fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet_, saying, The land of +Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, +Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw a great +light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is +sprung up." + +Undoubtedly the prophet looked into the future, when the coming of the +Messiah should bring the light of the gospel into that region so +particularly described by him. And the inspired writer of the gospel of +Matthew positively applies the context of Isaiah ix. 6 to our Lord. +Then, proceeding with the explanation as to how the light should break +forth in "Galilee of the Gentiles," the prophet announces (verse 6) +that, "for unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the +government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called +Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The +Prince of Peace." + +The reader may well investigate the language of this prediction, "for +unto us a Child is born." The "for" is given as an explanation, a reason +for the coming light to "Galilee of the Gentiles," a region and a people +that had been for generations "in the shadow of death." The light was to +break forth because a child was to be born and a son given. + +The announcement was made as if the event had taken place, though so far +in the future. This is in accordance with the form of predictive +prophecy, as in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, where the atoning +work of Christ is spoken of as already accomplished, though it remained +to be achieved in the future. The prophet said of that work: "He hath +borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.... He was wounded for our +transgressions.... He was bruised for our iniquities.... The Lord hath +laid on him the iniquities of us all." So it is stated in this prophecy: +"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given," for the promise +of God is the same to him as the fulfillment. His word is equivalent to +his deed. It cost him as much to purpose and pledge as to fulfill his +pledge. Hence, the prophecy speaks of the thing as done, since God has +promised to do it. Seven centuries before he came, the prophet said, +"unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." + +Our critical friends can not inform us who was the "Son given." They can +only say it must refer to some "_near future event_." Let our Book speak +for itself. It gives no uncertain testimony. + +1. "_The government shall be upon his shoulder_." + +As already stated in the context, and affirmed by Matthew, it is he that +should bring light to the Gentiles. There is only one who is himself "a +light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel." (Luke +ii. 32.) He said of himself: "I am the light of the world." (John ix. +5.) + +The government is his. He is the "Only Potentate, the King of kings and +Lord of lords." (1 Tim. vi. 15.) + +There is only One Potentate, One Ruler, One who could say, "All power is +given unto me in heaven and in earth." (Matt. xxviii. 18.) There is only +One who could say, "All things are delivered unto me of my father." +(Matt. xi. 27.) There is only One of whom it could be said, "Of the +increase of his government and peace there shall be no end," and that is +said of the "Child born unto us and the Son given," and is a part of the +prophecy concerning him. (Isaiah ix. 7.) + +All earthly thrones have crumbled, all earthly kings and potentates have +slept in the dust of death with the poorest of their subjects. But of +this Son given, Daniel says: "There was given him dominion, and glory, +and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him; +his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and +his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed." (Daniel vii. 14.) + +2. "_His name shall be called Wonderful_." + +His name means his character, his person. He, himself, shall be called +Wonderful, in a sense in which no other person can be entitled to that +designation. Nicodemus accredited him as a wonderful instructor. "We +know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these +miracles that thou doest, except God be with him." (John iii. 2). His +enemies that were sent to arrest him quailed before him, and returned to +the chief priests and Pharisees, saying, "Never man spake like this +man." + +A devout scholar has well said: "The manner of his birth was wonderful; +his humility, self-denial, and sorrows were wonderful; his mighty works +were wonderful; his dying agonies were wonderful; his resurrection and +ascension were all fitted to excite admiration and wonder." + +3. "_His name shall be called ... Counsellor_." + +This term plainly indicated his exalted wisdom and dignity. The wisdom +of men comes to naught; their counsel shall perish with them. But there +is One, who understands, who declares the end from the beginning. Of him +it is said: "The counsel of the Lord standeth forever; the thoughts of +his heart to all generations." (Psa. xxxiii. 11.) He says of himself, +"Counsel is mine and sound wisdom" (Prov. viii. 14), and it was by his +"determinate counsel and foreknowledge" that the glorious scheme of +redemption and complete salvation from sin was planned and executed. +Hence, he takes to himself the title, "The Great and Mighty God, ... +great in counsel, and mighty in work." (Jer. xxxii. 19.) Therefore, the +Child that was to be born, the Son that was to be given, was to have a +name, and "his name shall be called ... Counsellor." + +4. "_His name shall be called ... The Mighty God_." + +And now we are face to face with the Lord Jehovah, and the positive +statement that this was the promised Son. By what guessing or critical +legerdemain one who claims loyalty to the word of God and ordinary +intelligence can attempt to sweep away these definite and determinate +statements, and crowd some insignificant worm of the dust into the place +given to him who was in the beginning, who was with God and _who was +God_, we can not comprehend. + +And still the prophet rises to the climax, to make sure that "wayfaring +men, though fools, shall not err," and adds the prediction concerning +the coming Son that, + +5. "_His name shall be called ... The Everlasting Father_." + +The Revised Version gives the same rendering as the accepted version, +and adds the marginal reading, "Father of Eternity." The sense of the +passage is the same. The name "Everlasting Father" was the name of the +coming Son. He would be Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, not for a +short time, but eternally, forever and ever--"the same yesterday, +to-day, and forever." His care of his people would never cease. + +The distinctions between the persons of the trinity were not made in the +Old Testament, as in the New. Jehovah was God, the Lord was God, and was +known as Jehovah God, the Everlasting Father. The incarnation of the +second person in the trinity gave emphasis to his sonship, in order to +put him in brotherly relation to us. "Wherefore he is not ashamed to +call them brethren." + +This prophecy of Isaiah, however, condescends to accommodate our +weakness, and necessity, and gives to the promised child the name by +which he is recognized in the New Testament, for + +6. "_His name shall be called ... The Prince of Peace_." + +At the birth of the Child the angel choir sang "Glory to God in the +highest, and _on earth peace_, good will toward men." (Luke ii. 14.) +"Him hath God exalted with his right hand _to be a Prince_ and a Savior, +to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." (Acts v. 31.) + +Isaiah spoke as he was moved by the Holy Spirit. He gave to Israel this +assuring promise for their comfort, that the Seed of the woman, the +Messiah, was coming not as a fallible, impotent ruler, but as a Prince +and Savior. Israel failed to comprehend the glorious things predicted, +and even yet they are not fully unfolded. But the Messiah did not fail +to come, and, as predicted, he came at Bethlehem. Every phase of his +life, and the mighty work of redemption, all that was predicted of his +earthly career, has been accomplished. And now, at the right hand of the +Father, he is moving to the final consummation of his purposes of +redeeming grace. + +He will not be moved from his purposes by the uncritical attempts of +rationalism to destroy the confidence of God's people in his revealed +truth. We can move forward confidently in our work, knowing that nothing +shall pass from his Word until all is fulfilled. + +In this very brief study, in which God has spoken through the testimony +of his word, we have only touched a few points in which the truth of +Scripture has been assailed. But the testimony of the Book settles all +questions. We can well rest on the assurance, "Forever O Lord, thy word +is settled in heaven," and can not be unsettled on the earth. Our +Sunday-school teachers and Christian young people can not fail to +comprehend, and will rejoice in the fullness and power of God's +testimony through prophet, apostle, and Christ the incarnate Word. To +him be honor, glory, and dominion forever. Amen. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Testimony of the Bible Concerning +the Assumptions of Destructive Criticism, by S. E. 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