CIHM Microfiche Series (IMonograplis) ICIMH Collection de microfiches (monographies) Canadian Institute for Historical IMicroroproductions / Institut Canadian da microraproductions historiquas Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes techniques et bibliographlques The Institute has attempted to otJtain the t)est original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibiiographically unique, which may alter any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming are checked below. D Coloured covers / Couverture de couleur □ Covers danraged / Couverture endommagte □ Covers restored and/or laminated / Couverture restaur^ et/ou pelliculde I Cover title missing / Le titre de couverture manque I Coloured maps / Cartes g^raphiques en couleur □ Coloured inic (i.e. other than blue or black) / Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou nc I I Cotoured plates and/or illustrations / noire) Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material / Reli6 avec d'autres documents n D n Only edition available / Seule Edition disponible Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion atong interior margin / La reliure sen'de peut causer de i'ombre ou de la distorsion le long de la marge intdrieure. Blank leaves added during restorattons may appear within the text. 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I I CokHirsd pages /K'jgesde couleur I I Pages damaged / Pages endommag^es D Pages restored and/or laminated / Pages restaurdes et/ou pellk:ul6es Q Pages discotoured. stained or foxed / Pages dteoior^es, tachet^es ou pk]utes Pages detached / Pages ddtach^es Showthrough / Transparence m □ Quality of print varies / Quality inigale de I'impression □ Includes supplementary material / Comprend du materiel suppi^mentaire I I Pages wholly or partially obscured by enata slips, ' — ' tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image / Les pages totalement ou partieiiement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure. etc., ont 6t6 filmdes k nouveau de fa^on d obtenir la meilleure image possible. I I Opposing pages with varying colouration or ' — ' discok>urations are filmed twtee to ensure the best possible image / Les pages s'opposant ayant des colorations variables ou des decolorations sont filmtes deux fois afin d'obtenir la meilleure image possible. This Htm is flinwd at tits rsduetion ratio dMclisd bslow / Cs documsnt sst film* au tain ds rMuetion indi<|u« cMsssous. lOx 14x 18x 22x 26x 30x y 1 tax Ite 20x 24x SUV Zi 32x TIM copy filma4 h«r« Dm bMii r«protfyc«d x>mnk» to ttM 9««i«ro«ity of: National r^brary of Caiuda L'Momploiro film* fyt roproduit grict A la 9* n 4co«ili do; Bibliothiq^o nationolo du Canada \ Tho imogoo appooring h«f« afo th« bMt quality poMiWo contidofing tho condition and kigibility of tM original copy and in kaaping with tho filming oonuoot •paoificauona. Original copios in printad papar covara mtm fllmad baginning with tha front co¥«r and ending on tha last paga with a priniad or illustraiad impras- sion. or iho back cowar whan appropriat*. All ethar original copiaa arm filmad baginning on tho first page with a printad or iilustratad impraa- sion. and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illuatratad imprasaion. Tha last racordad frsma on aach microficha shall contain tha symbol — la- •"»••"'"• "£°!!1' TINUEO"). or tha symbol ▼ (moaning two I. whichovor applios. Mops, platas. charts, ate. may ba filmad at difforont raduction ratios. Thoso too lorga to bo antiraiy includad in ona a«posuro ara »'"««^ baginning in tha uppor laft hand cornar. laft to right and top to bottom, as many framas as raquirad. Tha following diagrams illustrata tha mathod: Las imagas suivantas ont Ota raprodwitos avac lo plus grand soin, eompto tony da la condition at da la nattata da I'aaamplaira filma. at an conformtia avoe loa conditions du eontrat da filmago. Las anamplairaa originaua dont la couvanura an papiar a«t imprimaa sont filmOs an commancant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darniOra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprassion ou d'illustration. soit par la tacend plat, salon la eas. Tous los autras osamplairas originaus sont fllmOs an commancant par la pramiOra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraasion eu d'lilusuation at an tarminant par la darniOra paga qui eomporto yna taiia omproinM. Un dos symbolos suivants apparaitra sur la darniOra imaga da chaqua microfiche, salon la cas: la symbolo -^ signifio "A SUIVRE". lo symbolo Y signifio "FIN". Los cartas, planchas. tablaaux. ate. pauvant atra filmOs a daa uus da raduction diffarants. Lorsqyo lo decymont oat trap grand pour atra raproduit an un saul clichO. il ast filma a partir da I'angia supariaur gaucha, da gaucha A droita. at da haut an bas. an pranant la nombra d'imagas nacassaira. Las diagrammas suivants Ulustrant la rndthoda. MHCROCOrY RiSOlUTION TIST CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) Ii2 ■ Z8 Lfi *^ LA 1^ |3j6 IB L& U ** » 2.0 1.8 ^ /APPLIED IIVMGE li Inc 1653 East Main SIrmt Roche»t«r, New York 14609 USA (715) ♦82-0300-Phon. ■•16) 288 -5989 -Fax .^uuilu^KW p! iji ii""^V^*• ,xth and eighth centuries and are semi-reli- gious in character. The second Edda is a collec- tion of similar works in prose, collected by one THE LrmtR AND THE BOOK. 7 Gnorro Sturleson, who was MSERsinatcd in Iceland in the year ia4'- THI THRIK VIDAt OP THE HINDOOS. The word Veda is Sanscrit and meons " to know," and the books are in both prose and rhyme. There are looo hymns, divided into four parts, and with the Hindoos are supposed to con- tain the true knowledge of God, of his religion and of his worship. The Vedas vary in age, and the various poems and sayings were collected u very different dates comprised within the yeark 1500 t'.i> 1000 B.C. The earliest poems are the simplest and they represent various ideas of wor- ship, consisting of invocation to nature and the powers that govern the world. After a while these powers are personified and gradually assume the form of gods, more being added from time to time until the number is past comprehension. THE KORAN OP THE MOHAMMEDANS. The word Koran means "to id." and is de- rived from the belief that the a langel Gubriel dictated to Mahomet on various occasions the revelations which he protc^ised to have received. Mahomet was lorn at Me .ca 570 A.D., and died at Medina 633. Hie Koran, or Al Koran, has 1 14 chapters, some of them long and some of only about fifty words or a verse or two. Hvery chap- ter commences with the invocation, "In the name ii! 1^ 8 THE LBTTER AND THI BOOK. of the Most Merciful God." The Koran admits the divine inspiration of the ancient Jewish Scrip- tures, acknowledges Jesus, but denies his author- ity, and proclaims M ^homet as greater than Christ. The Koran teaches a day of judgment and a resurrection day of final account. The Koran is the rival of the Bible and the followers of Mahomet claim to have made more converts since the Hegira than Christianity has done since the Crucifixion of Jesus. CHRONOLOGY. So far as the chronology of the Bible is con- cerned it is necessary to observe that the dates printed at the heads of the reference columns are the dates according to the chronology computed by Archbishop Usher and are a recent innovation, introduced merely as a guide to the chronological study of the book. Whether these dates have been a safe guide is a matter of dispute. No dates attach to the reference bibles of 1611 — the first King James edition. Rev. James Usher was a Roman Catholic Archbishop, born in Dublin in the year 1580. The chronology of Usher by no means agrees with the amended and authenticated chronology as the result of recent investigation and scholarship, corroborated by archaeological and ethnological research in Egypt, Syria, Pales- THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. 9 tine, Babylonia and Eastern Mesopotamia. According to Usher, if Adam was the first man created he appeared on the earth 4004 B.C., but this date is not in agreement with either Egyp- tian or Chinese chronology ; neither will it do in the light of the great modern discoveries, espe- cially the latest discoveries by Professor Petrie in Egypt ; also Messrs Grenfell and Hunt in the same country ; also Dr. F. J. Bliss, assisted by Mr. R. A. Stewart MacAlister, under the auspices of the Palestine Exploration Fund in Palestine, and, more important than any, at Nippur by Dr. Peters, Prof. Haines and his coadjutor, Prof. Hilprecht, who is in charge of the excavations on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania, where he is re- puted to have discovered and deciphered cuneform records upon terra cotta tablets of Babylonian history dating back at least 7000 years before Christ. Prof. Haines in his researches was fortunate in discovering remarkable evidences of largely ad- vanced civilization, in particular in the same mounds at Nippur where Prof. Hilprecht is still at work, amongst which is the most ancient key- stone arch known, which, according to Prof. Hil- precht, cannot be later than 5000 years before Christ. At the great temple at Nippur 17,000 records on clay tablets dealing with historical and literary Hi lO THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. matters have been unearthed and are expected to further elucidate biblical chronology. In the S. S. Times, Jan. 26, 1901, Prof. Hil- precht, in an excellent article, describes certain finds, and mentions specially a copper mask of a gazelle. Commenting upon this relic, a picture of which is reproduced in the Times of the above date. Prof. Hilprecht says : " The antiquity dates from the first pre-Chris- tian millennium. In looking at the magnificent work represented in this gazelle head, admiring the excellence of its design and execution and the perfect knowledge of the fundamental principles of art exhibited in it, one cannot but realize how many thousands of years must have elapsed be- fore a people was advanced far enough to pro- duce such a masterpiece." According to Hale's Analysis of Chronology there are no less than 120 estimates founded on different MSS. and versions of the Hebrew text concetning the date of the creation of Adam. De Bretonne supplies other data. Some of the more important and suggestive follow : Jewish Authorities From Adam From A FromD to Christ to Deluge to Christ Septuagint 5586 2340 3246 Samaritan (computation) 5270 1307 3963 Josephus (Hales) 5555 2409 3146 THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. II Christian Authorities Bunsen 20000 loooo loooo Rev. T. P. Crawford (in Patriarchal Dynasties, p. 164) 12500 7737 4763 Clemens Alexandrinus, A.D. 194 5624 2»48 3476 Rev. D. Hales 541 1 2256 3155 Eusebius Caesariensis . 5200 2256 2944 Usher 4004 ^656 2348 . Melancthon 3964 Luther 301 ♦* It is interesting to note that the traditions of nearly all oriental countries trace their natural descent back through fabulous myriads of years to a divine ancestry.*' (Winchell.) Egypt (reign of gods, kings, manes B.C. and heros) 24,925 30 Dynasties of Kings S*3^S 30.310 Chaldean tradition according to Berosus. .466,581 Chinese chronology 104, 181 Brahminical tradition 432,000 From ethnological sources, traced by the pro- foundest learning and scholarship that can be Mi It :i la THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. brought to bear upon the subject, convincing evi- dence accumulates to prove a pre-Adamite man and the consequent pre-historic antiquity of the human race. Pritchard, in his •• Researches into the Physical History of Mankind," vol. v., pp. S57rS7o. «" marks as follows : ♦• We may infer securely, as it seems to me, that the biblical writers had no revelation on the subject of chronology, but computed the succes- sion of time from such data as were acces..ab!e to them, and I observe that the ancient Hebrews seem to have been of the same opinion, since the scriptural writers have always avoided the at- tempt to compute the period in question .... Be- yond that event (the arrival of Abraham in Pales- tme) we can never know how many centuries, nor how many chiliads of years may have elapsed since the first man of clay received the image of God and the breath of Life." The Duke of Argyle says : "The older the hu- man family can be proved to be, the more possi- ble and probable it is that it has descended from a single pair," and he intimates that the Bible and science concur in allowing a much higher an- tiquity than generally assumed. Haeckel makes the antiquity of the Stone Folk THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 1 3 '•in any case more than 20,000 years," and " probably more than 100,000 years, ** perhaps many hundred thousand years. " Winchell * ' Pre- Adamites," foot note p. 421. Bible is a name applied by Chrysostom in the 4th century to the books of the Uld and New Tes- taments which previously had been called the Scriptures. The Bible of the Christians is generally consid- ered by the masses of the people as one book, es- pecially by the uneducated and illiterate, rather than a stupendous compilation of more than two score of separate and distinct productions, com- prising Hebrew poems of exquisite beauty, He- brew history, a complete compilation of Hebrew psalmF or hymns, and certain letters or epistles of the early apostles, four graphic.illy written ac- counts of the gospel of Jesus, and a marvellous book of prophetic visions sometimes called an "apocalypse," all bound together generally in one compact volume for convenience of handling. The inspired writers, prophets, historians and apostles, whoever they were, wrote none of the Scriptures in either chapters or verses. Neither did they give the titles to the books as we have them, nor any other titles, so far as the records show, the titles as we have them being of com- paratively recent introduction. iii 1 I ! i 14 THE LITTER AND THE BOOK. The authorship of many of the books is in some instances altogether unknown, and in others veil- ed in the obscurity of a great antiquity. By concensus of continued ascriptio. the titles obtain to-day unaltered, with such appropriate supposititious authorship as the Fathers and the Bishops appear to have mutually agreed upon. There are few Hebrew manuscripts in existence to-day more than six hundred years old. There is one solitary copy of the Pentateuch that may have been transcribed as early as 580 A D , and most of the six or seven hundred other copies of the first five books of the Old Testament known to be in existence are mutilated copies, or fragments only. No translator has the temerity to claim for either the authorized King James' edition, or the Revised Edition of the Scriptures supreme infalli- ble authority. , In many cases it is philologically impossible to construe into English idiom the subtle sense of the original Hebrew or Greek, or even of the old Latin Vulgate, leaving alone the difficulty of ar- riving at an unquestionable conclusion on ac count of the countless possible divergences in in- terpreting from the original Hebrew, through the lack of punctuation and the inter-continuity THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 1 5 of the words, i.e., the words running one into an- other without any spaces whatever between. And a further difficulty is experienced in transla- tion in the familiar fact that so many Hebrew words bear so many and various meanings. The ancient Hebrew was devoid of capitals, punctua- tion, accents, spaces or paragraphs. According to Professor Winchell, of Michigan University : " No less than 30,000 various readings of the Old and' New Testament have been discovered," and as to the impossibility of unanimity of inter- pretation witness the changes in the r'ivised ver- sion from the King James' edition, and of the American preferences in the appendix, and the oft-repeated and expressed desire of scholars for a further and more acceptable revision. Prof. Moses Stuart says : " In the Hebrew manuscripts that have been examined some 80,000 various readings actually occur as to the Hebrew consonants." The scriptures were not begun to be divided into verses until the 13th century after Christ. The original Masoretic Hebrew text had no vowels, and no vowels were introduced into the Hebrew text until the sixth century, ages and ages after David sung his psalms and Ezra the scribe, five hundred years before Christ, tran- i6 THB LKTTBR AND THE BOOK. scribed the Pentateuch from the fragments at his command, and with the assistance of Nehemiah made the first attempt to compile a Hebrew canon. As an example of the difficulty experienced in translating the early Hebrew, take a few of the ancient patriarchal names from Genesis with the vowels omitted, then consider all the vowels omit- ted throughout the text and the words running continuously one into the other as follows : Thwrdfthlrd— The word of the Lord. NMRD— Nimrod IPT— Japheth KNN— Canaan IVN— Javan ARPKSD— \i phaxad TRSS— Tarshish Washington Gladdon says : •• We know that in the earliest days precision was not sought, for the Septuagint translation made during the second and third centuries before Christ gives us indubitable proof, when we com- pare it with the Hebrew text, that changes, some of them radical and sweeping, have been made in the text of the Hebrew books since that trans- lation was finished. But while we have more than one hundred and fifty thousand various readings in the Greek MSS. and versions of the New Tes- tament we have less than ten thousand such vari- ations in the Old Testament." THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. tf The oldest and most important MSS. of the Scriptures extant are three in number, and are known as the s.naitic codex, Vatican codex and ALEXANDRIAN CODEX and are absolutely priceless. oZdT ~"'' '"^ "^''^ ""^ «"y ^^-'-lent be offered the government of either country possess- ingr these pearls of great price. The Ephraim Codex in the National Library at Par.s .s o the fifth century, and the Codex B^e LTJlar ?^:' ': ''* ''"'^^"•'y ^^ Cambridge, England, and both these are very valuable a^ treasures, but are fragmentary only. The oldest of the three first mentioned MSS is clod ^^ ,!'' '''"''"" ^'^-' -d- Papal custody m the Vatican Library of the EterLl It was deposited there more than 500 years aeo before the frownirg dome of great St PeS overshadowed the precincts of the Papal palace but no one can tell how it got there, or who wrot^ ts 773 yellow vellum pages. Any suggestion in this d.rect.on in the nature of the casfmust still be the merest surmise. All the letters are Greek unaal or capital letters, written like the ancient Hebrew, contmuously with no breaks or spaces between them, no accents and the simplest at- tempt at punctuation. Scholars who have examined this MSS. agree as to .ts great antiquity and date it as far back as ■it ! ■!! i tg THE LBTTKR AND THl BOOIC. the fourth century. The volume contain, no date, but the inference, from certain ancient manner- isms, appears to point to the fourth century. m ^eat volume is bound in red morocco, written laboriously by hand. It contain, the Sep- tuaRint translation of the Old Testament minus some part of Genesis and several parts of the New Testament, including the Revelation. In this volume, whether by inspiration or oth- erwise, the order of arrangement of the various books is curious and quite dissimilar to the order in the Bible as we have it. It contains, also, a ereat deal more than our edition. The Sinaitic Codex was discovered by Con- stantine Tischendorf in 1844 i" a convent at the base of Mount Sinai, and is now safe in the Im- perial custody at St. Petersburg. This bible contains the New Testament, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermes, and twenty-two books of the Old Testament. It is written on fine vellum made of antelope skins. It is unquestionably of great antiquity, probably of the first half of the fourth century. The Alexandrian Codex was presented in the year 1628 to King Charies I. of England by Cyril Lucan, Patriarch of Constantinople, who had brought it from Alexandria. It is now in the British Museum. U is written THB LITTM AND THI BOOK. I9 on vellum, of which there are 773 pages, bound in four volumes, and it is supposed to have been written four hundred years after the Crucifixion. The several books are not arranged in the or- der of either the Sinaitic or Vatican Codices, nor do they correspond with ours. The volumes con- tain most of the Apocryphal books, an Epistle of Atbanasius, the Hypothesis of Eusebius. Canti- cles, Sirach, two epistles of Clement to the Cor- inthians, and eight Psalms of Solomon. These three ancient MSS. do not agree in the texts, though the differences as a rule are slight. Professor Westcott says, in speaking of these dif- ferences : '•There cannot be less than 120,000, though of these a very large proportion consist, of differ- ences of spelling and isolated aberrations of scribes." The Sunday Strand is responsible for the state- ment that 73 Bible Societies last century sent out 280,000,000 copies in whole or in part of the Bible, the British and Foreign B. S. alone send- ing out 165,000,000 and the American B. S. 66,000,000. Last year was the record year of the century, when the B. and F. B. S. sent out the unprecedented number of 5,047,000 copies, and the demand is always on the increase. 1 I t i go ' THl LBTTIR AND THB BOOK. Speaking of the ftr.t appearance ^^/he WW. Into EngU.h, Henry Froude. pubH»her of the Un.- veriity of Oxford, »ay« : ••The work of translation commenced early, and Syriac, Coptic and Latin veraions are behev- ed to have t^en produced in the second centujy. Arabic in the third. Armenian in the fourth, and Ethiopic in the fifth. Portions of the b'W« ^•^^ translated into early English by Caedmon. Guth- I^, the Venerable Bede and others in the seventh and eighth centuries, but there is no evidence of theexfstence of a complete English version t.ll , 182, when the first Wycliffe Bible appea-;***- In spite of all the assaults of Infidehty and Scepticism the Bible remains the liook of Books. The "Canon" simply means an authoritative list or catalogue, of which in the Protestant Bible there are in the Old Testament 39 books, and in the New Testament 27 books. . c *u Of the early history of the canon, both of the Old and New Testament, not much of absolute certainty can be affirmed. All that we are sure of is that no unanimous agreement has ever been reached at any council convened for the purpose. Many books original- ly accepted as authoritative were ultimately re- jected, and epistles that were familiar to the early fathers are obsolete so far as Evangelical Chris- THE Limit AND THI BOOK. tiaas are concerned. ii Rev. A. Plummer, D.D., Master of University College, Dublin, says : " It must be carefully noted that they " (the early Christians) " had not quite the same New Testament that we have ; and that different parts of Ctiristendom at tiiat period had not quite the same New Testament that other parts had. " Not only did some churches accept as author- itative certain books from our New Testament which other churches rejected, but some churches accepted a few books which two hundred years later were rejected by all. ••This want of unanimity respecting a portion of the books to be admitted t'' the New Testa- ment is an unquestionable fact in the history of primitive Christianity." When was the Canon established ? and who authorized it ? and where was it consummated ? Ezra undoubtedly commenced th ^ood work. •• He was a ready scribe in the law of Moses."— Ezra VII., 6. Ezra is the sam« as Esdras, by whom two of the Apocryphal Books were written. Ezra compiled the Pentateuch, assisted by Nehe- miah, who unquestionably continued the good work of writing up the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings and compiling the minor pro- :i4 2i THE LETTBR AND THE BOOK. phets, although by many scholars the book of Joshua is given place with Deuteronomy as a continuation of that book, or as a separate addi- tion, forming with the five fold book the •« Hexa- teuch." The "Hagiography," or •« sacred writings," and the Prophets followed as a separate compila- tion, but there is no certainty as to who under- took the labor of the former, nor have we any as- surance as to the origin of the completed Jewish canon, although Jewish tradition insists that the " Great Synafjogue " of writers founded by Ezra continued the business to a completion. Professor Davidson says: «• The Canon was not considered to be closed in the first century before and the first after Christ." In 393 A. D., at the council of Hippo, with Augustine as archbishop, the following books, by the African prelates assembled, were by vote m- cluded in the Canon : Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Judith and the two books of Maccabees. In 397, at the Council of Carthage, with Augus- tine again as the head, the above list was reaffirm- ed—whether by inspiration or otherwise— and this Canon obtained and passed current as the final, unalterable, infallible authority of the THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. «3 Christian church for more than one thousand years ^ until the Council of Trent, in 1546, when again the Augustinian Canon by the Holy Catholic Church was reaffirmed as the unalterable Canon of the Roman Catholic Church, and as such it stands to-day. But Protestantism, with Luther at the head, dissented and demanded a re-casting and a re-se- lection, but when put to the test and upon revision Luther endorsed nearly all the books of the Apocrypha, although he found fault with the book of Esther and the Epistle of James. Several books mentioned in the Old Testament are lost, amongst which may be mentioned : "The Book of the Wars of Jehovah," Numbers XXL, 14-15 ; "The Book of Jasher," Joshua X., 13 ; " The Song of the Bow," IL Samuel, L, 18; "The Books of the History of Samuel the Seer," "The Song of Hannah," "The History of Na- than the Prophet," and " The History of Gad the Seer," " The Acts " of Solomon, and "The Pro- phecy of Ahijah the Shilonite," " The Visions of Iddo the Seer," " The Acts of Uzziah," "The Prophecy of Enoch ," " The Book of Jehu, the Son of Hanani," and "The Book of Shemaiah." The Fathers compiled with great care the books of the Bible, each individual bishop of course ']l 4i p < i i y 24 THE LETTBR AND THE BOOK. guided by inspiration, but no three of them came to the same conclusion, as their lists testify : Clement of Alexandria, 180 A.D., includes the Shepherd of Hermes, Epistle of Barnabas and the Apocalypse of Peter. Irenius, 200 A.D., omitted Hebrevs, Jude, James, II. Peter, III. John. TertuUian, 200 A.D., omits James, II. Peter and III. John. He denies the inspiration of He- brews, Jude, Shepherd of Hermes, II. John, II. Peter. Origeii, 250 A.D., classes James, Jude, II. and III. John, II. Peter as doubtful. Eusebius, 340 A.D., agrees substantially with Origen. Cyril of Jerusalem, 386 A.D., includes the Canon as the Roman Catholics have it without the Apocalypse. Athanasius, 365 A.D., agrees with the Canon as the Roman Catholics have it. Augustine, 430, agrees with Athanasius. The Council of Trent, 1546, fixed the Holy Catholic Canon, but Protestantism recorded its objection, with the result that the Apocrypha was eliminated. The New Testaments of both agree, but the Old Testaments differ, and it was only after patient, continued sift'ng and prolonged consultation that the Protestant church came to THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. as a conclusion upon the Protestant Canon as we have it to-day. In this connection Washington Gladden, who is an authority, sagely asks : " What certainty has the Protestant, then, that his Canon is the correct one ? He has no abso- lute certainty. There is no such thing as abso- lute certainty with respect to historical religious truth." All of which goes to prove that the faith and inspiration once delivered to the saints certainly has the appearance of having come down to the present generation a.h'^ng the dim vistas of the ages through decidedly fallible and human chan- nels. The Septuagint is a noted version of the common text of the Old Testament translated into the Greek at Alexandria about 250 B.C. The name Septuagint is derived from the tradition that seventv translators did the work. The Pentateuch consists of the first five books of the Old Testament — Genesis, Exodus, Leviti- cus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Hexateuch consists of the foregoing and the book of Joshua. The authorship of the Pentateuch is ascribed to Moses, but it is questionable with critical Bible m a6 THE LITTER AND THE BOOK. Students whether he wrote much more than the Decalogue and certain portions of the Levitical law and ritual. He certainly never gave the titles, for four of them come from the Greek, and Num- bers is Latin, neither of which languages he knew. F. H. Woods, in «< Hastings' Dic^ of the Bi- ble," says in his preface to the Pentateuch : *' A century ago it was a matter of common belief that the Pentateuch was written by Moses, but this belief never rested on anything but tradition and will not bear examination. It will be shown that in fact these books are the result of compli- cated literary processes extending over s IcMig period. As the Mosaic authorship will be thus disproved at the very outset it requires no separ- ate discussion." Against this, McClintock and Strong may be quoted : ^ The unvarying conviction of the Jews and of the Christian church also has been that the Pentateuch, substantially as we have it now, and without any alteration beyond what are con- ceded to be admissable in all books which have been handed down from remote antiquity, is the writing of Moses. " Amongst the numerous difficulties experienced by the scholars and critics in accepting Moses un- equivocally as the author of the Pentateuch may THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. «7 be mentioned the following : Moses did not write the account of his own death ?.nd burial. He scarcely wrote Exodus XI., 3 — ** Moreover, the mail Moses was very great in the land of Egypt"; or Numbers XII., 3 — ** Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of all the earth." See Ex. XVI., 35— ««And the Children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited ; they did eat manna until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan." This reads certainly as though written by one who had seen the children settled in their posses- sion, and therefore could not have been written by Moses. Genesis X., 5 — *• By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands ; every one after his tongue, after their families in their nations." The Gentiles were not distinguished from the Jews until after the Jews had entered the promis- ed land. Lev. XVIII., 27-28— *• For all these abomina- tions have the men of the land done which were before you, and the land s defiled. ♦• That the land spur you out also when^ ye defile it, as it spued oui .e nations that were be- fore you." These ;trerses imply an occupation of the land which must have been after Moses' death, as he -^ "" — ~ It! I A I hi !3i i I i I M if ! 18 THE LBTTIR AND THE BOOK. did not enter the promised land. Gen. XII., 6 — "The Canaanite was then in the land." This verse implies that the Canaanite was not in the land when the inspired writer wrote this book, but the Canaanite was in the land hundreds of years after the death of Moses. Numbers XV., 33—" While the Children of Israel were in the wilderness." This reads as though the writer was recording a long past event when the Children of Israel had passed out of the wilderness, hence after the death of Moses. Genesis XXXVI. — '* These are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before there reigned any king over .the Children of Israel." There were no kings in Israel until 500 years after the death of Moses, hence it would seem as though the verse 'must have been written long after the death of the great law giver. Genesis XIV., 14 — The city of Dan is here mentioned, but this city only came into existence long years after the death of the man who is sup- posed to have written the chronicle. If Moses wrote the Pentateuch under inspira- tion why did he continually repeat over and over again the same laws ? Why did he leave in inextricable confusion the story of the entering of the beasts and birds into THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. «9 the Ark? Gen. VI., 19-20 — "And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring in- to the Ark — male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind— two of every sort." Compare the above with Genesis VII., 2-3 — *• Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female ; and of beasts that are not clean by two. '*Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female." Another peculiarity quoted as corroborative of the contention that the Pentateuch was not the work of Moses is that the books of Judges, Ruth and Samuel, covering a period of about 400 years, make mention of no Mosaic law whatever. In the last verse of Judges it is declared that " Every man did that which was right in his own eyes." Gladden says : " This is a notable fact. That the written law of Moses should for four centuries of Hebrew history have disappeared so complete- ly from notice that the historian did not find it necessary to make any allusion to it." Genesis tells in brief of the creation, the sin of Adam and Eve, the flood, the dispersion and con- fusion of tongues at Babel, the call of Abraham, Ill III i ,nili ''PI 1! !i! ,1 ti : ,,'1 ! 1 yi THl LETTIR AND TH« BOOK. and the origin of the Hebrew race, covering • period of at least 3370 years, according to the ac- cepted chronology. Exodus tells of the going forth of the Hebrews (the Children of Israel) from Egypt, the land of bondage, to the promised land, the ten great plagues, blood, frogs, lice, flies, murrain, boils and Wains, hail, locusts, darkness, and death, the giving of the law and the forty years wandering in the wilderness. Leviticus treats chiefly of the Levitical service and ritual and the Aaronic priesthood, and con- tains the history of the first month of the second year of the wanderings of the Children of Israel in the wilderness. Numbers, so called from the double enumera- tion of the Israelites in ch. I.— IV., and in ch. XXVI. In the first chapter the number is 603,- 550 ; in the XXVI., 601,703, exclusive in either case of the Levites, who in the first instance num- ber 22,300 and in the second 23,300. Numbers contains the remarkable prophecy of Balaam that a «' Sceptre " and a «' Star" should come out of Jacob. Deuteronomy gives an account of the manner TNB LITTBR AND THt BOOK. 3! in which Moses terminated the woric which he was specially raised up for. It consists chiefly of three discourses delivered a short time before his death in the plains of Moab on the east side of Jordan in the eleventh month of the last year of the wanderings of the Children of Israel. Joshua is the sixth book of the Hexateuch. It embraces the period between 1451 and 1425 B.C. in the Usherian chronology and is a history of the Israelites under Joshua. The partial con- quest of the promised land is related and the divi- sion of it among the tribes. The authorship of the book of Judges is alto- gether unknown, but it is pretty certain that it was not written until after the time of Saul, for the frequent mention that " there was then no king in the land " is a presumptive proof that the book was written after an Israelitish king had reigned. There are some curious records in the book, not the least interesting is the story of the *• Shib- boleth," XII. ch. Also the prowess of the chil- dren of Benjamin was certainly worth recording, XX., 16 — "Among all this people there were seven hundred chosen men, left-handed ; every one could sling stones at an hair breadth and never miss." The italics are not in the original. ! I j f I i I I I iiir! 3' THl LITTER AND THE BOOK. " As an illustration t)f the ambiguous way in which the Chronicles recorded a great portion of the history contained in the earlier books read the account of the taking ol the city of Debir in Joshua XV., H-»9- *« '*»•« *"** **»• following chapters it is expressly intimated that Joshua was alive when Caleb took Debir. In Judges I., 1 1- 13, is the same account in about the same phrase- ology, and in the beginning of the chapter It ex- pressly declares that the occurrence tt»ok place af- ter Joshua was dead. The book of Judges is intensely interesting as illustrating the terribly depraved and immoral in- clination of the Children of Israel. i ^^ 1. 1 ^-iIm siila !! i I !jl|ilil i The book of Ruth is an account of a curious in- termarriage of a Bethlehemite with a Moabitish maiden, an example of a mesalliance heinous in the extreme, and which practice amongst the Israelites subsequently met with the seve.-est de- nunciation. Moab, the father of the Moabites, was the son of incest, and this Moabitish maiden was the great grandmother of King David. The Deuteronomical law declared •♦ An Am- monite or a Moabite shall not enter into the as- sembly of the Lord, even to the tenth generation shall none belonging to them enter into the As- sembly of the Lord forever. Thou shalt not seek THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. 33 their peace nor their prosperity all thy days for ever. The books of Samuel and Kings in the Latin Vulg^ate are called the four books of Kings. The books of Samuel are practically tiie histor- ies of Samuel, Saul and David. It is evident that the two books of Kings were originally one book of the "Sacred Writings", for there is no marked division whatever in the narrative between the books. The last verse of the last chapter of ! Kings rends into the ist verse of the first chapter of II. Kings without any stop. To Jeremiah has been traditionally accredited the authorship. The last chapter of II. Kings is almost identical with the last chapter of Jeremiah. Whoever the author of either was, one is copied from the other. Rev. John Eadie, D.D., LL.D., late professor of Bibical Literature to the United Presbyterian Church, says: "Much variety of opinion exists with reference to the author of these records ("Kings") and the period of their composition. The treatise is ev- idently a compilation from some more extensive national register ; but whatever may have been its character, the book before us has all the appear- ance of being the production of one writer." The Chronicles is simply a chronological attempt 34 THB LETTER AND THE BOOK. ■■1 0:' ■t ,i ! ■ 1 ;■ ; ■ m to pourtray •peci»lly the religious aipecti of the times of the kings. The first ten chapters of the ist Book is a wearisome list of endless genealog- Chronicles is more ecclesiastic in its structure, is more concerned with thi Jews as a church than the Jews as a state. The order and arrangement of the public worship occupy a prominent place. Chronology in Kings and Chronicles, despite its attempt at precision, is frequently astray. II Kings XV., 30, says "Hosea began to reign in Israel in the twentieth year of Jotham, King of Judah," but verse 33 of the same chapter trips by saying Jotham only reigned sixteen years. In chapter XVII., the chronologist makes a further correction, for, instead of Hosea beginning to reign in the twentieth year of Jotham, it is here claimed that he began tv r I-n in the twelfth year of Ahaz— Jotham's son. Take another illustration: II. Kings XVI., 2, "Twenty years old was Ahaz when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem," and at his death, "Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead." Chapter XVIII., 2, says, "Twenty and five years old was be when he (Hezekiah) began to reign." If Ahaz was only thirty-six years old when he died, how could his son, Hezekiah, be twenty-five :! ! THB LBTTBR AND THl BOOK. 35 years old at the time. Take another illustration: V;^u?~"''*''" ^^^' *°' ^•*'°^*'" " mentioned as Thirty and two years old when he began to reign and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years" and Ahaiiah, his youngest son, reigned in his stead, but chapter XXII., a, says "Forty and two years old was he (Ahaziah) when he began to reign." Accordmg to the inspired narrative, therefore, he IS represented as being two years older than his own father. In I. Samuel XXI., 14-23, David is called "a mighty man of valor, and a man of war, and prudent in speech, and a comely person," and further the record says "And David came to Saul and stood before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armour bearer. " In those days an armour bearer, like the cup bearer, was one of the most trusted and intimate companions of the King. In the next chapter the record seems dif- ferent, and all Saul s friendship appears to be for- gotten. Here David is declared to be "but a youth " Verse 55, says "And when Saul saw iJavid, he said unto Abner whose son is this youth? And Abner said, as thy soul liveth, O Kinir. I can- not tell." **' The last two verses of the last chapter II Chronicles are identical with the first two and part of the third verses of 1st Ezra, preying that mu 36 THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. at one time the two were closely connected. In II. Samuel, XXIV., it is said God moved David to number Israel and Judah. The num- bers were for Israel 800,000 and for Judah 500,- 000. The same record in I. Chron., XXI., de- clares that Satan, not God, moved David to do the work. The census in Chron. gives Israel 1,100,000 and Judah 470,000. The books of Eera and Nehemiah are supposed to have been written by the author of the Chroni- cles and at one time to have been incorporated with these books. Although Ezra and Nehemiah are given preference in the Bib' — the minor prophets it must not be una \ that they antedated them. The books coi. *.o the records of partially successful attempts to restore the gates and rebuild Jerusalem. Most of the prophets wrote their inspired prophecies before or during the captivity and Ne- hemiah is accredited in II. Maccabees, II., 13, with being the compiler of these works. •' The same things were reported in the writings and commentaries of Neemias, and how he, founding a library, gathered together the acts of the Kings and the Prophets and of David and the Epistles of the Kings concerning the holy gifts." This compilation therefore could not have been earlier THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 37 than the fifth century before Christ and could not have included all the lesser prophecies, for Mala- chi, at any rate, had not written. While it is not contended that ir.e fcHowing order is absolutely accurate, it is nearly st , and is interesting as showing the 'er,i;th of tine during which the in- spired prophc-. j.*^ nv»d forth their declamation, their warnings and prophecies of the anointed of God : Jonah B.C. 862 Joel 800 Amos 787 Hosea 785—7*5 Micah 750 — 710 Isaiah 760 — 698 Nahum 713 Habakkuk . . 626 Zephaniah. . .B.C. 630 Daniel 607 — 534 Jeremiah . . . .629 — 562 Ezekiel 595—574 Obadiah 587 Haggai 520 Zechariah . . . 520 — 487 Malachi 397 How were these prophetical books preserved through the ages ? Nobody knows. The Scrip- tures themselves are silent concerning them. Inscribed with a stylus on soft clay and burnt into terra cotta tablets? Engraved on stone? Written on vellum papyrus or parchment? It matters not — suffice it that we have them as they are, and curious speculation in this direction is vain and fruitless. Isaiah lived contemporaneously with the found- I M liili II ill! riiif I m m lip 38 THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. ingofthe city of Rome. Isaiah means ••salva- tion of Jehovah." He was the son of Amos and is credited with having written the whole of the book bearing his name. Scholars, however, in- sist that more than one writer was engaged in the work. The style of the prophetical part of the book is grand and sublime. Prof. Delitzsch says: "The book may have been an anthology of prophetic discourses by dif- ferent authors, his name being the correct denom- ination of this collection of prophecies. " Dr. Geo. A. Smith says : •• Although inticipat- ed by Amos and Hosea in many of the leading doctrines, and excelled both by Jeremiah and the Great Prophet of the Exile, in depth of personal experience and width of religious outlook Isaiah was nevertheless the greatest of the Hebrew pro- phets." Daniel prophesied in captivity in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cyrus and Darius. The book is a mystery of history and prophecy and contains the most extraordinary pro- phetic utterances of any of the prophets. Jo- sephus regards him as the chief of the prophets, although the Jews of the first century were ex- tremely reluctant to admit the book into the Canon, as they found it difficult to deny the ful- fillment of prophecy in Jesus. The book is not in THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 39 Nehemiah's collection of the Hebrew prophets. The first six chapters are written in the third per- son and probably were not written by Daniel. They are historic. The remainder of the book is prophetical and is written in the first person. Jeremiah is the weeping prophet, and accord- ing to his own words, ist chapter, was specially acceptable to God before he was born. He led a charmed life, being wonderfully protected. Writ- ers on Anglo Israel contend that Jeremiah escap- ed the horrors of captivity and fled to Ireland, bringing sacred treasures with him which will be revealed at the proper time. Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, was pre-eminently a visionist, a priest and prophet. He was carried into captivity with Jehoiachin, King of Judah, B. C. 598. His visions, although sublime beyond expresr re, humanly speaking, impossible of compret. 1, and the long book of 45 chapters is somewnat laborious reading. Chapters from the XL. to the XLIV. are tak- en up with the minute detailed description of a new temple and courts so vast and intricate as to be incomprehensible. In the 5th verse of chap. XL. there is given as a guide for the measurement of the builc ^s the length of a reed in a man's hand, viz., six ubits or nine feet. Then in the XLII. 40 THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. 11 h I PsH III ! chap., verses i6 to 20, is given the measurement of the outer temple precincts, s^o reeds tguare, or 4500 feet — nearly a mile square. The doctors of the Sacred Synagogue long hesitated to admit this book into the Canon. Esther. This is the last of the historical books and the least important of the whole Scriptures. It is a terrible story of the slaughter of 75,000 innocent people by their own captives by special permission of Ahazuerus, monarch of the con- querors, the most remarkable and unparalleled butchery in the annals of the human race. Among the Jews the book has naturally always been held in the highest veneration. There is no mention made of the name of God in the whole book. It is reputed to have been written by either Ezra or Mordecai after the downfall of Persia. "A spirit of revenge and persecution prevails in the book, and that no other book in the O. T. is so far removed as this from the spirit of the Gospel." Frederick Bleek. " If anyone wishes to see the perfect antithesis of the precepts and the spirit of the Gospel of Christ let him read the book of Esther." Gladden. Ill The poetical books of the Bible include Job, Psalms Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs ! > Ijl i nil THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. and Lamentations. 4i Job. This book contains some of the most pa- thetic and inscrutable thoughts ever uttered. It is a magnificent dialogistical poem than which no more profound has ever been composed. It has been the subject of endless critical study, and will be for years to come. The book contains no al- lusion to the Levitical law and the scene is laid in the land of Xiz^ a region south east of Palestine known as Arabia Deserta. The book of Job is generally conceded to be one of the oldest, if not the very oldest, complete work of the Bible. The author is not known and the date is a matter of conjecture. Some scholars place it with the time of Abraham, some with Moses. Psalms. Hebrew "Tehillim," a praise book. Who wrote the Psalms ? Seventy-three are as- cribed to David, one to Ethan the Ezralite, one to Moses, one to Heman, eleven to Asaph, and the authorship of the others is unknown. The book is divided into five parts. The XLI. closes the first part and ends with a benediction and amen. The LXXII. closes the second, concluding with the words "The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended." The LXXXIX. closes the third part, ending also with a benediction and amen. The CVI. closes the fourth with a bene- it- 43 THE LITTER AND THE BOOK. diction and amen ! '* Praise ye the Lord !" and the fifth part includes the remainder. The untranslated Hebrew words of the Psalms, according to Prof. Murray, bear the following in- terpretation : Selah — a mark of expression, such as ** forte." Michlam and Maichil are musical notes indicat- ing the time of the melody. Gittish and Shiggaion indicate the kind of mel- ody. Negiloth means stringed instrument. Nehiloth means pipes and flutes. Upon Shemmith means for bass voices. Upon Alamoth means for female voices. Upon Muthlahhen means arranged for training the soprano voices. Shushan Eduth — •• Fair as lilies is thy law." Aijeleth Shahar—** T\it Stag at Dawn." The CXIX. Psalm is perhaps the most beauti- ful poem of religious thought ever composed. It consists of twenty-two stanzas or sonnets, each sonnet of eight verses designated by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and every verse breathing a sentiment concerning the "word" or "testimony" or "law" or "commandment" or "precept" or "way of righteousness" or some expression equiv- alent to either of these. Proverbs in the Hebrew is sometimes called THE LBTTBR AN1> THB BOOK. 43 Mishle Shehmifh, which signifies Sayings of Sol- omon, and are wise apothegms, precepts and maxims treating of the numerous duties and warn- ings devolving upon those who would seek right- eousness. Solomon c -mot claim the authorship of the two last chapters, which are attributed to Agur, the son of Jakeh, and King Lemuel, whoever he was, for there is no other historical record of such a name in existence. Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher, in Hebrew is called Koheleth and is attributed to Solomon. There are some wonderful utterances in the book and a great deal that is unspeakably sad. While a Hebrew may have written in this strain it is scarcely conceivable of an up-to-date Christian singing his best in such an ecstacy. Dean Stanley says, referring to the book as a whole: " Their cry is indeed full of doubt and despair and perplexity ; it is such as we often hear from the melancholy, skeptical, inquiring spirits of our own age ; such as we often refuse to hear and regard as unworthy even a good man's thought or care, but the admission of such a cry into the Book of Ecclesiastes shows that it is not beneath the notice of the Bible nor beneath the notice of God." 44 THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. Song of Songs, the Song of Solomon, or the Can- ticles, is unquestionably, according to Canon Far- rar, Washington Gladden and others, a simple >lebrew love song. Gregory Nazianzen calls it " A bridal dramatic song." Patrick calls it " A pastoral eclogue." Farrar says: " It is the ex- quisite celebration of a pure love in humble life ; of a love which no splendor can dazzle and no flattery seduce." Gladden says: " It is a dra- matic poem, celebrating the story of a beautiful peasant girl, a native of the northern village of Shunem, who was carried away by Solomon's of- ficers and confined in his harem at Jerusalem. But in the midst of all this splendor her heart is true, her honor remains unstained, and she is carried home at length by the swain who has come to Jerusalem for her rescue." The poem is ascribed to Solomon, but accord- ing to the opinions of the best scholars it is not at all probable that he wrote a word of it. Lemtentationsy in the Hebrew called " Ah How," consists of five poems, each separate and distinct. The first two and the last two have each twenty- two stanzas. The middle one has sixty-six and refers to the author's own personal griefs and sorrows. The others refer to the sorrows of the Jewish people. The Hebrew alphabet has twenty- pHo letters and each verse of four of these poems ii THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 45 begins with a letter ot the alphabet. The middle poem has three verses to each letter. Apocrypha is a term in theology applied in var- ious senses to denote certain books claiming a sacred character, and in this sense includes the books of the Old Testament contained in the Douiy bibie af 1582 of the Romish Church, but omitted from the Evangelical bible and are as fol- lows : I. and II. Esdras, Tobit, Judith the rest of the chapters of the book of Esther which are found neither in the Hebrew nor in the Chaldee, The Wisdom of Solomon. The Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, The Song of the Three Holy Children, The History of Sus- anna, The History of the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manassah King of Judah, I. and II. Maccabees. Whatever question may be at issue as to the authority of these books, they have in any case an interest of which no controversy can deprive them as connected with the literature, and there- fore with the history of the Jews. They repre- sent the period of transition and decay which fol- lowed on the return from Babylon when the pro- phets, who were then the teachers of the people, had prised away and the age of scribes succeeded. 46 THB LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. THE NEW TESTAMENT. m. Thb four gospels are the important part of the N. T., and their authorship has been ascribed to the four Evangelists whose name each bears, al- though questions have continually arisen concern- ing the certainty of such authorship. Amongst the critics their authenticity has never been effect- ually discredited. It has been supposed that these gospels give us four distinct views of the life of Jesus. Matthew and John wrote what they had personally seen and heard. Luke gives the most complete life. Mark only the three years ministry of Jesus. It has ben contended by some teachers that Matthew vtrrotc for the Jews to show that Jesus was indeed the promised Messiah. Mark wrote for the Rom- ans, and sees in Jesus the miracle-working "Son of God." Luke, a Gentile, dwelt upon the hum- an side of Jesus, as the "Son of Man." He wrote for the Greeks. John wrote of Jesus as "God man- ifest in the flesh," and emphasized the divinity of Christ. His gospel was written for all Christians. The gospels, however, are not the gospels of Matthew or Mark, Luke and John, but according to Matthew or Mark. According to the theory of Washington Gladden the gospels a cribed to Matthew and Mark very likely were oral gospels THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 47 M spoken, preached, and delivered by them from time to time, gathered together by a compiler, and credited correctly to Matthew or Mark as the case might be. Luke and John bear unmistakable evidence of genuine authorship. Although Luke's name is not mentioned in the gospel, it is general- ly supposed that he, the companion of Paul, wrote to his friend Theophilus both the gospel and the Acts. The four gospels agree substantially in in- cident and evidence, the greatest discrepancy being in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew and Luke. The divergence is so great as to be total- ly irreconcilable. From David to Christ Matthew makes twenty-eight generations and Luke thirty- eight. Gladden says : '« All sorts of explanations, some plausible and others preposterous, have been of- fered of this difficulty. The one explanation tha t cannot be allowed is that these words were dic- tated by Omniscience." In any event the genealogy makes no difference and proves nothing, for in either place it is the genealogy of Joseph and not of the Virgin Mary. Matthew records Jesus' sermon on the mount, recites twenty parables and records seventeen miracles. Mark records eighteen miracles and recites four parables. Luke recites thirteen parables and records nine- r I 48 THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. teen miradet . John records six miracles but no parable. John makes no mention of his own name throughout the gospel. He records the conversation with the Pharisee Ntcodemus, and gives in full the beautiful talk of Jesus to His disciples on the eve of the crucifixion. *' Let not your heart be trou- bled," etc.; "In my Father's house are many mansions "; •• I am the true vine." There is no word of eternal punishment from beginning to close. In chapter III., 22 and a6, it is twice re- corded that Jesus baptized, but in chapter IV., a, it is distinctly denied that he baptized at all. Acts of the Ap0stles, written evidently as a se- quel to the gospel according to Luke, and natur- ally Luke is credited with the authorship, although there is no actual internal evidence as proof. In any event it is a splendid letter or book written to Theophilus, the personal friend of the writer, and certainly the writer, whoever he was, never imagined that his unparalleled communication should have such universal publicity. The book contains in part the early history of the primitive Christian church and in the main consists of the record of the apostolic acts of Pe- ter and Paul, the first part devoted to the Ascen- sion of Jesns and the Pentecostal oulpourin,,' of the Spirit and the works of Peter. The latter TMB I.RTTKR AND THl BOOK. ^a part recounts the wonderful conversion of Paul, h« travels, his church planting, his arrest and his journey to Rome. The Act. also records the first diueosion of the Apostolic brethren, XV., 36-41. Pours EpistU to the Romans, written by Paul about the year 55 A.D. from Corinth to the people of Rome. This epistle is first in importance of all the epistles. By some authorities the genu- ineness of the last two chapters have been ques- tioned. Paul had often expressed a desire to visit and found a church at Rome, and it was em- minently proper that he should write to Rome such an epistle. If Peter founded the Romish church, as the papacy contends, Paul does not mention his name in the letter, indeed he affirms that he does not build on another's foundation. •• It claims our interest more than the other didactic epistles of Paul because it is more sys- tematic and because it explains especially that truth which subsequently became the principle of *^!u J^^'fw'"**'""' ""''''' "i^hteousness through iaith." (McClintock & Strong.) Ch. XII. especially commends itself to Chris- tians as containing perhaps the most inspiring exhortation to a righteous life ever penned in so short a compass. Written from Corinth and sent on by Phebe. so THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. /. and 11. Corinthians. The 1. epistle, written by Paul and Sosthenes, contains the spiritual teachings of the Apostle which culminates in Chapters XII., XIII. and XIV., followed by a deliverance on the Resurrection. The II. Epistle, by Paul and Timothy, does not contain quite such direct doctrinal teaching. It is more personal and is full of affectionate utterances of joys and sorrows. It tells of his ascension to the third heaven. The XIII. ch. of I. Cor. is the gem of all Epistolary writings. Paul is hard on the women. I. Cor., XIV., 34 : " Let your women keep silence in the church- es, for it is not permitted unto them to speak." The I. Epistle was written irom Phillipi by Stephen and Fortunatus, Achaicus and Timotheus for Paul. The II. was written trom the same place by Titus and Lucas. Galatians. Written by Paul 53 or 54 A.D., to the church in Calatia, wherein he displays great anxiety to correct certain erroneous opinions which were creeping into the church concerning the doctrine of justification by faith. Also a rec- ord of the discussion between Peter and Paul and the account of Paul's rebuke to Peter — written from Rome while Paul was a prisoner. THE LBTTBR AND THE BOOK. 51 Ephesians. An epistle written to the church at Ephesus by Paul about the year 61 A.D. Paul was reputed to be cast to the lions into the great arena at Ephesus, from which, however, he was wonderfully delivered. II. Timothy. IV.. ,7. This letter of Paul was written from Rome by the hand ofTychicus. It contains that allegory of the soldier s panoply of the whole armor of God. the loins girt with truth, the breastplate of right- eousness feet shod with the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit. «.pt^T'n'^"'P''''"^""^" '°*he church at Ph.ll,p, by Paul and Timothy about the year 62 A. D. It ,s a letter of encouragement and appro- bafon to the friends there who had shown them- selves particularly kind to the Apostle. No re- buke or censure is administered in any respect. Written from Rome by Epaphroditus. Cfossians An epistle from Paul and Tin.othy to the church at Colossi, the object evidently be- Icl^^^'^'f"'^ *'' '^""*^ '^^'^ ^ *-^ 'deal of Christian life and practice, based on a true con- ception of the relation of Christ to the world at large and the church. Written from Rome by Tychicus and Onesimus. 5a THE LETTER AND TMB BOOK. /. and II. Thessalonians. Epistles written by Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the church at Thessalonica about the year 52 or 53, with the in- tent to encourage, stimulate and further establish the church there with some special teaching's con- cerning the resurrection and the expected return of Jesus. Both epistl** - written from Athens. /. and II. Timothy. Fraternal letters from Paul to Timothy. The first contains greetings, instructions and advice respecting the duties and qualifications of certain ecclesiastical officers. His strictures concerning women would scarcely do, however, for these days. " Let the women learn in silence with all subjection." **I suffer not a woman to teach." The II. Epistle was written a year or so after the first and while Paul was a prisoner in Rome, hourly expecting martyrdom. He had twice been before Nero. At this time Timothy had been or- dained first bishop of the church of the Ephesians. Titus. A short letter of couasel and advice written about the year 60. Titus, Bishop of the Cretans, who was a Gentile and probably con- verted under the ministration of Paul. Philemon. A fraternal and mutual letter from Paul and Timothy to their friend Philemon. Writ- THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 53 ten from Rome while Paul was a prisoner there ; written by his servant Onesimus. Hebrews. One of the most important epistles in the N. T. The aim of the author evidently was to exhibit in detail the points in which the re- ligion of the N. T. is superior to the Old. The opinion of the writer is that Christianity is the culmination of all possible religion. The epistle is ascribed in the A. V. to Paul, but the author- ship is doubtful. " That the apostle " (Paul) ♦♦ was not the author of it " (Hebrews) '♦ is now so generally admitted that it is hardly worth while discussing the ques- tion." "The writer of Hebrews was not only not St. Paul, but not even a disciple of St. Paul ; but while not a follower of St. Paul our author is in thorough sympathy with all the leading posi- tions of Paulinism. Without doubt he stands on the ground of Universalism. " A. R. Bruce in Diet, of the Bible by J. Hastings, D.D. Irenius omits the Epistle from the canonical list. TertuUian denies the inspiration of Hebrews. James. An epistle general to the twelve tribes of Israel. No distinction is herein made concern- ing the ten tribes supposed to be lost and the tribes of Juda and Benjamin. The letter is with- out the usual apostolic benediction. 54 THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. Luther called /ame^ " A right strawy epistle." Ireneus and TertuUian omit James from their canonical list. /. and IL Peter. Written by the Apostle Si- mon Peter from Babylon on the Euphrates to the strangers scattered abroad. Some have suppos- ed that the Babylon referred to means Rome and corresponds with the Babylon of the Apocalypse, hence Rome and Babylon are synonymous. Rome, therefore, under the name of Babylon, was to suffer. I. Peter, III., 19-20, tells of the preaching of Jesus to the spirits in prison, those who lived in the days of Noah before the flood. IV., 6 : ••For this cause was the Gospel preached, also to them that are dead." I renins omits II. Peter from the Canon. Origen denies the inspiration of II. Peter. Tertullion classes II. Peter as doubtful. f /., //. and III. John. The I. Epistle is a dis- course on the love of God and brotherly love, and commends universal christian love to all. No one could read a single chapter of his beautiful epistle without being lifted into the atmosphere of heaven. It is a most delightful treatise full of spiritual meat. Love begins the book, and love is the THE LETTER AND THr. BOOK. 55 theme throughout. By some scholars it has been considered a prefex, an introduction to the gospel by the same beloved apostle. The Epistlehas been generally attributed to John although his name in no way appears. The II. Epistle is simply a letter from John to a personal lady friend and her children. The III. Epistle is a letter to one Gaius com- mending his piety. /ude written about the year 65 by Judas the brother of James the Less. This letter is classed as doubtful by Origin, its inspiration denied by Tertullion and omitted altogether from the can- onical list of Ireneus. Jude speaks specially of the apostasy of the angels and the severity of the judgments of the Almighty. Revelation, sometimes called the Aporalypse, written by John, (supposed to be apostle John,) but this is doubted by some scholars. The style is not like the apostle's but is after the mannerism of the apocalyptical visions of Ezekiel, and there are other reasons for supposing it was not written by the beloved disciple. Written about the year A. D. 95 or 97 at Patmos. It contains the solemn messages and warnings of the Spirit through John to the Seven Asiatic churches : Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, 56 THE LBTTBR AND THB BOOK. Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea, which although only planted half a century, had all but the church of Philadelphia apostacised and fallen from grace. The book is manifestly hard to understand and has been interpreted in no end of ways by count- less wise men in all ages. The end of the world has been calculated from it hundreds of times and no doubt will be again. The Praeterists believe that the Revelation has been almost altogether fulfilled. The Continuous expositors believe the Revelation to be a progressive history of the fortunes of the church. Various ingenious and curious explanations of Antichrist, Magog and the Beast and the number of the Beast have been given. Napoleon Buonaparte, the Romish church and Mohammedanism playing conspicious parts. The seventh chapter records the sealing of all the tribes of Israel to the number of one hundred and forty and four thousand, but the tribe of Dan is not mentioned. The book is replete with allegorical figures, mysterious heiroglyphics, and incomprehensable symbols including The Seven Spirits of God The Seven Golden Candlesticks The Seven Stars The Seven Heads THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 57 The Seven Mountains The Seven Kings The Seven Vials poured out The Seven Seals opened The Seven Trumpets sounding The Seven Angels. The book closes with an anathema to any who shall add unto the words of the book or take away therefrom. The book of course refers to the Revelation alone and not to the Bible, for it was not then compiled. From the various interpretations of the literal wording of the New Testament in particular have been founded all and singular the doctrines of the three hundred, and odd branches of the Christian church, all 01 them claiming a correct interpreta- tion of the inspired scriptures and all professing the guidance of the Holy Spirit. "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. " Prominent amongst these divergent religious creeds and sects are the following : The Roman Catholic Church, with its dogmas of Infallability, Tr?nsubstantiation, Purgatory, Intercession of Saints, the Immaculate Concep- tion and Worship of the Virgin Mary. The Grefi Church. The eastern oriental branch i' t 11 58 THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. of the Christian church who reject certain decrees of the Western Councils and the authority of the Roman Pontiff in favor of the Metropolitan at St. Petersburg and the Patriarchs of the Communion. The Church of England maintains the divine right of the Episcopacy and its absolute necessity to the existence of the church. The Church of England maintains that the order of bishops takes the literal place of the apostles by divine appoint- ment. This is the ground of the High Church coupled with its intense sacerdotal ordinances. From some of these premises the Low Church and the Reformed Church dissent. The Methodist Church teaches salvation by faith, sanctification and full sanctification or holi- ness, which is the crowning doctrine of the church throughout Cnristendom. The Episcopal Methodists^ Bible Christians, Free Methodists^ Ranters , Nero Connexion and all other Branches of Methodism in other countries practi- cally teach the same doctrines as the larger Meth- odist body. The Lutheran Church teaches justification by faith. THE LETTER AND THE BOOK. 59 The Unmersalists believe in the final destruc- tion of sin and the reclamation or reconciliation of all souls to God through Jesus. The Unitarians include all those who worship God as one God, rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity. The Presbyterians teach the Calvinistic doctrine of predestination, reject the authority of a bishop, and are governed by the Presbytery and must, subscribe to the 33 chapters of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which treats of all the im- portant doctrines of Christianity. The Baptists reject the validity of infant bap- tism and hold to the doctrine of confession of faith and adult immersion. The Congregationalists contend that every local congregation of believers united for worship, sac- rament and discipline is a complete church £= J not to be subject to the government of any eccles- iastical authority outside of itself. The Catholic Apostolic Church is a body of be- lievers following somewhat after the Greek Church. Side issues of the above include the Disciples, 6o THB LBTTIR AhD THB BOOK. Quakers, the Shakers, the Mennonites, the Douk- hobors, the Lord's Arr-y, the Salvation Army, Christians, Plymouth Brethren, Latter Day SainU, and ao on. I* Speaking of the difficulty of arriving at correct conclusions respecting the true interpretation and translation from the original Scriptures, Canon Farrar, a Greek and Hebrew scholar, comments on the word «' Hell " (preface to Eternal Hope) : *' I must not shrink from recording my most em* phatic opinion that if the Revision Committee re- tain the word '* hell " as a correct version of Ge- henna they will be incurring a very grave and aw- ful responsibility." In his Excurses V., p. 205, Farrar says : ♦' In proportion to the deep and unfeigned reverence which I have ever felt for Holy Scriptures is the sense of sorrow, and almost indignation, with which I view its constant perversion by the at- tempt to build up infinite systems out ■■ meta- phorical expressions and isolated texts. " They were quoted against St. Peter, again:.. St. Paul, nay, even against Christ himself. They wore quoted against Wycliffe, against Luther, against Wilberforce, against the cause of Education, against the cause of Temperance. They have been quoted in defence of polygamy, in defence of opp "^ssion, in defence of persecution, in de- tHB LRTTBR AKD THl BOOK. 6| fence of intolerance, in defence of «' the right di- vine of kings to govern wrong." " What the Bible teaches as a whole— what the Bibles also teach as a whole— for History and Conscience and Nature and Experience— these too are sacred books— that, and that only is the immutable law of God." " Now if the doctrine of endless torment, with all its Calvinistic and popular accretions, be true, it is incredible that there should be no trace of it in the entire Old Testament." Rev. H. N. Adler : '• Of this you may be quite sure— that there is not a word in the Talmud that lends any support to that damnable doctrine of endless torment." The Chief Rabbi, Michel A. Weill, in his elab- orate work, Le Judaisme les Dogmes et sa Mis- sion, distinctly decides that the doctrine of end- less torment is Scripturally untenable. 6a THB LITTBR AND THB BOOK. PARAHLKS AND MIRACLES OF JESUS. ^:. thcMofc ImfWftant RcfcitiieM. The Huiss- on Me Scad .... Matt. VII. The Nc" Jo 1. om .H arment . •' IX. The Nu. Win. M. -nd Bottles . . " IX. The Lea en «♦ XIII. TheSovT «• XIIL The Musitard Seed *« XIII. The Tares " XIH. The Hidden Treasure *' XIIL The Goodly Pearl "XIIL The r.on Net '« XIIL The Unmerciful Servant .... "XVIIL The Lost Sheep •'XVIII. The Laborers in Ihe Vineyard . . " XX. The Wicked Husbandman ... ♦* XXL The Two Sons '« XXL The Marriage of the King's Son . •« XXII The Fig Tree •• XXIV. The Ten Virgins " XXV The Sheep and the Goats . ... " XXV. The Talents " XXV. The Seed Mark IV. The Householder "XIIL THB LBTTRR AND THB BOOK. The Two Debtor ^uke I he Good Samaritan The Midnight Friend . . The Rich Man .......' The Wedding Feast . . . .' .' The Steward The Fig Tree The Great Supper The Piece of Money The Prodigal Son . . . ] ] * The Unjust Steward The Rich Man and Lazarus . The Unprofitable Servairt .... The Unjust Judge The Pounds .... 63 VII. X. • XI. • XII. • XII. ' XII. ' XIII. XIV. XV. XV. XVI. XVI. XVII. XVIII. XIX. » MIRACLB Water Into Wine .... Heals Nobleman's Son . Miraculous Draught of Fishes Heals the Demoniac , . Heals Peter's Mother-in-Law Heals a Leper Heals the Centurion's Servant . Raises the Widow's Son at Nain Stills the Tempest .... Gofpel. John II. > < IV Luke 1 Mark I.