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 Christ's testimony to Moses : a sermon 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
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CHRIST'S TESTIMONY TO MDSE&c-^ 
 
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 APR 1 1 
 
 '//To, 
 PREACHED IX THE PARISH CHURCH OF ST. ANXE, LU 
 
 On Sunday, ]S r or. 16^, 1862, 
 
 WITH REFERENCE TO BISHOP COLENSO'S WORK ON 
 THE PENTATEUCH. 
 
 EDWARD RHYS JONES, M.A 
 
 RECTOR OF LIMEH0U8E, AND 
 RUB \L DEAN. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 
 
 LOXDOX : 
 WERTHEIM, MACINTOSH, AND HUNT, 
 
 21, Patersosteb Row, 
 avd 23, Holle8 Street, Cavehihsh Square. 
 
Nothing but a grave occasion would justify the use of the pulpit 
 for the notice and censure of a particular book ; but the immense 
 importance of tbe questions recently raised, and the extraordinary 
 publicity and interest which the controversy has acquired, sup- 
 ply, it is hoped, a sufficient apology. 
 
 The following Sermon is committed to the press in compliance 
 with the wish of some who heard it, and with the earnest hope 
 and prayer, that the suggestions it contains may help to supply 
 some inquiring minds with a clue to the solution of their diffi- 
 culties, and issue in their being "established in the present 
 truth." 
 
 It may be added, that just after sending this Sermon to the 
 Printer, the Author received a special request for its publication 
 from the Limehouse Church of England Young Men's 
 Society. 
 
CHRIST'S TESTIMONY TO MOSES. 
 
 St. John v. 46, 47 
 
 Had vc believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. 
 Bat if ye believe not Ins writing, how shall ye believe my words? 
 
 The Jews of our Lord's day, and especially the Pharisees were 
 accustomed to pride themselves on the possession and knowledge 
 of the Old Testament Scriptures, and especially of the five books 
 of Moses. Thus, when a blind man, to whom our Lord hud 
 .riven sight, was boldly persisting in his testimony to Jesus, he 
 was met with this reply, "Thou art His disciple but we are 
 Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses ; as for- 
 tius fellow, we know not from whence He is." (Johnix. 28, 29.) 
 On the other hand, many Christians of the present day take 
 up the reverse position, and say— some in so many words- and 
 many more in words really amounting to the same thing, W e 
 know that God spake unto Jesus Christ; but as for Moses, we 
 know not from whence he is." They profess to acknowledge the 
 authority of Christ, thev appeal from Moses to Christ, let them 
 then hear what Christ says respecting the question at issue. 
 Observe the verse which precedes the text:-" Do not think 
 that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth 
 you, even Moses, in whom ye trust." Does onr Lord proceed 
 to tell these Jews that they were wrong in trusting in Moses 
 Does He assert that Moses was not a trustworthy author ? Does 
 He affirm that Moses was guilty of many errors or mistakes in 
 his books, or, that the five books which bear his name were not 
 written by him at all, but by some anonymous author or authors, 
 
who used his name to pass off their own erroneous compositions? 
 In a word, does Jesus Christ say, as has been said, in a work 
 just published, "that the Pentateuch as a whole was not written 
 by Moses, and that, with respect to some at least of the chief 
 portions of the story, it cannot be regarded as historically true ? '' 
 (p. 13.) Far otherwise. In one single clause of the text he con- 
 futes both the statements just quoted : — " He wrote of me," — As 
 if He had said, You are right in regarding the five books which 
 bear the name of Moses as written by him — " He wrote " them. 
 And again, What he wrote is true. I do not caution you 
 against placing too implicit a credit in all the contents of those 
 books ; but while all are true, some parts call for your special 
 notice, as bearing immediately on the question, whether, or not, 
 I am the promised Messiah — " He wrote of me." 
 
 The grand error of the Jews of that day was, not that they 
 believed Moses too much, but that they believed Him too little. 
 They had not studied his writings with sufficient attention, and 
 with prayer for the teaching of that Holy Spirit by whom 
 Moses was inspired. In fact, they did not really believe Moses, 
 for, as our Lord sajs, " Had ye believed Moses, ye would have 
 believed Me ; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his 
 writings, how shall ye believe My words ? " 
 
 Nor was this the only occasion on which our Lord appealed 
 to Moses, as one about whose writings there was no question. 
 
 Let me remind you of several well-known passages. Our 
 Lord represents Abraham as saying to the rich man, who had 
 asked that Lazarus might be sent from the dead, to testify to 
 his five brethren, " They have Moses and the prophets; let 
 them hear them." And when the rich man again urged his 
 request — " Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them 
 from the dead, they will repent " — Abraham replied, and our 
 Lord evidently intended his answer to be regarded as true, and 
 decisive, and enunciating a great general principle — " If they 
 hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, 
 though one rose from the dead." (Luke xvi. 29 — 31 .) 
 
 Again, during His last visit to Jerusalem, a few days before 
 His crucifixion, our Lord, arguing with the Sadducees, who 
 disbelieved the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, refers 
 them to the testimony of Moses as conclusive — "Now that the 
 
dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush " — in his his- 
 tory of the burning bush. (Luke xx. 37.) 
 
 So again, when our Lord joined the two disciples, as they 
 walked to Emmaus, on the evening of His resurrection, we 
 read that " Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He ex- 
 pounded unto them in all the Scriptures, the things concerning 
 Himself." (Luke xxiv. 27.) 
 
 Once more. We find it recorded among the last words 
 which our Blessed Lord spoke on earth, before He ascended to 
 the Father, — " These are the words which I spake unto you, 
 while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which 
 were written in the law of Moses, and in the Psalms, and in the 
 prophets concerning Me." (Luke xxiv. 44.) 
 
 You will have observed that in none of these passages in 
 which our Lord refers to the writings of Moses, and builds very 
 important arguments upon them, does He throw out the 
 slightest hint that those writings were to be received with sus- 
 picion, hesitation, or caution. On the contrary, He places 
 them on exactly the same footing with the other books of the 
 Old Testament, and appeals to them as not only true, but 
 divinely inspired. 
 
 In addition to these passages, in which our Lord refers to the 
 writings of Moses by name, it may be well to notice a few 
 others, in which, though He does not expressly name Moses, 
 He evidently refers to his writings, and as it were, sets His 
 seal to the truth of portions of the Mosaic history which have 
 been especially called in question. 
 
 When the Pharisees had proposed to our Lord a question re- 
 specting divorce, " He answered and said unto them, Have ye 
 not read that He which made them at the beginning made 
 them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man 
 leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife : and they 
 twain shall be one flesh ? W r herefore," He adds, " they are 
 no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined 
 together, let no man put asunder." (Matt. xix. 4 — 6.) Here 
 our Lord evidently refers to the Mosaic history of the creation of 
 man, as related in Gen. ii., and He does so without giving the 
 slightest hint that that chapter was not written by Moses, or 
 that it is not a true history. On the contrary, his whole argu- 
 

 
 ment is based on that which Moses asserts as a fact, but which 
 many now deny, flint God originally created man one pair — 
 
 a male and a female — and that the whole human race are 
 descended from that one pair. 
 
 Again, with reference to the Deluge — The book to which 1 
 have alluded affects to treat the account as altogether unhis- 
 foricnl. (Preface, p. viii.) But can we doubt what view our 
 .Lord took of that awful and mysterious history, when we find 
 Him expressly referring to it, in illustration of the suddenness of 
 His second coming. "And as it was in the days of Noe, so 
 shall it be also in the days of 'the Son of man. They did eat, 
 they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, 
 until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, 
 and destroyed them all." (Luke xvii. 26.) 
 
 Is it at all credible, can we possibly believe, that on such an 
 occasion as this, when our Lord was foretelling that great and 
 solemn event, by which the present dispensation will be brought 
 to a close — His own coming in glory — He would thus have re- 
 ferred to the history of the Deluge as a true history (which His 
 disciples and all the Jews supposed it to be), if it had been, 
 to use the guarded word of the author referred to, " Unhis- 
 torical," or, as he evidently regards it, a fiction ; though, to 
 give his own explanation, not a fiction in the sense in which the 
 word is frequently understood — as " implying a conscious dis- 
 honesty on the part of the writer — an intention to deceive." 
 (Preface, p. xvii.) 
 
 No, we may safely conclude from the way in which our Lord 
 here speaks of the Flood, that He intended His disciples to 
 continue to believe, as they always had believed, and as the 
 Jews to the present day believe, that the Deluge was a real his- 
 torical event, and not in any sense of the word a fiction. 
 
 Having thus referred to the Deluge, our Lord proceeds to 
 illustrate His subject further by referring to another similar 
 event, which has also been doubted and disbelieved by many :- — 
 " Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot, they did eat, they 
 drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded : but 
 the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and 
 brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus 
 shall it be in the days when the Son of man is revealed." 
 
And then a little further on, singling out that particular de- 
 tail which in the whole history might seem the most open to 
 question, He savs with solemn emphasis — " Remember Lot's 
 wife." (Luke xvii. 28—30, 32.) 
 
 The proofs I have alleged are, I venture to hope, sufficient to 
 show, not only that our Lord quoted from the writings of 
 Moses, and appealed to them as authoritative, but also that He 
 regarded them as, in the fullest sense of the word, historical, as 
 containing true histories of real events — correct accounts of 
 actual matters of fact. 
 
 To most of us the line of argument I have been pursuing will 
 appear entirely satisfactory and conclusive. If our Lord Jesus 
 Christ regarded the Pentateuch as written by Moses, and as 
 containing true history, we cannot feel a moment's hesitation 
 in receiving it as such ourselves. 
 
 But alas ! what appears to us an irrefragable proof, fails to 
 carry conviction to the minds of some — and those not merely pro- 
 fessing Christians — but men of influence and authority in our 
 Church. It is with deep pain that I quote the three arguments 
 by which the author I have already referred to seeks to neutralize 
 the sanction given by our Lord to the Pentateuch. 
 
 i. He says that our Lord's words in attestation of Moses 
 apply only to certain parts of the Pentateuch. (Preface, p. xxx.) 
 and in proof of this he alleges that the last chapter of 
 Deuteronomy, which records the death of Moses, could not have 
 been written by his hand. Of course no one ever thought for a 
 moment that it was. The Jews never thought so; they 
 believed it was added by Joshua, to make the book complete. 
 But the Jews always have believed that the rest of the Penta- 
 teuch was written by Moses, with the exception of a verse or two 
 here and there, which may have been inserted by Ezra, when 
 collecting and editing those Old Testament Scriptures which 
 had been written down to his time. And if, as is now 
 asserted, the greater part of the Pentateuch (and not merely 
 that one short chapter) was composed by other, and those 
 inaccurate writers, can we believe that our Lord would not 
 have cautioned the Jews against regarding Moses as its author ? 
 
ii. His second argument is, "It may be said that our Lord 
 did but accommodate His words to the current popular language 
 of* the day." (Preface, p. xxxi.) But when we consider the grave 
 earnestness with which our Lord always spoke, and the exceeding 
 solemnity of several of the occasions to which I have referred, it 
 seems strange that any devout reader should for a moment suppose 
 that our Lord was merely accommodating His words to current 
 popular language — language which was incorrect and unhistorical? 
 
 iii. The third argument is the worst and most painful of all ; 
 it is this : — " It is perfectly consistent with the most entire 
 and sincere belief in our Lord's divinity, to hold, as many do, 
 that when He vouchsafed to become ' a Son of man,' He took 
 our nature fully, and voluntarily entered into all the conditions 
 of humanity, and among others, into that which makes our 
 growth in all ordinary knowledge gradual and limited. We 
 are expressly told in Luke ii. 52, that ' Jesus increased in 
 wisdom,' as well as in ' stature.' It is not supposed that in His 
 human nature He was acquainted, more than any educated Jew 
 of the age, with the mysteries of all modern science ; nor with 
 St. Luke's expressions before us, can it be seriously maintained, 
 that as an infant or young child He possessed a knowledge 
 surpassing that of the most pious and learned adults of His 
 nation, upon the subject of the authorship and age of the 
 different portions of the Pentateuch. At what period, then, of 
 His life upon earth is it to be supposed that He had granted to 
 Him, as the Son of man, supernaturally, full and accurate in- 
 formation on these points, so that He should be expected to 
 speak about the Pentateuch in other terms than any other de- 
 vout Jew of that day would have employed. Why should it be 
 thought that He would speak with certain Divine knowledge on 
 this matter, more than upon other matters of ordinary science or 
 history." (Preface, pp. xxxi. xxxii.) 
 
 To this we would reply — It is perfectly true — it is one of the 
 mysterious facts connected with the union of the Godhead and 
 manhood in the person of our Lord, that His human mind grew 
 in wisdom, made gradual attainments in knowledge ; but how 
 rapid was that growth, how extensive those gradual attainments, 
 is evident from the fact that, when at the age of twelve years. 
 
9 
 
 He was hearing the doctors in the temple, and asking them 
 questions, " All that heard Him were astonished at His under- 
 standing and answers." (Luke ii.47.) 
 
 But did our Lord's growth in wisdom and knowledge always 
 proceed in the same gradual manner ? was there no period in 
 His life when He received " supernaturall y, full and accurate in- 
 formation " respecting the truth of God, including, (we may 
 assume,) all things connected with the Pentateuch, as well as 
 with the rest of the Old Testament Scriptures? The author 
 assumes there was not. But how then are we to regard the 
 history of our Lord's Baptism ? Was not this such a period as 
 that inquired for, when the heaven was opened, and the Holy 
 Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and 
 Jesus, " being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan ? " 
 (Luke iv. 1.) Did our Lord speak as if He knew no more 
 about the Pentateuch and the rest of Scripture than any other 
 devout Jew of that day ? Surely we cannot think so, when we 
 remember His words to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say 
 unto you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have 
 seen ; and ye receive not our witness .... And no man hath as- 
 cended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even 
 the Son of man which is in heaven." (John iii. 11 — 13.) So 
 again, after incidentally confirming the Mosaic history with 
 reference to the feeding of the children of Israel with manna 
 from heaven, our Lord, referring in like manner to His heavenly 
 origin, and His residence with the Father before He came into 
 the world, as a proof of the truth and divine character of His 
 teaching, says, " What and if ye shall see the Son of man as- 
 cend up where He was before ? It is the spirit that quickeneth ; 
 the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, 
 they are spirit, and they are life." (John vi. 62, 63.) And John 
 the Baptist, referring to Him, says, " He whom God hath sent 
 speaketh the words of God : for God giveth not the Spirit by 
 measure unto Him." (John iii. 34.) 
 
 Is it possible to conceive, that He who speaks thus of His 
 own authority, and His own teaching — He to whom His fore- 
 runner bears testimony as having received the Holy Spirit, not 
 as others do, in measure, but without measure — He who could 
 read the very thoughts of men's minds — knew as little about 
 
10 
 
 Moses and the Pentateuch, and could speak with as little certain 
 knowledge respecting them as any other devout Jew of that 
 day? 
 
 But it will he said that these five books of Moses are so full 
 of extraordinary statements, which it is impossible for intelligent, 
 sensible men to believe, that we are obliged to fall back upon 
 such arguments as those which I have just been quoting, to 
 account for our Lord having given them His sanctiou. 
 
 Let us then briefly notice a few of those statements which are 
 alleged to be utterly incredible. It is of course impossible to 
 include a review of the whole book within the limits of a sermon ; 
 but I will touch upon those which seem at first sight to present 
 the greatest difficulty, noticing theni under the three heads — of 
 Moral, Physical, and Arithmetical. 
 
 I. The moral difficulties, although the most important, are 
 but slightly touched upon. The following laws are quoted as 
 " professedly coming from the Holy and Blessed One, the Father 
 and ' Faithful Creator ' of all mankind," " ■ If the master (of a 
 Hebrew servant) have given him a wife, and she have borne him 
 sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her 
 master's, and he shall go out by himself,' (Exodus xxi. 4) ; 
 the wife and children in such a case being placed under the 
 protection of such other words as these, * If a man smite his 
 servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand ; he 
 shall surely be punished. Notwithstanding, if he continue a day 
 or two, he shall not be punished : for he is his money.'" (Exodus 
 xxi. 20, 21.) Now, we must remember, that in the time of 
 Moses slavery existed among all nations ; but the Mosaic law, so 
 far from making the condition of slaves more painful and oppres- 
 sive, secured for it many and great alleviations. Who can read 
 the words added to the Fourth Commandment, " That thy man- 
 servant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou," (Deut. 
 v. 14), without perceiving that here is a most merciful provision 
 for mitigating the condition of a slave — a provision utterly un- 
 kuown in any other code of laws previous to the coming of our 
 Lord. While, among other nations, the master had absolute 
 power of life and death over his slaves, the Jew who killed his 
 slave was to be surely punished ; but in case the slave survived 
 
11 
 
 a dav or two. the in exempt from punishment, " for lie 
 
 - the matter was regarded by other 
 
 na tio, - g the mere property of his master ; pari 
 
 his -oods and chattels; —as the master has purchased him 
 
 QsideraMe sum of money, he cannot be supposed to 
 
 have intended to kill him. In such a case the master was " not 
 
 to be punished bv the magistrate, but left to the judgment of 
 
 ;-• and the concession thus made is to be accounted for on 
 
 the same principle as the Jewish law of divorce, M because of 
 
 the hardness of their hearts." (Matt. xix. 
 
 Another objection of a moral nature is presented in a very 
 painful and irreverent form. It is recorded. (Numb, xxxi.), that 
 the Midianites had besuiled the Israelites into very 
 heinous sins, the Lord commanded Israel to go forth against 
 them to battle, and to s!av all the male inhabitants, and all the 
 married women, sparing none except the unmarried women and 
 the female children. I forbear to quote the flippant words in 
 which the author expresses himself with reference to this 
 ." (p. 144.) His view of the extermination of the 
 Midianites and the other inhabitants of Canaan is utterly 
 opposed to the whole spirit of the narrative, and to the view 
 b has almost universale been adopted by devout and 
 learned students of Mosaic history in every age of the Church, -f 
 It was not for the gratification of their own revengeful passions, 
 that the Israelites^ were permitted, nay, commanded to exter- 
 minate their enemies. It was as an act of divine retribution for 
 the abominable wickedness of those nations. The Jews were the 
 executioners, appointed bv the Lord to carry out His purr 
 And in the death of the little children, who had not committed 
 actual sin. we see the carrvinor out of that which has been the 
 Lord's mode of proceeding hfevery age of the world— an execu- 
 tion of the threatening recorded in the Second Commandment, 
 in which the Lord describes Himself as « a jealous God. visiting 
 the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and 
 fourth generation of them that hate Him." The Israelites. 1 
 . were God's executioners in this instance, carrying out His 
 express commands ; and, in case of disobedience, they would 
 
 Dean Graves on the Pentateuch. 
 
12 
 
 have incurred the same divine displeasure which at a later 
 period fell upon Saul, when he spared the king of Amaleck, 
 instead of slaying him, as the Lord had commanded. To kill 
 these young children in obedience to the express command of 
 God, was a plain, but awful duty ; to have killed them without 
 such a command, would have been a heinous crime. 
 
 II. I pass on to the second class of difficulties — those which 
 may be called physical. 
 
 The author denies that a universal Deluge, such as the Bible 
 manifestly speaks of, could have possibly taken place in th eway 
 described in the book of Genesis. (Preface, pp. vii., viii.) 
 
 But we have seen that our Lord Himself spoke of the Deluge 
 as an event which really took place. And St. Peter, foretelling 
 the rise of scoffers in the last days, who shall ask contemptuously, 
 " Where is the promise of His coming ? '' accounts for their un- 
 belief, by saying that they are " willingly (wilfully) ignorant 
 that the world that then was, being overflowed with water, 
 perished." (2 Peter iii. 6.) 
 
 That such a flood actually did take place has been the universal 
 belief of the Jewish nation. Their belief is confirmed by the 
 ancient records of many heathen nations. Our Lord attests it. 
 And every Christian must believe it. With regard to the way 
 in which it took place, and whether it included the whole earth, 
 or only that part of the earth which was then inhabited, this is 
 an open question ; and the usage of Scripture would certainly 
 allow us to understand the word "earth" in that limited 
 meaning. 
 
 Again : the author assumes that the standing still of the sun, 
 as related in the Book of Joshua, is utterly incredible. (Preface, 
 p. x.) But no reasonable person would now understand the ex- 
 pression literally, any more than we understand that the sun 
 literally rises and sets ; however commonly such expressions 
 are used, not only by the unlearned and ignorant, but by astro- 
 nomers. All that we need understand is, that daylight was 
 miraculously prolonged ; but by what process this phenomenon 
 was brought to pass it is beyond our power to comprehend. 
 
 Again: with these difficulties is classed the story of Balaam's ass 
 speaking with human voice, (p. 8); yet St. Peter, writing by inspi- 
 
13 
 
 ration of God, has assured us that " the dumb ass, speaking with 
 man's voice, forbad the madness of the prophet." (2 Peter ii. 16.) 
 
 These, and other physical difficulties, which in every age have 
 been alleged against the divine authority of Scripture, are not 
 more difficult, not more inexplicable than the great miracle of 
 the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and " if Christ be 
 not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also 
 vain." (1 Cor. xv. 14.) * 
 
 The miracles of the Bible stand or fall together. If you deny 
 one, you may as well deny all ; yes, even that greatest of all 
 miracles, to which the Holy Catholic Church throughout all the 
 world bears public testimony every week, by keeping the first 
 day holy. 
 
 III. Lastly, we come to those difficulties which I have called 
 arithmetical, and to which the largest part of the book is 
 devoted. 
 
 Many of these difficulties are connected with the number of 
 the Israelites who came out of Egypt, which is stated at six 
 hundred thousand men, besides women and children, amounting 
 in all to upwards of two millions. Difficulties are suggested as 
 to their marching out of the land of Egypt, " bringing with 
 them (it is said) the sick and infirm." (p. 62.) How strange 
 that it should have been forgotten that the Psalmist mentions, 
 as a remarkable proof of God's providence, that " there was not 
 one feeble person among their tribes." (Psalm cv. 37.) 
 
 Again : it is stated as impossible that such a vast multitude 
 should have assembled at the door of the tabernacle, and that 
 they should have been addressed in one assembly by Moses, and 
 afterwards by Joshua, (chap, v.) It was of course impossible 
 that every individual could have approached near the tabernacle 
 at one time, or that all should have been within reach of the 
 voice of a single speaker ; but it is only straining Scripture to 
 force upon it such a meaning. 
 
 Moreover, while we contend that the Pentateuch was written 
 by Moses, and that its contents are strictly historical, we do not 
 for a moment deny that it is not only possible, but highly pro- 
 bable, that in a book of such ancient date mistakes may from 
 time to time have been made through the carelessness of copyists. 
 
14 
 
 This was especially likely to occur with regard to numbers, 
 which the Jews often represented by the letters of the Hebrew 
 alphabet. And it is quite conceivable, that as some have sup- 
 posed, the number of the children of Israel may have been con- 
 siderably less than that which we find stated in our present 
 copies of the Pentateuch. 
 
 The difficulty of supplying such multitudes with food and 
 drink in the wilderness is, of course, utterly insurmountable to 
 those who deny the possibility of miracles. But those who re- 
 ceive the Scriptures as the word of God, believe that the people 
 were miraculously fed by manna from heaven, a fact which is 
 attested by our Lord Himself, (John vi. 31,32); and again, 
 that the smitten rock not only supplied them with water while 
 they remained in its neighbourhood, but sent forth copious 
 streams, which "followed them " during a part at least of their 
 subsequent journeys. (1 Cor. x. 4.) 
 
 Much stress is also laid on the impossibility of finding herbage 
 in the. wilderness for the numerous cattle of the Israelites (chap, 
 xii.) but enlightened and accurate modern travellers have ex- 
 pressed their belief that herbage and vegetation were much more 
 abundant there in former times, than at present. And at the 
 very'time when God called Moses to had the children of Israel 
 out of Egypt, he was feeding his flock close by Horeb ; no doubt 
 because there was abundant pasture there. 
 
 Again, it is objected that it was impossible for three priests, 
 Aaron and his two sons, to kill the Passover lambs, which would 
 be required for so vast a multitude (chap, xxi.) We at once 
 admit the impossibility, but we deny that there was any law 
 obliging the priests to do so. It is probable that each head of 
 the family, at least in the early period of Jewish history, killed 
 his own Passover lamb.* 
 
 Again : the difficulty suggested of procuring turtle doves, or 
 pigeons, in sufficient number, and of the enormous labour which 
 would be thrown upon three priests in offering them in sacrifice 
 in each case of childbirth, (chap, xx.) may fairly be met by saying 
 that there is every reason to believe that many such institutions 
 were necessarily suspended until the arrival of" Israel in the land. 
 
 * The circumstances mentioned 2 Chron. xxx. 1G, and xxxv. 11, appear 
 to have been exceptional. 
 
of Canaan. If no birds could be procured in the wilderness for 
 the appointed sacrifice, there could be no sin in omitting to 
 offer them. 
 
 As a proof of this, I may remind you that the rite of Circum- 
 cision, which by the law was to take place on the eighth day, 
 was omitted during the whole of the forty years spent in the 
 wilderness, " They had not circumcised their children by the 
 way."' (Joshua iv. 7.) It appears, too, that the Passover was 
 observed only once during that period of forty years. (Numbers 
 ix. 5.) And Moses thus refers to many similar irregularities: 
 " Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, 
 every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes. For ye are not 
 yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your 
 God giveth you." (Deut. xii. 8, 9.) 
 
 And now I must bring to a close the painful task which I have 
 thought it my duty to take in hand. It is indeed distressing to 
 speak thus of one whose office demands our respect, one whom 
 his labours among the heathen in a distant colony would lead us 
 to regard as an earnest and conscientious man. 
 
 But is it not to be deeply regretted that such a man, holding 
 such an office, should have thus rashly and hastily published to 
 the world doubts and difficulties, which, by his own acknowledg- 
 ment, have only within a recent period developed themselves to 
 his mind ? Must we not mourn, when we think how much evil must 
 foilow the publication of such a book — evil which can never be en- 
 tirely neutralized and undone; how many intelligent, but not 
 deeply read young men may be led astray; how great an oppor- 
 tunity has been afforded to the scoffer and the infidel to blaspheme 
 and triumph against the truth. 
 
 What then shall I say in conclusion ? Shall I exhort you to 
 close the earlier portion of your Bibles, and never again to study 
 the Books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and 
 Deuteronomy, for fear of having your faith unsettled by doubts 
 and difficulties which you cannot solve ? On the contrar} 7 , I 
 would earnestly urge upon you the words of our Lord (verse 39), 
 " Search the Scriptures," the Old Testament Scriptures ; 
 you cannot search them too often, or too thoroughly. But while 
 you search them, do not forget also to pray over them — to pray 
 
16 
 
 for the spirit of humility, of wisdom, of understanding. In 
 short, pray the prayer of the Psalmist, " Open Thou mine eyes, 
 that I may behold wondrous things out of Thy law." CPs. cxix. 
 18.) 
 
 Above all, let us seek, each in our own experience, to realize 
 the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Let us carry to Him 
 all our sins, all our wants, all our doubts, all our difficulties. 
 He will make all needful things plain to us, and give us grace 
 to wait patiently, until increased light shall clear up the diffi- 
 culties which may still remain, " until the day break, and the 
 shadows flee away ;" and then in His light we shall see 
 light. (Psalm xxxvi. 9.) 
 
 LONDON : WEKTHE1M, MACINTOSH, AND HUNT. 
 
 Price Twopence,