i8 74 ] VARIOUS EXTRACTS 251 



with regard to the tabernacle (and thus also with regard 

 to certain points as to the Levitic priesthood which you 

 remember I reserved for later treatment), we are bound 

 to give these difficulties&quot; careful consideration and pro 

 ceed step by step from the clear to the obscure. In 

 accordance with this principle, it will, I think, be best to 

 speak first of the history of the ark, which in every 

 sense carries much more important issues than that of 

 the tabernacle while, at the same time, it is much clearer. 

 The history of the ark is, in fact, the history of the idea 

 of God s permanent revealing residence in Israel ; that 

 of the tabernacle touches only secondary points dependent 

 on this residence. And the theological ideas taught by 

 the tabernacle are after all taught with certainty by the 

 temple in a way that no one disputes. 



To the preceding extracts, with their careful references 

 to the latest literature on the subjects to which they 

 relate, may be added a seventh, which, though it does 

 not occur in a class lecture, may be taken as illustrative 

 of the character of Professor Smith s teaching on ques 

 tions of criticism at this early period. It is from the 

 notice of the latest issues of the Theologisch Tijdschrift, 

 which he contributed to the British and Foreign Evan 

 gelical Review in July 1871. 



7. The Leiden School of Theology (July 1871). 



The organ of the &quot; Leiden &quot; or &quot; modern &quot; School of 

 Dutch Theology enters on its fifth year without diminu 

 tion in the scientific activity and zeal which claim our 

 respect, but also without modification of the extremely 

 rationalistic principles which separate it from our sym 

 pathy. In every page of the Tijdschrift we feel our 

 selves face to face with men to whom theology is a 

 matter not of the Church, but of the School ; and 

 Christianity itself not the principle of a new life, but an 

 affair of religious philosophy. A theology that springs 

 from such principles is, of course, uncompromisingly 



