PREFACE XI 



civilisation ; that, in the natural course of its 

 evolution, it reached, in the prophetic age, an 

 elevation and an ethical purity which have never 

 been surpassed ; and that, since the new birth of 

 the prophetic spirit, in the first century of our 

 era, the course of Christian dogmatic development, 

 along its main lines, has been essentially retro- 

 gressive. The revived prophetic ideal was grad- 

 ually overshadowed by the results of Jewish and 

 Greek theological and metaphysical speculation, 

 and buried beneath old-world superstitions and 

 liturgical conjurations, gradually infiltrated from 

 the pagan surroundings of the new religion ; until, 

 in the medieval " ages of faith," it was well-nigh 

 smothered beneath the monstrous agglomeration 

 of spurious doctrines and idolatrous practices. 



The ordinary reader, to whom these essays are 

 addressed, will doubtless be surprised, if not 

 shocked, at the many passages which expressly, 

 or by implication, contradict the notions respect- 

 ing the age and authority of the Hebrew scriptures, 

 and especially of the Pentateuch, in which he has 

 been brought up, and which have, quite recently, 

 received high ecclesiastical sanction. " Helps to 

 the Study of the Bible" are proffered to lay ig- 

 norance and simplicity, and those who hunger for 

 trustworthy information will undoubtedly find 

 much wholesome food in the banquet set forth by 

 the Helpers. All the more pity that some of the 

 bread is so very full of stones. For example, the 



