50 



CONSTANCE L. MAYNARD ON 



more important still, he must be spiritual, and this to my mind 

 is absolutely essential if any notice is to be taken of the critic ; 

 and it is here where I think Miss Maynard has been misunder- 

 stood — in her repeated reference to the outer shell and inner kernel 

 of the Bible, for surely the critic who has not that divine life she 

 speaks of on page 35 can only deal with the precious truths of 

 Scripture superficially, as these things are hidden from the wise 

 and prudent and revealed unto babes, I don't think Miss Maynard 

 had any idea of dividing up the Word of God, although it might 

 appear so by the way in which she has expressed herself. 



I was pleased the Chairman spoke of the imprecatory Psalms, 

 as the critic entirely loses sight of the fact that when these were 

 written there was no revelation of a final judgment. These Old 

 Testament utterances teach us how thankful we ought to be that 

 we are living in the light of the Gospel and under the law of Love. 

 At the same time proving clearly that God's righteous judgment 

 will overtake the impenitent sinner. 



Me. Collett remarked that the word " discerner " in Heb. xii. 4 

 is really " critic," and shows that the Bible is intended to criticise 

 us. Not many years ago we were told that Moses could not possibly 

 have written the Pentateuch, because writing was not known in his 

 days. It is now well known that the art of writing was practised 

 hundreds of years before Moses was born. Mr. Collett said that 

 he instinctively shrank from the use of such words as " husk," 

 "straw" and "chaff" to describe any part of God's Holy Word. 

 He argued from Exodus xx. 9 to 11 that the days of creation ought 

 to be taken as periods of 24 hours ; and from John xii. 38 and 40 

 that the fifty-third and sixth chapters of Isaiah respectively quoted 

 must have the same author. 



The Rev. A. Craig Robinson expressed cordial agreement with 

 many of the sentiments of Miss Maynard's paper, but thought that 

 she treats too lightly the consequences which were bound to follow, 

 and as a matter of fact have followed, the rationalistic theories 

 of German critics, which have made infinitely more difficult all 

 evangelical work at home or in the mission field. He then detailed 

 three striking arguments for believing in the early date of the 

 Pentateuch. 



Dr. D. Anderson-Beeby writes : — 



Sir, — When I read the paper for the first time I was charmed 

 by the beauty of its language, the rhythm of its sentences, the 

 balance of its thoughts, and the exquisiteness of its style. Instead 

 of criticising the author's views, and probably being mistaken, I 

 would state my own belief. 



Miss Maynard speaks of passing through a dark tunnel. I on 

 my part fell into a dark pit when I cast my beliefs into the 

 melting-pot kept a-bubbling by the flames of hell. I cannot here 

 enter on the causes. Sufficient to say that I learned why the 



