MKTHODS OF BIBLICAL CRITICISM. 



117 



texts, though most vahiable, are not perfect nor so old as the L.XX, 

 which is older than any of the Hebrew MSS. Mr. H. Wiener urges 

 that the J. and E. passages in the Massoretic text are different in the 

 LXX. He, with great acumen, has discussed these points so 

 effectively that his influence is felt in Germany to-day, and a 

 German pastor, Dahse, in an elaborate examination of all the 

 critical material on the Pentateuch, shows that the original 

 foundations of the J. and E. theory can no longer be depended on. 

 A whole generation has been discussing this question without a 

 proper examination of the text on which it is all founded, and 

 which is now proved to be unreliable. Again, even in 1870, Bishop 

 Harold Browne, in the Speaker's Commentari/, had to defend the 

 fact that Moses could turitc. Now everyone knows that Kham- 

 murabi, a contemporary of Abraham, wrote a whole code of laws ; 

 but at that time all the scholars in Europe were in the dark about' 

 the age when writing was first in force. That all the details of 

 Genesis should have been dictated to Moses would be an incredible 

 miracle, but now that we know that writing was common long 

 before his day it is clear that he had written documents to go upon, 

 and therefore his work is brought within the range of the usual 

 methods of inspiration. In the same way, St. Luke under the Spirit 

 of God may have selected documents and put them together in 

 writing his books. Prof. Liddon referred to " the inspiration of 

 selection," and this appears to me the greatest wonder of all. 



What was the influence which selected the^books of the Bible '? 

 They all coalesce to produce a perfect unity. The solution is to 

 be found in the influence of the Divine Spirit. Think of the 

 time of Abraham : why should he have been selected from so many 

 to have his life handed down in such detail for all time 1 Clearly it 

 was under the inspiration of the Spirit. And so was it in selecting 

 incidents recorded in the Gospels. When we have evidence of 

 inspiration on this vast scale, it is not worth troubling about verbal 

 inspiration. AVe have not got, for example, the exact words that 

 Jeremiah spoke. But of course in special grand expressions, burning 

 words, embodying divine thoughts, you get verbal inspiration there, 

 and these abound throughout Scripture, but it is unwise to assume 

 that every detail was superintended by the same authority. The 

 Spirit of God himself guards us against this, e.g., we do not know 

 v.he exact words used by our Lord in instituting the Holy 



