PRINCIPLES OF THE CRITICISM OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. 241 



adamant. The same thing holds good of their attitude to their 

 sacred writings. The text is fixed and inHexible. "Whatever is 

 done in the way of destroying it, must be done by methods of 

 interpretation that undermine its force. In this, Tahnudic 

 methods still prevail as they have for centuries. But what 

 bearing do all these things have on the critical theory, which is 

 the real object aimed at in this series of papers ? A very 

 important one, for all Orientals, without exception, appear to 

 preserve every particle of their religious writings with the most 

 painstaking care and devotion. Were the Hebrews an exception 

 to this rule ? Were they less careful to preserve the exact form 

 of the original documents ? Do their descendants indicate in 

 any way that they were ? Do they not, on the contrary, show 

 the same persistent conservatism with regard to their religious 

 rites, and especially with regard to the written ' Word ' ? " 



These observations seem to me to go to the heart of the 

 matter, and the further papers of this Layman must be awaited 

 with great interest. I am persuaded that his observations on 

 the tenacity with which Oriental people, and particularly the 

 Jews, adhere to their traditions, point to one principle which 

 is alone decisive in its condemnation of the critical hypothesis as it 

 at present stands. It is of its very essence that it asserts that 

 the account of the development of the Jewish religion, which the 

 Old Testament naturally conveys, and was obviously meant to 

 convey, is a false one. It assumes that the Jewish national 

 consciousness was deliberately and successfully falsified, and that 

 what the Jews have always believed to be the beginning of their 

 religious life was really the end of it. I believe that this is both 

 incredible and impossible, and I am, therefore, confident that no 

 critical "results" which involve it can be " assured," even if 

 they were a hundred times more " assured " than Dr. Sellin 

 shows them to be. The course of current German criticism, as 

 illustrated in the publications I have been considering, shows, I 

 think, that in both Germany and America a revolution of 

 thought on this subject is in progress. We may safely, mean- 

 while, possess our souls in patience. 



Discussion. 



The Chairman before the lecture said : The Dean of Canterbury 

 needs no introduction to a Victoria Institute audience, or indeed to 

 any other audience in the country. He reads widely, keeping 

 abreast of the times and examining both sides in these critical 



E 



