" GERMANISM.*' 



151 



all tlie worn-out ideas of their ignorant and bigoted forefathers, 

 especially in matters of religion, and to inaugurate the new era 

 by flinging aside all the first principles which Christians had 

 reverenced before, and in laying down a new set of them of which 

 those same ignorant and bigoted forefathers had never heard ! 



In conclusion, I will add one or two specimens of the above- 

 mentioned " first principles of Christian evidence, which the 

 Christian Churches of the past agreed to recognise, but which 

 the German critics and their English admirers believe themselves 

 justified in ignoring altogether. They may be multiplied to an 

 indefinite extent. 



1. The German critics have represented the book of Deuter- 

 onomy as having been written by some unknown person, 

 who — he must have been very sanguine — left his book about in 

 the Temple in the hope that it might some day be found in the 

 Temple, and be supposed to be the work of Moses. But 

 Deuteronomy betrays none of the anxious effort of the forger 

 to make it evident that it was what it represented itself to be. 

 I may appeal to any man of impartial mind as to whether it does 

 not ring with truth all the way through.* No writer of the Old 

 Testament but Isaiah displays such splendid touches of eloquence, 

 anxiety, and deep feeling. No man in the position of a forger 

 could have written so well or so freely. He would have feared 

 detection dogging his steps every moment, and would display 

 embarrassment at every turn. And as for his book being 

 "found" in the Temple, it was doubtless built into its fabric. 

 Such has been recently discovered to be the Egyptian custom 

 in the age of Moses and before it, and the tone is most 

 emphatically that of a man who has set a very high and holy 

 standard of conduct before a nation, and fears their defection 

 from it. Deuteronomy, moreover, like Genesis, betrays an 

 acquaintance with Egyptian literature, which suggests a 

 Mosaic origin for both books. f 



2. The Germanizing critic assigns certain passages of the 

 Pentateuch to the " Priestly Code,'' a work assumed to be 

 written either during the Captivity or after the Return. He 

 gives no proof for this, but practically lays claim to an infallible 

 instinct. But there is by no means agreement enough among 



* Note also the occasional annotations of a later writer which occur are 

 distinct proofs of its antiquity. See chapters ii-iv. 

 t I have shown this elsewhere. 



