COXCERXING THE COMPOSITION OF HOLT SCP.IPTCEE. 



191 



encouragement, and that you will feel you are not following 

 cunningly de\ised fables" when you believe the Old Testa- 

 ment. 



Mr. Martin Rouse. — The manly and interesting sketch that 

 Canon Girdlestone has just given bears out, in a remarkable manner, 

 an observation I recently ventured to make as to one book alluding 

 to the other. Isaiah recalls the overthrow of the Midianites by 

 Gideon ; and in Joshua we find cpoted a commandment of God given 

 only in Deuteronomy, Moses' successor building and inscribing an 

 altar, etc., precisely as Moses commanded (Judges vii, 25 ; Is. x, 26). 



I would mention, too (and no doubt Canon Girdlestone will 

 accept a slight correction), that it is in Deuteronomy that the month 

 Abib is mentioned. I do not know whether it is mentioned in 

 Exodus as well. 



Rev. Canon Girdlestone. — Yes, I think so. (See Ex. xiii, 4, etc.) 



Mr. Martin Rouse. — But in Deuteronomy also, which is declared 

 to be so recent, the same month is called Abib (xvi, 7). "\Mien we 

 pass further on we come in the prophets to the title the Lord of 

 Hosts,'' over and over again. But never is God so-called in the 

 first eight lx)oks named of the Bible till Samuel's time. Of course, 

 if these books were written after the Captivity, they would have 

 called God the Lord of Hosts, or stiU more Likely the God of 

 Heaven, which is the favoiu-ite title in Ezra and Xehemiah. We 

 are told that Isaiah is a double book. In the first part of the book 

 we get the kingdom of Christ dealt with ; we also get the mira- 

 culous birth spoken of, '-A ^^rgin shaU be with child" (^ii, 14), 

 and then, " For imto us a child is born, imto us a son is given ; and 

 the government shall be upon His shoulder ; and His name shall be 

 called Wonderful, Coimsellor. the Mighty God, the Everlasting 

 Father, the Prince of Peace" (ix, 6), (two of which titles are 

 conclusive against any L^nitarian -siew). But in the latter part, 

 from the 40th chapter onwards, we get the preaching of John 

 the Baptist foretold, The voice of him that crieth in the wilder- 

 ness," and also the ministry of Christ, " Behold my servant, whom 

 I uphold: mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth : I have pur 

 my spirit upon Him ; He shall bring forth judgment to the 

 Gentiles. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause His voice to be 

 heard in the street " : this is one of various passages quoted 

 thence in the Xew Testament and plainly referring to the Savioiu''s 



