CONCERNING THE COMPOSITION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE. 195 



" translation " of the Psalms, a translation which Dr. Cheyne 

 pronounces to be "exquisite," one well-known passage is cut out 

 because it is " inexplicable," and another is cut out because it is 

 " unsuitable " ! 



Our thanks are due to the author for his valuable paper. 



Professor F. J. Candy observed that 2 Kings xix, 29, which is 

 identical with Isaiah xxxvii, 30, was spoken in a seventh 

 sabbatical year, to be followed by the year of Jubilee and the first 

 common year. If you read Isaiah Ixi and Ixii, without a break, 

 you will see that the ideas of restoration, deliverance, and marriage, 

 are interwoven ; showing that the prophecy was written in the year 

 of Jubilee, that followed the deliverance from Sennacherib ; on the 

 occasion of the marriage of King Hezekiah with his Queen 

 Hephzibah, the mother of Manasseh. (See 2 Kings xxi, 1.) 



The Secretary. — I am unwilling to intrude on an occasion when 

 a subject is before the Institute which may be considered the 

 peculiar property of theologians. But when the question of the 

 truthfulness of the Bible, both as an historical document and as a 

 revelation of God's purposes towards mankind is in question, I feel 

 that it is as much a matter which concerns a layman as it does a 

 theologian, and from this point of view I venture to offer a few 

 observations. And first, let me say how much I admire and 

 appreciate the manner in which Mr. Tuckwell has treated his subject, 

 in which he shows not only erudition, conciseness, and plainness of 

 arrangement, but deep conviction of the overwhelming importance 

 of the subject upon which he treats. Necessarily restricted by space 

 and time, he has placed his arguments in so clear a manner that they 

 may be comprehended by the most illiterate reader, and I hope will 

 be extensively read. 



And now let me ask if any book ever written and purporting to 

 be an historic document, as is the case to a large extent with the 

 Bible, has ever been treated in so ruthless a manner as have the 

 Old Testament Scriptures by the German, and I regret to say some 

 English critics, belonging to the school of Eichhorn and Jean Astruc ? 

 Has Herodotus, or Pliny, or Tacitus been treated in this manner 1 

 These works dealing with ancient history have doubtless been found 

 to contain inaccuracies ; but when investigations carried on at the 

 present day in Egypt, Greece, or Italy have shown that there is a 

 large amount of truth at the bottom of their historical statements 



