"THE PENTATEUCH AND BISHOP COLENSO.' BIBLE INSPIRATION; WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT IT IS NOT: DR. COLENSO'S DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED : AND OUR LORD'S TESTIMONY ENFORCED. BY THE / REV. CHARLES BULLOCK, Hector of Saint Nicholas, JForcestcr ; Author of ^^ The Way Ilome,''^ ^'-The Syrian Ze/9e>-," etc. ''It is the Bible or it is no Bible." Dr. Chalmers. From contempt of Tliy Word and Commandment, Good Lord deliver iis. Litany. THII^lD EIDITIOHSr. LONDON : WERTHEIM, MACINTOSH, AND HUNT; STRAHAN AND CO. WORCESTER: EATON AND SON, AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 18 6 3. \^^.., CONTENTS. PAGK Inteodtjction ^ I. Bible Inspiration ; what it is, and what it is not 8 II. Sceptical Difficulties advanced by De. Colenso li III. Our Lord's Conclusiye Testimony to the Inspiration of THE Pentateuch ^-^ IV. Practical Bearings of the Subject 41 PR AYE R. "Blessed Lord, who hast caused All Holy Sriptures to be ^mtten for our learning ; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience, and comfort of Thy Holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which Thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen." "That it may please Thee to illuminate all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, with true knowledge and understanding of Thy Word, and that both by theii' preaching and living they may set it forth, and show it accordingly : "We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord. ' ' That it may please Thee to give to all Thy people increase of grace to hear meekly Thy Word, and to receive it mth pure affection , and to bring forth the fi'uits of the Spirit : "We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord." Litanij. BIBLE INSPIRATION; WHAT IT IS, AKD WHAT IT IS SOT : DR. COLENSO'S DIFFICULTIES CONSIDERED AND OUR LORD'S TESTIMONY ENFORCED. INTRODUCTION. The occasion wliicli lias led to the publication of the following pages is one of sad and painful interest. A Bishop of our Church has publicly avowed himself a champion of scepticism. Dr. Colenso, Bishop of Natal, has published a book on the Pentateuch* which, if its conclusions were admitted, however the -wiiter may at present endeavour to qualify them, would efiectually rob us of our faith in the Bible as God's Revelation to man. 'Wlien we bear in mind the position held — still held by Dr. Colenso, Bishop in a Church whose office it is to be "a witness and a keeper of Holy Writ," f we may well be startled and amazed. Our surprise at his avowal of unbelief in the infallible authority of the Bible, is only equalled by our surprise at tho moral obliquity of judgment which can allow him to continue to hold his post of dignity and receive its emoluments. Carefully does it become us, vmting on topics which stir the heart to its depths, to guard against remarks which might seem uncharitablo towards an individual. But Dr. Colenso's ajjicial responsibility demands an emphatic protest from every true Churchman. And without contemplating any steps that may be taken by those in * The Penlatouch and Book of Joshua, critically examined. Longman and Co., 1802. t Article xx. 6 authority to Yiudicate, in the name of the Church, the violation of his Ordination compact, we may safely say, that his incrcduUhj in rejecting the historical veracity of the Pentateuch on the grounds advanced in the volume he has vrritten, irrespective of — nay, ignoring altogether the positive Christian evidences external and internal, — is on a par with his crcduliiy, if ho really believes that it is possible for him, after the avov/al of his scepticism, to retain with a quiet conscience, both his office, and his moral consistency in the judgment of the community at large. ~-f= But apart from personal and ecclesiastical considerations, the publication of Dr. Colenso's book has aroused 'a spirit of anxious and earnest enquiry in the minds of many who have hitherto, as believers in the Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, reposed in confidence on the judgment of the universal Church represented by men eminent alike for scholarshi]) and piety. Oui' people are turning to their ministers, — justly turning to them, as men pledged by the most solemn vow to use " all faithful diligence to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word," f — and they ask us for information which may serve them as armour of defence against the assaults of scepticism and unbelief, — information which may enable them, with the assurance of enlightened conviction, to ''give an answer to every man that asketh them a reason for the hope that is in them." (1 Peter iii., 15.) | * The writer may refer the reader to a Lecture given in Worcester, on the publication of the ''Essays and Kevicws," iti which this question of moral con- sistency is fully discu.^sed. "Essays and Reviews: The False Position of tiic Authors : An Appeal to the Bible and Prayer Book." Werllieim and Co. t Service for the Ordination of Presbyters or Priests. X "To respond to this call is clearly a solemn ministerial duf}'. No doubt, as a general rule, it is best to let poisonous literature alone. It is best to set truth, before us, and act out tlie truth we know : and in every such case we shall fuid our love of truth a sure preservative against the subtle influences of error. The royal law of God's kingdom of truth, will vindicate ilself in our happy expe- rience,— ' If any man will do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God.' (St. John vii., 17.) But we must not alwmjs let error alone. We may prefer to do so, but it would-be t!ie indulgpnce of a dangerous preference, if the result should be an impression on llie minds of the undecided, that we are silent because we have nothing to say, or because we fear the discussion might have an unfavourable issue. Silence now, I am convinced, might lead to such an impression. I have cause ^to know tliat it has done so in Of course, . ci pamplilct cannot cmLi'tacc and answer tlio allegations of a Yolume, and the thought may occur to some, as it occurred to me, would it not bo better to wait for the issuo of the works now in preparation, which v.ill contain full and satisflxctory refutations of Dr. Colenso's book. I weighed this consideration, and certainly if I had reason to hope that tho circulation of these complete answers would be co-extensive with the circulation of the poisonous errors promulgated in Dr. Colenso's volume, I should have deemed a pamphlet out of place. But I am wcll-pcrsuaded that the circulation of hools in answer to Dr. Colenso, will not meet the present and pressing necessities of the case. The circulation of the books, about to be published, will be limited : the circulation of Dr. Colenso's errors is already world-wide. His book, indeed, has, at present, follen into com- paratively few hands, — although w'e hear of ten thousand copies being disposed of in five days, — but we all know that, through the medium of the press, the entire reading population has been put in possession of extracts, conveying the pith and marrow of the volume. I cannot but feel that the circulation of these e.vtractSf unaccompanied with any refutation, and in some instances followed by expressions of sympathy and approval," is likely to produce far more injurious and pernicious results than the circulation of Dr. Colenso's book itself. Those who read the book, will most probably read the volumes written in answer to it; but the large majority of those who read tlie extracts, vdW neither read the book nor its replies. Acting upon these convictions, I have thought that a pamphlet, aiming to supply in a plain and popular form, an antidote to the some instances. I conclude, therefore, that the obligations of ministerial duty imperatively require us, in these day3, to 'contend,' and co:itend 'earnestly' too, 'for the faith once delivered to the saints.' "We must do what wc can to counteract tlie undermining process which is being carried on by (so-called) Rationalistic teachers. Wc must aim to 'stablish, strengthen, settle' our people, ' building them up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Ciirist Himself being the chief corner stone.' (Jude, 3, 1 Pet. v., 10, Kph. ii., 20.)" — "Essays and Reviews : The False Position, itc." P. 4. * The Val/// Tele^jraph, boasting of a circulation exceeding that of the Times and all the other London daily papers put together, has thus employed its responsible influence. Let heads of houseliolds l-)ok to tho papers they place in the hands of the young. Poison is easily imbibed. 8 poison of scepticism, as it is rnhniiiistord in these extracts, might be of service, altlioiigli I could not address myself to tlie detailed consideration of Dr. Colenso's book as a wliole. The object I have in view, thus defined, I propose, in my endeavour to obtain that object : — I. — To offer a few general remarks on the question of Bible Inspiration — What it is, and What it is not : — II. To point out THE FALLACY OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL difficulties and objections advanced by Dr. Colenso. III. — To commend as the very pivot of the whole controversy OUR Lord's conclusive testimony to the Inspiration of the Pentateuch ; and in conclusion : — IV. — To press upon my readers the momentous practical bearings of the subject. I. Bible Inspiration — What it is, and What it is not. Accurate ideas of the nature and boundaries of Bible Inspiration, will materially assist us in estimating Dr. Colenso's work. I would request attention to three leading observations, which I think will embrace, if they they do not exactly express, the orthodox view of Bible Inspiration — what it is, and what it is not. 1. Bible Inspiration is a fact — independenthj of the various theories Inj which the attemjit has been viade to define it. Whether the Inspiration be Plenary or Verbal, D}Tiamical or Mechanical, the Bible is Inspired. It is of Divine Origin and Authority. The Canonical Scriptures, as they proceeded at first from the inspired penmen, were written by men whose minds were, at the time, under the immediate control of the Holy Spirit : so that, whilst they expressed themselves in the words and idioms which as individuals they ordinarily used, they nevertheless expressed only, neither more nor less, what God would have them express. 9 2. Bihlc Inspiration docs not c.vdudc what has bcoi Jitbj termed ''The Human FAement in Scripture.'' As a ivritten Revelation this element coukl not be excluded. Hence, on examining the Bible, -we find that the gift of Inspiration admitted in the sacred writers of diligent and fiiithful research (Luke i., 1-4), of the expression of the same thought in different words, (Compare Matt, xxvi., 26, 27 : Luke xxii., 19, 20, and I Cor. xi., 24, 25, and Matt, iii., 17 ; Mark i., 11, and Luke iii., 22,) of such differences (not discrepancies) between the accounts of inspired men a^ would be likely to arise from the different stand-points of each, (many instances occur in the Gospel,) of quotations from other inspired authorities, (Psa. cviii. and Psa. Ivii., 7-11, Ix., 5-12 : Gen. x. xi., and 1 Cliron. i., 17, etc : 2 Kings xviii., 13-37, and Isa. xxxvi., 1-22,) of the employment of uninspired documents, (Josh, x., 13, Numb, xxi., 14 : Jude. ix., 14, 15,) and of peculiarities of style and manner arising from diversities of intellectual structure, and from educational or other influences, such as may be observed on a comparison of Ezekiel and Isaiah, of John and Paul. This human element may also be recognised in the transmission of the Bible. Hence : — =- 3. The Inspiration of the Bible is not synonymous with entire freedom from the intrusion, of the slightest error in the translations and versions tchich we possess, made from copies of the first origincd autographs. Translations, however trustworthy, are not completely perfect. In so large a work, nwnhcrs and names in the gcncalogicSf are peculiarly liable to suffer from successive transcriptions. " Every biblical scholar will readily admit, that the Inspiration of the Bible docs not secure, as it does not require, theoretic and mathematical freedom from error, when it reaches the great bulk of its readers and fulfils its great practical object as a Revelation to mankind."! Now, it will be evident to every reader of Br. Colenso's work, that he has been unable to grasp the subject of Bible Inspiration * See Xotc, p. 51. t '-The Bible and Motlern Thought." By the Kcv. T. IX. Birks, M.A. i\cligiou3 Tract Socict)*. A volume of inestimallc vaUie. The writer cannot too strongly urge every reader to obtain it. It i» published in a cheap form, 10 in these, its primary aspects. He tells us that '' the creed of the school iu -svliich he was educated," required him to "reverence cveiy word — every letter of the Bible " (the Bible in our translation) " as the Word of God, the direct utterance of the Most High." *' In those days," he continues, " I was taught that it was my duty to fling the suggestion" — that there might be minor errors or mis-statements in our translation, without in the least detracting fi-om the real value of the book — " I was taught to fiing this " suggestion from me at once, ' as if it were a loaded shell, shot " into the fortress of my soul.' " It would have been vrell for Dr. Colenso, if he had rejected the teaching of this school, of vrhich there arc surely few disciples, and sought counsel in the standard works of the Christian Church. But he has rushed from one extreme to the other. Failing to recognise the Human Element influencing the transmission of Scripture, he has allowed his mind to dvrell — morbidly to dwell — upon the minor difficulties inseparable fi'om that human element, till the pressure of these difficulties — magnified and re-magnijied to his absorbed gaze — has led him to take the fatal step of rejecting the essentially Divine Element. " God is my witness !" he exclaims, " what hours of wretched- *'ness have I spent at times, while reading the Bible, aiid ** reverencing every word of it as the Yv'ord of God, when petty ** contradictions met me vdiich seemed to my reason to conflict ** with the notion of the absolute historical veracity of every part **of Scripture." A Reviewer, quoting this painful passage, aptly puts the question, " Where was the occasion for all this wretchedness ?" Where indeed ! Every real difilculty would have quickly dis- appeared had he home in mind the human as well as the Divine Element in Revelation. The Reviewer continues: — "The sacred writers are, to use " Archbishop Ussher's illustration, ' God's Secretaries.' He leaves " them real men, capable of giving honest and reliable testimony, " like any other men, but He carefully v/atches over them so that *' not one untnie or improper word shall be given forth in His *' name. When an earthly sovereign desires his secretaiy to write "a letter in his name, he will take care that the letter, when 11 '< written, shall fiiitlifully express liis meaniug : — yet there may bo " one or two immaterial imperfections iu the clociimeut of which he *' does not care to take notice."* These are forcible and weighty v/ords. The analogy is exactly to the point. The relative position of the Divine and human elements in Scripture, is at once seen. Throughout the sacred volume God speaks to us, and this fact assures us that the Bible is ALL TKUE. But it is equally a fact that, throughout the Bible men like ourselves speak to us, and we receive the Bible in a translated form. We therefore expect to find, mingled with its Divine element, and in a measure affecting its transmission from age to age, the presence of the human element. All that we are careful to assert is, that this human element does not, in the LEAST, interfere with the Inspiration — the Divine Origin and Authority — of the Bible. We do not say the sacred text has been miraculously preserved from the trifling mistakes of successive copyists or transcribers : but it is not the less God's Book : and in His good Providence, employing the instrumentality of human care and watchfulness, we believe it has been secured from any errors or interpolations of importance. The result of the unwearied toil of critics and philologists, examining and com- paring all existing versions, is a triumphant testimony to the ah nost perfect integrity of the text as ice have it. Jew and Christian, Romanist and Protestant, have been mutual checks : and their agreement as to the letter of the Bible is an evident token of its purity. Dr. Moses Stuart, referring to the various ''readings" of which learned men often speak, remarks, — ''AH these taken " together do not change or materially aifect any imporfant point " of doctrine, precept, or even history." f * Christian Observer for December. Pp. 92-2-3. The writer wishes to ncknowlcclge his obligalions to this masterly Ttcview of Dr. Colcnso's work. He would also recommend the reader to obtain the Ivcprint of tho Record licviews. A more Ihoroictjh refutation could not be desired. The writer has been indebted to it in several instances. t " Tiie mistake of a lelter or word by a copyist, or the change of meaning '^'itfached to some word, will frequently remove a ditliculty or apparent discrepancy "in Scripture. For instance, Paino asks scoffingly, whether the spoiling of the " Egyptians by Iho I.-.raelitc3 was not an immoral transaction, and^ whether tho "statement that tho 'borrowing' on the part of the Israelites was by the Divine 12 Such, then, are our ideas of the nature and the bonntlarics of Bible Inspiration. We say the Bible is God's Book — God's Word — a Eevehxtion of His mind and "will, conveyed to iis in the foim He in His wisdom saw fit to adopt— and certainly that form is A TKUTHFUL FOEM. And here we are at direct variance with Dr. Colenso. He tells us, indeed, — and we are ready to exclaim " the voice is the voice of Jacob," — that he ''believes unfeignedly in the Divine authority of the Scriptures," — that he "believes the Inspiration of the Holy One breathes throughout its pages," — that he "reUes on the records as an efficient instrument of communication from God to man in all that is necessaiy to salvation," — that he is anxious to ''give due honour to the book as containing a message from God to our souls," as, in fact, " the very Book of Truth :"- — but then, however unaccountable it may seem to plain readers, he professes with the same breath, to have discovered in this "very Book of Truth," " a series of manifest, absolute, palpable, self- contradictions and inconsistencies," — the narrative of the Exodus being "full of contradictions, and plain impossibilities, affecting the entire substance of the story. "j- The disproof of these assertions we shall give presently : but we say, at once, we reject as most impious the conclusion, to which Dr. Colenso is inevitably committed, — namely — that God's Bevelation of Himself and of His Will is conveyed to us in a Book abounding in historical falsehoods. What should ive think "command, does not implicate the Divine Being in an act of dishoncsly? A "reference to any good Commentary -would have sho^vn him that the word used "by Moses presents no difficulty whatever. Tlie Egyptians were urgent to get " rid of the people, ui.d eagerly, at their request, gave of their propert3\ The " word rendered 'borrowed,' in the original is simply 'asked.' Thus Hannah " is said to have 'asked' for Samuel, and to have 'lent,' i.e., ^a-ew ' him to the " 'Lord.' The trifling variations in tlie Gospels are capable of similar cxplana- '' tion. In point of fact, this circumstantial varletj is a proof of suhstantial '■'truth. A close and minute agreement of professed independent witnesses "induces the suspicion of confederacy and fraud, — whereas apparent, though " trifling discrepancies, are real and conclusive proof of independent testimony. "Thus, as Pascal observes, 'Even the apparently iceah points in the chain of "'evidence have their ^^eai/wr/orce to a well-constituted mind.' " Essays and Reviews. Tke False Position of the Authors : an Appeal to the Bible and tlic Prayer Book. Pp. 31, 35. * Pp. 150, 151, 152. Pref., xxxiii. f Pp. 10, 11, 17, Ml. 13 of ,n.>h u-itk tJ. U,s.' A.ful as the Uasi>hemy «u,s nnuar to the reverential rnina, this is the position of those ..ho talk as Dr. Colenso talks, of receiving the UaMny of the L.Ue, ^vhlU rejecting the Uuth of the ,u.n;Ui,c. contained in the bible. Both stand or fiiJl together. ,,.,,. ut.th^Uri Even Dr. Colenso cannot altogether hUnd hunself to the Uc , that this mnst he the final result. He seems ahuost to antieipatc and prepare for it, since he tells ns, that-" Our hehef m ^ Living God would remain as sure as ever though no he Pentateuch only, hut the nhole F.ihU, v.ero removed: and that .. It is, perhaps, God's will that wc shall he taught in this our dav, among other precious lessons, not to huiUl our faith upon a Bo'ok, though it be the Bible itself, hut to reaUse more tnily tho blessechiess of Imowing that He Himself is nearer and dearer to us than any book can be,-that His Voice within the heart may be heard continually by the obedient child that listens for it, and tkat shall be our Teacher and Guide, in the path of duty, which is the path of life, when all other helpers-eveu the words of the best of Books— may fail us."* ,» , . It mi"ht have occurred to Dr. Colenso to ask himscll what this " hearing of God's Voice within the heart" has done for thc^ heathen world, bereft of any written Eevelation of God's_ Will . St Paul has given an answer, which the modem experience o missionaries too sadly confirms. (Kom. I.) We cannot but reflect, that, hut for the privilege of a Scriptural education, Dr Colenso, in spite of this " Voice of God within the hear , might at this moment, as a poor idolater, have needed one to teach him the elemental- Bible truth-There /. a God ! But keeping to the point before us, these auotations from Di. Colenso-s work make it very clear, that whatever wors he may emplov, 'hcther he left his wife and children or not : if he prefeiTed the latter he might remain with them in his master's house. As regards Ex. xxi., 21, 22, I deny alogether that it contains "the revolting notion" which Dr. Colenso sees in it. The reasonable interpretation may be thus given: — "If the servant died under the master's hand, although the master might plead that he was only using ' the rod' of correction, it was not to avail him anything : correction that could ijossihly issue in the immediate death of the seiwant, was unlawful correction, and, therefore, in the case of such death, the master was to be held guilty of the crime of murder ; the absolute lav/ of life for life * P. 9. 17 was to be Yindicatetl, and tlio capital penalty inflicted." (Thus far the passage proves that the Hchrew slave had moral rights, and could not be reckoned merely as the " goods and chattels" of his o-SMier.) '' But, if the servant smitten should ' continue ' — not ' a few hours ' as Dr. Colenso puts it — but ' a day or two,' — • if life should be so far prolonged as to justify the conclusion that correction oitly was intended, then the master was not to be held guilty of murder. The words 'for he is his money,' so far from bearing the meaning Dr. Colenso assigns to them, namely, that God accounted the slave ' mere money,' were evidently added as a reason for this conclusion : — they simply recognise Slaveiy as an existing institution, and imply that no master would (unless actuated by a murderous intention) deprive himself of his servant who possessed to him a money value beyond his services." The quotations thus understood, I remark, secondly, that the existence and regulation of Slavery amongst the Hebrews, was nothing more than a i)ermitt€d concession, made in an age of iron^ to " a stiff-necked people," lest worse should befal them, owing to the '' hardness of their hearts." Had Dr. Colenso recognised this fact, he would have seen in the Mosaic law, which required the capital punishment of any master who by cruelty occasioned the death of a servant, a Divine provision nlterhj opposed to Slavery in its common form — a provision which most effectually guarded against the abuse of the concession made to the Hebrews, and prepared the people, as a nation, to receive, in a higher dispensation, the " New Commandment," with its added motives and sanctions, as the complete charter of human freedom. I say " with its added motives and sanctions :" for it must be remembered, the commandment was ''new" onhj in this respect. The "second great commandment" — "Thou shalt love thy nciglibom* as thyself" — was as well known to the Jews as it is to us : Jesus quoted it from the Pentateuch, when He uttered those memorable words, — "On these two commandments hang all the L^w and the Prophets." (Matt, xxii., 35, 40; Lev. xix., 18.)^:= * An unaccountable ignorance of tliis xin'it;i of Jewisli and Christian tcacliing in the enforcement of moral and spiritual obligations, prevails in many quarters. The writer recently received by post a Newspaper arf icle — '' Are we to be Jews or 18 I confess I could better have comprcliendcd Dr. Colenso's '* revulsion of feeling," if it had been directed against the existence of Slavery in .btierka : and, in tliat case, so far from allowing that the books of Moses could be quoted in support of Slaver}^, I know not how the cause of Abolition could more effectively and safely be promoted, than by the enactment of tins rerij law laid dovm in Exodus, the design of which has been so grievously misinterpreted. Were it once understood, in the Southern Slave States, that the life of the master u-uidd he the 2^eualty for the life of the slave, not only "ft'X)uld the' horrors of slavery be greatly diminished, but " the axe would be laid at the very root of the tree." This recognition, however limited, of a slave's moral rights, V\^ouid be found to be quite incompatible with the maintenance of slavery as an institution."' Christians?" — in whicli Judaism is actual!}' cliarged not only v.ith the introduction of false views of God, but even with the encouragement of immoralities of conduct, which arc said to prevail to an unknown extent amongst professing Christians. Dr. Colenso's book is liailed as the harbinger of true Chii.^tian light. "lie has helped us to get rid of the Pentateuch, and now Ave shall begin to be Christians instead of Jew's !" That this trash should be put into the hands of tlie working classes of the community by newspapers boasting of an almost incredible circulation is a most painful consideration. May it not account in a great measure for the alienation of so many of our working men from the Christian Cluncli ? Let Christian people strenuously exert themselves to displace this pernicious literature by promoting the circulation of such publications as "Tlie British Workman," " The Happy Home," "The Christian World," "The Church of England Magazine, Meliora," " The Leisure Hour," " The Sunday at Home," " The Christian Treasury," " The Quiver," " Tlie Family Treasury," " Good Words," " Tlie British Mothers' Magazine," "The Christian Xews," "Parish Magazine," &c. * A Reviewer observes :— " It is somewhat strange tliat Bishop Colenso who desired to tolerate polygamy in his diocese,"— [on the ground that "it is not sinful and wicked in itself, and contrary to all religion, though it is contrary to- the spirit of Christianity,"]— "it is somewhat strange that the very man wiio thus, in Natal, tried to draw back from the purify of the Gospel into the allowed, conceded (not approved) license of Judaism, when he finds in the laws of Moses a modified tolerance of slavery, feels his moral sense is revolted! Let him pay a visit to Virginia or Louisiana, and he may find clergymen, and even bishops, who will be shocked at his lax ideas on the law of marriage, but who will stoutl}' maintain the excellence of the l\Iosaic slave laws. An impartial man •will see in all that Moses did, a great advance in the right direction. Tlie wife and the slave both received protection. Tiie absolute power exercised over slaves, even in civilized nations like Greece and Pome, was taken away. TIjo power of punishment was left— indeed, without it, slavery could scarcely exist ; but it was limited, and man-stealing was made a capital o.rolouffed refraction of the rays of light. To strengthen this supposition, an eminent scholar maintains that the words in the original, expressive of the sun and moon, are not the words which generally denote those bodies, but words that denote rather the solar and the lunar light. "^= I proceed now to the consideration of the principal difficulties urged by Dr. Coleuso, in the volume he has written, bearing more immediately upon the question of the historical veracity of the Pentateuch. It will be remembered that he alleges that these present " a series of manifest, absolute, palpable self-contradic- tions, inconsistencies, and impossibilities." How far his allegation, so strongly and decidedly expressed, is established, we shall soon be able to determine. I. — The first difficulty, with which Dr. Colenso opens his attack, turns upon this verse in the account of the migration of Jacob's family into Egj-pt : — ** And the sons of Judah, Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pharez, and Zarah ; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan ; and the sons of Pharez, Hezron, and Hamul." (Gen. xlvi., 12.) He sets to work to prove that Hezron and Hamul could not have been bom at the time of the migration ; and hence, that the * Ite Egypt : 1. That Er and Onan had died in Canaan ; 2. That Pharez had two sons who were reckoned as filling their places, whether born in Canaan or Egy^^t. Another answer which has been given equally meets the difficulty, namely, that although the Bible does not say that Hezron and Hamul were born at the time of the migration, they vunj ha^Ye been. " In Genesis xxvi., 34, we learn that Esau (twin with Jacob) was forty years old when he married. This gave Bebekah the excuse for sending Jacob away. (Gen. xxvii., 46.) Hence, if he reached Laban's house in his forty-first year, and was married to Leah and Rachel in his forty- eighth, there would remain a period of more than eighty years before his going down to Egypt, when he was 130 years of age. (Gen. xlviii., 9.) In this interim, there was abundance of time for Judah's bii*th and mamage, the death of Er and Onan, the bii-th of Pharez, and his marriage, and the birth of Hezron and Hamul. It is extraordinary that this very ob^dous solution should never have occurred to Bishop Colenso ; but we cannot see that he even alludes to it." - It thus appears that this first difficulty is entirely of Dr. Colenso's ovm making : and that, even if it did exist, an explanation of it may be given which is far more tenable than his ovm. view of the histoiy. Since this difficulty is a specunen of others of a similar kind, it may be well to observe, that the orthodox view of Inspiration embracing both the Divine and human element, by no means * Christicm Observe!-. Dec, pj|| 92G, 927. 23 implies that the Holy Spirit inspired men in the knowledge of the commonest facts, or of things which passed under their own ohservation. We plead only for " such a complete and immediate communication by the Holy Spirit to the minds of the sacred TNTiters, of thc'ic' things which could not otherwise have been known ; and such an effectual snperintendency, as to those particulars concerning which they might otherwise obtain information, as sufficed absolutely to preserve them fi'om every degree of error in all things which could in the least degree affect any of the doctrines or precepts contained in their writings."-- When, therefore, we meet with genealogies and family lists such as this, the most rational supposition is, that they were copied from the public records extant at the time : and then, unless we can prove that the Divine purpose in their insertion required infallible correctness, any trifling imperfections would be nghtly traced to the ''human element" in Scripture, without detracting one iota from the Divine. Unquestionably the Bible does contain some such imperfections, but they are in every instance unimportant and immaterial — as unimportant as the question whether Hezron and Hamul were born before the migTation into Egypt, or a few years later. II. — After this weak and futile commencement. Dr. Colenso plunges into his own peculiar element, and favours us with what the Athenaeum describes as '* Colenso's Arithmetic applied to the Bible." Before I proceed to notice a few of these aritlimetical puzzles, I would make the general remark applicable to them all — that they rest on a very uncertain basis. It is well known that errors in numbers are common in all ancient works, and we admit they are to be found in the Bible. For instance we read in 1 Sam. vi., 19, that the Lord smote of the people of Bethshemotli, a small to\Mi, ''Fifty thousand and three score and ton men;" and in Jud. xii., G, we read, tliat "There fell at the passage of the Jordan, of the Ephraimitcs forty and two thousand." These numbers are incredibly large. But, as it happens, we are easily able to * Eev. Thomas Scott's Cnrnmcnlnry. 24 correct the manifest errors, by understanding the idiom of the language — an idiom still in use among the Arabs. They say in the year 12 and 800 for 812. Hence, 1 Sam. vi., 19, literally translated, reads — the Lord smote " seventy men, fifties, and a thousand;" or 1,170, not 50,070: — and Jud. xii., G, reads, ''There fell of the Ephraimites forty, and two thousand ;" or, 2,040, not 42,000. Another example occurs in 2 Chron. vii., 5, "Twenty-two thousand," should be 20 and 2,000, or 2,020.^= Dr. Colenso himself remarks — "It is impossible for us not to perceive that a systematic habit of exaggeration in respect to numbers prevails among Hebrew writers of history, probably fi-om not realising to their own minds the actual meaning and mag- nitude of the numbers employed."! I should rather attribute this apparent exaggeration to our ignorance of prevailing idioms. May there not be a truthful use of the figure hyperbole, in its appli- cation to numbers, as we apply it in general terms ? At any rate, we may rest assured that the numbers ^vere accurately understood by the Jews. Whether, then, we are able to solve all Dr. Colenso's arithme- tical puzzles or no, they can never shake our confidence in the historical veracity of the Old Testament. The Bev. S. Prideaux Tregelles well observes: — "In criticism it holds good as a sound canon, that difficulties connected with dates and numbers, are not in themselves legitimate grounds for rejecting any document; because translators of numbers (just like modern compositors with regard to figures), were more habitually liable to err in these things than in anything else." There is certainly no reason why we should make the credibility of the Pentateuch depend on the accuracy of numbers, as we find them in our present Hebrew text. At the same time it must not be supposed that Dr. Colenso has really alleged numeral difficulties that are Insuj^rrable. Even allowing the number of the Children of Israeli be as high as he states it, we are by no means at a loss to disprove the so-called " impossibilities" which he connects with this number. This disproof it will now be our aim to furnish. * Taylor, in Calmet. f p, 142. 25 m. One of Dr. Colenso's numerical "impossibilities" is this. He finds repeiited commands in Exodus and Numbers that *' all the congregation" shall appear before " the door of the Tabernacle" or " before the Lord ;" and he reads that *' Moses and Joshua addressed all Israel." He measures the tabeniacle, and he estimates the power of the human voice ; and he pronounces the words " impossible !" — *' inconceivable !"=■- A Re\dewer comments on this objection with an allowable degree of severity: "Not mxwe ' inconceivable,' than that a grown man, who has hitherto been supposed to have an average know- ledge of ordinary affairs, should complacently print and publish such trash as this ! Where can this writer have been living, that he should be so entirely in the dark as to the commonest usages of mankind ? Matthew of Westminster tells us, that in A.D. 1297, the king, being involved in two wars and finding it necessaiy to lay heavy burdens on the people, summoned the people of London to meet him at Westminster Hall, when he addressed them and explained his position. Bishop Colenso might take out his pencil, demonstrate that 50,000 or 100,000 people could not stand in, or in front of Westminster Hall, and that the king's voice could not reach them, and so prove — to his o\m satisfaction — that the stoiy was ' inconceivable,' and that Matthew's Chronicle was ' unhistorical,' i. e. untrae ! But all common-place people could tell the bishojL that such things occur in common life evei^ yeai' ; that 20,000 men are frequently summoned to meet in Guildhall which could not admit one quarter of them. To urge objections of this kind against the Pentateuch is the very wanton- ness of scepticism." f IV. Dr. Colenso next objects, that the adult male descendants of the sixty -six members of Jacob's family, who went do\\ii with him into Egj-pt, could not have reached the number of 600,000 at the Exodus. We reply — the Bible docs not say they did. Dr. Colenso " assumes, that it is absolutely undeniable, that the narrative of the Exodus distinctly involves the statement, that the 60 persons * Pp. :n-SL t Christian Observer, Dec, p. 028. 26 mentioned in Gen. xlvi., and no others, went do^^^l ^vith him into Egypt."- But this is hare assumption. The very texts which he quotes to support it seem to prove the contraiy. The writer of the Inspired narrative is careful to infoim us, that " all the souls of the house of Jacoh" — "the children of Israel" — "that came out of the loins of Jacob" (Gen. xlvi., 26, 27. Ex. i., 1, 5) — were Q>Q ; but this very care implies that he is distinguishing the family of Jacob from the dependants who accompanied them. Abraham had 318 such dependants 200 years before, and there is every reason to believe, that the whole household of Jacob who came with him into Egji^t, amounted to at least 500 persons of both sexes. The supposed difficulty at once vanishes. V. The march out of Eg}'pt, the possession of arms, and the supply of tents, are fresh difficulties to Dr. Colenso. The movements of so large a body of people seem incredible to him. We may remind him, that Herodotus records the march and passage across the Hellespont of the army of Xerxes, numbering 1,700,000 foot, and 80,000 horse. Bishop Thirlwall remarks— " There seems no sufficient ground for supposing that these estimates are greatly exaggerated." Would Dr. Colenso conclude, because of the number of Xerxes's army, that Herodotus has palmed fiction upon us in the place of history ? But Dr. Colenso continues — " The Israelites were famished ^rith tents — how could they carry them ? ^ey were all aimed, and where did they get their arms?" We reply, — when they spoiled the Egyptians they most likely took whatever was most urgently needed for their flight. Some cover for the night would be indispensable, and this they would contrive in some way. " Dr. Colenso talks of poles and cords as if the tents had come from Edgington's." It is not probable that they had anything like our modern tents, but whatever they had to cover them and theirs, however temporal^, slight, and untentlike, it was a tent for all practical purposes. Most travellers in the East could inform Dr. Colenso, that to this day, the common Arab tent, for a whole family, consists of little more than a long shawl, stretched over a few sticks. * P. 18. 27 As to the Israelites being anned, we are not to infer tliat every man had liis sword, and shiehi, and javelin. The word which Dr. Coleuso renders " armed," is in our translation " harnessed." It is a word of most doubtful etymology.^ Gesenius says it may mean -eager," "brave," -prepared for battle." According to the Septuagint, it denotes that the people went out in orderly ranks of five or Aff!/- ^ut -harnessed," in the sense of - equipped," is the better rendering, and would of course involve no difficulty. The fugitives carried their kneading troughs, clothes (part of their equipment), &c., on their shoulders, and doubtless many of them were partially armed, either with weapons brought from Egpyt, or obtained, as Josephus records, from the slain Egyptians at the Red Sea. YI._The extent of the camp compared with the priest's duties : the celebration of the Passover : the supply of lambs and pigeons for sacrifice : furnish another set of objections. For the most part these objections are based upon the assump- tion, that the whole Levitical sacrificial system was in full operation in the wilderness. The Beview of Dr.' Colenso's woi^ in the MornliHj Post, contains some admii'able remarks on this point : — '' We must here express our surprise that a man so accustomed to mathe- matical reasoning as Dr. Colenso is, should not have seen that there is a most important link wanting in his chain, viz., that it is anywhere said that the whole of tliis hurdensome ceremonial was to be observed in the wilderness. The laws given by Moses were for all time till Christ shonld come, and they were delivered at intervals in the journey to the land of promise. The period of the Jewish wanderings was the period of their instruction in the principles of religion, government, and civil society. Moses, whose authority was supreme, was not only their deliverer, but their historian, lawgiver, and prophet. He was not to enter the promised land, but to die on the other side of Jordan. It was necessary, not only for the training of the people, but for the fulfilment of his own m.ss.on, that the whole ecclesiastical and municipal code should be delivered before h.s death, and before the Israelites passed over Jordan. But it is not to be therefore assumed that the whole ceremonial, wiih all its burdensome difficulty-ordained for permanent observance-was to come into instant operation in the m.dst of the still more burdensome and exceptional state of things that prevailed m the wilderness. Tliat this is clear appears from the internal evidence. Take, for example, the directions about leprosy in houses, the instrucli(«s to scrape tlje 28 walls and purify the foundations. Could this apply to the tents in the desert ? Take, again, the allusion to houses and walled cities in this very ceremouial law, and to fields and vineyards. There were none of these in tlie wilderness. More especially ought the recurrence of such passages as these to be deemed conclusive — ' And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as He sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, then thou Shalt set apart unto the Lord, &c. &c.' (Exod. xiii., 11) ; and notably in Deut. iv., 14 — 'And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.' We conceive that there can be no doubt in any candid mind that the operation of the greater part of the Jewish law was prospective, and was not in force during the journey to Canaan. And if so. Dr. Colenso's mountain about the impossibility of Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar being able, in the simple particulars of time and physical strength, to offer up all the burnt-offerings, meat-offerings, peace-offerings, sin-offerings, trespass-ofl'erings, thank-offerings for a population like that of London, and all the hitch about the need of 500 pigeons per diem, becomes a very insignificant molehill which a small amount of reasonable faith may suffice to cast into the sea." In dealing with this part of his subject, the blind determination of Dr. Colenso to see nothing but difficulties, is most remarkable. He can make no allowance for any possible departure fi'om the literal and full cRscharge of the Levitical ceremonial law. For instance, he finds a mercifal provision allowing the offering of " turtle doves or young pigeons," whenever the lamb would be beyond the means of the offerer. It only suggests to him a fresh objection : — " Where could the people find turtle doves and young pigeons in the wilderness?" He adds, with irreverent sarcasm, — "• Did the people carry these with them out of Egypt ?" * But presently he answers his own objection. He admits that the Hebrew word, translated ''pigeon," may be translated " bird of the wilderness," and confirms his admission by quotations from other parts of the Bible; (Ps. Iv., 6-7, Jer. xlviii., 28, Eze. vii., 16.) It is true, he tries to destroy the force of this admission, by arguing that the Avilderness spoken of in these passages was not like the wilderness of Sinai. It was only " an uncultivated and coniparativeJij barren country : " — in the wilderness of Sinai even "birds of the wilderness could not be found ! " But once more he stultifies his own argument by * * Dr. Colenso, p. 124. 29 confessing, in the same paragraph, that the Hebrew word for '' wiklerness" is the ,sut, it will be asked, — Does not Dr. Colenso, in some way or other, endeavour to pariT the force of the conclusion so plainly dravii fi'om our Lord's testimony to the Old Testament Scriptures ? He cannot bo unconscious of the difficulty of his position, — how does he propose to escape from the difficulty ? 88 The answer we must give to this question, is indeed a grave one. It will sadly prove to us that Dr. Colenso, unless arrested in his course, is nearing the precipice of final unbelief in the Divine authority of the Founder of Christianity. He absolutely adopts the conclusion that Christ "was irpwrant of the truth which he — Dr. Colenso — has discovered : in a word — he is wiser than his Lord and Master ! Dr. Colenso devotes but one page -i^ to the consideration of this all-absorbing point — this pivot on which the whole controversy turns : and he tells us, in effect, that Christ was mistaken. *' He could not be expected to speak of the Pentateuch in other teims than any other devout Jew of that day would have employed." The bishop, having brought himself to believe what to us is utterly incredible -j- — that the Jews had allowed myths, and con- tradictions, and impossibilities, involving the establishment of positive, outward, national institutions, — the Sabbatli, Circumcision, the Passover, — to be palmed upon them as veritable history. Divinely recorded by Inspired men, — takes but one further step, and he believes — (miracle of incredulity !) that our blessed Lord, in utter ignorance, based his teaching upon a book of fictions, claiming in the name of God, the authority of facts ! Such is the marvellous credulity of scepticism. In these modern days, we are to suppose that educated men — scholars with " advanced intellects" — "the more thoughtful portion of the community" + — have a larger knowledge of the laws of historical criticism, the mysteries of science, — especially, we presume, of the science of numbers — than He who was Himself emphatically the Truth ! Dr. Colenso urges, in support of this monstrous theory, that Christ was man, and that " as man, He voluntarily entered into all the conditions of humanity, and among others, into that which makes our growth in all ordinaiy knowledge gradual and limited.'" Truly the bishops' ingenuity is great. We are reminded of a like ingenious attempt, in another page, to avoid the conclusion, ♦ Pref., p. xxxi. t Proved to be incredible in "Leslie's Short and Easy Method with the Deist." X Pref., p. XXXV. 89 that tho Aviitcr of the Pentateuch must have been a had man i^ he has iudcoil recoraed ideological falsehoods as historical facts, adding to the record the solemn affirmation—*' Thus saith^ tho Lord." Dr. Coleuso is quite ready to helievc that " in miting the story of the Exodus, the Scripture witer may have had no consciousness of doing wrong."=;'- We presume he would persuade us, iu the words of one of the Essayists, that " our sense of any difficulty arises only from our modern habits of thought, and from the wodt'sty of assertion which the spirit of true science has taught us!" I But in neither case will the bishop's plea avail him anything. "Without discussing ancient " habits of thought," we are assured of this, that a narrative, jmrportinn to he one of jwsitive facts, which is wholly, or in any essential or considerable portion untrue, can have no connection with the Divine Revela- tion of a God of Truth. So, whatever may be said of Christ's limited and defective knowledge as man, His endorsement of a delusion, attrihuting Divine authority to a hook of historical falsehoods, uould utterly preclude our receiving that hook as God's Book, or recognising Christ Himself as a Teacher sent from God. We can quite understand, that, as man, Christ's growth in ''ordi- nary' knowledge was gradual— that He "increased in wisdom" as well as in " stature :" but we are not now speaking of ordinary knowledge. We are speaking of knoivledge uhich could not he defective without involving the sacrifice of Divine faithfulness and truth. '' Whether the deception be ascribed to ignorance or fraud is quite immaterial, as far as the question of a Divine Revela- tion is concerned.": If the Pentateuch be not historically true, then Christ's teaching, which is constructed on the hypothesis of its truth, can only be placed, as Dr. Colenso seems prepared to place it, on a level with the teaching of Cicero, the Sikh Gooroos, Lycurgus, Numa, Zoroaster, &c.,§— it is entirely bereft of that Divine authority which a written Revelation from God would possess. If the Rishop of Natal has lost faith in Moses, he cannot consistently retain faith in Jesus. But we may give another, and, if possible, still more decisive answer to this monstrous tlicoiy which Dr. Colenso has broached. * Prcf., p. xvii. t Essays and Reviews. t The Record. § Pref., p. xviii. 40 It is true Christ was man, but He -was no less truly God. Who then shall attempt to separate the action of the human from the Divine mind in our Lord's person ? Admitting that, as man. He "gi'ew in msdom," can we conceive for one moment that, as God, He could possibly fall into eiTor? ^^ Advanciufj knowledge — be it in Paradise, or among the angels v/lio are still but finite, or in that sacred infancy which was passed in Galilee, — does not involve mistaJi'cit knowledge, much less liability to positive error and deception." But we cannot really separate the human from the Divine. Not to intrude into the mystery of the two Natures in the One Person, we hold, beyond doubt, that throughout the whole of cm' Lord's earthly ministry there was present in His mind the whole mind of the Father and the whole mind of the Spirit. He knew who -sn'ote the Pentateuch, and whether it were inspired or no. When He declared that He came to ''fulfil the Law and the Prophets," He meant by the lav/ what the phrase always meant among the Jews, the writings of Moses. Had the lav/ (which includes the history) been a tissue of mistakes, exaggerations, or interpolations, He, who corrected the misinterpretations of the moral code, would not have left glaring mis-statements of history, prejudicial to the spread of the Gospel in after times, without correction also. Even the Apostles had "the promise of the Spirit" to "guide them into all truth." Had not He who gave that promise the same Spii'it? Did He not "knov/ fi-om the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him ?" (John xi., 05.) Are we not told that He "knew what was in man, and needed not that any should tell Him ?" (John ii., 25). And yet, are we to believe that He was ignorant of the character, whether authentic or fictitious, of the 'Sacred books ascribed to Moses, "the Prophet like unto Himself" — (surely like in truth- fidniss) — who went before Him ? (Deut. xviii., 15.) *' If, when Christ began His work, with all the fulness of the Holy Ghost dwelling in the God-m.an, and with all the Omnipotence of Deity waiting to avouch His doctrine. He who was Himself *.the Truth' as well as 'the Way' and 'the Life,' could be in error as to the very foundations of His preaching, and was as liable to mistake the Scriptures of the Old Testament as ' any other devout 41 Jew of that day' — ^tlieii, verily, His voracity is a figmcut, faith iu Him is folly, and the God of Truth must be supposed, iu the miracles He performed in e\'idencc of His Mission, to have made bare His Holy Arm to set His seal upon error and falsehood !" This is plain language, but it does uo more than state the fearful alternative which Dr. Coleuso's present position places before him. Either he must retrace his steps, and acknowledge that the testimony of Christ to the Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Pentateuch as a part of the Old Testament, is decisive and final, or he must impugn the veracity of Christ and reject Christianity as a Message sent fi'om God ! IV. Practical Bearings of the Subject. It now only remains for me to commend to my readers the practical Hearings of the subject of this pamphlet. The topics which have engaged our attention : — Bible Inspira- tion — the truthfulness of Old Testament history — the veracity of Him whose Name we bear — have indeed been solemn topics. I trust the discussion of them has been conducted in the spirit of earnest, truth-loving, truth-seeking sincerity. I trust that it has been manifest that my object has not been '' controversy for controversy's sake." I tnist I have been enabled to rise above the influences of mere controversy, and to realise the momentous importance of the questions at issue. I am most anxious, in conclusion, to impress, if possible, still more deeply upon the mind of every reader, the consideration of this personal and practical interest, which pertains to each, and is inseparably connected -svith the enquiry, ^' Has God spoken? Do we possess a Revelation of His Mind and Will ?" These pages will probably foil into the hands of some, who aro verging on the precipice of scepticism and doubt. Let mc ofler them a u-ieiidly word of counsel. 42 I might say, — Beware of '' tlic evil heart of unbeUcJ','' excusing sinful habits, and putting away the unwelcome thought of responsi- bility and a judgment to come. We know there are men who fret under the moral restraints of Christianity : who are provoked by its solemn warnings against sin : who are offended by its humbling and self-denying character. But this is not the case mth all. There are doubters who are not, in this sense, unbelievers : they do not reject the truth simply because they wish it not to be the truth ; but they have allowed themselves to come within the circle of sceptical influences, and they are being f/radufdhj dra^vn into the whirlpool of avowed unbelief. It is to these I address myself. I appeal to the honest doubter's better self; and there are two thoughts which I would especially suggest to him. I ask him, first, to iiondey urll the consequences of unhelief — to estimate the loss which he is incurring, hg the rejection of the Bible as GocVs Revelation of His Will to man. Let him remember, — '' It is the Bible or it is no Bible :" for there is no other book under heaven, claiming Divine Authority, whose pretensions are, for one moment, worthy of examination. He may, with Dr. Colenso, talk of 'Hhe Voice of God in the heart," — of the promptings of the natural conscience within him, — of the sufficiency of reason without Revelation : but, whilst I would not deny that these mag cast some faint rays of light upon the path even of the poor heathen, — whilst I fully recognise the province of reason to weigh the evidences, external and internal, which prove the Bible to he a Divine Revelation, — I have the testimony of universal experience, that this light of nature never led to the knowledge of the One true God : and I confidently affii-m, that the men who, in our own land, exalt reason and conscience as the supreme guides in matters of religion, — ignoiing the fact that the one has been darkened and the other blunted and perverted by the Fall, — have really been indebted to the Bible they traduce for everg jxa'ticle of the religious know- ledge which seems to separate and distinguish them from the heathen. They have climbed by means of the ladder of the Bible to the eminence they occupy, and it is vain for tlicm to maintain that they have soared thither on the wings of reason. They viag 43 imagine that had they been boru in the centre of Africa, or on one of the lonely islands of the Southern Sea, they ^vould have been as enlightened as they are now :— but no one, besides themselves, will believe it. We appeal from imagination to fact. Can a single instance be adduced of men arriving at the knowledge of the general truths of religion, apart from lievelation ? Can a people be named, unblessed Avith the light of Bible truth, who have ever grasped, and held fast, the tnie notion of God ? We need not confine ourselves to nations sunk in barbarism and ignorance. We need not point to the New Zealander feasting on the slain dead,— the Indian Suttee,— the murderous Thug. Wc may go to ancient Greece, the land of 'art, philosophy, and song : —we may go to Athens itself, the very focus of the wisdom of this world,— and before we reach the Acropolis we are confi-onted with an altar, bearing this startling inscription, *' To the UNKNOWN God." The fundamental truth of religion is undis- covered by that very reason which, in other matters, had accom- plished maiwels which will ever command the admiration of the world ! Dr. Colenso a.^sumes, that ''his belief in the Living God would remain as sure as ever, though not the Pentateuch only, but the whole Bible were removed"— he assumes that '' it is miiien on our hearts by God's own Finger, as surely as by the hand of the Apostle in the Bible, that God is, and is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." But this is onJij assumption. Let him study the records of Paganism: let him penetrate the thick darkness of heathenism : let him unravel the subtleties of Atheism, Materialism, Pantheism : and surely he will perceive that hia assumption is baseless. W^ere it not so, we might well ask. Why send a Bishop to the Zulus, to Caffraria, or the Zambezi ? The finger of God has written on all the heaiis of those wild African races "That He is God, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him ;" and, on Bishop Colenso's showing, that is enough— the Christian system is no longer wanted. But who does not know that this Divine writing on the heart produces no moral fruit till the grace that comes with the Gospel ciuickcns it ? ■\Vho does not know that the very necessity of Missionaiy enter- u prise is a standing proof of tlic moral lielplcssnoss of tlio workl \vitliout the revealed trutli ? Dr. Cdlenso seeks to console liimself, in tlie midst of liis doubts and misgivings, by tlie reflection, pain- fully significant in its anticipation — ''Should all else give nrnj beneath vie, God's everlasting arms are still under me. I am sure that the solid ground is there, on which my feet can rest in the knov/- ledgc of Him." We rejoice in this assurance that he still holds fast the Being of God, and a moral retribution of some kind — for this belief may possibly, through the teaching of the Spirit, lead him back into the clear light — but at the same time, we tell him, that even this limited creed rests on the foundation of the know- ledge he has derived fi'oni the Bible ; and in rejecting the claims of the Bible as God's Revelation to man, he is rejecting that which alone can give authority to any creed — that, n-ltlwut trhich, the natural mind would be for ever left to its ovai vain speculations, " feeling after God " but failing to " find Him." No ! Reason must sit at the feet of the great Teacher : Conscience must be awakened to spiritual sensibility by the Divine Spirit : or man, the heir of immortality, is like a mariner prosecuting a perilous voyagte across the pathless ocean, without chart, or compass, or pilot. Take awiiy the Bible, and the world is but one vast quagmire v.here there is no standing. Break the rock of Scripture, and there are no stepping stones to "the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." Let the disciples of modern thought ponder well the conse- quences which follow the rejection of the Bible, and test the worth of the substitute which is to supply its place. The second thought which I vrould urge upon honest doubters, is this : Before you yield to the influence of scepticism, he sure you have candidly and 'unijaytiaUy iveiyhed all the Evidences U'hich attest the Divine authority of the Bible. These evidences, writers of Dr. Colenso's School, have almost totally disregarded. They have given no answer to Paley, and in lea\dng him unansvrered, they arc, in fact, dumb before all those •svriters whose gold Vv^as melted do-»Mi in Paley's crucible, — ^Burnet and Leslie, Locke and Lyttleton, Grotius and Le Cierc, Sherlock and Porteus, Newton and Watson ; and last, but not least, the 45 venerated Sumncr.=:= They liavo not altered the CYldcncc in the ''Trial of tlic Witnesses." Tlicy have found no flaw in Leslie's infallible test. Tlioy liave not made Lardner's " Credibility," incredible. Tlioy have not tom-Jwd Butler's "Analogy." And, above all, tliey have not touched a single one of those minute and long-concealed coincidences with which the Scriptures abound : coincidences which only a very industrious )iiitiin[j brings to light, which lie too deep for the eye of the ordinary reader, and which would never have been discovered had not infidelity provoked Paley and others to excavate the subterranean galleries in which they are found ; coincidences too numerous and striking to be the effect of accident, and which, if ingenuity had been subtle enough to fabricate, that same ingenuity would have been too sagacious to conceal. t Let then the body of Christian evidences be candidly and carefully weighed, and there is no fear of the result. I do not say, indeed, that even these evidences ^Yi\\ force con- viction. There may be causes existing in the doubter, which effectually bar the door of his heart: and wo know, "a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still." The Bible humbles man and exalts God, and many hate it as they * As members of the Cluirch of EngUuKl, humbled by the spectacle of a bishop assailing the Book of God, Ave can yet thankfully remember, that he is a solitary exception on a roll of names, lionour.able in the judgment of the Church universal, for the invaluable services they have rendered as thS authors of standard works on the Christian evidences. And whilst we deeply lament the falling awav of one bishop, we are not, as Protestant Churchmen, pledged to the unscriptural dogmas of Apostolic Succession (in the Eomi.h sense), or Church lufallibilitv. "It is not lawful for the Church"-much less for an uuhv.dua bishop of 'the Church-" to ordain anything that is contrary to Gods ^^ora written " (Article xx.) " As the Church of Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Ant.och have erred ; so also the Church of Kome hath erred, not only in their living and manners of Ceremonies, but also in matters of Faith." (Article xix.) However painful, no strange thing has happened. Bishops are but men, and they have a special claim upon our prayers, that, in their high and responsible office, they may be " illuminated with true knowledge and understanding of God's ^\ ord (Litany , and be - valiant for the Faith." The late beloved Archbi.hop of Canterbury well responded, on the .lay of his consecration, to a faithful layman who uttered as he passed by, a praver that God's blessing might rest upon him-" I need your prayers :'" and i am sure there is not a bisliop on our English bench wha Avould not from his heart re-ech(. that response. t See Blunt's work on '• The Coincidences in ihe rcntatcuch," 4G would hate an honest friend, who tells them salutary hut unpala- table truth. Light is painful to the diseased eye : truth is painful to the diseased heart. The eye may close : the heart may resist. Bible eTideuce, although strong and multiform, is yet only moral evidence. It is not like a flash of lightning which will even force its vray through the closed cj-elids, and make itself visible : — it will not rend its way to the soul. There is evidence enough to satisfy the candid and sincere : there is evidence enough to leave a man morally responsible for his faith : but there is a veil too thick for evidence to penetrate. The quotation especially applies to our present subject: "If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither mil they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead" (Luke xvi., 31). But I do say, that, "if any man ^^ill do the will of God," — if any man desires to know God's will that he may do it — then the investigation of the Christian evidences will be demonstrative to him: — "he shall know of the doctrine" of the Bible, "that it is of God" (John vii., 17). Finally, addressing all who aclmowledge the Divine Inspiration and Authority of the Bible, let me say : — Be not easily shaken in mind, as to the evidences of this Inspi- ration and Authority : and Be not^ satisfied with anything short of an experimental acquaintance with the sa\ang truth revealed in the Bible. I. — Be not easily shaken in mind, as to the Evidences of Bible Insjyiratiou and Aiitliority. Objectors always make themselves heard. Dr. Colenso's book has gained the world for an audience : but the world mil soon forget his book, and the Church will only remember it as one amongst many impotent attempts to destroy what is indestructible. The Bible has been in the furnace of trial times without number, but it has come forth as gold. The waves of controversy have beat against it, but it has dashed them back in glittering and harmless spray. From age to age the Bible keeps its place as the pioneer of progress, frov/ning on sin, smiling on virtue, withering hypocrisy, and encouraging the broken hearted to trust in a 47 Saviour whoso blood cloanses Iroin sin. Wc have uo fear lor tlio Bible. " Iloavcn and earth slinll pass away, but the AVord of God shall not pass aAvay." Infidelity, scepticism, superstition, rational- istic ideology, the criticism of modern thought, arc powerless to touch it. In spite of all, and through all, and above all, God's Word lives on, and will live on, fit type of the immutability of llim whose utterance it is. "Like some (all clilV that lifis its a\\Tiil form, Swells from the vale, and muhvay loaves the storm, Though round its breast the rolling cloiuls are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head!" Aiid then: II. — Be not satisfied irlt/i (iin/lhiii^/ sliorl of an EXPERIMENTAL ACQUAINTANCE HvV/t iJlC Uivilig tVUtk rc'VCalcd ill tllC Bible, Best not in an unrealizing acquiescence in the truth of the Bible. Be not contented with a faith that lacks the witness of the heai*t. You may not be able to enter fully into the consideration of the Christian evidences, and the proofs of the genuineness of Holy Scripture, but every believer may test Revelation by the touchstone of experience : and, after all, this is tlio most simple, the most satisfactory, and the most decisive test. The infidel may laugh at this proof: but the believer would die upon the strength of it. And no wonder! You cannot reason a man out of his con- viction of the efiicacy of his physician's treatment, when he has recovered from deadly disease : so he is not likely to be persuaded that the Gospel is *' a cunningly devised fable," who has proved it to be **the power of God unto his salvation," — a power that has raised him from ''the death of sin" to "the life of righteous- ness." In vain will the sceptic object, and the infidel cavil, in the presence of the man who has Bible truth engraved on his heart, and witnessed in his conscience, by the experimental teaching of the Holy Spirit. I cannot refrain from quoting, as illustrative of this experi- mental acquaintance with the saving truth of God's Word, a remarkable passage fi-om the "History of the Reformation," by Merle D'Aubigne. He is describing the intense interest excited by the distribution of Tyndale's New Testament, in England, in the year 152G : — 48 *'Iu tlie parsonages and in the convent cells, but particularly in sliops and cottages, a crowd of persons were studying the New Testament. The clearness of the Holy Scriptures struck each reader. None of the systematic or aphoristic forms of the schools were to he found there : it was the language of human life which they discovered in those Divine writings ; here a conversation, there a discourse ; here a narrative, and there a comparison ; here a command, and there an argument ; here a parable, and there a prayer. It was not all doctrine, or all history ; but these two elements mingled together made an admirable whole.... Aca- demical explanations vv^ere not necessary to those noblemen, farmers, and citizens. 'It is to me, for me, and of me that this book speaks,' said each one. 'It is I whom all these promises and teachings concern. This fall and this resto rat ion... ihey are mine. That old death and this new life... I have passed thi'ough them. Thai flesh and that spirit...! know them. This law and this grace, this faith, these worJiS, this slavery, this glory, this Christ, this Belial...?i\l are familiar to me. It is my own history that I find in this book.' Thus, by the aid of the Holy Ghost, each one had in his oivn experience a seal to the truth of the Gospel. "=:= In connection with this eloquent passage from the histoiy of the past, and as showing the inestimable value of an experimental appropriation of Bible truth as a j^reservative from tlie snares of wfidelitg and the seductions of fcdse 2)hiloso2)hy , I add the following brief account which Dr. D'Aubigne has given of his own final establishment in the tmth of Revelation. ''After I had begun to preach Christ, I v»'as so assailed and perplexed on '^oming into Germany by the sophisms of rationalism, that I w\as plunged into unutterable distress, and passed whole nights without sleeping, crying to God, or endeavouring by argu- ments and sj^llogisms without end to repel the attack and the adversary. In my perplexity I visited Kleuker, a venerable divine at Kiel, who for forty years had been defending Christianity against the attacks of infidel theologians and philosophers. Before this admirable man I laid my doubts and difficulties for solution ; * "History of the Reformation in England." pp. 350-60. 49 nstead of solviug tlicm, Ivlcuker replied, 'Were I to succeed in ridding you of tliese, others ^YOuld soon rise up. There is a Bhortor, deeper, and more complete way of annihilating them. Let Christ be reaUij to yon the Son. of Gnd—the Saviour— the Author of eternal life. Only be firmly settled in this grace, and then these difficulties of detail will never stop you ; the light which proceeds from Christ will dispel all darkness.' This advice, followed by a study with a pious fellow-traveller at an inn at Kiel, of the Apostle's expression, 'Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,' relieved me fi'om all my difficulties. After reading together this passage, we prayed over it. When I arose from my knees in that room at luel, I felt as if my wings were renewed as the wings of eagles. From that time forward I comprehended that my own syllogisms and arguments were of no avail ; that Christ was able to do all by His power that worketh in me ; and the habitual attitude of my soul was to be at the foot of the cross, crying to Him, ' Here am I, bound hand and foot, unable to move, unable to do anything to get away from the enemy that oppresses me : do all Thyself : I know thafthou wilt do it ; Thou wilt even do exceeding abun- dantly above all that I ask.' I was not disappointed. All my doubts were soon dispelled, and not only was I delivered fi'om that inv.ard anguish which, in the end, would have destroyed me had not God been faithful, but the Lord extended unto me peace like a river. If I relate these things, it is not as my ovm. histoiy alone, but that of many pious young men, who, in Germany and else- where, have been assailed by the raging waves of rationalism." A more interesting, instructive, and momentous narrative, I have never perused. Most clearly do we learn from it, that he who is " strengthened with all might by the Spirit in the inner num," and who is " rooted and grounded in love," though less skilful in argument, is in a far better condition to resist the subtleties of infidelity and scepticism, than he vdio is stronger in his logic but wanting in the grace of experience. Though the strength of the human intellect, the chain of sound reasoning, and the conclusion of a just logic, have fitly and profitably been employed in elaborate 50 defences of the truth ; yet, after all, it is to the blessing of God on the internal vigour of his ov.ii pict}', that the believer is indebted for his stabilit}', more than to those outworks v.hich are east up, from time to time by the ablest defenders of Christianity. Let the Bible, then, be the food of our souls ! The highest kind of certainty belongs exclusively to those truths which have been demonstrated by experience. Let us be satisfied with nothing short of " the witness in ourselves." In the earnest, eloquent, and impressive words of one in whom intellectual power and spirituality of mind arc eminently combined : — '' It would be a poor comfort to possess a Divine Revelation, if we did not live upon the truths that it reveals. The deepest homage we can render to the authority of the ^Yord consists in the love of the heart, and in the obedience of the life. Then only do we truly honour it, when it becomes our guide in life and our support in death, when it brightens our sorrows and sanctifies our pleasures, and when we follow it as the beacon star whose steady light shall guide our earthly voyage into the heavenly haven, the rest prepared for the people of God. For this, it must become the joy of the heart, as well as the light of the intellect. The lively oracles m^y be amongst us, and yet without a prayerful faith in the worshipper, the Divine voice within them would be dumb — the letter there, but its living spirit absent. We need a larger faith in the promises, and more earnest supplication for the gift of the >Spirit. Then v/ould He teach us His marvellous lessons, and step by step, as along the mystic ladder that stretches between earth and heaven, raise us nearer and nearer to God. The first step is on earth, but the highest will be in heaven. "=:= I have heard of a copy of the Scriptures preserved in one of our old castles, which belonged more than a century since to the noble owner. At the end of many hundred verses through the volume he has carefully signed his name : and at the close of the volume, in a handwriting evidently tremulous from weakness, dated * "The Bible and its Critics: the Boyle Lectures for 1S61." B3' the Rev. Edward Garbett, M.A. Seeley and Grilliths, London. An exhaustive work, worthy of the name of Boyle, with which it stands connected. 61 a short time before his dcatli, are these words : "I hereby set my seal to the trutli of every promise contained in this book, having found them all realised throughout a long life, in my o^ni happy experience." Happy experience, indeed ! IMay evciy possessor of a Bible who may read these pages, be enabled to bear a like Tkstijiony ! XoTK. — On " The Human Element in Scn'pfiire.^^ To guard ngainst possible niisundorstanding, I deem it well, in issuing a Second Edition of tliis Pami)I)lef, to add a few remarks on what has been termed, in these pages, "the Human Element in Scripture." I am most anxious it should be nndcrstood, tliat in nsserting the presence of this "Human Element" in the composition of tlie Sacred volume, it is by no means to be inferred that human error obtained an entrance in tlie orirjinal autographs. We admit, although in a very limited degree, the existence of trilling errors made b)' translators and copyists, in the transmission of the Bible from ago to age — errors which legitimate criticism, for the most part, easily corrects; but the presence of "the Human Element" in the co?»/;o- sition of Scripture, is quite consistent with the infallibility of the original autographs : and we distinctly affirm, that everj' attempt made by sceptical adversaries of the faith to establish « single contradiction^ clearly inherent in the autographs and their structure, has ntterly failed. J9a'er^e?2c/e5— variations — in tlie accoifnts given by diflferent writers of the same events, mag be pointed out. These we trace to "the Human Element in Scripture," and they create no real difficulty : they are the natural and inevitable accompaniment of a lievela- tion made through a human medium ; and, in point of fact, they frequently afford tlie confirmation of a double and triple testimony. It is only such divergence as implies direct contradiction, or the partial falsehood of tlie state- ment, which can furnish a real argument against plenary and comi)lete inspiration. This divergence does not exist. Mr. Birks aptly traces an analogy between "the Human Element in Scripture," and "the Human Nature in the Divine Person of Christ." " Tlie lowly birth, the hunger and thirst, the weariness and sorrow, the human words and looks and tears of the Son of Man, are the means by wliich alone we obtain a true knowledge of the Saviour, and are able to discern, in its fulness, that love of Christ which passcth knowledge. In like manner, we must attend, thought- fully, and with reverence, to the human features of the written word, in order to discern clearly its wisdom and heavenly beauty, as a series of messages, clothcil with Divine authority, from the living God to the children of men." 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"God came to me as Truth, — I saw Him not ; He came to me as Love, — and my Iieart broke, And from its inmost deptlis tliere came a cry, — 'j\ly Fatlier! O my Fatlier! smile on me;' • And the great Father smiled." CONTENTS. The Gospel in the Parable. ! The Way Horn The Prodigal's Choice. The Fugitive from God. Riotous Living. The Mighty Famine. The Prodigal's Degradation. The Prodiu-al's Deran<>'ement. The AVelcome Home. Repentance. The Penitent's Confession. The Apostate Justilied. Adoption ; or, the Gospel Realised. The Legalist ; or. Adoption Tested. Second Edition, pp. 48, price Gd., ESSAYS AND REVn^]WS ; THE FALSE POSITION OF THE AUTHORS: AN APPEAL TO THE BIBLE AND THE PRAYER BOOK. Second Thousand, 2d., THE KEY OF THE CONTROVERSY; Or, FAITH'S VIEW OF THE SECOND ADVENT. LONDON: WERTHEIM & CO.; AND STRAHAN & CO.