44
The Fundamentals in this case is wholly circumstantial, consisting of inferences derived from a literary analysis of the documents and from the application of a discredited evolutionary theory concern ing the development of human institutions. II. FAILURE OF THE ARGUMENT FROM LITERARY ANALYSIS (a) Evidence of Textual Criticism. It is an instructive commentary upon the scholarly pre tensions of this whole school of critics that, without adequate examination of the facts, they have based their analysis of the Pentateuch upon the text which is found in our ordinary He brew Bibles. While the students of the New Testament have expended an immense amount of effort in the comparison of manuscripts, and versions, and quotations to determine the or iginal text, these Old Testament critics have done scarcely a nything in that direction. This is certainly a most unscholar ly proceeding, yet it is admitted to be the fact by a higher critic of no less eminence than Principal J. Skinner of Cam bridge, England, who has been compelled to write: "I do not happen to know of any work which deals exhaustively with the subject, the determination of the original Hebrew texts from the critical standpoints." Now the fact is that while the current Hebrew text, k-nown as the Massoretic, was not established until about the seventh century A. D., we have abundant material with which to compare it and carry us back to that current a thou sand years nearer the time of the original composition of the books. ( 1 ) The Greek translation known as the Septua gint was made from Hebrew manuscripts current two or three centuries before the Christian era. It is from this ver sion that most of the quotations in the New Testament are made. Of the 350 quotations from the Old Testament in the New, 300, while differing more or less from the Massoretic text, do not differ materially from the Septuagint. (2) The
I
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker