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The Fundamentals being attached to one god, as to their particular Lord and 'Father.”* Consider what is meant by the phrase, “in all respects above-mentioned identical with the general Semitic religion,” as applied to the religion of Israel previous to the eighth cen- tury B. C. Can this view be fairly deduced from the Old Testament as We now have it? Still more, is such a view conceivable in the light of the several preceding centuries of God’s special dealings with Israel ? Wherein, on this assump- tion, consisted the uniqueness of Israel from the time of Abraham to the eigh-n century B. C. ? We may next take the character of the narratives of Gene- sis. The real question at issue is the historical character. Mod- ern criticism regards the account in Genesis as largely mythical and legendary. Yet it is certain that the Jews of the later centuries accepted these patriarchs as veritable personages, and the incidents associated with them as genuine history. St. Paul and the other New Testament writers assuredly held the same view. If, then, they are not historical, surely the truths emphasized by prophets and apostles from the patriarchal stories are so far weakened in their supports ? Take, again, the legislation which in the Pentateuch is as- sociated with Moses, and almost invariably introduced by the phrase, “The Lord spake unto Moses.” Modern criticism regards this legislation as unknown until the Exile, or a thou- sand years after the time of Moses. Is it really possible to accept this as satisfactory ? Are we to suppose that “The Lord spake to Moses” is only a well-known literary device intended to invest the utterance with greater importance and more solemn sanction? This position, together with the generally accepted view of modern criticism about the invention of Deu- teronomy in the days of Josiah, cannot be regarded as in accordance with historial fact or ethical principle. Canon Driver and Dr. G. A. Smith, it is true, strongly assert *“Modern Criticism”, p. 130.
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