100 The Fundamentals. tians? This is the very heart of the question, and, in order that the reader may see the seriousness of the adoption of the conclusions of the critics, as brief a resumé as possible of the matter will be given. THE POINT IN A NUTSHELL. According to the faith of the universal church, the Penta teuch, that is, the first five books of the Bible, is one con sistent, coherent, authentic and genuine composition, inspired by God, and, according to the testimony of the Jews, the state ments of the books themselves, the reiterated corroborations of the rest of the Old Testament, and the explicit statement of the Lord Jesus (Luke 24:44, John 5:46-47) was written by Moses (with the exception, of course, of Deut. 34, possibly written by Joshua, as the Talmud states, or probably by Ezra) at a period of about fourteen centuries before the advent of Christ, and 800 years or so before Jeremiah. I t is, moreover, a portion of the Bible that is of paramount importance, for it is the basic substratum of the whole revelation of God; and of paramount value, not because it is merely the literature of an ancient nation, but because it is the introductory section of the Word of God, bearing His authority and given by inspiration through His servant Moses. That is the faith of the Church. THE CRITICS’ THEORY. But according to the Higher Critics: 1. The Pentateuch consists of four completely diverse doc uments. These completely different documents were the pri mary sources of the composition which they call the Hexa- teuch: (a) The Yahwist or Jahwist, (b) the Elohist, (c) the Deuteronomist, and (d) the Priestly Code, the Grundschift, the work of the first Elohist (Sayce Hist. Heb., 103), now generally known as J. E. D. P., and for convenience desig nated by these symbols. 2. These different works were composed at various peri-
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