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Fallacies of the Higher Criticism. Ezekiel and Ezra which is utterly alien from all that we know of them. The expedient might be worthy of the prophets of Baal or of Chemosh; it was certainly not worthy of the prophets of Jehovah, and we dishonor them when we attribute it to them and place them upon a low plane of craft and cun ning of which the records concerning them are utterly ignorant. 3. The people who returned from the exile were among the most intelligent and enterprising of the nation, else they would not have returned, and they would not have been deceived by the sudden appearance of Mosaic laws forged for the occasion and never before heard of. 4. Many of the regulations of this legislation are drastic. I t subjected the priests and Levites to a rule which must have been irksome in the extreme, and it would not have been lightly accepted. We may be certain that if it had been a new thing fraudulently ascribed to Moses, these men would have detected the deceit, and would have refused to be bound by it. But we do not hear of any revolt, or even of any criticism. Such are some of the fundamental fallacies of the higher criticism. They constitute an array of impossibilities. I have stated them in their more moderate forms, that they may be seen and weighed without the remarkable extravagances which some of their advocates indulge. In the very mildest interpre tation which can be given them, they are repugnant to the Christian faith. NO MIDDLE GROUND. But might we not accept a part of this system of thought without going to any hurtful extreme ? Many today are seek ing to do this. They present to us two diverse results. 1. Some, who stand at the beginning of the tide, find them selves in a position of doubt. If they are laymen, they know not what to believe. If they are ministers, they know not what to believe or to teach. In either case, they have no firm foot ing, and no Gospel, except a few platitudes which do little harm and little good.
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