77
Christ and Criticism.
those forged books that the Jews spurned their help; and so they went home and adopted the forged books as their Bible! And, secondly, because criticism has proved that the books were riot in existence till then. To characterize the writings of these scholars as they deserve is not a grateful task but the time has come to throw off reserve, when such drivel as this is gravely put forward to induce us to tear from our Bible the Holy Scriptures on which our Divine Lord based His claims to Messiahship. THE IDEA OF SACRIFICE A REVELATION. The refutation of the Higher Criticism does not prove that the Pentateuch is inspired of God. The writer who would set himself to establish such a thesis as that within the limits of a Review Article might well be admired for his enthusiasm and daring, but certainly not for his modesty or discretion. Neither does it decide questions which lie within the legitimate province of the true Higher Criticism, as ex. gr., the author ship of Genesis. I t is incredible that for the thousands of years that elapsed before the days of Moses, God left His people on earth without a revelation. It is plain, moreover, that many of the ordinances divinely entrusted to Moses were but a renewal of an earlier revelation. The religion of Baby lon is clear evidence of such a primeval revelation. How else can the universality of sacrifice be accounted for ? Could such a practice have originated in a human brain ? If some demented creature conceived the idea that killing a beast before his enemy’s door would propitiate him, his neigh bors would no doubt have suppressed him. And if he evolved the belief that his ^od would be appeased by such an offensive practice, he must have supposed his god to be as mad as him self. The fact that sacrifice prevailed among all races can be explained only by a primeval revelation. And the Bible student will recognize that God thus sought to impress on men that death was the penalty of sin, and to lead them to
| T
1 1 >
I
f
m
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker