tuition of the yearnings of the human heart, he stands unrivaled, his enemies themselves being judges. And doubtless as the world grows older, mightier and mightier will grow this great evangelical prophet, this comforter of Zion, this winged psalmist of humanity's holiest hopes. Minstrel sublime! Thy God anointed thee ART. IV.-HARMAN'S INTRODUCTION. An Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures. By HENRY M. HARMAN, D.D.. Professor of Ancient Languages and Literature in Dickinson College. Edited by GEORGE R. CROOKS, D.D., and JOHN F. HURST, D.D. New York: Phillips & Hunt. Cincinnati: Hitchcock & Walden. 1879. AROUND any ancient monument the dust of centuries has settled, until its base is buried out of sight. In order to judge of the proportions of such a monument, or to ascertain how securely it stands, we must dig down to its foundations, and bring to light its buried parts. Troy could never have been understood by studying the Iliad only; Dr. Schliemann's pick and shovel must prepare the way for a proper appreciation of the city of Priam. The same thing is true of any old book. Time works such changes in language, in the manners and customs of the people, and in the relative position of the nations, that in a few centuries a large part of the book becomes buried lore. Almost every author leaves great chasms in his writings to be bridged. over by facts and opinions commonly known and accepted. But these facts and opinions in course of time sink out of sight, and others widely different are superimposed. In a few cent uries the bridges which connected the headlands of the narrative are all gone, and the new circumstances have either left the chasm with nothing to join its opposite banks, or have filled it up so high with débris that it is utterly impassable. The book thus becomes fragmentary, disconnected, and contradictory; nor is it possible to vindicate its integrity and give it a plain and consistent meaning except by reproducing in thought the state of things which existed at the time it was written. But this will require no little digging and delving in the lore of the past, and will necessitate the exhuming of the age in which, and the people among which, the book first made its appearance. The Bible is the oldest of all authentic books, and for that reason presents many difficulties requiring explanation before it can be thoroughly understood. Moreover, its several parts were written in different ages of the world, and in various countries. And then it was all penned by men of a widely different race from us, having modes of thought and forms of expression peculiar to the East. When we remember that the governments under which these writers lived have perished from off the face of the earth, and that the Hebrew people no longe inhabit the country which then was theirs, we should expect to find more difficulty in interpreting the Bible than in any other book. One half of that old monument is buried beneath the drifting, shifting sands of time, and we can but very imperfectly judge of its symmetry as a whole, or of the strength of its base, by the portion which now remains above ground. It requires more learning and more labor to remove the accumulations of time from the Bible, and lay bare the manners and customs which were contemporaneous with its writers, than are demanded for the elucidation of any other ancient document. If, however, the labor and learning thus spent shall result in discovering that the shaft is a monolith, and that it rests upon the Rock of ages, the reward will be more than commensurate with the toil. The necessity for a re-examination of the claims and contents of the Bible, for the purpose of directing attention and thought to its sacred truths, is made apparent by the attempt on the part of skeptical scientists to ignore and divert attention from this volume of our faith. Mr. James C. Southall says: "There is a certain want of ingenuousness among many literary and scientific men with regard to the historical books of the Hebrew Scriptures which is reprehensible, and for which I have little respect. They studiously avoid all mention of these documents, when if they had been discovered in the valley of the Euphrates or the Nile they would receive great attention. I do not recollect that the 'Antiquity of Man' ever recognizes that the book of Genesis is in existence, and yet every one is perfectly conscious that the author has it in mind, and is writing at it all the time." * The testimony of the book no less than that of the rocks requires careful study in order to be understood, and the Church, therefore, ought to put forth as much effort to concentrate thought upon the Bible as the world does to keep the discoveries of physical science ever before the mind. At a time like this, when skepticisin is endeavoring to turn the current of thought away from revelation, the publication of an exhaustive "Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures" is not only a valuable contribution to sacred literature, but also a priceless boon to all sincere inquirers after the truth. Henry M. Harman, D.D., Professor of Ancient Languages and Literature in Dickinson College, is the first American scholar who has undertaken this stupendous work. Indeed, we had almost come to think that the time and patience required in the production of such a book were too great for the push and hurry of the American character, and that they could only be matched by the bull-dog perseverance of the English, or the tireless sitting capacity of the German character. Dr. Nast gave us an admirable "Introduction to the Gospels" a few years since, but that was only a part of the great work that was needed, and, after all, its author was not a native of America, having had his birth in the Fatherland. The appearance, therefore, of Dr. IIarman's "Introduction to the Study of the Holy Scriptures" within the last year is matter both of Christian gratitude and national pride. The vast and varied erudition which he brings to this task makes him master of the situation, while his indomitable patience and perseverance never tire in exposing error and in tracking truth to its source. He seems equally at home in all the languages of the East, both ancient and modern. Greek, *Preface to "The Recent Origin of Man," p. 10. Hebrew, Egyptian and Assyrian archæology are all at his fingers' ends. The discoveries of science and the testimony of travelers furnish a fund of knowledge on which he draws at will, and his thorough acquaintance with all that has been written by those who have preceded him in this particular department of study makes him quick to profit by the admissions of enemies and to take warning from the errors of friends. Indeed, his stores of antique and curious learning fit him for a task like this almost beyond a rival. At the very outset of his Introduction he parts company with atheists and with the Tübingen school of critics, demanding in his readers belief in the existence of a God, and in the possibility of a supernatural revelation. He thus states the plan and scope of his work: It is our purpose, in the present volume, to examine the Genuineness, Credibility, Integrity, Language, Contents, and most important Ancient Versions of the Canonical Books of the Bible. An inquiry of such a nature travels over a long period of human history. We are to consider books extending through a period of more than fifteen hundred years, the earliest of which appeared at the dawn of history, and the last were composed when the Roman Empire and Pagan Civilization were at their zenith of power. In the treatment of such a subject much depends upon the frame of mind with which it is approached. If our speculative system excludes from the universe an ever-living, free, supreme Intelligence, the Creator and Preserver of all that is, and acknowledges nothing but unintelligent physical forces, upon whose play all things depend, we are wholly unfit to deal fairly with the Sacred Canon. For in such a case Revelation, Miracles, and Prophecies are palpable absurdities. But Atheism can never be a positive affirmation; and if the natural phenomena of the world furnished no proof of a personal God, we could yet philosophically admit the evidence which the facts of the Bible give of his existence. No real Theist can consistently deny the possibility of revelation, with its accompanying proofs-miracles and prophecies-and hence he is ever ready to listen to the evidence of the genuineness of documents that establish them. Nor will he take offense at a written revelation, when he reflects that it is by means of books, in the order of Providence, that mankind are instructed in the various affairs of the world.-P. 17. Granted the existence of God and the possibility of a written revelation, our author sets out to determine what claim our Scriptures have to be regarded as such written revelation from God. In deciding a question like this the stream of inquiry divides, as we follow it up, into three branches, namely, external, internal, and collateral evidence. These branches, however, flow so close together that, follow which one you will, the other two will always be in sight. Dr. Harman does not attempt to complete the consideration of either one of these branches of evidence to the exclusion of the other two, but seems to delight in keeping them all constantly before the mind, so that their united force may be felt. He cannot, of course, avoid pursuing separately lines of inquiry which belong to one or the other of these classes of evidence, and for the time being must close his ears to all other voices, but it will not be long before he returns to bring up the other lines abreast with this. His mode of treatment reminds one of a skillful lawyer presenting his evidence to a jury. He does not divide it up into sections and bring all the witnesses who are to testify to any fact upon the stand in immediate succession, but so arranges the order of his witnesses that the testimony of each will serve to explain and confirm that of all the others. He may first bring a witness to identify a document; then he will read the instrument and put it in evidence; next he may call a witness to swear to the signature; then he will prove that the party admitted upon a certain occasion that he had executed such an instrument; then he will show in whose custody it has been kept from the time it was executed; next he will return to the document, and will establish from its orthography and grammar a correspondence with other papers executed by this party; and, finally, he may prove the fact that the party was in the place named at the time the instrument purports to have been executed, and that it was generally reputed to be his act, without any denial on his part. He will so interweave external, internal, and collateral evidence that each will be supported by the other, and that the case will be sustained by the combined force of the testimony. In the case of the holy Scriptures the first question which demands an answer is, Whence came the books which make up the Bible? They did not fall from the moon, they were not brought to earth by an angel, they were not revealed by some supernatural light in a cave of the mountain. We hold them to be the word of God; but how came we in possession of them? To answer this question our author proceeds to follow the |