Alleged triumph of modern criticism. 539

prophet Zechariah for their author, as unequivocally as Isaiah is claimed for the twenty-seven last chapters of the book which bears his name. And while indeed, if these claims were demonstrated to be false, it would be the duty of the friends of truth to relinquish them; yet if, on the other hand, the modern criticism which assigns Isaiah 40-66 to a post-exilian author, and Zechariah 9-14 to one or more pre-exilian authors is incorrect and fallacious, its inconclusiveness deserves to be pointed out, and the trustworthiness of the sacred text to be vindicated.

Although, in respect of size, the disputed portion of Zechariah is scarcely one-fifth of the dimensions of the disputed portion of Isaiah, yet so prominent is the position which the question of the authorship of Zechariah 9 to 14 occupies, that Bunsen spoke of the ascription of these six chapters to two pre-exilian authors as one of the triumphs of modern criticism. Hence if the prophet Zechariah did write, not only the eight first, but also the six last chapters of the book which bears his name; and if accordingly the ascription of these six chapters to pre-exilian authors is not a triumph, but a mistake, it is surely desirable, in the interests of sacred truth, that the character of the modern criticism in question should be exposed, and the integrity of the Book of Zechariah conclusively established.

The credibility of the Scriptures is in no way imperilled by the well-known fact (exemplified, for instance, in the composition of the Book of Jeremiah) that, in the arrangement of their con

tents, chronological order is not invariably adhered to. This fact being abundantly apparent on the face of the records themselves, is thoroughly consistent with their trustworthiness: whereas the conclusions of what is sometimes called the higher criticism are directly contradictory of those records. Consequently, to admit, out of deference to such criticism, and in the absence of adequate proof, that Ecclesiastes may not have been written by Solomon, or that Isaiah 40 to 66 and Zechariah 9 to 14 may not be genuine, is to admit a principle which lowers to the position of mere conjectural uncertainties and random statements (many or most of them possibly inaccurate) those explicit notes of authorship which are so profusely scattered throughout the books of the sacred canon. Hence, as already observed, such an admission is directly antagonistic to the general trustworthiness of the Scriptures.

If, on the other hand however, the criticism in question is untrustworthy, and is proved to be so, and if accordingly the testimony of the books of Holy Scripture to their own authorship is thus conclusively vindicated from the unsettling results of the criticism, then indeed the claim of the Written Word to be implicitly believed and loyally obeyed must be thereby confirmed, and a bright illustration given to that saying of the Lord Jesus, which is as brief as it is memorable

THE SCRIPTURE CANNOT BE BROKEN.

Index.

1. Throughout the Index a dot above a figure indicates that the reference extends to the next verse or page.

2. In the specification of pages, a comma between two numbers implies that, in both pages, the same particular is discussed or mentioned; whereas a period implies that the point discussed in the one page is different from the point discussed in the other.

3. The Index of PASSAGES consists chiefly of passages quoted and specially discussed. When several passages are tabulated in illustration of some particular word common to them all, the word rather than the passages containing it may be turned up in the Index. It could, for example, have served no useful purpose, but would rather have made the index inconveniently bulky, to have mentioned in it the passages containing the sixty-two instances of 7. As these passages are severally specified in pages 455-61, those only are indexed which are specially commented on; whereas the other passages can easily be ascertained by referring to in the Index of Hebrew words. So with in pages 79, 80, in page 95, TN in page 143, cast in pages 451-2, and sundry other words.

4. The Index of Passages in the Solomonic Scriptures refers exclusively to the Treatise on the Authorship of Ecclesiastes. As the last indexed reference to that Treatise refers to page 399, the references to the Dissertation on that which was spoken through Jeremiah the Prophet,' are easily distinguishable by the circumstance that in the specification of pages the figures 4 and 5 hundred refer invariably to the dissertation.