supplemented with a copy of Professor Ryle's book on the Canon. 4. Books that systematize the teachings of the Old Testament are very helpful. Much of the Old Testament theology is practical theology, or it is everyday religion. Books that no minister's library should be without are Hermann Schultz's two volumes on this subject. They are a rich mine of learning and spiritual insight. Less expensive and equally scholarly and reverent is Piepenbring's "Old Testament Theology," translated into very readable English by Professor Mitchell of Boston University. 5. Old Testament histories are legion. Renan's is delightful, somewhat out of date in its critical views, and abominably translated. Graetz's first volume is somewhat better. Wellhausen's is, on the whole, the best, while, of the older histories, Stanley's is by no means as yet supplanted. 6. For the busy minister and the general reader, books like the "Expositor's Bible," and the "Men of the Bible" series are especially to be recommended. These books bring the Old Testament writers right down to our own age. The biographical element in them gives them life and inspiration. But both these series have poor volumes in them. G. A. Smith's Isaiah and Cheyne's Jeremiah are samples of the better numbers. 7. By no means should one avoid the latest books. Yet one should be very careful about reading on Old Testament subjects anything that comes to hand. Do not read a book that a friend has recommended unless you know why his opinion should be respected. Many men, whose intents and desires are right, are full of most untenable ideas, because they have been led astray by men who have thought more of defending a tradition or an hypothesis than of speaking the truth. Much of what is being said about the confirmations from the monuments is utterly baseless. Professor Cheyne is certainly right in laying serious charges at the doors of such writers as A. H. Sayce. They draw perfectly absurd conclusions from the facts. The great Assyriologists are on the side of the modern school. Let those who desire guidance in this direction, read Schrader's "Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament," or the new series of the "Records of the Past." These are far better than the conclusions drawn from the inscriptions that are going the rounds of the religious press. It is certainly true that the Church should move slowly and with caution in these matters. But to the truly religious man, to the man of faith, there is little. to cause alarm in these newer books. If ours is an age of unbelief, it is this unbelief that has caused destructive Biblical criticism; the higher criticism has not caused it. For the modern movement in Bible study is at bottom sincere, profoundly in earnest, profoundly moral, and filled with an intense desire to reach the very heart of our modern life. It is an effort, not to take the gospel away from the people, but to bring it to them in all its primitive purity and power. INDEX. ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, 174. Apocrypha of the Old Testament, .117. Atonement: views of the prophets, 141. Azazel, 141. BARUCH, BOOK OF, 107. Bible, greatness of, 47; need of an expurgated edition of, 310. Biographical sermons, 280. CAIRD, E., 245. Caird, J., 233. Canon of the Old Testament, 251 fol. Carlyle, 159. Commerce, 210. Cheyne, Canon, 278, 298. Christ as Messiah, 121; as a sacri- Chronicles, Book of, 204, 300. Criticism, see Higher Criticism. DANIEL, BOOK OF, 106, 204, 318. ECCLESIASTES, BOOK OF, 56, 134. Elmslie, Prof., 288. Ezekiel, Book of, 55, 64, 103, 136, Ezra-Nehemiah, Book of, 204. Government, 209. Gnostics, 222. Green, T. H., 234. HABAKKUK, BOOK OF, 134. Haeckel, view of Old Testament, 227. Haggai, Book of, 105, 136. Hebrew language, 269. Hegel, view of Old Testament, 224. Higher critics, 16, 31. Hosea, Book of, 90, 101, 132. IMMANENCE OF GOD, 74, 75. 131, 274. Isaiah, Book of Second, 104, 153 JEREMIAH, BOOK OF, 55, 102, 132, 194, 276. Jesus, the Christ, 104; view of Old Testament, 219. Jews, orthodox, 217; reformed, Newton, Rev. R. Heber, 261. 218. Job, Book of, 56, 134, 280 fol. Joel, Book of, 106, 136. John, Gospel of, 179. Numbers, Book of, 254. OLD TESTAMENT, permanent ele- ments in, 28, 46; chronology PAUL, DOCTRINE OF ATONEMENT, Peter, first epistle of, 180. Philo, Judaeus, 168. Preaching, biographical, 280; ex- pository, 279. Psalms, Book of, 111, 135, 171. RELIGION, HEBREW, 37, 41. Rich and poor, 210. SACRIFICE, EARLY IDEAS OF, 125; as a feast, 127; as a gift, 128; Samuel, Books of, 130, 204, 254, 300. Schelling, view of Old Testament, 225. Scribal exegesis, III. Sirach, Book of, or Ecclesiasticus, 109, 256. Smith, W. Robertson, 243, 266. Sociology and theology, 199, 207, 294. Suffering righteous, 156, 168. TARGUMS, 112, 183. Text, Hebrew, of Old Testament, Toy, Prof. C. H., 264 fol., 292 fol. VERBAL INSPIRATION, 72. WARS OF JAHVEH, Book of, 254. ZECHARIAH, BOOK OF, 104, 108, 136. |