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the dominant races, are all alcohol-drinkers, the assumption being that they are strong by reason of their alcohol; but the fact is that their strength is from other sources, while their use of alcohol is admitted to be a prime cause of their degradation.

But besides these nations large numbers of the ablest, hardest, and most effective workers and thinkers, who lead in the centres of modern civilisation and power, habitually use no alcohol; and thousands upon thousands, under the severest stress of anxious and incessant toil, declare that they are better off for being practical abstainers. These destroy the objection that alcohol is a necessity, even if they do not prove that it is an injury. Further than this, Dr. Parkes well says that the same argument which alleges that alcohol is a necessity, "might prove the necessity of tobacco, which, for this generation at any rate, is clearly only a luxury. The widespread habit of taking intoxicating liquids merely proves that they are pleasant,”1 the prime object of their use being, as we have already shown, to benumb the faculties so as to render them oblivious of annoying impressions.

It may well seem, as Dr. Parkes says, "incredible that a large part of the human race should have fallen into an error so gigantic as that of attributing great dietetic value to an agent which is of little use in small quantities, and is hurtful in large, . . . . but the argument though strong is not conclusive; and unfortunately we know that in human affairs no extension of belief, however wide, is per se evidence of truth."

"2

Inasmuch as alcohol, so far from being proved to be a necessity of the race, is admitted by the most dispassionate authorities to be the active cause of evils so great "that if it were unknown half the sin and a large part of the poverty and unhappiness in the world would disappear,"3 all just efforts to promote a practical abstinence from its use have a solid ground in fact and reason.

DANIEL MERRIMAN.

1 Manual of Practical Hygiene, by E. A. Parkes, M.D., p. 277.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid. p. 270.

The Newer Criticism.

189

ART. X.-Current Literature.

AT last a powerful reply (1) has appeared to the "Lectures on

the Old Testament in the Jewish Church," and it is to be strongly desired that, now the vital question at issue on the chronology, veracity, authenticity, and credibility of the Old Testament can be impartially, if not dispassionately, discussed apart from ecclesiastical complications, the numerous official and amateur specialists in Hebrew and Old Testament history will follow the example so ably set by Professor Watts, who, to contribute to a pressing controversy of the day, has even left the field of his customary studies. For this reason, were there no other, we are anxious to see Mr. Robertson Smith's positions turned,-we have too high a respect for his ability to believe he has himself said his last word. As objections taken to his views from time to time have manifestly caused him to amend an error here and reject a theory there, nay, even to choose a path deliberately where he had previously betrayed considerable uncertainty as to which of several roads to take; so we cannot help thinking that the reasoned replies of opponents will have large influence in moulding and shaping his final opinions. Every candid inquirer, of whatever tendency, must hail such a work as this, because clearness is so much more beneficial than uncertainty, and unmistakeable statement than vague expressions, with which we cannot say whether we agree. With the skill of a practical controversialist, Professor Watts selects his line of reply, and adheres thereto strictly, neither looking to the right hand nor the left. He does not concern himself to explain how the newer criticism has reached its conclusions; he does not find it necessary to use scholarly appendices or digressions to impress with his learning; the history of the genesis and development of thought, whether in the minds of the leaders of the critical school, or in that of its great Scotch advocate, he rigidly eschews; he scarcely refers, to say nothing of expounding or analysing, to the minute reconstruction of the sacred books

(1) The Newer Criticism and the Analogy of the Faith: a Reply to Lectures by W. Robertson Smith, M.A., on the Old Testament in the Jewish Church. By Robert Watts, D.D., Professor of Systematic Theology in the General Assembly's College, Belfast. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark.

which has resulted from the labours of a generation of rationalistic exegetical experts; in a word, he neither busies himself with philosophical basis nor theological superstructure,-he simply accepts Mr. Smith's work itself as a fact to be met with facts, as a fact, since it embodies the views of Mr. Smith, to be met with facts, in order to discover whether the opinions of Mr. Smith are Bible-truth. Accepting the representations of the "newer criticism," as expressed in the lectures controverted, four questions are asked,-first, What says the Old Testament to these representations? secondly, What says the New Testament to them? third, What is the position of the Westminster Confession relative thereto? and, fourthly, Do the views in question bear traces of inconsistency with each other as well as with external authorities; the main stress of the argument being laid upon the two first queries. Full, therefore, as the book is of matter for adepts in Old Testament study, it is admirably suited to popular reading. And its popular use will be aided by another peculiarity of method. In working out the plan laid down, the whole subject is split into separate points, and each point is subdivided under convenient headings, so that the book may be taken up and laid down at any time without danger of losing the thread. We could have wished that an index, or at least an analysis of contents, had been added; nevertheless, the lucid arrangement and beautiful printing will largely facilitate its use by the general reader. Whilst adhering strictly then to the method selected, such prominent themes are passed under review as the argument from the reformation of Josiah, the recognition by the critics of the Deuteronomic code in Josiah's day, the transmission of the Pentateuch, the ceremonial versus the moral law, the critical notion of Old Testament worship, and the several arguments from the Levitical ritual,-the sacrifices, the ark, the priesthood. We are afraid that Professor Watts has laid himself open to cogent rejoinders here and there; but it is the book as a whole that must be demolished, if its assault is to be repelled. From the nature of the form of attack adopted, it teems with crucial instances, the truth of any one of which means the downfall of the elaborate structure of the "newer criticism." We thank its author for its directness, tact, learning, and ability, and we trust it will find many readers.

Hebrew Accentuation.

191

Turning from the work of applied Hebraism to Hebrew theory, we have much pleasure in calling attention to a learned treatise, just published by the Clarendon Press, upon the accentuation of the Books of Psalms, Proverbs, and Job (2). Every tiro in Hebrew is aware that, when a system of vowel points was invented, or, to speak with more accuracy, adopted, to fix the traditional pronunciation of each word in the Bible. of the Jew, a series of signs, called accents, was also invented to guide the official readers to the traditional modulation of each word. Every tiro also knows that the three poetical books, as they are called, are distinguished from the twentyone prose writings of the Old Testament, by a different system of accents. The peculiarity of these Hebrew accents, as compared with the accents of Latin and Greek, is, that they really served a threefold purpose; they were signs of accent proper, or the stress to be laid upon the syllables; they were punctual signs, and regulated the arrangement of words into sentences; and they were also musical signs, guiding the reciter of the synagogue to the risings and fallings of that characteristic cantillation the Jews called reading the Scriptures. By means of the traditional interpretations handed down from the scholastic age of Hebrew literature, as well as by means of the rational investigations of Ewald and Baer in more recent times, the broad principles of the Hebrew accentuation, especially of the prose writings, have become tolerably well understood. The peculiar system of the poetical books, however, is largely still a matter of darkness and difficulty. Certainly it is manifest, as Dr. Wickes remarks, that this poetical accentuation was the refinement of one class of scribes, the Palestinian synagogue and schools, and also that its aim was, as contrasted with the commoner system, to prompt " a finer and fuller, more artificial and impressive melody;" but the distinctive principles, to say nothing of the entire theory, has not yet been explained-nay, has commonly been regarded as inexplicable. An explanation has been attempted in this treatise, and with more success than might have been anticipated, mainly for one reason, it is true,

(2) M ̋ON "DVD: A Treatise on the Accentuation of the three so-called Poetical Books of the Old Testament-Psalms, Proverbs, and Job; with an Appendix, containing the treatise assigned to R. Jehuda Ben-Bil'am, on the same subject, in the original Arabic, by William Wickes, D.D. Oxford: The Clarendon Press.

-the careful researches of the author in textual criticism and accurate orthography. Very justly surmising that the printed texts, varying as they do from each other in the matter of accents, pre-eminently varied also from the ancient manuscripts which these printed copies represent, he has undertaken a laborious collation of the best authorities, printed and written, attainable, the results of which not only facilitate his main object, but have an interest of their own. The various points of the theory itself, of course, require a long and careful testing; but, whether they prove ultimately satisfactory or not, such conscientious and painstaking research, in a recondite field, merits the warmest commendations of all Hebraists. In an appendix, an Arabic treatise of Rabbi Jehuda Ben-Bilam, upon the accents of the three books, is printed in Hebrew characters.

Dr. Franz Delitzsch, by a long and wide series of writings, now extending over fifty years, has raised himself to a very unique position in all questions connected with the language and exposition of the Old Testament. A hearty welcome may therefore be given to the notes, just published by Dr. Curtiss, of his lectures upon the Old Testament History of Redemption (3). It is the custom of German professors to dictate a series of paragraphs to be taken down by their students verbatim, and to be subsequently expanded by oral or written additions, sometimes to be discussed by the class. This book, as Dr. Curtiss says, is essentially an accurate reproduction of the paragraphs delivered to the theological students in Leipzig during the summer of 1880. Fragmentary as these lectures necessarily are, they teem with suggestive hints. Nor are these skeleton lectures by any means unimportant as a contribution to the history of the Old Covenant. The work may be described as an attempt to trace the development of what we call distinctively Christian doctrine in the education of the Old Testament Church. The plan followed will be understood by the mention of the seven periods through which Professor Delitzsch traces the progress of this evangelical teaching:-1. The primitive period before and after the flood, with the dawning of the light in the dark

(3) Old Testament History of Redemption; Lectures by Franz Delitzsch, translated from Manuscript Notes by Samuel Ives Curtiss, Professor in Chicago Theological Seminary. T. and T. Clark, Edinburgh.

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