, 1880-08-15
ROBERTSON SMITH.

j THE ALLEGED CAUSE OF TIE SCOTCH HEnESY
CASE.
! Following are extracts from tho article on
F; "ncbrew Language and Literature" contribut-
! ed to the Encyclopedia Britannica py Prof.
Robertson Smith, and which forms tho ground
! for the second heresy Indictment found agulnst
him. Prof. Smith says that tho article In ques-
I ton does not rniso uuy new point OF doctrine
not covered by tho old libel on which he was ac
quilted of the churgo Of heresy. The publlca-
ton OF the new article is the occasion, but not
the cause, OF tho attempted fresh agitation, the
Eeal af which is to .sze5ss tee former
The earliest products" Of Hebrew authorship,
says the Britannica, seems to have been lyrics
and laws, which would circulate Ia tho first In
stauce from mouth to mouth without the use Of
written copies We have notice OF early written
collections Of lyrics prior to our present historic
al books-the Book OF the Wars Of Jehovah
Num-, xxi, ~ and the Book of Jashar Joshua
T., II. Sam. H.. We have cew to tho age Of the
former book. but tho lines quoted from it aro
plainly OF great antiquity. Tho Book Jashar IS
not earlier thnn the time Of Solomon; for frag
ment from 1t referring to the building Of the
temple has been recovered from the Septuagint
of l. Kings, viii. {Wellhausen in B1eek. ut supra,
p. 1861 The earliest date Of written lawbooks
is certain. 1t may fairly be made question
whether Noses left In writing any other laws
than tho Commandments on the tables Of stone.
Even Exodus XIV, I. and xxx1v., 21, mny In the
original context have referred to the ten words
local @ l custom " to much .'' later ter
date. The prophets frequently allude to the
and the practice OF appealing to tho local Gus
toms of certain towns Is alluded to in II. Sam,
1x.. u tas restored by Ewald from the LAX):
old statutes OF Israel have lost their force" In
like manner the story Of the early fortunes Of
scnts characteristics which point to oral tradi-
ton as its original source 4ot written history
began comparatively early: 4 scribe WAS at
t.,ched to the royal court from the reign Of
David downwurds; and the older parts OF the
bucks Of San1uel, which must have been written
not long after the time Of that King tsee David)
ure fra.ned in u mastery style, which shows that
the art Of composition IN prose Was alreudy
thoroughly understood. So, too, the best writ
the Pontnteuch-the combined history OF the
Jehoyi5t and the nou-Lev1tical Elohist-appear5
to be unquestionably earlier than tho rise OF
prophetic literature in tho eighth century B. 9.
In this narrativc-itsclf the product OF more
than one wrter-arc included several collec- !
tons Of gid laws, SO that We nave between the
tlourishtng historical and leeni literature, IN
which and III lyrical collections like the Book Of
other rcmains transmitted, whether orally or
by writing, from u much earlier dutc. To the |
Same period may be assigned the most inter |
Kings, the splendid episode of Elijah, and othor
rcm;lins Of Ephratic history; and to these must |
probably be added the main STOCK OF the Song |
fcred much from Interpolation, and presumably
was not written down until comparatively |
late date, and from imperfect ,: recollection; 50
mainly from the adm'rable prose narratives to
which nothing iu later books can be COM !
ertSre 1nder the apeen
Kingdoms Of Judnh and Ephraim, be-
fore the commissions that accompanied the
- l+>4frn RI kHA.~ II
written prophecy. 1t Is Il literature emineutly
fresh and vivuclous, full Of exact observation Of
Nature and of men, always drawing directly
from life, and working on the reader not by
description but BY dramatic prescnta-
ton of character and action. The authors are
too intent upon the story to lntSrpose n their own
tale with sympathy and otten with an undercur-
rent OF dry hunlor. It may hardly be said that
igious purpose. Rejecting with admirable YER
acity the actual life Of the nation they are full
If tho relation between Israel and Jehovah, be-
cause that relation was constantly present to the
people as a very real fact without which the his
Tory could not be told. 1t is to THIS circumstance
hat We owe the preser:on tao Of SO large mass
wrote with u distinctly religious purpose;
ions @ have "a dtsappeared, @ ali but he few 'ie f4ae-
;ailingly secular. That the Hebrews once pos
,cssed u poetry Of high merit drawn from the
:henes Of ordinary life, appears not only from
he book OF Canttclcs and such relics as the Song
a the % Sf poGSap MR% airs 11 Il m b but bs ' es
he Psalms. Thus We learn lsa-, Ky, {, that the
title Al-Taschith q's., lvtt-}: is taken from a
troy it not for blessing is in it." These popu-
ar songs, then, survived the exile and long cum
!nued to live IN the mouths Of the people, But
guardians Of Israers literature, and fell into
oblivion when Hebrew ceased tobe the yernacu.:
7a n fha Ta1 1F1T !