Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1908-10-09

they were produced. Such inYes iga
gicn. rightly conduc ed, must prove a
1acst important aid q the understand
ing and just appreciation of the writ
!ngs in question"
We have tried honestly and fairly
20 Investigate the cl3ims OF these
higher critics and 70 study the
processes by which hey have come
to their conclusions and we are com.
PEELED to say Tat we believe their
claims in the main are myths and
heir conclusions ar. moths which are
eating away the tex ure of faith and
character
We have space to lock only at a
few of their myths.
Myth Nunher One.
Myth 1. A critic can tell by the lit
erary style of portions of the Scrip.
lures that they were written by GER
tain persons whom he has never seen
and of whom the world has never
heard. The style of the Junius Let
ters did not reveal their author to
the critics of his day, though he was
contemporary. Two pastors, one or
thOdox and the other a higher critic,
were spending their vacations at a
summer assembly, and they discussed
in friendly spirit the merit of the
higher criticism. The orthodox pas
tor asked his higher critic friend
whether he knew intimately two
preachers, whom we will call DR.. A
and DR.. B. He replied that he was
we'll acquainted with them, had heard
them preach, had read from their pens
and had net them frequently in prf
vate. The orthodox pastor went to
DR.. A and asked him to write Ali &C
count of one days proceedings in the
assembly. He then went to DIR. b and
made of him the same request The
accounts were written, and the ortho-
doX pastor then became a sort of re-
dactor and mixed up the sentences
of the two writer's so as to make only
one story. He then handed It to his
higher critic friend and asked him to
separate the mixed article and restore
the original documents. The result
was a dismal, ludierous failure. And
yet learned men seriously claim that
they can decide as to the authorships
of chapters, paragraphs, sentences and
words simply on the ground of liter
airy style, though they were written
by men they never saw or heard Of
before.
Myth Number Two.
Myth 2. The Pentateuch or Hexa-
touch may be divided into many dis
tinct documents written by many au-
thors. The originator of this myth was
Jean Astruc, born in 1884, "a French
physician of considerable learning. but
profigate life" CDR. Greene.) He
wrote treatise entitled "Conjectures
Concerning the Original Memoranda,
Which, It Appears, Moses Used to
Compose the Book of Genesis" He
believed that Noses was the author of
Genesis, though he used material that
was written by others. Astruc guessed
(his book was only .sonjecturss')
that two men wrote Genesis, because
"Elohim" is used for God in one place
and Jehovah" in another Dr. Eich-
horn of Gottingen adopted this theory
and added many original suesses to
the guesses of Astruc When a writer
to-day in the same article, sermon or
book refers TO God as Creator" "Je-
hovan," Father" or King" no one
suspects composite authorship BY
the same Erocesseof reasoning we can
prove that two or three men preached
most of Surgeons sermons, for he
frequently gives to God several names
in the same sermon.
Myth Number Three.
Myth 3 Moses had nothing to do
with writing the Pentatench. though
Jesus Christ says he did.
Myth Number -Four.
Myth T. The name Of Moses was
sigled to the Pentateuch to give it
authority, though it was written many
years after his death.