COLENSO ON THE PENTATEUCH.-REPLY TO BY THE REV. AELX. MORISON

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 43, 7 April 1863, Page 1 (Supplement)

COLENSO ON THE PENTATEUCH.REPLY TO BY THE REV. AELX. MORISON

A series of interesting lectures, m reply to Bishop Colenso's work on the Pentateuch, has been recently delivered by the Rev. Alexander Morrison, an abstract of which we furnish our readers. Thespcmd of these dealt with " Historical Criticism applied to the pentateuch." The primary faot of the sacred 'writing Was, that secular historians gave only tiles u&nan side of his-

tory (as Macaulay for instance), whereas the sacred historian presented "the King eternal, immortal, invisible," m- his action and control of the affairs of men. To do so, involves inspiration m the t>acred writers, and unless we are worshippers of chance, wn must acknowledge tbe truth of those writers who gave us, not a one-sided or merely human side of history, but the complete history, including divine and human. But passing over this claim, we approach the Books of Moses on the purely critical side — then followed a rapid sketch of the riseof historical criticism, and its appltca dun to the B:ble. As Judaism and CiuistianUy, being e«senlial!y one. are strictly historical religions, they have nothing to fair, but everything to hope, f<om a fair application of this test of their truth. The text, John 7, 19, •' Did not vJosea niv you the law. and ye< none of you keep the law." wis discussed ; the testimony of Christ being m accordance with tlie universal Jewish tesiimonv, that the " written law" or five books of Moses, were the writing of riie Great Prophet. The various literary question* and objections to the Mosaic origin were discussed and answere', that the history of the people was inseperabl) mixed with the origin of their legislation and institutions The hopeless disagreement, of all those who have challenged the Mosaic origin, as to when it could have been written, also bein^ m favor of the very question they dispute, and the incredible notion that a \vh de people should accept a forgery palmed upon them, as these critics suppose, would he a gn>ater miracle than anything recorded m the Pentateuch. Bui, says Colenso, Christ spoke of the law m submission to the prejudices of the nation, i. c. he gave currency to a lie, knowing it to be a lie, or bis intelligence, on the other hand, ir.-ust have been as low or lower than that of the rest of his countrymen. Against this, the preacher showed that the wbole life, action and leaching of Christ was a succession of deliborafe violations of these very prejudices to which the Bishoit alleges he succumbed ; fh it hs was murdered bee* use of opposing himself to the faNe conceptions of the Jews, and because of vindicating that very law of w hirh they boasted,aml none of them kspt — or, taking the intelligence «f Christ to be about equal to the ordinary run of that of the Jewish mind m his day ; had they not intercourse with all the civil- | iz.'ition of the age ? and its literature was not unknown. Christ's information, therefore, on this low view of it, was sufficient 10 enable him to determine whether Moses was or not tho .-mrhor of the Pentateuch. But if the Bishop believes that Christ is Divine, the babbling that would make him consent- aai give cuneucy to a Jie, can only be accounted for as a biasphemy caused by mcnul fatuity. The highest law nf historical criticism is, that tlie statements of a contemporary and actor m the events narrated is ot tiie iughest credibility, if m other respects the man is of moral w.trtli. This waS applied to the Mosaic production from Exodus to D-.-u'eronuiny. 2 Bu- the p vents of the Book of Genesis was antecedent to the life of Moses. Tin-; grounds for historical confidence m the compiler of i lie history were argued. 3 The external testimony of chief value were the leeoids of i'Jg\pt and Babylon, which, from their intimate connection with Ihe Hebrew., a-; well .is being the eurliot seaas of civilisation, are the best lo be lulled m ;is witnesses. The discuveiy an. l deciphering 1 of the inoiimnents of Assyria and 1-^3 pt, giving an authentic*, ion to tiie historians of these countries, euable us to •;uui;;.ire butii with .tiooes. Hero- us and Manetho arose about the period of the infusion of Grecian civilization into both the=e countries. In both Lbe?.e writers she extravagant chronologies of gods, demigods, and heroes may be passed by, iill we come lo tlie poiiHs of coinpari son m regard to man. According to the Babylowian account, there is a singular coincidence m regard lo the process and period of creation, ciie number of generations till the deluge, the g- uerai facts of the deluge itself. The times after the Hood oiier point of uivergenee, but the narrative ul the confusion of tongues is m sinking accordance with Moses. 2 The sacred nairative is less general at '■ this point, but sets for:h m admirable sketch the distributions of the nations m a j form that becomes every year more con- | liruied as discoveries prog i ess. j 3. In the subsequent portion of Genesis there are only two public events to which con tempor.uieous history jiives authenticity . i'he expedition of Chtclcrlaomer, recovered from tue Babylonian monuments, and the exodus of the Jews m Maiieilio's narrative, is such as we might anticipate from an Egyptian writer. 4. The testimony of geology, so far as it has progressed, can be taken as confirm- j atory of the epochs of creation and the re- j cent formation of man. 5. Comparative philology approximates sts discoveries 10 a primitive language (j. iitlmoio^y and geography ot" -Yloaes is constantly receiving continuation from ! modern discovery. j Men who, m defiance of all these cvi j deuces, will not believe Moses, could not " i persuaded thougn otic rose from the dead. The third disourse as on J.isnua. on tex' 4. 14, relating to the miraculous confir... ation of Joshua's auch ity as ieader of tiie j people. .\ftt:r iioicinj; the small amount j of ciiticism by the Bish v, and his sneer at Archdeacon Pratt, ihe authenticity of the book was established, and the objections severally met that h.ive i>eeu taken fro'ii some of its peculiar phrases. 2. The contemporary testimony was ik'XC adduced, which, it was shown from the monumental and literary remains of Egypt and Assyria, could not be expected to any great extent. The testimony of the Egyptian priest.s so Herodotus, and the Chinese annals m reia.ion to an extraordinaiy lengthening of tlie day at about this time, was quoted without being pressed into service. As also the threefold testimony of the Armenain historian MoSes, of Procopius, and of j Suidas, that two pillars set up m Africa by the llceing Canaanites testified that they fled before the face of J osbua the son of Nun, the robber, liut the giound of the miraculous was that on which the truth of this book really was challenged. Mr. Morison then argued the possibility and probability of miracles on independent grounds, and showed conclusively that there -ias conceded to man what by the infidel school was denied to God, namely, the power of actually contravening and controlling and subordinating the laws ot nature m its esta- | blished course to serve man's own purposes. Me also showed that there were occasions which demanded a divine miraculous interveniion to authorise teachers and leaders " sent by God." 3. The special miracles of Joshua were then considered, with regard to sun and moon standing still. I. Let us suppose that the literal meaning of this passage is such as the Bishop states. Then all the (lire destructive consequences, arising out of the multiform operations of the law of gravitation, would occur as he sets them forth, but can we not conceive that tUe power which arrested the earth was

equal also to any extent of miraculous intervention m all other directions to prevent such consequences ; that, from His infimue ] grasp of all the ministries of nature, He | could accomplish the fact alleged without any of the supposed consequences. He, surely, that can do one miracle, can do a million m the same operation and moment. If the event is attested as having oecumicl as an historical fact, vf<- may attempt, to account for i<-- by seco darymeans, yet, here it will stand as a signal instance of £)ivine power and working. If. But another question occurs, is the event narrated given as historical, or is it a poetical exhibition of an unwonted event m these wars \ The histoiian is accountable only for the statement of the hail storm ; and then, as doubtless from this fact, there must have been some extraordinary atmospheric phenomena occasioning 11, he quotes a passage lvlatiug to tho tranacli m from a hook nf poems, the *' Book of lasher," a compilation of many ages. The quotation extends from 12 verse, X chap., to 15. *' Stand still" is not (he true rendering of the word — but it refers to retarded motion, signifying wvut or delay. No sudden arrest oi' the earth's motion is here, for as Galileo said,'' the earth moves stiil ;" and though the sun appeared not to haste to go down, sill there was motion toward the setting" place. Joshua, m ihe inspiration of the moment, asked of God that neither sun nor moon should set till he had taken Vengeance of the enemy, and before t.h. c setting the work was completed. That there w<ti divine intervention is manifest, even if we omit the quotation from ihe Book of. lasher 12, 15, as the preceding and following verses fall naturally into the regular* history, m which tho hailstorm and the atmospheric phenomena still pertain to the miraculous. Such forms of description and adjuration are u.<ed m ihe Psalms and prophecies, as Isaiah 64, I—2. Psalms 18,7—17, Judges 5, 20, where a literal sense is never thought to he demanded. I [f. Bishop Colenso accuses suchexplainations as this to be a tuorou^h peice 0/ neologuiriisn. Biu jhs«rve. the. statements of the narrative do not require any other. Besides, letit be remembered, that a miracle such as mis. sole uf its kind, would not be o.eed by the other Old and New Testament writers} yet ihere is not a prssage which »an be fairly considered as even alluding to it ; and hence it is manifest that iv the view of the inspirek writers it was not regarded as a literal fact. For ihe passage m Hubbakuk 3, H. signifies not that the sun and moon stood still, hui that they entered their habitation causing darkness, instead of continuing light. Another supposed reference is 28 [saiah,, 21, hut this passage is based upon 2 Jjauiual 5, 20— 2-j, and 1 Chronicles 14. 10. IV. The passage of the Jordan, and the fall of Jericho, stand m a different relation. Here are no quotations, but literal facts. These events happened at the direction, and by the power oi' God. We have only to compare these navr-itives wiih this 10th chapter 10 see the different buses on which they standV. The extermination of the Canaanites is hvll by the opponents of the authenticity of the hook to be so revolting to man and to Uod that on this ground it is if jectei : — I. Is theiv, then, a God who Has to do with the affairs of men? If there is. He has a ri^ht to put down one and to set up another, and if His mercies and blessing, are aoused, He has a right to take away and destroy by whatever agencies he pleases. The iniquttites of the Amo rites w*re full — the land spewed them out — de.nande-d ye ngednce — it is executed by Israel, which '■"worthy of vlie gift of Canaan bestowed vii nielli, and m theiv turn also cast out. 2. Do not physical ami moral causes lie m proximity with each other. If we lake the eurdiquake of Lisbon, the famine of Ireland, or any national desolation, do they not practically come to the same end of vfii-reance. and the same God executing it? :i. Wnat is Gudsayinj; m America now ? " Let my people go, and if thou wilt not lei mv people go. I will smite thee with my plagues." Yet they hold fiercely m their cluttdies " God's ira.ige iv ebony," and will not let them g° till God makes them a desolation ; and England, a participator m her crime, is suffering desolation too — vvbere is ihe essenaal difference of God's dealing m the case of the Canaanites and of the Americans ? II But this book is full of divine instruction and consolation m iiS typical relation to the Church of God. As Joshua is himself a type of the captain of s.ilv aiion, and the rest of Canaan of the higher rest that remHiueth for the people of God, may we imbibe its instruction, rest upon the God il reveals m action, and find our bt midst the thousands of the spiritual Israel. List Sabbath's discourse was on the subji ct of In-ipiration, founded on Isai. 8. 1 9, 20 and Jonn 10, 34. "35. After fairly stating the Bishop's position m reference to this subject, amidst all his contradictions and absurdities, to be, that all men have internal light— that some men, P.igans' Jews, and Christians, &c, have recorded m written form the working of that li»jlxt on their md.s — and that all such records are ot e>' a validity as revelations from God — 1 hd vreacher showed that this removed uvtilation, m the true sense of the term, juiletely out of existence. Thi >,\n: al question was then argued. I Is revelation conceivable? That is. not whether men have reason .and consci euce— the internal light — but is (here an authoritative declaration of God's mind and will, by his own revelation, to which our mind and conscience must bow. Its possibility , probability, and its felt necessity hy Greek and Human sages were then set forth If. How does it come \ By inspiratio n of divine spirit. But other claimants are m the field ; other inspired systems as al leged. Our Bibld is m analogy with the constiiuaou and course of nature.— See Bishop But/er's Analogy. 2 Our Bible is mixed with the world's history — be^iiming with "God male ihe heaven and the earth." It reaches down through all time till the period of the new heaven and the new earth. 3. There is theevideneeof prophecy, and \ 4, the divine authentication of miracles. Now none of the oher pi'ofessed reve j lations have all or any of these credentials. llf. Then followed an inquiry into the theories of inspiration. The mechanical or verbal theory whioh Mr. Morison does not hold, as some Jews and Christians do The •' internal light" theory of the broir! church, Unitarian, quaker, Swidenrborgians and a vast numbur of others, was shown to he subversive of all idea of an auth >rita live, rational, plain sense dictum of God, such as the Bible is The Scrip' u res as of plenary inspiration, so as to account fo> the peculiarities of the several writers, and yet thai they should be the words which not man's wisdom or wi!ltaught,but which the Holy Ghost teacheth. was amply discussed, and thai the blunders alleged by Colenso and others are within the compass of a rational explanation, unless men have an interest m not finding the truth. The subject of the numerical blunders of Golenso is still to follow m this course of ectures.