the tablets of the mind, it cannot be lost, it cannot be destroyed, it is living and working, and streams forth incessantly in deeds of charity and good-will. If the voice of reason is hushed, man is certain to sink into idolatry; it matters little whether the idol is a figure of stone or a Book that petrifies the mind. That Book was sacred and Divine as long as it represented man's innermost emotions, and was honestly acknowledged by him as the chief guide of his life; it ceased to be sacred and Divine when it began to fall upon our minds with a strange accent, and reflected a world which we felt had passed away. We may still study it for understanding a most remarkable phase of human civilisation; we may cull from its pages many a practical and spiritual truth conveyed in language of unsurpassed sublimity; but, as a whole, it cannot edify us; it cannot fully uplift us to the height of our nature. It will always be cherished with gratitude and reverence as the educator of many generations and centuries; but it must yield the precedence to the new light, which the exploration of the forces of nature and the powers of the human mind have thrown upon the general economy of the world. Its blessing is changed into a bane if it presumptuously claims to be the sole legislator for all times; it has, in a great measure, at present fulfilled its mission; it can henceforth only be an individual element among numerous means of human culture. Aptly and truthfully observes Matthew Arnold, 3 "Dissolvents of the old European system of dominant ideas and facts we must all be, all of us who have any power of working; what we have to study is, that we may not be acrid dissolvents of it."

4

Yet many have argued, that the Bible with all its deficiencies ought to be maintained in authority for ever, because it offers great consolation to the less strong-minded, is useful to the state, and can in no way be injurious to the believer; its truth can indeed not be proved, but this matters little, as most human actions are uncertain and full of fluctuations an opinion forsooth worthy of .no philosopher, and least so of the author of the "Ethics geometrally demonstrated"; an opinion which necessarily involves the most serious errors, and

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put them down unfairly... Let us not do evil that evil may be escaped from; and it is an evil, and the fruitful parent of evils innumerable, to do violence to our understanding or to our reason in their own appointed fields, to maintain falsehood in the despite, and reject the truth which they sanction."

2 Comp. Deut. XXX. 6; Jer. XXXI.

33; 2 Cor. III. 3 (φανερούμενοι ὅτι ἐστὲ ἐπιστολὴ Χριστοῦ διακονηθεῖσα ὑφ ̓ ἡμῶν καὶ ἐγγεγραμμένη οὐ μέλανι, ἀλλὰ πνεύματι θεοῦ ζῶντος, οὐκ ἐν πλαξὶ λιθίναις, ἀλλ ̓ ἐν πλαξὶ καρδίαις σαςκίναις). 3 Essays in Criticism, p. 155. 4 Spinoza, I. c. XV. 37, qui ratione non ita pollent.

5 Spinoza, 1. c. §§ 15, 22, 27, 37.

naturally led its framer to conclusions almost entirely destructive of his philosophical efforts; for he contends that "revelation" was most necessary because no man could, by the natural light of reason, have discovered the fundamental doctrine of theology; that man is saved by obedience alone without an intelligent knowledge of things; and he ventures the most questionable remark, "all can absolutely obey, but there are, in proportion to the whole human race, but very few who can acquire the habit of virtue by the guidance of reason alone; therefore, we should, without the testimony of Scripture, despair of the salvation of most men": not only does he sanction the dangerous opposition between revelation and reason, and attributes to the one powers which he denies to the other, but he adopts the obnoxious distinction between a creed for philosophers and a creed for the vulgar mass, as if that which is illusion and falsehood for the former could be truth and light for the latter. A belief which does not satisfy the most acute enquirer, can by honest men never be deemed sufficient for the simple-minded. Many pretend that the distinction is demanded by policy and expediency; but it is generally prompted by pride and arrogance, and always leads to hollowness and hypocrisy. And these characteristics are almost glaringly manifest in the singular observation, "the Law was given to those only who are devoid of reason and the supports of natural intelligence": the pride lies in the assumed superiority over the great majority of men, and the hypocrisy in the ostensible profession of "revelation"; for if revealed truths were sincerely believed in, they would not, with evident contempt, be described as important for the silly only, but would be held to be valuable even for the most gifted.

4

Every man is, by his nature, subject to superstition, because he is by his nature subject to fear; but by knowledge he must subdue fear and superstition; he must, on the one hand, rise to the consciousness of his dignity and power, and he must, on the other hand, modestly subordinate himself as a serving link of the universe, convinced that no evil can happen to him whatever happens to him as a member of universal creation. But how does he rise to his dignity? If his mind strives to penetrate into the first causes and the essence of things; if his heart conquers every passion and all base emotions; if his actions, guided by love, aim at promoting the welfare of mankind, or of that part of it with which his destiny is connected. Therefore, TRUTH, VIRTUE,

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1 L. c. §§ 22, 27, 44. 2 L. c. § 45. 3 Nam ea-lex-iis tantum tradita est qui ratione et naturalis intellectus documentis carent.

4 Comp. Feuerbach, Vorlesungen über das Wesen der Religion, pp. 31-39. 5 In his magnificent inaugural Address as Rector of St. Andrews University,

and ACTIVE LOVE these three form the creed of the Future, but the greatest of these is TRUTH; for enlightenment leads to self-control and to self-denying deeds; knowledge alone is able to keep man on the path of moderation and thoughtfulness, and thus to secure, through virtue, his inward peace and happiness.

A. FIRST CODE.

CHAPTERS I TO V.

1. THE BURNT-OFFERING (y).

CHAPTER I.

SUMMARY.-God speaks to Moses from the Tabernacle, and communicates to him the laws of the Burnt-offering (ny), which is to consist of male cattle, whether bullocks, sheep, or goats (vers. 1-13), or of fowls, whether turtle-doves or young pigeons (vers. 14-17). If the victim is a quadruped, it is to be burnt entirely on the altar, with the exception of the hide (VII. 8), while the blood is sprinkled on the altar round about; if it is a bird, the head and then the rest of the body are to be burnt, except the crop and its contents, while the blood is pressed out along the side of the altar.

1. And the Lord called to Moses, and spoke to him

1-9. All the Israelites, both men and women, had, with readiness and zeal, co-operated in the completion of the holy Tabernacle; the skilful rejoiced in being permitted to bestow upon it their talents, and the wealthy contributed the costly and multifarious materials (Exod. XXXV. 5-11, 21—29); till at last the offerings were far too abundant even for that magnificent structure, and their discontinuance was enjoined by a public proclamation (XXXVI. 5—7). Every detail was so scrupulously executed in accordance with the Divine command, that Moses felt induced to pronounce a blessing upon the pious people (XXXIX. 43). The time had arrived for arranging the component parts and erecting the edifice. The first day of Nisan, in the year after the Israelites' departure from Egypt, was appointed for the task (XL. 2, 17). In systematic order, and under the direct supervision of Moses, the labour was performed. First the external framework of the Tabernacle was joined together: the boards of acacia

wood, twenty on the northern, as many on the southern, and eight on the western side, were fixed in the ground by means of tenons and silver sockets, two for each board; the poles of acacia wood covered with gold were fitted in five golden rings fastened at the outside of the boards, to render the structure conveniently portable during journeys; the four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold, at the eastern side of the Holy of Holies, and the five at the entrance of the Holy, were duly fastened by hooks and sockets (XL.15); and the beautiful hanging of twined byssus, and blue, red, and crimson. with figures of the Cherubim woven upon it, was suspended by small hooks within the Tent, forming the ceiling. and falling down on the sides; while the three other coverings of goats' hair, of rams' skins, and of badgers' skins, were spread over it from without, partially reaching down to the ground to protect the gold-coated acacia boards against the injury of the weather (ver. 19). The exterior having thus

out of the Tent of Meeting, saying, 2. Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, If anyone of you bring an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the cattle, whether of the herd or of the flock.

been reared, Moses put the holy implements in their prescribed places within. Beginning at the western extremity, he furnished the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant, not, however, before he had deposited therein the two tablets of the Law or "the Testimony", had also, for the purpose of transportation, drawn the two gilded staves of acacia wood, never again to be removed, through the four rings at its four feet, and had put the golden mercy-seat with the sacred figures of the Cherubim on its upper side. Then he closed the Holy of Holies by the splendid curtain which was suspended immediately under the loops and hooks of the first covering (vers. 20, 21). He next removed into the Sanctuary or Holy its three chief utensils. to the northern side, the Shew-bread Table of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with its enclosure and wreath, its golden rings and staves, and the golden vessels belonging to it, the dishes and bowls, the cans and cups, arranging upon it the shew-bread, twelve cakes in two rows, and probably adding the first frank-incense to be burnt upon them; to the southern side, opposite the Table, the magnificent Candlestick, weighing with its appendages one talent of gold, consisting of seven branches and seven lamps, beautifully ornamented with calyxes of almond flowers, apples or pomegranates, and blossoms; and between the Table and the Candlestick, just before the curtain of the Holy of Holies, the Altar of Incense, of acacia wood overlaid with gold, with its rings and staves. Then he fastened the vail which formed the entrance of the Sanctuary (vers. 22-28). Lastly he placed in the Court the

Altar of Burnt-offering, of hollow boards of acacia wood covered with brass, and probably filled with earth, adding its vessels, the pots and shovels, the bowls and forks; and the Laver to the left of the altar, nearer the Sanctuary, made of brass, like the base on which it rested (vers. 29-32). And having fixed, by hooks and sockets, the fifty-six columns which marked the area of the Court round the Tabernacle, and fastened the hangings to the columns, and having, at the eastern side, suspended the curtain to serve as the entrance door, he could well consider the noble work as entirely completed and declare it ready for the sacred purposes which it was thenceforth destined to serve (ver. 33). In order to mark these purposes symbolically, he anointed both the whole structure and all principal utensils with the holy oil, and thus consecrated them (vers. 9-11; comp. Num. VII. 1; see p. 116); and as a sign and confirmation that the task had in every respect been accomplished in conformity with the Divine will, a heaven-sent cloud covered the edifice, and the glory of God filled it. Moses, unable to enter, remained before the Tabernacle, while God communicated to him His commands from within (vers. 34, 35; Lev. I. 1; see also notes on VIII. 1-5).

This is the connection intended between the second and third Book of the Pentateuch; it is plain and unforced, and its continuity is only once interrupted, at the conclusion of Exodus, by the insertion of a general notice, in harmony with the pragmatical nature of Biblical history (comp. Comm. on Exod. XL. 34-38). The narrative is indeed perfectly consistent with itself,