Mosaic law, is something purely imaginary. One cannot grapple with the ethereal criticism that sets aside a real, historical volume, answering to all the conditions of the problem, and assumes gratuitously another that answers to none. The ingenuity, it must be confessed, surpasses even that which devised a smaller exit for the kitten alongside the already sufficient one for the cat.

Within the compass of the Pentateuch itself no one of the middle books corresponds with all the marks of the discovered volume. For although Exodus and Numbers seem plainly to be referred to, the chief indications point decisively to Deuteronomy.

From 2 Chron. xxxiv. 24 it is clear that the book contained the curses fulminated in Deuteronomy against the obstinate transgressors of the law: Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, and upon the inhabitants thereof, even all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah.' Only in two places is a list of such curses to be found, viz., Lev. xxvi. and Deut. xxvii., xxviii. Leviticus it cannot be, for no mention is there made of the curses peculiarly affecting the king. Yet that the king was specially threatened in the book, appears both from the tenor of Josiah's message, and the import of Huldah's answer. The message is, 'Go ye, enquire of Jehovah for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that is found' (2 Kings xxii. 13). Individually then he was menaced along with the people; and this is still more apparent from the answer, which, as in other cases, is a good criterion of the question itself. As for the people, the denunciations were to be fulfilled to the letter (ib. 16, 17). But as for the king, 'Behold, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy sepulchres in peace' (verse 20). This could be consolation

only to one who was apprehensive of dying in exile. This then was what Josiah feared, and what the curse implied. Now the only passage in all the Pentateuch analogous to this is Deut. xxviii. 36: Jehovah shall bring thee and thy king whom thou shalt raise over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.' And it is noteworthy, as in this view accounting most naturally for the king's exceeding alarm, that at the very time of the discovery, the new Chaldean empire, which in the next reign was to execute all the curses in question, had just started into menacing power and preeminence under Nabopalassar, and seemed, according to the indications of prophecy, to be the destined instrument of divine vengeance.

The very next verse of Deuteronomy, moreover, supplies the remarkable phraseology of the prophetess with regard to the people, that they should become a desolationnew in-showing, as indeed all her language does, that Deuteronomy was fresh and vivid on her mind and lips.

The measures taken in consequence of the discovery all point to the same conclusion. For the historian goes on to say: And the king went up into the house of Jehovah, and all the men of Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of Jehovah. And the king stood upon the pillar, and made the covenant before Jehovah, to walk after Jehovah, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his ordinances, with all their heart, and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book and all the people stood to the covenant.'

(2 Kings xxiii. 2, 3.) F. C. Movers, who treats this whole question with great learning and acuteness, remarks that the covenant formula of Deut. xxvii. 14-26 seems here to be implied.1

1. In so imposing a ceremonial as the whole nation solemnly renewing the ancient covenant with Jehovah, we expect to find the ancient and prescribed forms observed as far as possible. The ceremonial is laid down in Deut. xxvii.; it was followed by Joshua on coming to the central point of the covenant land (Jos. viii. 33-35); apparently revived by Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh. viii.-x.); and was certainly most suitable for the present crisis.

2. The compendious way in which the proceeding is described corresponds very accurately with the last and comprehensive clauses of the covenant in Deuteronomy. There, as an epitome of the whole, curses are called down on him that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them; and in Kings all are adjured to confirm the words of this covenant.' In Deuteronomy, all the people shall say, amen;' and in Kings, the same idea is expressed by all the people stood to the covenant.'

6

The agreement comes out more strikingly still, if we reflect that this renewal was only a return to the old covenant, which Deuteronomy describes as a source of blessing: "If thou shalt obey the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep his commandments and his ordinances which are written in this book of the law, and if thou return unto Jehovah thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul' (xxx. 10). Compare this with the description of the return to the covenant: To walk after

1 Ueber die Auffindung des Gesetzbuches unter Josia: in Zeitsch. für Phil. und Kathol. Theol. Köln, 1834. 12 Heft, p. 90.

2 The agreement of the clauses is better seen in Hebrew: 777 'PD

xxiii. 2.

Jehovah, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his ordinances, with all their heart and with all their soul, and to perform the words of this covenant, that were written in this book.' The resemblance is too great to be accidental.

3. This view is remarkably confirmed by the eleventh chapter of Jeremiah. Its precise date we cannot tell. But in the eighteenth year of Josiah, the prophet had been five years exercising his office (Jer. i. 2). And the abrupt way in which it commences shows it refers to some covenant then publicly talked about: 'Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and say unto them: Cursed be the man that doeth not the words of this covenant, &c. . . . . Then answered I, and said Amen, O Jehovah' (Jer. xi. 2-5). That all the expressions and references here belong to Deuteronomy no one questions. They belong, moreover, to the covenant in question; and the abruptness of the prophet can only find its explanation in the fact described in Kings, when the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem' renewed their solemn engagements before the Lord.

6

In the eighteenth year, therefore, of Josiah we find Deuteronomy extant. Of Numbers and Exodus, besides, there are distinct traces in the same history; as Ex. (xii. 1-20) and Num. (xxviii. 16-25) are both needed to complete the perfect celebration of the Passover, such as took place at that time, according to the prescriptions of the book found in the temple (2 Kings xxiii. 21). But as Deuteronomy implies the existence of the rest of the Pentateuch, we need not insist upon these evidences more minutely.

§ 2.-Deuteronomy extant before Josiah.

As a thing must exist before it is discovered, the natural inference from the event we have been discussing would be, that before the eighteenth year of Josiah Deuteronomy already was written, and formed an integral part of the Pentateuch. But here we are met by some of our opponents, who find in this very history a pretext for restricting the first knowledge of Deuteronomy to this period. Accordingly, Colenso writes an elaborate chapter to prove that the book then discovered was never previously known.

The way to ascertain the truth or falsehood of an alleged historical fact is to examine and cross-question such witnesses as from their personal knowledge and character are competent to make a credible statement. Here the fact to be made out is, whether or not the book found in the temple, or a copy of it, was known to exist before the discovery. Let us, then, call up for examination those who were present at the discovery, the parties who were affected by it, and the historians who record the incident. This will complete the roll of witnesses, and furnish most reliable testimony.

1. By his office of high-priest, Hilkiah was of all men the most entitled to pronounce upon what was genuine Mosaic law. At once he recognises the discovered volume as in 90 (2 Kings xxii. 8). Whether this mean a section, or a copy, or the original manuscript of the law, we need not here enquire. It is sufficient for our present purpose that it cannot mean a book of law in general. It is a question of the definite, determinate law of the Hebrew commonwealth. Such a law, of course, presupposes a lawgiver invested with supreme civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction; some one, therefore, before the