employs the words _the law_ of the whole Pentateuch, to every
part of which he, in common with the Jewish people, ascribed equal and
divine authority: "Tell me, ye that desire to be under _law_"--under a
system of law, the article being wanting in the original--"do ye not
hear _the law_? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the one by
a bond-maid, the other by a free woman," etc., Gal. 4:21, seq., where
the reference is to the narrative recorded in Genesis, as a part of the
law. So also in the following passage: "Moses of old time hath in every
city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every
sabbath-day," Acts 15:21; the term Moses necessarily means the law of
Moses, as comprehending the whole Pentateuch, for it was that which was
read in the synagogues. Compare the words of Luke: "After the reading of
the law and the prophets," Acts 13:15. And in general, when Christ and
his apostles speak of Moses or the law, without any limitation arising
from the context, thus, "The law was given by Moses;" "They have Moses
and the prophets," etc., we are to understand them as referring to the
Pentateuch as a whole, for such was the common usage of the Jewish
people, and such must have been their apprehension of the meaning of the
terms.

3. But it may be said, Christ and his apostles did not speak as critics,
but only in a popular way. That they did not speak of the Pentateuch as
critics, is certain. They had no occasion for doing so, since no Jew
doubted either its divine authority or its Mosaic authorship. But when
we consider, on the one side, with what unsparing severity our Lord set
aside the traditions of the Pharisees as "the commandments of men," and
on the other, how he and his apostles ascribed equal divine authority to
every part of the Pentateuch, as will be shown in the next chapter, and
how unequivocally they sanctioned the universal belief that Moses was
its author, we must acknowledge that we have the entire authority of the
New Testament for its Mosaic authorship in every essential respect. This
is entirely consistent with the belief that inspired men, like Ezra, and
perhaps also prophetical men of an earlier age, in setting forth revised
copies of the Pentateuch, that is, copies which aimed to give the true
text with as much accuracy as possible, may have added here and there
explanatory clauses for the benefit of the readers of their day. Such
incidental clauses, added by men of God under th