ter books rest on fanciful grounds.

12. That the Pentateuch, as a whole, proceeded from a single author, is
shown by the unity of plan that pervades the whole work. The book of
Genesis constitutes, as has been shown, a general introduction to the
account which follows of the establishment of the theocracy; and it is
indispensable to the true understanding of it. In the first part of the
book of Exodus we have a special introduction to the giving of the law;
for it records the deliverance of the Israelites from bondage in Egypt,
and their journey to Sinai. The Mosaic institutions presuppose a
sanctuary as their visible material centre. The last part of Exodus,
after the promulgation of the ten commandments and the precepts
connected with them, is accordingly occupied with the construction of
the tabernacle and its furniture, and the dress and consecration of the
priests who ministered there. In Leviticus, the central book of the
Pentateuch, we have the central institution of the Mosaic economy,
namely, the system of sacrifices belonging to the priesthood, and also,
in general, the body of ordinances intrusted to their administration.
The theocracy having been founded at Sinai, it was necessary that
arrangements should be made for the orderly march of the people to the
land of Canaan. With these the book of Numbers opens, and then proceeds
to narrate the various incidents that befell the people in the
wilderness, with a record of their encampments, and also the addition
from time to time of new ordinances. The book of Deuteronomy contains
the grand farewell address of Moses to the Israelites, into which is
woven a summary of the precepts already given which concerned
particularly the people at large, with various modifications and
additions suited to their new circumstances and the new duties about to
be devolved upon them. We see then that the Pentateuch constitutes a
consistent whole. Unity of design, harmony of parts, continual progress
from beginning to end--these are its grand characteristics; and they
prove that it is not a heterogeneous collection of writings put together
without order, but the work of a single master-spirit, writing under
God's immediate direction, according to the uniform testimony of the New
Testament.

CHAPTER X.

AUTHENTICITY AND CREDIBILITY OF THE PENTATEUCH.

1. The historic truth of the Pentateuch is everywhere assumed by the
writers of the New Testament in the most absolute an