Testament as well as the New.
Whoever neglects the former, will want breadth and comprehensiveness of
Christian culture. All profound Christian writers have been well versed
in "the whole instrument of each Testament," as Tertullian calls the two
parts of revelation. Chap. 13, No. 2.

Modern skepticism begins with disparaging the Old Testament, and ends
with denying the divine authority of both the Old and the New. In this
work it often unites a vast amount of learning in regard to particulars
with principles that are superficial and false.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE PENTATEUCH.

1. The _unity of the Pentateuch_ has already been considered (Ch. 9, No.
12), and will appear more fully as we proceed with the examination of
the separate books included in it. Even if we leave out of view the
authority of the New Testament, this unity is too deep and fundamental
to allow of the idea that it is a patchwork of later ages. Under divine
guidance the writer goes steadily forward from beginning to end, and his
work when finished is a symmetrical whole. Even its apparent
incongruities, like the interweaving of historical notices with the
laws, are marks of its genuineness; for they prove that, in those parts
at least, events were recorded as they transpired. Such a blending of
history with revelation does not impair the unity of the work; for it is
a unity which has its ground not in severe logical arrangement and
classification, but in a divine plan historically developed. Whether the
division of the Pentateuch into five books (whence its Greek name
_Pentateuchos_, _fivefold book_) was original, proceeding from the
author himself, or the work of a later age, is a question on which
biblical scholars are not agreed. It is admitted by all that the
division is natural and appropriate. The Hebrew titles of the several
books are taken from prominent words standing at or near the beginning
of each. The Greek names are expressive of their prominent contents; and
these are followed in the Latin Vulgate and in our English version, only
that the name of the fourth book is translated.

I. GENESIS.

2. The Hebrews _name_ this book _Bereshith_, _in the beginning_, from
the first word. Its Greek name _Genesis_ signifies _generation_,
_genealogy_. As the genealogical records with which the book abounds
contain historical notices, and are, in truth, the earliest form of
history, the word is applied to the history of the creation, and of th