e had not originated, but organized, systematized and reduced to more
perfect order, so that all this might be preserved for the benefit of
the people thereafter. This was the beginning of the sacred literature
of the Jews which, when completed in its present form, was called the
Bible--meaning simply, The Books.

After this, tho the Jewish system of religion, according to the Jews
themselves, was finished and complete, they had but five books of
written scripture,--the Pentateuch. Yet thirty-four additional books
were afterwards written and added to these. Can these later books be
quoted as _authority_ for that which existed, in some instances, a
thousand years before they were written? Certainly not. But the facts
are plain. The system of religion already existing, but continually
progressing, gave rise to these subsequent books, which are merely a
record of the progress, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, practices, etc.,
of this peculiar and intensely religious people.

Thus we see that the Old Testament is a _growth_ produced by, and
recording the historic development of the Jewish race, nation and
religion. It is simply the _literature_ of a people. Its various
parts were written by representatives of the people themselves, many of
whose names are unknown, at various times covering a period of a
thousand years, under many varying conditions and circumstances. It
records in part their history, traditions, legends, myths, their
beliefs, superstitions, hopes, fears, ideals and aspirations; and the
legendary deeds of their national heroes, just as we find them in the
literature of ancient Greece, Rome, England or Scandinavia. It
contains books of law, ritual, maxims, hymns, poetry, drama, letters,
sermons, denunciations, rebukes, warnings, arguments, anecdotes and
biography. No literature on earth is more multifarious in its
contents. That it contains many contradictions, errors,
inconsistencies and incredible statements is nothing to its discredit
from this viewpoint of its origin. The wonder is that there are not
more. But that it contains only what the various writers of its
different parts, at the time they wrote, honestly thought and
_believed_ to be true, may be freely admitted without in the least
derogating from its true value, or adding supernatural sanctity to it.
The Old Testament considered simply as a collection of ancient Jewish
literature, reveals to us to-day many of the stages in the national