Note to the Second Edition

Tue call for a second edition of this book within a few weeks of its publication is a striking proof of the interest which attaches to the subject of which it treats. It is now reissued unaltered, save by the correction of certain ‘‘reader’s errors,” and the addition of an index.

xi
xil NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION

Any hostile criticisms which have been offered on statements contained in these pages are fully answered by other portions of the book itself. And my apology for all ‘sins of omission” will be found in the opening sentence of Chapter XIX. Moreover, a detailed, reply to certain favourite theories of the critics, which I am said to have left unnoticed, would have no weight with the critics themselves, and is not needed by those for whom the book is intended.

Take ex. gr. the theory as to the late date of the Books of Moses. Even if the case made out by the critics were as strong as it is weak, it would be refuted by the single fact that the Pentateuch was emphatically ¢he Lzble of the Samaritans. That the Samaritans would have accorded such peculiar and unbounded reverence to purely /ewzsh Books, and to Jewish Books of a period long after the captivity of the ten tribes of the house of Israel, is a figment unworthy of serious discussion. Its acceptance by the Higher Critics gives proof that they are incapable of dealing with evidence.

R. A.