The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved. Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & Co. PREFACE A FEW words of explanation are necessary in publishing this Essay. For many years I have been engaged, off and on, in discussing the subjects here treated of, and have of course kept notes of the more important arguments on both sides. By degrees these became voluminous, and had to be arranged in different groups; but as I had no intention of publishing them, I kept no record as to where the arguments came from, or how far they were copied either in words or substance. Under these circumstances I have naturally hesitated to publish the book, but have at length decided to do so, more especially as the writer to whom I feel most indebted, the late Mr. G. Warington, has himself adopted a somewhat similar method. In his Introduction to When was the Pentateuch Written? after mentioning the books he has most consulted, he says, "Critics who are acquainted with these works will easily recognise how much is borrowed from them and how much is original. For the ordinary reader, and the general purposes of the book, the matter is one neither of interest nor consequence." Feeling that the same applies in this case, I will merely add that the present Essay, the publication |