SUMMARY OF CONTENTS. Duty of clergy to make themselves acquainted with the new opinions-How and when they arose-Jean Astruc-Eichhorn, 1780-Theories of Vater and Hartmann; of De Wette and Ewald; of Hupfeld and Schrader; of Kuenen and Wellhausen; widely spread in Germany and Holland, but little noticed in this country till after middle of present centuryHartwell Horne's Introduction- Foreign Theological Library' of Messrs. Clark-Recent interest excited, and sensation shown in various quarters-General sketch of the modern theory-Quotations in proof of the progress it has made-How is it to be dealt with? A priori obstacles-1. From greater prominence given to the human element in Holy Scripture -2. From unsettlement of the received History-3. From the depreciation of our Lord's teaching upon the subjects in question-Statements of Josephus-of Philo-virtually endorsed by our Lord. That upon matters of such consequence He did not know the truth, or that He would have refrained from exposing and condemning the prevalent belief, if it had been erroneous, neither of these things is credible-Works recommended to assist in forming a sound judgment on the new opinions---Comparison with Wolf's theory on Homer-Collapse of that theory-A warning against too ready acquiescence in novel speculations which cannot be reconciled with the canon of Old Testament as received from the beginning in the Jewish and the Christian Church. CHARGE MODERN TEACHING ON THE CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT. After speaking of matters which concerned the administration of the diocese during the past year, the Charge proceeded as follows: To turn now to topics of more general interest. There is a subject upon which I have not spoken to you, I believe, on any former occasion, but to which it is high time that the attention of all our clergy should be drawn, with all the seriousness which a Bishop's voice can give to it; I mean the revolution which is taking place in regard to the criticism of Holy Scripture, and especially of the Old Testament. That you have all, more or less, been already reading and thinking upon these questions for yourselves, I do not doubt; and I was glad to hear that the Archdeacon had read a paper, and raised a discussion upon the subject, at a recent meeting of U your Clerical Society; but the interest and the importance of it are such that you may naturally expect from me some expression of my opinion in regard to it, if not also some attempt to assist and guide you in the formation of yours. Happily we shall not find ourselves fettered in the discussion of the subject-as is the case with the members of some other religious bodies-by any statement which our Church has made concerning it; so that we are left perfectly free to follow out the course to which a careful and impartial examination of the evidence on either side may be found to lead. But, I need scarcely say, we must be cautious not to abuse this freedom; and all the more because the character of the age is greatly such as to tempt us so to do. We are passing or rather we have already passed-from a period of too little inquiry-of too much resting upon the traditions of the past-to a period in which nothing is to be taken for granted; when inquiry upon all-and not least upon the highest and most sacred of all-subjects is permitted and encouraged to run wild. It must have been felt, I think, by many of us that our great desideratum at the present day is a new Text Book on the Canon of Holy Scripture. The learned works of Bishop Cosin, of Jeremiah |