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case the Author, so each individual utterance of each scribe is of paramount as well as permanent
authority. This error we have uprooted in your mind, for you now know that God cannot be the Author
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of contradictions, nor can He have said at one time what He contradicts at another. The light shone
through a dark medium, and was distorted in the passage.
In place of these false views we have taught you that inspiration is the control of the inspiring spirit; of
various degrees of elevation, perfection, or reliability; to be judged in each case by reason, and to be
estimated in precisely such manner as you would criticise and judge works of professedly human source.
You will therefore accept no text as an argument. You will deal with these ancient books as you deal
with all that is put before you. And in criticising them you will find it necessary to deny much that has
been affirmed and believed with respect to them and their contents.
You have asked information respecting the Pentateuch. It is, as we have before hinted, the compilation
by Ezra of legends and traditions which had been orally handed down from generation to generation, and
which were collected by him to prevent their loss. Some parts of the Pentateuch, especially the early
portion of Genesis, are mere legendary speculations collected and arranged by the scribe. Such are the
Noachic and Abrahamic legends which exist in collateral forms in the sacred books of other peoples.
Such, in another way, are the statements of the book Deuteronomy, which are the direct additions of
Ezra s day. For the rest, the compilation was made from previous imperfect collections made in the days
of Solomon and Josiah, themselves in turn records of previous legends and traditions which again had
still more remote origin. In no case were they the very words of Moses; nor do they embody truth, save
where, in dealing with the law, they draw their information from authentic sources.
We shall dwell hereafter on the notion of God which pervades the early books of your Bible. Sufficient
that we now point out that the mythical and legendary sources from which most of them were compiled
forbid you to attribute any weight to their historical statements or moral precepts, save when they are
confirmed by reasonable evidence from other sources.
[I found this communication to confirm my own researches. I thought I could trace the two sources
Elohistic and Jehovostic from which the compiler drew his information: as in the account of the
creation, Gen. i., ii. 3, compared with Gen. ii. 4 iii. 24, and in the seizure of Sarah at Gerar by
Abimelech (Gen. Xx.), compared with xii. 10 19 and XXVI. I-II. I inquired if I was right.]
[If this was the way in which the Canon of the Old Testament was settled, I inquired how far the case
was the same with the Prophecies.]
What you have given is but an instance out of many. When you recognise the fact, you will see evidences
of it all around you. The documents in question were the legendary sources of the compilation of Ezra s
scribes, Elnathan and Joiarib. They were many in number, some compiled in the days of Saul, some even
earlier, in the days of the Judges of Israel, and some in the days of Solomon, Hezekiah, and Josiah
crystallisations of the floating legends which had been orally handed down. We have already pointed out
to you the true line of inspiration from Melchizedek. All prior to that is untrustworthy: and not all, indeed,
that is recorded concerning the lives of the real recipients of spirit-guidance is accurate. But on the
whole, the channel of Divine teaching was such as we have said.
The books you name were all added and arranged from existing sources by Ezra s authority, save and
except those which were afterwards added those called by the names of Haggai, Zechariah, and
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Malachi. Haggai was concerned in the compilation of the book of Ezra, and he and Malachi finally
completed the Old Testament by the addition of the later books. They, with Zechariah, were much in
communion, having been the privileged attendants of Daniel when he saw his great vision and received
his commission from Gabriel, the Archangel of God, the Chief of the Ministering Angels, and from
Michael the Archangel, the Chief of the Hosts of the Lord against the adversaries. Of a surety Daniel the
seer was a highly-favoured recipient of Divine inspiration. The great God be thanked for His mercy, and
for the manifestation of His power.
Is that the vision recorded in Daniel x. ?
That by the banks of the Hiddekel.
The same. Then selections only were chosen from the utterances of the prophets?
Only selections, and they chiefly for some hidden meaning, which does not lie on the surface. As the
open vision was about to cease, selections were made from the records of the past, and the canon was
closed until the days when the voice of spirit-teaching should sound again amongst men.
You speak of Daniel as a great seer or medium. Do you know if the gift was common?
He was a very favoured recipient of spirit power. Such became more rare as the spiritual age was about
to close. But men cultivated the power more then. They valued more and knew more of spirit power and
teaching.
Vast masses of trance addresses, visions, and the like, such as those preserved in the Old
Testament, must have been lost?
Assuredly. There was no need to preserve them. And many that were preserved are now excluded from
your Bible.
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