others. History reveals the fact that the books of the Old Testament
were not written nor arranged in the order in which they now appear in
the Bible. For instance, while it has been generally considered that the
first five books were written by Moses fifteen hundred years before
Christ, the best authorities have found at least a portion of them to
have been written, or compiled rather, in their present form 600 to 700
B. C.

"Whether Moses or some one else wrote them detracts not the least from
the value of the truth they contain, for whatever is true, can not lose
its value or be effected by the authorship. This is only one of the many
facts that might be produced to show that the Old Testament came in the
most natural way, and not at all through a miracle or by miraculous
interposition.

"Referring again to the best records we have, we find the books of the
New Testament were written from 50 to 175 A. D., thus showing the
liability to mistakes, and the reason for many of the discrepencies in
the New Testament. That the time between the writing of the oldest and
the latest parts of the Bible covered a period of more than a thousand
years, should have much significance in our judgment of both the writers
and their writings.

"Dr. Heber Newton says: 'We are not to read the Biblical writers as
though they were all cotemporaries. They are separated by vast tracts of
time. The later writers stand upon the shoulders of their predecessors
and see farther and clearer. We are not to view the institutions or
doctrines of the Bible as though no matter in what period of development
of the Hebrew Nation, or of the Christian Church they were found, they
were equally authoritative to us.'

"Though the prophets and apostles were inspired, we must remember that
they necessarily had to use the language and methods of speech prevalent
in their time in giving their divinest revelations to the people. The
language was rich with Oriental imagery, strong figures of speech, and
allusions to manners and customs of other nations. Unless we understand
something of the literature and customs, the religious ceremonies and
laws alluded to, we are very much in the dark as to the original
meaning.

"For instance, unless we know the custom that prevailed in ancient times
of putting the sins of the people, figuratively speaking, into a white
cloth, dipping the cloth into blood, tying it to the horns of the
scapegoat, and turning the animal loose