subsequently acquired; there must therefore have been some
interval, and there may have been a very long one, between the
date of their origin and that of their receiving public sanction.
To the Law, on the other hand, the canonical character is much more
essential, and serious difficulties beset the assumption that the
Law of Moses came into existence at a period long before the exile,
aml did not attain the force of law until many centuries
afterwards, and in totally different circumstances from those
under which it had arisen. At least the fact that a collection
claiming public recognition as an ecclesiastical book should have
attained such recognition earlier than other writings which make no
such claim is no proof of superior antiquity.

We cannot, then, peremptorily refuse to regard it as possible
that what was the law of Judaism may also have been its product;
and there are urgent reasons for taking the suggestion into very
careful consideration. It may not be out of place here to refer
to personal experience. In my early student days I was attracted
by the stories of Saul and David, Ahab and Elijah; the discourses
of Amos and Isaiah laid strong hold on me, and I read myself well
into the prophetic and historical books of the Old Testament.
Thanks to such aids as were accessible to me, I even considered
that I understood them tolerably, but at the same time was troubled
with a bad conscience, as if I were beginning with the roof instead
of the foundation; for I had no thorough acquaintance with the
Law, of which I was accustomed to be told that it was the basis and
postulate of the whole literature. At last I took courage and made
my way through Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and even through
Knobel's Commentary to these books. But it was in vain that I
looked for the light which was to be shed from this source on the