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HEBREW AND CHRISTIAN RECORDS.

VOL. I.-HEBREW RECORDS.

RECORDS;

AN HISTORICAL ENQUIRY CONCERNING THE

AGE AND AUTHORSHIP OF THE OLD

AND NEW TESTAMENTS;

BY THE

J:Allen

REV. DR GILES,

RECTOR OF SUTTON, SURREY, AND FORMERLY FELLOW OF CORPUS

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CBC ·G47

PREFACE.

THE works contained in these volumes, and now first published complete, were written nearly thirty years ago. A portion only-not quite half-was then printed, and withdrawn from circulation very soon after it issued from the press. The cause which led to this, and the results which followed, have probably been forgotten, or at all events, being now wholly unconnected with the subject, need not to be remembered.

Such questions as those which form the subject of these volumes, were less familiar then than they now are, and were indeed, if I may use the words of one of the most eminent clergymen and writers* of our times, "regarded as difficulties and as dangerous to religion, chiefly, I am persuaded, through the mistaken fear with which the advocates of religion regard them. As things now are, a man cannot prosecute a critical inquiry, as to the date and authors of the books of Scripture, without the fear of having his Christian faith impeached, should his conclusions, in any instance, be at variance with the common opinion." It is satisfactory to know that, since those words were written, there is less disposition to treat unfairly any attempt which is honestly and modestly made to extend the boundaries of Truth, and this

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