Dr. Skinner, himself, calls the result "somewhat surprising," but instead of furnishing the full and formal demonstration necessary for a scientific enquiry, attempts to defend it in some paragraphs in which figure prominently such phrases as "may be," "appear to," "probably," "must have," "might have," and the like. In the physical sciences, such for example as astronomy, how would a theory or treatise be received if it were based upon such uncertain premisses as these?

This analysis leaves to Isaiah only some 24 chapters, yet the critics constantly speak of Isaiah's characteristics and style, as if these could be fully deduced from such slight material.*

CHARACTERISTICS COMMON TO THE ENTIRE BOOK.

I proceed to certain striking characteristics of the whole of the book that bears the name of Isaiah, many of which may be seen at a glance and plead strongly for its essential unity.

(1) The marked detachment of Isaiah's personality from his prophecies. If we examine the books of Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel, we find that in these we cannot get rid of the personality of the writer. Jeremiah is pessimistic, sensitive, anxious, and frequently shrinks from delivering the message with which he is entrusted. Ezekiel constantly sees visions, and introduces himself into his prophecies; the personality of Daniel is even more prominent; but Isaiah relates only one vision, and only once describes the circumstances under which his prophecy was delivered. In the four historical chapters, no doubt. Isaiah appears as a prominent actor, but these four chapters are history, not prophecy; they are his contribution to the Jewish national records. In all the rest he goes his solitary way: his own personality completely lost in the wondrous message with which he is commissioned.

(2) The majestic imagery in which the writer revels, the poetic elevation of style, the love of nature, all of which characterize every chapter, almost every verse of the whole book. The Isaiah of the critics, who wrote but 24 chapters or less, has no monopoly of these remarkable qualities, as every genuine student of the book knows, even though he be limited to our English translation. The style of the book throughout is unique

* Professor Skinner, in his Commentary, intended for immature minds, makes the admission (p. lxxi) that a considerable number of recent critics "deny several other passages to Isaiah," while others "dispute the genuineness of all the promises of salvation found in a particular section."

in literature. A well-known critic of the German school says of chap. vii, 2,

"And the heart (of King Ahaz) was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind,"

that "this fine simile is sufficient to prove that Isaiah himself is the narrator." I may safely challenge him or anyone who agrees with him to show me any chapter in the entire book, no matter to what author the crities may have assigned it, in which the same acute sensitiveness to the beauties of nature is not found. It is not even absent from the four chapters of the historical fragment.*

The critics draw a distinction between the "genuine" and the "second" Isaiah from the alleged fact that the more gloomy and terrible passages are to be found in the former, and the more alluring and peaceful in the latter. But the distinction is as great between the "second" Isaiah and the eight or ten "fragments" (not written, according to the critics, either by the genuine or by the "second" Isaiah), with the exception of chap. xxxv, which, though a "fragment," far transcends anything else in the whole book as a picture of radiant beauty and prosperity. The critic forgets, conveniently, such passages as these when he endeavours to establish a distinguishing contrast between the genuine and the "second" Isaiah.

(3) The tendency to repetition, of which we find instances in the undisputed Isaiah in twelve instances, one of them being a fourfold repetition of a whole sentence. It is also repeatedly found throughout the whole volume. The use of the phrase, "woe unto you," in chap. v, is an instance. The same phrase occurs in chap. xlv, ascribed to the "second" Isaiah. In the "second" Isaiah repetition often assumes such forms as " Awake, awake," "cast ye up, cast ye up." All these are for the sake of emphasis.

(4) There is an analogous tendency of the prophet to quote his own words, a habit not quite peculiar to Isaiah but much more common with him than with any other prophet. Thus

I may mention that the three most striking and sustained descriptions of natural phenomena in the whole book are chaps. ii and xi, 1–9, in the undisputed Isaiah and chap. xxxv in the "fragments." The first is one of the finest descriptions to be found in any author, illustrating Nature in her awfulness, and may be compared with the powerful passage of the desolation of Moab, chaps. xv and xvi, in the "fragments." Hundreds of shorter passages of the same character can be found in the whole book.

there is the reappearance in the "second" Isaiah of portions of that beautiful description of a land of peace given in chap. xxxv, beginning:

"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; And the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose,"

and ending:

"The ransomed of the Lord shall return,

And come to Sion with songs

And everlasting joy upon their heads :
They shall obtain joy and gladness,

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

This seems to show that Isaiah revelled in the word-picture he has drawn, which has no superior in the whole range of literature.

This language is often quoted in what is called the "second" Isaiah; sometimes at length, sometimes in allusion, but at least nine times in all.

Similarly the almost equally beautiful picture in chap. xi, 6-9

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

And the leopard shall lie down with the kid;

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain :"

is reproduced in chap. lxv, 25

"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,

And the lion shall eat straw like the bullock :

And dust shall be the serpent's meat.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, saith the Lord."*

Continual allusions are made to Lebanon, Carmel, Sharon and the Forest, often associated together, though these are frequently obscured in our versions by the translation of Carmelt as "fruitful field." Such allusions are found in chaps. x, 18; xvi, 10;

* Jeremiah and Ezekiel have their own special peculiarities of expression, but they never quote passages of their own at length, as Isaiah does.

+ Carmel is used ten times in Isaiah as meaning "fruitful field"; it occurs twice in Jeremiah, but one of these cases refers to Mount Carmel. Elsewhere it is apparently not used at all. It occurs in this sense and context seven times in the undisputed Isaiah, once in the historical chapters, and twice in the other portions of the book.

xxxii, 15, 16; xxxiii, 9 ; xxxv, 2 ; xxxvii, 24; lxv, 10, and in a dozen or more other passages distributed amongst nearly all the writers to whom the book has been ascribed. The foregoing are only examples of similar repetitions and quotations from undisputed and disputed passages alike, of which I have published elsewhere a lengthy list. If such repetitions do not appear in every one of these supposed writers, it must be remembered that some of them contribute only a chapter or even half a chapter.

Two more instances of the kind deserve special notice. We have "treacherous dealers," a phrase which occurs repeatedly in several of the writers among whom the book is divided. The words "treacherous" and "treacherously" occur amongst the other prophets, but never together, and they are never repeated twice, as in Isaiah xxi, 2

"The treacherous dealer dealeth treacherously,
And the spoiler spoileth."

And again in chap. xxiv, 16, we have—

"But I said,

My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me!

The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously;

Yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously."

And in chap. xxxiii, 1, we have—

"Woe to thee that spoilest and thou wast not spoiled,

And dealest treacherously, and they dealt not treacherously with thee!

When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled;

And when thou shalt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee."

And these three passages are assigned to three different authors.

The phrase "in that day" occurs nearly forty times in Isaiah i-xxxv-chapters ascribed to the undisputed Isaiah and some eight other authors. If we include analogous phrases such as "the day of the Lord," "the day of the Lord's vengeance," "the day," and other similar expressions, they occur more than fifty times. In the "second" Isaiah they occur only once-in chap. lii, 6—but the reason is obvious. The words are invariably used of a day of vengeance and judgment, but the last twenty-seven chapters of the book are devoted exclusively to God's promises.

(5) The abundant use of paronomasia or the repetition of the same sound. Thus we have hoi (ah), goi (nation), in i, 4;

enachem (ease) and anakmah (avenge), in i, 24. In v, 7, we have mishpat (judgment) paired with mispach (iniquity), and tzedakah (righteousness) with tzeghakah (cry). In the second Isaiah malah tzeba'ah (x1, 2); also xl, 12, maim w'shamaim; (21) halo tedghu, and halo yishmaghu; yaggishu w'yaggidu (xli, 22); and in the other alleged "pseudo-Isaiahs" habboged boged and hashoded shōded (xxi, 2, see xxiv, 16, xxxiii, 1). Also xxiv, 3, hibbōk h'bbōk . . . hibbōz h'bbōz and pachad 'pachath w'pach (verse 17). These are merely specimens of what is found everywhere throughout all the whole prophecy, and though it may be occasionally found in other writings, it stamps the whole Book of Isaiah as one written by a man who has the ear as well as the mind and heart of a poet.

(6) Expressions peculiar to Isaiah. The most remarkable of these is "the Holy One of Israel." This occurs twenty-eight times in the book, twelve being in the undisputed portion, fourteen in the "second" Isaiah, one in the "fragments," and one in the historical part. It is almost entirely confined to Isaiah, occurring only six times elsewhere in the Old Testament, the passage in II Kings xix, 22, being Isaiah's contribution to his country's history. The late Dr. Kennedy connected it with the ineffaceable impression made upon the prophet by that awe-inspiring vision given to him, " in the year that King Uzziah died." The cumulative force of such minute touches is very great.

"Lord of Hosts." This occurs in Isaiah's vision, just referred to. It is found in a few of David's Psalms, and twice in II Samuel, among books written before Isaiah's time; in the later prophets it is found infrequently, except in Haggai, but it occurs very often in the undisputed Isaiah, and also in the "fragments," and occasionally in the "second" Isaiah. The critics deal very cautiously with the agreements between what they have left of Isaiah and the "fragments,”—a good deal more cautiously than they are accustomed to deal with Hebrew literature generally.

"Mighty God of Jacob" or " Israel." These words are almost peculiar to the Book of Isaiah, occurring elsewhere only once in Genesis and once in the Psalms. They do not occur in the "fragments," but are found once in the undisputed chapters and twice in "second" Isaiah.

"The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." The expression occurs once in the undisputed and twice in the "second" Isaiah, but very similar expressions are found in the undisputed Isaiah and four times in the "fragments."

The phrases Holy Mountain," "Mountain of the Lord,"