These Outlines are the outgrowth of fifteen years of study and teaching. They are designed simply to indicate the lines along which study is demanded if one is to understand the teachings of the Old Testament. No effort has been made to present an exhaustive review of the ideas which have been advanced by others in regard to these remarkable books, or to give completeness to the views of the author. Only such points as seem necessary to a correct understanding of the text are presented and these are stated in the briefest form, with such references as may guide the way to further study.

If the position here taken seem conservative, it is not because the writer has ignored the later criticism or underestimates its value, but because the newer ideas do not seem to be sufficiently established to demand the abandonment of the older. Great gain has already come from the learned and laborious investigations of the new school of criticism and we hope for still richer fruitage in the future, but the results thus far secured are too vague to become a satisfactory basis for the interpretation of Scripture.

The leading objections to the work now being done under the name of the Higher Criticism may be summed up briefly as follows: The primary laws of exegesis are too easily violated too much importance is attached to minute and unessential details, the integrity of the text is not sufficiently guarded, constant pressure is put upon the text to make it yield a result in harmony with a preconceived theory, and the subjective impulses of the critic have too much influence in determining his conclusions.

We have presented their arguments on the more important issues, giving them as nearly as possible in their own terms and as found in their latest books. When they have finished their work no one will hesitate to acknowledge its value.

The brevity of the study prevents much direct quotation of individual authors, and no attempt has been made to trace each statement to its source. The more important references have been acknowledged, and the author would express his general indebtedness to the numerous works already before the public, and he wishes also to say that the only reason for his publishing this volume is that he does not find among them all one which recognizes the latest thought and is suitably arranged for systematic study. Seminary work is now so crowded as to demand the utmost brevity and clearness of statement.

Special attention has been given to a careful analysis of the contents of the different books.

At the cost of a seeming repetition the references to helpful literature are appended to each book, and in the selection of such works variety rather than completeness has governed the choice.