SACRED HISTORY FROM THE CREATION ΤΟ THE GIVING OF THE LAW BY EDWARD P. HUMPHREY, D.D., LL.D. SOMETIME PROFESSOR IN THE DANVILLE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY NEW YORK A. C. ARMSTRONG AND SON 714 BROADWAY 1888 PREFACE. ONE of the objects of this work is to furnish a ready help to the understanding of those perplexing passages of the earliest Scriptures, which furnish so much of the working capital of cavillers and unbelievers, and by which candid and devout readers are so often disturbed, because these passages, if seen from the point of view of a narrow observation, seem not only strange, but sometimes quite unintelligible. But if viewed in their connection with the entire sweep of the Sacred Scriptures, and in their vital relation to the unfolding principles and processes of the kingdom of God, that which seemed strange becomes appropriate, and the obscure is made clear in the light of the glory of the past and the present and the future comings of the Lord. With a wonderful patience and skill, has the author rescued from obscurity and possible contempt a multitude of Scripture passages, by so setting them in their honorable and what are shown to be their necessary places, in the grand whole of Sacred History, that their beauty and value are at once discerned. The author's enthusiasm and devout interest in the subject of Sacred or Biblical History, which began early, have been the growth of a lifetime. He had a thorough acquaintance with the theme, resulting from a careful study of every verse and line of the Bible bearing upon it, and from a comprehensive reading of the literature of all sides of the subject; which study and reading have extended through more than forty of the best and most vigorous of his years. |