The Modern Reader's Bible : Daniel and the Minor Prophets.
Edited by Richard G. Moulton. (Macmillan and Co.)—It• will be remembered that this does not pretend to be a critical edition. Criticism is not, indeed, wholly avoided. There is a note, for instance, on the remarkable mixture of Hebrew and Aramaic in the Book of Daniel. But the larger questions of the date and historical character of the book are not discussed. The object of the series is to exhibit the literary character of the writings of the Old Testament in as striking a form as possible. This is especially wanted in the case of most of the Minor Prophets. With Daniel all readers are more or less familiar. Others are so obscure that a guide is necessary. "Comparisons of merit," writes the editor, " can never be more than personal judgments; but, speaking for myself as a student of world literature, I do not know to what I should turn for specimens of literary perfection rather than to the rhapsodies of Habbakuk and Joel." He goes on to remark on the error of supposing an in- compatibility between inspiration and literary excellence. We quite agree with him. But there is a class of critics which always insists upon it.
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