We have space here only to indicate the following reasons as establishing the integrity of tlie whole book, and as vindicating tlie authenticity of the second part :
1. Extermdlij. — Tlie rinanimonx testimony of Jewish and Christian tradition— Ecchis. xlviii, 24, 25, which manifestly (in the words TraptKilXtai Tovg irivBovvTaq iv 'Siiov and VTr'tSu^t — to. viruKputpa Tvpiv i) wapayt- vkaQai aura) refers to this second part. The use appa- rently made of the second part by Jeremiah (x, 1-16 ; v, 25 ; XXV, 31 ; 1, li), Ezekiel (xiii, 40, 41), and Zephaniah (ii, 15 ; iii, 10). The decree of Cyrus in Ezra i, 2-4, which plainly is founded upon Isa. xliv, 28; xiv, 1, 13, accrediting Josephus's statement {Ant. xi, 1, 2) that the Jews showed Cyrus Isaiah's predictions of him. The inspired testimony of the N. T., which often (Matt, iii, 8, and the parallel passages; Luke iv, 17; Acts viii, 28; Rom. X, 16, 20) quotes with specification of Isaiah's name prophecies found in the second part.
2. Internally. — The congruity of topic and sentiment in the last twenty-seven chapters with the preceding parts of the book. The oneness of diction ^\hich per- vades the whole book. The peculiar elevation and grandeur of style whicli, as is luiiversally acknowl- edged, distinguishes the whole contents of the second part as much as of the first, and which assigns their composition to the golden age of Hebrew literature. The absence of any other name than Isaiah's claiming the authorship. At the time to which the composition is assigned, a Zechariah or a Malachi could gain a sep- arate name and book ; how was it that an author of such transcendent gifts as " the great Unnamed" who wrote xl-lxvi could gain iione ? The claims which the writer makes to the ./brfknowledge of the deliverance by Cyrus, which claims, on the opposing view, must be regarded as a fraudulent personation of an earlier writer. Lastly, the p7-ediciion.s ichich it contains of the character, sit (f'e. rings, death, and glorification ofjesns Christ : a be- liever in Christ cannot iail to regard those predictions as affixing to this second part the broad seal of di- vine inspiration, whereby the chief ground of objection against its having been written by Isaiah is at once an- nihilated.
For a full vindication of the authenticity of Isaiah, besides the above works, see professor Stuart On the Old Testam. Canon, p. 103 sq., and Dr. Davidson in the new edit, of Home's Introduction, ii, 835 sq., in which latter, especially, copious reference;! are made to the latest lit- erature on the subject. Other writers who have taken the same side are especially Hengstenberg, in his Chris- tology, vol. ii ; Hiivernick, Einleitung, vol. iii (1849); Stier, in his Jesuias nic/it Pseudo- Jesaias (1850) ; and Keil, in his Einleitung (1853), in which last the reader will find a most satisfactory compendium of the contro- versy, and of the grounds for the generally received view.
V. Origin, Contents, and Style of the Compilation. — No definite account respecting the method pursued in col- lecting into books the utterances of the projduts has been handed down to us. Concerning Isaiah as well as the rest, these accounts are wanting. We do not even know whether he collected his prophecies himself. But we have no decisive argument against this opinion.
Those critics who reject the authenticitj' of the book are compelled to invent other authors, and, of course, different tlieories with respect to compilers. None of tliese have proved 8atisfactorj\ (See the authorities above referred to.) According to the Talmudists, the book of Isaiah was collected by the men of Ilezekiah. But this assertion rests merely upon Pro v. xxv, 1, ^vhere the men of Hezekiah are said to have compiled the Proverbs. To us it seems impossible that Isaiah left it to others to collect his prophecies into a volume, because we know that he was the author of historical works, and it is not likely that a man accustomed to literary occupation would have left to others to do what he could do much better himself.
Chaps, i-v contain a series of rebukes, threatenings, and expostulations with the nation, especially Jerusa- lem its head, on account of tne prevalent sins, and par- ticularly idolatrj'. Chap, vi describes a theojihany and the prophet's own call, in the last year of Uzziah (to which the preceding chapters may also be assigned, with the exception of chap, i, 2-31, which appears to belong to the first of Ahaz). What follows next, up to chap. X, 4, belongs to the reign of Ahaz, and consists of a sub- lime prediction of the future consolation of Israel, in the fir.-^t iiisiaiKc liy the deliverance from surrounding enemies (i sii((i;il!y Damascus and Samaria), and event- ually by the ^Messiali, who is prefigured by historical signs. The same subject is treated in a similar manner in the succeeding chapters (x-xii), the deliverance from Assyria being there the historical type ; this is the first portion appertaining to the reign of Hezekiah. Then follows a series of prophecies against foreign nations, in which the chronological arrangement has been departed from, and, instead of it, an arrangement according to contents has been adopted. In the days of Hezekiah, the nations of Western Asia, dwelling on the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, more and more resembled a threatening tempest. The prophetic gift of Isaiah was more fully unlblded in sight of the Assyrian invasion under the reign of Hezekiah. Isaiah, in a series of vis- ions, describes what Assyria would do, as a chastising rod in the liand of the Lord, and what the successors of the Assyrians, the Chaldees, would perform, according to the decree of (iod, in order to realize divine justice on earth, as well among Israel as among the heathen. The prophet shows that mercy is hidden behind the clouds of wrath. This portion comprises chaps, xiii-xxxv, the several prophecies of which were uttered at various times prior to the Assyrian invasion, although isolated portions appear to belong to previous reigns (e. g. chap, xvii to the occasion of the alliance of Ahaz with Tig- lath-pileser ; chap, xiv, 28-32, to the death of Ahaz). With the termination of this war terminated also the public life of Isaiah, who added a historical section in chaps, xxxvi-xxxix, in order to facilitate the right un- derstanding of the prophecies uttered by him during the most fertile period of his prophetic ministry. Then fol- lows the conclusion of his work on earth (chaps, xl to the end), composed during the peaceful residue of Hez- ekiah's reign, and containing a closely connected series of the most spiritual disclosures touching the future his- tory of the nation under the jNIessiah. This second part, which contains his prophetic legacy, is addressed to the small congregation of the faithfiU strictly so called; it is analogous to the last speeches of ]\Ioses in the fields of Moab, and to the last speeches of Christ in the circle of his disciples, related by John.