In this view I was gratified to repose, in spite of a few partial misgivings, and returned to investigations concerning the Old Testament.
For some time back I had paid special attention to the book of Genesis; and I had got aid in the analysis of it from a German volume.
That it was based on _at least_ two different documents, technically called the Elohistic and Jehovistic, soon became clear to me: and an orthodox friend who acknowledged the fact, regarded it as a high recommendation of the book, that it was conscientiously made out of pre-existing materials, and was not a fancy that came from the brain of Moses.

My good friend's argument was not a happy one: no written record could exist of things and times which preceded the invention of writing.

After analysing this book with great minuteness, I now proceeded to Exodus and Numbers; and was soon assured, that these had not, any more than Genesis, come forth from one primitive witness of the facts.

In all these books is found the striking phenomenon of _duplicate_ or even _triplicate narratives_.

The creation of man is three times told.