provisions of the law-book which had been so opportunely recovered. That the writer (2 Kings xxii. seq.) meant to describe the discovery of Deuteronomy is evident from the events which followed; and this identification of the roll, already made by Jerome, Chrysostom and others, has been substantiated by modern literary criticism since De Wette (1805). (See DEUTERONOMY; JOSIAH.) Some very interesting parallels have been cited from Egyptian and Assyrian records where religious texts, said to have been found in temples, or oracles from the distant past, have come to light at the very time when "the days were full."[30] There is, however, no real proof for the traditional antiquity of Deuteronomy. The book forms a very distinctive landmark in the religious history by reason of its attitude to cult and ritual (see HEBREW RELIGION, § 7). In particular it is aimed against the worship at the numerous minor sanctuaries and inculcates the sole pre-eminence of the one great sanctuary--the Temple of Jerusalem. This centralization involved the removal of the local priests and a modification of ritual and legal observance. The fall of Samaria, Sennacherib's devastation of Judah, and the growth of Jerusalem as the capital, had tended to raise the position of the Temple, although Israel itself, as also Judah, had famous sanctuaries of its own. From the standpoint of the popular religion, the removal of the local altars, like Hezekiah's destruction of the brazen serpent, would be an act of desecration, an iconoclasm which can be partly appreciated from the sentiments of 2 Kings xviii. 22, and partly also from the modern Wahhabite reformation (of the 19th century). But the details and success of the reforms, when viewed in the light of the testimony of contemporary prophets, are uncertain. The book of Deuteronomy crystallizes a doctrine; it is the codification of teaching which presupposes a carefully prepared soil. The account of Josiah's work, like that of Hezekiah, is written by one of the Deuteronomic school: that is to say, the writer describes the promulgation of the teaching under which he lives. It is part of the scheme which runs through the book of Kings, and its apparent object is to show that the Temple planned by David and founded by Solomon ultimately gained its true position as the only sanctuary of Yahweh to which his worshippers should repair. Accordingly, in handling Josiah's successors the writer no longer refers to the high places. But if Josiah carried out the reforms ascribed to him they were of no lasting effect. This is conclusively shown by the writings of Jeremiah (xxv. 3-7, xxxvi. 2 seq.) and Ezekiel. Josiah himself is praised for his justice, but faithless Judah is insincere (Jer. iii. 10), and those who claim to possess Yahweh's law are denounced (viii. 8). If Israel could appear to be better than Judah (iii. 11; Ezek. xvi., xxiii.), the religious