ove, instead of being left to chance, shall be told to the young and innocent with perfect purity, and shall, moreover, address the imagination, strictly associated with the safeguards of honour, prudence, and virtue," the Favourite of Nature," we sincerely think, ought to be a standard family novel.

ART. IX.-The Old Testament, arranged in Historical and Chronological Order, (on the Basis of Lightfoot's Chronicle,) in such manner that the Books, Chapters, Psalms, Prophecies, &c. may be read in one connected History, in the Words of the authorized Translation; with copious Indices. By GEORGE TOWNSEND, M. A. of Trinity College, Cambridge. In two Volumes. London: Rivington. 1821.

THE

HE praises of English theology were lately sounded in an assembly but little accustomed to such a topic*; and they were spoken with a fervour, and listened to with a candour, that did equal honour to the genius of the advocate and the liberality of the audience. We are very far from desiring to weaken the effect of the admirable speech to which we allude, by enviously depreciating the merits of those whom it applauds; but it may be worth while to remark, that the splendid picture drawn by the orator, referred rather to times that are past than to those that are present, and that men like Bull, and Pearson, and Walton, and Hooker, are now about as seldom found on the southern as on the northern side of the Tweed. Respecting, as we do, the general state of literature among the English clergy, we yet cannot help thinking that deep theological attainments have been rare in the church of England for the last century. Those, indeed, who are acquainted with her academic systems of theological instruction must know, that her strength, whatever it may be, does not rest upon them. It rests, we believe, on two points -the rewards she is enabled to propose by the inequality of her preferments, and the superior attention paid to Greek literature in the English universities. On the efficacy of the first of these it is quite unnecessary to enlarge; but as an instance of the value of the other, we would simply refer to Horsley's famous refutation of Priestley. Horsley, we admit, was a very able man, and generally skilled in theology; but he gained his victory almost entirely by his superior accuracy in Greek. Greek, in fact,

*We allude to Dr. Chalmers' celebrated speech on Clerical Education, delivered in the General Assembly of Scotland, 1821.

is the proper language of theology; and we are decidedly of opinion, that if the church of Scotland wishes to raise the standard of theology, her attention must be directed fully as much to her Greek as to her theological classes. Still, however, we would protest against the notion, that the actual attainments of the English clergy are to be measured by the richness of the treasures which their predecessors have accumulated. We are ready to allow, that, compared with the members of any other church, they are learned and industrious men; and that their exertions, even though inferior to those of the great men who preceded them, have at least been equal to the exigencies which called them into action. The sophistries of Bolingbroke might require the acuteness of Warburton, and the learning of the continental Socinians might demand the full display of Bull's erudition; but, surely, no Warburton is needed to chastise the ignorant blasphemers of our own time; and the controvertists who might have shrunk from a contest with the Fratres Poloni, have found little of danger or difficulty in routing the brethren of Essex Street and Hackney.

The highest occupation of the theologian, is either the discovery of hitherto unnoticed truths, or of new arguments and evidence for those that are known; but it is neither a mean nor a useless employment, to collect the scattered rays of information, and to present, in one collected and consistent view, the discoveries on any one subject which lay scattered through a thousand folios. In this subordinate, but at the same time highly useful class, we must place the labours of Mr. Townsend; and in estimating the utility of his work, it is proper to observe, that he has attempted to supply what, to the best of our knowledge, is a desideratum in English theology. The idea, indeed, is not a new one. Torshel, who was a chaplain to Charles I. and tutor to the royal children, published, in the last year of that reign, a tract, entitled "A design about disposing the Bible into an Harmony, or an Essay concerning the transposing the Order of Books and Chapters of the Holy Scripture, for the reducing of all into a continued History." This tract was addressed to the two houses of parliament, in the hope that they might appoint a committee to superintend, or at least to patronize, the execution of the object. Torshell, however, had "fallen on evil days," and, as might have been expected, his proposals were totally neglected; and the design of harmonizing the Bible has not hitherto, we believe, been put into execution.

The utility of such a harmony must be evident, and the want of it must often have been felt by all who have endeavoured to collect from the sacred writings a consistent view of the events narrated, from the creation to the return of the Jews from Ba

bylon. Chronology is the basis of history; and it is impossible to reason upon the relation of any events, until we have ascertained the order in which they happened. Future politicians may be able to trace some relation of cause and effect between the American and French revolutions; but they would assuredly reason in the dark, unless they could determine which of these revolutions preceded the other. The use of such an arrangement will be still more evident, if we reflect that the historical part of the Old Testament is not one narrative drawn up by one author; but that the events are to be collected from various treatises, written by different authors; that, in some cases, the series is interrupted by considerable intervals; and that, in others, we possess distinct narratives of the same events by various writers. The perfect consistency of these treatises with one another is, indeed, no slight proof of the unity of that Spirit which dictated the whole; but it requires no small attention and labour to discover this perfect adaptation of the several parts, to place them so that they may mutually reflect light on each other, and to elucidate the meaning of more difficult passages, by pointing out the occasions on which they were written, and the probable purposes which they were intended to serve. This is the object which Mr. Townsend has aimed at in the volumes before us, and which, we think, he has performed with considerable credit to himself, and with much advantage, not only to the profes sional student of Theology, but to all who wish for an accurate knowledge of the Scriptures of the Old Testament.

The substance of Mr. Townsend's work consists of the authorized version of the Bible, arranged according to what he supposes the chronological order. Where this arrangement is founded upon clear internal evidence, the change of position is made silently; but where the grounds are less clear, and where a difference of opinion exists, notes are appended, stating the reasons upon which the author has proceeded, and the different theories and arguments which commentators have advanced upon the subject. To several of the books, particularly to those of the minor prophets, prefaces, partly original, and partly borrowed, are attached, which contain a brief biography of the writer, and a view of the times and circumstances in which he lived.

As is usual in chronological works, Mr. Townsend divides his subject into æras or periods. The first of these contains the history of the world, from the creation to the deluge, and comprehends the first nine chapters of Genesis. The second period brings us down to the birth of Moses, and comprises the remainder of Genesis, the book of Job, and the first chapter of Exodus. At the commencement of this period, we have a long and not unlearned note, on the dispersion of men and the con

fusion of tongues, in which Mr. Townsend presents us with whatever Bryant, or Jones, or Faber, has advanced on this subject. For ourselves, we must own, that we have some doubts as to these matters. The inquiry is no doubt an interesting one, but we cannot forbear wondering when a man of sound judg ment professes himself satisfied with any of the theories that have been advanced on the subject. It is, indeed, difficult to preserve gravity, when we are told authoritatively, for example, that the Chinese, the Greek, the Latin, and the Peruvian, are radically the same language: or while we are told that the Arabic dialects, including, of course, the Canaanitish or Phoenician, are radically distinct from the Greek. Now surely the arguments, philological, geographical, and historical, which tend to establish the affinity of the Greek and Phoenician, are somewhat stronger than those which would connect the Greek and Chinese. Adelung, we observe, is decidedly against Mr. Townsend's favourites in this matter, and he properly classes the monosyllabic dialects of Eastern Asia by themselves. But a more important point connected with this period, is the date (A. C. 2130) assigned to the history of Job. In this determination our author nearly agrees with Dr. Hales, whose reasons he gives in the note (p. 28). Dr. Hales lays no stress on those archaims of language, which seemed of such importance to Lowth; and lays, we think, far too great a stress on the astronomical argument derived from the supposed position of the stars Chimah and Chesil. Of Schultens, the most profound writer on the subject, Mr. Townsend makes no mention; but, upon the whole, his note is useful and judicious; and on a very difficult subject, his decision is, we think, the most probable that could have been made.

The third period comprises the life of Moses, a portion of the sacred history which is narrated with peculiar fulness and precision, and which, of course, gives less scope for the labours of the arranger. The fourth period comprises the events from the entrance of the Israelites into the promised land, to the death of David. This period includes the books of Judges, Joshua, Ruth, both books of Samuel, the first book of Chronicles, with the exception of the nine first chapters, which belong to the last period, and the two first chapters of the First Book of Kings. It comprises also the Psalms written by David, which are placed conjecturally, according to the events to which they are supposed to refer. The transpositions in this period are numerous; of most of them the propriety is self-evident; and in the rest, Mr. Townsend has cautiously followed the best commentators. Where a difference of opinion exists, our author almost always adheres to the chronology of the Hebrew text, as it is given in the mar

gin of our authorized version. Here we are at variance with him, for reasons which we hope for an opportunity of shewing;-in the meantime, we must say, that we think he might have looked about for a better argument, why this system is to be preferred to that of Hales, than that the one is old and the other new. Prescription cannot be pleaded, unless the possession has been unchallenged; and we all know, that the Hebrew dates have never been unreservedly or universally received by biblical critics. Indeed, from some passages in Mr. Townsend's Introduction, we are led to suspect that his veneration is directed, not so much to the Hebrew text, as to the authorized version. That he should adopt that version as a basis, was perfectly right; but we cannot see why he should entirely omit to mention, even in his notes, the various corrections and acknowledged improvements that have been proposed, both by Continental and British critics: or, if this was a task beyond what Mr. Townsend had proposed to himself, we still have cause to complain of his withholding the marginal readings, which we consider as an intrinsic and a valuable part of the authorized version.

The fifth period comprises the reign of Solomon, and includes those portions of Kings and Chronicles which relate to his reign, and the books of Canticles, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. It may appear a trifling criticism, but certainly there would have been something more systematic in closing the fourth period with the consecration of Saul, placing the three kings who reigned over the undivided tribes in the fifth, and then to have proceeded as Mr. Townsend has done; for it is difficult to perceive on what principle of arrangement Saul and David are to be classed with the Judges, or why the uneventful reign of Solomon is to fill a whole period.

As to the sixth period, we shall quote from Mr. Townsend himself:

"The sixth period comprises the time from the accession of Rehoboam to the commencement of the Babylonish captivity. It includes the greater part of the books of Chronicles and Kings, which are harmonized throughout, with some of the Psalms, and the prophecies of Joel, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Obadiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, part of Jeremiah, and part of the first chapter of Daniel. The several predictions or distinct discourses contained in the respective books of the prophets, are given in their historical places; and notes are appended to each, explaining the reasons for the dislocation. The difficulties of arranging this period were very great. The intricacies of the chronology, the double line of the kings of Judah and Israel, with the differences of explanation among the authors who were consulted, presented obstacles which at first sight appeared insuperable. Various modes presented themselves of dividing the double line of kings: one by placing them in two columns, and attaching the common date in the margin; another, of placing the kings of Israel after that of Judah, as a separate chapter; and that, which has been adopted, to divide the history of the kings of Judah into chapters, each chapter containing two parts; the first