giving a history of a king of Judah; the second appropriated to the reign of the cotemporary king, or kings of the sister kingdom. This plan was selected because it presented two advantages: It enabled the reader to peruse the history of all the kings of Judah as one connected history, by reading through the first parts of each chapter, and the history of the kings of Israel in the same manner, by perusing the second parts of each chapter; and it enabled him, also, to pass without interruption to the history of the kings of Israel cotemporary with the respective kings of Judah. If the first of the plans had been adopted, much room would have been lost, in consequence of the number of blank spaces left in the columns devoted to the history of the kings of Israel, the history of these kings being given, in the inspired writers, within much less compass than the history of the kings of Judah : and the arrangement had already occupied more pages than was expected. If the second plan had been acted upon, the chronological and historical continuity of the narrative would have been destroyed, and the principal design of the arrangement consequently defeated.

Although this period occasioned more labour and inquiry than the rest, the authorities for inserting particular passages in their appropriate places were sometimes so equally balanced, that it was almost impossible to decide between the merits of the contending arguments. In such cases, the Arranger is open to the charge of want of judgment, from those with whom he may differ. The compass of the work did not admit the insertion of long discussions; he has been contented, therefore, with submitting to his readers, in the several notes, the arguments which have induced him to place the prophecies and the history in their present order."

The Seventh Period comprises the Babylonish captivity, as it is related in various parts of the Prophecies of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, and in the latter parts of the Books of Kings and Chronicles. The arrangement of this portion is certainly a work of great difficulty and nicety; and if our Arranger be not always right, he is generally judicious, and always modest.

"The variety of contending authorities respecting the dates and occasions of the several prophecies of Jeremiah, caused some embarrassment; the decision to which the Arranger came is submitted, with the result of the labours of Blayney, Lightfoot, and Taylor, in a tabular form, to the reader; who will be able to compare the arguments of the various writers on this subject, and to rectify any error which he may suppose has been made."

The Eighth and last Period comprises the events from the termination of the captivity to the close of the canon, and includes, besides several of the Psalms, the Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, and the Prophecies of Zehariah, Nehemiah, and Malachi. The whole work concludes with the nine first chapters of the first book of Chronicles, and a passage from Nehemiah, both of which Mr. Townsend considers as having been written by the last editors, Simon the Just, and the Sanhedrim, about year 300 B. C.

the

Having thus given a brief sketch of the system of Mr. Townsend's arrangement, we find that we have left ourselves no room for inserting the extracts which we wished to give as samples of the execution. The notes on Jeremiah and the Minor

Prophets are peculiarly valuable, and contain in a short space all the requisite information. We avail ourselves, for a particular reason, of one example of Mr Townsend's judicious selection from a most important work :

"The book of Micah, the cotemporary of Isaiah, contains a summary of the prophecies delivered by the latter concerning the Messiah and the final return of the Jews, which are thus translated and arranged by Dr, Hales.

Chap. V. 2. " And art thou, Bethlehem Ephratah little to be (esteemed) Among the thousands of Judah ?

II.

III. 3.

From thee shall issue, (THE LEADER,)

Who shall rule my people, the Israel of God ;
(But his issuings are from old,

From days of eternity.)

Therefore he will give them up, (for a season,)
Until the time that she which shall bear

Have borne: Then shall return

The residue of thy brethren (the Jews)
Along with the outcasts of Israel.

IV. 4. And He shall stand and guide them

In the strength of THE LORD,

In the majesty of THE NAME OF THE LORD HIS GOD.
And when they return, He shall be magnified

Unto the ends of the earth,

And He shall be their PEACE."

"This prophecy," Dr. Hales remarks," consists of four parts: 1. The human birth-place of CHRIST. 2. His eternal generation. 3. His temporary desertion of the Jews, until his miraculous birth of the virgin, after which they are to return with the true Israelites. 4. His spiritual and universal dominion."

The application of the first part of this prophecy was decided at the time of OUR SAVIOUR's birth, by the most respectable Jewish synod that ever sat, convened by Herod, to determine from prophecy the birth-place of the MESSIAH, which they agreed to be Bethlehem upon the authority of Micah, which they cited. Their citation of the first part only is given by the Evangelist Matthew, in an improved translation of the original, greatly superior to any of the ancient versions.

Matt. ii. 6. "And thou, Bethlehem, territory of Judah,

Art by no means least among the captains of Judah :
From thee shall issue THE LEADER,

Who shall guide my people, the Israel (of God.)

1. Here the evangelist has removed the ambiguity of the question proposed by the prophet, by supplying the answer in the negative. As in Nathan's prophecy, "Shalt thou build mo an house?" (2. Sam. vii. 5.) the parallel passage answers in the negative," Thou shalt not build me an house." (1. Chron. xvii. 4.)

2. He has supplied a chasm in the Masorete text, of 7, Nogid, an usual epithet of the MESSIAH, (1 Chron. v. 2. Isa. lv. 4. Dan. ix. 25.) usually rendered 'Hysμivos, " leader," by the Septuagint, and retained here by the evangelist, as a necessary distinction of his character, as supreme commander, from the captains of thousands," styled 'Hysur, judiciously substituted for the thousands themselves in Micah, to mark the analogy more correctly.

3. He has also determined the pastoral nature of the MESSIAH's "rule" by the verb ποιμάνει, "shall guide as a shepherd," afterwards intimated by Micah,

, xai kopaves, as thus rendered by the Septuagint. For he is "the shepherd of Israel," (Gen. xlix. 24. Psal. lxxx. 1.)" the chief shepherd," (1. Pet. v. 4.) and "the good shepherd," (John x. 14.) who appointed his apostles to guide and pasture his sheep," (John xxi. 6.)

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4. The human birth of the MESSIAH is carefully distinguished by Micah from his eternal generation, in the parenthetical clause, which strongly resembles the account of the primeval birth of Wisdom. (Prov. viii. 22-25.)

5. The blessed virgin of Isaiah's former prophecy, (vii. 14.) is evidently alluded to by Micah, and also the return of the remnant of the Jews, (Isaiah x. 20, 21.) and of the final peace of his kingdom. (Isaiah ix. 6, 7.)

This prophecy of Micah is perhaps the most important single prophecy in the Old Testament, and the most comprehensive, respecting the personal character of the MESSIAH, and his successive manifestations to the world. It crowns the whole chain of prophecies descriptive of the several limitations of the blessed seed of the woman to the line of Shem, to the family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to the tribe of Judah, and to the royal house of David, here terminating in his birth at Bethlehem, " the city of David." It carefully distinguishes his human nativity from his eternal generation; foretells the rejection of the Israelites and Jews for a season; their final restoration, and the universal peace destined to prevail throughout the earth in the regeneration. It forms, therefore, the basis of the New Testament, which begins with his human birth at Bethlehem, the miraculous circumstances of which are recorded in the introductions of Matthew's and Luke's gospels; his eternal generation, as the ORACLE OF WISDOM, in the sublime introduction of John's gospel; his prophetic character and second coming, illustrated in the four Gospels and Epistles, ending with a prediction of the speedy approach of the latter in the Apocalypse. (Rev. xxii. 20.) Dr. Hales's Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. p. 462, 463."

Four useful Indices are subjoined. The first gives in one column the eight chapters and sections of Mr. Townsend's arrangement; and in a parallel one, the passages of Scripture contained in each. The second index is nearly the converse of the first here the chapters of the Old Testament are arranged in their usual order, and in the parallel column are placed the period, chapter, section, and page of the arrangement in which they are to be found. The third index shews in what part of the arrangement any Psalm may be found, the probable occasion on which it was composed, its date, and the authority for its insertion. The fourth index treats in the same manner of the Prophecies. The fifth is a simple chronological table, according to the system of Dr. Hales; and the sixth and last is a general table of contents to the work. That the plan of these indices is judicious, and the matter important, will be acknowledged by all; and, as far as we have examined, we must say that the correctness of the execution is highly creditable to the industry of the arranger.

Having now made our readers acquainted with the nature of

the work offered to them, we must in conclusion say a few words to Mr. Townsend himself. We must tell him, then, that two octavo volumes of nearly 800 pages each, are a very serious matter to the reader and buyer; that had we been of counsel to him before the publication, we should certainly have recommended him to cut down his book to one-tenth of its present bulk, namely, by omitting the text entirely; and that even now, we are persuaded he might, with advantage both to himself and the public, give us all the substance of his arrangement, notes, and indices, in a single volume of three or four hundred pages. Such a work would scarcely fail to be in the hands of every careful reader of the Scripture, and would really deserve to be bound up with every copy of the Bible.

ART. X.-Reflections on Gall and Spurzheim's System of Physiognomy and Phrenology, addressed to the Court of Assistants of the Royal College of Surgeons in London, in June, 1821. By JOHN ABERNETHY, F. R.S. Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's and Christ's Hospitals. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1821. Pp. 75.

"It

THIS pamphlet will prove a little startling to those flippant gentlemen who cannot mention the names of Drs. Gall and Spurzheim without a sneer, or write of their doctrines except with expressions of contempt. Mr. Abernethy, who is indisputably a very high physiological authority, has designated Dr. Spurzheim as a person, "who had made the motives of human actions a particular "study, and as possessing also great intellectual powers, combined "with benevolence and caution in decision ;" and he has spoken of the doctrines on which he comments, as affording a "repre"sentation of human nature, which, when viewed in its proper ❝ light, and with due attention, must please every one." " is not," says he, "like others heretofore presented to us, which appear in comparison but as mere diagrams, the result of study " and imagination; whilst this seems like a portrait from life by "masterly hands." "It is not, indeed," he continues," ex"actly like any individual, but capable, by alterations, of being "made to resemble every one; so that, by the help of a few "touches, we are able readily to shew virtue her own image, "vice her own deformity,' in all their diversities." These observations do equal credit to the sentiments and understanding of the author; and we have no doubt that they will tend, in a pow

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erful manner, to forward the progress of the science which he recommends. The pamphlet itself, as the author ingenuously states in his preliminary advertisement, "does not contain any "thing new," and cannot be said to have made any additions to the system in favour of which it is written; but it will have great weight with the imitatorum pecus, who are incapable of original reflection, and who esteem authority of greater importance than truth. It will have the effect also of inducing many persons to examine, who, deterred by the low buffoonery of the witlings, previously stood aloof; and we believe from experience, that the consequence of examination will be a conviction of the substantial truth of phrenology as a science.

To quicken the resolution of such of our readers as may be disposed to examine and form a judgment for themselves, we are almost tempted to enter upon a scrutiny of the pretensions of the opponents. We could, with little difficulty, show that their jokes are the offspring of a shallow understanding, and their contempt the mere manifestation of a naturally overweening faculty of self-esteem, offended with every opinion that stands in opposition to their own. We could demonstrate, on the principles of human nature, that the truly bitter enemies of phrenology are most likely to be the least estimable in character, for a general knowledge of the doctrines would confer on mankind such a sagacity in judging of exciting propensities and intellectual productions, as would be fatal to their pretensions. The public would then assign superficial smartness to combativeness, misrepresen tation, slander, and vulgarity, to great destructiveness, joined with a deficiency in the sentiments of benevolence and justice; and illogical deductions to defective causality. But phrenology, in shewing that some individuals are endowed by nature with such unfortunate combinations, excites us to feel compassion for their follies, and to pass by their aggressions without anger. We spare the public libellers of the system, therefore, in the mean time, and not without a hope, that the science may extend its benefits even to them, if not in the way of opening their eyes to their own imperfections, and leading them to a zealous endeavour after amendment, at least in depriving their perversities of every mischievous effect, by unfolding the sources from which they proceed.

We may observe, farther, that an ignorant condemnation of phrenology will very shortly be neither a safe nor creditable passport to reputation for superior good sense and discrimination. It has been demonstrated in the clearest manner, that no facts or arguments are known, which prove, à priori, the science to be unfounded, and that therefore its truth must resolve itself into a question purely of fact, depending for its solution upon obser