triarch JOSEPH. Next in order of time, lies the narrative contained in the book of JOB, (if, indeed, it be not the first written book,) in which we meet with several vestiges of the patriarchal theology as recorded in Genesis, but with no references to any of the succeeding parts of the Sacred History. Then comes the book of Exodus, which gives an account of the deliverance of the Jews from their Egyptian bondage, and the erection of the Tabernacle for the service of JEHOVAH; from which tabernacle He gave those ordinances which are related in the book of Leviticus. After these ordinances had been issued, the Israelites performed those journeyings, of which we have an account, together with the incidents that befell them in each, in the book of Numbers. When their wanderings in the Desert of Arabia were drawing to a close, MOSES, shortly before his departure, recapitulated and explained to them the preceding laws and ordinances, as recorded in the book of Deuteronomy. The settlement of the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and the coincident circumstances, under the command of JOSHUA, the successor of MOSES, are narrated in the book which bears his name; and of their succeeding history we have an account in the book of Judges. But the history, contained in the two books of SAMUEL, of the Kings, and of the Chronicles, is so interwoven, that it requires very considerable at tention to develope it: and, unless the different synchronisms, or concurrences of events happening at the same time, be carefully attended to, and the several Psalms and Prophecies, previously to the Babylonish Captivity, be also interwoven, it will be extremely difficult critically to understand the Sacred History. After the captivity, the affairs of the Jews are continued in the books of EZRA, ESTHER, and NEHEMIAH, in which the predictions of HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, and MALACHI, (by whom the canon of Scripture was closed,) ought in like manner to be interwoven, together with such of the Psalms as manifestly appear, from internal evidences, to have been composed subsequently to the captivity. The want of an arrangement like this has long been felt. Nearly one hundred and eighty years since, the eminently learned and pious Dr. LIGHTFOOT made the first attempt towards such an undertaking. Öf all the theologians of his time, this celebrated divine, whose opinion was consulted by every scholar of note, both British and Foreign, of that age, is supposed to have been the most deeply versed in the knowledge of the Scriptures. It was his custom, for many years, to note down, as opportunity presented, in the course of his talmudical and rabbinical studies, the order and time of the several passages of Scripture as they came under his consideration. By pursuing this method, he gradually formed his very valuable "Chronicle of the times and order of the Texts of the Old Testament, wherein the books, chapters, psalms, stories, prophecies, &c., are reduced into their proper order, and taken up in the proper places, in which the natural method and general series of the Chronology requireth them to be taken in." In this work, Dr. LightFOOT has briefly stated the substance of the historical parts of the Old Testament, and has indicated the order, in which he conceives that the several chapters, psalms, and prophecies, should be placed and in the margin he has given the years of the world, and of the judges or sovereigns under whose administration the several events took place. LIGHTFoor's Chronicle, being published during the height of the civil wars, does not appear to have obtained much celebrity, or to have attracted that attention to which its merits so justly entitle it. Later times, however, have rendered more justice to his labours; and, notwithstanding the differences in opinion entertained by the learned concerning the chronology of some particular events, the general excellence of the method pursued in this Chronicle has caused it to be held in the highest estimation by all who are competent duly to appreciate its merits. A similar neglect attended the ingenious "Designe about disposing the Bible into an Harmony," addressed to the English Parliament in 1647, by MR. SAMUEL TORSHEL, who was one of the preceptors of King CHARLES I.'s chil2 M VOL. I. Third Series. MAY, 1822. dren, under the Earl of Northumberland., He proposed "To lay the whole story together in a continued connexion, the books or parts of books and all the severall parcels disposed and placed in their proper order, as the continuance and chronicall method of the Scripture History requires; so that no sentence nor word in the whole Bible be omitted, nor any thing repeated, or any word inserted but what is necessary for transition. So as some whole chapters or pieces be put into other places, yea great parts of some books, and some whole books, to be woven into the body of another book." (TORSHEL'S Designe, p. 10.) In the prosecution of this undertaking, besides reducing all the historical books of the Old Testament to a continued series, the book of Psalms and the Discourses of the Prophets were to be inserted in their proper places, and the writings of SOLOMON incorporated into those periods of his reign, when they are supposed to have been written. And those parts of the book of Proverbs, "which the men of Hezekiah copied out," were to be disposed in the body of the books of Chronicles, towards the close of that King's reign. In harmonising the Gospel, TORSHEL proposed to follow the plan then recently adopted in the Latin Barmony, commenced by CHEMNITZ, continued by LYSER, and finished by GERHARD : the Apostolic Epistles were to be distributed in the Acts of the Apostles, according to the order of time when they were written; and the remaining writings of ST. JOHN were to close the proposed undertaking. The design, thus ably sketched by TORSHEL, has been executed for the Old Testament by MR. TOWNSEND, who does not appear to have seen the very rare tract of which we have just given an account. In his arrangement, though MR. T. has taken LIGHTFOOT'S Chronicle for his basis, he has judiciously departed from it, where the subsequent researches of Biblical Critics, or the consideration of the internal evidence, the context, the circumstances, and the primary object of a passage, a psalm, or a prophecy, authorised him in following a different order. In one respect, however, he has made a very material alteration for the better, in the manner in which LIGHTFOOT disposed his Chronicle. According to his plan, the Old Testament would have been read as one unbroken history, without any division into chapters, or any of those breaks, the omission of which causes not a little weariness to the reader. In order to obviate this difficulty, and also with the laudable view of rendering the Scripture Histories more attractive, MR. TOWNSEND has divided his arrangement into eight suitable periods, which are further subdivided into chapters and sections; and throughout his volumes he has interspersed numerous apposite philological notes, drawn from works which are not accessible to every student, and which reflect much light upon obscure or difficult passages. These notes, together with the various divisions and subdivisions, not only render the work more useful and interesting to the unlearned reader, as well as to those who, from various circumstances, cannot devote much uninterrupted time to the perusal of books, but will also enable them to take up and lay down the Old Testament at leisure, as they would any other bistory or narrative. PERIOD I. comprises the history of the world and of the church of GOD from the creation to the deluge, and includes the first nine chapters of the Book of Genesis. In consequence of the brevity of this period, the transpositions are few: and as the object of Moses, in writing the Pentateuch, was, to preserve the Israelites from the contagion of the surrounding idolatry, the notes in this part of the work judiciously point out the several reasons of many of those peculiar phrases, which are supposed to be directed against the prevailing superstitions of his day. PERIOD II. contains the sacred history from the confusion of languages, and the consequent dispersion of mankind, to the birth of MOSES; and includes the remainder of the book of Genesis, the entire book of JOB, and the first chapter of Exodus. The transpositions, here also, are comparatively few: after the example of DR. HALES, and other distinguished critics, MR. TOWNSEND has, very properly, inserted the life of Jos before that of the patriarch ABRAHAM. The critical reasons, for which this transposition is made, are stated in a long and closely printed note, for the whole of which we have not room but the following, which principally influenced MR. TOWNSEND to the adoption of this arrangement, is too important to be omitted. "Idolatry, as we read in the preceding chapter of this Period, had occasioned the dispersion from Babel. It was gradually encroaching still further on every family, which had not yet lost the knowledge of the true GOD. Whoever has studied the conduct of Providence, will have observed, that God has never left himself without witnesses in the world, to the truth of his religion. To the old world, NOAH was a preacher, and a witness; to the latter times of patriarchism, ABRAHAM and bis descendants; to the ages of the Levitical law, MOSES, DAVID, and the Prophets; and to the first ages of Christianity, the Apostles and the Martyrs were severally witnesses of the truth of GOD. But we have no account whatever, unless JOB be the man, that any faithful confessor of the one true GOD, arose between the dispersion from Babel, and the call of ABRAHAM. If it be said, that the family of Shem was the visible church of that age; it will be answered, that it is doubtful whether even this family were not also idolaters: for JOSHUA tells the Israelites, (Josh. xxiv. 2,) that the ancestors of ABRAHAM were worshippers of images. "JOB, therefore, in this age of error, may be considered as the faithful witness, in his day, to the hope of the MESSIAH: he professed the true religion, and his belief in the following important truths; the creation of the world by one Supreme Being; the government of that world by the Providence of God; the corruption of man, by nature; the necessity of sacrifices, to propitiate the DEITY; and the certainty of a future resurrection. These were the doctrines of the patriarchal age, as well as of the Jewish and Christian covenants. They are the fundamental truths of that one system of religion, which is alone acceptable to God, by whatever name it may be distinguished in the several ages of the world." (Vol. i. p. 29.) PERIOD III. extends from the birth to the death of MOSES, and comprises the remainder of the Book of Exodus to the end of the Pentateuch. PERIOD IV. Comprehends the events from the entrance of the Israelites into the Land of Promise until the death of DAVID. It includes the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, the first book of Chronicles, (with the exception of the first nine chapters, which, containing only genealogies, are very properly disposed at the end of the work,) and the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. This division also contains those Psalms, which were probably written by DAVID, and which are inserted in their supposed places, according to the events to which they are believed to refer. The transpositions in this period are more numerous than in the two preceding; but they appear to be judiciously made: and, in order to enable the reader to understand the history of the Israelites under the administration of the Judges, the sections belonging to that part are divided according to the several governments of these magistrates. In the arrangement of the Psalms, MR. TOWNSEND has chiefly followed the authorities of CALMET, DR. GRAY, and MR. HORNE'S "Introduction to the Critical Study of the Scriptures: " from this last mentioned work MR. T. has made liberal quotations in different parts of his Volumes. The valuable helps furnished by DR. CHANDLER'S Lite of DAVID, and DR. ADAM CLARKE'S Preface to his Commentary on the Psalms, do not appear to have been known to him. The conduct of the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan, which has so often been the subject of cavil with the enemies of the Bible, is satisfactorily vindicated in an elaborate note, from which we transcribe the following passages: "The question," MR. TOWNSEND observes, "which has been proposed by many on reading this part of the narrative is worthy of attention: By what right did the Israelites invade the land of Palestine ? "GOD, the great Governor, who possesses all power over his creatures, and may justly punish those who violate his laws, in that manner which to his wisdom may seem most impressive and useful, commanded the Israelites to ex terminate the Canaanites, as the just retribution for their crimes and idolatries. GOD might have destroyed them by famine, by earthquake, by pestilence: He might have drowned by a local de luge, or consumed them by fire from heaven; instead of these, He commissioned the people of Israel to root them out by the sword. In so doing, the ALMIGHTY not only demonstrated to the whole world his hatred of the corruptions and pollutions of superstition; but He more particularly enforced on the Israelites the purity of his law, the certainty of their own punishment if they apostatized; and the freedom from temporal evil which they should consequently enjoy, if they persevered in their allegiance to Him, their Sovereign. "Lest this invasion of Canaan by the Israelites, however, should be drawn into precedent by other nations, for ambition or religious persecution; they were assured by continued and powerful miracles, that their cause was just, that they should be successful, and that they were not subject at that period to the common laws of nations. The people of Israel was the sword of God, the great Magistrate of the earth; and they were no more to be condemned in thus acting in conformity to the commands of GOD, than the executioner can be who fulfils the last sentence of the law. Before then other nations invade the territory of their neighbours on the same supposed authority as the Israelites, the same commission from heaven must be given; and that commission must be authenticated by miracles equally evident, perpetual, and wonderful. 46 Many however have not been satisfied with this argument, and would discard the doctrine of the peculiar Providence, which regulated by a visible theocracy the conduct of the chosen people: they would defend the invasion of Palestine on other grounds. They would judge of the transactions of that period, (regardless of the peculiar circumstances under which they took place,) by modern ideas, and the present law of nations. Some suppose that the conduct of the Israelites was solely defensible, on the supposition that there had been a partition of the whole earth by the sous of NOAH, and that Canaan bad been allotted to SHEM: the sons of SHEM therefore were justified in claiming their ancient inheritance from the Canaanites who were descended from HAM. have asserted that the Canaanites commenced the war by attacking the Israelites; an assertion which cannot be defended from the history. While others have affirmed, without any well-grounded arguments, that the Israelites, as a wandering people, having no certain home, were justified in forcibly invading, and taking possession of, an adjoining territory. But MICHAELIS is of opinion that the right of the Israelites originated Others in their being actually the proprietors of Canaan, of which they had been unjustly dispossessed by the intruding and hostile Canaanites. "The laws of nations are always the same. If any nation, or tribe, or part of a tribe, take possession of an unknown, undiscovered, unoccupied, or uninhabited country, the right of property vests in them; they are its proprietors and owners. After the Deluge, the world might be said to be in this state; and MICHAELIS has endeavoured to prove, that the ancestors of ABRAHAM were the original occupiers of the pasture land of Canaan. Canaan, therefore, by the law of nations, as well as by the promises of God, was the lot of ABRAHAM's inheritance; and_the_rightful land of his descendants. The Canaanite and the Perrizite had only just established themselves in Canaan when ABRAHAM removed from Haran to that country; and were so weak and few in number, that they never interfered with the rights of sovereignty assumed and exerted by ABRAHAM. The Canaanites were merchants and adventurers, who had been originally settled near the borders of the Indian Ocean; and who having been dispossessed by the Cuthic Sidonians, had migrated westward, to form establishments on the sea-coasts of Palestine, and carry on commerce with the herdsmen who traversed it. They were for some time contented with their factories on the sea-coasts, but they gradually obtained possession of the inland country. The Perizzites, too, were a warlike tribe, who now first made their appearance in Canaan; they had originally inhabited the north-east of Babylonia. Whether they had been dispossessed of their settlements; whether they were seeking new establishments; or for whatsoever purpose they were now in Palestine, they gave no interruption to the progress of ABRAHAM, although ABRAHAM entered upon the Holy Land, and continued his journeyings with a large retinue, and as a powerful prince. He took possession of Canaan as the territory of his ancestors; not indeed as a fixed habitation, but as pasture land adapted to his numerous flocks and herds. He traversed the whole country as a proprietor, without a competitor. He had the power of arming three hundred and eighteen of his own servants, born in his own house: and it is most probable that he had others who are not enumerated. He declared war as an independent prince of this country against five neighbouring princes; and formed an alliance with ABIMELECH, as an equal and as a sovereign. It is true, he purchased land of the Canaanitish family of HETH, but this was because the Hittites had gradually made a more fixed settlement in that part of the country; their intrusion had not been at first prevented by the ancestors of ABRAHAM; and by this sufferance they made that district their peculiar property. "As ABRAHAM thus traversed and possessed Canaan, with undisputed authority, so too did ISAAC and JACOB in like manner. No one opposed their right. They exercised, aз ABRAHAM had done before them, sovereign power: they never resigned that power; nor gave up to others the property of that land, which now, by long prescription, as well as by the promise of GOD, had become entirely their own. "The ancestors, then, of the Israelites, MICHAELIS argues, were either the sole sovereigns, or the most powerful of those princes who possessed, in early ages, the Holy Land. By the famine which occurred in the days of JOSEPH, they were compelled to leave their own country, and take refuge in Egypt: yet they never lost sight of the sepulchre of their fathers. And though we do not read that acts of ownership were continued to maintain and perpetuate their right, we can have but little doubt, that something of the kind took place; for JACOB was taken from Egypt to be buried there; JOSEPH assured them that they should return; and the Egyptians, their oppressors, a kindred branch of the powerful tribes which had by this time entirely taken possession of Palestine, kept them in bondage, and refused to let them go, lest they should claim the inheritance of their fathers. "If this claim of the Israelites can be proved to be well-founded, they would have been entitled, by the law of nations, forcibly to take possession of the Holy Land; and it will be interesting to observe how the merciful providence of GOD afforded them the opportunity of successfully regaining their lawful inheritance, and at the same time accomplishing his own divine purposes, to the fulfilment of his prophecies, and to the happiness and security of his church. The Israelites may be considered as the servants and ministers of GOD, punishing the idolatry of the Canaanites, and in stituting in its place, in the midst of an apostate world, the religion of the one true GOD. In every victory they obtained, they must have admired the faithfulness of that promise which had foretold their entire possession of this land; and they must have been persuaded that, if they served other gods, they would bring down upon themselves the punishments predicted by MOSES." (Vol. i, pp. 443-446.) PERIOD V. comprises the reign of SOLOMON, during which the kingdom of Israel attained its highest greatness, and the promise of JEHOVAH to ABRAHAM was accomplished, viz. that the country, from the Mediterranean Sea to the River Euphrates, should be subject to the dominion of Israel. This period includes those chapters of the first book of Kings, which narrate the life of SOLOMON, the first nine chapters of the second book of Chronicles, which are harmonised with those from the book of Kings, the Psalms supposed to have been sung or written at the dedication of the Temple, and the books of Canticles, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. On the authority of DR. LIGHTFOOT, the book of Canticles is inserted after the account of the magnificent edifices erected by the young Hebrew Monarch, subsequently to the comProverbs is placed after the visit of pletion of the temple. The book of the Queen of Sheba, when the wisdom of SOLOMON was celebrated throughout the East; and the book of Ecclesiastes comes after the account of his yielding to the attractions of idolatrous women. PERIOD VI. includes the time from the accession of REHOBOAM to the commencement of the Babylonish Captivity. This portion of the work has evidently cost the arranger no small difficulty and labour, and is successfully executed. It comprehends the greater part of the books of Chronicles and Kings, which are harmonised throughout; together with some of the Psalms, and also 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 prophetic writings, are given in their historical places; and notes are appended to each, explaining the reasons for the dislocation. In arranging the hisJudah, MR. TOWNSEND has divided tories of the Kings of Israel and each chapter into two parts; the first containing the reign of a King of Judah, and the second including the reign of the contemporary King or Kings of the sister kingdom. This disposition renders the history contained in the sixth period very por |