felt by those who have made the Bible their study. The best works of the kind to which the student has hitherto had access, are, the History of Josephus, and the Connexions of Prideaux and Shuckford. The work of Josephus is of great value as one of the original sources of information; but Josephus alone is insufficient as a guide. It was evidently his object to raise his countrymen in the estimation of the Greeks and Romans; and for this purpose, he sometimes gives a gloss to a passage in the sacred history, which he feared would excite the ridicule of the pagan. Fabulous tradition is frequently mingled with authentic history, and the reader has no means of making the requisite distinction. He adopts, without correction, many of the gross mistakes of his countrymen, in regard to the history of the pagan nations, and particularly of the Persian empire. These remarks will be understood, of course, to apply only to those periods of history, which precede the reign of Herod the Great; for in regard to all which occurred in his own age, the authority of Josephus is unimpeachable.

It was the object of Prideaux merely to connect the Old and New Testament histories. He begins with the reign of Ahaz, and proceeds as far as the time of Christ. Prideaux was a laborious, faithful and accurate historian; but, like most of the scholars of his time, he was encumbered with his own learning. He frequently forsakes his main subject, and employs himself in tedious discussions of subordinate topics, by which he swells his book to an immoderate size, and exhausts the patience of the reader. Besides, there have been great advances in the knowledge of these subjects since the time of Prideaux.

Shuckford designed to complete the work of Prideaux, by composing a history of the interval from the creation to the reign of Ahaz; but he has carried it only as far as the time of Moses. Shuckford was far inferior to his predecessor in scholarship and judgement; and his work is filled, to a much greater extent, with irrelevant matter.

Dr. John Jahn, the author of the work before us, is well known to the American public, by his Dissertation on the best mode of studying the original languages of the Bible, translated several years since by Professor Stuart; also by his Biblical Archæology, translated by Professor Upham; and his Introduction to the Old Testament, lately translated by Professor Turner, of the Episcopal Seminary, New-York. His character appears in a most interesting light, when we consider the variety, extent, and value of his labors, and at the same time, the disadvantages of his situation. He was educated in the Catholic Church, and lived in the heart of Austria, where the freedom of the press and freedom of speech are unknown, and where civil and ecclesiastical tyranny are combined to suppress, so far as possible, the freedom of thought. Notwith

standing his connexion with the Catholics, as a dignitary of the Holy Church, and the fact of his being a protegé of the Austrian emperor, he was always a strenuous defender of the supreme authority of the Bible. Without coadjutor, and without encouragement, he spent a life of almost incredible labor in the elucidation of the sacred books, and in defending them against the attacks of open infidels, and pretended Christians. When the oppressive policy of the Austrian government prevented him from communicating the results of his investigations in his own country, he frequently sent them to the Evangelical Protestants of Tübingen, where they appeared with the works of Storr, and Flatt, and Bengel, and other defenders of the Orthodox faith in the University. His writings have had an important influence in counteracting the baneful effects of the loose principles of criticism, which have prevailed in the north of Germany.* He died in 1816, aged 66.

The History of the Hebrew Commonwealth is regarded by good judges as among the most elaborate and useful of his numerous works. It commences with a survey of civil society from its origin to the time of Moses. In this survey, as well as in the following chapter, which treats of the civil constitution of the Hebrews, the author exhibits a mind accustomed to profound reflection, and a happy talent of deducing rational conclusions upon subjects, where the remoteness of facts obliges the writer to make full proof of his own judgement.

The author has placed the Old Testament history in an interesting light, by representing Jehovah as the chosen King of the Hebrew nation. At first, this seems more like an embellishment of poetry than the soberness of historical truth. But from the reply which Jehovah made to Samuel, when the people petitioned for a king; from the whole tenor of the Divine communications to Moses; and from the fact that in the Chronicles, and the book of Numbers, the land of Canaan is represented as the royal possession, of which the Hebrews were to be the hereditary occupants, rendering to Jehovah a double tithe, as the Egyptians did. to their king; we think the author is warranted in exhibiting this view of the case in the light of a literal representation. By considering the government of the Hebrews as a theocracy, and them as required to regard the Divine Being as their immediate and rightful Sovereign, a very aggravated guilt is made to attach to

*An interesting fact relating to the influence of Jahn's writings, has lately come to our knowledge. It is well known that the younger Rosenmuller was formerly sceptical in regard to the Pentateuch, and the prophetic character of the Psalms. In the last edition, however, of his Commentary, he gives notice in the title page, that it has been so much altered as to be, in fact, a new work: "Sic ab auctore, recognita emendita, et aucta, ut novum opus videri possit." The authority of these sacred books is established in the Prolegomena of this edition; and there is satisfactory evidence that the change in his opinions was effected by a Dissertation of Jahn, written just before he died, and published atfer his death in Bengel's Archives at Tubingen.

every transgression of the Israelites. Their relapses into idolatry are so many acts of treason against their Sovereign. Their multiplied violations of known and written laws are all instances of rebellion, not against Moses, but against Jehovah. And while we are impressed with the greatness of his condescension, in permitting himself to be called their king, we are induced to watch their conduct with a deeper solicitude, and when they go astray, we tremble with the expectation that his wrath will be kindled against them and consume them.

In the tenth section, which treats of the relation of the ancient Hebrews to other nations, the author gives us valuable information respecting those nations which the Israelites were commissioned to destroy. In speaking of their civil polity, he exhibits the same happy talent, above mentioned, of deducing from several passages of Scripture the nature, design, and character of the various orders of magistrates which existed among them. The closing remark in the following quotation is worth noticing.

"In all these employments, the priests and Levites, equally with the other Hebrews, were strictly prohibited the use of magic oracles, necromancy, astrology, omens, soothsaying from the entrails of sacrifices or the movement of clouds, and all those artifices which, among the Egyptians and other ancient nations, were the usual means of managing the populace. Thus the Hebrew priests, who are so little esteemed by many at the present day, were the only priests of antiquity who were not allowed to impose upon the credulity of the multitude."

After the conquest of the land of Canaan, the history is divided into separate periods, for the sake of easy reference. The division is such, that the state of the nation at any particular period can be satisfactorily ascertained, with a very little trouble. We would refer to the twenty-second and twenty-third sections, which treat of the office of the judges, and the condition of the Hebrews during their administration, as instances of the great assistance which the author has afforded, in obtaining information respecting those periods which are referred to only in several disconnected passages of the Old Testament.

The history of the nation from the introduction of monarchy to the revolt of the ten tribes, is one of the most interesting portions of the work. We were particularly pleased with the commencement of the history of David.

"The invisible Ruler of Israel so directed events, that Saul himself contributed the most towards rendering this magnanimous young man an experienced and worthy viceroy of Jehovah. For when, by continually brooding over that determination of God, so unwelcome to his feelings, he at last fell into a deep melancholy, in order to divert his thoughts, he took David into his court as a private musician; and thus gave him the first opportunity to become acquainted with court life, and the business of government. The personal bravery of the young minstrel did not long remain unnoticed by the veteran hero, and he soon elevated him to the honorable station of royal armor bearer."

None but a wise and pious observer of the hand of Providence would have noticed these circumstances in such a manner.

After the revolt of the ten tribes, those of Judah and Benjamin, who remained firm in their allegiance to the house of David, were considered as one tribe, because the capital, Jerusalem, was situated on the frontiers of both tribes, and were called by the common name of Judah. The history of the two kingdoms of Judah and Israel is divided into five periods; and the history of each kingdom is given separately, until the time of the Babylonian captivity. In the chapter relating to the captivity, the author has drawn much of his information from the Zend Avesta. The genuineness of this work has been satisfactorily established by Professor Rask, of Copenhagen, who has lately travelled and made researches in Persia. This is one of the means of information which Josephus did not possess ;* and will be seen by every one to be invaluable, as a contemporary source. This chapter contains an account of some of the Assyrian kings, and a survey of the history of Media, the conquest of Babylon, and the destruction of the Chaldee-Babylonian empire. It contains, also, strictures upon the authority of Herodotus, and a comparison between this historian and Xenophon.

The next period in the history extends from the return of the Jews to the time of Alexander. The author gives an interesting account of Daniel and Cyrus, and of the first caravan of the Hebrews to Judea. We shall have occasion to refer hereafter to his opinion respecting the return of the ten tribes.

In the account of the building of the second temple, we find the origin of the hatred between the Jews and Samaritans. It will be observed that the first caravan, under Zerubabel, was composed principally of the tribe of Judah. When they had arrived in their native land, and were engaged in building the temple, colonies arrived from Samaria, where many of the ten tribes had dwelt during their captivity, and with whose inhabitants they had intermarried and formed one people, under the common name of Samaritans. These Samaritans, who were idolaters, had placed Jehovah among their gods, represented by golden calves, and on this ground they insisted upon their right of being associated with the Jews in building the temple. The Jews were aware that, if they granted this request, they should be continually in danger of falling into idolatry. The measures which the spiteful leaders of the Samaritans took, in consequence of their refusal, to impede the building of the temple, are well known. The people were disheartened, and it was with great difficulty that they could be incited to the work. The hatred of the Samaritans, thus occasioned in the minds of the Jews, led at last to an entire cessation of friendly intercourse.

The account of the building of the second temple is followed by an historical survey of the Persian empire. In the introduction, * It was first published in 1771, and translated into German by Kleuker.

the author corrects an error of Ptolemy, who reckons the number of the kings of the Persian universal monarchy at ten, omitting four kings, because they did not continue upon the throne a full year. The history of these kings is concise, and at the same time contains an account of all the principal events in their respective reigns. We know not where the same information is to be found in so small a compass. The author gives it as his opinion, that the Artaxerxes of Ezra and the Ahasuerus of Esther are names of Xerxes I. The second caravan of the Hebrews to Judea proceeded during this reign.

The history of Alexander and his immediate successors, occupying about thirty pages of the work, is drawn up with great care, and to a degree of particularity which will suffice for the common purposes of investigation. If our object were merely to gain information respecting the conquests of Alexander, and the history of his successors, and not to follow the connexion between sacred and profane history, we think that we should refer to this work in preference to any other.

During a period of fifty-eight years, under the successors of Alexander, the Jews were uninterrupted by foreign or domestic troubles. This was a favorable opportunity for the cultivation of learning, and they improved it for gaining an acquaintance with Greek literature. It is said that the sect of the Sadducees originated during this period. Joseph, a president of the Sanhedrim, taught that men should be influenced in the service of God by disinterested motives, and not by the hope of reward. Two of his disciples, in their zeal for this principle, asserted that no rewards were to be expected after death; and hence the origin of the sect above mentioned. There is certainly an inconsistency, as Jahn observes, in this tradition; still there is no doubt that the sect originated in this period of the Jewish history.

After a series of wars and oppressions under the Syrian kings, and a temporary independence under the Macabees, the Jews at length fell into the power of the Romans. Jerusalem and the temple were taken by Pompey, about sixty-two or sixty-three years before the birth of the Saviour.

The history of the Jews from this period to the time of Christ is so intimately connected with that of the neighboring princes, and of the Roman arms, that it would be difficult to present the reader with a satisfactory view of their condition without exceeding our limits. Dr. Jahn gives us, in this period, an interesting account of Cleopatra, a history of the Roman conquests in Syria and Egypt from the close of the Mithridatic war, and a particular account of the reign of Herod the Great.

Our Saviour made his appearance as a public teacher, while Pontius Pilate was procurator of Judea. The celebrated passage