Many difficulties of great magnitude, such as those respecting the six days' creation and the deluge, have disappeared in the mere process of interpretation. None of any importance known to the author are left without a solution. Other solutions might in some cases have proved more acceptable to some minds. But he has acted to the best of his judgment in presenting what seemed to him most probable, and has contented himself with the reflection that a possible solution serves to remove the appearance of contradiction, while it is in itself of no historical value. Variety of style has been certainly found in the different parts of the book; but then it has been only such as the same author might display according to the subdivisions of his plan and subject. It cannot be demonstrably or even probably ascribed to a medley of passages from different authors. If these results stand the test of impartial criticism, the scheme of a congeries of pieces put together by a later hand with all its consequences falls to the ground, so far as the book of Genesis is concerned. The right interpretation of the remaining books of the Pentateuch will, the author believes, be attended with the same result. The fundamental proposition regarding the Pentateuch, with which we started, will then remain undisturbed in all its integrity, before even a single particle of the positive evidence, by which it is supported, has been adduced. The fair interpretation of these books, however, serves much more than the mere negative purpose of obviating difficulties. It presents before the mind in its native connexion the wonderful harmony of this ancient book with itself, with history, and with physical and metaphysical science. It proves a volume, extant long before science was born, and couched in the language of common life, to be in no respect at variance with the conclusions of astronomy and geology, while it is the fountainhead of theological and ethical philosophy. These disclosures are the meet sequel of the external evidence by which its genuineness, credibility, and Divine authority are attested. This body of external and internal evidence demonstrates that it is, what it purports in every page to be, the revelation of the early ways of God with man. The growing sense of the fundamental concord that must subsist between the book of revelation and the book of nature renders the just interpretation of the earliest portion of the former a matter of the deepest interest to the man of scientific and reverent spirit. The records of that last creation, limited in time and space, to which we ourselves belong, of that moral declension in the history of man described as the fall, of that mental revolution known as the confusion of tongues, of those physical changes connected with the deluge and the overthrow of Sodom and Amorah, can never cease to engage the attention of the reflective mind. Whether the author will be permitted to proceed any further in the interesting field of investigation which he has traced in the preceding pages, depends entirely on the will of Providence. Meanwhile the present work is complete in itself; and the author commits it to the world, humbly praying that a blessing may attend its perusal, and sincerely thanking the God of all grace for that measure of health which has enabled him to complete his task. J. G. M. INTRODUCTION. THE BIBLE. THE Bible, or the Book of God, is a collection of writings commenced not later than 1500 B.C., and completed about 100 A.C. It is called by Irenaeus (b. 120 A.C.) bei ypapai, Divine writings, and by Clemens Alexandrinus (d. 220 a.c.) γραφαὶ, αἱ θεόπνευστοι γραφαί, scriptures, the God-inspired scrip- tures. Hence it has been designated the canon, or the cano- nical scriptures, because, including all and only the writings given by inspiration of God, it is the canon or rule of faith and practice for man. It is divided into the Old and the New Testament, ή παλαιά διαθήκη and ή καινή δι The former is writ- ten in Hebrew proper, except Jer. x. 11; vii. 12-26; and Dan. ii. 4-vii., which are in Chaldee; the latter in Greek. There are sixty-six pieces in the Bible, of A Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians I. and II., Timothy I. and II., Titus, Philemon and the Hebrews), that of James, the two of Peter, the three of John, that of Jude; and the Revelation of John. Besides the division of the Old Testament into twenty-two books, there is another very important distribution of it into three groups of writings, called in the New Testament the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms or the remaining sacred writings, ὁ νόμος καὶ προφῆται και ψαλμοί, DDNS in The Law contains the five books of Moses, the five fifths of the corresponding to which is the Greek חֲמִשָׁה חוּמְשֵׁי הַתּוֹרָה,law TEVTάTEUXOS, pentateuch, the five-volumed book. The Prophets contain eight books: the former prophets Diy D'N', the writers of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings; the latter. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets. The remaining books, called by the Greek fathers aybypapa, Hagiographa or holy writings, are the three poetical books, Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, the five ni, rolls, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther; the prophet Daniel; and the historical books, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles. This threefold division of the Old Testament Canon is a historical, not a logical, distribution of its contents. It exhibits three successive collections of sacred documents: the first, formed and indeed mainly composed by Moses; the second, containing the earlier and latter prophets, made in the time of Jeremiah, and probably under his direction, with the exception of the last three of the minor prophets, which were added to this class of writings afterwards, because they were strictly prophets of Judah; the third, consisting of the remaining sacred books, and formed in the main by Ezra. This collection contains two books, Ruth and Lamentations, which, though reckoned in the Jewish enumeration of books as appendages of Judges and Jeremiah respectively, are put here either for the convenience of being grouped with the other three of the five rolls, or because, like some other books of this collection, they were not before formally introduced into the Canon. The prophet Daniel appears in this class probably because he spent all his prophetic life in the court of Babylon. II. ITS SUBJECT. The whole Bible is a record of the ways of God with man. Hence it begins with the creation of man, traces the development and points out the destiny of the race. In order to be so compendious, and at the same time remarkable for the minuteness of its details, it deals largely in the enunciation of general principles and the statement of leading facts. It dwells with becoming fulness on God's gracious and merciful dealings and bearings with man. And hence the scene of the narrative, which at the beginning was co-extensive with man, gradually narrows to Sheth, to Noah, to Shem, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, almost to Judah, and then suddenly rebounds to its original universality of extent. This The ways of God with man take the particular form of a covenant. A covenant is an agreement between two parties, with conditions to be fulfilled and corresponding benefits to be realised on both sides. The very nature of a covenant implies that the parties to it are intelligent; and the very existence of two rational beings in sensible relation with each other involves a covenant expressed or understood. Hence the Bible is fittingly termed the testament or covenant, testamentum, fœdus, dat,. It exhibits the relation between God and man, the essentially Intelligent and the naturally intelligent, the natural condition of this great covenant, and the conduct of the two parties concerned. covenant, which is originally a covenant of works, securing to man the benefit on performance of the condition, has soon to become a covenant of grace, guaranteeing the blessing, notwithstanding the breach of the compact, that some, at least, of the fallen race may reap the benefit of its provisions. It becomes in sooth a promise, wherein God, the one party, remaining faithful to his side of the covenant, sees to it that it is upheld in the integrity of its rewards and even its conditions, notwithstanding, and even on account of, the failure of the other party. Hence the covenant takes a special form, the provisions of which are narrowed to the seed of Abraham. Now the book of the covenant at its opening takes broad ground, but in consequence of the privileges of Israel, it is sometimes supposed to have become exclusive in its offers of |