ought to rest, and by obviating such objections as might arise from some circumstances attending the evidences of the Jewish and Christian religions, he proceeded to the examination of every book both of the Old and New Testaments, in the order, as far as he could discover it, of their respective publication. The history of the Jewish nation contained in their sacred books, he divided into certain epochs, and at the conclusion of each epoch pointed out the history of the other nations of the world, during the same period, particularly of those nations with whom the Jews were in any man. ner connected. The civil and religious institutions of Moses appeared to him to demand a very close attention, and several lectures were devoted to the arrangement of the Mosaic laws, and a full and clear account of the ritual worship of the Jews and their civil government. These lectures formed of themselves an interesting course of the most important part of Jewish antiquities and conveyed accurate information upon many curious and interesting subjects which are but partially understood, even by intelligent and enlightened readers of the Old Testament, in consequence of the detached and

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scattered manner in which they are treated in the four last books of the pentateuch. the high antiquity of the book of Job, Mr. Wood had no doubt, and he therefore went through a careful examination of it immediately after he had finished the book of Genesis. writings of David and Solomon, were fully considered, at the conclusion of the reign of the latter monarch, and from these and from every other book of the Old Testament, was carefully collected and arranged in proper order, all the information they contained concerning the character and government of God, the duties and the expectations of man. ing finished the examination of the writings contained in the Old Testament, he drew from other sources the history of the Jews to the time of Christ, and treated somewhat largely concerning the authenticity, the genuineness, and the contents of the apocryphal books.

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Preparatory to his lectures on the New Testament, and as intimately connected with those which had gone before, he next took an extensive view of the philosophical and religious opinions of the principal heathen nations of the world, the Chaldeans, the Per

sians, the Greeks, and the Romans; and of the popular religion about the time of Christ. He detailed also the principles which were at that time maintained by the religious sects into which the Jews were 'divided, and described the civil state of the world at the same period. He then passed on to the consideration of the history of the life of Christ, to which he devoted several lectures, having previously discussed the genuineness of the two first chapters of the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and given a succinct view of other histories of the nativity and infancy of Christ, at present universally acknowledged to be spurious. The history of the propagation of christianity by the apostles, and their various epistles, together with the apocalypse, were next largely examined; and, finally, the whole doctrine of the New Testament, arranged under proper heads, was exhibited with every passage distinctly noticed, by which each doctrine is supported.

As it had been one great object in confirming the truth of revelation, to establish the doctrine of a future state, concerning which natural religion affords only some faint intimations, the language of revelation upon

this important subject, required particular attention. The Jewish revelation appeared to Mr. Wood to be silent upon this interesting question; in the interval between the captivity and the beginning of the Christian æra, he thought the Jews had learnt to expect a life after the present; but the clear and explicit discovery of a future retributory scene he attributed solely to Christ and his Apostles. He pointed out to his hearers every passage in the. New Testament in which this doctrine appeared, and then entered as largely as their respective importance demanded upon the speculative enquiries grounded upon this doctrine, such as, Whether immortality be the peculiar effect of the gospel, or a positive constitution of nature: When the state of retribution is to commence; and What is to be the duration of the punishment of the wicked. Thence he proceeded to state and to examine the opinions which have been and are still held concerning the person of Christ; to fix the meaning of the term spirit, as used in the Old and New Testament; to enquire into the design of Christ's death; the doctrines of original sin, grace and election; and finally,

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to show the obligations and the design of the positive institutions of baptism, and the Lord's supper.

It was his intention next to lead his class through a course of ecclesiastical history. How far he proceeded in this course cannot now be easily ascertained, but there is reason to believe that several circumstances arose which prevented him from concluding the extensive and very useful plan which he had at first marked out. The manuscript copy of his lectures finishes with the history of the church about the time of Constantine.

After so full an account of these labours, it would be needless to speak of the advantages with which the younger part of the congregation at Mill-Hill Chapel were favoured, or of the knowledge and ability of the lecturer. Upon every subject indeed to which Mr. Wood turned his attention he threw some new light. His comprehensive mind enabled him to embrace it in its fullest extent, and his powers of accurate and clear discrimination, to exhibit it to others, or to pursue it in private, in an arrangement the most natural and perspicuous. But his utter disregard for literary fame, which ren