answer, without the hesitation of a moment, YES-most assuredly. The text clearly implies it. We know that if those who had the law, kept the law perfectly, then they would have been saved by it; for the Scripture expressly saith, The man that doeth these things, shall live by them.' Such persons would have been sinless in their circumstances. And if any one of those who are 'without law,' were found sinless in his circumstances, he could not perish; for the text lays down the principle, that it is only such as have sinned, in whatever circumstances, that shall perish. It clearly follows, that if a heathen be found, who has, in all respects, lived according to the light he has enjoyed, he shall not perish. Point out the man, and we have divine authority for pronouncing him safe. The doctrine of the text is, that he is to be judged according to his circumstances, according to what he hath, and not according to what he hath not-in the case supposed, he comes up to this test:-he cannot, therefore, be condemned, he cannot perish.

"But there is still another question. Even those who believe the gospel, are not by the faith of it perfectly freed from sin; they are only delivered from its predominant power, from the love and the indulgence of it; so that, with various degrees of remaining corruption, prevailing holiness becomes their distinguishing character:-is your meaning, then, whether, if a heathen were to be found, understanding and believing those views of God which nature teaches,-humbly and seriously feeling their influence, and living according ly, not a life, as in the former supposition, of sinless conformity to his principles, but, as in the case of the Christian believer, a life of such predominant goodness as the lessons which he actually has, the truths which he has learned from the volume of nature, are fitted to produce;-whether, if such a man were found, he might not be saved?-I freely answer, I am not prepared to deny that he might. And if any shall think these terms, in such a case, unduly cautious and measured, I will go a step further, and say, the spirit of the text appears to imply, if its words do not directly express, a principle that would warrant our answering this question too in the affirmative.-Divine instruction is contained, if I may so express myself, in two volumes,-the volume of nature, and the volume of revelation. The text expressly declares, what accords with the dictates of reason and with every natural sentiment of justice, that they who are not in possession of the latter, are not to be judged by it. If, therefore, any one can be found, who learns aright what is taught in the only volume he has, and who is rightly and habitually, though not perfectly, influenced by what he learns,(for to insist on the perfection of such influence would, as I have just before noticed, be to require more than is required in the case of the believer of the lessons of the other volume, the volume of revelation,)-I see not, in such a ease, how either the spirit or the letter of my text could justify me in affirming his condemnation; for then, in opposition to what the text so plainly teaches us, his sentence would pro

ceed on the ground of his not being influence
by what he had no opportunity to know."

A

From the British Critic.

AND

CONNEXION OF SACRED PROFANE HISTORY, from the Death of Joshua to the Decline of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah. By the Rev. Michael Russell, LL.D., Episcopal Minister, Leith. London. Rivingtons. 2 vols. 8vo. 1827. 28s.

THERE are few works in theology of more value to the student than Prideaux's Connexion; and the popularity which it enjoys is equal to its merit. The object which it embraces, relates to a period of great interest and importance, and one which offered materials of every kind both for the theologist and the historian. The interval between the restoration of the Jews and the birth of Christ, includes almost all that is valuable to be known in Grecian and Eastern history. Authentic documents of all kinds are in abundance, so far as regards the contemporary Heathen nations; and although the original authorities which we possess for the history of the Jewish people are but scanty, yet the events of that period were not numerous or striking; and there is no reason to think that any occurred of which it would be important to be informed, the record of which has been lost. Something, indeed, remains to be desired in that part of their history during this period, which relates to their civil and ecclesiastical polity; but not much even here. It was the age of the fulfilment of prophecy; but as this regarded the nations around them, rather than the events of their own history, this last appears to have been in a kind of abeyance, until the fulness of time arrived, when they were themselves to come again upon the scene; and when our information becomes as minute and particular as it had till then been brief and general.

The success which Prideaux's work obtained, and which, as we have just observed, was owing as much to the happy choice of the subject, as to the learning and good sense which was displayed in his manner of treating it, suggest ed to Shuckford the idea of writing an account of the "Connexion of Sacred and Profane History" in the interval between the earliest records of the creation, and that period when the subject was undertaken by Prideaux. But although this would seem to be only a completion of the same original design, yet practically it was a very different kind of undertaking. Here there were no original records of any kind, excepting those which were in every body's hands. With respect to the Jewish nation, little or nothing was to be said, beyond what we collect from the brief annals of the Sacred Historians. So far from being able to throw light upon the narrative which they have left us, by hints borrowed from the history of the Heathen nations around them, the point to be aimed at, was rather to ascertain what light could be thrown upon the Heathen nations around them, by hints borrowed from the Scriptures.

which flourished before the commencement of any authentic records respecting them, excepting always the brief and broken annals of the Jewish Scripture. Without meaning to pass any censure, we may be allowed to say, that when the whole shall be completed, a very in

Now, undoubtedly, this is a subject well deserving of attention, and in which much was required to be done; but it is not in the same proportion a subject susceptible of popular instruction and interest. Of all the species of learned compilation and research, conjectural history, i. e. the history of what is to be consi-portant work will still remain to be executed: dered as the most probable, is beyond any other dry and uninviting to the common reader; and when the points to be settled or illustrated refer chiefly to the investigation of dates and the comparison of chronological systems and calculations, respecting persons and things of whom nothing whatever is known except the name, the subject becomes dry and uninviting not only to the common reader, but to every class of readers. The writer who chooses such subjects must be satisfied with the praise of a few studious individuals; and except where the labour itself is the reward that was sought, must look to no other recompense than the consciousness of a desire to be useful.

As Shuckford lived nearly twenty years after the publication of his last volume, and yet finished not more than half of his original design, we are led to presume that it must have been the want of encouragement at the time, which was the occasion of his relinquishing so prematurely the labour which he had undertaken. To speak the truth, there were other reasons in his case, besides those which we have mentioned, for his not meeting with any great and sudden success. His work is at least twice as long as his materials warranted; and these are arranged with so little order or method, that the patience of the reader is often severely tried. Neither was his judgment the clearest, or his conclusions always consistent with each other. Nevertheless, in spite of all disadvantages, added to the almost hostile contempt with which his work is treated by Warburton, such is the grave importance of the subject, and the want of some work, (even if it be only as a book of reference,) by which the early Jewish history may be connected with the names of contemporary things and persons mentioned by profane historians, that Shuckford's Connexion holds its place in most libraries on the same shelf with Prideaux's, and even in its unfinished state has become a standard book in divinity. That part of his subject which Shuckford either relinquished or was prevented from completing, it is the object of the work before us to fill up; and we think that the public are much indebted to Dr. Russell for having undertaken the task. Although Shuckford pro- | fesses in his title page to bring down his history to the dissolution of the Syrian empire under Sardanapalus, and the declension of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah under the reigns of Pekah and Ahaz, yet the period which he accomplished extends only to the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. At this point, then, the work before us, properly speaking, commences. It is the intention of the author to continue it until the time when the work of Prideaux commences; but the volumes before us reach only to the reign of Saul, the remainder of the period being reserved for two concluding volumes. We shall then have eight unusually large and well filled octavo volumes of the history of those nations of the world

we mean a learned and judicious abridgment of the whole, so as to present the subject under some continuous and more easily understood arrangement than the works of Dr. Shuckford and his no less learned and laborious successor exhibit. The work of Dr. Russell is a continuation of the subject of Dr. Shuckford's "Connexion;" but it can hardly be called a continuation of the work itself: so much of the ground is common to both writers; so many things are repeated; such different views of particular points are taken; and so little reference is made in the last of these works to the labours and views of his predecessor. In a great measure this was unavoidable, owing to defects in Dr. Shuckford's plan; and not unfrequently owing to views and conclusions in which he was mistaken; but, be the cause what it may, the effect is unfortunate, considering the works as one: the unity of the subject is still preserved, but there is little else that indicates any harmony of design.

The work before us consists of two Books. In Book I. after a long and able preliminary dissertation on the true chronology of the Old Testament in the times preceding the institution of kingly government in Israel, Dr. Russell proceeds to consider in regular order,1. The civil and political constitution of the ancient Hebrews. 2. Their religious belief and practices. 3. Their general history, from the death of Joshua to the reign of Saul. Book II. which occupies the whole of the second volume, is employed in examining what is known or conjectured concerning the history of the oriental nations, as connected with that of the Jewish people: comprising the accounts which we possess from heathen authors, of the history of the Babylonians and Assyrians; of the various nations immediately adjacent to the land of Canaan; of the Persian monarchy; and of the origin of the more remarkable states and kingdoms of ancient Greece; concluding with dissertations on the Argonautic expeditions, the capture of Troy, and the return of the Heraclide.

From this account of the contents of the work, the reader will see that the great and highly important object, of the connexion of the Jewish people with the history and learning and polity of the Egyptians, is omitted by Dr. Russell in the volumes which he has now presented to the public. We presume that he reserves the subject for the volumes that are to follow; unless, indeed, he considers that part of the subject as having been sufficiently investigated by Shuckford, to whose division of the work it may be said to have more properly belonged. As it is not the part of the early history of the world which that learned writer has laboured with most success, we trust that the department is only reserved in the present work, and not intended to be omitted; as independently of the many questionable statements which Shuckford has hazarded, so much

easy to demonstrate that the Septuagint chronology is right, yet there are strong reasons for believing that the Masoretic text must undoubtedly be wrong; and this point cannot be better stated than in the words of our author. "It is not to be denied that, from the mutual animosity which was excited between the Jews and Christians, by the recrimination of a long and sometimes a very bitter controversy, the charges of corruption advanced by the latter against the former were occasionally carried too far. But, at the same time, there is no doubt that, in regard to their genealogical tables, the Rabbis of the school of Tiberias made considerable alterations in the original text; and nothing proves so unanswerably that such changes were actually introduced, as the traces which still remain of the method according to which those learned doctors effected their purpose.

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The flood would have been placed in the year of the world 1356; and Jared, who was born in the year 460, and lived 962 years, would have died in the year 1422, which would have been 66 years after the flood. Methuselah would be born, by the same computation, in the year 587; and, living 969 years, would have died in the year 1556, and 200 years after the flood. Lamech, also, would be born in the year 674, and, living 777 years, would die in the year 1451, which is 95 years after the flood. On this account, the Jews, not daring to shorten the lives of their patriarchs, left the original numbers standing before Methuselah and Lamech, and the Western Jews also before Jared; though they took away the century before Enoch, and added it to the rest of his age after he begat children, because his life was not half so long as any of the rest of the antediluvians, he being translated into heaven when he had lived 365 years.' The management here, with respect to Enoch, after having passed over Jared, is certainly a strong proof of rabbinical interference."-vol. i. pp. 86–88.

"For example, in order to diminish, to the extent of six hundred years, the period between the creation and the deluge, it was only necessary, as I have already remarked, to subtract a hundred years from the generation of six of the But the rabbinical calculation is encumbered antediluvian patriarchs, and to add the same with other difficulties besides those which have to the residue of their lives. But, to accom- been here stated. Jackson, whose words are plish this object without falling into the mon- quoted at the end of the above extract, has restrous absurdity of extending the lives of Noah's marked, that if we follow the Hebrew chronofather and grandfather beyond the flood, it was logy, we must suppose that Abraham died befound indispensable to allow their generations fore Shem, who was born a century before the to remain unaltered; and thus, while Enos is deluge; moreover that he was contemporary represented as becoming a father at 90, Cainan with him for the half of that period. These at 70, and Malaleel at 65, Methuselah does not are not the only discrepancies that must be rebehold his progeny till he has attained the ma- conciled on the supposition of the Hebrew chroturer age of 187, nor Lamech until he has reach-nology being received, but it is not necessary ed his 182d year. The management which had become necessary to adjust the application of the scheme to the peculiar circumstances of every case, betrays the vitiating hand of the Rabbi, The exceptions, in fact, expose the corrupt intention of the general principle on which the innovation proceeded; for, as Enos lived to the age of 905, Cainan to 910, and Malaleel to 895, we can see no cause why they should have married 100 years earlier than Methuselah, whose sum of life was not much greater, and more especially than Lamech, who died at the age of 777. We can discover no intelligible ground for these singularities; but we can perceive, at the first glance, a powerful reason why the generations of Methuselah and Lamech should not be shortened, and the residue of their lives lengthened; and we conclude, that the hundred years were not taken from the former and added to the latter, merely because such a change would have extended the duration of their lives considerably beyond the limits of the antediluvian world.

to detail them further; the errors which it involves are now generally admitted by all who have turned their attention to the question; the only point about which any difference of opinion can well exist, is as to the reasons by which the Jews must be supposed to have been influenced, in adopting a computation so greatly at variance with that which was followed, even by their own nation, before the coming of Christ.

Dr. Russell ascribes the change which he thinks must have been introduced into the Hebrew text, to wilful corruption on the part of the Jews; but, we confess, that we do not very clearly enter into the reasons which he states for his opinion, and which he probably adopted from Vossius, who gave the same explanation. But the authority of a writer who contended for the divine inspiration of the Septuagint translation. is entitled to no weight, in this controversy, beyond what the proofs which he brings will confer. That the early Christians believed in the Millennium, there is no doubt; nor can it be doubted that they supposed the "The same remarks, somewhat modified, ap-reign of the Saints upon earth was then about ply to the case of Jared. The Jews,' says the author of the Chronological Antiquities, had a mind to have left out a century in the ages of all the patriarchs before they begat children, and to have added it to the after-term of their lives; but they found that, if they dropped the centuries of the ages of Jared, Methuselah, and Lamech, before they begat children, as they had done of all the rest, and added them to the remainder of their lives, they must by this reckoning have extended their lives beyond the flood, contrary to the history of Scripture.

to take its commencement. This is very fully shown by our author, and indeed will not be questioned; but we do not quite understand by what reasoning this delusion is connected with the error of the Jewish chronology. There was a persuasion, at the period we are now speaking of, that "the end of all things was at hand;" and this was derived among the Christians, partly from those expressions of our Lord, in which he predicted the approaching destruction of Jerusalem, in words which, in a secondary application, appear to have signified