Writers of the Old and New Testa. M. Oberthur of Wurtzburg. The former appeared in 1808, and the latter in 1809, at Munster.

ment; Erfurt, 1806." This is the performance of a man of learning and genius, who throws a great deal of light on many obscure points of the Greek, Mosaic and Oriental philosophy. The author, who is anonymous, promises a complete body of researches into the Theo. retic Philosophy of the sacred wri

ters.

II. NEW TESTAMENT. 1. No typographical monument perhaps, in Greek characters, can equal in beauty the New Testa ment, of which M. Gaschen of Leipsic has printed two different editions in 1804, 1805 and 1806; the one in 4 vols. small folio; and the other in 2 vols. 8vo. The text, which has been attended to

12. The faculty of Theology of the University of Gottingen had prepared in 1802, as the subject of its annual prize, the examina- with the utmost critical industry, also revised by Professor tion of the Gnostics, not only of was the Old and New Testaments, Griesbach. His preface gives an but of the Apocryphal books, as account of the course which he well as the connection which pursued, of the copies, translations might exist between this subject and other assistance, which he and the Gnostics of the first and called in, to give his text the second centuries of the church. greatest possible parity. AccordDr. Horn, the present Professor ing to the above splendid edition of Theology at Dorpat, obtained of the New Testament, M. Schott the prize. His memoir was writ- of Leipsic, has given in 1805, a ten in Latin, and was fraught a Manual, with a Latin translawith learning and originality of tion of the notes variorum. M. ideas; the author has since pub- Boehme has translated into Latin, Jished it in German, after extend- the Epistle of St. Paul to the ing his subject in such a manner Romans, after the above edition as to fill three vols. The first only, by M. Griesbach: he has enriched however, appeared in 1805. Its it with a commentary and introtitle is, "Gnostics of the Bible, or Pragmatical Account of the Religious Philosophy of the East; intended to serve as a guide to the Holy Scriptures." This work is likely to throw much light on the origin of the ancient doctrines, both religious and philosophical, of the East, particularly in Judea Persia, and India.

duction, and the whole forms a very valuable volume in 8vo. It was printed at Leipsic, in 1806. Dr. Ammon, formerly Professor of Theology, at Gottingen, and now at Erlangen, has also published in 4 vols, a new edition of the New Testament, with the excellent notes of the late M. Koppe, to which he has added his own. The 4th vol. 13. Two other works have been appeared in 1806, at Gottingen. 2. On entering upon the review lately published, which serve to illustrate Biblical antiquities; of works connected with the these are the "History of the He. New Testament, the first author brew Nation," by M. Bauer; and we meet with is M. Eichhorn, who the "Biblical Anthropology" of has been already noticed as the the learned Catholic Theologian, first in the list of those who have

Paulus, Professor of Theology in the University of Wurtzburg; 4 vols. Lubeck, Nieman and Co. This Commentary is a work of the first order, and it is hardly neces sary to add, that we there find discussed with learning and saga. city, an immense number of points, which have been hitherto considered as obscure in the books of the New Testament.

serve as a Guide to the New Testament," published by Dr. Stoltz of Bremen, and which have also reached their third edition.

lately written upon the Old Testa. ment. This ingenious and indefatigable friend of historical researches has also written an "In troduction to the Study of the New Testament," of which the first volume only has been pub. lished. Upon this occasion also, M. Eichhorn introduces polemical divinity. The principal object of the first volume of his Introduction seems to establish the im. To the above we ought to add, portant fact, that the first three the "Explanations intended to of our four canonical Evangelists are written upon the model of a primitive Evangelist, called the Evangelist of the Hebrews, written in Armenian, but of which there 4. Professor Augusti had pubis no copy now in existence. The lished several years since, the author takes care to explain the first volume of his translation of circumstances which are peculiar the seven epistles called Catholic, to each of the three Evangelists, with a Commentary. The second circumstances which must have volume appeared in 1808, at occasioned some variations or ad. Lemgo. In this work we find noditions in their details. This opi. tions of the highest interest on the nion of M. Eichhorn has been opinions of the first Christians, violently attacked, and as strenu- and on the particular direction ously defended by his school. given by St. Paul, to the doctrines Professor Hug of Friburg in of his master, &c. On this last Brisgau, who published in 1808 an Introduction to the Books of the New Testament, may be regarded as the chief of his antagon ists; and his opinions have also been refuted at great length in the Literary Gazette of Halle, for the year 1805. As a reply to all these objections, M. Weber, dean of the church of Winnenden in Suabia, has published "New Re searches into the Antiquity and Authenticity of the Hebrew Evan. gelists." Tubingen, 1806, 1 vol. 8vo.

3. A work which has gone through several editions is the "Commentary, Philological, Critical and Historical, on the New Testament," by the learned M.

subject, we may mention a work which is peculiarly estimable from the light which it throws on the history of the apostle of the Gentiles, and of the early ages of Christianity. It was published in 1806, by M. Palmer, Professor of Theology, at Giessen, under the title of " Paul and Gamaliel."

5. In a "Critical Letter" address. ed to Mr. Goss, and printed at Berlin, in 1807, Professor Schleyer. macher of Halle calls in question the authenticity of the first Epistle of St. Paul to Timothy. The motives which led him to these opin ions are detailed with much force of argument.

Mr. Plank, jun. of Gottingen, whose name will be mentioned

hereafter, has attacked these translation of the Apocalypse, by opinions of M. Schleyermacher, Dr. Munter, now Bishop of Seeand has published in 1808, on lande, with an interesting Diserthis subject," Researches into the tation "On the most ancient Authenticity of the First Epistle Christian Poetry. of St. Paul to Timothy," which are written with as much judgment as moderation.

7. The third edition of the valuable "Novum Lexicon Græcolatinum in Novum Testamentum," 6. In 1806, there appeared a by M. Schleusner, appeared at second edition of the metrical Leipsic, in 1806, in two tomes.

MISCELLANEOUS COMMUNICATIONS.

Eichhorn on the Authenticity of uineness and high antiquity. For

the Book of Genesis. such profound secrets of nature MR. EDITOR, would be beyond the boundaries Having lately been engaged in of the knowledge of an antiquity reading part of Eichhorn's Introso remote. But when it introduces duction to the Old Testament, a picture of the creation, by the I was much struck with the Chap- great doctrine," that God is the ter on the Authenticity of the author of every thing which exists," Book of Genesis, and have trans- (a doctrine by which all the syslated the greatest part of it, as well as my imperfect acquaintance with the language in which it is written, allowed, with the hope that your readers would be pleased with the many ingenious and, as far as I know, novel observations, which it contains, on that most interesting book of scripture.

Yours respectfully,
JUVENIS.

"1. I consider the absence of all pretension to science, and the scantiness of the information contained in the Book of Genesis, as an evidence of its high antiquity and genuineness. Did it betray any knowledge of a new formation of the earth after the deluge, or of a previous conflagration, facts which our naturalists read in the archives of Nature, I should have had my doubts respecting its gen

tems of ancient times are overthrown,) it offers a kind of infor mation, which the infancy of the world was fully capable of under. standing, and which was a worthy commencement of the Old Testament.

"How barren is the history of events from Adam to Noah, and from Noah to Abraham! Ten genealogical steps, and little else! To be at the pains to forge ten names, in order to join so barren an account to them, is a thing which has no parallel in the annals of imposture. All the literary impostors that have been known, who have been desirous to impress upon their spurious productions, the stamp of an high antiquity, have spoken of wonderful things, and such as might attract notice. And by analogy, a counterfeited

Genesis, must have spoken of need not fear a comparison. Ac

gods and demi-gods, of millions of years, and kingdoms of genii, and the like. But this book does not abound so much in matter, it has only a few names; and why may not these have been actually brought from the antediluvian world, in Noah's Ark ?

"And where the history is fuller, -we meet with no history of the world, no revolutions of states, no conquests of vast territories ;-but with family pictures; the lives of a few shepherds, who are far removed from the splendour of the great conquerors, whom fabulous story has generally chosen for its subjects. Also, how little is the world around them? Abraham, with four hundred servants, puts to flight four kings with their troops; which war, however insignificant it may have been, is yet related with an enthusiasm and astonishment, from which it may easily be perceived, that a war of four emirs against five, was to the narrator an event which had nothing similar to it, in the history of those times.

cording to Herodotus, the original situation of the Phenicians was on the borders of the Red Sea, and their commercial spirit at. tracted a colony of them to the shore of the Mediterranean, which was situated more conveniently for the purposes of commerce. And accordingly, in Genesis xii. 6. xii. 7. the Canaanites are noticed as a nation which had only lately emigrated into Pales tine. ("The Canaanites were already in the land;" i. e. they were already come into it, from their settlement on the Red Sea)The representation which ancient history* gives of the financial regu. lations of the Pharoahs, is the same as that given in Genesis. By the account of the latter, all landed estates, except the possessions of the Priests, became by the changes made by Joseph, goods of the crown, and the cultivators of them were thenceforward only tenants of crown-lands. Accord ing to both, the priests of Egypt formed a separate order, (Gen. xlvii. 22.) according to both the "The only passage in Genesis Egyptians took meat with no which shews any degree of science foreigner (Gen. xliii 32.) accordis that carliest map of countries ing to both, the occupation of contained in the 10th chapter: shepherd was an abomination in but, unless we adopt the fancies the eyes of the Egyptians. (Gen. of its subsequent commentators, xlvi, 34.) and through partiality to our own country, dream that Moses mentions the ancestors of every nation as well as those of his own, we shall find that this chapter contains nothing impossible, no cosmographical accounts of the whole world, but only of those parts visited by the Phenicians.

"3. But let us consider the peculiar tone and character of the narration in Genesis. I know not a more convincing proof of the genuineness of the patriarchal history, than this affords to any one who has a heart open to nature and simplicity, and who can place himself in the infancy of the world, and in the domestic life of a shep

* Herodotus ii. 108. .

herd. The tone of history can false taste, what different impressions are made upon the tender minds of children, by the histories of such different times.

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4. No impostor could have marked those general advances of mankind, which are noticed in this book, with the same truth, and yet in such a variety of connections, in so natural a gradation, and in such minute and unobvious circumstances.

as little remain the same, through succeeding centuries, as the world and mankind; the differences of nations, ages and events must always produce similar differences in the character of the accounts which describe them. Now the Book of Genesis describes the period of the childhood and youth of the world, and how youthful is its tone? Its subject is chiefly the domestic life of some shepherds; "Abraham comes out of Meso and it every where breathes the potamia, the country which gave noble simplicity and domestic birth to the pastoral life, after the frankness of the pastoral life. Let flood; and is, in his mode of life any one in the soft stillness of a strict shepherd. When guests morning, and with a mind open come to him, he himself runs to to impressions of the most delight the herd for a calf, and dresses it ful simplicity, read and imbibe himself, like Patroclus in Homer; the spirit of a passage from the he places before them, not wine, life of Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, although that was in use even in and then immediately read and his time in Canaan (see Gen. xiv. Imbibe the spirit of another, from 18.) but milk, agreeably to the the life of David or Solomon, or strict pastoral manners. (Gen. one of the heroes in the Book of Judges; surely he will feel, not only the wonderful difference in the circumstances of his own time, and the style of his own history, but also will be sensible of a great alteration between the two. In the one, pure unsophisticated nature, which makes its way to the heart; in the other, nature indeed, but not in such full streams; in the one, a deep tone of the most primitive simplicity; in the other, somewhat of a loftier tone, with less originality; in the one the unmixed language of human nature; in the other a mixture of the colours of advanced culture and luxury. And if age, and an inability to pitch his mind at the "A later author would have key of infancy and youth, make carried forward this change and him incapable of such impressions, declension of manners, in the hislet him learn by an experiment tory of Jacob and Esau ; but quite with a child not yet corrupted by differently, and with a muck

xviii.) Isaac on the other hand, become rich by the possessions of his father, and more familiarised with the manners of the luxurious Canaanites, allows himself to drink wine, (xxvii. 25.) is no longer content with the kids of his flock, like Abraham; but has a taste for venison dressed “as he loves it." (xxvii. 4.) and Isaac's delicate palate has led Rebecca to the art of cooking the flesh of tame animals so as to resemble vension, (xxvii, 9.) he takes pleasure no longer in his flocks and herds, but procures from the king of Gerar, a piece of tillage-land for the sake of convenience, and becomes an half domesticated shepherd.