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CRITICAL SKETCHES.

ART. XI.-Scriptural Communion with God on the Holy Bible, arranged in Historical and Chronological Order in such manner that the Books, Chapters, Psalms, Prophecies, &c. may be read as one connected History in the Words of the Authorized Translation. Newly divided into Sections for Families and Individuals, with Introductions and Prayers and Notes for the Student and Inquirer. By the Rev. George Townshend, M.A., Canon of Durham. London. Rivington. 1845. THE previous work of the learned canon forms the basis of that before us. The present work is intended, while it exhibits the Bible in chronological order, to furnish commentatorial, devotional, explanatory and critical remarks. Each section is divided into five parts, consisting of a title, an introduction, the portion of scripture selected, a prayer founded on that scripture, and notes for the student or inquirer, to be read at leisure and not in the family. We frankly own the great difficulty of such a work. Many fine devotional expositors have proved but indifferent critics, and many admirable critics have proved equally unable to go beyond their wordy emendations. But if ever a person was well adapted to exhibit in himself a combination of the numerous excellences of the critic, the scholar, the expositor and the divine, that person is Mr. Townshend. We select in proof of the extent of his inquiries the following passage, but we are rather fearful that the worthy canon has formed a notion of the reading of others from his own extensive researches.

"All commentators, annotators, and expositors of Scripture address their notes to believers or inquirers, or to both. The mass of illustration which has been accumulated since the closing of the canon of Scripture by the Ante-Nicene and early Post-Nicene fathers,-by the authors of the middle ages, such as Anselm, Bernard, Thomas Aquinas, and others,-by the writers of all communions at the period of the Reformation,-from that time down to the time of the writers commonly known as the Critici Sacri,- by the numerous authors referred to by Pfeiffer,-and by the commentators of our own age, has been so great that no individual industry, even in the longest life, could master it. As the profound learning of one age, however, may be said to be the alphabet of another, so it has been in theology. The substance of the learned dissertations, discussions, and criticisms which have been submitted in former ages to the world, have become for the most part melted down, as it were, into the common stock of the commentaries which are now familiar to the general reader. The results of the five great sources of Scriptural interpretation, namely, the Jewish Targums, the Septuagint, the Vulgate, the concurrent testimony of Fathers, and the labours of the chief theologians at and since the Reformation-whether they be reformers, puritans, or more modern divines-may be said to be the rendering,

in the more well-known commentaries, the most learned discussions and the most profound criticisms familiar to the common reader. Nearly one hundred authors and nineteen councils, for instance, are referred to by Aquinas. The same number are quoted by the Critici Sacri. Poole, in his synopsis, refers to an hundred more; one hundred and sixty Church of England divines are cited by Mant and D'Oyly; and one hundred more, with the substance of the labours of Henry, Scott, Patrick, Lowth and Whitby, are referred to by the compilers of the smaller commentary. The mass of illustration which has thus been gradually collected and rendered familiar to the reader of the Holy Scriptures may be called the general knowledge which must be supposed to be possessed by all. The notes now given shall not, therefore, be merely a repetition of those illustrations, whether they are addressed to the believer or the enquirer."

The object of these notes is further stated in the following clear and succinct language:

"I wish in these notes to advocate the ancient, true and common Christianity, which is identical with the literal and correct interpretation of the inspired volume, as received and understood by those, who, when they are convinced by evidence and inquiry that God has spoken, submit their reason to the God of reason, and receive the conclusions and truths of revelation on the authority which is granted to direct them. I wish to build up the faith of the humble and simple-minded inquirer into truth, for whose use it may be said that the Scriptures were principally written. I would aspire to assist the student, so far as my reading will enable me to do so, in pursuing those studies which alone are truly valuable as the combiners of time and eternity. Very wonderful is the volume of Scripture in this respect; that one little book which all Christians (even those who place the highest value on the traditions which are independent of the Scriptures) regard as the inspired Teacher of the teachers, the Guide of the guides, the Instructor of the instructors, the rule of the rule of faith, the basis of the creeds, and the only acknowledged safeguard of the truth,-that one little book which guides the wayfaring man, though a fool, (if it be implicitly followed,) in peace and safety through earth to heaven,-should have employed the learning of all the universities that have ever yet been founded; should have been made the subject of comment by the Fathers and the Reformers, by Romanists and by Puritans, by travellers and by students, and still remain the exhaustless source of delightful, varied, endless knowledge. The exhaustlessness of the Bible is one great proof of its divine origin."

The task of an illustrator of Holy Writ is thus grandly defined, and the magnificent notion, whether realizable or not, is an evidence of the holy enthusiasm in which the task before us is undertaken.

"He who would be a commentator on the sacred writings must be well skilled in every department of theology. Is the Holy Volume a collection of books, tracts, psalms, and prophecies, penned at long intervals by various writers? He should be acquainted with the ages, origin, contents, and character of all. He should be versed in the criticism which relates to the words of the text, the readings in the margin, the differences in manuscripts, the authenticity of the several books, and of disputed portions of books. He should be accurate in his herme neutical interpretations, so that he know the rules and principles by which the meaning of the sacred writers may be ascertained. He should be no less accurate in the exegetical application of those rules, so that he clearly expound to others what his own understanding first clearly comprehends. He should have the knowledge which enables him to prove the teaching of the church to be right; and the conclusions of its opponents to be wrong. The forgeries in the patristic writings, the value of clashing traditions, the claims of antiquity, the evidences

which establish the truth of Christianity, and the inferences or doctrine relating to God and man, to the church in general, or to the soul individually, ought to be alike known and understood. The history of which proves the truth of prophecy, and the prophecy which anticipates history; the fierce divisions, the doctrinal disputes, the decisions of councils, the confessions of churches, the arguments of the Romanists, the Reformer, the Puritan, and the Sectarian ; the metaphysical subtleties, the verbal discussions, the controversies between the divisions of sects and the parties in churches, should all be familiar to him, who would presume to lay this offering on the altar of the church."

Let the Pyms and the Villiers who have enlightened the inhabitants of Bloomsbury by their recent absurdities, which bring the present system of the world to an end in 1847 we believe, read that passage, and get a little sense and humility. We should like to know whether his Lordship of London has read the twelve sermons preached in Bloomsbury during Lent, advocating the most unsound and heterodox millenarian views; views tenfold confuted, unauthorized by any council, by the concurrent testimony of the Fathers, by chronology, or the articles and divines of the Church of England. How long are these spermologists to be allowed to broach their unseemly dissertations, ignorant of dates, unsettling received expositions, demonstrating themselves the noodles of the establishment? They are well-intentioned, some silly persons say. We deny it, they are ill-intentioned; for folly like theirs is of the nature of sin, for "fools rush in where angels fear to tread," and perish, like daring Uzzah, in the lightnings of the ark. But we leave hoc genus omne, and proceed with Mr. Townsend's sublime commentary, and we take as an illustration his note on Gen. i. 1, In the beginning.

“The words though sometimes rendered in, by, or with wisdom, are so generally interpreted as our translators have rendered them, that we may safely assign to them this meaning. We may justly also believe with Chalmers, Job Orton, Dr. Pusey, the Fathers quoted by Petavius, Augustine, Theodoret and others, with Episcopius, Luther and the old editions of the English Bible, that the word is designed to express, not the commencement of the six days, but an indefinite period before the six days in which the earth was fitted up for man. The accuracy of this opinion is confirmed by the Septuagint and by the Gospel of St. John. The translation of in the former is iv dex. The gospel of St. John begins with the same words, and the expression there denotes eternity itself. St. John is speaking of the identity of the Logos with Deity, and he affirms that the Logos was with God in the beginning. Now one attribute of Deity is eternity, and though eternity has neither commencement nor end, the limited faculties of man were accustomed to express in this phrase the past existence of God. St. John uses the words in the beginning to describe the duration of the existence of the Logos, which he himself declares in the words of Christ, to be before the world was, that is from eternity. If therefore the words signify in one part of Scripture a proper eternity, there can be no objection to their here denoting an indefinite period past. The expression here cannot signify eternity, because it relates to the act of creation, which we must call the commencement of time. Whereas in the Gospel of St. John, it relates to the period of the existence of Deity, which had no commencement.'

The following note we consider also a fair specimen both of judicious reasoning and just criticism.

"The interpretation of ex nihilo creavit, Dr. Lee rejects as groundless and fanciful, and thinks it greatly to be regretted that any such notion was ever entertained and applied in defence of revealed religion. The Bible, he says, was never intended to teach philosophy, it deals only with facts and doctrines. He calls it a 'silly theory' to suppose that signifies created out of nothing. Now Moses is speaking of creation at the beginning. If matter had a beginning, if it ever began to exist, if there was a time when it had no existence-it must have been created from nothing. Matter is only that union of properties which God commanded to become combined, that they might be the object of the senses."

From the above extracts our readers will be enabled to form some idea of the highly valuable work before us. We must further add, that the neologistic arguments are treated as the passages that involve them occur, and that the work of Mr. Townshend embraces more of what the unsated scholar seeks than any other commentary, gives to devotion a fitting form of phraseology, lends decaying energy power, and is the best calculated to supply that grand desideratum which the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge undertook, but never supplied a Bible, with a Commentary equal to the exigencies of the age, to the extension of reading and research, to its recent acquisitions in language, to the varied readings which collations of fresh MSS. have furnished; and we trust that in bringing it down to the New Testament, he will further avail himself of the help of Scholz and Tischendorff, the works of Ephrem, the Syrian, and those numerous other valuable illustrations which a disentombed antiquity is perpetually presenting.

ART. XII.-Scenes on the Shores of the Atlantic. By the Author of "Souvenirs of a Summer in Germany," &c. In 2 vols. London: Newby.

THIS is really a delightful work, gossiping, good-natured and picturesque. It may be more especially recommended to those who persist in looking on Ireland as the most unhappy and wobegone of countries. In the course of her Connaught tour, the authoress gives us a most characteristic and happy delineation of the Green Isle's peasantry, whom she describes as contented in their dispositions, and gay and lively in their costumes. More charming pictures of female beauty and rustic grace we have seldom or never met with. We have no space to quote these, but we unhesitatingly assert that even Switzerland herself has nothing so picturesque to boast of as Erin, at least in this respect. These merry-looking peasantry appear also, from our authoress's account, to be by no means devoid of "creature comforts." True, meat with them is scarce, but then they actually prefer potatoes.

We have various short and most amusing anecdotes in these volumes. One connected with the science of gastronomy, and indeed with the

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national vegetable, we must forthwith quote. "Two London cockneys, evidently fresh arrivals in the gay capital (Paris), and not over deeply versed in the French language, went into the Café de l'Europe, on the Boulevard de la Madelaine, about six o'clock. They were very hungry and called for the carte, in order to get something to eat. Filet de volaille-what's that? psha! some outlandish stuff, I dare say.' The two Londoners were poring over the carte in despair. Fricandeau

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à l'oseille, Rognons sauté au Madère, Bifsteck-Ha!' they both simultaneously exclaimed as the word met their delighted eyes, this looks like something at last. Hallo! garçon! beefsteak pour deux, et dépêchez vous. Oui, oui, Monsieur; avec beaucoup de plaisir.' No,' cried the Englishman, calling him angrily back, not avec that, hang it! avec beaucoup de pommes de terre, you stupid fellow! do you hear." Having got into the humour of story-telling or rather quoting, we think we may as well go on to give another, equally good of its kind, and founded on a somewhat similar mistake. "Nothing goes so much against the grain of an Irish waiter, or indeed any of the fraternity, no matter to what country he belongs, as to confess ignorance upon any one point under the sun. 'I don't know,' is a phrase he can by no means digest. I was greatly amused by a dialogue between my father and the waiter here (at Miltown Malby) last night. You have a table d'hôte in this hotel, have you not?' Why, ye-es, sir— that is—yes, we have sir,' added the man boldly, determined to put a good face on the matter, and making a desperate plunge in the dark. Is there one now?' 'Oh, I dare say, sir. I'll inquire. I'm sure anything you want you can have, sir: always well supplied here, sir.' 'But the table d'hôte, I suppose, is only in summer?' "Can't exactly say what is the season, but we have it very often, sir. Of course it can be whenever you please to order, sir. I'll speak to the landlord, or to the cook; perhaps to-day you'd wish-' My father started a little at the power attributed to him of forming a table d'hôte by his sole will and pleasure. What I wish to know,' he said, 'is, whether there be one now in the hotel, and at what hour, in case any of our party should like to join it.' This was too much for the poor waiter. He shuffled and evaded, but in vain: there seemed nothing for it but to admit the humiliating fact, that the word 'table d'hôte' was Greek to him. After many very hard twistings of the far from white napkin in his hand, and sundry hemmings and coughings, he said, with much reluctance, Why, sir, I really beg pardon, I—I— of course, I know what you mean: but I don't exactly' (with an extraordinary emphasis on the exactly'), 'I don't quite exactly, that is to say, understand,— I. My father extricated the poor waiter from his embarrassment in a moment by explaining; but he was evidently much mortified at having been forced to confess his ignorance of any thing, and departed from the room with considerably less importance than that with which he had flourished into it a few minutes before."

There is a tinge of superstition in our authoress which pleases us, we being somewhat addicted to "ghost-seeing" ourselves. One thing is very certain. A change has been operated in the opinions of edu