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    l ^ crcl . The tone of histo ry can as lit tie remain the same , through succeeding centuries , as the world a ^ T mankind ; the differences of n ^ ttio nv 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 t ^ e worl d , and how yputhful is its tone ? Its subject * is chiefly the domestic life of some shepherds ;

    and it every where breathes the noble simplicity and domestic frankness of the pastoral life . Let any one in the soft stillness of morning , and with a mind open to impressions of the most

    delightful simplicity , read and imbibe the spirit of a passage from the life of Abraham , Isaac , or Jacob , arid then immediately read and imbibe the spirit of another , from the life of David or Solomon , or

    one of the heroes in the Book of Judges ; - —s # xejy 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

    ^ Iteration between the two . In the one , pure unsophisticated nature , which makes its way to the heart ; in the other , nature in-4 eed , bi ^ t no | in suc ^ * u ^ streaiia s 5 in the one , a deep tone of the most primitive simplicity ; in the other , somewhat of a toftier tone , with

    less originality ; in the . one the jjnmixe ^ l language of , hfiman na-^ ure ; . in the other a mixture of ^ Jjg c olours qf advance ^ culture fflfi ty xyfyf And if «* ge , and , w iu ^ lli ty to p ^ tch % m ind &t tfw Hyvi infamy wd youth * make

    !{ £ » hira > feam by fin experiment with a child no % y * t corrupted by

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    false taste , what different impressions are made upon the tender minds of children , by the histories of such different times . u 4 f . 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 . u Abraham comes out of Mesopotamia , the country which gave birth to the pastoral life , after the flood J and is . in his mode of life a strict shepherd . When guesifc come to him , he himself runs to

    the herd for a calf , and dresses it himself , like Patroclus in Homer ; he places before them , —not wine , although that was in use even in his time in Canaan ( see Gen . xiv . IS . ) but milk , agreeably to the

    strict pastoral manners * ( Gen . 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 arc of cooking the flesh of tame animals so as to resemble vension , ( £ xvii , 9- ) he takes pleasure no longer ia his flocks and herds , but pxocures from the king of Gerar , a piece > of tillage-land for the sake of convenience , and becomes an half domesticated shepherd .

    " A later . author would have carried ; forward this change and declension pf vm ^ oBers ^ in the hte * to ry of Jacob and Esau ; but quite differently , and with a much

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    Eichhorn oft tit * Authenticity of the Book of Genesis . SB 9

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1812, page 359, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1749/page/15/