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    * ' Nothing was ever more replete with absurdity , or ever gave a fairer handle ^ ( a keener edge ?) or a more irresistible force to the objections and to the sarcasms of infidelity . " This sentiment we shall not

    at present canvass * The figurative * language under which it is partly conveyed is surely in * correct . JUr . B . waves the question , whether the pentateuch was written

    altogether , or partially , by Moses , or whether , as some learned men have contented , it was the compilation of a later writer , and he properly considers it as not at all essential to the proof

    of his proposition to suppose or to maintain that the pentafeucli is perfectly correct and authentic as a narrative ^ ( II 6 , 117 . ) These , nevertheless , are very interesting points of inquiry ; and

    our theological students would perhaps , be materially assisted in the investigation of them bywhat is now a grand desideratum—an English translation of Eichhorn ' s Introduction to the

    Old Testament . Our author assumes that the Jewish scriptures are at present , with little or no variation , the same as they were at the close of the Babylonian captivity , 500

    years before Christ ; the grounds of which assumption he concisel y represents , ( 117—119 . ) He further takes for granted that the main facts of the Jewish history are true , ( 119—121 . )

    From the just and sublime notions entertained by the Jews , of the character and attributes of the Supreme Being , and especially from their cohfirrned belief in the unity of God ^ he deduces

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    the conclusion that they were favoured with a divine revelation ; ( 121 — 1 ' ^ S , ) and he here observes ( 127 , ) that the most enlightened sages of heathen [ and Jewish ] antiquity were strangers to some familiar reasonings derived from

    present appearances in behalf of the leading doctrines of natural religion . By the sages of Jewisii antiquity we conceive him to mean the anti-deluvian patriarchs : but there is some ambiguity , if not inaccuracy , in his expression .

    Mr . B . infers the substantial truth of the history , both of miracles and of ordinary events , contained in the Jewish scriptures ^ from the fairness and impartiality of the historians , ( 128—131 . )

    The characters which they describe are various : some were exemplary — -others ^ wicked ; and if we admit , upon the faith of the Jewish historians , that David was a murderer , and that Solomon was an idolater and a voluptuary , we

    are directed by the preacher to admit likewise , upon the credit of the same impartial writers , that Moses was a divinely authorized legislator , and that Isaiah was an inspired prophet , ( 130 ) We think , however , that this consideration is not stated with Mr . B / s

    accustomed closeness and precision . It is beyond doubt a presumption of the authenticity of the Jewish history contained in the scriptures , that the vices of favourite and illustrious characters are

    there recorded : but though the credibility of the writers may be sufficient to establish the guilt of David and of Solomon in particular transactions , yet it is riot equally , or in the same manner .

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    328 Belshcurfs Summary View .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1807, page 328, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2381/page/40/