the Stoic creed, is only another name for absolute necessity, or fate, to which God and matter, or the universe, which consists of both, is immutably subject. In like manner, we must be careful what ideas we attach to the language which some of their writers have employed in treating of the resurrection from the dead. Seneca, who has written on this subject with much elegance and effect says, " Death, of which we are so much afraid, and which we are so desirous to avoid, is only the interruption, not the destruction, of our existence; the day will come, which will restore us to life." * But that this doctrine of the Stoics is not to be confounded with the Christian doctrine is evident both from the passage in the Acts of the Apostles to which we have before referred, and from a comparison of other parts of their system. According to them, men return to life, not by the voluntary appointment of a wise and merciful God, but by the law of fate; and are not renewed for the enjoyment of a better and happier condition, but draw back into their former state of imperfection and misery. Accordingly, Seneca says, "This restoration many would reject, were it not that their renovated life is accompanied with a total oblivion of past events."+

2. THE EPICUREANS, mentioned in connection with the Stoics, in Acts xvii. were the followers of Epicurus, who flourished about 300 B. C. The principal tenets of his philosophy were, that the world was formed by a fortuitous concourse of atoms. that the government of the world was unworthy the majesty of the gods, who lived in indolence and pleasure; but who were, nevertheless, the proper objects of reverence and worship. They derided the doctrine of providence, and denied the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. The doctrine of Epicurus concerning nature differs from that of the Stoics chiefly in these particulars : that while the latter held God to be the soul of the world, diffused through universal nature, the former admitted no primary intelligent nature into the system, but held atoms and space to be the first principles of all things; and that, whilst the Stoics conceived the active and passive principles of nature to be connected by the chain of fate, Epicurus ascribed every appearance in nature to a fortuitous collision and combination of atoms. Death he considered as the privation of sensation, in consequence of the separation of the soul from the body. He held that when a man dies, the soul

* Epistle 36.

+ See an able and interesting account of this sect, in Enfield's Hist. of Philo sophy, vol. 1. pp 315-361.

is dispersed into the corpuscules or atoms, of which it was composed, and therefore can no longer be capable of thought or perception. The moral philosophy of Epicurus, which is unquestionably the least objectionable part of his system, made the ultimate good of man to consist in pleasure, of which there are two kinds; one consisting in a state of rest, in which both body and mind are undisturbed by any kind of pain; the other arising from an agreeable agitation of the senses, producing a correspondent emotion in the soul. Upon the former of these Epicurus considered the enjoy ment of life to depend. From this statement it is evident that this philosopher was not the preceptor of luxurious and licentious pleasures which he has been represented to be. It is true, he describes pleasure as the ultimate end of living; but pleasure is, in his system, only another term for happiness. Of the Epicureans, then, there were two sorts; the one, called the strict or rigid Epicureans, who placed all pleasure in the happiness of the mind, arising from the practice of moral virtue: the other, called loose or remiss Epicureans, who understood their master in the gross sense, and placed all their happiness in the pleasure of the body, in brutal and sensual pleasure, in living voluptuously, and indulging every desire.* It was with some of this latter description that the apostle came in contact at Athens; and of whom Seneca says, they were profligates, not led into their irregularities by the doctrines of Epicurus; but, being themselves strongly addicted to vice, sought to hide their crimes in the bosom of philosophy, and had recourse to a master who encouraged the pursuit of pleasure, not because they set any value upon that sober and abstemious kind of pleasure which the doctrine of Epicurus allowed, but because they hoped in the mere name, to find some pretext or apology for their debaucheries. +

* See Enfield's History of Philosophy, vol. i.
De Vit. Beat. c. 12.

pp. 444-481.

APPENDIX.

In discussing the subjects of biblical Interpretation and Antiquities, the author originally designed to avail himself of the very judicious distribution of their several parts which had been adopted by his esteemed friend, the Rev. John Whitridge, in his "Outlines of a Scripture Encyclopædia," published in the Critica Biblica. He had not proceeded far in the work, however, before he ascertained that the peculiar nature of his design would necessarily render the scientific arrangement very defective, and was, therefore, obliged to abandon it in favour of the old, but in many respects objectionable method of handling these subjects. It is much to be wished that Mr. Whitridge may be induced to fill up the "outlines" which he has so ably drawn, and favour the Christian world with a work which cannot but materially serve the interests of biblical literature. In the mean time the reader will not be displeased with the following analysis of its contents.

Prefatory Introduction-the Divine Being-Created
Beings-Institutions-Church-Sectaries-

SCRIPTURE LESSONS,

FOR DAILY READING, IN HISTORICAL ORDER.

In the first part of this work, the author has fully stated his opinion on the importance of reading the whole Scriptures in regular order. The following tables, which are constructed upon the arrangement, of the Rev. Geo. Townsend, are designed to promote and assist in the practice of daily reading.

JANUARY.-31 Days.

1. Gen. i. ii. 4-25, 1-3. iii.

2. Gen iv. 1-16, 25, 17—24, 26. v. vi. 3. Gen. vii. viii. and ix.

4. Gen. xi. 1-9. x. xi. 10-26. Job i.

5. Job ii. iii. iv. and v.

6. Job vi. vii, and viii.

7. Job ix. x. and xi.
8. Job xii. xiii. and xiv.
9. Job xv. xvi. and xvii.

10. Job xviii. xix. and xx.

11. Job xxi. xxii. xxiii. and xxiv.

12. Job xxv. xxvi. xxvii. and xxviii.

13. Job xxix. xxx. and xxxi.

14. Job xxxii. xxxiii. and xxxiv.

15. Job xxxv. xxxvi. and xxxvii.

16. Job xxxviii. and xxxix.

17. Job xl. xli. and xlii.

18. Gen. xi. 27-32. xii.—xv. 19. Gen. xvi. xviii. and xix.

20. Gen. xx. xvii. and xxi.

21. Gen. xxii. xxiii. and xxiv.

22. Gen. xxv. 1—6, 19—28, 7—11. xxvi. 1. xxv. 29–34. xxvi. xxv. 17, 18, 12—

16. xxvii.

23. Gen. xxviii. xxix. and xxx.

24. Gen. xxxi. and xxxii.

25. Gen. xxxiii. xxxviii. 1-5. xxxiv. xxxv. 1–27.

26. Gen. xxxvi. xxxvii. and xxxix. 1-6.

27. Gen. xxxviii. 6–30. xxxix. 7—23. xl. xxxv. 28, 29.

28. Gen. xli. and xlii.

29. Gen. xliii. xliv. and xlv.

30. Gen. xlvi. xlvii. and xlviii. 31. Gen. xlix. 1. and Exod.i.

FEBRUARY.-28 Days.

1. Exod. ii. Ps. lxxxviii. Exod. lii. iv. 1-28.

2. Exod. iv. 29, to end. v. vi. and vii.

3. Exod. viii. ix. and x. 1-20.

4. Ex. xii. 1-20. x. 21-27. xi. 1-8. x. 28, 29. xi. 9, 10. xii. 21-36, 40-42. Numb. xxxiii. 1–5. Ex. xii. 37-39, 43-51.

5. Numb. xxxiii. 6—8. Ex. xiii. xiv. xv. 1-26.

6. Numb. xxxiii. 9—15. Exod. xv. 27. xvi. xvii. xix. 7. Exod. xx. xxi. and xxii.

8. Exod. xxiii. xxiv. and xxv.

9. Exod. xxvi. xxvii. and xxviii.

10. Exod. xxix. and xxx.

11. Exod xxxi. xxxii. xxxiii. and xxxiv.

12. Exod. xxxv. xxxvi. and xxxvii.

13. Exod. xxxviii. xxxix. and xl.

14. Levit. i. ii. iii. iv. and v.

15. Levit. vi. vii. and viii.

16. Levit. ix. x. Numb. ix. 1-14. Lev. xi.

17. Levit. xii. xiii. and xiv.

18. Levit. xv. xvi. xvii. and xviii.

19. Levit. xix. xx. xxi. and xxii.

20. Levit. xxiii. xxiv. and xxv. 21. Levit. xxvi. xxvii. Numb. i. 22. Numb. ii. iii. and iv.

23. Numb. v. vi. and vii.

24. Numb. viii. x. 1-10. ix. 15-23. Ex. xviii. 1-26. Numb. xxxiii. 16. x. 11-28. 25. Numb. x. 29-32. Ex. xviii. 27. Numb. x. 33, to end. xi. xxxiii. 17, 18. xii. xiii. 26. Numb. xiv. Ps. xc. Numb. xv.

7. Deut. iv. and v.

8. Deut. vi. vii. viii. and ix.

9. Deut. x. 1-5, 10-32. xi. and xii.

10. Deut. xiii. xiv. xv. and xvi.

11. Deut xvii. xviii. xix. and xx.

12. Deut. xxi. xxii. xxiii. and xxiv.

13. Deut. xxv. xxvi. xxvii. and xxviii.

14. Deut. xxix. xxx. Numb. xxxvi. 13. xxvii. 12-23. Deut. xxxi. 1-21, 23-29.

15. Deut. xxxi. 22-30. xxxii. and xxxiii.

16. Deut. xxxiv. Jos. i. 1-9. ii. i. 10-18. iii. iv.

17. Josh. v. 1–12. vi. 1. v. 13-15. vi. 2-27. vii. viii. 1-29.

18. Josh. ix. and x. 1, to the end.

xiv. 6-15. xv. 13-19, 1-12, 20—63. xvi.

19. Josh. xi. viii. 30-35. xxii. xii. xiii.
20. Josh. xiv. 1-5. xiii. 15-33.
21. Josh. xvii. xviii. and xix.
22. Josh. xx. xxi. xxiii. and xxiv.
23. Jud. i. ii. 1–13. xvii. and xviii.

24. Jud. xix. xx. and xxi.
25. Jud. ii. 14-23. iii. iv. and v.
26. Jud. vi. 1-6. Ruth i. ii. iii. iv.

27. Jud. vi. 7, to end, and vii. viii.
28. Jud. ix. x. and xi.

29. Jud. xii. xiii. 1 Sam. i. ii. 1–21.

30. 1 Sam. iii. Jud. xiv. xv. 1-19. 1 Sam. ii. 22-36. 31. Jud. xvi. 1 Sam. iv. v. and vi.