300 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



III. Regularity of Plan. — This last division of Dr. Jones's lee 

 ture is opened with some general remarks on the advantages of or- 

 der and system in composition. Evidently expressing intuitive ex- 

 perience, he observes : — 



" Though method and arrangement may be the more retired and secret 

 fund of hterary beauty, and known as well as prized by those whose large 

 comprehension enables them to take wide and therefore accurate views, still 

 order is ever pleasing, even to the humblest minds that cannot comprehend 

 its symmetry and its rules. At the same time, the highest because the most 

 intellectual pleasure does await him who can discover and value the various 

 well-apportioned and adjusted sections of a system or a treatise, and observe 

 with what adaptation and evidence each part conspires to develope, illustrate 

 and confirm the main whole. Hence we find the admiration of critics, both 

 ancient and modern, warmed indeed by the sentiment and diction of Homer, 

 yet stimulated to a degi-ee of enthusiastic admiration when their attention is 

 turned to the identity of character, the consistent plan, the transparent me- 

 thod to be found in his two immortal poems. If plan and arrangement, the 

 off'sj)ring of mere human talent, be attended with such a power, what may 

 we not "expect from the Divine mind? Let us therefore inquire, if this 

 source also of literary beauty and dehght is not to be found in the Holy 

 Scriptures, which contain a mine of wisdom and of mercy ; and, the further 

 and deeper the search, the richer and more abundant is the reward. Can 

 there then be any subject better qualified at once to satisfy and sanctify in- 

 quiry, than to trace out the mighty and mysterious clue of the Divine eco- 

 nomy ?" 



With this most interesting inquiry Dr. Jones completes the last 

 head of his lecture ; and, like the rest, this abounds with observa- 

 tions well-calculated to secure the respect and improvement of the 

 simple and the wise, of the unlearned and of them who excel in 

 knowledge. Thus, he says : — 



" We shall find the Bible to be the work of one Divine author, with its 

 great and ultimate design carried on, through difletent dispensations, but 

 still through iunnan agencies and national events. That design commences 

 with the beginning of time, and ends when time shall be no more. Natu- 

 rally therefore, may we look for that imity of intention and specific purpose, 

 which as the unerring proof of high intellect among men cannot but be ex- 

 pected in the perfect councils and word of God. What then do we absolutely 

 find ? We find, in the writings of Moses, that after a short but most im- 

 pressive detail of Adam's primitive happiness and of his fiUl from that state 

 of bliss and purity, the grand, the gracious object of all the succeeding deal- 

 ings of God with man, is at once proposed — the promise of pardon to fallen 

 man and his restoration to his Creator's favour. This, as the well-spring of 

 life immortal, diffuses its healing streams through every page of the sacred 

 volume: it hallows all its precepts, and evangelizes all its prophecies. Still, 

 human means and agencies were called forth, under the divine guidance. 

 The first step taken to accomplish this glorious end, was the selection of the 

 Jews from the midst of an idolatrous and jiagan world, sunk in vice and ig- 

 norance. Laws were ordained, and services appointed to preserve this people 

 a peculiar and chosen race. The rites and ceremonies enjoined, had at once 

 the effect of signifying better promises to come, while their observance kept 

 up a civil and national distinction— a total identity. If again, we look to the 

 prophecies, we shall see the designs of divine mercy gradually and more 

 clearly developing, growing stronger and more explicit, on the approach of 

 that glorious event which they predicted. If we carry the mind further, and 



