CURRENT LITERATURE.
Historical Illustrations of the Old Testament. By the Rev. G.
Rawlinson. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.)—This is a handy volume, in which Professor Rawlinsou collects a number of illus- trations of Old-Testament history, gathered from snob sources as Assyrian inscriptions, &e. It will be useful to the class of readers for whom it is intended, who have not leisure to study the subject in full, as, for instance, it is set forth in the Professor's own works. All edu- cated persons are, we suppose, agreed that the Old Testament histories, the miraculous element being put aside, are, on the whole, as trust- worthy, to say the least, as any books of the kind in existence. Bat there are still, we fancy, ill-informed persons who still talk as if they wore not authentic. Such will find a very conclusive answer here. To give en instance from one of Mr. Rawlinson's "illustrations." It is very noteworthy that Shadrach and his companions are thrown into a furnace, a punishment which a Babylonian king would have no reason against using; but that Daniel is exposed to wild beasts, the Babylonian rulers having given place to a Persian dynasty, to whom such a use of fire would seem horrible profanity. This proves nothing as to the inspiration of the Scriptures, but it goes a long way, especially when it is backed up by a number of coincidences of the same kind, towards proving their genuineness. We could wish that the author had confined himself to what is strictly historical. When ho goes beyond it, when, for instance, he discusses the ago of the antediluvians, he is not satis- factory. To us it seems not in the least to strengthen the ease for the orthodox interpreter to find that similar longevity was attributed by other nations to the legendary heroes of their prehistoric times.
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