A SHORT VIEW or THE WHOLE SCRIPTURE HISTORY, &c. The History of the Old Testament. THE INTRODUCTION. THERE is no history in the world so ancient as the bible, nor is there any which gives us so early an account of things. The Old Testament begins at the creation of the world, brings us into acquaintance with Adam and live our first parents, informs us of their state of innocence, their sin against God, and their being drivenout of paradise ; it recounts the first generations of men, and their multiplied iniquities, which provoked God to destroy them by a flood. Then it treats of the character, circumstances and conduct of Noah and Abraham, and of their families after the flood, en- largingmost upon the household of Jacob or Israel the grandson of Abraham, who, at the invitation of his son Joseph, went down with his family to dwell in Egypt,- where they were enslaved by Pharaoh the king. The history proceeds to the deliverance of the Israelites out of Egyptian bondageby Moses and Aaron, and their being set apart to be a peculiar people to God. It rehearses the laws and statutes which were given them, together with their sins and punishments while they were in the wilderness, travelling to the land of Canaan, which God had promised them. Then there follows an account of their conquest over the land of Canaan under the conduct of Joshua ; their government by judges several hundred years; and after that, there is a narrative of their four first kings, viz. Saul, David, Solomon, and Rehoboam. In his days the nation was divided into two kingdoms, whichwere called the kingdom of Israel and the king- dom of Judah. There are also particular records of the government of these two distinct kingdoms under a long succession of their own kings, till they were both carried into captivity by the kings of Assyria. After this, the sacred history relates the return of many of them, chiefly the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, into their own land, and their rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, and the temple
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