The Typology of Scripture [pp. 508-520]

1'airbairn on Ezekiel.
If we might venture to suggest a task for the useful employ-,.
ment of our author's powers, it would be a systematic work on
the antiquities of Scripture, in which the religious and the typical element should have its due predominance, instead of being.
superseded by the civil and the secular. This idea has been
acted on already by Ewald in the archaeological supplement to
his History of Israel, but not in such a way as to. satisfy the
minds of evangelical Christians. Such a work woukt afford the
opportunity of bringing out the substance of the "Typology'. in
new forms, or at least in still more striking apptic"tions than
can be expected in compositions pureliT 4xegeticat,. If this
should not be practicable or expedient w6'.woltld4 recommend a
new edition of the Typology, as soon as cirecirstances warrant
it, with some improvement in the distribution and arrangement,
and a great deal in the hstyle, which is now disfigured by verbosity and Scottish idioms. Of this we should not venture,'as
Americans, to judge by any standard of our own; but we, are
not accustomed, even in contemporary English writers, to such
frequent use of "timeous," "open up," and above all of the
adverb "just," which may be reckoned as a kind of Scottish
Shibboleth. There are other literary faults in these perform ances which would almost seem to, indicate their'having been
prepared for oral delivery, but which sensibly detract from their
effect as books designed to- be deliberately read. Among these
are the frequent repetitions and the long and involyed sen tences, which seem to be considered indispensable in public speech
by many of our Scottish brethren. By pruning this luxuriance
and in other ways condensing the expression without lessening
the substance, this important work might be made accessible to
many who are now unable or unwilling to make use of it. Its
literary merit and its logical effect would also gain instead of
losing by the change. But even as it is, we should rejoice to
see it placed within the reach of American readers, and have
no doubt that it would be permanently useful to the religious
public generally, and in an eminent degree to ministers and
students of theology, as an unpretending but invaluable aid in
the exegetical study of the Scriptures, and in the regular exposi tory labours of the desk and pulpit.
520
[JULY;