MANY and many a time during the latter years of my College course, as I had taken up my Bible for the daily chapter, had I thought of the time in the near future of my Seminary days, when the Book of Books itself would be my constant study. But the ideal was never realized; for there were ever a hundred other volumes claiming one's attention: Greek and Hebrew, and Theology and History, and Homiletics and Church Polity, and a score of allied subjects besides. And while the Bible was back of them all, while the Bible inspired them all, there was not in my own life the deep, earnest study of God's Word for which I had longed for years. Without doubt, it was all my own fault; at any rate, the Bible study was not there.

It was at this juncture that the idea came for a Harmony of the Books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles. I had begun, for my own private Bible study, a Harmony of the Four Gospels. A long walk succeeded the first two hours' work on the Gospel narratives; and with it came the thought: A thousand men have done this work before; why not accept some of the work that they have done—at least for a while—and try your skill in unplowed fields ? The result of that thought was the conception of the present volume.

Until the completion of the first draft of the manuscript, I was not aware that such a work had ever been undertaken before. Since then I have learned that there are certain works, out of date and out of print, that have embodied the conception, more or less fully. But so far as it has been possible to learn, the present work is the only one of its kind.

The volume as it stands to-day is the outgrowth of its first conception, in its general outline. The six books of the Old Testament that have been used as material, have been subjected to the most careful analysis; and the result is a " Harmony," divided into five books, under the general name of "The Books of the Kings of Judah and Israel "—which, by the way, happens to be the title, with the exception of the addition of one letter, of one of the thirty and more Books of Old Testament times now lost to the world—which Books, in their turn, have been, more or less, the original material from which the six books under consideration have been compiled. The question of the compilation or the editing of the said books, however, does not fall within the province of this work.

The result of our study is something more than simply a Harmony of the Books of First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First and Second Chronicles; it embodies a careful analytical outline, the value of which, it is thought, will be as great as those sections displaying the Harmony idea—an outline, toward the perfection of which every verse of the six books in question has contributed its share— an outline, in which books, parts, divisions, sections, subsections, and even the sub divisions of the subsections, all have their own individual raison d'être.

From the very nature of the case, the Harmony involves a study of the chronology. Such study, while it has been one of the most fascinating features of the whole work, has likewise been the most difficult. In the matter of Biblical chronology, the basal law seems to be, " Every man for himself, and the critic take the hindermost." In conformity with the workings of this law, the author of the present work does not profess to agree with any one among the many different authorities on Bible chronology—that is, in detail; though it would be here proper to state that all the material available for chronological study has been used, and where traditional views and interpretations have been departed from, it has been only after the maturest consideration and the most careful weighing of evidence.

It would simply be an impossibility, in a volume of this size, to give all the reasons for adopting the particular order in the disputed cases; for those reasons are oftentimes purely internal. A full discussion of the reasons for the particular order of events in Elisha's life, for example, would occupy many pages. The same may be said of the interpretation of the life and history of David; but where it has been feasible, attention has been called to such reasons in the footnotes.

For the merits of the chronology, my especial thanks are due to Dr. Willis J. Beecher, of Auburn Theological Seminary, whose study and system of chronology have not only been of inestimable value, but whose personal suggestions have always been most helpful. For a few felicitous phrases in the Analytical Outline, I am indebted to the translators of Lange's Commentaries.

The text is that of the Revised Version of 1884, which, for purposes of historical study, is confessedly the best English version to be had. The footnotes are, to a great extent, the marginal readings of the Revised Version; though from the natural requirements of the Harmony, several hundred of these have been omitted as needless, and a few others for other reasons. Many have been slightly changed, or added to, for the convenience of the student. The remaining notes are inserted for chronological or other explanatory reasons.

The Four Gospels, as the original material for the study of the life of Christ, must ever be the ground of absorbing and supremest interest to the Bible student. What those four books are to the New Testament, as the field for historical study, the six books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles are to the Old: they are the principal sources of Old Testament history and chronology, and are the books most under discussion to-day. A Harmony of the Gospels has already become the indispensable aid to every student of the life of Christ, or even of the literature of the New Testament. It is hoped that this work will meet a long-felt want for some such study of the principal historical books of the Older Revelation.

A " Harmony," the volume has been called, though, as already stated above, it is much more than a mere Harmony. On the other hand, it is to be remembered that much that is arranged in parallel columns in it is not harmonious—cannot be made harmonious. And yet, in this very connection, it is also to be remembered, that the parallel passages are valuable, not so much for their perfect correspondences as for their many differences; for God's Word and we are the richer far for every such difference. It is hoped that the careful study of these pages will help to reconcile some of these divergencies. Many will probably never be solved until we come to stand before the Great White Throne. But if this volume will aid in any way to a clearer knowledge of some of the many knowable things, and by that knowledge, aid— though but indirectly—in the fulfilling of the loving Master's greatest prayer, that the Kingdom may come, it will accomplish that whereunto it is sent.

 William D. Crockett.