In the year 1826, Robinson, then thirty-two years of age, undertook a voyage to Europe in order there to complete his theological education at the fountain- heads of German learning and research. He spent his time chiefly at the universities of (iiittingen, Halle, and Berlin, and became, in point of persevering industry, a German among Germans. He was particularly inti- mate with Gesenius, Tholuck, and Riidiger in Halle, and with Neander and Ritter in Berlin. To the cele- brated Berlin geographer, who elevated geography to the dignity of a science, constituting it the indispensa- ble companion of ethnographj' and historj', and who united with depth of learning sincere piety and a child- like faith, he was allied during his whole life by the closest bonds of esteem and affection, which were fully reciprocated by Ritter. He considered Ritter, as he as- sured the writer of this article on presenting, in 1844, a letter of introduction from him, the greatest man of his time. In 1828 he was married in Halle to The- rese Albertine Luise, youngest daughter of L. A. von Jacob, professor of philosophj^ and political science at the University of Halle, a highly gifted lady of thor- ough culture, who has acquired, under the nam de jilume
of Talvj,a well-merited reputation as a writer, and who, with German love and tidelity, was a true helpmeet to her American husband, in his literary labors, until he died.
After his return to America in 1830, Robinson was appointed professor extraordinary of Biblical literature and librarian at the Theological Seminary in Andover. Soon after, in 1831, he founded and edited a learned theological quarterly, the Biblical Repusitor;/. which subsequently (in 1851) was united with the Bibliothc- ca Sacra, founded in 1844, and edited by himself in conjunction with the Anilover professors Edwards and Park, and as such still exists. This flourishing jie- riodical contained in its first volumes, besides valuable independent articles, particular!}- by Robinson and Stu- art, manj' translations and reviews of German works, and was thus a means -of transferring the best results of foreign biblical and theological research to American soil. In the year 1832 Robinson published an improved and enlarged edition of Calmet's Dictionai-y of the Jiible, which proved very successful. A year later he issued a smaller Dictionary of the Bible, for popular use, of which thousands of copies were spread abroad through the American Tract Society. At the same time he published in Halle a translation, by himself, of Butt- mann's Gi'eek Grammar, which has since then repeated- ly reappeared in new and improved editions, and was, and is still, largely used as a text- book in American colleges.
These severe labors, in connection with his daily du- ties as instructor, undermined his health, and forced him, in 1833, to resign his position. He removed to Boston, and there devoted himself to his studies. In 1834 he published a revised edition of Newcome's Greek Har- mony of the Gospels, which was far superior to the ear- lier editions, and a valuable contribution to the literature on Gospel harmony. It was based on Knapp's text of the New Test,, and did not possess the advantages of the later researches of Lachmann, Tischendorf, Alford, and Tregelles in the field of textual criticism. At the same time Robinson completed an English transla- tion of Gesenius's Hebrew - Latin Lexicon, which first appeared in 1836, met a great want, and contributed much to the advancement of the study of Hebrew in America. The second and later editions were enriched by many additions from the 7'hesatniis of Gesenius. The most important fruit, however, of this season of leisure in Boston was the preparation of an indepen- dent Greek and Ent/lish Lexicon of the New Test., which at once took the place of the author's translation of Wahl's Claris. He made frequent use of his predeces- sors— Bruder, Schleussner, AVahl, Bretschneider, and all exegetic sources of importance; and. in the later edi- tions particularly, of the commentaries of De Wette and Meyer, which he preferred on accoimt of their great philological advantages and concise brevity, without, however, allowing them to disturb his Amer- ican orthodoxy in any important point. This ex- tremely valuable and sterling work first appeared in 1836, and was at once welcomed as the best English lexicon of the New Test., and reprinted in three differ- ent editions in England. A new edition, greatly im- proved and, in part, entirely altered, a])peared in 1850, and made it the first work of its kind to the present time. It is likewise an almost complete concordance, and en- ables the student to nearly dispense with Bruder. This work is a monument of labor and industry. Its niollo is, " Dies diem docet," and " Nulla dies sine linea." The exegetical point of view of the author belongs to the historico-grammatical school foinided by Winer, so far as it agrees with a stricter conception of inspiration and a decidedly Protestant-orthodox acceptation of all im- portant doctrines. He kept eipially aloof from ration- alism and from mysticism, and was a progressive super- naturalist.
In the year 1837, Prof. Robinson received a call as professor of Biblical literature to the Union Theological
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Seminary of New York, a Presbyterian institution re- ceiitlv tuiindcd, which since then, and chietiy through rrot'. Itobinson, has risen to tlie first rank of theological seminaries in America, and stands side by side with An- dover and Princeton ; and which, by his efforts, was en- riched, at an early day, by the Van Ess library and other literary treasures. He accepted the call on condition of his "being permitted to devote some years (at his own expense) to the investigation of the Holy Land on the spot itself before entering upon his duties. On July 17, 1837, he sailed for Europe with his family, left the latter in (Jermany, and travelled by way of Athens and Egypt to Palestine. In conjunction with the Rev. Eli Smith, a highly esteemed missionary of the American Board, who was an accomplished Arabic scholar, he explored, with the acute judgment of a critical scholar and the devout heart of a believer in the Bible, all the impor- tant places of the Holy Land. In October, 1838, lie re- turned to Berlin, after having been detained at Vieima' bv a severe illness, contracted during his travels, which nearly proved fatal. The two following years, spent in the metropolis of German science in the preparation of his Biblical Researches in Palestine, were among the hap- piest of his life. This pioneer work, which since then has been consulted and quoted on all questions of Bibli- cal geography and topogra|ihy by all the scholars of America, England, and Germany, appeared simultane- ously in America and England in the original, and in (iermany in a translation revised by jMrs. Kobinson, in 1841, and secured the immortality of the author's name, plp.fing him, in Biblical geography, in the same rank with Bochart, Reland, Hitter, Raumer, and Burckhardt; as in Biblical philology he stands side by side with Wahl, Gesenius, and Winer. The Biblical Researches are based throughout on personal inspection and inves- tigation by the aid of the telescope, compass, and meas- uring-tape; on keen observation, strict regard to truth, and sound and wholly independent judgment, which allowed itself to be dazzled by no medi;\>val traditions or venerable monkish legends, but was guided by the principle, '• Prima historiaj lex est, ne (jiiid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat." Though necessarily dry in many details, his simple and massive slyle rises at times to true eloquence. The work was immediate- ly received with great favor in Germany, England, and America, and still continues to be quoted as the first au- thority in its department. We give as examples three criticisms upon it. Ritter says of it {Die Erd/cunde von Asien, viii, div. ii, 73) :