wife, how could the head have been feparated from the vertebræ, or the jaw from the head? Such a separation feldom happens till after a long ftate of putrefaction. I am therefore led to conclude, that there had been a facrifice and a feaft, and that this animal was the victim. Such offerings were not unufual in this part of the world; and the afs was the common food of the people in the vicinity of Edom and Ifhmael, as may be known from the history of the Ithmaelites. Of them we are told, that upon their being converted to Chriftianity they gave up the feeding upon wild affes and camels. Why they abridged themfelves of this indulgence, I know not; it is fufficient that we are from this evidence certified, that they once fed upon them; and what they fed upon they generally offered to their gods. This affords fome authority for the cuftom prevailing in Philiftim and Canaan.” P. 132.

It affords, indeed, high authority for believing that the cuf tom prevailed in Philiftim and Canaan; and that authority is confirmed by various other teflimonies, which the erudition of the author has here brought to view. But if fuch was the cafe, the miraculous exploit of Samfon was a confpicuous manifeftation of the fuperiority of Jehovah over the gods of the Philiflines; fince a bone of that very animal which had been offered in facrifice to their tutelar deity was made the inftrument of their own deftruction, as well as of the preservation of their moft formidable foe. There is no neceffity, therefore, in order to maintain the author's great principle of the reference of the fcripture miracles to the hiflory and religion of the perfons immediately concerned, to fuppofe that the Onager was deified by the Philiflines; and far lefs to contend, in oppofition to all antiquity, and even to the teftimony of the facred hiftorian, that Lehi received not its name from the wonderful exploit of the Hebrew chief, and that the fountain of Lehi was anterior to that exploit. If there was any water there previous to the miracle, it was in all probability a falt water pool; for Dagon, the great god of the Philistines, feems to have been a marine deity, the fame with the Neptune of the Greeks and Romans; and near to his temple there may have been a pool full of facred fifh, as we know there was near to the temple of Derceto, the goddefs of Afkelon. But of all this the facred writer makes no mention: he fays only, that when Samfon was athirft and ready to die, God, at his earnest prayer, clave a hollow place, not in the jaw-bone, but in the rock, or whatever elfe was, at the time of writing the Book of Judges, denominated Lehi, or the Jaw; that " water came thereout"; and that he (Samfon) called the name "thereof En-hakkore", the fountain of him that prayed, which fountain (ry), was in Lehi when he (the author) was writing.

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To

To this interpretation of the paffage, the author makes fome objections; but they are altogether unworthy of him, and fuch indeed as deferve no anfwer. Thus, when he contends that Samfon could not drink of the waters which the wild afs had found ages before at Lehi, becanfe for footh they were confecrated to that animal, he forgets that St. Paul permits Chriftians, net indeed to join in idol facrifices, but to cat whatever was fold in the fhanibles, whether it had been offered to idols or not, afking no queftions for confcience-fake; and that Samfon, however irregular the general current of his life may have been, was certainly at Lehi under the influence of the fame fpirit by which the Apofle wrote. David likewise, in a cafe of extremity, ate the fhew-bread, which was unqueftionably confecrated to the true God; and as fuch could not, in ordinary cafes, be eaten without fin but by priests only; and why might not Samfon have drunk, to quench his thirst, of a fountain even confecrated to the god of the Philistines, had there been any fuch in the place called Lehi? By doing fo in private, he would not furely have been guilty of idolatry, fecing that "an idol is nothing in the world"; and the effect produced on the minds of the Philiftines, fuppofing them to have feen him drink of their facred flream, could not have been fo pernicious as that which must have refulted from their perceiving a fountain fpring from the jaw-bone of their god

of fountains.

The obfervations which follow, on Samfon's defroying the corn of the Philiftines by foxes and firebrands, are excellent, and ought to filence for ever the cavils of infidelity, and the petulance of ignorance. The ftratagem, as is here proved by the most unexceptionable teftimonics, was common in the early ages of the world; and it was obviously as well calculated to ferve the end propofed, as any thing which the wit of man could devife. We are extremely forry that we cannot allow the fame merit to the fucceeding differtation.

That there are difficulties in the fcriptural account of the fun and moon's flanding fill at the command of Jofhua, has been often felt, and we believe never denied; but the account of every miracle must be attended with difficulties, to him who prefumes to judge of the immediate operations of God by the principles of a fuperficial philofophy. That he, by whofe volition alone the heavenly bodies move, according to fixed laws, in their refpective orbits, could by another volition fufpend thefe diurnal motions, and arreft the rotation of the earth, for inftance, round her own axis, will not furely be denied by any man who is acquainted with the first principles of mechanical philofophy, and has any tolerable notion of the power and wifdom of

God. But this is all that was neceflary to produce the miraculous phænoinenon recorded in the Book of Jofhua; and yet fo confident is the author, that the whole account of that phænomenon cannot be true, that, without pretending to the authority of any ancient manufcript, he rafhly pronounces part of it an interpolation from the Book of Jafher, which he fuppofes to have been a work of no credit*. He retails the objections to this narrative, which have been a thoufand times urged by others, and as often anfwered, though unworthy of an answer; but refts his own objection to the poffibility of the miracle on the circumftance of Jofhua's being, at the time when it is faid to have been wrought, beyond Gibeon and Ajalon, towards the fouth.

We have seen that the two cities, Gibeon and Ajalon, bordered upon each othert, and were in the tribe of Dan. Joshua, chap. xix. ver. 42. When Jofhua came to their affiftance, upon their being fuddenly attacked, and in great danger from the five kings, their deliverance was quickly infured. We have alfo feen, that Joshua drove the enemy downwards towards the south, and pursued them to Bethoron. From that place the enemy fled to Azekah and Makkedah, farther fouth. The whole progrefs of Joshua from Gibeon was in that direction, with the Sun before him; and at the fame time, during this purfuit, the city Gibeon, and the vale of Ajalon, were behind him, directly north. How then could the Sun and Moon be seen over them, when they were in fo contrary a part in the heavens? If there be any truth in hiftory, no fuch appearances could have happened. The fuppofition is ill-founded, and the fact impoffible." P. 175.

This language is abundantly confident; and yet the argument derives all its apparent force from the author's mistaking the fenfe of the original Hebrew. The radical import of the word, which Arias Montanus and he fuppofe to be filence, is equable, level, uniform, even, parallelt. The fun mufl therefore have been ready to fet, with his rays paffing in a horizontal direction, gilding perhaps the turrets of Gibeon, when Joshua faid on my wow, falar light remain on Gibeon.

* For fome excellent obfervations on the Book of Jafher, the reader is referred to the late excellent Bishop Horne's Letters on Infidelity.

+ For the truth of this, no fatisfactory proof is brought; and we are inclined to think, that though both in the country of the fame tribe, they were at a confiderable distance from each other.

This is fufficiently proved by Mr. Parkhurst in his Lexicon; where it is likewife fhown, that the word tranflated fun fignifies often the folar rays; and that ➡wn yna might be rendered the folar light ftayed in the visible horizon".

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Accordingly, when in the fubfequent verle it is faid, that the fun food fill and the moon flaid", the word employed, when speaking of the moon, is ; of which the radical meaning is, to be fupported in a place. The fact then feems to have been, that jull when the fun was fetting, and when the moon was fhining faintly on the vale of Ajalon, which was too low to be then touched by the folar rays, the diurnal rotation of the earth was flopt; and if fo, how could it be impoflible for perfons further fouth than Gibeon and Ajalon to fee the phænomenon which followed this exertion of almighty power?

Let not the reader, however, fuppofe that Mr. Bryant has here deferted the caufe of revelation. He admits that a miracle was performed at Gibeon and Ajalon; though it had no relation, he fays, to the luminaries in the heavens;

"but to two idolatrous, and probably oracular, temples of the Sun and Moon, for which the two places mentioned were celebrated. There were many others in Canaan, where the like worship prevailed, as we may learn from the cities ftyled Beth-Shan, Beth-Sur, BethShemesh, Beth-Meon, Beth-Baal-Meon, and the like." P. 179.

This we readily admit; and if he had afferted, that the rays of the fetting fun, when he was arrested in his course, were gilding the turrets of the temple dedicated to his worship at Gibeon, we fhould not have called in queflion the truth of the affertion; but though the miracle was probably wrought to wean the Gibeonites from their idolatry, and to guard the Ifraelites from the danger of their example, we fee no neceffity for adopting the following emendation of the facred text.

"And it came to pafs, as they fled before Ifrael, and were in going down to Bethoron, that the Lord caft down great ftones from heaven upon them, unto Azekah, and they died. There were more, which died with hail-ftones, than they which the children of Ifrael flew with the fword. Then fpake Jofhua to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Ifracl; Sun, upon (the high place of) Gibeon be filent; and, thou Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And Jofhua returned, and all the people with him, unto the camp at Gilgal." Chap. x. ver. 11, &c.

Here the 13th and 14th verfes of our prefent text are omitted, and the author's interpretation of the 12th confidentlyinferted as its true meaning. But he fupports it thus:

"The words of Jofhua are undoubtedly uttered in the name of God, and not addreffed to the two fictitious luminaries, except in a fecondary direction; and were probably a wish, and prayer, rather than a command. They proceeded from an ardent zeal to eftablish the worship and true religion of the Deity, and from a grateful fenfe of his good

nefs

nefs in affording fuch a miraculous victory. The purport and ultimate defign of this addrefs, though couched in a fmall compafs, feems to be this:-God of all victory, may thy people, from this inftance of thy fuperiority, be confirmed in their duty, and worship thee alone. And may the Gibeonites, and their confederates, by this difplay of thy power, be weaned from their idolatry, and fee the inferiority of their bafe deities. May the Sun, whofe oracular temple ftands upon Mount Gibeon, be dumb; and the Moon, whose shrine is in the valley of Aialon, be equally filent. May their oracles ceafe for ever." P. 187.

All this is very plaufible and very pious; but may not we with equal plaufibility, and in conformity with the facred text, fuppofe the purport and ultimate defign of Jofhua's addrefs to be this?

"God of all victory, may thy people, from this inftance of thy fuperiority, be confirmed in their duty, and worship thee alone. And may the Gibeonites, by this difplay of thy power, be weaned from their idolatry, and fee the inferiority of their bafe deities. May the Sun be compelled by thee to linger in the horizon, fhining on the temples of Gibeon, and the Moon to ftand over the valley of Ajalon, that thefe two greateft deities of the nations beholding, as it were, the overthrow of their votaries, may bear witness to their own impotence, and thus proclaim to all the earth-" The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God."

To prove the fuperiority of Jehovah over the gods of Canaan, is undoubtedly the moral import of the miracle. Thus far we entirely agree with the author; and we leave it to the reader to judge for himfelf, whether fuch a proof would have been most completely exhibited by filencing two heathen oracles, whilft hundreds were permitted, even in the neighbourhood, to give out their refponfes as formerly; or, by arresting in their courfes the Sun and Moon, the two greateft Divinities of all the heathen nations, until the worshippers of the true God had avenged themfelves on their votaries. To us we confefs, that there appears fo little room for ftating a comparifon between the two miracles confidered in this refpect, that even the love of novelty and paradox feems hardly fufficient to account for the origin of Mr. Bryant's hypothefis.

Of this author's obfervations on the hiftory of Jonah, with which the work before us concludes, we know not what cha.racter to give. They display, as ufual, great ingenuity, and great erudition, while they contain nothing contrary to the facred text; but for the theory advanced, however plaufible in itself, we long for better evidence. Having afcertained that Gath Hepher, the place of the prophet's refidence, was in the country afterwards called Galilee, and Galilee of the nations; and having fatisfied himfelf, that the Galileans were a