numerals. First, the number 600,000 on foot, that were male beside children,' is given distinctly in E.xii. 37, at the time of their leaving Egypt; then we have it recorded again, as we have said, thrice over, in different forms, in E.xxxviii. 25-28, at the beginning of the forty years' wanderings, when the number of all that 'went to be numbered, from twenty years old and upward,' is reckoned at 603,550; and this is repeated again in N.i.46; and it is modified once more, at the end of the wanderings, to 601,730, N.xxvi.51. Besides which, on each occasion of numbering, each separate tribe is numbered, and the sum of the separate results makes up the whole. 156. Thus this number is woven, as a kind of thread, into the whole story of the Exodus, and cannot be taken out, without tearing the whole fabric to pieces. It affects, directly, the account of the construction of the Tabernacle, E.xxxviii. 25-28, and, therefore, also the account of the institutions, whether of the Priesthood or of Sacrifice, connected with it. And the multiplied impossibilities introduced by this number alone, independently of all other considerations, are enough to throw discredit upon the historical character of the general narrative.

158. But how thankful we must be, that we are no longer obliged to believe, as a matter of fact, of vital consequence to our eternal hope, each separate statement contained in the Pentateuch, such, for instance, as the story related in N.xxxi !-where we are told that a force of 12,000 Israelites slew all the males of the Midianites, took captive all the females and children, seized all their cattle and flocks, (72,000 oxen, 61,000 asses, 675,000 sheep), and all their goods, and burnt all their cities, and all their goodly castles,' without the loss of a single man,-and then, by command of Moses, butchered in cold blood all the women and children, except

·

'All the women-children, who have not known a man by lying with him,' v.18.

159. These last they were to 'keep alive for themselves.' They amounted, to 32,000, v.35, mostly, we must suppose, under the age of sixteen or eighteen. We may fairly reckon that there were as many more under the age of forty, and half as many more above forty, making altogether 80,000 females, of whom, according to the story, Moses ordered 48,000 to be killed, besides (say) 20,000 young boys. The tragedy of Cawnpore, where 157. These things we have all along 300 were butchered, would sink into been looking at, as it were, from a nothing, compared with such a massacre, distant point of view, through a misty if, indeed, we were required to believe it. atmosphere, dreading, it may be, some And these 48,000 females must have of us, to approach and gaze more represented 48,000 men, all of whom, closely upon the truth itself, which, in that case, we must also believe to once clearly seen, must dissipate have been killed, their property pillaged, some of our most cherished convic- their castles demolished, and towns tions, and hardly daring, indeed, to destroyed, by 12,000 Israelites, who, engage in (what many would consider) in addition, must have carried off an irreverent and impious undertaking. 100,000 captives, (more than eight To those of my readers, however, who persons to each man,) and driven have followed me thus far, I hope it before them 808,000 head of cattle, will now be apparent that there is no (more than sixty-seven for each man,) longer any cause for superstitious ter- and all without the loss of a single ror, in respect of the enquiries which man! How is it possible to quote we are making. Rather, it is our duty, the Bible as in any way condemning as servants of God, the very God of slavery, when we read here, v.40, of Truth, and in dependence on His help'Jehovah's tribute' of slaves, thirtyand blessing, to pursue them yet farther, whatever the result may be, fearing no evil, for what shall harm us, if we are followers of that which is right, and good, and true?

two persons, who were given to Eleazar the Priest. while three-hundred-andtwenty were given to the Levites, v.46,47 ?

160. Who is it that really dishonours

E

(iv) They now marched, and made nine encampments, N.xxi.10-20, for which we cannot well allow less than a month.

'We believe that at every station, at least three days' rest must have been required.'

KURTZ, iii.p.251.

(v) Then they sent messengers to Sihon, who gathered all his people together, and fought against Israel,' and 'Israel smote him with the edge of the sword,' and ' possessed his land from Arnon unto Jabbok,' and 'took all these cities, and dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all the villages thereof,' N.xxi.21-25,-for which we may allow another month.

(vi) After that Moses sent to spy out and drove out the Amorites that were there,' Jaazer, and they took the villages thereof, N.xxi.32,-say, in another fortnight.

the Word, and blasphemes the Name, | N.xxi.5-9,-for all which we must allow, at least, a fortnight. of God Most High?-he who believes, and teaches others to believe, that such acts, as those above recorded, were really perpetrated by Moses under express Divine sanction and command, or he who declares that such commands as these could never have emanated from the Holy and Blessed One, the All-Just and All-Loving, the Father of the spirits of all flesh,-that we must not, dare not, believe this,that we are bound not to do so by the express authority of that Divine Law, which we hear in our hearts, which is written in our consciences, and answers there to the voice which speaks to us from without, D.xiii.1-3,-that we must not hear' such doctrine as this, no, not though all the Doctors and Divines in the world should assert it, and appeal to any number of prophecies or miracles to prove it,-nay, not though the signs or wonders, whereof they spake to us,' should I come to pass' before our very eyes. For, when we hear these things from our fellow-men, however great in learning or high in authority, however near and dear to us, even the 'friend which is as our own soul,' we must consider in our hearts that at such times the Living God, our God, is proving us, to know whether we love the Living God, our God,'-His Truth, His Righteousness, and the honour of His Holy Name,--more than all the precepts and teachings of men, 'with all our heart and with all our soul.'

161. It may be well, however, at once to show that, besides involving the above incredible statements, the narrative itself, as it now stands, is

unhistorical here as elsewhere.

(i) We are told that Aaron died on 'the first day of the fifth month' of the fortieth year of the wanderings, N.xxxiii.38, and they mourned for him a month, N.xx.29.

(ii) After this, 'king Arad the Canaanite fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners;' whereupon the Israelites attacked these Canaanites, and utterly destroyed them and their cities, N.xxi.1-3,-for which two transactions we may allow another month.

(iii) Then they journeyed from Mount Hor, by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom,' N.xxi.4, and the people murmured, and were plagued with fiery serpents, and Moses set up the serpent of brass,

(vii) Then they turned up by the way of Bashan, and Og, the king of Bashan, went out against them, and they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive, and they possessed his capturing threescore cities, fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, besides unwalled towns, a great many,' D.iii.4,5, we must allow, at the very least, a month.

land.' N.xxi.33-35. For all this work of

162. Thus, then, from the first day of the fifth month,' on which Aaron died, to the completion of the conquest of Og, king of Bashan, we cannot reckon less altogether than six months, (and, indeed, even then the events will have been crowded one upon another in a most astonishing, and really impossible, manner,) and are thus brought down to the first day of the eleventh month, the very day on which Moses is stated to have addressed the people in the plains of Moab. D.i.3.

163. And now what room is there for the other events, which are recorded in the book of Numbers as having occurred between the conquest of Bashan and the address of Moses? The chief of these were

(1) The march forward to the plains of Moab, N.xxii.1;

(2) Balak's sending twice to Balaam, his journey, and prophesyings, xxii.2-xxiv; (3) Israel's abiding' in Shittim, and committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab, xxv.1-3;

(4) The death of 24,000 by the plague, xxv.9;

(5) The second numbering of the people, xxvi ;

(6) The war upon Midian, above considered, during which they burnt all their cities, and all their goodly castles,' &c., and surely must have required a month or six weeks for such a transaction.

167. And this may be the step, which God in His Providence calls us to take in the present age, in advance committed to writing in the course of cen- of the past generation, with referturies by different individuals. From such a ence to the subject now before us. In mode of origination a mass of contradictions the time of Galileo it was heresy to is inseparable, and the improving hand of a later editor would never be capable of en- say that the sun stood still and the tirely obliterating them. From these remarks earth went round it. In far later it appears that freedom from contradictions times, the days of the childhood of is much more than the conditio sine quâ non of the genuineness of the Pentateuch. ... It many now living, it was thought by may be thought that Moses, in the history of many heresy to say that the fossil ancient times, found contradictions, and re-bones, dug up within the earth, were

already a wonderful development. And choose the base and evil,-in that,

171. But then, too, let us teach them to recognise the voice of God's Spirit, in whatever way, by whatever ministry, He vouchsafes to speak to the children of men; and to realise the solid comfort of the thought, that,—not only in the Bible, but also out of the Bible,-not to us Christians only, but to our fellow-men of all climes and countries, ages and religions, the same Gracious Teacher is revealing, in different measures, according to His own good pleasure, the hidden things of God.

172. Thus, for instance, we have the noble words of CICERO, preserved by LACTANTIUS, Div. Inst. vi.8.

though many of these were scarcely which makes the living man leap up, known even by name to the men of the as it were, in the strength of sure conlast generation, their elements are now viction, which no arguments could taught, as first principles, in the insti- bring, no dogmas of Church or Council tutions of our great towns, and in enforce, saying, as the Scripture words many a well-ordered village-school. are uttered, which answer to the Voice And, in like manner, we may be sure, of Truth within, These words are the results of criticism, applied to the God's,-not the flesh, the outward examination of the letter of the Scrip-matter, the mere letter, but the inward tures, will also soon be acknowledged core and meaning of them, for they as facts, which must be laid as the are spirit, they are life.' basis of all sound religious teaching. 169. In view of this change, which, I believe, is near at hand, and in order to avert the shock, which our children's faith must otherwise experience, when they find, as they certainly will before long, that the Bible can no longer be regarded as infallibly true in matters of history as well as science, as we value their reverence and love for the Sacred Book, let us teach them at once to know that they are not to look for the inspiration of the Holy One, which breathes through its pages, in respect of any such matters as these, which the writers wrote as men, with the same liability to error from any cause as other men, and where they must be judged as men, as all other writers would be, by the just laws of criticism. 170. Let us rather teach them to look for and discern the sign of God's Spirit, speaking to them in the Bible, in that of which their own hearts alone can be the judges, of which the heart of the simple child can judge as well as--often, alas! better than that of the selfwilled philosopher, critic, or sage,-in that which speaks to the witness for God within them, the Reason and Conscience, to which alone, under God Himself, whose voice it utters in the secrets of his inner being, each man is ultimately responsible. Let us bid them look for it in that within the Bible, which tells them of what is pure and good, holy and loving, faithful and true, which speaks from God's Spirit Well might the Christian philosodirectly to their spirits, though clothed pher observe that the heathen has here with the outward form of a law, or depicted, 'that holy, heavenly, Law parable, or proverb, or narrative,-in with a voice almost divine,' and that that which they will feel and know in he regards such persons, 'speaking thus themselves to be righteous and excel- the truth without design,' as 'divining lent, however they may perversely | by some kind of Inspiration.'

Law, properly understood, is no other than right reason, agreeing with nature, spread itself, eternal, whose office is to summon to abroad among all men, ever consistent with duty by its commands, to deter from vice by its prohibitions,-which, however, to the good never commands or forbids in vain, never influences the wicked either by commanding or forbidding. In contradiction to this Law nothing can be laid down, nor does it admit of partial or entire repeal. Nor can we be released from this Law either by vote of the senate or decree of the people. Nor does it require any commentator or interpreter besides itself. Nor will there be one Law at Athens, and another at Rome, one now, and another hereafter: but one eternal, immutable, Law will both embrace all nations and at all times. And there will be one common Master, as it were, and Ruler of all, namely, GOD, the Great Originator, Expositor, Enactor, of this Law; which Law whoever will not obey, will be flying from himself, and, having treated with contempt his human nature, will in that very fact pay the greatest penalty, even if he shall have escaped other punishments, as they are commonly considered.

O Nanuk! the qualities of GOD, without end, beyond reckoning, who can understand? 174. Here, again are prayers in use O GOD, Thou hast let me pass the day in among the Gallas of North-Eastern peace let me pass the night in peace, O Lord, Africa, as taken down from their lips. who hast no Lord! There is no strength but (TUTSCHEK'S Dict. of the Galla Lan-in Thee: Thou alone hast no obligation. guage, p.84.)