added, “remember what the Lord did to Miriam by the way:" and if they should rebel, this threatening is given, "as the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish." Do not these very brief incidental allusions bear on the face of them the character of truth? There is a naturalness in the very mode of their introduction, which no forger or compiler could imitate.

When the Israelites were encouraged not to fear the Canaanites, it is promised, that "God would drive them out, by little and little:" a fabricator would have been more desirous to magnify and exalt, than to think of such a limitation as this. When Moses came down from communing with God on the mount, the remarkable fact is recorded, that a splendor was communicated to his face, from his near approach to the divine presence, so that he was obliged to "put a veil on his face," whilst speaking to the people. Now this is never again alluded to, either in the direct history, or recapitulation; though every other fact connected with it is repeatedly noticed. If Moses wrote the Pentateuch, this silence is naturally suited to the modesty of "the meekest of men;" but if so peculiar a fiction had entered into any one's mind, is it likely he would notice it but once?

There is only one miracle, in the Recapitulation, of which no mention is made in the direct History; viz.,

the circumstance of "the raiment of the whole nation not waxing old, for forty years." And why? Because it could not, being a continuous miracle, be noticed with so clear and full effect, as at its completion, and when its very cessation would arrest the attention of the most careless. This is the coincidental propriety

of truth.

It is worthy of observation, that whenever we have any accounts of opposition to the Jewish legislator, (to punish which some of the most signal miracles were wrought,) in every instance there may be discovered, in the rank and station of the individual, something which might naturally account for their admitting the spirit of pride and jealousy that prompted it. Thus, Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman he had married, and said, "Hath the Lord spoken only by Moses? Hath he not also spoken by us?" (Numb. xii. 2.) Aaron was Moses' elder brother: he was High Priest; his family had been appointed to the priesthood, whilst that of Moses was undistinguished; his availing himself of what might appear as a derogatory act in Moses in order to exalt himself, may therefore seem natural; but why should Miriam also be coupled with him? Turning back to the only place where the History mentions her, (Exod. xv. 20.) we find her to have been singularly honored, and, actuated by a divine inspiration, heading the daughters of Israel, to have

joined in the triumphant hymn of gratitude to God on the destruction of the Egyptians at the Red Sea. This explains the passage "Hath not God spoken by us?"

In a similar manner we find, upon investigation, that the opposition of Nadab and Abihu, (Lev. x. 1.) and again that of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, may be traceable to the high honour and rank which they held; the sacredness of the function which they discharged; or the family connexions they possessed; from which circumstances they were disposed to dispute the title of Moses to pre-eminence.

There is an apparent contradiction with respect to the punishment of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. On a cursory perusal, (Numb. xvi.) the impression on the mind is, that all their families were destroyed in their tents with them; but subsequently (Numb. xxvi. 11.) we read, "the children of Korah died not." Now on a minute investigation, and only from a close induction of particulars, from different verses, this account is gathered, that Korah was standing (not like Dathan and Abiram, who were with their wives and children, at their tent doors, but) apart from his family, at the door of the Tabernacle, which was at some distance from his tent; and that whilst the whole of the families of the two former perished with them, by the earth opening her mouth and swallowing them up, Korah, and the men of his company, perished by fire from the

Lord. The narrative,—thus seeming to approach to contradiction, but on accurate examination, not only escaping it, but also enabling us to discover why Korah's family escaped the ruin which involved the rest, presents such a latent and indirect coincidence, as demonstrates its truth, and proves it could only proceed from the pen of an eye-witness; from that Moses to whom the Jews have universally ascribed the book that contains it, and have therefore admitted it as the code of their law, the rule of their religion, and the only true record of their history.

CHAPTER V.

"The common Events of the Jewish History are incredible, if separated from the miraculous; but when combined with them, they form one natural and consistent narrative."

In considering this proposition, it will be advisable to enquire; First, "whether the deliverance of the Jews from Egypt, the promulgation of the law,—and their establishment in Canaan,-can be adequately accounted for by unassisted human agency, using merely natural means:" or, Second, "whether on the contrary, the accomplishment of these events, and consequent establishment of the Hebrew polity, were not such, as no mere human power could have overcome; and consequently, that we must admit the sacred accounts of divine interposition, as the only adequate cause for events so marvellously extraordinary." In pursuance of this enquiry, we must, therefore, separate the com