things which had any previous existence, and proceed at once to the various creations of organic life, after having announced the first cosmical creation, and preparation of the world for man? To this I would answer that the object of their introduction very probably may have been, to show their distinction from, and subordination to, that Divine Being, whose command upon those days called them into action; it should be remembered that one great object of the Jewish polity, was to preserve a people retaining the worship of the true God in the midst of a world sunk in ignorance and idolatry, and it must also be recollected that the Jews, at the time that they received their laws from Moses, were upon their way, after having become acquainted with the idolatries. of Egypt, to settle amongst the Eastern nations, who were given up to the idolatrous adoration of light,m fire, and the heavenly bodies. The after history of the Israelites but too clearly displayed their proneness to run into the sins of the surrounding countries, and foremost of these into that of idclatry." A prescient spirit, we can hardly doubt, would have guarded them by the narration of the works of the first, and fourth, days, from that worship of light, and fire, and of the sun, moon, and stars, which was the practice of the surrounding nations. This view appears confirmed by the following passages:

Deut. iv. 16, 19. 'Lest ye corrupt yourselves,' &c.; ' And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.'

Deut. xvii. 2, 3. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded.'

Job xxxi. 26-28. 'If I beheld the sun' (Heb. is the light) when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand: This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the

God that is above.'

Having thus brought my ten propositions to a close, I must now remark upon two passages of the second chapter, which appear to confirm the view which assigns the first creation of all things to the beginning, and the preparation of our earth to the days. The first

m The Hebrew word N, which is used for light (Gen. i. 3), appears also to comprehend fire in its signification. See Isa. xliv. 16; xlvii. 14; Ezek. v. 2. n A reference to 2 Kings xxiii. 4, 5, 11; Jer. viii. 2; and Ezek. viii. 16, 17, will show the lapse of the Jews in after ages into the Sabæan worship.

of

of these is in the third verse, 'God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made,' Heb. niya, literally, created to make. The creation, and making, are not identified as one act, they are rather individualised, and distinguished from each other, and the creation put antecedently to the making, a position well according with a creation in the beginning, and subsequent making on the days.

The second phrase is in the fourth verse, These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens;' this also distinguishes between the creation, and the making, and seems to show that the account of Gen. i. refers principally to the days; this appears from the continuation of the passage in the fifth verse, 'And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew,' evidently alluding to the eleventh verse of the first chapter. I think it worth remarking, that this passage gives us reason only to expect so much of our planet's history as was absolutely necessary, or, if not so, why the particularisation? In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,' why not a detail of everything concerning the earth, consecutively to, these are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created?'

6

Before concluding, it will be necessary to consider a difficulty, which to many minds has presented itself, from the fact of the discoveries of geology having shown the existence of physical suffering and death amongst the brute creation, throughout ages long antecedent to the introduction of sin into the world by our first parents. This difficulty appears to arise, from a too hasty generalisation of those passages which denounce death as the penalty of sin, for instance, Gen. ii. 17, Rom. v. 12, vi. 23, James i. 15, etc., but upon examination of these, nothing will be found in them to warrant anything farther than the belief that sin brought death upon the human race. There is one passage, Rom. viii. 20-22, which it will be necessary to consider a little more in detail: we here find, For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.' It is evident that the

• The expression, These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth,' obviously means their history at the times alluded to; the family registers of the Jews often began similarly. See Gen. x. 1; xi. 10; xxv. 12, 19; xxxvi. 1, 9; Ruth iv. 18.

inference

inference to be drawn from this passage, depends upon the interpretation given to the Greek word ríos, rendered in the English translation by both the words 'creature' and 'creation,' whether it signify the whole animal creation, or only the human. That the latter signification is the true one seems probably to be the case from the use of the same word, and with the same term of universality conjoined which it has ver. 22; in Mark xvi. 15, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature,' Gr. nán TXTIEL. So also, Col. i. 23, If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature,' Gr. Aάon τh Tios, which is under heaven.' As indisputably the meaning of xríos in these two passages must be limited to the human creation, it appears credible that it should be also so limited, Rom. viii. 20-22.P

κτίσει.

6

An inference, as to a connection between the suffering and death of the merely animal creation, and human sin, has also been drawn from the passages, Is. xi. 1-9, and lxv. 17-25. It is obvious that these passages must relate to some future period if they are to be taken in their literal signification, the time has not yet arrived when animals that are now carnivorous, and those that are herbivorous, live together without hurting or destroying each other, and the lion' eats straw like the ox.' But even if these things were literally to happen, I think that we cannot reason from the case of a world which had both sinned and been redeemed, to that of one which had neither sinned nor been redeemed, a work so great as that of the sacrifice of the Son of God, may have been made the means of conferring a greater degree of happiness upon the former, than was possessed by the latter. But farther, that from these passages taken in their literal signification even, no deduction can be drawn as to any connection between human sin, and the suffering and death of the brute creation, appears from the latter one, Is. lxv. 20, 'There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.' The narrative then goes on to detail the blessings of this future period, and terminates in the twenty-fifth verse with The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock : and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.' We see, therefore, that this supposed original and paradisaical state of the brute creation, coexists with sin, death,

P The phrase aσa Kтíσis is used, besides the cited passages, I believe, but twice more in the New Testament, Col. i. 15, and 1 Pet. ii. 13. See Whitby's comment upon Rom. viii. 20-23, who refers this passage to the human creation only.

4

and

pro

and the curse, upon the human race, therefore it is more than bable that there is no necessary connection between human sin, and the suffering and death of the brute creation, or this state of things could not exist, but, on the contrary, the reverse, as regards the brute creation, must be the case.

Hitherto I have argued upon the supposition of these passages being taken in their literal signification, but feel little doubt that they are only figurative, and descriptive of the peace, harmony, and union, which should prevail amongst men, and in the Church of Christ, in the latter times. This metaphorical application of these passages, has the sanction of the most celebrated commentators of both ancient and modern times, viz., Theodoret, Jerome, Calvin, Vitringa, Michaelis, Leclerc, Lowth, Henry, and Jahn,a and indeed the ninth verse of the eleventh chapter, which assigns the earth being full of the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,' as the cause of the previously described state of blessedness, will go far to prove that the preceding expressions are to be taken in reality with respect to men, and not to the brute creation, how could this latter be full of the knowledge of the glory of the LORD?' That men are sometimes, in scriptural phraseology, compared to beasts, will appear from Ps. xxii. 20, 21, Ezek. ii. 6, and 2 Tim. iv. 17.

M N.

See the Commentaries of Leclerc, Lowth, and Henry; and Hengstenberg's Christology of the Old Testament, from which I have cited the other authorities, upon Isa. xi. 1-9, and lxv. 17-25. Lowth expresses himself with caution, and says upon Isa. lxv. 25, although admitting the metaphorical sense of these expressions, Since the renovation here spoken of extends to the whole creation (see Rom. viii. 21), they' (these expressions, ver. 25) may imply the correcting the noxious qualities of fierce or venomous creatures.' I have endeavoured before to show the credibility of the application of Rom. viii. 21, to the human race alone.

JOSEPHUS

JOSEPHUS AND THE BIBLE.

1. Fl. Josephi Judai Opera Omnia. Vols. VI. Edidit M. CAROL. ERNEST RICHTER. Lipsiæ. Sumtibus E. B. Schwickerti. 1826-7.

2. Flarii Josephi de Bello Judaico Libri Septem. Ad Fidem Codicum emendavit, variis Lectionibus instruxit, et Notis, partim Aliorum, partim suis illustravit EDVARDUS CARDWELL, S. T. P. Aulæ Sancti Albani Principalis. Vols. II. Oxonii, E. Typographeo Academico. 1837.

3. The Works of Flavius Josephus, the Learned and Authentic Jewish Historian, and Celebrated Warrior. Translated by WILLIAM WHISTON, A.M., Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge. In six vols. London. Tegg, 73, Cheapside. 1825.

4. The Works of Josephus; a New Translation, by the Rev. ROBERT TRAILL, D.D., M.R.I.A., and late Rector of West Schull, with Notes, Explanatory Essays, and Pictorial Illustrations. Edited by Isaac Taylor, Author of Natural History of Enthusiasm. Vol. I. London. Houlston and Stoneman. 1847.

WE scarcely know whether we can participate in the satisfaction which we observe expressed in a former number of this Journal,a at the suspension of Mr. Isaac Taylor's labours on Traill's Josephus-a satisfaction professedly grounded on the superior value of Mr. Taylor's original compositions. Our sense of the importance of a thoroughly good English translation of Josephus is such that we have our doubts whether even Mr. Taylor's talents could be more profitably employed than in this way. The learned Principal of St. Alban's Hall laments the hard fate of Josephus in some of the editors he has met with ; still greater has been his infelicity in some of his translators. We question whether more grievous injustice has been done to any ancient author, whether by editors or translators, than the learned and authentic Jewish historian and celebrated warrior' has suffered at the hands

of our own countryman, Whiston. Of the pedantic formality

a See No. VII., p. 165.

b See note A at the end of this article.

Infelix Josephus qui Editorem nactus sit Havercampum, copias istas in unum corpus conjecturum et cæteris omnibus laudem Josephi nova forma proferendi prærepturum.'-Praf. v.