The Palm or Hand-breadth, somewhat more than. The Fathom=4 cubits, do. MEASURES OF CAPACITY. The Cab a quarter of a peck. The Omer the tenth part of a bushel The Homer-ten bushels. LIQUID MEASURES. The Log contained about a Pint. 16 Logs one Hin, answers to one Gallon. 6 Hins one Bath=6 Gallons. 10 Baths one Homer=60 Gallons. It will be seen, that in conducting our argument in favour of the authenticity of the Pentateuch, we have taken no notice of lesser objections-such as are sometimes urged against the credibility of particular facts mentioned there. These will be remarked upon as we proceed; but there is a circumstance of the kind which we deem it right to discuss here, rather because of its excessive prominency, than its importance. It has been objected to the History of Moses, that circumstances are from time to time recorded, such as it is quite impossible for Moses himself to have introduced: as, for example, names are given to places which they obtained in later times, and remarks are made apposite only on the supposition that the writer speaks to men ignorant of antiquity. Above all, the narrative of the inspired penman's death has furnished food for ridicule to many who find it more convenient to sneer than to argue. We have only to remark, that such expressions as these give to the details, in general, an air of truth which they certainly could not have had without them. No impostor would fall into blunders so palpable, or so easily detected, though the interpolations alluded to are precisely such as the individual or individuals, who revised or edited the works of Moses, may be supposed to have inserted. Thus, the account of the lawgiver's death came doubtless from the pen of Joshua, who succeeded Moses in the guidance of Israel; while all such expressions as "the Canaanite was then in the land," and "as remaineth until this day," are clearly attributable to the pen of Ezra, or the person, whoever he might be, that completed the Jewish canon. Infidelity is driven to its last shifts, when it has recourse to quibbles so contemptible. The design of Moses in writing A. M. 1.-F THE great design of Moses book of his history, appears to an account of the early ages o Israelites against the prevailin worship of the heavenly bodie nation of Zabaism. With thi nals by declaring, that, in th called into existence the Hea which is frequently employs merely the solar system, bu whether to us visible or invis the regions of boundless spac strikes at the root of every d venly bodies. These, so far fr ed to spring, in common with of Jehovah; and hence, in con be creatures continually depend that created them. At what precise era a work the inspired historian pretend describes, indeed, with suffici which our system underwent, Almighty Maker, it emerged when it was that God first wil verse of which our system f with no ground upon which t ture. That it must have be Mosaic cosmogony, that it w that era, other passages structed us. We learn, from the foundations of the earth w sang together, and all the s and as these beings must ha VOL.1.-D CHAPTER I. The design of Moses in writing the History of the Creation.Objections stated and answered. A. M. 1.—B. C. 5411. THE great design of Moses, when composing the first book of his history, appears to have been not only to give an account of the early ages of the world, but to guard the Israelites against the prevailing idolatry of his time, the worship of the heavenly bodies, since known by the designation of Zabaism. With this view, he commences his annals by declaring, that, in the beginning, God created or called into existence the Heavens and the Earthi-a phrase which is frequently employed in Scripture to denote not merely the solar system, but all the corporeal substances, whether to us visible or invisible, which are scattered over the regions of boundless space. By this brief sentence he strikes at the root of every disposition to worship the heavenly bodies. These, so far from being gods, are pronounced to spring, in common with the human race, from the will of Jehovah; and hence, in common with the human race, to be creatures continually dependent for support on the power that created them. At what precise era a work so stupendous was effected, the inspired historian pretends not to make known. He describes, indeed, with sufficient minuteness, the process which our system underwent, when at the command of its Almighty Maker, it emerged from chaos into order; but when it was that God first willed the existence of that universe of which our system forms a part, we are furnished with no ground upon which to hazard so much as a conjecture. That it must have been enterior to the era of the Mosaic cosmogony, that it was probably long anterior to that era, other passages of Scripture have, however, instructed us. We learn, from the Book of Job, that when the foundations of the earth were laid, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy;" and as these beings must have had some local habitation, VOL. I.-D we are justified in concluding, that they and the world of which they are inhabitants were in existence, at least, previously to the era of the six days' creation. The first verse of the first chapter of Genesis is accordingly to be read as detailing events quite distinct from those detailed in tre verses which immediately follow. It refers exclusively to that moment, be it when it might, when Almighty God first saw fit to exercise his goodness, in bestowing a separate existence upon his creatures. The same silence which Moses has preserved touching the beginning of time, properly so called, distinguishes his account of the creation of the matter of which our system is composed. We are told, indeed, that "God created the heavens and the earth," and that "the earth was without form and void, darkness being upon the deep, when the Spirit of God moved or brooded upon the face of the waters:" but how long the solar system had lain in this state previous to its reduction into order, we are left without any data from which to draw a conclusion. From this circumstance, an opinion has, we believe, generally prevailed, that the very matter of our system had no existence till within the limited period of six or seven thousand years ago. There is nothing absolutely impossible in this; neither would the idea, though admitted, derogate in the smallest degree from the goodness or glory of the Creator. With Him, and with Him alone, must rest both the power and will to decide when any thing shall begin, as well as when it shall cease to be; and it is very certain that the pushing back of the act of creation, so to speak, millions of millions of years, would bring it no nearer to that which the poverty of human language compels us to call the fountainhead of time. No assignable quantity of successive duration bears any proportion to eternity; and hence, he who is disposed to cavil with the Mosaic history, on the ground that "the glory of Almighty God manifested in his works cannot be limited to the short space of six or seven thousand years," might urge his objection with the very same reason to a period ten thousand times more remote. But as objections have been started by geologists to the Mosaic account, aris. ing out of the discovery of phenomena inconsistent, as they contend, with the notion of the world's extremne youth, it may be worth while to show not only that there is nothing in Scripture forbidding us to believe that the present is but the wreck of a former world, but a great deal, as well in re velation as in natural science, to induce a persuasion that the case really is so. With respect to arguments on this head drawn from Scripture, these must of necessity pretend to no greater weight than attaches to every specics of analogical reasoning. We learn there that God is a being whose designs never alter-one in whom "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning ;" and hence we not unnaturally arrive at the conclusion, that the laws by which he now governs, and declares that he shall hereafter govern the universe, must be the same according to which he has governed it in times past. One of these, however, seems clearly to be, that when this earth, or rather this system, shall have served its purpose, it shall pass away, or relapse into chaos, and be succeeded by another. "The stars from heaven shall fall, the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up, the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all the host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree." Again, St. John, in the language of prophecy, declares, "I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them; and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God: and the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works." No one, we presume, can read these passages without being convinced that they refer to the awful period when this world, having served its purpose, shall be destroyed. But behold the issue. We learn, that "after the present heaven and the present earth shall have passed away, a new heaven and a new earth shall succeed them," and that "the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, shall appear as coming from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her huspand." From these expressions, combined and compared, we gather, that though, after the day of judgment, this world shall cease to be as it now is, the matter of which it is composed shall not be annihilated, but being arranged into new order, after a certain duration in chaos, shall give support to a new race of inhabitants. Reasoning from this again, by analogy, we conclude, that it is at least probable that some such occurrence took place previous to the Mosaic cosmogo |