and as great a variety of illustrations and authorities, as might have been adduced. But I trust these defects have not extended to the essential parts of the Work, and that my general system of reasoning may be approved by the friends of virtue and piety. For that system I hold myself strictly responsible. No man has a right to trifle with the eternal interests of his fellow-creatures, and produce unweighed conjectures and crude opinions on such a subject as that of the following Work. For such presumptuous temerity, no pressure of business can apologize, and no display of learning or talents could atone. I would not indeed have noticed a circumstance so unimportant to the reader as my pri I beg leave to subjoin a remarkable instance of this, in the celebrated objection advanced with such confidence by Mr BRYDONE and others, to disprove the Mosaic account of the period when the world was formed, which allows not quite 6,000 years to have yet elapsed, while these philosophers thought they had found a full proof that at least 14,000 had elapsed. So that these philosophers complain, that Moses hangs as a dead weight upon them, and blunts all their zeal for inquiry. Their proof is this: "The "Canonico Recupero, who is engaged in writing the history of Mount Etna, has dis“covered a stratum of lava, which flowed from that mountain (according to his opinion) "in the time of the second Punic war, or about two thousand years ago. The stratum "is not yet covered with soil sufficient for the production of either corn or vines. It "requires then, says the Canon, two thousand years at least to convert the stratum of "lava into a fertile field. Now in sinking a pit near Jaci, in the neighbourhood of “Etna, they have discovered evident marks of seven distinct lavas, one under the "other, the surfaces of which are parallel, and most of them covered with a thick bed "of rich earth. Now the eruption which formed the lowest of these lavas (if we may 'be allowed, says the Canon, to reason from analogy) flowed from the mountain at "least 14,000 years ago. "In answer to this argument it might be urged, in the first place, that the Canon "has not established his main fact, that the lava in question is the identical lava which "Diodorus Siculus mentions to have flowed from Etna in the second Carthagenian "war. And in the next place, it may be observed, that the time necessary for con"verting lavas into fertile fields must be very different, according to the different con"sistencies of the lavas, and their different situations with respect to elevation and "depression, or their being exposed to winds, rains, and other circumstances (as for "instance, the quantity of ashes deposited over them after they had cooled,) &c. &c. "just as the time in which heaps of iron flag which resembles lava) are covered with "verdure is different at different furnaces, according to the nature of the flag and “situation of the furnace. And something of this kind is deducible from the account * Vide Watson's Apology, in Letters to Mr Gibbon, from p. 169 to 174. VOL. II. b vate avocations, but from my anxious wish that the deficiencies of the advocate may not be mistaken on this occasion for proofs of weakness in the cause, which I am fully persuaded is the cause of truth and heaven; a cause which might have been maintained with more advantage even by me, but for the unfavourable circumstances to which I allude. But I have said too much of myself and of my Work. I cannot however commit it to my readers without anxiously reminding them, that the effect of every species of religious instruction, and consequently of this, depends much more on the disposition prevalent in the heart of those to whom it is addressed, than on "of the Canon himself, since the crevices of this famous stratum are really full of rich "good soil, and have pretty large trees growing upon them. But (says Bishop Watson) "if all this should be thought not sufficient to remove the objection, I will produce the "Canon an analogy in opposition to his analogy, and which is grounded on more cer"tain facts. "Etna and Vesuvius resemble each other in the causes which produce their erup"tions, in the nature of their lavas, and in the time necessary to mellow them into soil "fit for vegetation; or if their be any slight difference in this respect, it is probably "not greater than what subsists between different lavas of the same mountain. "This being admitted, which no philosopher will deny, the Canon's analogy will 66 prove just nothing at all, if we can produce an instance of seven different lavas (with "interjacent strata of vegetable earth) which have flowed from Mount Vesuvius within "the space not of 14,000, but of somewhat less than 1700 years, for then according to "our analogy, a stratum of lava may be covered with vegetable soil in about 250 years, "instead of requiring 2000 for that purpose. "The eruption of Vesuvius which destroyed Herculaneum and Pompeii, is rendered "still more famous by the death of Pliny, recorded by his nephew in his letter to Taci"tus: this event happened a. D. 79. But we are informed by unquestionable autho❝rity,* ,* that the matter which covers the ancient town of Herculaneum is not the pro"duce of ONE eruption only, for there are evident marks that the matter of six eruptions "has taken its course over that which lies immediately over the town, and was the cause "of its destruction. These strata are either of lava or burnt matter, WITH VEINS OF "You perceive, says the Bishop, with what ease a little attention and increase of "knowledge may remove a great difficulty; but had we been able to say nothing in "explanation of this phenomenon, we should not have acted a very rational part, in "making our ignorance the foundation of our infidelity, or suffering a minute philoso"pher to rob us of our religion." "See Sir William Hamilton's remarks upon the nature of the soil of Naples and its neigh"bourhood, in the Philos. Trans. Vol. 61. p. 7." the degree of information conveyed to their understanding. Purity, seriousness, and humility of mind, are the only sure guides to the eternal temple of religious truth. The opposite qualities will ever lead to error and impiety. And who is there who can avoid observing the want of seriousness, and above all, of humility of mind, in the opponents of Revelation? Whatever other characters they possess, I may venture to affirm, that either seriousness or humility, or both, are almost uniformly wanting. And yet assuredly these are peculiarly required on subjects affecting the destiny of the entire human race, and leading us to contemplate the nature and the dispensations of the supreme and incomprehensible God. May all who are led to peruse these pages be impressed with due feelings of seriousness and humility, and guided by that spiritual wisdom without which the "things of God appear to man foolishness."* May they be disposed to study, to receive, and to obey the will of their heavenly Father, "with all their heart, and with all their soul, “and with all their strength." Then will they be able to “know "of the doctrine whether it be of God;"‡ then will their understandings be enlarged, their faith confirmed, their salvation secured: And at the great day of final account, may it be found that he who thus warns and exhorts others, is not "himself a "cast-away." *1 Cor. ii. 14. + Mark xii. 30. John vii. 17. P. S. In page x. I have said, "that the internal evidence of the four last books of the Pentateuch was a subject not preoccupied by any writer of established reputation." The learned reader will easily see that Warburton's celebrated work on the Divine Legation of Moses, was not forgotten when I made this assertion, as it appears to me to have increased, not superseded the necessity of reconsidering this subject with the closest attention. Vide infra, where the system of this eminent writer is reviewed.* * Dr Graves's references are made to the 4to. edit. of 1788, now perhaps in very limited use;but the sections and other divisions of the work being specified, the references will become perfectly facile to the recently published 8vo edition. CONTENTS. THE Jewish nation has received the Pentateuch, as containing the only authentic history of their Lawgiver and his institutions, from the very æra when these institutions commenced, to the present day. Arguments to prove the reception of the Penta- teuch, from the present day, back to the return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity-Arguments to prove the Pen- tateuch was not first compiled at that æra, or altered and modi- fied according to circumstances then existing; but that it was a previously existing and acknowledged code-Pentateuch proved prior to the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah- Prior to the establishment of the regal government in Israel— The authenticity and truth of the four last books of the Penta- teuch proved from the subject and structure of the history, so far as the facts are not miraculous. Importance and peculiar na- ture of its various regulations concerning property-Publicity and importance of the main series of facts-Marks of truth in the minute detail of these facts-Simplicity of style and narra- tive-Selection and arrangement of facts and circumstances, such as is natural if Moses were the writer, unaccountable other- wise-Impartiality-Comparison of the Pentateuch, in this res- |