we should naturally have asked the question' where they obtained their information, seeing that they wrote, some 200, some 300, and others even 400 years after the events which they relate.

One more illustration may suffice. The Roman historian, Livy, wrote in the reign of Augustus: he recounts the actions of Romulus the first Roman king with the greatest minutiæ, and he not only does not tell us where he obtained his information, but he even laments that all the early records of Rome were destroyed when that city was burnt by the Gauls. For this reason the early part of Livy's history is deservedly looked, upon with suspicion and unbelief.

As an instance of the credit which is always given to a history, known to have been composed at the very time when the events which it records are said to have occurred, we may adduce the valuable history of the Peloponnesian war by Thucydides, who commanded an Athenian fleet during that war; the Retreat of the Ten Thousand_by Xenophon, to whose military talents mainly was due the success with which that retreat was conducted; and in our own times the History of Napoleon's campaign in Russia by the Count de Segur, who served in that remarkable war.

It is evident, that the memory of an event, no matter what may have been its magnitude, must entirely perish from the earth, if all those who lived at the time, should die before the account of that event has been taken down in writing, or otherwise delivered to posterity, by monuments, coins, statues, and such other devices as the ingenuity of man has contrived. This remark does not, of course, apply to physical phænomena, such as the inundation of rivers, the falling of avalanches, the disruptions of mountains, earthquakes &c. all of which leave the most conspicuous memorials in the ruin which they create, and the debris which they leave behind them. It is true, also

that the works of mankind may also, in their remains, convey to future ages an idea of what they once were thus the works of Roman art are still turned up by the plough throughout the whole of Western Europe, confirming, beyond a doubt, the truth of what we read concerning that mighty people, and verifying the prediction of the poet,

Scilicet et tempus veniet, quum finibus illis
Agricola, incurvo terram molitus aratro,
Exesa inveniet scabra rubigine pila,
Grandiaque effossis mirabitur ossa sepulcris.

The time shall one day come when in that soil,
The ploughman, as he ploughs the earth with toil,
Shall turn up helmets eaten out with rust,

And gaze at mighty bones buried beneath the dust.

But these imperishable records of the past cannot communicate to us the varied movements of human avarice pride, or ambition: they cannot trace the minute distinctions which separate the nations of the world: all the busy vicissitudes, which form the life and soul of that magnificent science, which we call written history, can not be wholly handed down to posteriy, though they can be usefully illustrated, by the ruins which time makes of man's works, after, their authors have perished. To perpetuate the acts, the inventions, and the wisdom of our species, no other instrument can be used but the pen of the writer,

That mighty instrument of little men!

It will be granted, then, that our estimate of an historical work must depend on the means which the writer has enjoyed of ascertaining the truth of the facts which he records; supposing always that he has honestly employed his materials. If we apply this remark to the Old Testament, it becomes necessary to enquire, who are the authors of the several books, or-if we cannot ascertain who actually wrote them-whether it can be satisfactorily shewn

that the authors, whoever they were, had a good opportunity of knowing that they wrote nothing but the truth.

CHAPTER 9.

OF THE REPUTED AUTHORS OF THE SEVERAL BOOKS IN

THE OLD TESTAMENT.

In the introduction to the First volume of D'Oyly and Mant's edition of the Bible, I find the following passage:

The first five books of the Bible, commonly called the Pentateuch, were composed by Moses, as the concurrent testimonies of all ages declare; and, as hath ever been firmly believed by the Jews, with whom the fact continues to this day to be one of the thirteen articles of their creed. The word "Pentateuch" is of Greek original; being compounded of two words, signifying five, and book or volume. It was probably first prefixed to the Greek version of the " Septuagint" or seventy translators; to denote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and

Deuteronomy: all of which had been written by the hand of Moses in Hebrew, probably in the order in which they now stand, though not distributed by their author into books, but forming one continued work.

The same editors give us, compiled from Dr Gray and Bishop Tomline, the following remarks concerning the reputed author of the book of Joshua:

The book of Joshua continues the sacred history from the death of Moses to the deaths of Joshua and Eleazar, a space of about thirty years. It contains an account of the conquest and division of the land of Canaan, the renewal of the covenant with the Israelites, and the death of Joshua. There are two passages in this book which shew that it was written by a person, who lived at the time when the events happened. In the 1st verse of chap. v, the author speaks of himself as being one of those who passed into Canaan, by using the expression, "Until we were passed over." And in the 25th verse of the following chapter, it appears that the book was written when Rabab was alive : for it is said of her, "she dwelleth in Israel unto this day." There is not a perfect agreement among the learned, respecting the author of this book but by far the most general opinion is, that it was written by Joshua himself. The five verses, giving an account of the death of Joshua, were added by one of his successors, probably by Phineas or Samuel.

As I shall hereafter enter more fully into the internal evidence which the book of Joshua furnishes, it is unnecessary to say more in this place concerning the two passages here quoted, as proof that the work is of a contemporary character. The extract is made at present, as shewing the opinion generally received concerning the origin of the book of Joshua and its author.

Of the book of Judges, the same commentators remark : This book has been variously attributed to Samuel, to Phinehas, to Hezekiah, to Ezekiel, and also to Ezra, who is supposed by some to have collected it from the memoirs, which the several judges respectively furnished of their own government. It seems, however, most probable, that Samuel was the author; who, being a prophet or seer, and described in the book of Chronicles as an historian, may reasonably be supposed, as he was the last of the judges, to have written this part of the Jewish history, since the inspired writers alone were permitted to

describe those relations, in which were interwoven the instructions and judgements of the Lord. That it was certainly written before the reign of David is proved from the following passage, chap. i, ver. 21, "The Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin unto this day: " for it is certain, 2 Sam. v. 6, that the Jebusites were driven out of the city early in the reign of David.

The assumed fact of David's expulsion of the Jebusites will be hereafter noticed.

Of the book of Ruth:

:

The book of Ruth is so called from the name of the person, a native of Moab, whose history it contains. It may be considered as a supplement to the book of Judges, to which it was joined in the Hebrew canon, and the latter part of which it greatly resembles, being a detached story belonging to the same period. Ruth had a son called Obed, who was the grandfather of David; which circumstance probably occasioned her history to be written, as the genealogy of David, from Pharez the son of Judah, from whom the Messiah was to spring, is here given and some commentators have thought the descent of our Saviour from Ruth, a Gentile woman, to be an intimation of the comprehensive nature of the Christian dispensation. We are no where informed when Ruth lived; but, as king David was her great-grandson, we may place her history about 1250 years before Christ. book was certainly written after the birth of David, chap. iv, 22, and probably by the prophet Samuel, though some have attributed it to Hezekiah, and others to Ezra. The subject of it is of so private a nature, that, at the time of its being written, the generality of people might not have thought it worth recording.

Of the first book of Samuel:

This

The Hebrews suppose that Samuel wrote the twenty-four first chapters of the first book, and that the rest were added by the prophets Gad and Nathan. This opinion is founded on these words in the first book of Chronicles, chap. xxix, 29, "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in the book of Gad the seer:" and it is approved by many writers of considerable authority. We may therefore assent to this general opinion, that Samuel was the author of at least the greater part of the first book, and that he probably composed it towards the latter end of his life.

Nothing is said by the commentators above-mentioned