themselves and, those

hose they plunder; and in relating their adventures of this kind, they think it sufficient to change the expression, and instead of, I robbed a man of such and such a thing, to say, I gained it."

SALE'S Prelim. Discourse, 30,

NEWTON on the Prophecies, vol. i. p. 4

42.

No. 7.-xviii. 1-8.] When a party belonging to Capt. Cook (in his last voyage) went ashore on an island near that of Mangeea in the South Seas, they were forcibly detained by the natives a considerable time, which much alarmed them. But this detention proceeded, as they afterwards found, from pure motives of hospitality; and continued only till such time as they had time as they had roasted had roasted a hog, and provided other necessaries for their refreshment. In reviewing this most curious transaction, says the writer of that voyage, we cannot help calling to our memory the manners of the patriarchal times. It does not appear to us, that these people had any intention in detaining ours, different from those which actuated the patriarch in a similar transaction,

No. 8. xviii. 6. And Abraham hastened into the tent quickly three measures

unto Sarah, and said, make,

of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth.] These instructions are quite similar to the manners of the place, which even at present are little if any thing altered from what they anciently were. Thus Dr. SHAW relates (Trav. p. 296.) "that in cities and villages, where there are public ovens, the bread is usually leavened: but among the Bedoweens, as soon as the dough is kneaded, it is made into thin cakes, which are either immediately baked upon the coals, or else in a ta-jen, a shallow earthen vessel like a frying-pan.'

2 Sam. xiii. 8. 1 Chron. xxiii. 29.

No. 9. xviii, 7. Abraham ran into the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good.] Abraham appears to have taken a very active part in preparing to entertain the angels. But when it is said that he ran to the herd, and fetched a calf, we must not understand him as descending to an office either menial or unbecoming his rank, since we are informed, that " the greatest prince of these countries is not ashamed to fetch a lamb from his herd, and kill it, whilst the princess is impatient till she hath prepared her fire and kettle to dress it." SHAW's Travels, p. 301.

No. 10. xix. 24. The Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, brimstone and fire.] These cities áre said by Moses, on account of their abominable impurities, to have been overwhelmed with a torrent of liquid fire, rained down upon them from heaven. His narrative is equally confirmed by profane historians and by modern travellers. Diodorus Siculus mentions the peculiar nature of the lake, which covered the country, where these towns were formerly situated. “The water of it is bitter and fetid to the last degree, insomuch that neither fish nor any other aquatic animals, are able to live in it." (Bib. Hist. lib. xix. p. 734.) Tacitus relates, that a tradition still prevailed in his days, of certain powerful cities having been destroyed by thunder and lightning, and of the plain, in which they were situated, having been burnt up. He adds, that evident traces of such a catastrophe remained. The earth was parched, and had lost all its natural powers of vegeta tion: and whatever sprung up, either spontaneously, or in consequence of being planted, gradually withered away, and crumbled into dust. (TACIT. Hist. lib. v. c. 7.) Strabo, after describing the nature of the lake Asphaltis, adds, that the whole of its appearance gives an air of probability to the prevailing tradition, that thirteen eities, the chief of which was Sodom, were once de

stroyed and swallowed up by earthquakes, fire, and an inundation of boiling sulphureous water. (STRAB. Geog. lib. xvi.) Maundrell visited the lake Asphaltis in the year 1697, and makes the following observations upon it. “Being desirous to see the remains, (if there were any) of those cities anciently situated in this place, and made so dreadful an example of the divine vengeance, I diligently surveyed the waters, as far as my eye could reach; but neither could, I discern any heaps of ruins, nor any smoke ascending above the surface of the water, as is usually described in the writings and maps of geographers. But yet I must not omit, what was confidently attested to me by the father guardian, and procurator of Jerusalem, both men in years, and seemingly not destitute either of sense or probity, that they had once actually seen one of these ruins; that it was so near the shore, and the waters so shallow at that time, that they went to it, and found there several pillars, and other fragments of buildings. The cause of our being deprived of this sight was, I suppose, the height of the water." (Travels, p. 85.) The account which Thẻ venot gives is much to the same purpose. "There is no sort of fish in this sea, by reason of the extraordinary saltness of it; which burns like fire, when one tastes of it. And when the fish of the water Jordan come down so low, they return back again against the stream; and such as are carried into it by the current of the water immediately die. The land within three leagues round it is not cultivated, but is white, and mingled with salt and ashes. In short, we must think that there is a heavy curse of God upon that place, seeing it was heretofore so pleasant a country." (Travels, vol. 1. p, 194.) vide also PоCOCKE's Travels, vol. ii. p. 1. ch. 9. and SHAW's Travels, p. 346. 4to.

No. 11-xxi. 23. Swear unto me here by God.] This kind of oath appears not only to have been gene.

”

rally in use in the time of Abraham, but also to have descended through many generations and ages in the East. When Mr. Bruce was at SHEKH AMMER, he entreated the protection of the governor in prosecuting his journey. Speaking of the people who were assembled together at this time in the house, he says, (Travels, vol. i. p. 148.) "the great people among them came, and, after joining hands, repeated a kind of prayer, of about two minutes long, by which they declared themselves and their children accursed, if ever they lifted up their hands against me in the tell, or field in the desert; or in case that I, or mine, should fly to them for refuge, if they did not protect us at the risk of their lives, their families, and their fortunes, or, as they emphatically expressed it, to the death of the last male child among them." See also Gen. xxvi. 28, 29.

No. 12. xxii. 3. Saddled his ass.] There is no ground for supposing that the ancient eastern saddles were like our modern ones. Such were not known to the Greeks and Romans till many ages after the Hebrew judges. "No nation of antiquity knew the use of either saddles or stirrups:" (GOGUET, Origin of Laws, vol. iii. p. 172. English edit.) and even in our own times Hasselquist, when at Alexandria, says, "1 procured an equipage which I had never used before; it was an ass with an Arabian saddle, which consisted only of a cushion, on which I could sit, and a handsome bridle." (Travels, p. 52.) But even the cushion seems an improvement upon the ancient eastern saddles, which were probably nothing more than a kind of rug girded to the beast. PARKHURST's Heb. Lex. p. 213.

No. 13.-xxiv. 2, 3. And Abraham said unto his eldest servant of his house,that ruled over all that he had,put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and I will make thee swear by

the Lord.] The present mode of swearing among the Mo hammedan Arabs, that live in tents as the patriarchs did, according to de la Roque (Voy. dans la Pal. p. 152.) is by laying their hands on the Koran. They cause those who swear to wash their hands before they give them the book; they put their left hand underneath, and the right over it. Whether, among the patriarchs one hand was under, and the other upon the thigh, is not certain; ~possibly Abraham's servant might swear with one hand under his master's thigh, and the other stretched out to Heaven. As the posterity of the patriarchs are described as coming out of the thigh, it has been supposed, this ceremony had some relation to their believing the promise of God, to bless all the nations of the earth, by means of one that was to descend from Abraham. HARMER, Vol. iv. p.477.

No. 14. xxvii. 39. Dew of Heaven.] Egypt, says M. Savary, would be uninhabitable, did not the noctur**nal dews restore life to vegetables. These dews are so copious, especially in summer, that the earth is deeply ? soaked with them, so that in the morning one would imagine that rain had fallen during the night. This is the reason why (the scripture promises the Israelites, who inhabited a climate pretty similar to that of Egypt, the dew of heaven as a signal favour.

3

J

No. 15. xxviii. 17. The gate of heaven.] After haveling describeds in what manner caverns were used as sacred temples, and the allegorical design of some parts of their furniture, Mr. Maurice says, “In these caverns they rerected a high ladder, which had seven GATES, answering to the number of the planets, through which, according to their theology, the soul gradually ascends to the supreme mansion of felicity. I must bere observe that the word GATE, which is a