literal, sense; but this is to act in a manner utterly inconsistent with the tenour and spirit of that history, and with the views of a writer, the distinguishing characteristics of whose production are simplicity, purity, and truth. There is no medium nor palliation; the whole is allegorical, or the whole is literal."1

In short, the book of Genesis, understood in its plain, obvious, and literal sense, furnishes a key to many difficulties in philosophy, which would otherwise be inexplicable. Thus it is impossible to account for the origin of such a variety of languages in a more satisfactory manner than is done in the narrative of the confusion of tongues which took place at Babel (Gen. xi. 1-9.). And, although some futile objections have been made against the chronology of this book, because it makes the world less ancient than is necessary to support the theories of some modern self-styled philosophers; yet even here, as we have already shown by an induction of particulars, the more rigorously it is examined and compared with the extravagant and improbable accounts of the Chaldæan, Egyptian, Chinese, and Hindoo chronology, the more firmly are its veracity and authenticity established. In fine, "without this history, the world would be in comparative darkness, not knowing whence it came, or whither it goeth. In the first page of this sacred book, a child may learn more in an hour, than all the philosophers in the world learned without it in thousands of years."

:

For

[It is admitted that the mythical theory does not necessarily imply in the minds of those who adopt it pure baseless fiction. Real events, many would acknowledge, lie at the bottom of the mythos; but they are vailed, they say, in allegorical statement, and, if sifted to their literal truth, would be found unaccompanied by that supernatural machinery, by means of which eastern fancy has chosen to deliver them to the world. But, even with this concession, any such theory must be taken as irreconcilable with the facts of the case. otherwise the tendency of Genesis would be to mislead the world. There is no indication on the part of the writer that he is describing allegorically there is no line of demarcation between the supposed allegory, and the narrative which is generally acknowledged to be intended as a literal record. With regard to creation, indeed, which no human eye could witness, it has been above observed that Moses speaks" optically." The form in which the revelation of pre-Adamic events was made has been the subject of curious question. Was it conveyed as a narrative in words dictated (as it were) to the mind of the historian? Or was it presented as a series of visions to the eye of him who was afterwards to describe? This last supposition has been adopted by many; and by none has it been more lucidly explained than by Hugh Miller. "The revelation must have been either a revelation in words or ideas, or a revelation of scenes and events pictorially exhibited. Failing, however, to record its own history,

Maurice, History of Hindostan, vol. i. pp. 368, 369.

See Vol. I. pp. 152-155. [See also an able article on Bunsen's Egypt and the Chronology of the Bible in the Quarterly Review, April 1859. No. CCX. pp. 382, &c.] Fuller, Expository Discourses on Genesis, vol. i. pp. 1, 2.

it leaves the student equally at liberty, so far as external evidence is concerned, to take up either view; while, so far as internal evidence goes, the presumption seems all in favour of revelation by vision; for, while no reason can be assigned why, in a revelation by word or idea, appearances which took place ere there existed a human eye should be optically described, nothing can be more natural or obvious than that they should be so described, had they been revealed by vision as a piece of eye-witnessing. It seems, then, at least eminently probable that such was the mode or form of the revelation in this case; and that he, who saw by vision on the mount the pattern of the tabernacle and its sacred furniture, and in the wilderness of Horeb the bush burning but not consumed-types and symbols of the coming dispensation and of its divine Author-saw also by vision the pattern of those successive pre-Adamic creations, animal and vegetable, through which our world was fitted up as a place of human habitation. The reason why the drama of creation has been optically described seems to be that it was in reality visionally revealed."

If this view be adopted, many objections to the literal exactness of the early part of the Mosaic record are at once obviated. But it must be insisted on- whatever the mode in which the revelation was made that succeeding scripture writers always treat the narrative of the creation, of the fall, &c., as literally true. Evidence of this has been given above; but larger evidence has been produced by archdeacon Pratt, who, confining himself to the New Testament, has shown that, if we are to regard the teaching of Christ and his apostles as worthy of credit, we cannot evade the conclusion that the book of Genesis is no collection of mythical stories, but a trustworthy narrative of events that actually occurred. After producing his proofs the archdeacon says: "Here are sixty-six passages of the New Testament in which these [the first] eleven chapters of Genesis are either directly quoted, or are made a ground of argument. Of these, five are by our Lord himself, two of them being direct quotations; thirty-eight by St. Paul, three being direct quotations; six by St. Peter; eight in St. John's writings; one by St. James; two by St. Jude; two by the assembled apostles; three, all of them direct quotations, by St. Luke; and one by St. Stephen. The inference which I would draw from this circumstance is, that our Lord and his apostles regarded these eleven chapters as historical documents worthy of credit, and that they made use of them to establish truths -a thing they never would have done had they not known them to be authoritative." "92

It is the supernatural character of many of the events recorded which has led men to stigmatize Genesis as "unhistoric." With a reason of this kind the humble Christian can have no sympathy; nor

The Testimony of the Rocks, lect. iv. pp. 168, 169. The whole lecture should be perused. See also Kurtz, Bibel und Astronomie; an abstract of which work is prefixed to the translation of the same author's Hist. of the Old Covenant, Edinb. 1859, vol. i. pp. iii.-cxxx.

Scripture and Science not at Variance; with Remarks on the Historical Character, Plenary Inspiration, and Surpassing Importance of the Earlier Chapters of Genesis. By J. H. Pratt, M.A., Archdeacon of Calcutta (3rd edit.), chap. ii. p. 77.

will he be alarmed by the assertion that miracles are opposed to universal experience, and that therefore no testimony can establish the truth of them. This is not the place to discuss such a question: it is sufficient to observe that the whole objection is based upon a fallacy. The opposition is not between testimony and universal experience. The experience of others is learned by an individual only through testimony. And testimony declares that the experience of some is in favour of miraculous occurrences. To speak of all experience as against them is to put forth a figment. The opposition is, in each case, but of a single man's experience against the witness of many, or rather of negative against positive testimony. So that no one who acknowledges the sovereignty of the Creator need fear to admit the record wherein that sovereignty is testified, or imagine himself driven to account for supernatural events by supposing them the allegoric colouring of what really happened.'

Genesis is a book," says Hävernick, " consisting of two contrasting parts: the first part introduces us into the greatest problems of the human mind, such as the creation and the fall of man; and the second into the quiet solitude of a small defined circle of families. In the former the most sublime and wonderful events are described with childlike simplicity; while, in the latter, on the contrary, the most simple and common occurrences are interwoven with the sublimest thoughts and reflections, rendering the small family circle a whole world in history, and the principal actors in it prototypes for a whole nation, and for all times. The contents in general are strictly religious. Not the least trace of mythology appears in it. Consequently there are no mythical statements, because whatever is mythical belongs to mythology; and Genesis plainly shows how very far remote the Hebrew mode of thinking was from mythical poetry, which might have found ample opportunity of being brought into play when the writer began to sketch the early times of the creation. It is true that the narrations are fraught with wonders. But primeval wonders, the marvellous deeds of God, are the very subject of Genesis. None of these wonders, however, bear a fantastical impress; and there is no useless prodigality of them. They are all penetrated and connected by one common leading idea, and are all related to the counsel of God for the salvation of man. principle sheds its lustrous beams through the whole of Genesis; therefore the wonders therein related are as little to be ascribed to the invention and imagination of man as the whole plan of God for human salvation. The foundation of the divine theocratical institution throws a strong light upon the early patriarchal times: the reality of the one proves the reality of the other, as described in Genesis.""]

This

See some good remarks on the alleged impossibility of miracles in Rogers, Reason and Faith, pp. 43, &c. Comp. Dr. M'Caul, Thoughts on Rationalism, 1850, pp. 30, &c.

2 Kitto, Cyclop of Bibl. Lit. art. Genesis. Comp. Hävernick, Einleitung, § 120. L. ii. pp. 190-207. Dr. Dawson's Archaia, or Studies of the Cosmogony and Natural History of the Hebrew Scriptures (Montreal, 1860), may be consulted for some able remarks on the object, character, and authority of the Mosaic narrative, chap. ii. pp. 17-48.

SECTION IIL

ON THE BOOK OF EXODUS.

I. Title. — II. Author, and date.-III. Occasion and subject-matter. IV. Scope.-V. Types of the Messiah.-VI. Synopsis of its contents. — VII. Remarks on the plagues inflicted upon the Egyptians.

I. THE title of this book is derived from the Septuagint version, and is significant of the principal transaction which it records, namely, the EEOAO, Exodus, or departure of the Israelites from Egypt. By the Jews, and in the Hebrew copies, it is termed, nine ns, These are the words, from the initial words of the book, or sometimes merely nine. [It is also called ".] It comprises a history of the events that took place during the period of 145 years, from the year of the world 2369 to 2514 inclusive, from the death of Joseph to the erection of the tabernacle. Twenty-five passages, according to Rivet, are quoted from Exodus by our Saviour and his apostles, in express words; and nineteen allusions to the sense are made in the New Testament. [Gough (New Testament Quotations) enlarges the number.]

II. That Moses was the author of this book we have already shown, though the time when it was written cannot be precisely determined. As, however, it is a history of matters of fact, it was doubtless written after the giving of the law on Mount Sinai and the erecting of the tabernacle; for things cannot be historically related until they have actually taken place, and the author of this book was evidently an eye and ear witness of the events he has narrated.

III. The book of Exodus records the cruel persecution of the Israelites in Egypt under Pharaoh-Rameses II.; the birth, exposure, and preservation of Moses; his subsequent flight into Midian, his call and mission to Pharaoh-Amenophis II.'; the miracles performed by him and by his brother Aaron; the ten plagues also miraculously inflicted on the Egyptians; the institution of the passover, and the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt; their passage across the Red Sea, and the destruction of the Egyptian army; the subsequent journeyings of the Israelites in the desert, their idolatry, and frequent murmurings against God; the promulgation of the law from Mount Sinai, and the erection of the tabernacle.

IV. The SCOPE of Exodus is to preserve the memorial of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, and to represent the church of God, afflicted and preserved; together with the providential care of God towards her, and the judgments inflicted on her enemies. plainly points out the accomplishment of the divine promises and prophecies delivered to Abraham, that his posterity would be very

['Comp. Vol. I. pp. 189, 190. These events no doubt occurred under monarchs of what is called the eighteenth dynasty, though there may be difficulties in identifying the individual kings. See Kalisch, Comm. on the Old Test., Exodus, Introd. p. xxiii. This author believes that the Exodus took place B.c. 1491, under Rameses V. Amenophis, the last king of the eighteenth dynasty. Others believe that Sethos II. was the monarch in question.]

numerous (compare Gen. xv. 5., xvii. 4-6., and xlvi. 27., with Exod. xxxviii. 26., and Numb. i. 1-3, 46.); and that they would be afflicted in a land not their own, whence they should depart in the fourth generation with great substance (Gen. xv. 13-16. with Exod. xii. 35, 40, 41.). Further, "in Israel passing from Egypt, through the Red Sea, the wilderness, and Jordan, to the promised land, this book adumbrates the state of the church in the wilderness of this world, until her arrival at the heavenly Canaan, an eternal rest."2 St. Paul, in 1 Cor. x. 1., &c., and in various parts of his epistle to the Hebrews, has shown that these things prefigured, and were applicable to, the Christian church. A careful study of the mediation of Moses will greatly facilitate our understanding the mediation of Jesus Christ.

V. TYPES OF THE MESSIAH are Aaron (Heb. iv. 14-16., v. 4, 5.); the paschal lamb (Exod. xii. 46., with John xix. 36., and 1 Cor. v. 7, 8.); the manna (Exod. xvi. 15., with 1 Cor. x. 3.); the rock in Horeb (Exod. xvii. 6., with 1 Cor. x. 4.); the mercy-seat (Exod. xxxvii. 6., with Rom. iii. 25.; Heb. iv. 16.).

VI. By the Jews the book of Exodus is divided into eleven perashioth or chapters, and twenty-nine sedarim or sections: in our Bibles it is divided into forty chapters, the contents of which are exhibited in the annexed Synopsis:

PART I. Account of the preparations for the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, agreeably to the promises made to the patriarchs (i.-xii. 30.).

1. The increase and oppression of the children of Israel (i.).

2. The youth and early history of Moses, with his appointment to be the leader of Israel (ii., iii.).

3. The sending of Moses and Aaron to Pharaoh, and the infliction of the ten plagues, with the institution of the passover (iv.—xii. 30.).

PART II. The narrative of the departure of the Israelites, till their arrival at Sinai (xii. 31-xix. 2.).

1. The departure, with arrangements respecting the passover and sanctification of the first-born (xii. 31–xiii. 16.).

2. The miraculous passage of the Red Sea, and the thanksgiving of Moses and the people of Israel, on their deliverance from Pharaoh and his host (xiii. 17-xv. 21.).

3. Relation of miracles wrought in behalf of the Israelites, with their journey to the mount of God, and the arrival of Moses's wife and children with Jethro (xv. 22—xix. 2.).

PART III. The promulgation of the law on Mount Sinai, and establishment of the theocracy (xix. 3-xl.).

1. The preparation of the people of Israel by Moses, for the renewing of the covenant with God (xix. 3—25.).

['The length of time during which Israel continued in Egypt has been variously estimated. But St Paul (Gal. iii. 17.) fixes the giving of the law 430 years after the promise to Abraham. The Egyptian sojourning may therefore be computed at one half this period, viz. 215 years. And this was long enough for the increase of the Israelites to the numbers named at the Exodus. For a different view, however, see Kurtz, Hist. of the Old Covenant (transl. Edinb. 1859), vol, ii, pp. 133-147.

2 Roberts, Clavis Bibliorum, p. 12.