same terms as that to the sun, and for the most obvious philosophical reasons: all that is said is simply, and the moon on the vale of Ajalon, which may be thus understood: Let the sun restrain his influence, or be inactive, as he appears now upon Gibeon, that the moon may continue as she appears now over Ajalon.' It is worthy of remark, that every word in this poetic address is apparently selected with the greatest caution and precision."*

Again, it is objected that if the sun should stand still for a single instant, or the movement of the globe was retarded, not only the belligerent armies, but every thing on the face of the earth would have been swept away like chaff before the wind. But it is the objection which is an error; for if the miracle instead of suddenly arresting in an instant the rotation of the globe, took only the short space of a few seconds to accomplish it, by a gentle and continuous action, then there is enough in this single circumstance to show that such a phenomenon could not have mechanically any other sensible effect than to cause, from west to east, the waters to spread over the surface of the earth.

It is well known, that a carriage in rapid motion, rushing against an impediment, may be dashed to pieces; because the impediment is immovable, and all the travelers thrown out forward will be hurled to the ground. But let it be stopped by a continuous resistance, which is applied gradually for three or four seconds: then the smallest children seated in the vehicle will remain unshaken from their seats; they will not even be aware of the impulse, which three seconds before, they were receiving from the impetuous movement of the horses, and which, without this precaution, must have been sufficient to throw them to a great distance.

Mr. Gaussen, treating on this subject, says: "The rotation of the earth is, at the equator, at the rate of fourteen hundred and twentysix feet a second; at Jerusalem twelve hundred and twelve feet. It is the speed of a bullet at the moment of leaving a cannon, discharged by one-fifth of its own weight of powder.

It is capable (deducting the effect of atmospherie resistance,) of elevating this projectile to the extreme height of twenty-four thousand feet, and yet a child of six years, in two-thirds of a minute, could, without danger, destroy all this force by the elastic and continued action of its fingers. Commit to its little hands an eight pound cannon ball, for forty seconds; and, during the same time, let another of the

Dr. Clarke's Commentaries.

same weight fall freely through the air, and from the height of mount Himalaya. At the end of only forty seconds, the weight, after having acted by the same impulse upon the one and the other of these projectiles, shall merely, in regard to the first, have wearied the feeble fingers which hold it; while it shall have imparted to the other a rapidity of motion, equal to that of the rotation of the earth, impressed on the hill of Bethoron in the latitude of Jerusalem. The child

does not imagine that he has been able, in two-thirds of a minute, to destroy, by the continued action of his little hand, a force capable of projecting a ball eight thousand feet higher than Mount Blanc, and of cutting down at an immense distance, squadrons and ramparts in the day of battle!

Thus then, if God should have employed no more than forty seconds, in the days of Joshua, to arrest by a supple and successive resistance the movement of our globe, the projecting impulse from west to east, which a mass of iron of eight pounds would have felt in the plain of Bethoron, would have been no stronger than the pressure felt to-day by the hand upon which you lay such a weight. And if the mass, instead of having the form of a bullet, had had that of a quoit or of a cube, there would not have been enough of that impulse to make it overcome the resistance of friction, and change its face upon the surface of the ground.

It will perhaps be objected, that the rotation of the globe at Bethoron was twenty-seven times more rapid than the movement of a steam-carriage upon a rail-road. True, but since the retarding force necessary to exhaust a given impulse, is in inverse proportion to the time employed, suppose the miracle accomplished in eighteen minutes; take eighteen minutes instead of forty seconds, to stop entirely the movement of the terrestrial globe at the command of Joshua, and then "the contending armies instead of being swept away as by the tempest," would no more have felt what was passing, than do, at each station, the thousands of travelers who are stopped upon a railroad." *

In 2 Kings, chap. xx. 11., it is written that "Isaiah the prophet cried unto the Lord, and he brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the dial of Ahaz." This passage has also been objected against as incredible. It should be noticed that it is not the sun, but the shadow which is said to have gone down, and it is not hours, but ten degrees of the dial, which the shadow returned.

Mr. Sleigh on this subject says: "In order to accomplish this miracle, there was no necessity whatever, either for the sun himself to have gone back in the heavens, nor the earth to have turned back on its uxis, from east to west. The power possessed by all bodies, in proportion to their density, more or less to refract the rays of light, can sufficiently account for this phenonemon. All the Deity had to do, was to collect a quantity of vapors between the sun's rays and the dial, and the object would be immediately accomplished. The sun seldom ever rises or sets, but this effect by refraction, is, to a certain degree, produced. For the sun often APPEARS above the horizon, when he is actually below it, and literally out of sight. Now as to the ten degrees not implying hours, is satisfactorily proved. For Ahaz's dial consisted of eleven steps, five on two sides each, and one on the top, placed parallel to the horizon, and each step was divided into degrees. It is highly probable then, that ten degrees were equivalent to fifteen minutes. On the top of the steps was a perpendicular gnomon. All the operations of this dial are determined by the point of the shadow projected from the gnomon on the steps of the dial. See Dr. Adam Clarke's Notes on 2nd Kings xx. 11.*

6

5

4

32

1

The height of this dial was about four feet and a half; that is, allowing six inches for each step, and twelve inches for the stile.

Infidels object to the credibility of the Old Testament Scriptures, on account of the narrative of the witch of Endor, recorded in 1 Sam. chap. xxviii. Mr. Bryant informs us, that Endor is derived from EnAdor, and that the term signifies the oracle of the god Ador. The Hammian race, as has already been shown, were the inventors of the idol worship which spread through India, Egypt, Greece, and Italy. The Canaanites were a branch of that race; and the probability is, that this oracle had been founded by them, and was not totally suppressed in the days of Saul. Wherever the Hindoo idolatry prevailed, such oracles were numerous. The most famous were those of Jupi

* Sleigh's Defensive Dictionary, pp. 130, 131.

ter Ammon in Libya, and Delphi in Greece. In all of them, the answers to those who consulted them were given from the mouth of a female, who, from the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, has generally received the name of Pythia; such an one, with its Pythia, was this at Endor. The design of all these shrines was to impose upon the credulity and superstition of idolaters; and that the witch of Endor, or the Pythia of this oracle, possessed no power to call forth the spirits of the departed, is evident from her astonishment and fright upon beholding Samuel, whom God, from reasons unknown to us, permitted to appear to Saul. Had she the least expectation that Samuel would appear had she ever called up the departed spirit of any human, being or had Samuel atually not appeared, there would have been no account of her fright and astonishment. And it should be observed, that the narrative gives no intimation that she brought up Samuel.

END OF VOLUME I.

CHRISTIAN'S DEFENCE,

CONTAINING

A FAIR STATEMENT, AND IMPARTIAL EXAMINATION

OF THE

LEADING OBJECTIONS URGED BY INFIDELS

AGAINST THE

ANTIQUITY, GENUINENESS, CREDIBILITY AND INSPIRATION

OF THE

HOLY SCRIPTURES;

ENRICHED WITH COPIOUS EXTRACTS FROM LEARNED AUTHORS.

BY JAMES SMITH.

"The Christian Faith,

Unlike the tim'rous creeds of pagan priests.

Is frank, stands forth to view, inviting all

To prove, examine, search, investigate;

And gave herself a light to see her by."-Pollock's Course of Time. B. iv.

"If I have done well, and as is fitting the story, it is that which I desired; but if slenderly and meanly, it is that which I could attain unto."-2 Macabees xv. 38.

TWO VOLUMES IN ONE.

VOL. II.

CINCINNATI:

STEREOTYPED AND PUBLISHED BY J. A. JAMES.