Moses, An altar of whole stones, over which no man hath lift up any iron," Josh. viii. 31. Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them," Deut. xxvii. 26. "For it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them," Gal. iii. 10.-" For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do it? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it," Deut. xxx. 11-14.-" Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven-or, who shall descend into the deep? But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart," Rom. x. 6-8.-"I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people, I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation," Deut. xxxii. 21. "Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you," Rom. x. 19.-" Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people," Deut. xxxii. 43. "And again he saith, Rejoice ye Gentiles with his people,” Rom. xv. 10.* * See further Deut. iii. 12.-Josh. xiii. 8. iii. 20. xxii. 4. i. 7. Deut. iv. 2.-Rev. xxii. 18. 16. Joshua.] We must now be more sparing of our quotations. Distinction is made by the Jewish biblists between the elder and the later prophets or between those who lived prior and posterior to the days of king Uzziah. Certain it is, that Zechariah i. 4, warns the children of Israel against being as their fathers, unto whom the former prophets had cried. And as the book of Joshua is ranked by them as a prophetical book, he has an undisputed title to a place in the Deut. v. 17.-Math. v. 21. v. 18.-Luke xviii. 20. Mark xii. 30. x. 20.-Luke iv. 8. viii. 33. xi. 29. 2 Cor. xiii. 1. xix. 21.-Math. v. 38. xx. 8.—Judges vii. 3. VOL. IV. M Deut. xx. 14.-Josh. viii. 2. xxiv. 1.-Math. v. 31. xxviii. 15.-Lam. ii. 17. Jer. xxiv. 9. XXV. 9. xxviii. 53.-2 Kings vi. 28. Lam. iv. 10. xxix. 9.-Josh. i. 7. earlier of the two divisions. We have strong evidence that the book existed in the days of Ahab, though not that Joshua was the writer of it. "And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his first-born, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it,” Josh. vi. 26. "In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his first-born, and set up the gates thereof in his younger son Segub, according to the word of the Lord which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun," 1 Kings xvi. 34. Of this, and indeed. most other of the historical books, though we have very strong traditions in regard to their human authors, we have no scriptural certainty about them or rather, it were more proper to say, that, with the evidence we have of their divine authorship, our only uncertainty respected the amanuenses of these writings. As to the book of Joshua, we have several examples of the New Testament having incorporated parts of its history into its own pages." So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city," Josh. vi. 20. "By faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days," Heb. xi. 30.-" Ani the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel," Josh. vi. 23. "By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace." Heb. xi. 31. "But we have far more ancient references than this, as the following: "And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash," Josh. xxiv. 30. "And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash," Judges ii. 9.* 17. Judges.] This history begins where that of Joshua ends, or takes up the narrative of Jewish affairs immediately after the death of the great captain of Israel, of which event it makes mention. The portion of history embraced in this book is made the subject of a general reference by Paul in Acts xiii. 19-21-as also in the eleventh chapter of the Hebrews. "And after that he gave unto them judges," &c., Acts xiii. 20. Here Paul, by quoting history that was only recorded in the book of Judges, at the same time and in the same manner with other history only recorded in the book of Exodus, does equal honour to both these books, and expresses the like confidence in both. The following is a distinct allusion to a subject in this book. "And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host," Judges vii. 22. "For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian," Isaiah ix. 4. That the transactions in this book were written at a very early period, is obvious from the mention of them in the books of Samuel, and in the Psalms-as the reader may perceive by comparing Judges iv. 2; vii. 4; xi. 2; with 1 Samuel xii. 9-11-Judges ix. 53, with 2 Samuel xi. 21-and Judges v. 5, with Psalm lxviii. 8, 9. It is a striking proof of the early composition of the book of Judges, that, at the time of its being written, as appears from i. 21, the Jebusites still dwelt in Jerusalem-whereas we might infer from 2 Samuel v. 6, &c., that the total expulsion of them from that city must have taken place at the hands of David. Other vestiges of its high antiquity are to be found and so as to harmonize with the idea that Samuel was the writer of it. For Samuel being a writer of scripture, we have strong evidence in Acts iii. 21 -24-particularly in the latter of these two verses, where it is said that "all the prophets from Samuel have foretold of these days." That he was the writer of the book of Judges, is the confident opinion of many of our biblists. We might add, though without laying much stress on the observation, that, if the adage of Matt. ii. 23 be a |