ing his promise, though bound by his oath to perform it, as being induced to repent of bis rafbness by the fear of reproach.

Dr. Geddes fays, in the preface to vol. i. of his Tranflation, p. 12, "Indeed the "whole tenor of the Pentateuch convinces "me that the more ancient Hebrews were "real anthropomorphites: and to this "alone, I think, we are to afcribe all "thofe expreffions concerning the Deity "that feem to degrade the Deity." In this opinion I perfectly coincide with him, excepting that I must contend for its being a real, and not merely a feeming degradation. But if there were a revelation made to thefe Hebrews, in order to give them the knowledge of the one true God, we certainly should not expect to find them anthropomorphites.

Another fpecimen of what is fo extremely any work claiming to have the

offenfive in

fanction of Heaven, fhall be produced, not from the books of Mofes, but the ift book of Samuel, ch. i. It is the account of the birth of Samuel, one of the most diftinguished perfonages in the Jewish hiftory. The account fays that a man named Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninna: the latter of whom brought him children, while the first was barren, though fhe feems to have been the most favoured. Between these two women there was much uneafinefs, for we are told that Hannah's "adverfary provoked her fore for to make "her fret, because the Lord had fhut 'up her womb;" wherefore, it is added, "fhe was in bitterness of foul, and prayed "unto the Lord, and wept fore; and she "vowed a vow and faid, O Lord of hofts, "if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction "of thine handmaid, and remember me, " and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt "give unto thine handmaid a man-child, "then will I give him unto the Lord all the days of his life," &c. In the fequel we are

informed

informed that her prayer was granted, that fhe bare a fon, and called his name Samuel.

It must be acknowledged there is in this little tale a number of circumstances unneceffary to be particularized by me, which would render it very interesting if it refpected not Almighty God, and only concerned fome imagined local deity with human paffions. But can any ferious believer in the all-wife Creator and Governor of the world hear, with patience, of his interfering, by a miracle, to redress a grievance arifing from a dispute between Elkanah's two wives? I do not mean to be ludicrous, though fome perfons might take the occafion. I am in very ferious earneft, as I mean to be in all that I fhall further ad

vance.

It is not my intention to notice every think offenfive to religion, which is found in the Old Teftament. I think it necef

fary, however, to bring forward certain matters related of the prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Hofea.

In the xxth ch. of Isaiah we read, " The "Lord fpake by Isaiah, the fon of Amoz, faying, Go, and loose the fackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy fhoe from thy "foot: and he did fo, walking naked and bare-foot. And the Lord faid, like as

my fervant Ifaiah hath walked naked and "bare-foot, three years, for a sign and "wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia: "fo fhall the king of Affyria lead away the Egyptians prifoners, and the Ethiopians. "C captives, young and old, naked and bare"foot, even with their buttocks uncovered."

In the ivth ch. of Ezekiel, we read that he was commanded by God to make a reprefentation, on a tile of Jerufalem befieged-that he was then commanded to lie firft on his left fide, during three hun

dred

dred and ninety days, and bear the iniquity of the house of Ifrael, and afterward to lie on his right fide during forty days, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah :—that he was further commanded to make a certain kind of bread, of which he was to eat while he lay on his fide three hundred and ninety days: and that he was likewife commanded to bake this bread in the fight of his countrymen, with human dung*. And the Lord faid, (as we are told) "Even "thus fhall the children of Ifrael eat their "defiled bread among the Gentiles whi"ther I will drive them." We are, howinformed that, on his remonftrating, the prophet was permitted to ufe cow's dung as a substitute.

ever,

What I fhall produce refpecting the prophet Hofea, occurs in the first and third

* If the reader should be disgusted, he may very well fuppofe that I, too, am fo. Nevertheless, if he will take the trouble to confult his Bible, he will perceive that I am guilty of no exaggeration.