hands of the Laity for many ages. And tho, fince LUTHER's time, thofe of the northern regions of Europe, have forcibly recover'd them back again into promifcuous ufe: yet they must ftill for the most part read them with the fpectacles of their own Priefts, and guess at their meaning by certain rules of these Prieft's framing (not to their own difadvantage to be fure) call'd Syftems and Formularies, to which all things are to be neceffarily reduc'd, wiredrawn, and accommodated, both as to matter and expreffion. These are excellent expedients to meditate without ideas, to speak without thinking, and to know all that's in the BIBLE without reading a word of it. But nothing has fo much contributed to create an averfion in generous fpirits against the study of the Old Teftament, as a perfuafion taken up implicitly from their childhood, that it is throout a fcene of Incomprehenfibles, and a complete fyftem of Miracles; which they conceive to be no proper fubject of Criticifm, nor an ample field for Philofophical difquifitions. And tis indeed amazing, to confider the force of Education in this cafe. Miracles no doubt are there related, yet comparatively very few. I fpeak with too much caution, when I affirm not one third part to be Miracles in the Pentateuch (for example) of what are commonly thought to be fuch, and fo in proportion of the other books. To avoid all ambiguity or logomachy, I mean that the writers of those books have neither recorded fuch things for Miracles themselves, nor intended they fhou'd be fo understood by others. III. NOW I expect that people will presently call for examples, as the onely adequate proofs of this affertion. The demand is extremely reafonable, B 3 fonable, and I readily acknowledge my self oblig'd to answer it. Tis fufficiently known that I have already promis'd I THE COMMONWEALTH OF MOSES, which of all forms I think the most excellent and perfect. But I fhall give fo new a turn and face (yet the genuin and the true) not onely to the whole political System, as well as to feveral of the particular Laws of this incomparable Legislator: but likewife to fo many of the circumstances and historical incidents of the abridg'd, and therfore in diverse respects obfcure, relation of the Pentateuch; that I find it highly neceffary to publish before-hand fome fhort Specimen of my undertaking, were it but to prevent furprize, and to accuftom my readers to fuch fort of explications. The fubject of the Specimen I chufe at present is but circumftantial, and particularly concerns the Pillar of Cloud and Fire fo frequently mention'd in the Old Teftament; and scarce ever mention'd by others but as a ftupendous Prodigy, if not the greatest and most durable of all Miracles. Wherfore I prove in this prefent Differtation, by reasons and matters of fact equally undeniable, that it was a Pillar of Smoke, and not a real Cloud, that guided the Ifraelites in the wilderness; and that they were not two (as by most believ'd) but one and the fame Pillar, directing their march with the Cloud of its Smoke by day, and with the Light of its Fire by night. For a greater illuftration of my fubject, I further show there was no manner of Prodigy in this affair, and that FIRE was us'd to the fame purposes by other oriental nations: not moving among the Jews, no more than among those, of its own ac 1. See Nazarenus, in the Appendix to. Letter 1. cord cord or miraculoufly, as tis no lefs needlessly than abfurdly imagin'd; but carry'd in proper machines of mere human contrivance, which might well be call'd ambulatory Beacons. IV. THE reason of fuch a portable Fire is this. In countries well inhabited the route of Armies, tho extending ever fo large in front for the convenience of forage or ways, is mark'd by milliary ftones or posts, by rivers, hills, cities, villages, caftles, and other remarkable places: fo that they know by their orders how farr they may ftretch, and where again to come clofer together to form one camp or body. But in vaft and unpractis'd defarts, without any edifices at all, without noted hills, frequent rivers, or even the ruins of antient buildings, there is a neceffity of a vifible Guide preceding the main body, wherby the wings may order their march, and keep within a commodious diftance; fo as not to ftraggle, or any of 'em be loft, and to know in an inftant when the Army halts or incamps. Now, there's no mute fign in the world can perform this at all times, but FIRE alone; fince the Cloud of its Smoke is (as every body knows) seen very farr by day, as the Light of its Flame is no lefs confpicuous by night. I lay at all times, because in defarts of moving fands, wherof there be many in Africa, with not a few in Afia, Armies or Caravans marching thro them, were forc'd to do fo onely in the night time; not purely to avoid the fcorching heat of the Sun, becoming intolerable by reflecting from the fand: but likewife because all precedent tracks being ufually fwept away or fill'd up by the blowing of strong winds, they had no marks to guide them; and therfore they steer'd (as we may Tay) by the Starrs, A 4 only only visible at night. Thus SILIUS ITALICUS defcribes the Ambaffadors of HANNIBAL, fent to confult the Oracle of JUPITER AMMON, travelling only in the night thro the immenfe defarts of Africa; because they cou'd not otherwife be guided by the North Pole, nor by certain other noted Starrs. 3 LUCAN, 4 PLINY, and many more confirm the fame thing of those places. The Paffages are too long to be produc'd intire and therfore we shall content our selves, omitting an hoft of authors, with what QUIN 2. Ad finem coeli médio tenduntur ab ore Squalentes campi. Tumulum natura negavit Namque dies confundit iter, peditemque profundo Lib. 3. prope finem. 3. Qui nullas vidéré domos, videre rainás: Jamque iter omne latet; nec funt difcrimina terrae Oftendit Libycae finitor circulus drae, ·Lib. 9. ver. 494 &c. 4. E terra autem Siderurn obfervatione, ad eam per deferta arenis perfequentes, iter eft. Lib. 4. cap. 5. Videantur STRAbo, DioDORUS, ARRIANUS, SOLIN. AELIAN. MART. CAPELL. PLUTARCH, veliqui. 5. Magnam deinde partem ejufdem terrae fteriles Arenae tenent. Squalida ficcitate regio non hominem, non frugem alit. Quum verò venti a Pontico mari fpirant, quicquid fabuli in campis jacet converrunt; quod, ubi cumulatum eft, magnorum collium procul Species eft, omniaque priftini itineris veftigia intereunt. Itaque qui tranfeunt campos, navigantium modo Sidera obfervant, ad quoFum curfum iter dirigunt; & propemodum clarior eft noctis umbra, quam lux. Ergo interdiu invia eft regio, quia nec veftigium, quod fequantur, inveniupt; & nitor Siderum caligine abfconditur. Lib. 7. cap. 4. 1 TUS CURTIUS writes of the Bactrian defarts in Afia. A great part of that Country (fays he) is cover'd by barren fands and being parch'd by heat, neither affords nourishment for men nor for vegetables. But when the winds blow from the Pontic fea, they fweep before them all the fands that ly on the plains; which, when heap'd together, fhow ae farr off like great mountains, while all footsteps of former travellers are quite abolish'd. Wherfore fuch as pass over thofe plains, do, like Seamen, obferve the Starrs in the night, by whofe motion they fteer their courfe the fhade of the night being there almoft clearer than the day. And therfore this region by day is unpaffable, becaufe men find no tracks to follow, and that the Starrs are then invifible. But now the Compass renders fuch places practicable by day, as we are juft going to fee. V. IN other defarts not fo fandy, where tracks remain for fome time, being likewife here and there inhabited; and where men, that have long liv'd or been bred in them, know the ways, there the paffage is eafier: but yet for a great multitude there must be, as we faid, fome vifible Guide preceding the main body; wherby the reft may know what distance to keep, where to ftop, and when to procede. Nor is it unworthy our notice, that the invention of the Compass has prov'd beneficial to paffengers on the land, as well as to thofe on the fea for by this means people may now travel over thofe defarts by day, which they cou'd not do before but by night. In most parts of Arabia (fays RAMUZZI) we 6. In plerifque Atabiae locis intinera fecimus ope Compaffi, & 40 diebus ac noctibus occupati fuimus, iter faciendo inter Damafcum & Mecham. travell'd |