1846, by a firm well known for its splendid editions of the Scriptures, there are numerous marginal notes, philological and explanatory, of which these are two specimens taken almost at random. Psalm xlii. 7: "A waterspout is a large tube formed of clouds by means of the electric fluid, the base being uppermost, and the point let down perpendicularly from the clouds. It has a particular kind of circular motion at the point; and being hollow within, attracts vast quantities of water, which it frequently pours down in torrents upon the earth." Job xxxviii. 25, 26: “Wa'er is composed of two elastic airs or gases, called oxygen and hydrogen, in the proportion of 88 of the former and 11 of the latter in 100 parts; the electric spark, or matter of lightning, passing through the atmosphere, ignites and decomposes those gases, which explode; and the water falls down in the form of rain. This explosion, as well as the rushing in of the circumambient air to restore the equilibrium, will account for the clap and peal." Suppose these explanations had been found in the text instead of the margin !

Enough of these illustrations, which might be multiplied ad infinitum. My object in adducing such examples from other professed revelations, from apocryphal books, and from Jewish or Christian commentaries, is to bring into greater prominence the remarkable fact that the canonical Scriptures themselves abstain almost wholly from human theories of But in order to feel the full force of this argu

nature.

ment, it is necessary to bear in mind that the Bible is the work of about forty human authors, extending over a period of at least one thousand and perhaps two thousand years, marked by a wondrous advance of civilization-men living in different countries, speaking different languages; some illiterate, and others the most learned of their day; kings, warriors, and legislators; priests, poets, and chroniclers; a physician and a gatherer of wild figs; the prime minister of Babylon, and the fishermen of Galilee. When we reflect that none of these ever professed to reveal the mysteries of nature, or claimed the authority of inspiration for anything that later science has shown to be false, we find an additional reason to believe that a higher intelligence than that of man has presided over the composition of this wonderful book.

BLIO

THE ALLEGED MORAL DIFFICULTIES

OF THE

OLD TESTAMENT.

BY THE REV.

THOMAS POWNALL BOULTBEE, LL.D.,

PRINCIPAL OF THE LONDON DIVINITY COLLEGE, ST. JOHN'S HALL, HIGHBURY.