cannot swim in it, but fall immediately on their side. Newcome. See also Bp. Newton, v. 2. . . Rev. iv. 10. And cast their crowns before the throne. This circumstance may be illustrated by several cases which occur in history. Josephus, (Antiq. lib. xv. cap. 10) relating how Herod the Great, going to meet Augustus Cæsar after his victory over M. Antony, whose party Herod had embraced, says, that before he entered into the city, and came into the Emperor's presence, he took off his diadem or crown; and having made his apology, Cæsar bid him put it on again. Tigranes, king of Armenia, did the same to Pompey. (Cic. Orat. p. Sextio, Plutarch. v. Pomp. fol. 209. Ald. Edit. Horat. lib. i. Ep. 12.) Tiridates in this manner did homage to Nero, laying the ensigns of his royalty at the statue of Caesar, to receive them again from his hand. (Tacitus, Ann. lib. xv. p. 258. Ed. Paris, 1608. Procopius de Bell. Parthico, lib. ii. cap. 17.) In the inauguration of the Byzantine Cæsars, when the Emperor, comes to receive the sacrament, he puts off his crown. (Cantacuzene, lib. i. c. 41.) Daubuz. Rev. v. 9. Thou art worthy to take the book. Such accla-: mations as this were common amongst the ancients. (Euri-; pides, 1574 and 1618. Herodot. lib. 3. cap. 20.) They were usual at the inauguration of the Roman Emperors. The following instance is from Elius Lampridius, (in Anton. Diadumeno.) Macrine Imperator, Dii te servent: Antonine Diadumene, Dii te servent and in the conclusion, Antoninus dignus imperio. It occurs also in the case of Gordianus, (Julius Capitolinus in Gordianis,) Equum est, justum est, Gordiane, Auguste, Dii te servent. When Probus was declared Emperor, the acclamations were concluded with these words, (Flav. Vopiscus in Probo,) Et prius fuisti semper dignus imperio, dignus triumphis, felix agas, feliciter imperes. See Theophyl. Simocatta de Mauritio, lib. i. cap. 1. And Ammian. Marcellin. lib. 27. De Gratiani Inaugurat. The Byzantine, Emperors, at their inauguration, were proclaimed to be worthy of it, by the public and repeated acclamations of the word AEIOX, as appears from the full account given of it by the Em-. peror Cantacuzene, lib. i. cap. 41. It was first sung by the patriarch, repeated by the choir, and lastly, by the voice of the multitude. See the Pontif. Romanum, or Selden's Titles of Honor. This acclamation was always made in a singing tone. Thus Horace says, (Epod. 9,) Galli canentes Cæsarem; and; Virgil also, (En. vii.) Regemque canebant. Daubuz Job xviii. 19. He shall have neither son nor nephew among 1 his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings. The original word for dwellings, Schultens says, signifies a territory of refuge for strangers. The great men among the Arabs called their respective districts by this name; because they took under their protection all defenceless and necessitous persons who fled thither. They prided themselves in having a great number of these clients or dependants. This was an ancient custom in Arabia, and continues to the present day. The Arabian poets frequently refer to it. Arabian Anthologia, p. 424. n. Judges xxi. 19. On the north side of Bethel. It was usual anciently for people to celebrate their festivals out of their cities. Tents were most probably pitched for their accommodation. On this occasion it is likely that virgins from other towns attended, though those of Shiloh might be most numerous. When Dr. Perry arrived at Siut, a large town near the Nile, about seventy leagues above Cairo, it was the first day of Biram, and, going to the town, we found a great many tents pitched, and an innumerable concourse of people, without the town, to the south-west of it. These people were partly of Siut, and partly from the circumjacent villages, who came thither to celebrate the happy day.' Harmer, i. 151. Rev. iii. 8. I have set before thee an open door. St. Paul uses this symbol to signify the free exercise or propagation of the gospel. Acts xiv. 27, 1 Cor. xvi. 9, 2 Cor. ii. 2, Col. iv. 3. Thus also Pindar (Olymp. Od. vi.) has the expression, to open the gates of songs, that is, to begin to sing freely; and Euripides (Hippol. vs. 56.) has the phrase, the gates of hell opened, to signify, that death is ready to seize upon a man. Daubuz, Ezek. iv. 3. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel. Teaching by symbolical actions was very common. Herodotus tells us that Cyrus, upon receiving the instructions that Harpagus had sent him, deliberated what method he could put inpractice, as the most proper and effectual to induce the Persians to revolt. After anxiously revolving the subject, he fixed. upon these measures as the most opportune. He gave orders for all the Persians to convene, and every man to bring with him a hatchet. Being assembled, he commanded them to clear a piece of ground of considerable extent, within the limits of that day. This drudgery being finished, he ordered them to re-assemble the day following, on which he had provided a magnificent feast, and entertained them in the most sumptuous and splendid manner. The entertainment concluded, he asked them which they preferred, the festivity of the present, or the drudgery of the past day. Upon all declaring, that there was no comparison between pleasure and pain, he addressed himself to them, and said, that so long as they were in subjection to the Medes they would experience the servile labor and toil of yesterday. But if they would throw off the yoke, and follow him, he would for ever vindicate them into the liberty, plenty, and felicity, in which they were now regaling. Herodotus, Clio, p. 282, vol. i. Glasgua; et Polyani Strategem. lib. vii. p. 480. Casaubon. Tarquin cut off the heads of the tallest poppies in his garden, thus indicating to his son his intention to cut off the most powerful and distinguished of the citizens. Livii Hist. Rom. ib. i. p. 73. Elzevir.; et Polyani Strategem. p. 552. Lugduni, 1589. Epaminondas, most effectually to stimulate the Thebans to attack the Lacedæmonians with vigor and resolution, took a large snake, publicly showed it to the army, crushed its head beore them all; then, addressing himself to them, 'See how useless, said he, the rest of the body is, when the head is but once completely bruised. Just so, if we can but crush the Spartans, who are at the head of our adversáries; the rest of the body of their allies will become totally insignificant. Fired with this representation, the Thebans rushed forward with impetuosity, made a vigorous impression upon the Lacedæmonian phalanx, routed it, and the whole multitude of their auxiliaries fled. Polyani Strategem. p. 122. Sertorius, in order to deter his men from their destructive resolution of attacking the main body of the Romans, and to induce them to concur with him in his design of engaging only small detached parties, till the whole power should be gradually reduced and annihilated, practised this expedient. He ordered one day all his troops under arms. When they stood all marshalled and arranged before him, waiting his commands, he brought out two horses, one extremely lean and old, the other strong and stately, and distinguished by a brushy and beautiful tail. By the lean one stood a very tall and robust man: by the stately one, a very diminutive figure, of a mean and contemptible aspect. Upon a signal given to them, the strong man seized the tail of the emaciated beast, to pull it off by dint of violence, laboring and striving to effect his purpose in vain, to the no small diversion of the spectators. The little mean-looking person picked out one single hair after another, till the whole was at last exhausted. Sertorius then addressing himself to the army, assured them, that in like manner, all their most vigorous efforts to conquer the combined force of Rome would be equally vain and fruitless, while, by " attacking them in single detached bodies they might, in the end, insensibly and gradually diminish and exhaust the whole collective system of their power. Plutarch's Life of Sertorius, vol. ii. p. 1051. Ed. H. Stephan. Ga. "A short Introduction to Hebrew Criticism;" abstracted from DE MISSY'S" Critica Sacra." Sanctos ausus recludere fontes.-VIRGIL. I. THE method of discovering and rectifying the errors of the Hebrew text, which De Missy principally recommends, is to compare the several correspondent passages of Scripture,' and to adopt those particular readings which best agree with the context and the rules of grammar.' These parallel passages, he observes, will be found far more ample and various, than most persons could, at first, conceive. They may be looked upon as different copies of the same original copies of undoubted authority and of venerable antiquity; and, if they were carefully compared together, they would, no doubt, contribute much to our present store of Hebrew criticism. They are of different sorts, and are often found at a considerable distance from one another. De Missy makes the following classification of them: 1. Genealogical registers, muster-rolls, &c. doubly inserted. 2. Historical narrations repeated. 3. Sentiments, messages, &c. twice recited. 4. Quotations made by one prophet from another. 5. Quotations or repetitions borrowed by the same prophet from himself. II. Genealogical registers are almost coeval with mankind. For many peculiar reasons the Jews were very exact in drawing them up, and they preserved them with a kind of religious reverence. (See 1 Chron. ix. 1.) That they retained them during the time of the Babylonish captivity, plainly appears from a passage in Nehemiah, (vii, 5.) But as we have them, now, many important differences may be found between the same genealogies mentioned in different parts of Scripture.. This is a circumstance which deserves the serious attention of all who believe in the divine origin of the Jewish religion. Under this head may be compared 1. Gen. v. 3-32. 2. Gen. x. 2—4. 3. Gen. x. 6—8, 13-18. 1 Chron. i. 1-4. 1 Chron. i. 5—7. 1 Chron. i. 8—16. 10. Gen. xxxvi. 31-39. 11.. Gen. xxxvi. 40-43. 1 Chron. i. 43-50. This list may be extended at pleasure, by the help of those references which are placed in the margin of our English Bibles. See, however, In 12. 2 Sam. xxiii. 8-39. 1 Chron. ii. 10-47. proper names mistakes are very frequent. The misapprehension of similar letters was certainly the cause of many errors; other circumstances will account for more. See a very striking difference in the names and number of David's sons, as recorded in 1 Chron. iii. 1-4. and 1 Chron. iii. 5-8. 1 Chron. xiv. 4-7. Compare also 2 Sam. iii. 2—5. } 2 Sam. v. 14-16. 1 Chron. vi. 54-81. Josh. xxi. 1-39. and Other instances may easily be collected, especially from the journeyings of the Israelites into the wilderness. Mistakes of this kind may have arisen from the transcriber casting his eye, when the same word was found twice within a short compass, on the wrong place. From this cause have arisen both omissions and repetitions. An instance of the former sort may be seen in No. 4. of the preceding series. In the genealogy of the line of Shem we read, Gen. x. 22, 23. 1 YW OIX DJ): 0i. e. And ARAM and the sons of ARAM, Uz,' &c., which was doubtless the reading of the original copy in Chronicles. The intermediate words seem to have been left out by some careless transcriber. This is evident both from the exact conformity between these passages elsewhere, and from the Arabic version of this place : |