that the inhabitants of Jericho might have taken the same opportunity to rid themselves of a powerful enemy. It is said, that this operation disables grown persons for three weeks, from walking or taking any bodily exercise. I should not have envied Joshua his job, as he must have had 600,000 men besides male children to have operated upon. Really this tale will not do it is too gross: so I drop it,

The next circumstance which comes in review, is the miraculous falling of the walls of Jericho: this we are told was accomplished by walking round the walls once each day for six days, and seven times the seventh day, each time seven priests blowing rams horns, and at the last circumition, the ram's horns gave a long blast, the people shouted, and down came the walls! He that believeth this-let him.-I do not envy him his ideas. Any comment on this would be superfluous, therefore, to be as brief as possible, I shall say at once -It is a lie.

I must not pass unnoticed the preservation of Rahab the harlot, as she forms the line of genealogy, according to Jewish scripture, to Jesus Christ. The whole tale of the reception which Rahab gave the spies, their escape, and her consequent escape from destruction, is not at all improbable. We have only to wonder what need Jehovah could have of spies, when his omnipotence could fetch down the walls of Jericho in so singular a manner. The very act of employing spies is a proof of fear, or the support of a bad cause.

We are also told, that the Israelites "utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword." We: have not even the order of Jehovah as an excuse for this wanton extermination of animal life, nor any crime or offence alledged against the inhabitants of Jericho. I suppose we must take it as the pleasure of General Joshua and the Jewish mode of carrying on war. But why destroy the sheep and oxen with the sword; was the savoury appetite of Jehovah satiated, or were the Israelites over-burthened with their own cattle? Neither of those cases seem to be likely by foregoing accounts, for we are just before told, that the children of Israel desisted from eating manna after they passed the Jordan. This story too has a strange appearance, for they are represented as having possession of sufficient corn belonging to the Canaanites before they take Jericho, and before they had taken any place after passing the Jordan. It might be said, did they not conquer Midian, and Sihon, and Og?

but then why did they not eat the corn, and why did the manna continue after they possessed corn? But these are but minor points, and scarcely worth notice here; they better become the priestly commentator.

The argument of the priest on the foregoing verse has ever been the following, which I quote from Dr. Adam Clarke's Commentary on this verse; the twenty-first of the sixth chapter: As this was ordered by God himself, who is the ma'ker and judge of all men, it must be right: for the judge of all the earth cannot do wrong. Nothing that breathed was permitted to live: hence the oxen, sheep, and asses, were destroyed, as well as the inhabitants.' There are two apparent axioms by which the priests solve every difficulty; the first is, that there is nothing impossible with God; and the second is, that an omnipotent God can do no wrong. It is this word God that sanctions every abuse, every vice, every monstrosity, that has been practised among the human race. Man first forms to himself certain notions of a God, and then makes him the author of all his vices and wickedness. The whole train of error lies in our mistaken notions of God; and I do not see on what ground Dr. Adam Clarke can lay claim to the title of a moral, humane, or virtuous man, whilst he sanctions such an indiscriminate massacre of fellow-animals as above, and attributes it to the justice of his God. Admitting, for the sake of argument, that the inhabitants of Jericho were every thing that could degrade humanity, of which there is not even the slightest charge against them, still that degradation could not infect their cattle, for, at least, the cattle were insensible of committing wrong. I would wish no better proof than the above comment of Dr. Adam Clarke's, to shew that religion is destructive of morality. It matters not, whether it be the religion of the Pagan, of the Jew, of the Christian, or of the Mahometan, each and all of them have uniformly committed the grossest violations of nature, of morality, of decency, and of humanity, under the feigned sanction of their oracles, their prophets, and their gods. To quote cases in support of my assertion would be superfluous, for every mind must abound with them that has been accustomed to read the history of the past. This error amongst mankind may be traced to their mistaken notions and attributes of God. Their ignorance of the God of Nature, and their forming their God as the simile of themselves, has been the source of all the misery with which the earth hath uniformly abounded. The God of Nature delights in the destruction of nothing-he is

purely a creative Being, and there is a regular process of time allotted for the existence of every created being, which the God of Nature allows it to enjoy, if it does not destroy itself, or become subject to the destructive power of its fellow. If there be a God which forms the great creative power, and that there is such, is admitted by all men under different ideas, how can we degrade him so far as to make him meddle with the private and trifling affairs, not only of nations, but of individuals? Is it at all compatible with his creative powers, that he should side with this General and that King in their wars with their fellow-men? To me the idea is the grossest and most monstrous possible, that man should reduce the infinite God of Nature into the form of the human being, and enlist him, like a mercenary, into all his quarrels, whatever be the cause of them, or whoever is in the wrong. Still such ideas have filled the minds of countless millions of the human race. Pagan has fought with Pagan, and each has invoked Jupiter for the destruction of the other. Jew has fought with Jew, and each invokes Jehovah, and the victor assigns to him alone the victory. Christian has fought with Christian-the Cross has been the banner of both, and each fancies that his Saviour Jesus is on his side, and ready to destroy the other. Thus has war been carried on among the human race:-millions have been its prey, and the misery and agony of millions its attendant-yet all is done in the name of God, and each party acquits himself most religiously, by first praying for the destruction of the other, and then returning thanks to his God for the victory!

It is this false notion of the Deity, that detroys morality and civilization:-it subverts not only our reason, but our nature, and reduces man to a more savage creature than the beast of prey. The beast of prey becomes tame when his stomach is satisfied with food, and attacks and destroys chiefly to procure that food; but man, more unnatural in character, destroys his fellow without remorse, and delights in the destruction of his own race, in preference even to the destruction of noxious animals--and will leave his food to witness or assist in the destruction of his fellows!

The seventh chapter paints Jehovah as angry with the Israelites, because, that one individual had secreted a portion of the spoil of Jericho, and to find out that individual, the whole people have to cast lots, first by tribes, then by families, and then by individuals, until they came to the right, who conVOL. III. No. 18.

fesses secreting a garment and some silver and gold, for this he and his family are put to death, and all his property burnt, and this is called a purging of Israel, and a means to turn away the fierce anger of the Lord!

The eighth chapter describes the taking of Ai, and defeating its inhabitants by stratagem; and, although we were told in the last chapter that the Israelites were beat off in their first attempts upon Ai, in consequence of the above-mentioned act of an individual, still the cattle and all the spoil are here to be preserved. We ought to have some reason for this caprice. The conclusion of this chapter says, that Joshua built an altar of rough stones on Mount Ebal, and wrote thereupon the law of Moses as Moses had commanded him. If he wrote all the law which we have read as the law of Moses, and this too on rough stones, I think he had a tough job; for this writing must imply engraving. It would be the work of years for an individual now-a-day, and I am inclined to think that we have gravers as expert as Joshua was.

The story of Joshua is so very insignificant when compared with that of Mahomet, that even if we admit the truth of it, it is scarcely worthy of notice. In the book of Joshua we read of a great number of kings and cities being taken and destroyed, and if we knew nothing of the country in which those exploits were performed, we should naturally suppose that Joshua, like Alexander, marched over some thousands of miles, but no, Jerusalem and its king, Hebron and its king, Jarmuth and its king, Lachish and its king, Eglon and its king, did not occupy an extent of ground equal to the smallest county or shire in England, excepting of course those towns or cities which are counties within themselves. Some of those places were five miles distant from each other, and each had its king! Kings in those days were different creatures to what they are now. We should call such persons chiefs of banditti in the present day, and Joshua himself, if he ever existed, was nothing more than a chief of a powerful banditti, and not to be compared with some of the banditties that exist in the present day in Asia. We must not for a moment look at Jewish numbers they are gross exaggerations-rabbinical frauds.

In the ninth chapter, we read of an alliance formed between the Gibeonites and Israelites, and we are told that the Gibeonites represented themselves as people come from a far country to court the favour of Joshua and his followers: we are also told that the Gibeonites had four cities, and in the tenth chapter we are told, that Gibeon was a royal city and

very strong and powerful, more so than Ai, which Joshua destroyed: but geographers have not been able to find room to thrust in those four cities of the Gibeonites into a map, they must have been all comprised within a less space of ground than London covers by many miles. We also read of Joshua and the Israelites journeying three days from Gilgal and coming to those cities of the Gibeonites, when they discovered the fraud which had been practised upon them by the Gibeonites; for instead of their being from a far country, they were actually within a few miles of Gilgal; 5 or 6 to the furthest, and not more ground than such a number of the Israelites, as we read of, must have covered in an encampment; however close they had been together. It is astonishing how men, who have travelled over the land of Palestine, can encourage the falsehoods which are stated in the Bible: they must know that a person might walk round its borders in three days, and go from one extremity to the other of it in a few hours with a good Arabian horse. Yet this is the promised land so much boasted of! It is a barren spot of the earth, but a little better than some part of the stony desart of Arabia; without rivers, brooks, or wells, to make its inhabitants comfortable. Egypt, or Italy, or Spain, is a paradise when compared with the land of Canaan; yet the Israelites, we are told, were brought out of Egypt to possess a more fruitful country! It is sickening to think how this tale has been supported so long, when its falsehoods are so demonstrable. It is a proof, that whatever fills the mind with a notion of divinity overpowers common sense and reason. Although we are told in the ninth chapter that the Israelites journeyed three days from Gilgal, yet in the tenth, they are represented as remaining on Gilgal, and the Gibeonites as coming to entreat their assistance as allies against the five kings, which had made war against the Gibeonites, because they had deserted the common cause: this forms a direct contradiction to the last chapter, and the contradiction is further corroborated, when we are told, that Joshua left Gilgal in the night and came upon them suddenly, a distance now performed in a few hours, which the last chapter represented as occupying three days. These are the five kings and their armies which Joshua discomfitted when he commanded the Sun to stand still upon Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Ajalon. This last circumstance attracts the notice of all commentators and all objectors to the Bible, but it is really deserving of nothing but a smile of contempt, or a laugh of humour, according to the disposition of the reader. I shall