INTRODUCTORY REMARKS,

BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

THERE is no subject, that can be named, in so few words, that embraces such an extent and variety of interesting and useful information as the Natural History of the Bible. It includes within the range of its various objects, everything that can invite the attention, or reward the inquiries of the Natural Philosopher. It furnishes subjects for investigation, which have engaged the interest of the most gifted minds, and those too, under the guidance of inspiration, during a period of more than Four Thousand Years. It leads the mind back to the hour, when the world was in its infancy, and when, at its birth, the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.' And it extends down beyond the time when the Saviour of the world ascended, in the clouds of heaven, to his Father's throne.

The whole kingdom of nature, in all the multiplicity and variety of its objects, is brought to view in the 'Perfect Book,' with a clearness of light, which is not elsewhere to be found.

The simple yet truly philosophical arrangement, presented in the sublimely beautiful narrative of the Creation,' clearly shows that the pen of the sacred historian was guided by the hand of a master.

But there are various other considerations which render this a subject of the deepest interest. In the early ages of the world, so far as we know, Literature, Science, and Poetry, were cultivated solely by the prophets, or servants of the Most High. We have no evidence that other minds were devoted to such pursuits. And the writers of the Bible had no opportunity to resort to the writings of idolatrous heathen around them, to illustrate or enforce their own eloquence and song. There was no Classical Literature then, to furnish learned

allusions. And the spirit of sacred eloquence and poesy was free to expatiate in the wide field of nature, that was open and unoccupied before her. And almost every natural object, in the firmament above, in the earth beneath, or in the mighty waters, was made to contribute to her ends. With inimitable skill, have the sacred penmen drawn the richest of imagery and the happiest and most forcible illustrations, for their high themes,' from these endless resources. The splendor of the sun, the beauty of the stars, the genial influence of the clouds and the dew, the fragrance of the violet, and the flavor of fruit-the animal and vegetable kingdoms, in all their rich variety; everything animate and inanimate, that adorns and enriches earth; whatever gives interest and sublimity to the mighty deep, either in the majesty of its angry mountain wave, or in the mirror of its peaceful repose,—are all brought to bear upon the object of the Poet and Prophet, in their efforts to enlighten and to save the world.

Hence it is, that an intimate and accurate acquaintance with the natural history of the East, is so interesting and essential to the intelligent reader of the Bible.

It is not to be supposed that the sacred writers possessed, in all respects, the same degree or kind of knowledge, that we do, in the various departments of Science and Philosophy. According to all the ordinary laws of the human mind, in advancing in knowledge and in skill in acquiring it, there must have been very different degrees of information entertained, at different periods, during the long course of 4000 years. In all truth, except what is exclusively revealed from heaven, the human mind makes progress. So that it is by no means to be expected that, on all subjects of Natural Science, and in every instance, the sacred writers will accord, in their views, with our modern philosophy.

I cannot perhaps better illustrate this sentiment, than by reference to the opinions of some of the sacred writers, at least, respecting the form and structure of the earth. I am indebted for the illustration to an eminent divine and biblical student, to whom, I believe, it was suggested, in the course of his own private reading and study of the Scriptures. Some passages in the writings of Moses and David, and other intermediate writers, favor the opinion, that they viewed the structure of the earth as follows:-According to Acts vii. 22, 'Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians.' Of course, it is not unlikely, that he embraced those views of

Astronomy and Geology which their Philosophers and Astrologers inculcated. But whether this be, or be not true, the following view would seem to elucidate some passages of scripture, which otherwise appear with far less of beauty and sublimity.

Conceive the earth to have been in their view a flat, circular surface, floating upon the waters of the deep. There would then have been in their minds these three distinct ideas :First, A vast expanse of firmament, or sky, above the earth and water. This in general they called 'the heavens.' Moses, however, often speaks of the first, second, and third heavens. This division is thus explained:-The first heaven, also called the 'open firmament,' and what we call familiarly, 'up in the air,' was the space above us in which the birds of the air wing their way, and the clouds are seen to move. The second was the star-studded sky. And the third heaven, beyond the starry-sky, was the place of God's abode. Thus Paul in 2 Cor. xii. speaks of one'caught up into the third heaven,' 'caught up into paradise.'

The second idea, in their conceptions, would have been the circular solid earth, floating upon a sea of, to them, unknown and inconceivable extent.

The third prominent point, in accordance with their views, would have been the situation of the world beneath. They probably supposed the abode of departed spirits in the world of woe, to be far below the bottom of the deep. With such conceptions, in the minds of the ancients, respecting Heaven and Earth and Hell, how sublime and beautiful appears David's description of God's Omniscience and Omnipresence, in the 139th Psalm.

Thou

'O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. knowest my down-sitting, and mine up-rising; thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. ******

'Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into Heaven, (the highest place which they conceived of, in the universe,) thou art there.

'If I make my bed in Hell, (that is, the lowest place in God's dominions) behold, thou art there.

'If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; (still stretching his thought in another direction, through the boundless limits of Jehovah's empire,)

even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.'

How much interest, too, would this opinion, if entertained by the Jews, add to the sentiment in the 46th Psalm.

The writer, in the fulness of his confidence in God, as a strong and sure refuge in the time of trouble, declares that he will trust securely in him, though the earth be shaken, and the mountains overthrown by the mighty heavings of the deep.

'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.'

Such an exposition, whether it be strictly correct or not, does most surely discover new beauties in these passages; and in all these and in all other cases, we have this reflection obviously presenting itself, that the difference of view, between them and us, which such investigations disclose, always relates to points merely of human knowledge. We never find them countenancing the least erroneous opinion, on any of the principles or truths of divine revelation.

But, notwithstanding the benefits to be derived from an acquaintance with the state of general knowledge, among the Jews, and of their ordinary habits of thinking, the value of such kind of information, to the reader of the Bible at the present day, is still more clearly and strikingly seen, in cases where our ideas of the most common and familiar objects are different from theirs. We all of us are apt to think, and young persons especially are, that the places and occurrences of which we read in the Bible, are too remote in distance and time, to make any clear and vivid impressions upon the mind. But the great difficulty is, in regarding the scene, and the natural objects of Scripture History, as not susceptible of the same distinct and tangible apprehension, as we may have of objects and scenes immediately around us, here.

Take, for example, the Scripture allusions to the shepherd and his flock. Perhaps there are no objects, in the whole Animal Kingdom, which furnish so many beautiful and affecting illustrations, as the sheep and the fold. The shepherd, the sheep, and the lambs are the sources of illustration, from the beginning to the end of the Bible. And yet how much of the force and beauty of many of them is lost, by a want of acquaintance with the custom of the time, in rela tion to them.