the second temple. Because," say they, "we have maintenance from the king's palace, (or, as it is in the margin of our English Bible, are salted with the salt of the palace,') and it was not meet for us to see the king's dishonour, therefore have we sent and certified the king."* But let us accompany the conquerors home, and notice how their advent was hailed by their admir. ing countrymen.-Each male rejoiced in their suc cess, and bands of females met them with instru ments of music; who, like the minstrels of later times, celebrated their praises in extempore songs. It was thus that Jephthah, the daughter of Gideon, met her father with timbrels and dances, when he returned from subduing the Ammonites; and thus that the women of Israel, in all the cities they passed, sang the praises of Saul and David, after the death of Goliath, and the defeat of the Philistines. In the subsequent history of the Jews we have similar instances of rejoicing. For, when Judith slew Holofernes, she and all the people of Israel praised the Lord, for their unexpected deliverance. When Phasaelus, the eldest son of Hyrcanus, the high priest, had freed his country from a nest of robbers, the Syrians celebrated his praises in their villages and cities. And when Herod the Great accomplished a similar service, he had the same honours paid to him by the Jews. But in recounting these public expressions of joy, it would be wrong to overlook the Song of Moses, in Exodus xv. 1-21, which is the most ancient lyric poem in the world. The Israelites had seen the over d a Ezra iv. 14. ₫ Judith xvi. 1—17. b Judg. xi. 34. Joseph. Antiq. xiii. 9. CJ Sam. xviii. 6, 7. throw of the Egyptians in a miraculous manner, and felt the full impulse of gratitude to the Almighty. The males, therefore, of Israel sang the song which Moses had composed; and his sister Miriam, with all the women, joined in the chorus, with timbrels and dances. These public expressions of gratitude, for mercies received, were natural and impressive: they indicated religious feeling, were a pleasing tribute of gratitude to the deliverers of their country, and a powerful stimulus to make others excel. After the return of the Jewish armies to their several homes, the military character was laid aside: the militia, which had been raised for the occasion, was disbanded; their warlike instruments, unless those of them that were private property, were delivered up as the property of the state, till some fu ture war should call them forth; and themselves returned, like Cincinnatus, to the plough, and the other avocations of private life. It is to this suspending of their arms in some public armory, that the prophet alludes, when he says, that they of Persia, and of Lud, and of Phut, and of Arvad, were in the Tyrian army, as men of war, and hung up their shields upon its walls round about." And it is to this that the bridegroom refers, when he compares the neck of the spouse, ornamented with jewels, to the tower of David for an armory, whereon were hung a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. We hear nothing among the Jews of votive tablets being hung around the tabernacle, or walls of the temple, like those which the heathens suspended, as marks of gratitude for signal с 2 Chron. xi. 12. b Ezek. xxvii. 10, TT. < Cant. iv. 4. deliverances, in the temples of their gods; but there is every reason to suppose, that, after a vic tory, pious kings would offer sacrifices, and pious individuals would express their obligations to the Divine Being, for their deliverance, by freewill of ferings. Nothing has hitherto been said of the grief which the nation felt for a fallen chief: but every one will recollect the pathetic lamentation of David for Saul and Jonathan, and also for Abner." And it is probable that, in later times, the mourning which the Jews at Jerusalem made for Josephus, when they thought him dead, after the glorious defence he had made at Jotapata, against the army of Vespa-sian, was the ordinary way in which they lamented the persons who had distinguished themselves in the service of their country. "In every house, and among all to whom any of the slain were allied, there was a lamentation for them; but the mourning for the commander was a public one.-All mourned for Josephus: insomuch, that the lamentation did not cease in the city, before the thirtieth day; and a great many persons hired mourners, with their pipes, to begin the melancholy songs for them." There are still some observations which ought to be noticed, before we leave the military affairs of the Jews. The first is the effect of their barbarous ́method of making war on the male part of the population of Judea. It destroyed the balance between the sexes, and prevented the increase of children; the desire for which was a prominent feature in the female character of that nation. Isaiah a Horat. Carm. lib. i. ode 5. ! b 2 Sam. i. 17-27; iii. 31-34. C Joseph. War, iii. 9. 66 takes notice of it, and places it in a very impressive light, in the following passage. Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground. And in that day, seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own 'apparel, (dispensing thus with the ordinary provision given to wives,) only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach." The second "observation respects the frequent mention of the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, as being commonly linked together. For it should be remembered, that whilst the sword destroyed multitudes, it naturally occasioned famine, by the neglect of tillage; the destruction of provisions by the owners, to prevent them from falling into the enemy's hands; or the destruction of them by the enemy, to force the owners to surrender at discretion: whilst pestilence as naturally followed famine, as famine did the sword; for when a scarcity of food was occasioned, all the diseases attendant on the sudden change from plenty to want, were quick experienced. The only other observation to be made is, the improvement which Christianity has introduced into the art of war, in those parts of the world where it prevails; by the restraints it hath laid on princes; the sentiments of honour it hath introduced among contending armies; and the generosity it hath inspired towards captives. Let us hope for the time when the peaceful genius of the gospel shall so far prevail, as to expel the demon of war from the earth. a Is. iii. 25, 26; iv. 1. SECT. XIII. Diseases in Judea, History of Jewish medicine. Leprosy; its symptoms in Leviticus, by Dr. Cullen, Wallis, and Maundrell: elephantiasis, the disease with which Job is thought to have been afflicted: consumption, and burning ague: fever; the botch of Egypt; emerods; scab ; itch; madness and blindness, Bowel complaints; menorrhagia; the plague; Hezekiah's boil; stroke of the sun; lunacy; anointing with oil; James v. 14, explained. The disease of which Herod died. A catalogue of diseases given by Buxtorff. Demoniacal possession; reason of its frequency in our Saviour's days. Advantage of Christianity to surgery and physic. THE most ancient account of medicine is that of Egypt, when the physicians embalmed the patriarch Jacob, at the request of Joseph; and of which embalming we shall give an account, when treating of the manner in which the Jews disposed of their dead. Moses styles these physicians servants to Joseph; whence we are certain that they were not priests, as the first physicians are generally supposed to have been: for in that age, the Egyptian priests were in such high favour, that they retained their liberty, when, through a public calamity, all the rest of the people became slaves to the king. It is probable, therefore, that among the Egyptians, religion and medicine were not originally conjoined. That the Jewish physicians were distinct from their priests is very certain: for, when Asa was diseased in his feet," he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians," Among the Jews the medicinal art was considered as a human invention; and it was thought that the Deity never cured diseases, |