army of the King of Syria. This renowned general, who was the unhappy subject of a grievous leprosy, was induced, by the representations of a little captive Jewess, who waited upon his wife, to solicit the assistance of the Prophet of God for the removal of his disease. The application was first made to the King of Israel, as if he must have been best acquainted with the prophet, or could have commanded his services. But the King either knew not, or had forgotten that he had so eminent a person in his dominions. Elisha, however, interposed for the honour of the God of Israel, and through his means Naaman was restored to perfect bodily soundness. 2 Kings, v.

ELISHA. The original word translated in 2 Kings, ii. 23, 24, "little children," also means "young persons who are grown up." Isaac was so called when he was twenty-eight years of age; Joseph when he was thirty; and Rehoboam when he was forty years old. A person is called an "infant," even at the present day, by the Court of Chancery in England, till he is twentyone years of age!

It is worthy of remark, that the language of those young persons, who were destroyed for mocking Elisha the Prophet of the Living God, carried the essence of infidelity in it: "Go up," (or rather ascend up,) “thou too, thou bald head!" Evidently alluding to the recent ascension of the prophet's predecessor, Elijah, which they thus ridiculed: consequently it was not men but God whose authority they thus despised, and whose servants they thus mocked. And Elisha in cursing them was merely pronouncing what God had commanded him, for "he cursed them in the name" (that is by the command or authority) "of the Lord." So that he did not do it from any private feeling of revenge or malice.

EMPERORS, ROMAN. The learned Gibbon, whose hostility to Christianity is well known, gives such an account of the real character of these men who reigned in the infancy of Christianity, that it not only fully corroborates the statement made by the sacred writers, and the early Christian fathers, of the persecution to which the first Christians were exposed, but makes manifest the dishonesty of the infidel writers of the present day, who hesitate not to praise the character of these emperors, (or rather tyrants,) in order, if possible, to throw discredit on the accounts given by the early Christian writers. He writes thus: "The annals of the Emperors exhibit a strong and various picture of human nature, which we should vainly seek among the mixed and doubtful characters of modern history. In the conduct of these monarchs, we may trace the utmost lines of vice and virtue; the most exalted perfection, and the meanest degeneracy of our own species. The golden age of Trajan and the Antonines had been preceded by an age of iron. It is almost superfluous to enumerate the unworthy successors of Augustus. Their unparalleled vices, and the splendid theatre on which they were acted, have saved them from oblivion. The dark, unrelenting Tiberius, the furious Caligula, the feeble Claudius, the profligate and cruel Nero, the beastly Vitellius, and the timid, inhuman Domitian, are condemned to everlasting infamy. During four-score years, (excepting only the short and doubtful respite of Vespasian's reign,) Rome groaned beneath an unremitting tyranny, which exterminated the ancient families, and was fatal to almost every virtue, and every talent that arose in this unhappy period." Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. i. chap. 3.

ENOCH. The translation of this servant of the

Most High God, that he should not see death, as intimated in Gen. v. 24, and recorded in Heb. xi. 5, is corroborated by many Grecian fables. Thus the translation of heroes or demi-gods, and particularly of Hesperus and Astrea, (among the ancient Greeks) evidently allude to Enoch. These are fabled to have ascended to heaven alive, and to have been turned into stars, and celestial signs. Also Dhrura, among the Hindoos; Buddha among the Ceylonese, and of Xaca, (another name for Buddha) among the Calmucks of Siberia. Faber, vol. i. p. 89. 91. There is scarcely a tradition, fable or ceremony, among the heathen nations that cannot be traced ultimately, although metamorphosed by superstition and ignorance, to the Sacred Scriptures---a circumstance by no means unworthy of attention, as tending to prove the common origin of all mankind, and of the antiquity of the scriptures of truth. Yet what can be said severe enough of the man who has attempted, without a shadow of proof, to reverse the whole, by stating that the facts recorded in the Bible, were collected from the vain and superstitious heathen traditions! The man might, with just as much propriety, have gone to prove, that it is the shadow which produces the substance; learning which produces ignorance; or civilization which produces barbarism, as that the facts recorded in the Pentateuch, the most ancient record in existence, (see Hindoo, &c.) were collected from heathen works which did not exist for ages afterwards! Yet such has been the madness, recklessness, and disingenuousness to which infidelity has driven an author, who otherwise might have been a credit to himself and an ornament to society: "Professing to be wise they become fools!" See Ascend.

ESSENES, OR THERAPEUTS. A Jewish sect,

particularly described by Philo the Jew. They dwelt principally in the neighbourhood of Alexandria in Egypt; had monasteries, used neither meat nor drink, (constant fastings,) engaged in religious exercises the whole time, from morning till evening; building all virtues upon temperance as a sort of foundation to the soul. Having also nuns-"virgins of extreme age." The men (monks or priests) living in one place, in a state of celibacy; and the women in another place; lying on beds of straw; having vigils on great festivals; lastly, water their drink,and hyssop, bread and salt, their food! It has been attempted by some modern infidels to confound this sect with the first Christians, although there is no resemblance whatever between the two either in faith or in practice! Any man, at all acquainted with his Bible, must be aware, that every one of the above articles, (and these are copied from a modern infidel production) is in direct opposition to the commandments and practice of the Lord and of his Apostles. (See Gospel.) But it must be admitted, that there is a striking analogy in practice, between this sect and the monastic order of Roman Catholics: and this sufficiently accounts for Eusebius, who was in fact three fourths of a catholic, and actually wrote a treatise on "CONTEMPLATIVE LIFE," or Monkery, having imagined that Philo the Jew, (who wrote nearly 400 years before Eusebius,) in his description of the Essenes, meant a Christian sect, although the said Philo never once mentions the name either of Christ, or of Christian.

The last refuge of infidels appears now to be (as all their attacks and assaults on Christianity itself have been triumphantly refuted, and their ignorance, insanity and dishonesty, made manifest) to attack Christianity through its abuses, or its corruptions. But in the same way liberty itself may be attacked through its abuses; and if

Christianity is to be condemned in consequence of its abuses, so may liberty, learning, medicine, politics, &c. (See Roman Catholic church.)

EVE, the name given to the first woman, the mother of the human race: the original word signifies to live; hence given to the mother of all living. All names, both proper and attributive, were originally given to persons as signifying some physical or moral quality or attribute. See Adam. God. Jehovah.

Much might be said on the subject of the peculiar punishment, "in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children,” denounced by Jehovah on Eve, and on all her female descendants, in consequence of her having violated the first mandate of her Creator. I shall for the present only remark, that I consider the literal fulfilment of this curse denounced by the Creator on Eve, for the part she took in the first act of rebellion against the Most High, as no insignificant proof of the divine origin of the Sacred Scriptures. I am aware that would-be philosophers have used their ingenuity in endeavouring to show that parturition could not be otherwise; but permit me to say, (as an anatomist and physiologist,) that their arguments on the subject are fallacious, and their conclusions absurd! Are not all the works of the Creator perfect? Can parturition be called a perfect operation? I reply, no! Then the conclusion must be, either that the Creator was incapable of rendering this process perfect and easy, which is absurd; or that He purposely rendered it imperfect or difficult, as an everlasting monument, that rebellion against HIM should not go unpunished. This is the only reason that can possibly be given by any rational man, for the difficulty, pain, danger, and imperfection, of this one,