false prophets to be destroyed, simply because they were such. False Prophets were destroyed on the same principle, and for the same reason, that the Ruler of the freest Nation that ever existed, orders the life of the pirate, the murderer, &c. to be taken away. The welfare and safety of the people at large require such sacrifices. Where did Jehovah ever order one of the heathen priests, or heathen prophets, to be destroyed simply as such? We fearlessly assert, that there cannot be pointed out a single instance, where the Almighty ordered the life of any heathen, to be taken away, except for such a crime, or immoral act, as would justify the President of the United States in doing the same!

These false prophets were, not only thus, the principal advisers of the Jewish kings, in all their acts of tyranny and oppression, but were also the seducers of the people from their allegiance to their Creator, and Almighty governor-Jehovah. If ever, therefore, a class of persons existed, who deserved punishment for their conduct, and the removal of whom from society, was indispensably necessary, that class was the false prophets! See Cruelties. Persecution.

Q.

QUOTATIONS. The writers of the New Testament quote largely from the Old Testament; which is an incon trovertible proof, not only that the latter existed before the former; but that the Jews then living, fully admitted the authority of Moses, and of the prophets, however ignorant most of them were, of the true and spiritual meaning of the prophetic writings. If there were no other circumstance, or authority, to prove the great anti

quity of the books of the Old Testament, and that they in those days, considered and believed to be of divine origin, the above fact ought to be sufficient.

were,

The Apostles of Christ, in quoting the Old Testament Scriptures, seldom or never gave the passage cited verbatim, or in the exact words in which the passage was originally written. There were many reasons for their not so doing; in the first place, it would be impossible for those writing in Greek, to quote verbatim, that which was written in Hebrew, unless they left it in Hebrew, and then it would be unintelligible to the Gentile world, for whom they principally wrote. Secondly, it was quite unnecessary and useless, for the Apostles, who, having been the authorised Ambassadors of Christ, had full authority to put the sense of them in what words they thought proper; for Christ shortly before his ascension, "opened their understandings, that they might understand the Scriptures."

The Jews, and the early Christian fathers, always adopted a peculiar method of quoting from the Sacred Scriptures, by prefixing to the quotation the words, "it is written," instead of mentioning the work from which they quoted. This they did in order to exhibit the profound respect, with which they referred to the Sacred writings, in contradistinction to all other records; for they never prefixed in that way a quotation from any other writing. Moreover, there were then so few books, comparatively speaking, to what are now in existence, that there was no danger of the reader not knowing to what they referred.

Infidels that are ignorant of this fact, or, if not ignorant, most dishonest, have attempted to assert, that the early Christian fathers did not quote from the Bible, because they did not mention the book itself, although they

always prefixed their quotations in the way before mentioned, viz. "it is written." They have also attempted to show that Matthew's quotations from the Old Testament are not correct, because truly Matthew did not quote the words verbatim! I would ask, what necessity was there for him to do so? He never even insinuated, that he gave more than the substance of what the Prophet had predicted, and that was all that was necessary. And unless infidels deny the very question at issue, viz. that Matthew was divinely inspired, he was fully authorised to put the prophetic language into any form, or into any words he pleased.

R.

RAHAB. The original word translated harlot, as connected with this individual, signifies also a hostess, or tavern keeper, as well as harlot.

RAINBOW. The sign of the Covenant made by God with Noah, that the world should not again be destroyed by water. (Gen. ix. 13.) "I do set my bow in the cloud," saith God. That this appearance is produced by the refraction of the rays of light through water, falling in the state of rain, and that we can make a rainbow, are no more wise objections to its having been made a sign of God's covenant, than it would be to say, because we can make light by various processes, therefore God never made light! The downright absurdity of which is too apparent to require a single observation. Moreover, we have many reasons for believing in the great probability, that there never was rain till the flood; (Gen. vii. 12;) for it is written, "There

went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground." (Gen. ii. 6.) Then if this were the case, there could not have been a rainbow in the clouds, till the flood; and as the people were, no doubt, dreadfully alarmed whenever rain fell, God pointed out to them this token in the cloud of his promise, that the world should not again perish by rain. See Flood.

RED SEA. The miraculous division of this sea by Jehovah, for the deliverance of His people, as recorded in Exod. xiv., has been corroborated by a number of ancient heathen historians, and modern travellers,

According to Artapanus, the Heliopolitans gave the following account of the passage of the Red Sea :"The king of Egypt, as soon as the Jews had departed from his country, pursued them with an immense army, bearing along with them the consecrated animals. But Moses having, by the divine command, struck the waters with his rod, they parted asunder, and afforded a free passage to the Israelites. The Egyptians attempted to follow them, when fire suddenly flashed in, their faces, and the Sea returning to its usual channel, brought an universal destruction upon their army."

A similar tradition, though less minutely particular, is mentioned by Diodorus, as subsisting even at the time when he wrote. He relates, that among the Ichthyophagi, the natives of the spot, a tradition is given which is preserved from their ancestors, that by a great ebb of the waters, the whole bosom of the gulf became dry, disclosing its weeds, the sea rolling upon the opposite shores. But the bare earth having been rendered visible from the very abyss, the tide returning in its strength, restored the passage once more to its former condition. Nor is the old tradition of the country even yet extinct.

According to a learned and respectable modern traveller, the inhabitants of Corondel and its neighbourhood, (on the eastern side of the Red Sea,) to this day, preserve the remembrance of the deliverance of the Israelites; which event is further confirmed by the Red Sea being called, by the Arabian geographers, the Sea of Kobzum, that is, of destruction. "The very country, indeed, where the event is said to have happened, bears testimony in some degree, to the accuracy of the Mosaic narrative. Still is the scriptural Etham denominated Etti; the wilderness of Shur, the mountain of Sinai, and the country of Paran, are still known by the same names; and, Marah, Elath, and Midian, are still familiar to the ears of the Arabs. The grove of Elim yet remains; and its twelve fountains have neither decreased nor diminished in number since the days of Moses."

Some have raised an objection on the plea that the Red Sea at this place being thirty miles broad, it was impossible for so great an army to cross over in one night. But this argument is effectually refuted by the late survey of Mons. Thevanot, an eye witness, who states that this Sea, for about five days journey, is no where more than about eight or nine miles across; and in one place but four or five miles, according to De Lisle's map, which is made from the best travellers themselves, and not copied from others. This Sea has also been surveyed by De Castro, a mathematician.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS. There cannot be a doubt in the mind of any man at all acquainted with ancient history, that the Heathens borrowed their religious ceremonies from the accounts given in the Scriptures. For instance, that of marriage, and the observance of stated days, particularly the Sabbath, among the