the ark of the covenant remove, but it was followed by the portable tabernacles of Satan. Vide Amos 5: 25, 26; and Acts 7: 42, 43. The fact is well known, that there is not a temple of idolatry on earth, but it is the high-way of debauchery; nor an idolater, but he expects to have all his depraved appetites gratified, and his vices sanctioned by his religion. Is it any wonder, then, that Satan should be successful, when he appeals to the most unholy and depraved appetites of man, and sanctions them by songs and rites and worship? To be sure he has forms, rites, and soleinn worship, but these are necessary in order to lull the conscience. Matthew Henry somewhere says, perhaps with more point than reverence, the devil is God's ape! Vide Buchanan's Res., and Miss. Journals passim.

This universal cause of idolatry will account for the continued propensity of the Israelites to fall into it. The surrounding nations were full of it. They had their gods and goddesses, rites and ceremonies, and practices which may not be named, mostly performed under the cover of night. To these the Israelite was invited. The temptation was so agreeable that he fell, and his conscience was hardened by the fall. Moses and Joshua well understood the strength of this propensity, and took every possible precaution to keep the nation from idolatry. The food, the dress, the habits, every thing of the Hebrew was designed to prevent his mingling with idolaters. Just before

his death, Moses called the nation around him and delivered. his farewell address, which is contained in the book of Deuteronomy. In this address he recounts what God had done for them, and why he had done it, and again and again do they swear allegiance to the God of heaven. This solemn act was repeated by Joshua just before his death; and as a general fact, it is undoubtedly true, that all who were upon the stage of life with Joshua, kept clear of idolatry. The book of Judges, then commences with the next generation after Joshua.

The great principle or law which lay at the foundation of their existence as a nation and a church, was, that Jehovah should be their God, and at the same time their temporal king. This Theocratical form of government was not forced upon them, for they voluntarily elected God to be their king, and several times, the whole nation, including the women and children, swore their allegiance to him as their king. Consequently temporal rewards were promised and conferred, if they were faithful to their temporal king, and judgements denounced and executed, when unfaithful. Hence every species of idolatry was high treason against their king. So of every inducement to idolatry. This brings me to say a word in regard to the

expulsion of the Canaanites, which has too often been said to have been the result of cruelty. It is obvious to remark that the country belonged to God, who had a perfect right to give it to whomsoever he would. Add to this, he expressly says he suffered them to be driven out for their abominable idolatries. It was a just judgement upon them. There were three courses before the Canaanites, either of which they were at liberty to take.

(1.) They might have renounced their idolatry and acknowledged Jehovah as their God. In that case they would have been spared. Indeed some of them did so, and were promoted by David. No one will say that they had not abundant proof of the divinity of the God of the Hebrews, and that they ought to have renounced their idolatry, incest, and human sacrifices and acknowledged the God of heaven. If they chose to die rather than forsake sin, it was not unjust in God to give them their choice, or expel them.

(2.) They might have left the country, which they undoubtedly knew belonged to the descendents of Jacob: and if they had taken their property and departed peaceably, they would have been spared. Many of them, as we have reason to believe, did thus leave their country and plant colonies in Africa. Two marble pillars in Numidia contain the following inscription in the Phenician characters; ἡμεῖς ἐςμὲν δι φυγόντες ἀπὸ προςώπου Ιηςοῦ τοῦ λῃστοῦ, ὑιοῦ Ναυῆ. Undoubtedly the greater part of these nations might have saved themselves in the same way.

(3.) They might try the contest with the sword and in open day, fight against the God of heaven. This was the course which most of the tribes chose to pursue, and being thus found in arms, in defence of all the abominations of idolatry, they were exterminated. God has an unquestioned right to remove the wicked in any way he pleases. Analogous to this were the dealings of God towards the aboriginal inhabitants of this country. Just before our fathers came to plant a church of Christ here, God had removed a great part of the Indians, by a plague more awful than the sword of war. They too, had

filled up their cup of iniquity, and were far gone in pollution.

And they too, by the mysterious providence of God were doomed to extermination, and the probability seems to be, that with their own ferocious wars, and the oppressions of the white man, they will one day be gone. The Canaanites were never exterminated to an extent any thing like what has come upon the tribes who once occupied these hills and these vallies. Vide

Trumbull's Hist. Con. Vol. I. Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, and Mather's Magnalia.

Let us now look at the Hebrews having passed the great desert and settled in the promised land, with their government in full operation, the Tabernacle pitched at Shiloh, the ark of the covenant completed, the Levites, a learned class placed in the cities of each tribe, the Canaanites driven out or subdued so that each tribe can occupy its allotted place. God is their king and defender, and they are in the fair way to become the happiest, holiest, and mightiest nation ever known. What was the government of this singular people? At the death of Joshua, there was no king or supreme magistrate but God himself. He was the king-the Tabernacle was his palace-the chief priest was his prime minister, and the Levites were his officers and agents. Each tribe was, in many respects, an independent republic; and the resemblance to the relations which the several states of our Union bear to each other, is surprising. Each tribe having its own officers and rulers, and acting independently, sometimes acted right, sometimes otherwise. Thus the tribe of Benjamin undertook to protect the inhabitants of Gibeah against all the other tribes. The tribe of Judah elected David to be their king, and he reigned over them seven years before the other tribes fell in. Hence too, each tribe had its own enemies, to drive out after they had entered possessions. Sometimes two or three tribes united as they did under Gideon and Jephtha. But though each tribe seemed to act as sovereign, yet they had some common bonds. They spake one language,often needed each other's aid,-had one king and God-one set of Priests-one Tabernacle-one oracle called the Urim and Thummim, and one common law of church and state. Mutual jealousies, would, of course, spring up under such a government, just us in our own country. The two powerful tribes of Judah and Joseph were always jealous. Judah, because their ancestor was the first-born, and from them the Saviour was to come. Joseph, because this tribe was divided into two, Ephraim and Manasseh, and had a double portion, to fill the place of Levi, elected to the priest-hood. Thus they continued to struggle for the preponderance till at the death of Solomon, they succeeded in rending the kingdom, and the tribe of Joseph carried away all but Judah and Benjamin. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth!

Idolatry crept into the nation by the next generation after Joshua in two ways. First, the several tribes after entering upon their possessions, neglected to drive out the Canaanites, though expressly commanded to do it. They were content

simply to make them tributary. The next step was to form alliances with them by marriage, and in a short time they could not expel the Canaanites without fighting their own children and relatives. It was then easy to join in all their idolatry. The second way was by making images, probably of the ark and sacred things, and then worshipping them. Thus the first introduction of idolatry in Israel when openly practised, was by the images which Micah set up in his own house. These were carried up to Dan, or Laish, the northern part of the nation, and, as the place was distant from Shiloh, they found it easier, and more agreeable to pride, to worship there, than to go to Shiloh. Thus the fashion of having domestic gods was introduced, and soon spread through the land. Each tribe would naturally wish to have the rights of religion within its own bounds. The Ephod which Gideon made, and which might have been made merely as a monument of his victory, was, after his death, made an object of worship and became a snare to Israel. Vide Jahn's Hist. Heb. Com.

I am now better prepared to answer the question started sometime since viz. What was the state of Israel during the time of the Judges? I reply,

1. In general, it was a time of peace and prosperity.

This assertion may excite surprise, but it will be but momentary. The period of the Judges was 450 years. By the largest possible calculation, the people were oppressed only 111 years of this time. And it should be distinctly remembered that when they were oppressed, it was only one or two tribes at a time. The Philistines sometimes harassed one or two tribes on the south, and the Midianites as many more on the north, or at the centre; but even in these sorest times, the great body of the nation was unmolested. Had they not been weakened by mutual jealousies and idolatry, there never was a time when the united strength of all the tribes might not have cleared the land of all their enemies, and that too, without supernatural aid. The Book of Judges has very aptly been called a register of diseases-from which it would be improper to infer there were no well-men in the nation, because some were sick. Idolatry seemed to spread like an epidemic, and then judgements would fall upon that particular part of the land, till it was removed; but there were long and healthy periods even then, when no part of the nation felt the disease. So short a history must be, of course, only an outline of this long period, and it embraces only the darker shades. After David, the Rulers were from the tribe of Judah; but during the Judges, they were raised up from the tribes most oppressed; and hence

they were from eight different tribes. The general prosperity of the nation may be inferred from the facts, that during all these years the Tabernacle of God was at Shiloh, and his altars constantly reverenced. The first High Priest of whom we read, is Phinehas, who held his office under Joshua, and it was probably his summons, as the prime minister of the king, (God,) that assembled the nation to see what should be done in the case of the city Gibeah. Regular courts of Justice were, for the most of the time in full operation. The events related in the Book of Ruth took place during the days of the Judges; and there we find regular courts of Judicature held at the gates of the cities, to one of which Boaz appeals when he propose to marry the widow of an Israelite. The very histories of these deliverances, show these seasons of oppressions to have been exceptions to the general state of things. The wandering hordes who came in upon them like waves of fire, driving off their cattle and devouring their harvests, were large bodies of robbers or freebooters, who might have been easily repelled, had there been union in Israel.

2. During this period there was very great anarchy in some parts of the kingdom.

It may seem almost needless to remark here, that the last five chapters in the Book of Judges, are not in the regular order of time. The events took place soon after the death of Joshua, for we find Phinehas High Priest at the time of their occurrence. They were probably put at the close of the Book, in order not to break the history. They may be called an appendix, and might as well have been put at the beginning as at the close.

The story of the treatment of the wife or concubine of the Levite at the city of Gibeah, shows the almost entire want of civilization, to say nothing of refinement. "And when he

was come into his house, he took a knife and laid hold on his concubine and divided her together with her bones, into twelve pieces, and sent her into all the coasts of Israel." This was a summons to the whole nation, and the call probably, went in the name of Phinehas; but what people but those of a barbarous age, would send pieces of a corpse to call them together! Something like this takes place among any barbarous people, and among none but barbarous. The Indian warrior of our country, when he would call his warriors to battle, sends a stick to each, having as many notches scored in it, as there are days before the war commences. "When I send out one arrow,' said the half-civilized, talented Saladin, in the time of the Crusaders, "when I send out one arrow, a thousand horsemen

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