tient physicians termed it; the fits of which returned on the unhappy monarch at uncertain periods, as is frequently the case in this sort of malady. The remedy applied, in the judgment of experienced physicians, was an extremely proper one, viz. playing on the harp. The character of the modern oriental music is expression, rather than science and it may be easily conceived how well adapted the unstudied and artless strains of David were to soothe the perturbed mind of Saul; which strains were bold and free from his courage, and sedate through his piety. 3. The Disease of Jehoram king of Israel.-This sovereign, who was clothed with the double infamy of being at once an idolater and the murderer of his brethren, was diseased internally for two years, as had been predicted by the prophet Elijah; and his bowels are said at last to have fallen out by reason of his sickness. (2 Chron. xxi. 12—15. 18, 19.) This disease, Dr. Mead says, beyond all doubt was the dysentery, and though its continuance so long a time was very uncommon, it is by no means a thing unheard of. The intestines in time become ulcerated by the operation of this disease. Not only blood is discharged from them, but a sort of mucous excrements likewise is thrown off, and sometimes small pieces of the flesh itself; so that apparently the intestines are emitted or fall out, which is sufficient to account for the expressions that are used in the statement of king Jehoram's disease. 4. The Disease with which Hezekiah was afflicted (2 Kings xx. 7. Isa. xxxviii. 21.), has been variously supposed to be a pleurisy, the plague, the elephantiasis, and the quinsey. But Dr. Mead is of opinion that the malady was a fever which terminated in an abscess; and for promoting its suppuration a cataplasm of figs was admirably adapted. The case of Hezekiah, however, indicates not only the limited knowledge of the Jewish physicians at that time, but also that though God can cure by a miracle, yet he also gives sagacity to discover and apply the most natural remedies. 5. Concerning the nature of Nebuchadnezzar's malady (Dan. iv. 25, 26. 31-33.) learned men are greatly divided, but the most probable account of it is that given by Dr. Mead; who remarks that all the circumstances of it, as related by Daniel, so perfectly agree with hypochondriacal madness, that to him it appears evident, that Nebuchadnezzar was seized with this distemper, and under its influence ran wild into the fields: and that fancying himself transformed into an ox, he fed on grass in the manner of cattle. For every sort of madness is a disease of a disturbed imagination; which this unhappy man laboured under full seven years. And through neglect of taking proper care of himself, his hair and nails grew to an excessive length; by which the latter growing thicker and crooked, resembled the claws of birds. Now, the antients called persons affected with this species of madness Auxav gro (wolf-men) or xuvav gwo (dog-men); because they went abroad in the night, imitating wolves or dogs; particularly intent upon opening the sepulchres of the dead, and had their legs much ulcerated either by frequent falls, or the bites of dogs. In like manner are the daughters of Proetus related to have been mad, who, as Virgil says, -Implerunt falsis mugitibus agros.2 For, as Servius observes, Juno possessed their minds with such a species of madness, that fancying themselves cows, they ran into the fields, bellowed often, and dreaded the plough. But these, according to Ovid, the physician Melampus, —per carmen et herbas Eripuit furiis.3 Snatch'd from the furies by his charms and herbs. Nor was this disorder unknown to the moderns; for Schenckius records a remarkable instance of it in a husbandman of Padua, who imagining that he was a wolf, attacked, and even killed several persons in the fields; and when at length he was taken, he persevered in declaring himself a real wolf, and that the only difference consisted in the inversion of his skin and hair. But it may be objected to this opinion, that this misfortune was foretold to the king, so that he night have prevented it by correcting his morals; and therefore it is not probable that it befel him in the course of nature. But we know that those things, which God executes either through clemency or vengeance, are frequently performed by the assistance of natural causes. Thus having threatened Hezekiah with death, and being afterwards moved by his prayers, he restored him to life, and made use of figs laid on the tumour, as a medicine for his disease. He ordered king Herod, upon account of his pride, to be devoured by worms. And no one doubts but that the plague, which is generally attributed to the divine wrath, most commonly owes its origin to corrupted air. 6. The Palsy of the New Testament is a discase of very wide import, and the Greek word, which is so translated, comprehended not fewer than five different maladies, viz. 1. Apoplexy, a paralytic shock, which affected the whole body; -2. Hemiplegy, which affects and paralyses only one side of the body; the case mentioned in Matt. ix. 2. appears to have been of this sort ;3. Paraplegy, which paralyses all the parts of the system below the neck;-4. Catalepsy, which is caused by a contraction of the muscles in the whole or part of the body; the hands, for instance. This is a very dangerous disease; and the effects upon the parts seized are very violent and deadly. Thus, when a person is struck with it, if his hand happens to be extended, he is unable to draw it back if the hand be not extended, when he is so struck, he is unable to extend it. It seems to be diminished in size, and dried up in appearance; whence the Hebrews were accustomed to call it a 1 See Aetius, Lib. Medicin. lib. vi. and Paul. Ægineta, lib. iii. cap. xvi. 2 Eclog. vi. 48. 3 Metamorph. xv. 325. 4 Observationes Medica Rar. de Lycanthrop. Obs. 1. withered hand. The impious Jeroboam was struck with catalepsy (1 Kings xiii. 4-6.); the prophet Zechariah, among the judgments he was commissioned to denounce against the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock, threatens that his arm shall be dried up. (Zech. xi. 17.) Other instances of this malady occur in Matt. xii. 10. and John v. 3-5. The Cramp. This, in oriental countries, is a fearful malady, and by no means unfrequent. It originates from the chills of the night: the limbs, when seized with it, remain immoveable, sometimes turned in and sometimes out, in the very same position as when they were first seized. The person afflicted resembles a man undergoing the torture, Badan2oueva, and experiences nearly the same sufferings. Death follows this disease in a few days. Alcimus was struck with it (1 Macc. v. 55-58.), as also was the centurion's servant. (Matt. viii. 6.) 7. The malady which afflicted the patriarch Job (ii. 7.) has greatly exercised the ingenuity of commentators, who have supposed it to be the leprosy, the small-pox, and the elephantiasis. The last opinion is adopted by Drs. Mead and Heberden, and by Michaelis; and appears to be best supported. In this disorder the skin becomes uneven and wrinkled with many furrows, like that of the elephant, whence it takes its name. When it attains a certain height, as it appears to have done in this instance, it is incurable, and consequently affords the unhappy patient no prospect but that of long-continued misery. 8. The disease, which in Matt. ix. 20. Mark v. 25. and Luke viii. 43. is denominated an Issue of Blood, is too well known to require any explanation. Physicians confess it to be a disorder which is very difficult of cure. (Mark v. 26.) How does this circumstance magnify the benevolent miracle, wrought by Jesus Christ on a woman who had laboured under it for twelve years! 9. The Blindness of the sorcerer Elymas (Acts xiii. 6-12.) is in the Greek denominated axλus, and with great propriety, being rather an obscuration than a total extinction of sight. It was occasioned by a thin coat or tunicle of hard substance, which spread itself over a portion of the eye, and interrupted the power of vision. Hence the disease is likewise called axoros or darkness. It was easily cured, and sometimes even healed of itself, without resorting to any medical prescription. Therefore Saint Paul added in his denunciation, that the impostor should not see the sun for a season. But the blindness of the man, of whose miraculous restoration to sight we have so interesting an account in John ix., was total, and being inveterate from his birth, was incurable by any human art or skill. See an examination of this miracle in Vol. I. pp. 251-253. 268-271. 10. Lastly, in the New Testament we meet with repeated instances of what are termed Demoniacal Possession. The reality of such possessions indeed has been denied by some authors, and attempts have been made by others to account for them, either as the effect of natural disease, or the influence of imagination on per VOL. III. 61 sons of a nervous habit. But it is manifest, that the persons, who in the New Testament are said to be possessed with devils (more correctly with demons) cannot mean only persons afflicted with some strange disease: for they are evidently here, as in other places, particularly in Luke iv. 33-36. 41.-distinguished from the diseased. Further, Christ's speaking on various occasions to these evil spirits, as distinct from the persons possessed by them,his commanding them and asking them questions, and receiving answers from them, or not suffering them to speak, and several circumstances relating to the terrible preternatural effects which they had upon the possessed, and to the manner of Christ's evoking them, particularly their requesting and obtaining permission to enter the herd of swine (Matt. viii. 31, 32.), and precipitating them into the sea; all these circumstances can never be accounted for by any distemper whatever. Nor is it any reasonable objection that we do not read of such frequent possessions before or since the appearance of our Redeemer upon earth. It seems indeed to have been ordered by a special providence that they should have been permitted to have then been more common; in order that He, who came to destroy the works of the Devil, might the more remarkably and visibly triumph over him; and that the machinations and devices of Satan might be more openly defeated, at a time when their power was at its highest, both in the souls and bodies of men; and also, that plain facts might be a sensible confutation of the Sadducean error, which denied the existence of angels or spirits (Acts xxiii. 8.), and prevailed among the principal men both for rank and learning in those days. The cases of the demoniacs expelled by the apostles, were cases of real possession: and it is a well known fact, that, in the second century of the Christian æra, the apologists for the persecuted professors of the faith of Christ, appealed to their ejection of evil spirits as a proof of the divine origin of their religion. Hence it is evident that the demoniacs were not merely insane or epileptic patients, but persons really and truly vexed and convulsed by unclean demons. SECTION IV. ON THE COMMERCE OF THE HEBREWS. I. Commerce of the Midianites, Egyptians, and Phoenicians.-II. Mode of transporting Goods.—III. Commerce of the Hebrews, particularly under Solomon and his successors.-IV. Notice of antient Shipping.-V. Money, Weights, and Measures. I. THE Scriptures do not afford us any example of trade, more antient than those caravans of Ishmaelites and Midianites, to whom Joseph was perfidiously sold by his brethren. These men were on their return from Gilead, with their camels laden with spices, and other rich articles of merchandise, which they were carrying into Egypt; where, doubtless, they produced a great return, from the quantities consumed in that country for embalming the bodies of the dead. From their purchasing Joseph, and selling him to Potiphar, it is evident that their traffic was not confined to the commodities furnished by Gilead. But the most distinguished merchants of antient times were the Phoenicians, who bought the choicest productions of the East, which they exported to Africa and Europe, whence they took in return silver and other articles of merchandise, which they again circulated in the East. Their first metropolis was Sidon, and afterwards Tyre, founded about 250 years before the building of Solomon's temple, or 1251 before the Christian æra: and wherever they went, they appear to have established peaceful commercial settlements, mutually beneficial to themselves and to the natives of the country visited by them. The commerce of Tyre is particularly described in Isa. xxiii. and Ezek. xxvii. xxviii. II. The commerce of the East appears to have been chiefly carried on by land: hence ships are but rarely mentioned in the Old Testament before the times of David and Solomon. There were two principal routes from Palestine to Egypt; viz. one along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea, from Gaza to Pelusium, which was about three days' journey; and the other, from Gaza to the Elanitic branch of the Arabian Gulf, which now passes near Mount Sinai, and requires nearly a month to complete it. Although chariots were not unknown to the antient inhabitants of the East, yet they chiefly transported their merchandise across the desert on camels, a hardy race of animals, admirably adapted by nature for this purpose and lest they should be plundered by robbers, the merchants used to travel in large bodies (as they now do), which are called caravans; or in smaller companies termed kafilés or kaflés. (Job vi. 18, 19. Gen. xxxvii. 25. Isa. xxi. 13.) III. Although the land of Canaan was, from its abundant produce, admirably adapted to commerce, yet Moses enacted no laws in favour of trade; because the Hebrews, being specially set apart for the preservation of true religion, could not be dispersed among idolatrous nations without being in danger of becoming contaminated with their abominable worship. He therefore only inculcated the strictest justice in weights and measures (Levit. xix. 36, 37. Deut. xxv. 13, 14.); and left the rest to future ages and governors. It is obvious, however, that the three great festivals of the Jews, who were bound to present themselves before Jehovah thrice in the year, would give occasion for much domestic traffic, which the individuals of the twelve tribes would carry on with each other either for money or produce. From Judg. v. 17. it should seem that the tribes of Dan and Asher had some commercial dealings with the neighbouring maritime nations: but the earliest direct notice contained in the Scriptures of the commerce of the Hebrews, |