been no lefs punctually verified in fact; and the juftness of the portraiture, however monftrous, muft be, acknowledged by all, who impartially compare it with the hiftory of thofe kingdoms, throughout the feveral revolutions, which each of them hath hitherto fucceffively undergone.

The infidelity of these latter times, ftrange and aftonishing as it is, in oppofition to fo much gospel-light, and beyond the example of any former age, is no more than was foretold in Scripture fhould come to pafs in thefe very times; and its coming to pass accordingly in the very times prefixed to it, proves to be a remarkable verification of that truth which it oppofeth.

Many predictions too, we are told, in the Revelation relate to, and are clearly accomplished in, these latter ages; particularly in the idolatry, and manifold corruptions of the church of Rome; and in its perfecutions of the faints.

The two witneffes, prophefying in fackcloth, ch. xi. are none other, it is faid, than the diftreffed churches of the East, groaning under the Mahometan tyranny; and the reformed, proteftant churches of the Weft, often perfecuted, and always oppreffed, by popih powers, inftigated by the church of Rome.

Ch. xii. is a kind of prophetical history, fetting forth the state of Chrift's church, its fufferings and perfecutions, under the emblem of the woman in the wilderness; in a regular series of events, according to historical order; from its infancy downwards. Its prefervation under, its deliverances from, and its triumph over, the many defperate attempts, made by its enemies to destroy it; under the reign of the dragon, the old ferpent, and Satan; who was the genius of the Roman ftate, and the real object of its worship, under heathenifm; the feven crowned heads of the dragon being the feven kings of Rome; which was its firft form of government; and his ten horns, the ten perfecuting heathen emperors, under the laft form of it.

The defcription of the first beast, ch. xiii. is very fuitable to the heathen empire of old Rome. The very spot in which it had its rife is particularly pointed out: its ten crowned horns fignifying the ten kingdoms into which it was divided; its power, its worship, the continuance of its reign, its perfecutions, and every other part of the character, have an equal propriety.

The fecond beaft is defcriptive of the papal power, in its encroachments upon, and ufurpations of, the power of the empire; and in its many other extravagant claims and pretenfions -its terrible menaces, and cruel oppreffions, all carried on under the cloak and femblance of innocence itself.

Such are the topics from which our Author attempts to prove the continuance and increafe of the evidence of Chriftianity.

The

The argument he makes ufe of is an argument of great compafs and variety, comprehending a long series of facts, events, and circumftances, relating to the characters, polity, and religion of large kingdoms, of many nations, and indeed of all the kindreds of the earth.

An attentive and serious reader, who is well acquainted with hiftory, and is capable of taking an enlarged and comprehensive view of things, will undoubtedly receive much fatisfaction from fuch a view of the evidences of Chriftianity, how much foever he may differ from our Author in fome particulars concerning the meaning and accomplishment of certain prophecies, which, he fays, flash conviction in the faces of the men of this incredulous ge

neration.

The Loves of Othniel and Achfah, tranflated from the Chaldee. 8vo. 2 Vols. 6s. bound. Wilkie. 1769.

TH

HE account given of the manufcript from which this is faid to be a tranflation, by the Editor, is not only inconfiftent, but contradictory in terms. In the preface it is faid to be a copy in Chaldee upon parchment: in a poftfcript to a preliminary difcourfe, it is faid to be in fcriptural Hebrew, except fome periods of Chaldaic, and fome words and phrases of Syriac. Where it is pretended to be Chaldee upon parchment, it is faid, that on one corner of the firft fide there is written, E Muf. Alcal. num. 31572.

In the preface, it is pretended to be a work of the Zabians, and the Arabians are faid to have tranflated it into their language with the rest of the books attributed to that fect or people; but, in the preliminary difcourfe, the language of the Zabians is faid to be Arabic.

The MS. of which this ftrange account is given, is faid to have been lately in the poffeffion of Mr. M***s M****s a Jewish gentleman lately naturalized, who tranflated the first book, the reft being tranflated by the Editor.

As the MS. is pretended to be Zabian, an account of the Zabians is prefixed to the tranflation. It is, however, involved in fuch obfcurity, that, fearing to change terms under which we have not clear and definite ideas, we have tranfcribed the paffage, which, if our Readers understand, their fagacity is greater than ours.

• Arabia is commonly distinguished into Arabia Petreæ, Arabia Defertum, and Arabia Felix. We here mean not that part which is ftiled the Defart, lying on the north of Zabia, and first planted by Ifhmael, whofe pofterity, afterwards, (having learned the language of the Zabians, or Arabic) were called Arabians

allo;

alfo; or more properly Hagareens, as defcended from Hagar, and Al Aarab Al Maftiaarabah the made Arabians, (that is made fuch by cohabitation and conversation with the true Arabs) but thofe other true Arabs, the inhabitants of Arabia Defertum, and of Arabia Felix, the former of whom defcended from Nebaioth, the fan of Ifchmael, and are by Pliny, Strabo, and Ptolomy called Nabateans, (as the country itself Nabatea) the latter from Zaba, the fon of Chus, the fon of Cham, after whom they were ftiled Zabians (as the country Zabia) and (in diftinction from the made Arabians, of Arabia the Dejart) the native Arabians.'

A common Reader who hunts for fenfe through the labyrinth of these periods and parenthefifes, will certainly be bewildered and at fault: he will be apt to conclude, that Árabia the Defart is not Arabia Defertum, that although the pofterity of Ifchmael are not true Arabians, yet the pofterity of his fons are, and that there are indeed two forts of true Arabians, one of which is not true. These conclufions, however, cannot be admitted, though if the Author affords no clue, it will be very difficult to track better.

The Zabians, in plain English, are defcendants of Zaba, the third defcendant from Noah, by Cham; and inhabitants of Arabia Felix, a country that is alfo called Zabia. The Zabians are also diftinguished by a particular religion, and therefore confidered not as a nation only, but a fect, the founder of whose opinions is unknown.

Dr. Pocock derives the name Zabian, not from that of Zaba, the father of a race, but from Zabub, the host of Heaven, which certain Arabians were used to worship, and from which therefore they were denominated as a fect. They pretended to have books written by Adam; and their whole hiftory, as far as contained in this work, is not less extravagant and abfurd than the tales of the Talmud, except that, in confirmation of Dr. Pocock's conjecture, the host of Heaven were their gods.

The work called The Loves of Othniel and Achfah, is faid, in the original, to be a poem. The ftyle of the tranflation, if a tranflation it is, is neither verfe nor profe, but fomething between both, having juft as much verfe as deftroys all the harmony of profe, and juft as much profe as deftroys all the harmony of verse: it may rather be faid to hop than to flow, and confifts wholly of forced metaphor, and diffonant periods; it is printed too, in fantastic divifions, that are marked by ftrokes, the intention of which can scarcely be gueffed, as they indicate no inflexion of voice, nor are intended as ftops, fome following a comma, fome a full point, and fome a note of admiration. The defcription of Othniel by Achfah may ferve as a spe

cimen :

Tall and comely is my beloved,-with treffes-black treffes of hair. His eyes-effulgent as the ftones of the ephod-and REV. Oct. 1769.

T

in

in looking, his looks beam forth lightning!-O fweeter than his fellows!-Tell me; have ye feen my

beloved?'

How does it elevate and furprife,' when after having been told that the lover of Achfah had treffes, we find that they were treffes of hair! and to learn that when his looks beamed forth lightning, it was in looking! If it is pretended that these strokes mark the interruption of the fentence, the pretence cannot be allowed; for, fuppofing Achfah intended to fay, how tall and comely is my beloved with treffes of hair,' and stopped at treffes, to add the word 'black,' what can be supposed to intervene after beloved, and before with trees?

Though the Zabians, to whom this work is attributed, are faid to worship the host of Heaven, the deity is mentioned in it as one, by the names of Jehovah and Schaddai, and there are innumerable paffages in which it correfponds exactly with the Jewish theology, and no other: particularly one in which mention is made of the ark, of enquiring of God, and of obtaining an answer from between the cherubim. Probably it never exifted but in the language in which it now appears: if there had been a MS. in any oriental language from which the English is a tranflation, it is fcarce poffible that the account of it should have been embarraffed and contradictory, as the account here given appears to be.

It confifts almoft wholly of defcant and declamation, by which the few incidents, fuch as they are, may be faid to be overlaid we have taken them from under the fatal load, ard they are here prefented to our Readers.

Achfah laments the abfence of Othniel, beneath a fir-tree in a valley; fhe rifes and attempts to walk, but is unable: fome damfels of Hebron find her fallen upon the ground, in an agony of diftrefs, but, like uncourteous damfels, they país on without taking the least notice of her. She continues her complaints, declaring that he waftes herself in tears, and that when fombrous horrors reign upon the lawn, fhe roves lugubriously folitary.' At length exhaufted with fatigue and forrow the faints, and Death is reprefented as about to lead her feet into the hills of darkness, and to bear her, to the pits of never-ending night. Ase was to be borne to a pit, and her feet to a hill, he would have been deplorably difmembered if Gabriel had not come to her affiftance. It was the delight of honeft Gabriel, it feems, to pour ftreamy comforts down floods of forrow,' and he kindly fupports Achfah to a grove that belonged to Barzai, a man of a venerable character, and great age: fhe is touched with gratitude, and exclaims, O gracious God how pitiable, how merciful!' She certainly did not know that pitiable means not a difpofition to pity, but a ftate to be pitied, and therefore, as Sir Hugh fays, "her meaning was goot."

6

While

While fhe is fleeping in this grove, the is found by Barzai, who mistakes her for a celeftial Being, till he perceives fhe had been weeping; fhe wakes, and Barzai takes her to his house. After fome refreshment, fhe tells him that Othniel is a fent upon. a military expedition, and fhe fears he will be flain. Barzai tells her that he too is wretched, having, in his early days, loft Elim, a beautiful and beloved wife. It must be supposed that this pious and forrowful pair drank temperately, yet it appears that Achfah fuddenly forgot that fhe was in a houfe; and, night approaching, fhe talked wildly of having no fhelter but a cave in a wilderness, and being expofed to the fury of wild beafts. Barzai, however, brings her a little to her fenfes, reminds her that he is under an hofpitable roof, and conducts her to het chamber; but, as he was about to leave her, he remembers that he has an abfent daughter, Zeboim, and imagining the may have been feized by fome tyrant, he wishes ten thousand Hell's may furround his noxious foul, and then faints; Achfah with much ado brings him to himfelf, and they part for the night.

In this place Achfah continued two months; and, wandering one morning into a thick forest, he heard a female voice complain of misfortune, in a fong. Pursuing the found, she faw a beautiful young woman fitting with her legs in the water, and fhedding, as this Writer expreffes it, one tear foftly from her eye' fhe probably had two eyes, though the feems to have wept thus fparingly with but one. The two beauties foon become ac quainted, and Achfah accompanies her new companion to a neighbouring grotto, where fhe is entertained with a collation of excellent fruits, and a relation of her adventures.

She was the child of a happy pair who lived in that country, and was born ten years after their marriage; her mother died in child-bed, and her father took up his refidence at one of the palaces of the kings of Hebron, which came to him by defcent, and lived in a total feclufion from the world. Here the dwelt fome time with her father, who was one night fuddenly ftruck fpeechless to the ground, as he was walking in a grove, by ruffians, who feized her, as this Writer fays, in their noxious arms,' bound, her on a mule, and carried her off. In the way fhe was comforted by the angel Hamiel, who affuted her of protection. She at length arrived at the palace of Anak, where fhe was received by twenty virgins, and placed upon a couch, under a moft magnificent canopy. Here the relation is interrupted by the approach of evening; the friends part, with a pro-mife to meet next day.

Achfah related to Barzai, at her return, all that had happened, and the old. man perceived that the perfon whofe ftory he had heard, was the daughter whofe lofs he deplored; he fell