it, this safe method of induction may perhaps lead the way to conclusions that materially differ from those which, on the one side, as well as on the other side, of a controversy concerning the Old Testament History, have been advanced, and have been tacitly assented to.
To defame, by all means, the ancient Israelitish people, as a "horde of barbarians," has been the purpose of a certain class of writers; and on the other side a mistaken timidity has beguiled writers into the error of supposing that, in admitting this imputed barbarism, an extenuation, or a palliation might be found for those events and those courses of action in the history of the people which most offend our modern tastes, or which stand condemned by Christian principles. What has been wanting, and the want of which has shed confusion upon the subject, has been—we need not say—candour and truthfulness on the one side; but more of intellectual and moral courage on the other side of this modern argument.
The ancient Israelite had no peer among his contemporaries; nor do we find analogous instances on any side that might render aid in solving the problem of this race, either in its earlier or its later history. In truth, there is as much need of an admission of the supernatural element for understanding the national character, as there is for understanding the narrative of its fortunes and its misfortunes—the catastrophes that have overwhelmed
