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    of the A mo rites , Perrjzites , Hittites , Hivites , > « t&nd Jebusites which were ^ »© t of the children of Israel - their children whi $ h were left after them in the la&d whom the children of Israel also , w ^ re * not ahle utterly to destroy ; upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service unto this day . "

    Now if we examine the maps of that rpart of the earth , we shall find that j { the whole country inhabited wholly or chiefly by the Hebrews , is not more than two hundred miles in lengthy and scarcely one hundred in

    breadth , measuring to the utmost extent from north to south , and east to west , including the parts which were oi-had been in the possession of the Sidonians , Tynans , Philistines : And if we consider that the Hebrews were

    not a commercial people , but subsisted wholly or chiefly by agriculture , we cannot suppose the country was ever very populous . Comparing- it then to , any 4 raot of country in Kurope of equal extents in which there are few manufactures , and jittle or no comjnejrce ; we cannot reasonably suppose that it ever contained more than two

    jpuiions of inhabitants . * If we may depend upon the numbers of years , specified in the book of Judges ( which may also be . magnified ) , the first of which commences many years after the death of Joshua , there was a period of above -four

    hundred years between his death and the tixne of Samuel the prophet ; of which more than one hundred was spent at different times in a state of oppression and servitude , in consequence of several great defeats ; the remainder in rest and peace , consequent to

    victories - , during the former parts of the time we cannot reasonably allow any increase or multiplication , but should rather suppose a diminution , by the numbers slain in battle , and the severity of oppression , from the wars of Joshua and those after his decease ,

    * Swisserland , is the country in Europe which seems to bear the greatest resemblance to that of the ancient Hebrews , as it is an inland mountainous country , in which the people subsist almost wholly by agriculture , as it is almost equal in extent and number of inhabitants 3 and as it is divided into several cantons which have

    each a separate jurisdiction .- But along with liberty , it is blessed with a policy , union and strength of national government , such as tlie Hebrews unhappily wanted .

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    especially the intestine wars , land above all , that in which the whole tribe of Benjamin was utterly destroyed excepting six hundred men ; we may infer , almost with certainty , ^ a great diminution of the nation at large , Supposing then the > whole number at the conclusion of the war

    against Benjami a , to he sixty thousand , and that number to be continually doubled in a period of fifty years spent in peace * it would amount in two hundred and ; fifty years < to one million nine hundred and twenty ' thousand . Allowing also a second

    diminution hy the wars , the bloody defeats , and severe oppressions , in the time of Samuel and Saul , the civil war for seven years between * the house of Saul and © avid , and the many wars , though they were $ uccessful , carried on by David : the

    whole number , at the commencement of Solomon ' s reign , cannot be reasonably estimated at much more than two millions , if at so much ; especially if we consider that the more numerous any nation becomes , the multiplication proceedsiihe slowerfrom

    various causes , which might easHy be assigned ; and that the increase here admitted , exceeds that of any nation now existing in Europe , even in the most peaceable and healthful times , none of which are ever supposed to become double the number , in a period of fifty years .

    It is by no means pretended that the preceding calculations have any certainty or exactness in them , as fy > the real multiplication of mankind , in any instance , but they may answer the purpose which the . author intended , namely , to prove beyond all reasonable contradiction , that the

    numbers specified in the Old Testament of nations , tribes , armies and men slain in battle are generally magnified , to a surprising excess . In what proportion they are magnified ,, it may be impossible to determine with precision - but by probable conjecture , not much less than ten to one in most instances , and in some

    vastly more . The number which migrated from Egypt is reduced by the preceding calculation more than forty to one . Jf the number of the Benjamite forces be reduced from ten to one there will remain two thousand three hundred arid seventy ; out of which number , if no more than six

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    , 4 g Ontkt itmnher of £ he Hebrew & 4 oph \ at different periods .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1815, page 46, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1756/page/46/