On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    accordance with' historical truth ; the pi £ ty , sensibility and ardour of Helon are well adapted to the author ' s purpose of giving , an attractive picture of the Jewish people ; even th £ circumstance of his having been recently reclaimed from the love of spiritualizing and allegory , by heightening his

    interest in every thing which related to the history and usages of his people , ( considered by the allegorists merely as the covering of some deeper meaning , ) gives an air of nature to his eager curiosity respecting things which might otherwise have appeared trifling . The Christian reader naturally wishes such a work to be made as much

    subservient as possible to the illustration of the New Testament , and may , perhaps , regret , that the travels of Helon had not been placed somewhat nearer to the Advent of our Saviour . But this could not have been done without

    injury to the fiction , and without defeating one of the chief objects of the author . A completely different character must have been given to the work , had it represented the Jewish people as degraded and oppressed

    under the Roman yoke : they must have been drawn with the vices of slaves , instead of the high feeling of a nation , who , under the Maccabees , had recovered their independence , and , with Hyrcanus at their head , felt themselves once more free in the land of

    their fathers . At the same time , it must be observed , that , except in what relates to political condition and those moral differences which it produces , the picture of the Jews given in this work may be applied to the time of our Saviour . The Temple , as it is

    here described , is that of Herod : the here described , is that of Herod ; the sacred usages were prescribed by an unchangeable authority ; and it is not in the nature of Oriental manners to vary from one half century to another , like our own .

    The first volume opens with the description of HelorFs departure from Alexandria , ( where he leaves his mother , ) accompanied by Elisama , Myron , who is going on commercial business to the maritime cities of

    Palestine , and Salla , a faithful slave of the family , who , when offered his emancipation , by , Helon , prefers continuing hi $ bondsman , in order to visit the H 0 ly Land in his company * They join themselves to a caravan which is

    Untitled Article

    going ! to Gaza , and -asr they journey through the dfreary regions which separate Palestine from Egypty Elisama , at each evening ' s halt of the caravan , relates to Myron and Helqn a portion of the previous history of the Jewish people , and explains the effect which Providence designed to . produce on

    the character of the nation , by their captivity in Egypt , their wandering in the desert , their possession of the promised land , and the subsequent vicis * - situdes of their fate . This occupies rather too large a part of the boftk , and the effect ascribed to particular series of events is not alwavs

    accurately characterized and supported : there seems , for example , no good reason why the period from the reign of Rehoboam to the Captivity should be exclusively called the period of retribution . Undoubtedly , the calamities which befel the Jews , whenever

    they gave themselves up to idolatry , taught and at length convinced them of the folly of forsaking the living God ; but many events in their earlier history , indeed the whole tenor of it , had the same tendency . We pass on , therefore , to the beginning or the

    second volume , which brings us to Gaza , where Myron takes his leave , engaging to meet them again at Jerusalem , when he has finished his affairs in Sidon anc ^ Dam ascus . Helon and Elisama begin their pilgrimage together , to reach Jerusalem at the

    Passover " . From Gaza , two roads conduct to Jerusalem . One passes by Eleutheropolis and the plain of SepheJa ; the other , through the hills by Hebron . Although the former was the easier and more customary , Elisama preferred the latter . Jie had a friend in Hebron whom he had not seen for

    many years , and in whose company he wished to perform the pilgrimage , and he was desirous of making Helots first entrance into the Land of Promise as solemn and impressive as possible . By taking the easier road , they must have gone a long way through

    the country of the Philistines , and not have been joined by pilgrims till they reached Morescheth , and then only in small numbers . On the other road , they entered immediately on the Jewish territory , and their way conducted them through scenes adorned with many ma historical remembrance—

    Untitled Article

    ?* Union ' s JHlg-rivtage to Jerusalem ? ' by M . SfraksV . 13

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1823, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1780/page/13/