Part 13

“It appears from Scripture that there were two countries called Midian. That to which Moses had fled from the Egyptians was on the Red Sea; the other was on the River Arnon, near Moab; and as it was peopled by the descendants of Abraham and Keturah, we may suppose that the knowledge of the true God had been preserved there, though mixed with idolatrous corruptions. We know that in the days of Abraham, and long afterwards, there was a priesthood amongst the Canaanites, who preserved in great part the true worship.

“In the age of Joseph, there was a priest of On, and in the time of Moses, Jethro, a priest of Midian, whose daughters they married; and it cannot be supposed that either Moses or Joseph would have been allowed to connect themselves with idolaters.

“It is not surprising, therefore, that Balaam should address the Lord as his God, though his worship was probably debased by superstition. It appears, indeed, from several concurring circumstances, that he was a real priest and prophet of the ancient patriarchal religion; but he was the last: for it had at that time become so corrupt, that it was necessary to separate the Israelites from the rest of the world, in order to preserve their religion.

“We have other instances to prove that this mixture of idolatry with the true worship did not hinder God from revealing himself to a few individuals who followed that mixed religion, as Abimelech, and also Nebuchadnezzar. Another proof that the patriarchal religion had not been sufficiently forgotten for its language to have become obsolete, is, that Balaam’s expressions bear a strong resemblance to those used by the other prophets; and that the epithets which he applies to the Supreme Being are the same as those employed by Moses, Job, and other inspired writers.

“But Balaam, though a true priest and prophet, was unsound in heart, worldly, and mercenary. His selfish disposition and degenerate character were probably as well known to Balak as his high qualifications as a prophet were to the people; and both well fitted him for a tool in the hands of that artful monarch. It was customary among the heathen in those ages, at the beginning of a war, to devote their enemies to destruction with all the solemnities of religion; and, terrified by the recent victories of the Israelites, lest they should “lick up all, as the ox licketh up the grass,” he applied to the venal prophet in his distress. He knew Balaam’s eminence in the church, and his influence over the people; he knew that his interference might be purchased, and he bribed him to come and curse the invaders.

“Though Balaam was eager to obtain the proffered reward, and though he was flattered by the high opinion in which his blessings and curses were held, he well knew that they would be of no avail without the sanction of God. He, therefore, deferred giving any answer till he should have consulted the divine will; and when that will was made known to him, he at once refused Balak’s request, alleging that God had said to him, ‘Thou shalt not curse the people: for they are blessed.’ This refers to the blessing given to Abraham, Genesis xii., and which was afterwards renewed to Jacob, Genesis xxvii. Balak, however, was not discouraged by the first refusal. He repeated his invitation along with promises of an unlimited recompense; and Balaam, having this time obtained the Divine permission, departed with the princes of Moab.”

I asked my uncle why he was now permitted to go, since his proposal to do so before had excited God’s displeasure?

“God often graciously stays the wicked in their sins,” said my uncle, “or warns us when our inclinations are evil; but if we obstinately persist in indulging them, he then leaves us to our own free-will, and abandons us to our foolish imaginations. Balaam had set his heart on the promised honours and rewards, and was unwilling to forego them, notwithstanding God’s distinct prohibition; so the foolish man was allowed to follow his inclination, to proceed in his own way, and to complete his own destruction. Just in the same manner, when the Israelites afterwards demanded a king to reign over them, God graciously condescended to expostulate with them, and to warn them of the consequences; but they persisted--and, therefore, ‘in his anger, he gave them a king.’

“But the fatal influence of covetousness and ambition, which made Balaam persist in desiring to go, soon led to his wishing to comply with Balak’s desire to curse Israel. That he went with this secret design, clearly appears from the angel’s saying, ‘Thy way is perverse before me.’ So you see that God’s anger was now kindled, not at his going, but because he went with a wicked intention. He was, however, suffered to proceed on his journey, in order to convince the surrounding nations that Balak’s cunning devices were useless in retarding the progress of the Israelites, or in defeating the purposes of the ‘Most High who ruleth in the kingdoms of men.’

“Balaam was afterwards also very blameable in offering sacrifice on heathen altars, in the high places of Baal, which he must have been aware was strictly prohibited.”

My uncle promised to take up this interesting subject again next Sunday; but on our way to church he told me that these events happened in the year 1451 B. C., and about two centuries and a half before the Trojan war.

_27th._--Frederick asked several questions this morning about the worship of Baal, on which he had been pondering since our conversation yesterday.

“Baal,” said my uncle, “was the same as Bel or Belus. The name signifies Lord, and was originally applied to the Supreme Deity; but in after-times, when idolatry became intermixed with the true religion, several of the heathen gods, and particularly the sun, were worshipped under that name. It was not only the general appellation of the sun throughout the east, but it extended from thence over great part of the western world; and many remnants of the worship of Baal, both names and customs, are to be found at this day in the Hebrides and Western Highlands. _Baal-tine_, for instance, as Hertford mentioned in one of his letters, is an expression still in use--it means the fire of the sun; and several other vestiges of solar worship may be also observed there. The name given in Scripture to the temples of Baal signifies those high places inclosed within walls in which a perpetual fire was kept.”

Frederick asked why groves and high places were so positively forbidden in the Bible as places of worship? To this my uncle replied: “Because it was usual for those idolatrous nations to place their temples and altars in commanding situations, and to worship their false gods in the groves which were formed on those consecrated hills. Such places were well adapted to their mysterious rites, and the Israelites were enjoined to break their images and cut down their groves; and were farther commanded never to plant a grove near an altar dedicated to Jehovah. Peor, to which Balak took Balaam, was the most famous high place in Moab; and it was called Baalpeor, because there was a temple there dedicated to the worship of Baal.”

I asked my uncle why they selected hills for places of worship?

“Some learned men,” said he, “have fancied that it was in commemoration of the resting of the ark on the mountain of Ararat, where Noah himself, immediately after the deluge, erected an altar and offered burnt offerings as testimonies of praise and gratitude. Thus, as every sanctified high place was supposed to represent Mount Ararat, so the sacred groves were symbols of Paradise; gloomy caves became the representatives of the floating ark of Noah; and even islands acquired a sacred character, because the top of Mount Ararat had once been surrounded by the sea.”

_28th._--Caroline and I have had a delightful walk to-day with my uncle, to a wild rocky valley, where the hill on one side appears as if a part had been violently torn away, and shews several layers, or _strata_, of different substances in the cliff. He pointed it out as a good example of stratification; and made us observe that the strata, though parallel to each other, were not parallel to the horizon, but more or less inclined to it. The angle of inclination between these strata and the horizon is called their _dip_.

“Now,” said my uncle, “if the strata _dip_ in one direction, they must _rise_ in the opposite direction; and if they continue to rise, that is, if their course is not interrupted or bent down, they must gradually approach the surface, and in some place or other they must shew themselves there. Look at that well marked stratum of reddish stone in the opposite cliff; though it is partially covered here and there by vegetation, yet you can easily trace it as it slopes upwards, till you see it actually arrive at the upper edge of the cliff. It is the same with all the strata, which lie either above or below it: you see they rise successively towards the surface; and if there be numerous other strata under the valley, and which therefore we cannot see, still they also will reach the surface further off. The place where any stratum makes its appearance on the surface is called its _out-crop_; and as they range themselves there in regular succession, you must at once perceive that in examining the surface, in a direction crossing the strata, you would find as complete a section of them as you now see in the face of the cliff, or as you could obtain by boring perpendicularly through them.”

He said a great deal more on this subject, and helped us to follow with our eyes several other strata to their out-crop. “This circumstance,” he added, “is of immense importance to the geologist; for if the strata were all horizontal, we should be ignorant of everything below the mere external crust of the earth. Sometimes, indeed, a deep well, or the workings of a mine, might reveal the nature of the interior for a few hundreds of feet or yards; whereas by examining the out-crop of the inclined strata, we can ascertain not only their succession, but their composition, for many miles in thickness. Another important consequence of this inclined distribution of the strata, is the variety of minerals which it enables mankind to obtain. If they were all horizontal, one country would be all marble, another all coal; but by this beautiful irregularity of nature, everything that is useful approaches the surface some where or other, and puts itself within reach of the industry of man.”

“Are all the strata, then, sloped at this useful angle of which you speak?”

“Oh no, Bertha,” my uncle replied; “they are inclined at every conceivable angle, from perfect horizontality in some places, to a vertical face in others.”

Caroline observed that even the strata at which we were looking did not all appear to have the same dip, and wondered what could be the cause of the difference. My uncle said she was quite right in the fact; the strata at the eastern end of the valley had evidently a more sudden dip than the rest. “But,” he continued, “it is to facts, my little geologists, that we must at first confine ourselves: though causes and theories are highly interesting, at present they would only bewilder you. Those numerous strata, however, will afford some illustration of what I told you a few days ago about _formations_. You see by the frequent repetitions of the same substances in the cliff, that the same strata are frequently repeated, and in the same order. When this order is once known, the geologist is no longer perplexed by the number of strata; each throws light upon the other, and the whole combination receives the name of a _series_ or _formation_. By comparing several of these series together, a resemblance in relation and position will be observed between many of them, which will lead to a still greater simplification of the different classes.”

My uncle then changed the conversation; we begged of him to go on with his geology; but we could not persuade him; he said if we attempted to remember too much, we should lose the whole. “Will you then give us a little lecture on it every day?”

“I will with great pleasure occasionally converse on the subject with both of you, my dear children,” said he; “and in our walks, or whenever a proper opportunity occurs, I will endeavour to give you a few general ideas of the structure of the globe. Hereafter we may perhaps enter more minutely into the details of the science, and then it will be time enough to talk of daily lectures.”

_March 1st._--My dear mamma has often laughed at me for my love of little coincidences; and I have now a new one to tell her. I very lately mentioned in my journal some remarks, made by Dr. Walker of Edinburgh, on the seasons of the flowering of foreign plants; and this morning my uncle happened to see in the newspaper the following extract from an address to the Agricultural Society of St. Helena by General Walker, who is the son of that ingenious doctor. My uncle desired me to read it, and said that these speculations are very useful to inquiring minds; they furnish hints, and they naturally lead to new experiments, which elicit new facts.

“The functions of plants, as well as animals, depend on the air in which they live. I have observed that those of St. Helena which have been brought from another hemisphere, are very irregular in their annual progress; many of them, in the developement of their foliage, have adopted the law of nature peculiar to the country into which they have been transplanted--others, more obstinate, remain faithful to their former habits, and continue to follow the stated changes to which they had been accustomed. They all appear to maintain a struggle either before they adopt the habits which belong to the seasons of their new country, or decide on retaining their relations with the old. In yielding to external circumstances, they appear to have different tempers.

“This is often observed in plants of the same species appearing to hesitate before they adopt the mode of performing their functions. And when their decision is made, we are at a loss to discover an adequate cause. For instance, an oak raised from English seed, loses its leaves in a St. Helena winter of 68°; yet it experiences nothing like the difference of temperature, which, by analogy, might be supposed to cause that change.

“It would add to the natural history of vegetation, and improve our knowledge of the geography of plants, were the facts concerning their habits and changes, under different temperatures, carefully collected.”

_2nd._--Miss Perceval, with whom I recollect you used to wish me to be acquainted, has come to spend a few weeks here; and I shall now not only have the pleasure of knowing a person you like, but of taking many a botanising walk with her as the Spring advances. She seems very gentle, and so unwilling to put herself forward, that my uncle is obliged to reproach her for withholding the stores of knowledge which she possesses; and he generally leads the conversation to such subjects as will make her display them a little, in spite of her diffidence.

She disclaims all over-modesty, but says that such has been the progress of knowledge within the last ten years, and so greatly has it become diffused through all classes, and particularly amongst females, that she feels that almost everybody knows as much as she does; besides, she added, “I have lived so completely out of the world of late, that I have really much more to learn than to teach.”

She speaks of you, dear mamma, as of an old and valued friend; and I think she will be kind to me for your sake.

_4th._--Miss Perceval has been so much interested by a letter which my aunt received yesterday from her friend in Upper Canada, that she petitioned for some of her former letters; and my aunt has permitted me also to see them, and to make some extracts for you, dear mamma.

During their progress in open boats up the St. Lawrence, Mrs. * * * soon began to feel the hardships of a Canada life; she and her family generally preferred sleeping on fresh hay, the beds at the inns were so full of vermin. Sometimes they even slept on the ground, sheltered from the night air only by an awning;--and more than once in their open boat under a heavy dew. She speaks of the farmers with great gratitude; whenever she stopped at their houses she was received with the kindest hospitality, and her children plentifully supplied with milk and good bread. Throughout her journal, which I wish you could read, and in all her letters, there is the most amiable disposition to make the best of everything, and to enjoy whatever little comfort she could find in her situation, without looking back on her former very different life. In October they settled at the town of Cobourg, near Lake Ontario, as a temporary residence while a house was building for them on the land they had obtained. She describes her house thus:--

“_Cobourg, Oct 30._

“There are three rooms on the ground floor, and four above, but they are so small they are like little closets; we contrive, however, to squeeze into them, and though we shall be here two months, we can easily reconcile ourselves to these little inconveniences.

“There is a nice grassy place in front of the house, it is paled in, and the children can play in it with safety: that is one great comfort. We found some boards in the barn, and Mr. * * *, whose old tastes as an amateur mechanic are now very useful, has made temporary shelves and tables of them. We have at present neither table, chair, nor bedstead, the carriage of these articles was too expensive for us; but we have screws and all things ready, to make them when we are settled in our loghouse, for which I long as ardently as if it was a palace.

“Our bed-rooms have no doors, but we hang up blankets, which answer the purpose. Fortunately we have plenty of these, and the air is so dry that we do not suffer from the cold, though the nights are frosty, and not a fire-place in the house, except that in the kitchen. The frost has given the woods a grey look, instead of the beautiful orange autumnal tints they had before.

“Four years ago there were but two houses here; now it is a nice thriving town, with a neat church, a large school-house, and some very good shops, or _stores_, as they are called; and the houses are in general very neat.

“We have been visited by several respectable families. There is a gentleman here who was for twenty-five years engaged in the North-west, or fur trade, and during that time he never once returned to his family. He had left home at the age of thirteen, and underwent all kinds of adventures and hardships.--One winter, when their provisions fell short, he and his companions were obliged to eat their leather aprons, and even the leather of their shoes!”

“_Cobourg, Jan. 1st._--We have been detained here longer than we intended; first by the illness of my eldest girl, and next, waiting for snow to make the roads fit for travelling; at present they are in such a state of roughness from the hard frost after the heavy rains of last month, that the jolting of either cart or waggon could not be borne. There are no covered carriages here. In winter, _sleighs_ (sledges) are used, or waggons, which are neither very nice nor easy. They are very roughly made, with two seats placed across, one before the other, and have rather an odd appearance for gentlemen’s _carriages_.

“This new year’s day, I hope you are all as well and happy as I am; and I am sure it will give you pleasure to know, my beloved friends, that we could indulge ourselves by going to church on Christmas-day, and receiving the sacrament. Do not imagine that in this banishment, as I fear you still consider it, these duties are neglected; far from it; we have a church near us, and I thank God, the inclination to make use of it.”

_5th, Sunday._--The subject of Balaam was continued this morning; and I took an opportunity of asking the meaning of the word _parable_, as it is used in Numbers xxiii. 7.

“It has more significations than one,” said my uncle, “in both the Old and the New Testaments. It sometimes implies that sort of address to the people, which, from its tone of authority as well as from its elevated language, seems to have been the effect of inspiration. Thus Balaam is said to have taken up his parable, when, contrary to his own wishes and in a style approaching to poetry, he uttered his sublime prophecies. The Psalmist also, after saying, ‘I will open my mouth in a parable,’ gives a rapid, but magnificent sketch of the wonders that God performed for the children of Israel. Secondly, we find it applied in the Greek Septuagint (1 Kings, iv. 32.) to those short sententious sayings of Solomon, which in the English version are called proverbs. And in Ecclesiasticus, our translators have rendered the same Hebrew word in some places by “parables,” and in others by “wise sentences.” Thirdly, in the Gospel it is used in the sense of an apologue or fable; a mode of conveying instruction, or of explaining certain doctrines, which our Lord thought proper to adopt; and which had been frequently employed by the Prophets in the Old Testament.

“It was in the first of these three senses,” continued my uncle, “that Balaam appears to have taken up his parable. Having stated why he had come to Moab, and having confessed that he could not curse those whom God had not cursed, he immediately prophesies the increase and power of Israel. ‘Lo, this people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.’ Had he not been inspired, how could he, on a distant view of a people he had never seen before, have discovered the peculiarities which distinguished the Israelites and their posterity to the latest ages? Their religion and government were then unknown; yet he foretold their entire separation from all other nations; and the present state of the Jews, and all history, confirm the truth of his prediction.”

I asked my uncle why Balak desired the prophet to go with him to _another_ place to curse them?

My uncle said, “that it was the opinion of the heathens, that if one victim failed, or if the Deity was unpropitious at one place, he should be importuned by a repetition of the sacrifice elsewhere. Balaam, therefore, to gratify the king, repeated the same experiment a second and a third time; but still with the same disappointment.”

Caroline made some remark on these words, “He hath as it were the strength of the Unicorn;” and my uncle said, “it is not known with certainty to what animal the strength of Israel is here compared; some have supposed the unicorn to be a kind of single-horned antelope, others think that it is the rhinoceros; but if any of you will remind me of the subject some other day, we will endeavour to see which is the best founded opinion. Balaam afterwards compares the power of Israel to that of the lion; and both seem to allude to the victories by which the Israelites should gain possession of the land of Canaan. It is remarkable, that the inspired language of Balaam very much resembles that which Jacob had used in his predictions respecting Judah. Such is the harmony and connexion between the prophecies of Scripture.”

_6th._--We were resolved not to defer the subject of the unicorn; and this morning we began by searching for as much light on the subject as our books could give us, that we might be the better qualified to discuss it with my uncle.