Of all the stories that ever taxed the brain or credulity of a man of science, that of Joshua stopping the sun and moon stands pre-eminent. Think of bringing to a stand-still that magnificent and immense luminary which constitutes the center of a solar system of one hundred and thirty worlds, all of which move in harmony with it. Such a catastrophe would have broken one hundred and thirty planets loose from their orbits, and dashed them together in utter confusion, and would thus have broken up our solar system. The shock produced upon this earth would have thrown every thing on its surface off into boundless space.
For a pun, man, on a little planet like this, to command the mighty sun, which is fourteen hundred thousand times as large as the earth, to stop in its grand career, would be comparable to an ant saying to a mountain, "Get out of my way."
And, when we look at the cruel and wicked purpose for which this stupendous miracle is said to have been wrought, we are shocked at the demoralizing effect such lessons must have upon the millions who look upon it as the work of a just and righteous God.
It savors too much of blasphemy to assume that a God of infinite justice would perform an act attended with such direful consequences, merely to allow the little, bloody-minded Joshua more time to blow out the brains and tear out the hearts of his enemies, guilty of no crime but that of believing in a different religious creed. Farewell to reason, justice, and morality, if we must subscribe to such moral lessons as this!
And why did he have the moon stopped at midday, when it could not be seen, and was, perhaps, on the opposite side of the globe? Egypt, India, Greece, and Mexico all have traditions of the sun stopping, but, in most cases, have too much sense to stop the moon. Fohi of China had the sun stopped eight hundred and fifty years before Joshua, the son of Nun, ever saw the sun. Bacchus and other God-men of Egypt had it stopped four times. While in Greece Phaethon was set after it to hurry it up, and increase its speed. A "poor rule that will not work both ways!" The Chinese annals state that the sun stopped ten days during the reign of the Emperor Yom. Argoon of India stopped it several days for his own accommodation.
But, unfortunately for the cause of religion, or rather religious superstition, no man of science, in any of these countries, has as much as noticed these world-astounding phenomena; and no writer, but one religious fanatic in each case, has spoken of them,—a circumstance of itself sufficient to render them utterly incredible.
IX. THE STORY OF SAMSON,—ITS ABSURDITIES.
Were the story of Samson found in any other book than the Christian Bible, it would be looked upon by Bible believers as one of those wild and incredible legends of heathen mythology with which all the holy books of that age abound. But it is accepted as true because found in the Bible; and the Bible is considered to be true, partly because it tells such marvelous stories. It is assumed that they prove each other. Perhaps it is upon the presumption that "it is a poor rule that will not work both ways."
1. We are told (Judg. chap. xiii.) that an angel appeared to the wife of Manoah, and promised her a son; and Manoah seemed to be as well pleased about the matter as his wife, and seemed to care but little whether the father was a man or an angel or a God, and we are left in the dark as to which it was.
2. It is rather a notable circumstance that the Jewish God and his angels seemed to have a great deal to do in trying to accommodate and aid old women in becoming mothers, as in the case of Abraham's wife and Manoah's wife, also Elizabeth and Mary in the New Testament, and other cases.