“Whether Joshua had a correct philosophical notion of the true system of the universe, is a subject that need not come into the present inquiry; but whether _he spoke_ with strict propriety on this occasion, is a matter of importance, because he must be considered as acting _under the Divine influence_, in requesting the performance of such a stupendous miracle: and we may safely assert, that no man in his right mind would have thought of offering such a petition, had he not felt himself under some Divine afflatus. Leaving, therefore, his philosophical knowledge out of the question, he certainly spoke as if he had known that the solar influence was the cause of the earth’s _rotation_, and therefore, with the strictest philosophic propriety, he requested, that that influence might be for a time restrained, that the diurnal motion of the earth might be arrested, through which alone, the sun could be kept above the horizon, and the day be prolonged. His mode of expression evidently considers the sun as the great _ruler_ or _master_ in the system; and all the planets, (or at least the _earth_) moving in their respective orbits at his _command_. He therefore desires him, (in the name and by the authority of his Creator) to suspend his _mandate_ with respect to the earth’s motion, and that of his satellite, the moon. Had he said, _Earth, stand thou still_--the cessation of whose diurnal motion was the _effect_ of his command, it could not have obeyed him; as it is not even the _secondary_ cause either of its annual motion round the sun, or its diurnal motion round its own axis. Instead of doing so, he speaks to the sun, the _cause_ (under God) of all these motions, as his great archetype did, when, in the storm on the sea of Tiberias, he rebuked the _wind_ first, and then said to the _waves_, Peace, be still! Σιωπα, πεφιμωσο, be _silent_! be _dumb_! And the effect of this command was, a cessation of the agitation in the _sea_, because the _wind_ ceased to _command_ it, that is, to exert its influence upon the waters.