as it was, and the spirit shall return to God who gave it.' And it ends with a corollary to which every human heart ought to respond, because all just reflections lead to it. 'Let us hear the con

clusion of the whole matter; fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it is good, or whether it be evil.'

The Proverbs are an invaluable summary of every species of practical wisdom. The first nine chapters being a discourse on true wisdom, that is, sincere religion, as a principle, and the remainder a sort of magazine of all its varied parts, civil, social, domestic, and personal, in this world; together with clear and beautiful intimations of happiness in a life to come. As for example:- The path of the just is as a shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.' Here, one of the most delightful objects in nature, the advancing dawn of the morning, is educed as an emblem of that growing comfort and cheerfulness which inseparably attend a life of piety. What then, by inevitable analogy, is that perfect day in which it is made to terminate, but the eternal happiness of heaven? Both these books, with the Psalms, are distinguished not only for the wisdom and spirituality which pervade every page, but for the variety and beauty of their style, and for their adaptation to the various conditions and states of feeling to which the minds and hearts of men are liable.

ON THE STUDY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

I Now proceed to give some short sketches of the matter contained in the different books of the Bi.

ble, and of the course in which they ought to be read.

The first book, GENESIS, contains the most grand, and, to us, the most interesting events that ever happened in the universe :-The creation of the world, and of man:-The deplorable fall of man, from his first state of excellence and bliss, to the distressed condition in which we see all his descendants continue:-The sentence of death pronounced on Adam, and on all his race; with the reviving promise of that deliverance which has since been wrought for us by our blessed Saviour: -The account of the early stage of the world :— Of the universal deluge:-The division of mankind into different nations and languages:-The story of Abraham, the founder of the Jewish people; whose unshaken faith and obedience, under the severest trial that human nature could sustain, obtained such favor in the sight of God, that he vouchsafed to style him his friend, and promised to make of his posterity a great nation; and that, in his seed, that is, in one of his descendants, all the kingdoms of the earth should be blessed. This, you will easily see, refers to the Messiah, who was to be the blessing and deliverance of all nations. It is amazing that the Jews, possessing this prophecy among many others, should have been so blinded by prejudice, as to expect from this great personage, only a temporal deliverance of their own nation from the subjection to which they were reduced under the Romans; it is equally amazing that some Christians should, even now, confine the blessed effects of his appearance upon earth, to this or that particular sect or profession, when he is so clearly and emphatically described as the Saviour of the whole world!

The story of Abraham's proceeding to sacrifice his own son at the command of God, is affecting in the highest degree, and sets forth a pattern of unlimited resignation, that every one ought to imitate, in those trials of obedience under temptation, or of acquiescence under afflicting dispensations, which fall to their lot. Of this we may be assured, that our trials will be always proportioned to the powers afforded us if we have not Abraham's strength of mind, neither shall we be called upon to lift the bloody knife against the bosom of an only child : but, if the Almighty arm should be lifted up against him, we must be ready to resign him, and all we held dear, to the divine will. This action of Abraham has been censured by some, who do not attend to the distinction between obedience to a special command, and the detestably cruel sacrifices of the heathens, who sometimes voluntarily, and without any divine injunctions, offered up their own children, under the notion of appeasing the anger of their gods. An absolute command from God himself,as in the case of Abraham,-entirely alters the moral nature of the action; since He, and He only, has a perfect right over the lives of his creatures, and may appoint whom he will, either angel or man, to be his instrument of destruction. That it was really the voice of God which pronounced the command, and not a delusion, might be made certain to Abraham's mind, by means we do not comprehend, but which we know to be within the power of Him who made our souls as well as our bodies, and who can control and direct every faculty of the human mind: and we may be assured, that if He was pleased to reveal himself so miraculously, he would not leave a possibility of doubting whether it was a real or an imaginary revelation: thus the sacrifice

of Abraham appears to be clear of all superstition, and remains the noblest instance of religious faith and submission that was ever given by a mere man : we cannot wonder that the blessings bestowed on him for it, should have been extended to his posterity.

This book proceeds with the history of Isaac, which becomes very interesting to us, from the touching scene I have mentioned; and, still more so, if we consider him as the type of our Saviour. It recounts his marriage with Rebecca;-the birth and history of his two sons; Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes; and Esau, the father of the Edomites, or Idumeans :-the exquisitely affecting story of Joseph and his brethren,—and of his transplanting the Israelites into Egypt, who there multiplied to a great nation.

In EXODUS you read of a series of wonders, wrought by the Almighty, to rescue the oppressed Israelites from the cruel tyranny of the Egyptians, who, having first received them as guests, by degrees reduced them to a state of slavery. By the most peculiar mercies and exertions in their favor, God prepared his chosen people to receive, with reverent and obedient hearts, the solemn restitution of those primitive laws, which probably he had revealed to Adam and his immediate descendants, or which at least, he had made known by the dictates of conscience; but which, time and the degeneracy of mankind had much obscured. This important revelation was made to them in the wilderness of Sinai there, assembled before the burning mountain, surrounded with blackness, and darkness, and tempest,' they heard the awful voice of God pronounce the eternal law, impressing it on their hearts with circumstances of terror, but without

those encouragements, and those excellent promises, which were afterward offered to mankind by Jesus Christ.

Thus were the great laws of morality restored to the Jews, and through them, transmitted to other nations; and by that means a great restraint was opposed to the torrent of vice and impiety, which began to prevail over the world.

To those moral precepts, which are of perpetual and universal obligation, were superadded, by the ministration of Moses, many peculiar institutions wisely adapted to different ends; either to fix the memory of those past deliverances, which were figurative of a future and far greater salvation,-to place inviolable barriers between the Jews and the idolatrous nations, by whom they were surrounded, -or, to be the civil law, by which the community was to be governed.

To conduct this series of events, and to establish these laws with his people, God raised up that great prophet, Moses, whose faith and piety enabled him to undertake and execute the most arduous enterprises, and to pursue, with unabated zeal, the welfare of his countrymen. Even in the hour of death, this generous ardor still prevailed: his last moments were employed in fervent prayers for their prosperity, and in rapturous gratitude for the glimpse vouchsafed him of a Saviour, far greater than himself, whom God would one day raise up to his people.

Thus did Moses, by the excellency of his faith, obtain a glorious pre-eminence among the saints and prophets in heaven; while, on earth, he will be ever revered, as the first of those benefactors to mankind, whose labors for the public good have endeared their memory to all ages.