ments, amid the thunder, lightning, clouds, and darkness, which obfcure the great Jehovah from his eyes. The royal Pfalmift fings the wonders of creation, the powers of his God, and his own defeats and triumphs. The peaceful and profperous Solomon, whofe renown was extended over all the Eaft, rears the ftructure of the magnificent Temple; and amid the multitudes of his adoring fubjects confecrates it to the fervice of the one true God, in a prayer which equally attefts his wifdom and piety. In the vifions of futurity, Ifaiah beholds the deliverance of the chofen People; the complete deftruction of the great empire of Babylon, by which they were enflaved; and the promifed Meffiah, the Saviour of mankind, fometimes depreffed by want and forrow, and fometimes arrayed in the emblems of divine majefty and power. He predicts the final recal of the Jews to their native land, and the wide diffufion of the Chriftian faith. Jeremiah finks a weeping mourner over the ruins of his native city, deplores his calamities, and confoles his countrymen by exprefsly declaring, that they should never ceafe to be a nation to the end of the world. Daniel explains to Belfhazzar the myftic characters infcribed upon the walls of his palace, and views in his wide profpect of future times, the fates of the four great empires of the world. Cyrus, long before announced by Ifaiaḥ as the great fubverter of the Babylonish empire, and the restorer of the glory of Jerufalem, publifhes his decree for the restoration of the captive Jews; and the holy City and Temple rife from their

ruins with new grandeur and magnificence. The Jews are fettled and reformed by the pious care of Nehemiah, and the canon of the Scriptures is clofed by Malachi. This laft of the Prophets enjoins the ftrict obfervance of the Law of Mofes, till the great Precurfor fhould appear, in the fpirit of Elias, to announce the approach of the Meffiah, who was to establish a new and an everlasting

covenant.

Such are a few of the interefting circumstances contained in the facred volume of the Old Teftament, which engage our attention, charm our imagination, and gratify our curiofity, while they confirm our belief in the great evidences of Revelation. In all these works we may remark the bright truths of religious inftruction fhining forth amid the venerable fimplicity of the most ancient hiftory-a hiftory unrivalled for the grandeur of the ideas which it conveys, the livelinefs of its defcriptions, and the number of its beautiful and fublime images.

In thefe volumes of facred hiftory there is an impartiality of narrative, which is an undoubted characteristic of truth. If we read the Lives of

For these very impreffive paffages of the Holy Bible, fee Gen. i. ii. xliv. xlv. Exod. xiv. xx. The Pfalms. 1 Kings viii. Ifaiah ii. vi. ix. x. xi. xiv. xxviii. xxxxii. xl. xlii. lx. lxi. lxiii. lxv. and more particularly liii. Lament. i. &c. Daniel v. vii. Ezra vii. Nehem, xiii. Malachi iii. iv.

Plutarch,

Plutarch, or the Hiftory of Livy, we foon dif cover that these writers compofed their works under the influence of many prejudices in favour of their refpective countries. A veil is thrown over the defects of their heroes, but their virtues are placed in a strong light, and painted in vivid colours. In the Scriptures, on the contrary, both of the Old and the New Teftament, the ftricteft impartiality prevails. The vices of David, Solomon, and their fucceffors, are neither concealed nor palliated. There is no oftentation of vanity, no parade of panegyric; virtue charms with her native beauty, and vice acquires no difguife to conceal her deformity. The characters of perfons are fketched, and the effects of the paffions are reprefented without referve or concealment; and the moral to be drawn from each defcription is fo obvious, as to account for the frequent omiffion of remarks and applications. The abject condition of the Jews, when prohibited the ufe of weapons of war by the victorious Philiftines; their relapfes into idolatry, their perverfenefs of difpofition, and their various defeats and captivities, with every circumftance of private as well as public difgrace, are recorded without palliation or referve. Always rifing fuperior to the motives which induce other authors to violate the purity, and degrade the majefty of truth, thefe writers keep one great and moft important end conftantly in view, and fhow the various methods, by which the providence of God effected his great defigns; how he produced good from evil, and employed the fins and follies

of

of mankind as the inftruments of his gracious purposes for their correction and welfare. ...

An acquaintance with the affairs of the Jewish nation forms the firft link in the chain of ancient records. Thus we may obferve the connexion. which fubfifts between the branches of facred and profane history. We place the works of pagan writers in their proper fituation, and give them additional value by making them fubfervient to the cause of religion, and the illuftration of revealed truth. If the ftudent is not called upon by profeffional inducements to drink the facred ftreams at their fource, by reading the Scriptures in the original language, he may reft contented with tranflations; and it feems to be a well-founded opinion among the learned, that he may rely with confidence upon the general fidelity of our English verfion.

To perufe the holy Scriptures is one of the first employments of childhood. We cannot fail to congratulate ourselves that our time has been thus occupied, when our judgment is fufficiently mature to form a comparative estimate of the various productions of literature, and we are fully able to determine their usefulness. And it will be found,

as life is verging to its clofe-when every other book begins to be infipid and uninterefting, that the HOLY BIBLE, which includes the moft ancient records of time, the cleareft evidences of a divine revelation, and the joyful promifes of eternal

happiness,

happiness, will attract us more and more, as old age advances, and will afford us that divine folace and inexpreffible fatisfaction, which no other writings can give.

"I durft appeal to the judgment of a candid reader, that there is no hiftory fo pleasant as the facred. Setting afide the majefty of the inditer, none can compare with it for the magnificence and antiquity of the matter, the fweetness of compiling, the strange variety of memorable occurrences: and if the delight be fuch, what fhall the profit be efteemed of that which was written by God for the falvation of Men? I confefs no thoughts did ever more fweetly fteal me, and time away, than those which I have employed in this fubject; and I hope none can equally benefit others; for if the mere relation of thefe holy things be profitable, how much more when it is reduced to ufe?"

In conformity with thefe obfervations as to the excellence of the Scriptures, was the opinion of the late Sir William Jones, a perfon, as much diftinguished by the foundnefs of his judginent, as by his extensive and various learning. In the last leaf of his Bible, thefe words were written: I have regularly and attentively read thefe holy Scriptures, and am of opinion that this volume,

Bishop Hall's Meditations.

▲ Seward's Anecdotes, vol. v. p. 176.

indepen