hifters. Oh! Dear mother, do not grieve, but rejoice; again I fay, rejoice! I hope you, and my dear father, will pray that you may be prepared to come to me; for I hope both you and all my friends and acquaintance, and all the Ifrael of God fhall meet together in heaven; and what joy will that be! Oh! do not grieve, for it hurts me."

About a week before fhe died, fhe heard a bird fing in the night. When fome faid they thought the only imagined it; the faid fhe was certain of it; and behold! in the morning, when her aunt went down, there was a bird in the house, but what kind of bird, fhe could not afcertain. On opening the door it flew out; and when she was informed of it, she thanked God for fending fuch a token of her departure; and was very earneft in praying to be diffolved, and to be with Chrift, which The faid was far better. It pleafed God to favour her in a very extraordinary manner, which made her very chearful and defirous to depart. On the Sunday preceding her death, one of the preachers called and prayed with her; and notwithstanding the cough was fo frequent before, that fhe had very little refpite, it did not in the least trouble her, during prayer, which the esteemed a wonderful favour, and thanked God for it.

From this time he was rather more chearful, notwithstanding her weakness of body; and, being advifed not to talk fo much, because it brought on the cough and fatigued her, he faid, "What fignifies my body, that I should spare it? 'Tis nothing but a lump of clay." She often repeated these words in prayer, "Come, Lord Jefus, and take me to thy heavenly kingdom; come, Lord Jefus, come quickly." She had many changes before fhe went off, which were amazing to those about her; for, fhe went down (as it were) to the gates of death, and returned again; and faid I thought I had been gone my long journey; but I am difappointed: it has pleafed God to let me come again to speak to you once more; bleffed be his holy name!" This aftonishing favour was repeated several times, which made fome of thofe about her fay, they thought VOL. XIV.

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fhe would continue fome days longer; upon hearing which fhe faid, "What! do they fay I fhall live fome days longer? I hope I fhall be gone this night." Her defires were granted, for, she went off before day light the next morning.

She defired the woman who was to attend in laying her forth, &c. to give a signal, when she thought fhe was going off, that he might fpend her laft breath in prayer. The woman promised fhe would, if it was in her power; but thought it would not be in her power, as fhe had so many changes; and she was afraid of disappointing her, by giving a fignal too foon; for, of all the inftances fhe had seen in dying perfons, fhe never had met with one like this. However, it pleafed God to give her the signal; for, when the woman told her, fhe was going; fhe anfwered "I know it;" and defired to call her husband, who flept in another chamber (by her defire.) When he came, fhe could not fpeak to him; but made signs to the woman, who had got fomething for her to drink, to give it to him that he might give it to her, which he did. Her laft words that were underflood were, "Come, Lord Jefus, receive my foul into thy heavenly kingdom; come, Lord Jefus, come quickly." She continued praying as long as her ftrength and breath lafted; and then fell afleep in Jefus, on the third of March 1789, in the twenty-ninth year of her age.

A COMPARISON of Ancient FABLE, with the SACRED WRITINGS.

[By Mr. William De'Lavaur.]

'HE knowledge of the Creator of heaven and earth, and

ΤΗ

the worship due to him, the purity of which was preferved to the deluge, was weakened afterwards by little and little, through the general corruption of manners in the pofterity of Ham, who had fubje&ted himself to the curfe of his father Noah. This corruption paffing ficm the paffions to

the

the understanding, covered it with darkness. In this voluntary blindness, the apoftate angels, who could not deprive the fouls of men of the indelible fentiment of a God, and the worship due to him; ftrove, (in order to effect their deftruction) tơ confound and perplex these fentiments. Those which they could not eradicate, they corrupted as much as they could, and endeavoured to amufe men by a mask of neceffary worship, which did not erofs their paffions.

Thefe fpirits dared, even to cloath themselves with the appearance of the divinity, to ufurp his worship, with which they mingled fanitaftic and ridiculous ceremonies, which made a fantom of religion: following their plan they substituted in the place of truth, Fables conformed to the inclinations of corrupted hearts; they made a monstrous compofition of falsities and impieties, on the foundation of truth, which foon became almost incapable of being difcerned: nevertheless on this foundation they built their falfe worship; which they never could have thought of, nor would men ever have received: had there never been a true one, which it was necessary, in order to fucceed, that they should imitate; as Tertullian, St. Augufiin, Monf. Pafchal, and many others have proved. Their feduction paffed quickly from the race of Ham, to that of Shem, and their tyranny diffused itself throughout the universe.

In the fragments of Artaphanus, (a Greek hiftorian) preferved by St. Clement, by Alexander, Polyhiftor, and by Eufebius, we find that he who was called Mofes by the Jews, was named Mufeus by the Greeks; from whose doctrine Orpheus derived much inftruction, and whom the Egyptians (fays he) called Mercury, and paid divine honours to him. This was the Taatus and Hermes, which was afterwards confounded with Jofeph. The name of Hermes was given him, either from Amram, the father of Mofes, or of Thermutis the daughter of Pharaoh, who adopted him for her fon, according to the cuf tom of the Greeks: who preferved in their own language fomething of the ancient names of the Jewish hiftories, which

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they endeavoured to render into Greek, as Solinus informs us: and which, as Jofephus has remarked, they changed according to their own method, in order to render the pronunciation more agreeable.

Artaphanus farther relates, "That the King of Egypt, being jealous of Mofes, fent him to war against the Ethiopians, that he might be flain: and that during the courfe of the war, Mofes built a city which was called Hermopolis," i. e. the city of Mercury. From this it is apparent, that Hermes and Mercury were no other than Mofes.

He mentions alfo the departure of the Jews, under his conduct: the feparation and paffing of the fea, by virtue of his rod; the long voyage of the Jews in the defart; and the manna, which was rained down every day for their nourishment.

Magalhenes, another Greek hiftorian cited by Eufebius, fays "That all that the ancient Greeks wrote of this nature, had been written a long time before by the Jews." (See Eufeb. Prep. Evan. lib. 9, C. 3.)

Ariftobulus a Jewish philofopher, and Numenius a celebrated Greek Pythagorean and Platonic philofopher, relate nearly the fame, that Magafhenes does. They fay," That Pythagoras and Plato brought to Greece that which they found in the writings of Mofes." Ariftobulus, who wrote under Seleucus Nicanor, king of Syria, about two hundred and ninety-four years before Chrift, fays exprefsly, "That the books of Mofes were tranflated into Greek both before Alexander, and before the empire of the Perfians." And this faying of Numenius is well known, "That Plato is no other than Moses speaking in Greek." He speaks of Jannes and Jambres, magicians, which the Egyptians opposed to Moses; the latter of which he calls Labres.

Appion, a great enemy of the Jews, acknowledges, as may be feen in Tertullian, "That it was in the time of Inachus first king of the Argives, that the Jews went out of Egypt, under

the

the conduct of Mofes:" and Porphyry, who was equally as great an enemy to the Chriflians, and to all the writings which favoured them, could not deny this antiquity.

Inachus, before whom the Greeks know nothing more ancient, was a Phenician; his name is of the fame origin with that of the Phanicians, with whom the name Anac or Enac was the moft illuftrious; from which the Greeks had (according to their cuflom) formed the word Phænicians or Ponens of Phee-anac, which fignifies the children of Anac, called also in fcripture Enachims or Enacides. Thus Inachus, and his pofterity the Inachides, were formed. (See Bochart in Chau. lib. 1. Cap. 1.)

Bochart has remarked alfo, that even before the Ifraelites came from Egypt into Phenicia, the language of the Phanicians was fo fimilar to that of the Hebrews, that they underflood, without difficulty, each other speaking in their own tongue; because the Philiftines who came from Egypt, occu pied a large part of Phenicia, even before the time of Abraham and Ifaac, who made alliances with the kings of the Philiftines. The Greeks as well as the Egyptians were there mingled toge ther with the Philistines.

A SERMON preached at the SYNOD of LOTHIAN and TWEEDALE, November 1, 1726.

By the Rev. ARCHIBALD LUNDIE,

On MATTHEW V. 13.

Ye are the falt of the earth; but if the falt have lost its favour, wherewith fhall it be falted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be caft out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

THE

HESE words are a part of our Lord's fermon on the mount, which contains a fummary of the felf-denying doctrine