ness of it are especially deserving of our notice. How earnestly solicitous is the writer to relate facts precisely as they occurred, without covering and disguise! He conceals neither the faults of his countrymen nor his own. There is evidently no wish cherished in his mind to exhibit them in any other light than that in which they really appeared. Had those who arraign the evidences of the Jewish revelation been duly just and candid, they would not have overlooked this circumstance. Their objections are, for the most part, founded on passages which the integrity of the historian would not permit him to suppress. But this integrity is a far stronger presumption of the truth of what he writes than the passages in question are against his accuracy: and, though the reasoning to which I allude has been easily and effectually repelled, the argument in favour of Judaism arises from the impression made by the whole of the history, rather than from that which is produced by detached parts. Let it be added, that those histories are usually most attractive which have been drawn up by the individuals who bore the largest share in the transactions of which they treat, and that a vast number of the events related by Moses were witnessed and brought about by himself.

To Moses, as the instrument of God, we owe the only consistent and faithful account which exists of the origin of all things, of the creation and descent of mankind, of their varieties of language and dispersion through the world. We are further indebted to him for a narrative of the events by which the wisdom and goodness of the Deity prepared the way for the publication of Christianity, and of the measures employed, in early ages of the world, for delivering the human race from their intellectual and moral degradation.

I shall not long digress in representing the character of Moses as a poet. His historical books contain specimens of his poetical compositions. One of these* is eminently sublime, abounding in bold and noble imagery, and indicating a lofty genius, cherished by an acquaintance with the perfections and government of the one living God, and aided by supernatural inspiration. It is probable that " another poem commonly attributed to him † has, in part at least, a different writer and a later date.

Among the Hebrews the characters of the poet and the prophet were frequently united in the same individual. He whom the Deity employed to foretel the fates of kingdoms and of monarchs, almost invariably uttered his predictions in the measured arrangement and the figurative style of poetry. This is in some measure true of Moses, though in a far lower degree than of other illustrious men among the ancient Israelites. Many of the prophecies of this lawgiver are delivered in the language of ordinary discourse or writing: most of them relate to the fortunes of his people; and, however conveyed, they have been verified with a strictness and accuracy which forbid us to look on them in any other light than as the dictates of an inspired messenger of God.

Moses had the happiness of beholding, though from a distance, the land of Canaan, of which God had by him promised the possession to the children of Israel: but he was denied the honour of conducting them into that territory. There were wise and good reasons why his labours and his life should cease on his having guided his countrymen through the wilderness. In particular, Moses was not a military leader. His qualifications were of another kind and God, who invariably selects the fittest instruments for his purposes, appointed Joshua to the office of commander of the Hebrew forces, at the very moment when such an individual was required for the command.

The Rose and Snail.-A Fable.

(AFTER THE FRENCH.)

[From the Christian Register, Boston, U. S.]
A SNAIL thus once address'd the Rose :-
"O fairest thou and sweetest flow'r
Which Flora bids her charms disclose,
And shed her sweetness through the bow'r !
Pardon, I pray, your humble slave,

(Pursued the Snail, with great respect,) One only little fault you have,

Which you might easily correct.

"I mean those sharp and ugly thorns,
Which wound whoe'er approaches near;

Mar ev'ry beauty that adorns,

And each admirer fills with fear.

N.

"Zephyr himself, your faithful lover,
How new, how cruel, is his case!
Dares only round your beauties hover,
And fears to meet your fond embrace !"
The poison caught: the Rose consented,
And stripp'd herself of ev'ry thorn;
But, O, how soon must be repented
The error of that cruel morn!

The guardian thorn no sooner gone,
The Snail became, from humble, free;
Easy and impudent came on,

And mounted the defenceless tree.

There, quickly cankering every leaf,
Each flow'r and op'ning bud he ate;
And now the Rose perceiv'd with grief
Her error, but perceiv'd too late!
Her fragrance gone, her beauty blasted,
And fled her young and virgin pride;
Her life was bitter while it lasted,

But soon she broke her heart-and died.
Ye fair, whom snail-like flatt'rers sue,
Mark what the awful moral shows!
Virtue is beauty's thorn in you-

But, O! be wiser than the Rose.

Mr. Moore on the Divine Origin and Authority of the

Sabbath,

(LETTER III.)

SIR,

THE observance of the Sabbath is inculcated more fre

quently upon the Israelites, and enforced with greater solemnity, than that of any other institution that has the support of Divine authority. In Exod. xxxv. 2, the punishment of death is again annexed to the slightest breach of the command.

In the recapitulation of the Ten Commandments, in Deut. v., there is some variation in the expressions of the fourth, which, however, is of no real importance to the question before us. An additional reason is given for the observance of the day, adapted to the peculiar circum

stances of the Israelites, but shewing also the humane and "The seventh day benevolent design of the institution. is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence, through a mighty hand, and by a stretched-out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath-day." Nothing can be more absurd and unfounded than to take occasion from hence to maintain, that the Sabbath rested on a positive command given exclusively to the Jews, as if their deliverance from Egyptian bondage were the only reason for the institution. They are reminded of their former slavery merely as furnishing an additional motive for permitting their servants to rest one day in seven as well as themselves. Even in this abridged recapitulation of the fourth commandment some reference is made to the reasons already adduced for believing that the Sabbath was intended for universal observance."Keep the Sabbath-day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee," as in Exod. xx. 8, where the religious observance of the day is enjoined, as before appointed, for a memorial of the creation; which command was engraven upon stone with nine others of universal obligation, detached from the rest of the law, and deposited in the ark: and again, "Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God;" that is, the day on which he ceased from the work of creation, and which, therefore, he blessed and sanctified; in other words, which he consecrated to rest and to religious purposes from the beginning.

As the punishment of death was annexed, by the Mosaic law, to a breach of the Sabbath, an instance of singular severity in the infliction of this punishment is related in Numb. xv. 32-36. Rigour like this, so revolting to the feelings of persons living under a dispensation of religion, just, humane and liberal as the Christian, might possibly be adapted to the very peculiar circumstances and singular character of the Hebrew nation, and might be necessary as a constant check upon their habitual propensity to the

worst abominations of idolatry, with which they were on all sides surrounded. Their government was a theocracy, and they were well assured, whatever severity there might seem in this or any other of their institutions, obedience to the laws which Divine Wisdom had appointed, Divine Power would not fail to protect and bless. At any rate, the extreme severity with which the slightest breach of the Sabbath was then punished, originated in the law of Moses, and with this Christians have no concern. Our Lord, though he has not abolished the Sabbath, has entirely done away with Jewish rigour in the observance of it.

It is a mistake to say that the law appointed no additional religious services for the Sabbath. From Leviticus xxiii. 3, we learn, that assemblies for religious purposes were required to be held on this day: "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, a holy convocation," &c. Nor do I know what meaning to affix to this expression, if it do not signify an assembly of the people for divine worship, that is, for public prayers as well as sacrifice, which were commonly united. Such is evidently the sense in which holy convocations are to be understood in the 27th verse of this chapter, and in Numb. xxix. 7 and 12. Such also was the sense in which the Jews always understood this expression, for we learn from other authentic sources, as well as from various parts of the Scriptures, that the purposes to which they devoted the Sabbath, were prayers, sacrifices, the reading of the law and prophets, and expounding them. And in Numbers xxviii. 9, we are informed, that additional sacrifices were appointed for this day, particularly two lambs instead of one, both morning and evening. David, moreover, was the king chosen by God himself, who appointed specific regulations for the additional religious services on these occasions, as well as proper officers from the Levites, consisting chiefly of singers and other musicians to conduct them. He furnished also a variety of highly poetical and devout compositions, still remaining, which were recited in their assemblies on these days by the officiating Levites, and by the people alternately, so as to render the whole services completely social.*

*For further satisfaction on this subject, Dr. Jennings' Jewish Antiquities may be consulted, B. III. Ch. iii. See also my Inquiry into the Scriptural Authority for Social Worship, pages 54, &c.