are always wanton in the display of their assumed powers. They aim at exciting perpetual and universal admiration. Not being the creators of the universe, they impiously triumph in their pretended power over its laws, upon the most trivial occasions; without reflecting that he who ordained, holds them sacred upon the most important. These are facts, which, if they diminish the wonderful, render our admiration of the divine direction permanent and reverential. If we admit fewer facts of the miraculous kind, we believe them the more firmly. Our belief in the truth of a divine revelation, is not founded on the accurate representation of minuter circumstances of an individual miracle, but upon the importance of the object, unity in the plan, consonance in the execution, and final accomplishment of a purpose which, in its very nature demanded occasional exertions, beyond the limited influence of physical laws. But to suppose an uninterrupted series of miraculous interferences, for the space of fifteen hundred years, is to suppose a regular succession of interruptions to a pre-ordained succession of natural events. It introduces one series of constituted laws in place of another, to the destruction of a miracle. Let us acknowledge that all is of God, and we

need not be anxious to distinguish in every case, whether each event proceeded from the natural course of things, his secret and consequently unknown influence, or the more open and terrific manifestations of his power.

III. The characters and conduct of the principal agents employed, are correspondent with the divinity of the Jewish dispensation, and with no other hypothesis.

That Moses received his commission from God, and was under his direction in the execution of it, is manifest from various circumstances which cannot be satisfactorily explained, upon the contrary supposition. Moses could not wish to aggrandize himself, for he was aged; nor his family, for he earnestly intreated the Lord, that his son might not succeed to his honours. The primary object was not to lead a large multitude to invade and conquer, for the sole purposes of ambition. It was to counteract the prevalence of idolatry, by preserving a selected people from being totally corrupted by its baneful influence. The Israelites were appointed to possess the oracles of the true and living God, in opposition to the oracular fallacies of superstitious impostors

which inundated the world; and to maintain pure morality, in opposition to the vicious practices encouraged by false religions. To promote this object was truly worthy of God; but the accomplishment of it was inconsistent with the character of an uninspired chief. The enterprise demanded a full assurance in the existence of such a God, in the necessity of moral rectitude, and a firm confidence in the divine support. It is perfectly distinct from the projects of worldly ambition; and it requires different principles for its execution. Exalted piety, implicit obedience to the divine mandates, perpetual solicitude for the religious and moral purity of the people committed to his charge, a deep concern at their impieties, and unremitted efforts to reclaim them, are pre-requisites for the execution of such a commission; and these were possessed by Moses in an eminent degree. But they could not possibly dwell in the breast of an impostor, or exist in a man merely actuated by the principles of worldly ambition. These principles operated with equal power, when all the hopes of worldly grandeur must have subsided. In his last moments, anxiety lest the people should apostatize from Jehovah their God, was predominant in the mind of Moses; and he composed an hymn

for their instruction, that the being, superintendence, mercies, and deliverances of their God, might be held in perpetual remembrance.* Such a state of mind could alone proceed from a consciousness that he was under a divine direction; and from a confident expectation that the purposes of the Almighty would ultimately be accomplished. The same principles of true religion and morality were conspicuous in his successors, Joshua, Samuel, and other men of piety; and in the numerous prophets, who were raised up at different periods, to make known the counsels of God, to exhort, to threaten, to encourage; and in whom all the energies of the soul were manifestly engaged to promote true religion and piety; and although they were revered by their enemies for personal courage, and high integrity, they were frequently exposed to their severest resentments. Who would have undertaken such a cause under such circumstances, if he were not conscious that his commission was from above?

In a word, the whole history of this ancient people clearly demonstrates, that pure religion, and the strictest morality, constitute the basis of the Jewish dispensation. These are the principles which take the lead and pervade every

* See Deut. xxxi. & xxxii.

part. In all institutions merely human, religion is considered merely as a secondary object, and as subservient to the purposes of civil policy; here it is primary. To fear God and keep his commandments, is the grand, the universal principle, towards which every thing is directed. Civil government itself is made subordinate to it. Every event, natural or preternatural; every situation, prosperous or adverse; every human action, meritorious or culpable, contributes something towards the final triumph of true religion. This one principle operates, and the same plan is pursued through a long series of ages. Its perpetual operation demanded the instrumentality of men, of similar characters and dispositions, at periods most distant from each other; that they should be influenced by motives, infinitely superior to those which usually stimulate to action, and that these should con spire to answer a purpose in which the principal agents had no personal concern. If the sentiments of religion, which we acknowledge to be most rational, were merely the dreams of individuals, how came Moses, Joshua, Samuel, at one period to dream of its importance, and numerous prophets at subsequent and very distant periods, to take up the delusion, and continue dreaming for the good of mankind, while the