of Abraham, were selected from the rest of mankind for obtaining a particular purpose in the plan of divine Providence, for preserving in the world the worship of Jehovah and the knowledge of true religion, while surrounding nations, as it was foreseen would be the case, were sunk into idolatry and ignorance. In conformity to this design, they were favoured with particular advantages of a religious nature, not enjoyed by the rest of the world. The deity himself by the mouth of Moses, or by speaking to them in person, gave them instructions respecting his nature and government, the worship that was to be paid to him, and the duties which they owed to him and to one another. They had a system of civil laws delivered to them, which was to regulate their conduct toward one another and toward neighbouring nations, which, if not a model of perfection, was extremely well adapted to that state of civilization and improvement, which this people had attained. In cases, for which these laws did not provide, Jehovah was ready, upon being applied to, to give them direction how to act; and where they wanted instruction, consolation, or reproof, he raised up extraordinary persons in the character of prophets, who were sent to them with divine authority for this purpose, working miracles and predicting future events. A particular country was allotted for their residence, in which they were to prosper and be happy, as long as they observed the laws which God had given them, and in which

they were to be afflicted and oppressed, or from which they were to be banished, when those laws were transgressed. This is a brief outline of the mosaic institution; from which it appears, that it was a great favour to the children of Israel as well as an important benefit to the world.

As God had selected the children of Israel from other nations to bestow upon them these peculiar privileges and advantages, they are said to be chosen and elected, and God is said to choose them. Thus Moses tells the children of Israel in his last address to them; "the Lord had a delight in thy fathers, and he chose their seed after them, even you before all people." In a prophecy foretelling, three hundred years before the event, the birth of Cyrus by name, who was to deliver the children. of Israel from their captivity in Babylon, God thus addresses him by the prophet Isaiah; "for Jacob my servant's sake and Israel mine elect I have even called thee by thy name." As the children of Israel had been invited by several express messages from God to accept of the honours intended for them, he is said to call them, and they to be his called: "When Israel was a child, then I loved him and Called my son out of Egypt." "Hearken unto me, O Jacob," says the prophet Isaiah, "and Israel my called."

Had the children of Israel been left in Egypt, they would soon have adopted the idolatrous notions. and customs of the people among whom they lived,

and have been involved in the dreadful consequences of idolatry, the loss of the divine favour, and the being subject to severe judgments: they would have been ruined, as the Canaanites and other nations afterward were. But by being called out of Egypt, and placed by themselves in a separate country, under the laws which God had given them, and under his immediate direction, they were saved from these evils. Hence they are said to be saved and delivered; and, as this salvation or deliverance was not accomplished without the performance of many miracles and much trouble, they are said to be bought, purchased, and redeemed, as if a sum of money had been expended for their emancipation. David expresses his own admiration of the divine goodness to them in this instance, as well, no doubt, as that of other pious Israelites, when he says; " and what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their Gods."

As God gave the Jews their civil and ecclesiastical constitution of government, by which they acquired their existence as a national body, he is said to create and form them. Accordingly the prophet Isaiah addresses them; "Thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob! and he that formed thee, O Israel!" where he refers, not to the giving

them being as individuals, but to the giving them existence as a separate body of people. Before that period they had no being and were not a people, and the gentile nations, who were not so formed, are actually described in this language, although they had, no doubt, a civil and ecclesiastical constitution of government. Thus God tells the Jews, "I will move them to jealousy with those, who are not a people ;" and in another place, "I will say to them, who are not my people, thou art my people."

In near correspondence with the idea of creation is another term frequently used to express the peculiar relation of God to the Jews, which is that of begetting them; and accordingly he is called their father, and they are said to be his sons and daughters, his children. Being descended from one father, they are the children of God and brethren with respect to one another; they are also called his house or family.

"Of the rock that begat thee," says Moses, "thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that formed thee. Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people? Is he not thy father, that hath bought thee?" Of Moses God gives this character, "that he was faithful in all his house," meaning, that he was faithful in the whole house or family of Israel.

As the children of Israel were honoured with the presence of God among them, and devoted more immediately to his service, they are represented as sanctified hereby, and are called saints and holy..

Thus Moses is directed by God in the mountain to go and tell the people, "that they should be to him a holy nation ;" and Solomon at the consecration of the temple prays, "let thy priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let thy saints rejoice in goodness;" where the word saints is put for the children of Israel in general, without any reference to their moral character. The same thing is still more evident in the following passage in the Psalms ; "he also exalteth the horn of his people, the praises of his saints, even of the children of Israel;" where the phrase, "children of Israel," explains what is meant by the word "saints."

Since the whole body of the Jews as such were saints, and holy, the Gentiles, who did not belong to their community, were of course sinners and unclean. This is evident from the language of Christ himself, who in one place declares, that he shall be delivered to the gentiles, and in another place, when speaking of the same event, that he should be delivered into the hands of sinners. It is but proceeding one step further to call those who were sinners and unholy, the enemies of God, as they are described in several passages of the book of Psalms. Thus God is addressed by the author of the seventy-fourth Psalm, "thine enemies," meaning the heathen, "roar in the midst of thy congregation," i. e. in the midst of the children of Israel.

There are two circumstances respecting these terms or phrases, which deserve notice. The first