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superstitions of paganism; in enlarging the domain of civil liberty; in securing the rights of conscience; in invigorating both public and private morals; in allaying and rooting out abuses of government; in giving a healthful tone to legisla tion; and in infusing the purest, the most elevating, and the most conservative elements into human civilization. Of all the great men, who have played their part on the broad theatre of human action, Moses is the one, who has exerted the most pregnant influence on the destinies of mankind, and on the direction and progress of civilization. His lofty intellect, his greatness of soul, his preeminent virtue, and his unequalled services in the cause of true religion and of republican constitutional liberty, place him at the head of those illustrious benefactors of mankind, who here and there, though at intervals too distant from each other, embellish the canvass of history.

It is sometimes alleged, that Moses borrowed his institutions from Egypt. This is said for the purpose of derogating from his merit as a lawgiver, and especially from his reputation as an inspired lawgiver. But from what fountain did Egypt herself, in all likelihood, draw her best principles of law? There is a common fact in the history of the Hebrews and the Egyptians, hitherto so much overlooked, that I do not remember to have seen it adverted to by any writer, which, nevertheless, sheds an important light on this subject. By an extraordinary concurrence of circumstances, an Israelite, some centuries prior to the age of Moses, had been raised to the primacy of Egypt. For eighty successive years Joseph swayed the destinies of that empire; and an inspired writer has told us, that he taught her senators wisdom.* It cannot be doubted, therefore, that many of the wisest maxims of Egyptian policy were due to the genius of that illustrious minister, and to the special divine guidance vouchsafed to him in his administration.

*Psalm cv. 22.

But suppose it to be true, that some, or many, of the civil laws of Egypt were embodied in the Hebrew code, what inference, derogatory either to the genius or the inspiration of Moses, would such a fact warrant? Did any body ever suppose it detracted from the merit of the Roman jurisprudence, that the twelve tables were framed by a commission, which had been appointed by the senate to examine the laws of other nations? And how would such a fact militate against the inspiration of the lawgiver? The spirit of God might as well prompt him to take from the legislation of a foreign state that which was valuable, and with which he and his people were already acquainted, as to dictate laws entirely new, and till then unknown. The former is as natural and legitimate a province of inspiration as the latter. Besides: Let all that is alleged be granted; it still remains true, that, in their fundamental principles, the two constitutions were the antipodes of each other. Egypt was a despotism; Judea a republic. The people of the former were slaves; the people of the latter, freemen. In Egypt the prince governed, or the priesthood through the prince; in Palestine the nation. The Egyptian government was founded on force; the Hebrew government on consent. The former was a government of will; the latter, a government of law. In Egypt an iron system of caste crushed every opening faculty and every generous aspiration of man's nature; on the banner of Palestine flamed, in living letters, liberty, equality, fraternity.

Be it that the institutions and manners of his age exacted their tribute from the Jewish lawgiver in modifying his system of legislation. It is what I have admitted and even contended for in the preceding chapter. Still, the results which he achieved, are none the less great; none the less original; none the less stupendous. The greatness of Egypt, far from diminishing, serves only to enhance the real glory of his labors. Egypt has fallen; and the most learned

researches have hitherto shed but a feeble light on her civilization. But Moses lived; and his name and works are known and honored among all nations. Though neither brass nor marble has preserved to us the shape and stature of his outer man, the finer elements of his soul, the form and lineaments of his inner being, stand revealed to us, in all their fair proportions, in the monuments which his genius has left behind him. Though his body has long since been mingled with its kindred dust, yet all of him, as Tacitus has elegantly said of Agricola, all of him, which gained the love and admiration of his cotemporaries, still subsists, and will for ever subsist, preserved in the minds of men, the register of ages, and the records of fame. Even the pyramids have not availed to preserve the Pharaohs from forgetfulness. Those proud monarchs have sunk to the common lot of oblivion, inglorious and unremembered. But Moses, by his worthy deeds and his immortal writings, has triumphed over the injuries of time.

CHAPTER III.

Uncertainty of early Profane History.

THE credibility of the historical books of the Old Testament, and those of Moses in particular, has been called in question, on the ground, that they contain statements at variance with the historical records of the learned heathen nations of antiquity. Thus the pretence of ancient history is made a plea for infidelity; and by many no argument against revelation is thought more plausible than its contrariety to some of the averments of early profane story. How little force there is in this argument will appear in the present chapter, the purpose of which is to show, that there is no certain credibility in those ancient histories, which contradict the Bible. This chapter will be followed by another, whose aim will be to prove that all the marks of historical truth are found in the record of Moses. In this endeavor I must gratefully acknowledge my indebtedness to the learned industry of Bishop Stillingfleet, to whose admirable Origines Sacræ, I would refer those persons, who desire to see the argument presented in all its breadth and strength.

It is related of Sir Walter Raleigh, who added to the graces of a courtier and the bravery of a hero the higher accomplishments of a learned historian, that, in despair of arriving at the truth of an event, which happened under his own window, he committed to the flames some of his most valuable manuscripts on historical subjects. It is but a few years ago, that

an important appropriation bill was lost in the expiring throes of an annual session of the American congress. On the reassembling of that body the following year, gentlemen of undoubted probity and honor gave such conflicting accounts of the causes of the failure of the bill, as were, in no small degree, calculated to impair our confidence in the general credibility of human testimony. The writer retains a vivid recollection of the painful emotions and reflections, which that event excited in his mind. It brought forcibly to remem brance the observation which Addison puts into the mouth of Sir Roger de Coverly, in the Spectator, that it is not merely that on most questions much may be said on both sides, but that the real obscurities on many subjects of an historical character are such as to pain and perplex every honest in quirer.

Who wrote Junius? Who discovered the differential calculus? Who killed Tecumseh? Who commanded the American forces at the battle of Bunker Hill? Who was the hero of lake Erie? On what day were the signatures affixed to the declaration of American Independence? What was the original policy of the American cabinet in reference to the employment of our public ships in the last war with Great Britain? Did Napoleon poison his sick soldiers at Jaffa? Was the beautiful Mary, perishing on the scaffold under the insatiate envy of her virgin rival, guilty or innocent? These, and a thousand other questions, are still unadjudicated in the great court of modern history.

How, then, can we hope to penetrate the abyss of time, and bring forth to the light the mysteries, which lie concealed within its profound recesses? We look back upon the confused traditions of the first ages of the world, as upon some distant ocean; but shadows, clouds, and darkness brood over its troubled surface; and if an occasional glimmer of truth appear, it is but a rush-light, too feeble to reveal to us events in their true relations to each other. In all that relates to the

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