"tribes and families, forms an additional

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provision for their union and happiness.

They are employed in agriculture, at"tached to domestic life, estranged from war, but bound to assemble for their country's defence, and thus forming a secure barrier against hostile violence or "insidious ambition. They are governed by a nobility, by magistrates and by elders, possessing properties suited to "their several ranks, respected for their patriarchal descent, uniting in their per"sons civil and military authority, by an hereditary right, which precluded jealousy and discord. The whole tribe of Levi is "set apart to attend to the religious and "moral instruction of the nation, for which

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they have the fullest leisure, and to which

they are bound by the strongest interests ; dispersed over the whole, and forming a "cement and bond of union between the remaining tribes. In this domestic and family government, as it has been justly termed, population is encouraged, free"dom secured, agriculture and residence in "the country, and, by consequence, purity

"and simplicity of manners provided for; "domestic virtue, reverence to the aged, "kindness to the stranger, bounty to the "fatherless and the widow, justice to all, 66 are inculcated in the most forcible man

ner, and with the most awful sanctions, "even the favour or the displeasure of the "Lord Jehovah, who is the immediate

Sovereign under whom this government " is exercised, by whom its Laws are form"ed, from whom all property is held, to "whose powerful interposition the nation "owed this settlement, and on whose pro"tection it depended for its continuances."

On a comparison of these laws with those of other nations, we may confidently maintain their immense superiority, in every particular which relates to morality, jurisprudence, or social intercourse. In them, virtue and vice were accurately discriminated, the duties of magistrates and subjects minutely specified, and every person directed in what manner he should conduct

g Graves on the Pentateuch, p. 2. lect. 2. p. 325. lect. 3. p. 363. vol. i. lect. 4. vol. ii. p. 30—32. See also Michaelis Commentaries on the Laws of Moses, and Lowman's Civil Polity of the Hebrews.

himself in his family and with his neighbours.

If we pass on from the laws of this people, to their works handed down to us in the Scriptures, we find the same exaltation above other nations. Where can we find history so grave, dignified, faithful, simple, and affecting? Where do we meet with poetry so lofty, sublime, ennobling, elevating? Where is instruction in the various branches of moral and political knowledge, to be found so profound and extensive, accompanied with such irresistibility of argument, and such power of persuasion? The justly celebrated Grecian and Roman authors must yield the palm to the despised Hebrews, both in the style and matter of their works.

From different parts of the Jewish writings, it is evident, that this people were acquainted with natural history, botany, geometry, chemistry, and other branches of science. Solomon "spake of trees, from "the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even "unto the hyssop that springeth out of the "wall; he spake also of beasts, and of fowl,

"and of creeping things, and of fishes"." In the description given of the tabernacle erected by Moses; of the temple by Solomon; and of Ezekiel's vision of the temple, we have proof that the principles of geometry were known. The Jewish calendar, together with notices of the stars and the seasons, discover an acquaintance with astronomy; and in the dissolution of the golden calf, we discern some of the elementary principles of chemistry.

Under David's victorious, and Solomon's peaceful and polished reign, this nation reached the height of exaltation. Their fame was spread abroad throughout the world, and attracted the attention and admiration of all their cotemporaries. Whoever reads with care the history of Israel under Solomon, will perceive, that ancient times does not furnish an example of equal splendour and real greatness.

I have enlarged the more upon the state of the Jewish nation, because they have been misrepresented, ridiculed, and abused, by ancient Heathen writers, and modern

h 1 Kings iv. 33.

skeptics', as a base and degraded peoplewith what reason you may judge.

The Christian dispensation succeeding to the Jewish, we shall proceed to examine the proofs, which the nations who profess obedience to this dispensation, afford of the truth, that righteousness exalteth a nation. Time will not permit a minute detail of the effects which Christianity produced among them. Generally, it changed their character, conduct, and state, in a most astonishing manner. They no longer thought, felt, and acted as they had done before; but, on the contrary, they made it evident to the most thoughtless, that "old things were passed

away, and all things had become new." On this transformation, not of one individual, but of multitudes; not of one sex, but of both; not of a particular age, but of all ages; not of persons in one situation, but of every situa

i Tacitus among the former, in b. 5, of his History, and Voltaire among the latter, in the Philosophy of History, c. 49, afford examples of the manner in which philosophers have treated this people. Whoever wishes to know the truth on this subject, in contradiction to these philosophers, will find it in Findlay's Vindication, Jews' Letters to Voltaire, Graves on the Pentateuch.