Ver. 17. Introduces eos, & plantabis in monte hæreditatis tua, firmiffimo habitaculo tuo, quod operatus es, Domine: Sanctuarium tuum, Domine, quod firmave

runt manus tuæ..

Ver. 18. Dominus regnabit in æternum & ultra.

Ver. 19. Ingreffus eft enim eques Pharao cum curribus & equitibus ejus in mare: & reduxit fuper eos Dominus aquas maris: filii autem Ifrael ambulaverunt per fuccum in medio ejus.

Ver. 17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou haft made for thee to dwell in: in the fanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have eftablished.

Ver. 18. The Lord fhall reign for ever and ever.

Ver. 19. For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots, and with his horfemen, into the fea; and the Lord brought again the waters of the fea upon them but the children of Ifrael went on dry land in the midst of the fea.

The

THIS

HIS excellent Song may juftly be confidered as one of the moft eloquent pieces of antiquity. The turn of it is great, the thoughts noble, the style fublime and magnificent, the expreffions ftrong, and the figures bold; every part of it abounds with images that ftrike the mind, and poffefs the imagination. This piece, which fome believe was compofed by Mofes in Hebrew verfe, furpaffes the most beautiful defcriptions, which the Heathens have given us in this way. Virgil and Horace, though the most perfect models of poetical eloquence, have not writ any thing comparable to it. No man can set a higher value than I do on thofe two great poets, and I ftudied them close with the utmost pleasure, for feveral years. Nevertheless, when I read what Virgil wrote in praife of Auguftus, in the beginning of the third Book of the a Georgics, and at the end of the eighth b and what he makes the prieft Evander fing, in the fame book, in honour of Hercules; though thofe paffages are vaftly fine, they feem groveling to me in comparison with the Song in queftion . Virgil methinks is all ice, Mofes all fire. The fame may be affirmed of the fourteenth and fifteenth Odes of the fourth Book, and in the laft of the Epodes.

neid;

A circumftance which feems to favour these two poets, and other profane writers, is, that we find in them a cadence, a harmony and elegance of ftyle, which is not to be met with in the Scriptures. But then we commonly read them in a tranflation; and it is well known, that the beft French tranflators of Cic Ver, 287.

a Ver. 16, 39. b Ver. 675. 728.

ceros

cero, Virgil, and Horace, disfigure their authors very much. Now, the original language of the Scripture must be vastly eloquent, fince there remains more in the copies of it, than in all the Latin works of antient Rome, and the Greek ones of Athens. The Scriptures are clofe, concife, and void of foreign ornaments, which would only weaken their impetuofity and fire; hate long perambulations, and reach the mark the shorteft way. They love to include a great many thoughts in a few words; to introduce them as fo many fhafts; and to make thofe objects fenfible which are the most remote from the fenfes, by lively and natural images of them. In a word, the Scriptures have a greatnefs, ftrength, energy, and majeftic fimplicity, which raise them above every thing in the Heathen eloquence. If the reader will but give himfelf the trouble to compare the places above cited from Virgil and Horace with the reflections I fhall now make, he will foon be convinced of the truth of what I fay,

Occafion and fubject of the Song.

The great miracle which God wrought, when the children of Ifrael paffed through the Red Sea. The Prophet's view in it is to indulge himself in his tranfports of joy, admiration, and gratitude, for this great miracle, to fing the praises of God the deliverer, to offer up to him public and folemn thanks, and to infpire the people with the fame fentiments.

EXPLICATION of the SONG.

Ver. 1. CANTEMUS (Heb. cantabo) Domino: gloriofe enim magnificatus eft: Equum & afcenforem dejecit in mare. "I will fing unto the Lord: "for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his "rider he hath thrown into the fea.

,,

Mofes

Mofes full of admiration, gratitude, and joy, could he poffibly have better declared the emotions of his heart, than by this impetuous exordium, in which the lively gratitude of the people delivered, and the dreadful greatnefs of God, the deliverer, are defcribed?

This exordium is the bare or fimple propofition of the whole piece. It is, as it were, the extract and point of fight, to which the several parts of the picture refer. This we must carry in our minds, as we read the Song, to comprehend the artifice with which the prophet draws fo many beauties, fo much magnificence, from a propofition, which at firft fight seems fo fimple and barren.

I will fing is much more energetic, more affecting more tender, than it would be in the plural, we will fing. This victory of the Hebrews over the Egyptians is not like thofe common victories which one nation gains over another, and whofe fruits are general, vague, common, and almoft imperceptible to every individual. Here every thing is peculiar to every Ifraelite, every thing is perfonal. At this first inftant, every one reflects on his own chains which are broken; every one imagines he fees his cruel mafter drowned; every one is fenfible of the value of his liberty, which is fecured to him for ever. For it is natural to the heart of man, in extreme dangers, to refer every thing to himself, and to confider himfelf as every thing.

The horfe and his rider hath he thrown into the fea. This fingular, the horse, his rider, which includes the totality of horses and riders, is much more energetic than the plural would have been. Befides, the fingular denotes much better the ease and fuddennefs of the drowning. The Egyptian cavalry was numerous, formidable, and covered whole plains. It would have required feveral days to have defeated and cut them to pieces but God defeated them in an inftant, with a fingle effort, at a blow. He overthrew, drowned, overwhelmed them all, as though they had been but one horfe,