viduals and of the Church'. After, as we may believe, another charge to Joshua, the Song was written on the same day, and given to the people. It was spoken to all. There is no concealment, no priestcraft, no keeping back, in a wicked reserve, from all the people in the true religion of God, any doctrine, or truth, or threatening, in which the common mass is interested. "Give ear, O ye heavens," it begins, let the inhabitants of the invisible state, who learn the wisdom of the common God of the Church by His conduct to the Church': "and I will speak," and let all the inhabitants of the earth in all ages to come hear the words I utter, the doctrine, the expressive truths, which shall not be delivered in the terrors of Sinai, but which shall drop upon the hearts of all to whom they come as the meditation and nourishment of the soul that ponders them. The Ode then proceeds to relate the unchangeableness of God, as "the Rock" on which the Universal Church should be built, the sins of the people, and the expostulation of God for their folly. This ends the sixth verse. The tenth goes on to relate the mercies of God to the people. But the passage from the seventh to the ninth verse is that to which I have principally referred as the key to all history. We are there assured that the division of the earth among the sons of Adam was not made by chance. When the several nations dispersed from their original settlement in one place they might appear to themselves so to have exercised their power of choosing the various places to which they should proceed, and in which their descendants in subsequent ages should establish themselves, that it might seem as if no overruling power had ordained the bounds of their territories; but that chance, or coincidence, or plans of human wisdom, only appropriated to each their settlements and possessions. This, however, was not so. Man might select by choice, or receive by lot; but God's Providence decreed the several homes of the primitive nations, with reference to the conduct, the character, the position, and the influence of the Jewish people. We are justified, therefore, in believing that the same Providence not only now governs the world, and will accomplish all the remaining prophecies that relate to His own people, but also that the theory is correct, and worthy of our reception, that the same Providence, in a manner unseen and incomprehensible by us, has so ordered the movements of nations, the climates of the world, the course of rivers, the divisions of countries by plains and mountains, the productions which excite and uphold commerce, the relative positions of islands and continents, of land and ocean", "that the events of history have the coherence and unity of a moral drama," the scenes and order of which we may contemplate both now and in our immortality. We may believe, with the same thoughtful, learned author to whom I am referring, that the moral system of the world is more especially the subject of the providential government of God'. We may believe, with another most eminent writer of our own age, that "the great Architect of the universe overrules both signal wickedness, and the performance of duty, to the ultimate good of man, and builds up the fabric of 3 Deut. xxxi. 19-21. 4 Eph. iii. 10. 5 Deut. xxxii. 1-6. 6 Miller's Philosophy of History. VOL. II. PART VI. general and progressive improvement from the wisdom and the folly, the virtues and the vices, the greatness and the weakness, of men." And we may rejoice as we thus believe in the providence of God, that we have reason to hope that the God of Creation and of Redemption has raised up our own island to be among those that were predicted to "wait for His law";" and that the commerce, the political influence, the naval and military prowess, the language, the literature, the civil liberty, and the religious enlightenment of our land, as they are now beginning to leaven the world, will so continue to impress the progressing race of mankind with holy principles towards God, with the honourable desire and the stedfast resolution of obtaining better governments than the old despotisms, and a purer faith than the ancient superstitions, which place men upon the throne of the one Mediator between God and man. We may hope, and we may pray, that the old political and religious absolutisms, which were founded upon the supposition that States and Churches ought to be established for the benefit of rulers and priests alone, have been, and ought to be, founded, established, and preserved, for the peace, and happiness, and benefit of the ruled and rulers, the people and the governors. We may hope and pray for the arrival of that period, when every nation shall regard itself as one political and religious society, honouring, worshipping, and encouraging each other to worship and honour the God of Israel, the God of Christianity. BEFORE CHRIST 1451. + Heb. lie down, b Exod. 34. 15. DEUTERONOMY XXXI. 16-21. 18 And I will surely Numb h 42. 2 Sam. 7. 12. fathers; and this people hide my face in that day ver. 17. Exod. 32. 6. will a rise up, and go a for all the evils which they whoring after the gods of shall have wrought, in that the strangers of the land, they are turned unto other whither they go to be gods. Judg. 2. 17. ech. 32. 15. among them, and will for Judg. 2. 12. & 10. 6, 13. 19 Now therefore write sake me, and break my ye this song for you, and Judg. 2. 20. Covenant which I have teach it the children of made with them. Israel: put it in their 17 Then my anger shall mouths, that this song be kindled against them may be a witness for me ver. 25. 2 Chron. 15. in that day, and I will against the children of Isforsake them, and I will rael. 2. f ch. 32. 20. Ps. 101. 29. fhide my face from them, 64. 7. and Ezek. 39. 23. + Heb. find 20 For when I shall Isai. 8. 17. & and they shall be devoured, have brought them into many evils and trou- the land which I sware bles shall befall them; unto their fathers, that so that they will say in floweth with milk and ho8 Judg. 6. 13. that day, Are not these ney; and they shall have evils come upon us, because eaten and filled themselves, them, Neh. 9. 32. 8 Alison's History of Europe, vol. x. p. 1019, post 8vo edit. Isa, xlii. 4. * and waxen fat; then testify + against them as a covenant. DEUTERONOMY XXXI. 23. 23 P And he gave Joshua dren of Israel into the the son of Nun a charge, land which I sware unto and said, Be strong and them: and I will be with of a good courage: for thee. thou shalt bring the chil DEUTERONOMY XXXI. 22 AND 30. Song of Moses. 22 Moses therefore the ears of all the con- 30 And Moses spake in DEUTERONOMY XXXII. 1-14. г 1 Give ear, O ye hea- iniquity, just and right is vens, and I will speak; he. с and hear, O earth, the 5 They have cor- + Heb. He Jer. 2. 12. & words of my mouth. 6. 19. • Isai. 55. 10, 2 11. 1 Cor. 3. 6, 7, drop 8. t Ps. 72. 6. Mic. 5. 7. 1 Chron. 29. 11. t My doctrine shall spot is not the spot 3 Because I will publish 12 Sam. 22. 3. the name of the LORD: ⚫ ch. 31. 29. per- Or, that gene- his children, they are not that is their 17. Phil. 2. 15. 6 Do ye thus e requite the LORD, O foolish people Luke 9. 41. and unwise? is not he thy father that hath Isai. 63. 16. bought thee? hath he not made thee, and es- ver. 15. tablished thee? # Ps. 74. 2. Isai. 27. 11. ration and 7 Remember the days 4 He is the Rock, his Work is perfect for all of old, consider the years generation. his ways are judgment: a of +many generations: God of truth and without ask thy father, and he78.3, 4. Exod. 13. 14. Ps. 44. 1. & BEFORE CHRIST 1451. Zech. 9. 2. Acts 17. 26. 1 Gen. 11. 8. m Exod. 15. 16. & 19. 5. Ps. 78. 71. will shew thee; thy elders, over her young, spreadeth their inheritance, when he 12 So the LORD alone 9 For m the LORD's the increase of the fields; 1 Sam. 10. 1. portion is his people; Ja- n ch. 8. 15. Jer. 2. 6. Hos. 13. 5. || Or, compassed him about. • Deut. 4. 36. P Ps. 17. 8. Prov. 7. 2. Zech. 2. 8. 8 BEFORE CHRIST 1451. ch. 33. 29. Ezek. 36. 2. Isai 58. 14. honey out of the rock, • Job 29 6. and oil out of the flinty 14 Butter of kine, and Ps. 81. 16. 10 He found him "in a rock; desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; milk of sheep, with fat of he led him about, he lambs, and rams of the instructed him, he kept breed of Bashan, and goats, him as the apple of his with the fat of kidneys eye. of wheat; and thou didst 11 As an eagle stir- drink the pure "blood of Gen. 49. 11. reth her nest, fluttereth the grape. up Ps. 81 16 & 147. 14. PRAYER. LET US PRAY, that when we are called upon to die, we may be able to bear witness to the mercy and Providence of God. That we appeal to our friends and kindred to continue faithful to the truth and service of God. That we be comforted by the remembrance of the wonderful discoveries which the soul shall make through its immortality of the Providence of its Creator, the love of its Redeemer, and the sinless perfection which shall be granted by its Sanctifier. That our souls may be the inheritance of God, and that God may be the portion of our souls for ever. ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, God of Providence and of Grace, who hast brought us safely to the present day and hour in which we worship Thee and praise Thee, and confess to Thee our utter unworthiness of all Thy mercies; we know and feel the justice of the sentence of death under which we live. We know that it is appointed unto us once to die, and that after the death is the judgment. So prepare us by Thy grace for that day of judgment, that we truly repent us of the sins we have committed, that we be brought to sincere and humble faith in Christ our Saviour, and that we loathe and abhor the sins which have caused our souls to revolt from God. So prepare us, we pray Thee, for the day of the judgment that follows death, that when the hour shall come when the soul shall be parted from the body, death may have no terrors, and the grave no victory. O, in that hour of anxious hope, when the best and holiest of Thy saints more solemnly remember the past, and more earnestly implore the pardon of the sins of the soul, and the continuance of the comfort of the Holy Spirit to be with them; then, even then, O God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, enable us by faith in Thy promises, and patience under Thy dispensations, to follow the examples of Thy servants Jacob and Moses, to bear witness to Thy mercy and truth, to exhort the kindred and the friends to believe in the presence and support of the God of the written Scriptures. Increase our dying comfort by the remembrance that we have endeavoured to employ our influence, while health and strength continued, to the advancement of Thy honour and glory; that our dying words may more certainly and more deeply impress the consciences and the hearts of the survivors; and that we may assure ourselves and others that the terrors of death have not been the only cause of the sorrow and the repentance which attend us at the last. While we still live, give us grace to fear Thee, to serve Thee, and to praise Thee. We place our sole dependence, both in life and death, upon the merits and death of Thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord: but we pray Thee to enable us to prove our faith by loving Thee and honouring Thee in life as well as in death. As the word was spoken to Thy servant Moses after his faithful obedience in the wilderness, that his last appeal should be made as a witness to his people never to be forgotten; so enable us to charge our friends and our kindred to remember the dying words of their brother and their friend, and never to forget the farewell and the blessings which Thy grace and favour may enable us to speak to them from the bed of death. And as we pray Thee to bestow Thy blessing upon the mourning friends around us, no less we pray Thee to give to us, within our souls, the comfort of Thy Holy Spirit, the peace of God, the earnest of the heavenly happiness which Thou hast promised to those who believe. When the day shall come that the business of life shall have been ended, when the pleasures of the world can attract us no longer, when the engagements of life can bind us to earth no more, when the soul looks back upon life with prayer for pardon, and with praise for mercies as manifold as they have been undeserved, when the soul looks forward to the future with silent, humble hope, and with silent, humble confidence in the Providence which had guided it through life to that hour of approaching death, then, O then, Lord God of the souls of men, let the light of heaven so shine upon us, that we be comforted with the hope and with the assurance, that the same mercy which enabled us to trace the Providence of God guiding us from earth to heaven, will still enable us ever and ever to advance in the perpetual knowledge of the glories and the wonders, the greatness and the excellency of God. O give us the society of the innumerable company of angels. May we rejoice in the hope of the presence of "the spirits of the just made perfect." May the dying anticipations of our souls repose with peace and hope on our reunion in the world beyond the grave, within the veil of the tabernacle, with the souls of the dear, dear kindred, the beloved friend, the holy and the humble, who have gone before us to Thy kingdom. No less do we pray Thee that we may be comforted in the hour of our death, by the ever-increasing knowledge of the height and depth, the length and breadth, of the exceeding great love of our Lord and Saviour, by whose perfect Atonement we shall have obtained the restoration of our immortality, and the innumerable benefits which by His precious bloodshedding He will have obtained to us. O Son of God, as Thou hast been present with us in life, as Thou hast been with us in the hours of our private worship, at Thy Table, in the services and employments of Thy earthly Temple, so may the hope of Thy perpetual presence, and the ever-increasing knowledge of the sources, the extent, and the duration of Thine infinite love to man, be found among the comforts that shall console, and strengthen, and bless us, when we are about to die; and when the last moment arrives, when the consciousness of the presence of earthly existences shall cease, and the faintings of death are increasing, then, even then, Holy Spirit of God, may the hope of the ceaseless freedom from the sin which God has pardoned, and which the blood of Christ has expiated, be the |