ORIGINALITY OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF MOSES. 49

superior to every other, and formed with too much contrariety to other systems ever to have been borrowed from them.

1. No heathen ever conceived an idea of so great an Object as that of the Institutions of Moses, which appears to have been nothing less than the instruction of all mankind in the great doctrine of the Unity and Moral Government of God, as the Creator of the world, and the common Parent of all the human race, in opposition to the polytheism and idolatry which then prevailed, which, besides being grossly absurd in its principles and leading to endless superstitions, threatened the world with a deluge of vice and misery.-For this purpose the Hebrew nation was placed in the most conspicuous situation, among all the great civilized nations of the earth, which were universally addicted to idolatry of the grossest kind, to divinations, necromancy, and other superstitions of a similar nature, and practised as acts of religion; some of their rites abominably licentious, and others most horribly cruel, yet enjoined as the necessary means of recommending the persons that performed them to the various objects of their worship.

As all mankind imagined that their outward prosperity depended upon the observance of their respective religions, that of the Hebrew nation was made to do so in the most conspicuous manner as a visible lesson to all the world. They were to prosper beyond all other nations while they adhered to their religion, and to suffer in a manner equally exemplary and conspicuous in consequnce of their departure from it. Of this, all mankind might easily judge.

These great ideas occur in the sacred books of the Hebrews, and no where else. They are all distinctly advan ced by Moses, and more fully unfolded in the writings of the later prophets. But certainly nothing so great and sublime could have been suggested to Moses, from any thing that he saw in Egypt, or could have heard of in other countries.

2. In no system of Religion, besides that of Moses, was purity of Morals any part of it. All the heathen religions were systems of mere ceremonies, and the sole business of the Priests was to attend to those rites, which were so far from being favourable to morals, that they were of the most impure and abominable nature.

The contrary to this appears, not only in the Ten Commandments, but in all the Writings of Moses. The purest morality, the most favourable to private and public happiness, was the principal and ultimate object of the whole system. Sacrifices, and ceremonial observances of every kind, are always represented as of no signification without morals. Such precepts as these, "Be ye holy, for I am holy;" and, "What does the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"-could never have been borrowed from any heathen system of Religion. The Writings of Moses, and of the Prophets that succeeded him, are in these respects a great Original.

3. No where in all the heathen world could Moses have heard of such a sublime Worship, as that which he introduced. The Hebrews alone had one single object of their worship, one altar, one precise ritual, one only place for the meeting of the whole nation at the great public festivals. In no other country in the world were the public festivals instituted in commemoration of such great events, respecting their history and the divine origin of their religion. It is also peculiar to this nation, that directions for the celebration of them were reduced to writing at the time of their institution, so that there never could be any uncertainty about the origin or the reasons of them. These festivals were three, the Passover, on their deliverance from their state of servitude in Egypt, when the first-born of all the Egyptians were destroyed, and all theirs preserved; the Pentecost, on the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai;

and the Feast of Tabernacles, in commemoration of their living in tents or booths during their travels through the Wilderness.

No heathen festivals were so well adapted to important events as these.. The festivals of the heathens were numerous and perplexing. More than sixty were celebrated by the Athenians; the origin and reasons of their institution were uncertain, and none of them were to answer any important moral purpose. The heathen festivals were also in general celebrated in a manner the most disgusting to modesty and common sense. Even the wise Athenians celebrated the festival of Cotytto with such rites, as demonstrated that the object of their worship delighted in nothing so much as lewdness and debauchery.-Potter's Antiquities of Greece, p. 409.

It would be easy to multiply examples of the indecency and absurdity of the festivals of the heathen, and those of Greece were chiefly borrowed from Egypt. Why did not Moses the same ? Such arts would no doubt have been acceptable to his people, naturally prone to sin like others; and this is evident from his own history of the Israelites joining in the worship of Baal-Peor. So far, however, was the Jewish legislator from yielding to such compromising suggestions, that in the place of the infamous rites and orgies inseparable from Egyptian festivals, the Jewish festivals were united with inviolable principles of morality, which were constituted solemn acts of religion, and, in their purport and manner of observation, perfectly distinguished the Israelitish congregations from the other families of mankind.

4. In no other country was the Place, and other circumstances of the public worship, so well calculated to inspire a profound respect for the object of it, as among the Hebrews. No heathen temple could be compared with the Temple of Solomon, or even the tabernacle of Moses, erected in the wilderness, designed only for temporary use,

and portable. The dress and office of the High Priest, and the whole of the Ceremonials annexed to the Priesthood, were in the highest degree striking and impressive, and far beyond any thing of the kind in the heathen world.

When the nation was in the wilderness, even then an order and solemnity were observed, for which there was no precedent. The place of the tabernacle was in the centre, each of the twelve tribes had its prescribed place on the North or South, the East or West side of it. The Levites had their station nearest to it, and were employed in taking it down, carrying, or erecting it. They were not, however, allowed to touch the most sacred utensils, this duty remained solely with the priests. To them also exclusively appertained the carrying the ark, the place of which was the Holy of Holies, and over which was the place where the immediate presence of God was manifested.

How different from this were the most solemn processions of the heathens, when they carried the images of their gods from place to place, generally, at least, in the East, on the idea of giving them an airing, or amusing them with an excursion from their temples! (Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 292.) In time of public danger, they made a public feast in the temples, and the statues of the gods were brought in rich beds with pillows, and placed in the most honourable parts of the temple, as the principal guests.-Kennett's Antiquities of Rome, p. 84.

The Ark of the Hebrews was never removed on any such ideas as these. It contained no image to which such an excursion or entertainment could apply; and, after the building of the temple, it was never on any occasion removed out of it. Before this it had, by the order of God, been carried by the priests to the brink of the river Jordan, the waters of which were divided as their feet touched them; and on some solemn occasions it was permitted to be carried as a token of the Divine presence; and from the wonders thus wrought, the Hebrews must

have had a much higher idea of the object of their worship, than any of the heathens could have of theirs.

5. Sacrificing was a mode of worship more ancient than idolatry, and instituted, as there are the strongest reasons to believe, by the Deity himself, as soon as the guilt of man made such an offering necessary. But this universal practice was greatly corrupted by the heathen, who introduced superstitious customs, thus teaching the worshippers to reverence and fear the creature rather than the Creator, all of which were excluded from the religion of the Hebrews; while their sacrifices assumed a greatness, and excited an elevated hope, by manifesting that they were the pattern of heavenly things, and shadows of good things to come, when "a body should be prepared for him" who was the substance of them all.

The heathen sacrifices were different according to the rank of the particular deity to whom they were offered. (Potter, p. 216.) No distinction of this kind was suffered to offend the Holy One of Israel. With the heathens there was an order of Priests called Haruspices, whose sole business it was to examine the entrails, especially the liver, and to divine success, or the contrary, from the appearance. No such superstition dishonoured the moral Governor of the world in the Hebrew ritual.

We read of nothing among the heathen from which Moses could take such distinctions of offerings as we read in his institutions The burnt-offerings, sin-offerings, peace-offerings, or of the heaving, or waving of them. These therefore, he could not borrow from them. These positive institutions by which the people were thus disciplined, Christian believers now know, and the whole Jewish nation might know, answered a divine purpose, and, as a school-master, brought the worshippers to Christ. Lastly: Among all the Heathen, especially in the time of Moses, Human Sacrifices were considered as the most