time fixed, under the conduct of Moses, they were delivered from their servitude. Many years were spent in wandering through the wilderness: till at length, the delay occasioned by their transgressions being removed, they obtained possession of Canaan. At this point are we arrived; and the inferences deducible from this series of history are obvious, and important. It is evident that HE "sees the end from the be"ginning," who predicted the establishment of the Israelites in Canaan, four hundred years be, fore it took place, and at a time when every thing appeared to oppose the designs of Deity, and to conspire to shake the faith of Abraham, We have seen positive good arising out of apparent evil, and the purposes of God accom plished by the most unlikely instruments. We are certain, admitting the statement of facts as laid down in the scriptures, that there is a God that ruleth in the earth; and that no hand, but the hand of Omnipotence, could have brought events so extraordinary to pass. We have seen every thing give way before a people conducted by the agency of Heaven; and are led irresisti bly to conclude, that the time, the manner, the instruments, were all selected, and ordained, by the most consummate wisdom. We are taught, never to despair when we have a divine leader, never to murmur when events seem adverse to our expectations, never to waver when the promise appears remote in it's accomplishment, and never to draw conclusions till Deity has completed his designs. If the consideration of these facts, shall have strengthened the faith of one Christian, or furnished a single solution of the mysteries of Providence, we shall not have recited the Jewish history in vain. A new path is marked out for us this evening. We have not to lead your attention through a long succession of historical events, so much as to enter into a necessary discussion of the government of the Jews, connected remotely with some general passages of their later chronicles, and immediately, with that great event, the building of their splendid temple, one of the wonders of the world: The subject stands thus worded in the list-THE GOVERNMENT OF THE JEWS INCLUDING THE THEOCRACY AND MONARCHY ΤΟ THE BUILDING OF SOLOMON'S TEMPLE; to which we shall subjoin A CORROBORATION OF SOME SUBORDINATE FACTS, not of sufficient importance to demand a separate Lecture. We begin with, I. THE THEOCRACY OF THE JEWS. An inquiry into the rise of government, and a survey of the gradual advance of power, is neither uninteresting, nor unnecessary, in the Lecture of this evening. The first form of government appears to have been THE PARENTAL, and THE PATRIARCHAL. The father had a natural claim upon the affections and the obedience of his children. They were united to him by sacred and indissoluble ties. Man is not happy alone: in every period of life he stands connected with others; and his interests are linked with their's. In society there must be an head, a leader, a guide, to whom the eye can look up, and upon whom the heart can rely. In the earliest state of nature man felt the force of this truth; and who could appear to him so suited for this office, and so capable of this responsibility, as the friend and the guide of his youth?" Where could they select one so attached to their persons, to their interests, and to their general welfare? The bonds of nature were strengthened by those of the judgment, and it's obligations confirmed by choice. The decisions of the heart were ratified by the conviction of the understanding; and in those early ages, the characters of the parent, and of the patriarch, were blended. Their children yielded reverence to their age, attachment to their tenderness, and obedience to their requisitions. Then the parent was the priest, and the king, of his family. His wife, his children, his servants, all looked up to him as their natural and legitimate ruler, and his authority was not disputed. Behold him kneeling before the common altar, with hallowed hands stretched towards heaven, imploring family, and individual, mercies! Did the demon of discord creep in among them? and were the marks of dissatisfaction, alienation, and disunion imprinted upon their countenances? they laid their differences at his paternal feet, and from his decision they made no appeal. Providence conspired with nature to compel them to hold the will of a parent sacred; and the punishment of Cain, the disobedient and the murderer, would ever be before the eyes of the first race of mankind. Even in a later age, Esau, abandoned as he was to work all iniquity with greediness, and deterred by no sense of shame from the commission of evil, when he had it in his heart to murder his brother, resolved to wait till the days of mourning for his father should be accomplished, who apparently was gradually sinking into the grave. This fratricide in his heart, dared not to perpetrate his horrible design under the paternal roof, and before his father's face. The sons of Jacob, when they sold their brother, presumed not to enter into their father's présence, but with a tale to deceive him; they did not dare to risque the dreadful crime of D d bringing down his grey hairs with sorrow to the grave, openly and avowedly. And time aided these impressions of reverence which nature dictated, and Providence confirmed, and custom established. In that early period, when the year's of a man's life were extended to so great a length, the exercise of parental authority reached to several generations. Paternal dignity acquired strength by years. The most tender affections were chastened by the most awful respect.. The younger laid their hand upon their mouth, and were silent before venerable age; and they said, Days should speak, and "the multitude of years should teach wisdom." Blessed rule! which perpetually held in view the interests of those who voluntarily submitted to it's directions. Blessed government! where the father was the prince, where parental affection softened patriarchal authority, and where filial love was blended with cheerful submission, and with respectful obedience. Blessed times! when the interests of men were one and undivided, and when no arbitrary and cruel despotism blotted the primeval reign. Happy are those countries, which, like our own, approach the nearest to this picture of ancient simplicity in their government: where authority suppresses anarchy, where liberty limits power, and where the prince, consulting only the interests, reigns |