Writings? The former, who has betrayed the most palpable ignorance, says all manner of evil against them; while the latter, who was an all-accomplished scholar, seems at a loss how sufficiently to express the sense he had of their importance. "I have regularly and attentively read the Holy Scriptures," says this great Lawyer, "and am of opinion this volume, independent of its divine origin, contains more sublimity and beauty, more pure morality, more important history, and finer strains of poetry and eloquence, than can be collected from all other books, in whatever language or age they may have been composed."

And is it not strange that these contemptible writers, as Thomas Paine affects to consider them, should excel all mankind in every sort of composition? They must have been extremely dexterous impostors ! Christ, the most pious and moral of men, the most ingenious of deceivers! His Apostles, the most ignorant and illiterate of mortals, the wisest and most admirable of writers! What paradoxes a man must embrace before he can become a finished Infidel!

If then, my Countrymen, such are the superior exeellencies of the Bible; though, you find yourselves incapable of receiving it as composed by divine assistance for the instruction and salvation of mankind, you will do yourselves a very serious injury by exploding it in every other point of view. Read it, at least, if it is only as a collection of compositions more ancient, more curious, more excellent, more entertaining, and more important, than any other extant. This is a merit you must allow it to possess, if your mind be ever so little improved in literary attainments. And if this

tion of them to events long subsequent to their publication is a solid ground of belief, that they were genuine predictions, and consequently inspired.'

Note, that the last hour of the life of this illustrious character (who was particularly eminent for his attainments in astronomy, chronology, antiquities, languages, music, botany, and the laws of England,) was marked by a solemn act of devotion. Finding his dissolution rapidly approaching, he desired his attendants to carry him into an inner apartment, where, at his desire, they left him. Returning after a short interval, they found him in a kneeling posture, with his hands clasped, and his eyes fixed towards heaven. As they were removing him, he expired.

See Maurice's elegiac Poem on the death of this admirable man

be not your situation, you are ill qualified to judge of the truth or falsehood of a book of such vast antiquity, and which claims derivation from heaven. We have known

several good scholars who used to read the Sacred Code, as we esteem it, merely as a book of entertainment. We have known others, who have read it to elevate their minds. Some read it for its history, some for its poetry, some for its eloquence, some for its morality, some for its maxims, some for its sublime views of the Supreme Being, some for the inimitable examples which it affords of virtue and vice. Be it then true or false, as a system of Divine Revelation, let it have its due praise, and hold the rank among books to which it is so justly entitled. Give every author the honour due unto him, and sing with our Epic Bard:

"Yet not the more

Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt
Clear spring, or shady grove, or sunny hill,
Smit with the love of sacred song; but chief
Thee, Sion, and the flow'ry brooks beneath,
That wash thy hallow'd feet, and warbling flow,
Nightly I visit."

This book, which you are unhappy enough to despise, abounds, we have already seen, with all the various beauties, of the Greek and Roman classics, and in a much higher degree of perfection. It consists, not merely of a collection of chapters, and verses, and distinct aphorisms on trivial subjects, as too many are apt to conceive; but is, as it were, one grand Epic composition, forming sixty-six books, of unequal lengths, and various importance. As the sun, moon, planets, and comets, make one system, and are each of them necessary to the harmony of the whole; so the different books of the Sacred Code, though separately considered, and taken out of their connection, may appear unimportant; yet as parts of one large and complicated system, they are all necessary, useful, or convenient to the perfection of the

*The beauties of composition to be met with in the Sacred Writings are beyond all praise. It is a neglect unpardonable in classical schools, that they are not read there, as the standard of good taste, and of fine writing, as well as of sound morals and religion. If they abound with such numerous specimens of noble composition in the most literal of all translations, let any man judge what they must be in the original!

whole. And though the time be longer than is usually admitted in compositions of the Epic kind, its beginning being with the birth, and its end with the close of nature itself; yet it should be remembered, that even this circumstance is perfectly consistent with the rest of the adorable plan; a thousand years being with the Lord as one day, and one day as a thousand years. The Action of it too is one, entire, and the greatest that can be conceived. All the Beings in the universe, of which we have any knowledge, are conceived in the Drama. The design of it is to display the perfections of the adorable Creator; to rescue the human race from total misery and ruin; and to form us, by example, to glory, honour, and immortality. The Epic opens in a mild and calm sublimity, with the creation of the world itself. It is carried on with an astonishing variety of incidents, and unparalleled simplicity and majesty of language. The least and most trivial episo des, or under actions, which are interwoven in it, are parts either necessary or convenient, to forward the main design: either so necessary, that without them the work must be imperfect, or so convenient, that no others can be imagined more suitable to the place in which they are. And it closes with a book, or, to keep up the figure, with a scene, the most solemn, majestic, and sublime, that ever was composed by any author, sacred or profane.t

can

"The human mind," saith one of the best of judges, conceive nothing more elevated, more grand, more glowing, more beautiful, and more elegant, than what we meet with in the Sacred Writings of the Hebrew bards. The most ineffable sublimity of the subjects they treat upon is fully equalled by the energy of the language, and the dignity of the style. Some of these writings too, exceed in antiquity the fabulous ages of Greece, as much as in sublimity they are superior to

* One of the best judges of the age observes, that "the graceful negligence of nature pleases beyond the truest ornaments that art can devise. Indeed, they are then truest, when they approach the nearest to this negligence. To attain it, is the very triumph of art. The wise artist, therefore, always completes his studies in the great school of creation, where the forms of elegance lie scattered in an endless variety; and the writer who wishes to possess some portion of that sovereign excellence, and simplicity, even though he were an Infidel, would have recourse to the Scriptures, and make them his model."

+ See Dryden's Essays on the Belles Lettres.

the most finished productions of that celebrated people.* Moses, for instance, stands unrivalled by the best of them, both as a Poet, Orator, and Historian: David as a Poett and Musician: Solomon as a Moralist, Naturalist, and Pastoral writer: Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Nahum, Joel, and some other of the Minor Prophets, as Orators, and Poets, or both: Homer and Virgil must yield the palm to Job§ for true sublime: Isaiah excels all the world in almost every kind of composition: the four Evangelists are eminent as Orators. and Historians: St. Peter and St. James, St. Luke and St. John, as authors of no ordinary rank: and St. Paul as the most sublime of Writers and eloquent of Orators.** All these eulogiums upon the sacred penmen are spoken of them merely as Authors, without the least view to their higher order as inspired writers, and messengers of the Lord of Hosts. If this last consideration be taken into the account, and added to the former, what an all-important book must the Bible be? what a blessing to mankind! Language cannot express the value of it. If the exhortation of a late noble author, as improperly applied to the Grecian bard, were applied to this inestimable volume, it would be used with the strictest propriety and decorum!

*Lowth's Prælectiones.

Longinus, the best critic of the Heathen world, speaks of Moses as no ordinary writer, and cites his account of the creation as an instance of the true sublime.

Mr. Addison says, "After perusing the book of Psalms, let a judge of the beauties of poetry read a literal translation of Horace or Pindar, and he will find in these two last such an absurdity and confusion of style, with such a comparative poverty of imagination, as will make him sensible of the vast superiority of Scripture style,"

§ The Rev. George Costard, famous for oriental learning, considers Job as an exalted and regular piece of eastern poetry, of the dramatic kind, consisting of five acts. The three first end at the 32d chapter; from the 32d to the 38th is the fourth act; from thence to the end is the fifth act.

Let the reader consult Bishop Lowth's Prælectiones for the character of the several prophets of the Old Testament, where he will find much useful information.

**The above Longinus ranks Paul of Tarsus among the most famous orators.

tt Madame Dacier, the celebrated French Critic, in the Preface to her translation of Homer, assures us, that "the books of the Prophets and the Psalms even in the Vulgate, are full of such passages as the greatest poet in the world could not put into verse, without losing much of their majesty and pathos."

"Read God's Word once, and you can read no more:
For all books else appear so mean, so poor,
Verse will seem prose, but still persist to read,
And God's Word will be all the books you need.'

In short, my Countrymen, the Bible abounds with a vast variety of matter, a confused magnificence above all order; and is the fittest book in the world to be the standard of doctrines, and the model of good writing. We defy all the Sons of Infidelity to shew us any thing like it, or second to it. Where will you meet with such a number of instructive Proverbs-fervent Prayers-sublime Songs-beneficent Miracles-apposite Parables-infallible Prophecies*——affec

* A valuable Correspondent, speaking of the prophetic Scriptures, expresses himself in the following manner:-"Next to Astronomy, few subjects expand the human mind more than the view which prophecy opens to us of the government of the Great King. To see the vast mass of materials, kingdoms, and centuries, in motion, only to the accomplishment of his purposes: to see refractory man employed to preserve the harmony of his designs: and the disorderly passions, while apparently working solely in their own narrow circle, ignorantly advancing the fulfilment of his determination! This is a study delightfully interesting, and which, in common with the contemplation of all the Great Creator's doings, elevates the mind above the oppression of human cares and sorrows, and seems to leave her in that serenity of admiration, which one may imagine an imperfect foretaste of part of the employment and happiness of angels."

Abraham Cowley tells us that "all the Books of the Bible are either already most admirable and exalted pieces of poetry, or are the best materials in the world for it."

Sir Richard Blackmore says, that "for sense, and for noble and sublime thoughts, the poetical parts of Scripture have an infinite advantage over all others put together.

Matthew Prior, Esq. is of opinion, that the writings of Solomon afford finer subjects for poems in every kind, than have yet appeared in the Greek, Latin, or any modern language."

Alexander Pope, Esq. assures us, that "the pure and noble, the graceful and dignified simplicity of language, is no where in such perfection as in the Scripture and Homer; and that the whole book of Job, with regard both to sublimity of thought and morality, exceeds beyond all comparison the most noble parts of Homer.'

Mr. Nicholas Rowe, too, the Poet, after having read most of the Greek and Roman histories in their original languages, and most that are written in English, French, Italian, and Spanish, was fully persuaded of the truth of Revealed Religion, expressed it upon all occasions, took great delight in divinity and ecclesiastical history, and died at last like a Christian and Philosopher, with an absolute resignation to the will of God.