out Almanacks are filled, manifests the disposition to credulity which still exists; and we often perceive that one fortunate assertion establishes a character for infallibility, which it is not in the power of numberless mistakes to destroy. In order to protect the Israelites from such dangerous delusions, they were commanded not to repose their faith upon what could not be dictated by inspiration. Every competition between these impostors and the servants of the living God, was to be rejected with disdain. The promises, threats, and predictions of the latter, were inspired by the spirit of truth, and uttered with integrity. They could not deceive nor mislead; they related to important subjects, and were followed by important consequences.

The more we attend to the Jewish history, the more fully shall we be convinced, that the instrumentality of the prophets constituted an essential part of the divine plan, in the preservation of this people from being absorbed and lost in paganism. They were the leaven which diffused a quickening power over the whole mass; they were the salt which preserved it from total corruption. They possessed various portions of the divine illuminations, and a diveršity of powers, according to the circumstances which demanded their aid; nor was there any

one instance of what may be deemed a superfluous communication.

In the high and important office committed to Moses, the first and greatest of prophets under the Jewish dispensation, the necessity of superior aid is most obvious, and it was most abundant. He was under the immediate direction of the Almighty and the Allwise, in every step he took, and in every arrangement that he made. It is manifest that three millions of people could not have been dislodged from the dwellings of their ancestors, in opposition to their native habits; be emancipated from a state of abject bondage under a powerful sovereign; be conducted through numberless difficulties and dangers; be organized into a regular and civil society; be induced to receive religious and moral discipline of the most perfect kind, in the midst of universal ignorance and depravity; be constituted a distinct people, in the midst of surrounding nations, and in opposition to their own propensity, without perpetual instruction and assistance from above. We observe accordingly, that in the language used by this great Legislator, and which pervades the whole of his own history, every event, and

every act is ascribed to the agency of heaven. But that peculiarity of style, indicative of this minute agency, ceases with him.

To Joshua, who was appointed to be the suc cessor of Moses, and whose principal charge consisted in being their General, destined to lead them on to victory, the divine communications were not so frequent nor so extensive. The assurances and encouragements to him were, that he should triumph over the nations with whom he was to engage. "There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life." Have not I commanded you? Be strong and of good courage: Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.' *The history of this Chief informs us that wherever human power was unequal to the purpose, the divine aid became conspicuous. But that he was not perpetually under the direction of heaven is obvious, by the fraud imposed upon him by the artful Gibeonites. This pious leader perceiving the strong propensity of the Israelites to associate with, and imitate the superstitions of the Pagans, rather than obey the commands of Moses to extirpate idolaters, warned them

Jos. ch. i. v. 5, 9.

in prophetic language of the fatal consequences that would follow their disobedience. "If ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, and shall make marriages with them, know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out these nations from among you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.' The events proved the truth of the prediction.

*

Under the Judges, the influence of the esta blished order of things, and of natural cases, was permitted to operate to a greater extent; and the evidences of supernatural agency pro portionably decreased. Whenever they were successful, the hand of Providence was piously acknowledged; but their failures were imputed either to their own vices, or to such impediments as they were not able to counteract, by any natural means. Thus it is said, "the Lord was with Judah, and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountains, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron."

* Jos, ch. xxiii. v. 12, 13.

It was not in the

Judges ch. i. v. 19.

U

plan of Providence always to insure success by miraculous interpositions.

During the life of Joshua, and of the Judges that immediately succeeded him, although there were several instances of an idolatrous propensity, and of partial deviations from the ordinances of Moses, yet, as a nation, "the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord, that he did for Israel." But when "all that generation were gathered to their fathers, there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel." Their history informs us that the degenerácy was rapid and extensive. They were sometimes severely punished by unsuccessful wars; and sometimes deliverers were raised up to prevent their being totally subdued by their enemies; by which their independence as a people would have ceased, and the plans of Providence would have been frustrated. The success of Deborah the prophetess was a remarkable instance of this kind. "She prevailed against Sisera, the captain of Jabin, king of Canaan,* and who had for twenty years

* Judges ch. iv.