dious and monotonous; it leaves little room for that interest which is derived from incident, character, or from extensive views of the scripture economy. It loses the unity of a sermon, without acquiring in return any advantage sufficient to compensate for the sacrifice.

The plan followed by Dr Hill in this volume is entirely the reverse of that which we have just noticed. He takes for the subject of his lecture, the whole series of some grand event or dispensation; chusing for his text a leading passage which forms as it were the key of it. He does not, of course, enter into minute criticism or verbal illustrations. He takes a comprehensive view of the events comprised in the narration; he illustrates their connection with the general plan of providence; he points out the character of the various actors, and the moral instructions which the whole is calculated to convey. His work is thus calculated to form a complete introduction and guide to the study of the Old Testament history.

The volume opens with two sermonson "Searching the Scriptures." Of these, the first illustrates the advantages to be derived from this exercise; the second points out the manner in which it may best be conducted. We are then introduced to Abraham, the most venerable character in the Old Testament, and the parent of the Jewish people. Afterwards, in the successive histories of Moses and Joshua, and of the Judges, we trace the rise of this nation, the early vicissitudes of their lot, and their final establishment in the promised land. A particular discourse is employed in illustrating the singular story of Balaam. The characters of Samuel and Saul, with the memorable reigns of David and Solomon, afterwards afford interesting subjects of discus

sion. Two concluding discourses then treat of the history of the kings of Judah, the captivity of the Israelities; and, finally, their restoration to their native land.

In endeavouring to exhibit specimens of the manner in which this work is executed, we shall direct our attention first to the exhibitions of character; secondly, to the moral instructions drawn from them; and, thirdly, to the illustrations of the Jewish history and institutions. These appear to us to form the prominent features in the lectures under our consideration,

Of the first, an example may be furnished by the delineation of that memorable friendship which subsisted between David and Jonathan.

"The first appearance of David having introduced him into the king's family, the next object which draws our attention in the picture of his early life, is the intimate connection formed between Jonathan the son of Saul, and David. The heart, at their time of life, is susceptible of sudden and strong attachments. But the tenderness and fidelity of the friendship of these two young men are drawn with inimitable beauty; and there are circumstances attending their friendship which render it peculiarly interesting.

"The son of the king felt no jealousy of the favour and growing reputation of the young shepherd; he had learnt that David was to be the successor of his father; for he said to him at one time, "Thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth;" Yet he continued to love him as his own soul, and kept faithfully the covenant whith they had made. After Saul became David's enemy, and sought to take away his life,

Jonathan

Jonathan had a difficult part to act; but he did not betray or forsake his friend. He sometimes softened the mind of the king, by speaking good of David. When he saw that evil was again determined against him, he gave him notice of the danger, and went to him secretly, either to concert some method of escape, or to comfort his mind, by assuring him that he had not adopted his father's senti

ments.

"David received all the tokens of Jonathan's love with becoming respect; and returned them with an affection constant and warm, which, during all the enmity he experienced from the father, knit his soul to the son, which poured itself forth in the tenderest lamentations at the death of his friend, and which extended to the family of Jonathan. For we read in the ninth chapter of the second book of Samuel, that after David had subdued many surrounding nations, and when he reigned over all Israel, he inquired if any was yet left of the house of Saul, to whom he might shew kindnes for Jonathan's sake; and he sent for Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, who was five years old when tidings came that Saul and Jonathan had fallen in battle, and who had been lame in both his feet from that day, because his nurse fell with him, when, upon receiving the tidings, she made haste to flee. "When Mephibosh eth came unto David, he fell on his face and did reverence. But David said unto him, Fear not, for I will surely shew thee kindness, for Jonathan thy Father's sake, and will restore thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread at my table continually, as one of the king's sons." By this soothing paternal attention to a helpless young man, David fulfilled Lis path to Jonathan, who, in one

of their private meetings, looking forward to the time when David should ascend the throne, had made him swear by the love which was between them, and had said, "Thou shalt not only while yet I live, shew me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not; but also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever." David swore,› and he kept his oath.

"You recognize, my young friends, with pleasure, the sanction here given to those voluntary connections, those friendships arising from choice, which form one of the chief delights of your warm, generous, unsuspecting hearts; and which often constitute a large portion of the comfort, the joy, and the security of human life. You recollect also, that such friendships are consecrated by a higher example; for there was, in the family of our Lord, a person distinguished by this name, The disciple whom Jesus loved." While you feel yourselves warranted by this sacred authority, to make a selection for yourselves, beware of confounding virtuous friendship with partnerships in iniquity, with associations for riot and debauch, with base alliances, where they who can stoop to give flattery, make a property of those who are mean enough to receive it. Learn from the picture of the love between Jonathan and David, the character of a true friend: He shews himself friendly: He loveth at all times, and is born for adversity: His heart answers to yours, sharing your sorrows, reviving your spirits, exciting your powers: His words are often words of grave sedate counsel, sometimes words of rebuke, but always faithful and hearty. Let the connection which continued between David and the family of Jonathan, recommend to you steadiness in friendship, a remembrance of ancient ties, and an

attention

attention to the advice which Solomon, the wise son of David, with his wonted experience in the ways of men, has thus exprest, "Thine own friend and thy father's friend forsake not."

Of the moral illustrations, an example may be afforded by the inferences derived from the promise made to Abraham, concerning the future greatness of his posterity. From this recompence provided for him, Dr Hill observes:

"There arises a lesson of deep importance to the best interests of society. For although the promise made to the patriarch does not give the most virtuous man reason to expect that he shall build his house, like Abraham, it does suggest the influence which his conduct may have upon the character and condition of his posterity: and it opens to his mind the prospect of that pure and heavenly joy which every father of a family must feel, in thinking that those whom he hath feared and cherished, may be blessed for his sake.

"You know that you inherit sin and death from your first parents; and you often see men entail disease, embarrassment, disgrace, and ill will upon their children. Learn from the reward of Abraham, to leave yours a better legacy. He was chosen to be the father of a great nation, because the Almighty knew him, that he would command his children, and his household after him, to keep the way of the Lord. Walk in his steps, that you may transmit a portion of his blessing. By attention and watchfulness; by habits of order without austerity; by reproof or correction without bitterness; by every expression of affection, without hurtful indulgence; by kindly familiar counsel; by instruction, such as

they are able to receive; by example, such as they may love and imitate-by these fatherly arts, endea vour to form and win the minds of your children to piety, truth, and benevolence. This is a portion better than gold, more precious and more lasting than any earthly possession you can leave them, their best furniture for the journey of life, their most certain provision for travelling that journey, without reproach, with contentment and peace. Upon this stock, they may afterwards ingraft every valuable accomplishment; and if their talents qualify them for rising to eminence, this early culture will prepare them for becoming the ornaments and lights of society, for defending their country, for upholding its free constitution, and for cherishing public virtue.

"The descendants of Abrahanı had reason to boast of their ancestor; and their connection with him, has, in all ages, been a source of much honour and advantage. Your memory will not last like his. But a father, in the humblest rank of life, may bequeath that inheritance which a good man leaveth to his children, that recommendation and pledge of fidelity, which the world gladly recognises in those who are born of honest parents. You cannot, indeed, ensure to them universal good will; for you may give offence by conscientiously persevering in a line of conduct, which, even for their sakes, you must not change. But this offence may be merely temporary; and those who spoke evil of you falsely, may perceive and acknowledge their mistake: while any flagrant iniquity you commit is a mill-stone, which you hang around the necks of your children. For the world is not yet equitable enough to forgive the innocent son all the evil that the father hath done, or to lay aside e

very suspicion, that the son is likely to tread in the father's steps. If you shudder, then, at the thought of sending forth those whom you have brought into the world, to be cursed of God or of man, because they spring from you, let not your characters be stained by malice, oppression, or treachery; but rather endeavour, by being ready to every good work which God gives you opportunity of performing, to lay up in store for your children, protection, countenance, and aid, when you shall be gathered to your fathers.. "Cast thy bread upon the waters," says Solomon, "for thou shalt find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, and also to eight for thou knowest not what evil shall be upon the earth." The vicissitudes of human affairs render such precepts wise at all times; and the state of society, in which we livé, recommends them to the particular attention of every father of a family. By the multiplicity and extension of modern commerce, the poor is often raised from the dunghill, and the children of different families are brought together, in distant quarters of the globe. The young, whom you have guided and restrained, may arise to be the counsellors of your children: the feeble, whose hands you have strengthened, may become their protectors: your treasure may bring them larger and safer returns, by being communicated than by being hoarded; and the words of Scripture may thus be verified, you know that they are verified in numberless instances: "The liberal man deviseth liberal things, and by liberal things shall he stand. He is merciful and lendeth, and his seed is blessed."

part of the special reward provided for the patriarch, encourages you to raise your eyes to a friend in heaven. He blessed and spared the posterity of Abraham, for the sake of their father; and the mercy of the Lord still is upon them that fear him, and his righteousness to children's children. By his gracious promise, "Leave thy fatherless children, and I will preserve them alive, and let thy widows trust in me," he takes away one of the stings of death. You go to the land of for getfulness; but you die in peace, believing, that if your children advance into the world, knowing the God of their fathers, and serving him with a perfect heart, the Almighty" will cover them with his feathers, that under his wings shall they trust, and that his truth shall be their buckler."

"Who would not wish to transmit such an inheritance to his children? Go, then, my brother, and walk within thy house, with a perfect heart. Let the faith of Abraham be thy pattern; and, instead of the curse that is in the house of the wicked, the moth that consumes the possessions which are bought with the wages of iniquity, thou shalt, like the father of the faithful, leave a blessing behind thee.",

In order to shew the manner in which the Jewish History, and institutions are illustrated, we shall extract the following view, given by Dr Hill, of the purposes answered by the erection of the temple of Jerusalem.

"We are led to consider the temple which Solomon built, as not merely a place of worship, but as the national bond which united the children of Israel. They were unable to rise to those exalted conceptions of a worship in spirit and in truth, which we have learnt from

the

the Gospel, or to prize that simplicity of outward observances, which is most congenial to the sentiments of rational piety. Having come from Egypt, a land of superstition, and beholding much pageantry in the idolatrous rites of their neigh-' bours, they required, in their own ceremonial, a grandeur and magnificence which might occupy and satisfy their minds. That God who took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, and to form them for himself, while he delivered from Mount Sinai a moral law of everlasting obligation, graciously accommodated the ceremonial law to their infirmities. Had he left them at liberty to worship him in any place and in any manner, they would have been perpetually seduced to imitate the splendid rítes of their neighbours, and would soon have forfeit ed the divine protection, by the general practise of idolatry. But by calling them at stated seasons, from all corners of the land, to appear in the place which he had chosen; by exhibiting, in the magnificence of their temple, a representation of the majesty of him who dwelt in the sanctuary, by engaging their attention for a considerable portion of every year, with services which could be performed only within the enclosure upon Mount Moriah, and by reminding them, by the nature of those services, of the great events of their history, the God of their fathers imposed some restraint upon their proneness to idolatry: he kept them in some degree attached to the city of their solemnities, and he preserved them, as long as the purposes of his providence required, a kingdom of priests, and a peculiar people, to shew forth his praise. When he punished their sins, by sending them into captivity, he gave the most awful proof that he dwelt no longer in Judea, by delivering into the hand of the enemy to be April 1812..

burnt with fire, the habitation which Solomon had been appointed to rear for him. When he brought them back to their own land, the temple was rebuilt; but when he sent the Romans to scatter them over the face of the earth, the temple was again demolished, and the people remain at this day without a priest, and without an offering."

"The Apostle to the Hebrews, en ables us to assign a further reason for the minute directions given about the formation of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the con struction of the temple at Jerusa lem. He teaches us, that the se cond tabernacle made by Moses, and which corresponded to the ora cle in the temple, was a figure of ́· the true tabernacle in heaven, where the glory of God is manifested to the blessed inhabitants, and that the services appointed by the law were an example and shadow of the heavenly ministrations of that High Priest, who was to arise at the end of the age of the law, and who, having put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, was to enter into the tabernacle, and to appear in the presence of God for · us. It was worthy of God, there fore, to direct the formation of the tabernacle and the temple, and so to regulate the services to be there performed, that they might furnish a correct sketch and outline of the good things to come. While holy men, moved by God, gave notice of their approach, the ceremonial of the preparatory dispensation was intended to be a shadow of them, which might cherish in the minds. of those who listened to the prophets, the hope of something more substantial, and might be found, when the substance appeared, to correspond in all its parts to that which it had presignified.

In all the works of God, things are set over against one another,

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