losophers for a system of moral law comparable with that of the Bible. How meagre and lifeless are the "Ethicks" of Aristotle, the "Morals" of Seneca, the "Memorabilia" of Xenophon, or the "Offices" of Cicero, compared with it. "From the Bible," says says Soame Jenyns, "may be collected a system of ethicks, in which every moral precept founded on reason, is carried to a higher degree of purity and perfection than in any other of the wisest philosopers of preceding ages. Every moral precept founded on false principles, is totally omitted, and many new precepts added, particu, larly corresponding with the new object of this religion."

So also Mr. Locke remarks, that in morality there have been books enough written, both by ancient and modern philosophers, but that the morality of the Gospel so exceeds them all, that to give a man a complete knowledge of genuine morality, he would send him no other book but the Testament. These opinions are zealously corroborated by sir William Jones, who thus expresses himself. "I have carefully and regularly perused these Holy Scriptures, and am of opinion that the volume, independently of its divine origin, contains more sublimity, purer morality, more impor tant history, and finer strains of eloquence, than can be collected from any other book, in whatever language it may have been written." On another occasion he repeats, with but a slight variation, the same opinion. "I cannot," says he, "refrain from adding, that the collection of tracts, which we call from their excellence the Scriptures, contain, independently of a divine origin, more true sublimity, more exquisite beauty, purer morality, more important history, and finer strains

both of poetry and eloquence, than could be collected, within the same compass, from all the other books that were ever composed in any age or in any idiom." "The two parts of which the Scriptures consist," continues this distinguished writer, "are connected by a chain of compositions, which bear no resemblance in form or style to any that can be produced from the stores of Grecian, Indian, Persian, or even Arabian learning. The antiquity of those compositions no man doubts, and the unrestrained application of them to events long subsequent to their publication, is a solid ground of belief that they are genuine compositions, and consequently inspired."

If treatises on morals should be the first which are placed in the hands of the student, and the structure of his legal education be raised on the broad and solid foundation of ethicks, what book so proper to be thoroughly studied with this view, as the Bible?

But the religion and morals of the Scriptures by no means constitute the only claim which this inestimable volume possesses on the earnest attention of the legal student. There is much law in it, and a great deal which sheds more than a glimmering light on a variety of legal topicks. Political science is certainly indebted to it for an accurate account of the origin of society, government, and property. The subjects of marriage, the alienation of property inter vivos, its acquisition by inheritance and bequest, the obligation of an oath, the relations of governor and governed, of master and servant, husband and wife, the nature and punishment of a variety of crimes and offences, as murder, theft, adultery, incest, polygamy, &c., the grounds of divorce, &c. &c., still receive illustrations from this co

pious source; and this high authority is often appealed to by legal writers, either as decisive or argumentative of their doctrines.

The eloquence and sublimity of the style of the Bible entitle it to the particular attention of all who are designed for publick speaking: for under the head of Eloquence, in this Course, surely no book has so fair a claim to insertion. The infinite variety of topicks, as history, biography, law, politicks, ethicks, poetry, &c., necessarily produce a great diversity of style. Does any history narrate events so grand and interesting, and consequently so well suited for sublimity of expression and manner, as the book of Genesis? In the book of Exodus we have, in appropriate language, detailed to us the astonishing wonders effected by the Almighty for the rescue of the Israelites from the severity of Egyptian bondage. In Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, we have the ritual, moral, and civil law of the Jews. The book of Joshua unfolds the progress of the Israelites till their establishment in the land of promise; the books of Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, are chiefly historical. Where, among uninspired authors, do we find a work so replete with the most affecting and interesting tales, narrated in a style of singular perspicuity, and often of wonderful eloquence: the stories of Abraham's intended sacrifice of his son, Joseph and his brethren, Sampson and the Philistines, Jeptha and his daughter, and of Esther, are of unrivalled excellence; and the biographies of Job and David are no less interesting than sublime and instructive. In the poetry of the Bible there is great variety: didactick, lyrick, elegiack and pastoral: as an instance of the first

we have the book of Proverbs. The book of Psalms affords us an example of the second; of elegiack poetry there are many specimens, as David's lamentations over Jonathan, and the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which Dr. Blair is inclined to consider as the most perfect model of this species of composition in the whole world; and as an instance of pastoral poetry, we have the Song of Solomon.

In sublimity the Scriptures infinitely surpass every other composition. Isaiah is "without exception," says Dr. Blair, "the most sublime of all poets; and the book of Job is not only equal to that of any other of the sacred writings, but is superiour to them, Isaiah - alone excepted."

Burgh, in his "Dignity of Human Nature," deduces an argument for the divinity of the Scriptures from their sublimity. "The loftiest passage," remarks this sensible writer, "in the most sublime of all human productions, is the beginning of the eighth book of Homer's Iliad. There the greatest of all human imaginations labours to describe, not a hero, but a God; not an inferiour but the supreme God; not to shew his superiority to mortals, but to the heavenly powers; and not to one, but to them all united. The following is a verbal translation of it."

"The saffron coloured morning was spread over the whole earth; and Jupiter, rejoicing in his thunder, held an assembly of the gods upon the highest top of the many-headed Olympus. He himself made a speech to them, and all the gods together listened. Hear me, all ye gods, and all ye goddesses, that I may say what my soul in my breast commands. Let not, therefore, any female deity, or any male, endca

vour to break through my word; but all consent together, that I may most quickly perform these works. Whomsoever, therefore, of the gods I shall understand to have gone by himself, and of his own accord, to give assistance either to the Trojans or the Greeks, he shall return to Olympus shamefully wounded; or 1 will throw him, seized by me, into dark hell, very far off, whither the most deep abyss is under the earth; whither there are iron gates and a brazen threshold, as far within hell, as heaven is distant from the earth. He will then know, by how much I am the most powerful of all the gods. But come, try, O ye gods, that ye may all see. Hang down the golden chain from heaven, hang upon it all ye gods, and all ye goddesses; but ye shall not be able to draw from heaven to the ground Jupiter, the great counsellor, though ye strive ever so much. But when I afterwards shall be willing to draw, I shall lift both the earth itself, and the sea itself. Then I shall bind the chain round the top of Olympus, and they shall all hang aloft. For as much am I above gods and above men."

"With this most masterly passage," continues Burgh, “of the greatest master of the sublime of all antiquity; the writer who probably had the greatest natural and acquired advantages of any mortal for perfecting a genius; let the following verbal translation of a passage from writings penned by one brought up a shepherd, and in a country where learning was not thought of, be compared, that the difference may appear. In this comparison, I know of no unfair advantage given the inspired writer: for both fragments are literally translated; and if the cri