*

the notice of other generations, and hold up his sin before distant assemblies to the latest days. And what were those words? "Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness. Blot out my transgressions, wash me from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation."

The man who has been an observer of his fellowman, whilst looking down the page of history, remembers something of the disposition common with those who have, by their exploits in battle, become the idol of their people.

The man who has intellect enough to compare, and industry enough to measure, can see that this penitential confession of Israel's king is not in the character of an unconverted man. He can see that there is as much difference between the conduct of a converted and an unconverted potentate, as there is between gold and charcoal, between morning and midnight. I remember when all these feeling features of this strange book were unseen by me. The stupor of ignorance both veiled my eyes and enveloped my affections.

Another instance.-The difference between a converted and an unconverted father; or rather, the difference between a father moved by inspiration, and one speaking from his own innate feelings.

Jacob had twelve sons. A youthful prince treated their sister amiss, but loved, married, and was kind to her. Her haughty brothers might have forgiven his sin, after he had confessed and repented of it. They professed forgiveness, but with two of them it was only pretence. They acted the hypocrite until they found the auspicious moment, and then killed the young man and all his household, except their sister. Jacob removed,

and was not involved in war in consequence of this transaction; but he reproved his sons, and no doubt felt at the time as a pious father should feel. Many fathers might have felt pleased at the sheep and oxen gathered in this contest, their pride gratified at the revengeful victory of their strong and impetuous sons; but it was not so with Jacob. He forgave his children, however, and lived with them in peace for very many years. At last the gray-headed old man coming to die, speaks to his sons as they stand around his dying couch. He tells his sons of their descendants, of the comparative strength, success, and number of their tribes. His prophecies concerning them reached down more than nineteen hundred years. It is common with fathers, if they have been at variance with their children, to forgive them on a dying-bed. The hour of their departure is not the time to reprove and to call up faults that are passed; but Jacob, under the influence of inspiration, must utter the truth, however his parental tenderness might lean him toward kind expressions. He speaks of his first-born son, Reuben, tells him of his sins, and tells him that he never shall excel. The tribe of Reuben never did. The old man, had, like other fathers, loved his first-born son, had forgiven him his faults, but he was telling him (see Gen. chap. xlix.) the resolves of heaven in his case.

The dying patriarch speaks joyously of many of his sons, tells of their particular location in the promised land, and in some instances, their particular history in a very interesting manner. No doubt in the bosom of this feeling old father there was something which would have pleased him, could he have spoken cheeringly of Simeon and Levi, two of his beloved sons who stood in the weeping circle. What were his words in their case?

"Simeon and Levi are brethren.

Instruments of

cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret, unto their assembly mine honour be not thou united; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel."

On reading this chapter of Genesis, I remembered enough of history to see that the prophecy was true concerning Judah and concerning Joseph, (of whom there were two tribes,) and others; but when Simeon, Levi and Reuben were mentioned, I saw clearly that it was not the natural feelings of a mortal father which was speaking. The time was when I could read such a chapter and see no beauty, or interesting prediction, or lovely feature there. Ten thousand excellencies of the inspired volume are too lofty to be seen by the earthgazing eye of drowsy mortals.

CHAPTER LXIII.

Means of rescue.-Other errors from which a partial knowledge of the Bible saved me.

If any one in my hearing, wishing to cast reproach on the name of Moses, or to discredit the narrative written by him, spoke of the lawgiver as covetous, desirous of fame, seeking after aggrandizement, exaltation, and honours, like other ambitious men, I could not rest satisfied with their reasoning. I knew that ambitious fathers placed their children in posts of honour if they could,

and aimed to have their authority descend to their own families. I remembered that much influence as Moses had with the nation, his family descended to (or remained in) complete obscurity. His sons were no more noticed than the sons of the poorest man in camp.

A certain ancient traveller, in writing back to Rome, said that the Egyptians told him of the Red Sea, having (in former days, at a given place,) ebbed until the bottom was left dry, and that an army was drowned there. This reminded me that the people of Egypt for a long time remembered certain occurrences, which are related by the Jewish lawgiver. Nay, it is a matter of common history, that the Egyptians were in the habit for thousands of years, even down to modern times, of rising at midnight, on a certain day of the year, and lighting candles, going about the house weeping and groaning until morning. It seems to us as though this must have been a ceremony commemorative of that night, that terrible night, when there was one dead in every house. Noting these facts, and remembering the disposition there is in the bosom of man to commemorate striking events, weakened, very much weakened, the theories of all my companions in infidelity, if ever I heard them attempt to account for the origin or commencement of the passover, or other Jewish rites and feasts.

I knew that that which once took place in our national hall on the fourth of July, was as permanently recorded in the annual observance of that day, as it was on paper. Anniversaries year after year, tell over and over again, the same part of history; the same events which gave rise to their observance, for any number of centuries. Recalling the fact to every one's remembrance every twelve months, makes the child inquire about it,

and the parents have their recollections refreshed, if it is ever necessary.

If all our books were burned, and if we were to have no more written history of our revolution, the declaration of our independence might be long preserved by the celebration of the day on which it did take place. The way in which the fourth day of July is observed, is in itself a history of an occurrence belonging to the year 1776. It is a register of that transaction which is read every year, and which would tell future generations about it, if we had no books. But although important events are kept alive by some annual commemoration; and in every nation some things have been thus correctly preserved through a list of centuries; still a national record added to these returning festivals, has doubled the strength of their perpetuity. If England has remembered certain victories of distant days, by yearly rejoicings, these facts are handed down with more correctness, because they have historians of respectability, and because they are a reading people. If the declaration of our independence is kept fresh before us, by annual celebrations, still the accurate circumstantials of the event are preserved more certainly by the addition of historic records. In other words, where history and annual observances unite, we have the strongest chain of recollection which ever reaches from age to age. Many of our people who are very young, or who cannot read, have their minds informed by hearing the declaration of our independence read, whilst in the midst of the large assembly.

If our fathers had all believed that God had ordered the writing of that paper in its present form, or if he had really appeared to them, and had spoken a part of it in their hearing, or if the executive of our nation at his bidding, had commanded that every year these things