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to these seven nations, they were directed to deal with them according to the common law of arms at that time. If the city submitted, it became tributary, and the people were spared; if it resisted, the men were to be slain, but the women and children saved. Yet, though the crime of cruelty cannot be justly laid to their charge on this occasion, you will observe, in the course of their history, many things recorded of them, very different from what you would expect from the chosen people of God, if you supposed them selected on account of their own merit: their national character was by no means amiable; and we are repeatedly told, that they were not chosen for their superior righteousness" for they were a stiff-necked people; and provoked the Lord with their rebellions from the day they left Egypt."- "You have been rebellious against the Lord," says Moses, "from the day that I knew you."-And he vehemently exhorts them, not to flatter themselves that their success was, in any degree, owing to their own merits. They were appointed to be the scourge of other nations, whose crimes rendered them fit objects of divine chastisement. For the sake of righteous Abraham, their founder, and perhaps for many other wise reasons, undiscovered to us, they were selected from a world over-run with idolatry, to preserve upon earth the pure worship of the one only God, and to be honoured with the birth of the Messiah amongst them. For this end they were precluded, by divine command, from mixing with any other people, and defended by a great number of peculiar rites and observances, from falling into the corrupt worship practised by their neighbours. Mrs. Chapone.

$ 190. Of Judges, Samuel, and Kings. The book of Judges, in which you will find the affecting stories of Sampson and Jephtha, carries on the history from the death of Joshua, about two hundred and fifty years; but the facts are not told in the times in which they happened, which makes some confusion; and it will be necessary to consult the marginal dates and notes, as well as the index, in order to get any clear idea of the succession of events during that period.

The history then proceeds regularly through the two books of Samuel, and those of Kings: nothing can be more interesting and entertaining than the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon: but-after

the death of Solomon, when ten tribes revolted from his son Rehoboam, and be come a separate kingdom, you will find some difficulty in understanding distinctly the history of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which are blended together; and by the likeness of the names, and other particulars, will be apt to confound your mind, without great attention to the different threads thus carried on together: the index here will be of great use to you. The second book of Kings concludes with the Babylonish captivity, 588 years before Christ-till which time the kingdom of Judah had descended uninterruptedly in the line of David. Ibid.

$191. Of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah,

and Esther.

The first book of Chronicles begins with a genealogy from Adam, through all the tribes of Israel and Judah; and the remainder is the same history which is con tained in the books of Kings, with little or no variation, till the separation of the ten tribes. From that period, it proceeds with the history of the kingdom of Judah alone, and gives therefore a more regular and clear account of the affairs of Judah than the book of Kings. You may pass over the first book of Chronicles, and the nine first chapters of the second book; but, by all means, read the remaining chapters, as they will give you more clear and distinct ideas of the history of Judah, than that you read in the second book of Kings. The second of Chronicles ends, like the second of Kings, with the Babylonish captivity.

You must pursue the history in the book of Ezra, which gives an account of the return of some of the Jews on the edict of Cyrus, and of the rebuilding the Lord's temple.

Nehemiah carries on the history for about twelve years, when he himself was governor of Jerusalem, with authority to rebuild the walls, &c.

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The story of Esther is prior in time to that of Ezra and Nehemiah: as you see by the marginal dates; however, as it happened during the seventy years' capti vity, and is a kind of episode, it may be read in its own place.

This is the last of the canonical books that is properly historical; and I would therefore advise, that you pass over what follows, till you have continued the history through the apocryphal books.

Ibid.

$192. Of Job.

The story of Job is probably very ancient, though that is a point upon which learned men have differed: It is dated, however, 1520 years before Christ: I believe it is uncertain by whom it was written: many parts of it are obscure: but it is well worth studying, for the extreme beauty of the poetry, and for the noble and sublime devotion it contains. The subject of the dispute between Job and his pretended friends seems to be, whether the providence of God distributes the rewards and punishments of this life in exact proportion to the merit or demerit of each individual. His antagonists suppose that it does; and therefore infer, from Job's uncommon calamities, that, notwithstanding his apparent righteousness, he was in reality a grievous sinner. They aggravate his supposed guilt by the imputation of hypocrisy, and call upon him to confess it, and to acknowledge the justice of his punishment. Job asserts his own innocence and virtue in the most pathetic manner, yet does not presume to accuse the Supreme Being of injustice. Elihu attempts to arbitrate the matter, by alleging the impossibility that so frail and ignorant a creature as man, should comprehend the ways of the Almighty and therefore condemns the unjust and cruel inference the three friends had drawn from the sufferings of Job. He also blames Job for the presumption of acquitting himself of all iniquity, since the best of men are not pure in the sight of God-but all have something to repent of: and he advises him to make this use of his afflictions. At last, by a bold figure of poetry, the Supreme Being himself is introduced, speaking from the whirlwind, and silencing them all by the most sublime display of his own power, magnificence, and wisdom, and of the comparative little ness and ignorance of men. This indeed is the only conclusion of the argument, which could be drawn at a time when life and immortality were not yet brought to light. A future retribution is the only satisfactory solution of the difficulty arising from the sufferings of good people in this life. Mrs. Chapone.

193. Of the Psalms. Next follow the Psalms, with which you cannot be too conversant. If you have any taste, either for poetry or devotion, they will be your delight, and will afford

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you a continual feast. The bible transla tion is far better than that used in the common-prayer book, and will often give you the sense, when the other is obscure. this, as well as in all other parts of the scripture, you must be careful always to consult the margin, which gives you the corrections made since the last translation, and it is generally preferable to the words of the text. I would wish you to select some of the Psalms that please you best, and get them by heart; or, at least, make yourself master of the sentiments contained in them. Dr. Delany's life of David will shew you the occasions on which several of them were composed, which add much to their beauty and propriety; and by comparing them with the events of David's life, you will greatly enhance your pleasure in them. Never did the spirit of true piety breathe more strongly than in these divine songs: which being added to a rich vein of poetry, makes them more captivating to my heart and imagination, than any thing I ever read. You will consider how great disadvantages any poem must sustain from being rendered literally into prose, and then imagine how beautiful these must be in the original. May you be enabled, by reading them frequently, to transfuse into your own breast that holy flame which inspired the writer!

-to delight in the Lord, and in his laws, like the Psalmist-to rejoice in him always, and to think "one day in his courts better than a thousand!"-But may you escape the heart-piercing sorrow of such repentance as that of David-by avoiding sin, which humbled this unhappy king to the dust-and which cost him such bitter anguish, as it is impossible to read of without being moved! Not all the pleasures of the most prosperous sinners would counterbalance the hundredth part of those sensations described in his penitential Psalms-and which must be the portion of every man, who has fallen from a religious state into such crimes, when once he recovers a sense of religion and virtue, and is brought to a real hatred of sin. However available such repentance may be to the safety and happiness of the soul after death, it is a state of such exquisite suffering here, that one cannot be enough surprised at the folly of those, who indulge sin, with the hope of living to make their peace with God by repentance. Happy are they who preserve their inno cence unsullied by any great or wilful

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crimes, and who have only the common failings of humanity to repent of; these are sufficiently mortifying to a heart deeply smitten with the love of virtue, and with the desire of perfection.-There are many very striking prophecies of the Messiah in these divine songs, particularly in Psalm xxii.-such may be found scattered up and down almost throughout the Old Testanent. To bear testimony to him, is the great and ultimate end for which the spi rit of prophecy was bestowed on the sacred writers; but this will appear more plainly to you, when you enter on the study of prophecy, which you are now much too young to undertake.

Mrs. Chapone. $194. Of the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Solomon's Song, the Prophecies, and Apocrypha.

The Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are rich stores of wisdom, from which I wish you to adopt such maxims as may be of infinite use both to your temporal and eternal in terest. But detached sentences are a kind of reading not proper to be continued long at a time; a few of them, well chosen and digested, will do you much more service, than to read half a dozen chapters together. In this respect, they are directly opposite to the historical books, which, if not read in continuation, can hardly be understood, or retained to any purpose.

The Song of Solomon is a fine poembut its mystical reference to religion lies too deep for a common understanding: if you read it, therefore, it will be rather as matter of curiosity than of edification.

Next follow the prophecies; which though highly deserving the greatest attention and study, I think you had better omit for some years, and then read them with a good exposition, as they are much too difficult for you to understand without assistance. Dr. Newton on the Prophecies will help you much, whenever you undertake this study-which you should by all means do, when your understanding is ripe enough; because one of the main proofs of our religion rests on the testimony of the prophecies; and they are very frequently quoted, and referred to, in the New Testament; besides, the sublimity of the language and sentiments, through all the disadvantages of antiquity and translation, must, in very many passages, strike every person of taste; and the ex

cellent moral and religious precepts found in them must be useful to all.

Though I have spoken of these books in the order in which they stand, I repeat, that they are not to be read in that order but that the thread of the history is to be pursued, from Nehemiah to the first book of the Maccabees, in the Apocrypha; taking care to observe the chronology regularly, by referring to the index, which supplies the deficiencies of this history from Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews. The first of Maccabees carries on the story till within 195 years of our Lord's circumcision the second book is the same narra. tive, written by a different hand, and does not bring the history so forward as the first; so that it may be entirely omitted, unless you have the curiosity to read some particulars of the heroic constancy of the Jews, under the tortures inflicted by their heathen conquerors, with a few other things not mentioned in the first book.

You must then connect the history by the help of the index, which will give you brief heads of the changes that happened in the state of the Jews, from this time till the birth of the Messiah.

The other books of the Apocrypha, though not admitted as of sacred authority, have many things well worth your attention: particularly the admirable book called Ecclesiasticus, and the book of Wisdom. But, in the course of reading which I advise, these must be omitted till after you have gone through the Gospels and Acts, that you may not lose the histo

rical thread.

Ibid.

$195. Of the New Testament, which is constantly to be referred to, as the Rule and Direction of our moral Conduct.

We come now to that part of scripture which is the most important of all, and which you must make your constant study, not only till you are thoroughly acquainted with it, but all your life long; because, how often soever repeated, it is impossible to read the life and death of our blessed Saviour, without renewing and increasing in our hearts that love and reverence, and gratitude towards him, which is so justly due for all he did and suffered for us! Every word that fell from his lips is more precious than all the treasures of the earth; for his "are the words of eternal life!" They must therefore be laid up in your

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heart, and constantly referred to, on all occasions, as the rule and direction of all your actions: particularly those very comprehensive moral precepts he has graciously left with us, which can never fail to direct us aright, if fairly and honestly applied: such as, "whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do unto them."—There is no occasion, great or small, on which you may not safely apply this rule for the direction of your conduct: and, whilst your heart honestly adheres to it, you can never be guilty of any sort of injustice or unkindness. The two great commandments, which contain the summary of our duty to God and man, are no less easily retained, and made a standard by which to judge our own hearts"To love the Lord our God, with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our strength and our neighbour (or fellowcreature) as ourselves." "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour." Therefore if you have true benevolence, you will never do any thing injurious to individuals, or to society. Now, all crimes whatever, are (in their remoter consequences at least, if not immediately and apparently) injurious to the society in which we live. It is impossible to love God without desiring to please him, and, as far as we are able, to resemble him; therefore the love of God must lead to every virtue in the highest degree; and, we may be sure, we do not truly love him, if we content ourselves with avoiding flagrant sins, and do not strive, in good earnest, to reach the greatest degree of perfection we are capable of. Thus do these few words direct us to the highest Christian virtue. Indeed, the whole tenor of the Gospel is to offer us every help, direction, and motive, that can enable us to attain that degree of perfection on which depends our eternal good.

Mrs. Chapone.

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What an example is set before us in our blessed Master! How is his whole life, from earliest youth, dedicated to the pursuit of true wisdom, and to the practice of the most exalted virtue! When you see him, at twelve years of age, in the temple amongst the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions on the subject of religion, and astonishing them all with his understanding and answers-you will say, perhaps," Well might the Son of

"God, éven at those years, be far wiser "than the aged; but, can a mortal child "emulate such heavenly wisdom? Can "such a pattern be proposed to my imi"tation "Yes, certainly ;-remember that he has bequeathed to you his heavenly wisdom, as far as concerns your own good. He has left you such declarations of his will, and of the consequences of your ac tions, as you are, even now, fully able to understand, if you will but attend to them. If, then, you will imitate his zeal for knowledge, if you will delight in gaining information and improvement; you may even now become "wise unto salvation." -Unmoved by the praise he acquired amongst these learned men, you see him meekly return to the subjection of a child, under those who appeared to be his parents, though he was in reality their Lord; you see him return to live with them, to work for them, and be the joy and solace of their lives; till the time came, when he was to enter on that scene of public action, for which his heavenly Father had sent him from his own right-hand, to take upon him the form of a poor carpenter's son. What a lesson of humility is this, and of obedience to parents!-When, having re ceived the glorious testimony from heaven, of his being the beloved Son of the Most High, he enters on his public ministry, what an example does he give us of the most extensive and constant benevolence !

how are all his hours spent in doing good to the souls and bodies of men!not the meanest sinner is below his notice; -to reclaim and save them, he condescends to converse familiarly with the most corrupt, as well as the most abject. All his miracles are wrought to benefit mankind; not one to punish and afflict them. Instead of using the almighty power, which accompanied him, to the purpose of exalting himself, and treading down his enemies, he makes no other use of it than to heal and to save.

When you come to read of his sufferings and death, the ignominy and reproach, the sorrow of mind, and torment of body which he submitted to-when you consider that it was all for our sakes" that by his stripes we are healed," and by his death we are raised from destruction to everlasting life-what can I say, that can add any thing to the sensations you must then feel?-No power of language can make the scene more touching than it appears in the plain and simple narrations of

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the evangelists. The heart that is unmoved by it, can be scarcely human, but the emotions of tenderness and compunction, which almost every one feels in reading this account, will be of no avail, unless applied to the true end-unless it inspires you with a sincere and warm affection towards your blessed Lord-with a firm resolution to obey his commands;-to be his faithful disciple-and ever to renounce and abhor those sins, which brought mankind under divine condemnation, and from which we have been redeemed at so dear a rate. Remember that the title of Christian, or follower of Christ, implies a more than ordinary degree of holiness and goodness. As our motives to virtue are stronger than those which are afforded to the rest of mankind, our guilt will be proportionably greater, if we depart from it.

Our Saviour appears to have had three great purposes, in descending from his glory and dwelling amongst men. The first, to teach them true virtue, both by his example and precepts. The second, to give them the most forcible motives to the practice of it, by "bringing life and immortality to light;" by shewing them the certainty of a resurrection and judgment, and the absolute necessity of obedience to God's laws. The third, to sacrifice himself for us, to obtain, by his death, the remission of our sins, upon our repentance and reformation, and the power of bestowing on his sincere followers the inestimable gift of immortal happiness.

Mrs. Chapone.

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these dreadful words:- Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepated for the devil and his angels."-Oh! I cannot support even the idea of becoming one of those undone, lost crea tures!-I trust in God's mercy, that you will make a better use of that knowledge of his will, which he has vouchsafed you, and of these amiable dispositions he has given you. Let us therefore turn from this horrid, this insupportable view-and rather endeavour to imagine, as far as is possible, what will be the sensations of your soul, if you should hear our heavenly Judge address you in these transporting words-"Come, thou blessed of my Fa ther, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world."

-Think, what it must be to become an object of the esteem and applause-not only of all mankind assembled together-but of all the host of heaven, of our blessed Lord himself-nay, of his and our Almighty Father:-to find your frail flesh changed, in a moment, into a glorious celestial body, endowed with perfect beauty, health, and agility:-to find your soul cleansed from all its faults and infirmities; exalted to the purest and noblest affections; overflowing with divine love and rapturous gratitude!-to have your understanding enlightened and refined; your heart en larged and purified; and every power and disposition of mind and body adapted to the highest relish of virtue and happiness! -Thus accomplished, to be admitted into the society of amiable and happy beings, all united in the most perfect peace and friendship, all breathing nothing but love to God, and to each other; with them to dwell in scenes more delightful than the richest imagination can paint--free from What a tremendous scene of the last day every pain and care, and from all possibi does the gospel place before our eyes!lity of change or satiety ;-but, above all, of that day, when you and every one of to enjoy the more immediate presence of us shall awake from the grave, and behold God himself to be able to comprehend the Son of God, on his glorious tribunal, and admire his adorable perfections in a attended by millions of celestial beings, of high degree, though still far short of their whose superior excellence we can now infinity-to be conscious of his love and form no adequate idea-when, in presence favour, and to rejoice in the light of his of all mankind, of those holy angels, and countenance !-But here all imagination of the great Judge himself, you must give fails:-we can form no idea of that bliss, an account of your past life, and hear your which may be communicated to us by final doom, from which there can be no such a near approach to the Source of all appeal, and which must determine your beauty and all good:-we must content fate to all eternity; then think-if for a ourselves with believing, "that it is what moment you can bear the thought-what mortal eye had not seen, nor ear heard, will be the desolation, shame, and anguish, neither hath it entered into the heart of of those wretched souls, who shall hear man to conceive." The crown of all our

$197. A comparative View of the Blessed and Cursed at the last Day, and the Inference to be drawn from it.

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