to make, that will obtain for me the realization of those desires so dear to my heart? What shall render me an object of celestial benefaction? I am ready to purchase such a privilege at any cost. What is there I can offer to his most excellent majesty, to his awful omnipotence, who has placed my foes under his own guidance and protection? Shall I at once signalize my devotion and try to secure his almighty sanction, by slaughtering a holocaust upon the reeking altars of that temple where animal sacrifices are immolated to the mute god of my idolatry? Shall I present as an available expiation for my transgression, in having provoked eternal wrath, a sin-offering of my first-born, the heir and representative of my house? Is there anything I can give as an oblation sufficiently valuable for such a purpose, as obtaining at once the divine execration of my enemies, and the good will of Jehovah, whose power I have hitherto disregarded and despised?' The whole of these interrogations, gradually rising in strength and fervour, until they close in a grand and solemn climax, are admirably significative of the state of Balak's mind at this moment. They clearly develop the character of the man; his vast and irrepressible idea of omnipotence; his intense hatred of the Israelites; his readiness to make any sacrifice, however great, to obtain his impious ends; his selfishness; his fierce and unbending temperament; his ruthless hostility against those enemies to whom the land of Canaan had been promised for an inheritance. There is, how ever, amid the energetic declamation of the disappointed monarch, an outbreak of natural tenderness in the contrast most eloquently made betwixt the offering of his first-born son and the object of that offering;-these nevertheless, appearing light in his estimation, weighed against the intense desire by which his heart was engrossed, of propitiating so august a being as the omnipotent Jehovah, and thus rendering him favourable to his unholy purpose. The particulars, it will be observed, enumerated by the king of Moab, are of the most valuable description; in those remote times flocks and herds being the most prized of a monarch's property. If, therefore, "thousands of rams" had, upon certain great occasions, been offered up in sacrifice, there must soon have been an end to the further propagation of the species Utter ruin would have been the consequence of such immensely prodigal oblations. Oil was much used, not only in ordinary sacrifices, but likewise in most of those numerous rites prescribed in the heathen formularies, as well as for domestic purposes: it was consequently a staple commodity of high importance, and therefore of paramount value. Some of the rarer oils were worth nearly their weight in gold, as is the case even now; the atar-gul, commonly known under the corrupted title of ottar of roses, being commonly sold at three or four guineas the ounce, and this frequently in a deteriorated state, from the dishonest practices of traders. It will be evident that the terms employed by Balak, of thousands of rams" and "ten thousands of rivers of oil," were mere poetical hyperboles, expressive generally of numbers and quantity. He meant simply to signify that no expense of treasure should be spared by him, if he might thereby accomplish his evil purpose. Whatever the Lord should require of him, even were it all his flocks and herds, all his royal stores, nay, even the heir of his house-he was ready to offer, in order to accomplish the destruction of his dreaded enemies. The three couplets containing Balak's questions to the son of Bosor, which rise gradually in force, although clothed in the vivid colours of poetical exaggeration, are, nevertheless, most solemnly impressive; the disappointed monarch meaning no more than that he was perfectly ready to make any sacrifice, however great, to obtain the favour of the Most High. See in what beautiful gradation the members of the couplets advance above each other. In the first verse, the royal interlocutor mentions those burntofferings generally which were made of the inferior animals appointed for sacrifice. In the next, we have something more valuable, “calves of a year old," but without reference to number. Then follow "thousands of rams," which are immediately succeeded by "ten thousands of rivers of oil," and the climax closes with the mention of the royal first-born, the successor to regal dignities and dominion, as a sacrifice for parental transgression. All this is clearly not the effect of an accidental enumeration of objects with the view of expressing a simple determination, but a beautiful selection of graduated expressions, chosen for the purpose of throwing over the passage the radiant hues, combined with the fervid eloquence, of poetry. Το But it may be asked how Balak came to be so great a poet, when no records of his genius are found in the Bible, and there is consequently nothing to lead to such an assumption. this it may be replied that Balaam did not record the very words uttered by Balak, but simply the spirit of them, to which he imparted the graces of his own gifted mind, casting them into that mould of epic grandeur, of which the sentiments rendered them so eminently susceptible. Under this supposition we lose nothing of the truth of the king of Moab's declarations, by having them invested with the prismatic tints of poetry. Balaam, no doubt, drew up a narrative of the whole transaction, throwing it into a poetic form, but adding really no fiction to enhance the interest it was well calculated to excite among the posterities of those whom it so especially concerned. Looking at this remarkable passage as a metrical composition, it appears to me to present one of the finest specimens of climax to be found in the sacred writings, in which examples of the highest order abound. It is worthy of observation how pointedly the contrast is exhibited in the last clause: Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, An offering of the dearest object in time, for the salvation of the dearest object in eternity! Here is a fine specimen of gradational parallelism, the noblest production of the body to be offered for the lapse of the soul,—the loss of the one for the gain of the other. In addition to all this, how delicately is the harmony of the rhythm preserv ed and how admirably do the sentiments correspond with the character of Balak. The "burntofferings," the "calves of a year old," "thousands of rams," and "ten thousands of rivers of oil," are cach and all trifles in comparison with the firstborn son, as an oblation propitiatory of divine favour. How solemnly and affectingly does the subject close! And yet the disposition of the Moabitish sovereign is the more truly depicted by this emphatic question, than if he had made the strongest asseverations of ready acquiescence. The very energy of the passage carries with it an carnestness of persuasion altogether irresistible. It appears to import, as I have before intimated, that, in order to obtain the fulfilment of his execrable purpose, the extermination of those whom God had so signally favoured, he was not only willing, but prepared to undergo any privation, even to the immolation of his first-born son,-a sentiment of truculent insensibility, which sufficiently characterizes the ruthless temperament of this sanguinary but pusillanimous prince. Will this justify me,' he seems to ask, in the sight of God-of that God whom I have so long affected to despise, but of whose supremacy I have now had signal proof? will this render that Omnipotent and everlasting Being, who can annihilate the universe by a |