wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: but his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob : (from thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel :) even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb: the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren."

The two powerful tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh were descended from Joseph, and fully enjoyed in after years the glowing prophetic blessings pronounced on their common father.

But one son remained, and he, the youngest and the beloved Benjamin, doubtless now expected a delightful prospect; but, alas! the truth was sad, and dying Jacob must speak as moved of God. ." Benjamin shall raven as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.” The ungovernable temper and ferocity of this tribe rendered

them conspicuous. In civil war they were nearly destroyed, and finally became merged with the tribe of Judah.

We have thus examined this beautiful train of prophecies, and we ask any candid person how this accurate and abundant knowledge of the future could have been obtained but from God? When the coming history of these tribes was announced, the tribes themselves were but single families, presided over by their fathers, yet in Egypt all alike shepherds: when it was written they had not yet received their territory, and the prophecy was not confirmed till centuries after both Jacob and Moses died. In all this behold the omniscience of God!

The dying patriarch, after blessing his sons, had just time to express his last personal wish, that his body might be buried in the same field with his grand-parents, Abraham and Sarah, and his beloved Rebekah and Leah; and then, in the peculiar language of Moses," he gathered up his feet into the bed,” the last struggle went over him, “he yielded up the ghost," or surrendered his spirit to God, “and was gathered unto his people."

He was now in the presence of the sons of

light. God grant that our lives may be like the latter part of Jacob's, and that our last end may be as happy as his! And when we admire the prophetic wisdom God displayed through him, let us also pray for his faith and zeal, that we may prevail too with God, and at last enter the world where we shall see as we are seen, and know as we are known."

CHAPTER X.

THE MIRACLES OF THE EXODUS.

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The Old Testament cannot be appreciated without constantly keeping in mind its great plan, or the grand design of the Almighty, the execution of which is detailed in these Scriptures. That design was to reveal the character of God, and the duty and destiny of man, the revelation of which was to be gradual, and not completed until the Messiah should come. From former observations it appears that a revelation, sufficiently clear to make men holy, and to se cure their salvation, was given to the whole world in the earliest ages. The idea of the original barbarity, or even ignorance of man, is utterly untenable, both from the Bible and from the scanty records or traditions of antiquity preserved among men. This degrading notion, which cannot be entertained by any person who has examined carefully the subject, has prevailed in modern times, partly from limited observation, and partly from a wild and disgraceful theory of some infidels of the modern French school. It was also entertained by some ancient infidels among the heathen, such as Lucretius.

It is true that the most enlightened nations of the present age are descended from tribes that were partially barbarous, though by no means generally so degraded and ignorant as many have thought. These were gradually improved and civilized, not by their own efforts, but by intercourse with wiser nations. From this historical fact theorists have hastily inferred that other nations and the whole race have passed through the same stages of advancement. This inference, however, is positively false.

Chateaubriand and others have gone still further, and, giving reins to a wild fancy, utterly unobservant of the most ancient history, much of which has been brought to light since they lived, have even taught that man was originally an ape or an orang-outang, and has by degrees become a far more exalted, but, as Rousseau would have us believe, a far less happy beast, a civilized human being. Perhaps there are no limits to fancy, and for diversion it may be proper to indulge it; but when a miscalled philosopher disregards the teachings of facts and