rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy god that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; yet thou, in thy manifold mercies, forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing: their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not."

8. From this quotation it is evident that the leading facts contained in the Mosaic narrative were well known to the people of Israel in the days of Ezra ; but if they were familiar with them at that era, the document which gives an account of them must have been in existence before. The circumstance of the people calling upon Ezra to bring forth and read the Book of the Law of Moses, proves that the law of Moses must have been well known to exist in writing previous to the return from Babylon. Even if it were alleged that it were suppressed by Ezra in favour of a spurious composition of his own, those who make the supposition must assume that he had contrived to make himself master of every extant copy of the genuine work, and that he must have persuaded a whole people to receive as genuine what almost every man amongst them must immediately have perceived to be spurious. For, if the genuine work were in existence down to the very time of Ezra, a point clearly involved in the demand of the people to have it read to them; and if the people had been long accustomed to hear it read to them, a point equally implied in their recorded demand upon Ezra, they must all have been adequately acquainted with its con

tents, and the higher ranks among them must have repeatedly perused, and must therefore have known the whole of it, just as intimately as Ezra could do himself. But what was thus universally familiar could be no more set aside by the fiat of an individual in favour of his own spurious composition, than the Pentateuch could now be set aside throughout Christendom in favour of some newly produced volume which claimed to be the genuine Law of Moses. Add to this, that when the foundations of the second temple were laid, many persons were alive who well remembered the first. These, consequently, must have known whether there was or was not a written law of Moses anterior to the captivity; nor could they be deceived by the production of any novel composition by Ezra.

9. This important fact is, in another way, incontrovertibly established. There is now extant a copy of the Pentateuch, preserved by the Samaritans, the hereditary enemies of the Jews. The Samaritan Pentateuch is literally the same as the Jewish, a very few immaterial things excepted. The identity of their original therefore is placed beyond a doubt. When did the Samaritans procure their copy ? The violent hatred which that people and the Jews entertained towards each other, and which never raged with greater fury than in the time of Ezra, proves that it must have been in their possession prior to that period, and indeed before Judah had been carried captive to Babylon. Every one acquainted with the history of Israel knows, that the Samaritans were a mixed multitude from various parts of the dominions of the King of Assyria, sent by that monarch to succeed the ten tribes whom he had sent into exile, and whose territories he had left desolate. In order to avert certain calamities with which they were visited, the Assyrian king commanded that one of the priests whom he had brought from thence should return, and teach them the manner of the God of the land: that is, how to worship and serve Je

hovah the God of Israel. The result was, a professed homage to the true God, united to the superstitious observances practised in reverence of their native idols. They feared the Lord, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations.

10. This was the period at which the books of Moses came into the possession of the Samaritans: that is, about the year 676 before the Christian era. From that time we have the most unexceptionable testimony,-the testimony of two hostile and rival sects, vouching for the faithful preservation of the text of the Septuagint.

11. But it is also evident that this portion of the Old Testatament Scriptures was in existence from the time of the revolt of the ten tribes. The priest who was sent to instruct the Samaritans, was to teach them the manner of the God of the land, according to the law and commandment which Jehovah commanded the children of Jacob whom he named Israel,—a circumstance which proves that the manner of worship and Law of Jehovah had been previously possessed by the Israelitish tribes. These tribes had revolted from Judah, and had formed themselves into an opposite and rival kingdom. The sacred books could not have been fabricated or vitiated during the period of their rivalship; for, if any one of the nations attempted either the introduction of a spurious work, or the vitiation of an authentic document which had previously existed, their rival would not have been slow to expose them; nor could the effort to practise such deception have been made without being immediately detected. It is, therefore, evident that the Israelites could not have received the books of Moses from the Jews, nor the Jews from the Israelites. "They both, however, equally possessed that code during the period of their separation. It must therefore have existed prior to their separation from each other. This took place about the year 975 before the Christian Therefore, the very Pentateuch which we now have, must at that time have been in existence; not only have been

era.

in existence, but well known throughout all the Hebrew tribes; not only well known throughout all the Hebrew. tribes, but so fully acknowledged to be the genuine and inspired Law of Moses," that neither Jeroboam, nor any who succeeded him in reigning over the kingdom of Israel, dared to impeach it, or to reject it, though it constituted the great obstacle to that innovation which, from motives of state policy, they introduced, the preventing of the people from going up to Jerusalem to worship, as the law of Moses enjoined.

12. We are thus brought to the reign of David and Solomon, during which we are assured that the books attributed to Moses did not originate. David bears explicit testimony to the authority of the law, and recommends it to his son as the guide of his private and public conduct. With regard to Solomon, its previous existence is proved by the splendid ceremonial of that temple which he built; not to say, that the circumstance of his conduct having been so much opposed to some of its prohibitions, shows that he neither wrote it himself, nor sanctioned the writing of it.

13. Nor can the Pentateuch be ascribed to the prophet Samuel, to whose time we have now extended our investigation. The piety, patriotism, and disinterestedness of that distinguished man allow us not to suspect him to have been capable either of fabricating books in the name of Moses, or of vitiating those authentic documents which had previously existed. Even if he had been capable of making such an attempt, how was it possible that he could persuade all Israel to adopt, as the authoritative law of Moses, a mere modern composition of his own, which no person had ever before heard of? How could he have done this in any circumstances, but especially after he had aroused the hostility of Saul? When that prince was severely rebuked by him, how readily and certainly would he have pointed out the gross imposture, had he been able so to do; and have demanded the most

positive proof of the authority under which he claimed to act in this unceremonious treatment of his sovereign. But in place of this, he acknowledges the divine authority of the law, humbles himself before his reprover, confesses the truth of his charge, that he had transgressed the com mandment of the Lord. We know enough of the character of Saul to be assured that he would not have made such humbling acknowledgments in the presence of the people of Israel, if he could possibly have acted otherwise; and had not the genuineness and authenticity of the books of Moses been fully established, would he have listened to the threatening of being deprived of his kingdom, merely "because he had not obeyed a forged commandment to exterminate the Amalekites!"

14. During the three hundred and sixty years that elapsed between the entrance of Israel into Canaan and the appointment of Saul to be king, they lived under the government of Judges. While each tribe occupied the territory which had been allotted to it, and was governed by its own rulers, all were united together by the observance of the same divine laws, and by one general council. The people heard the books of the law read, the authority of which they acknowledged as the written law of Moses, which they had received as the rule of their conduct, and by which their Judges regulated their government. The power of these rulers was limited; they had not the influence of wealth, or of hereditary rank; and at their death their official authority, and all the consequence which it gave them in the eyes of the people, devolved upon members of other families, who were under no obligation, and who could have no interest in adopting the views of their predecessors. It was therefore impossible for them, even if they had been inclined, to persuade the people to receive a fabrication of their own as the law of Moses, or to vitiate the authentic document which that legislator had so recently committed to them.

15. Indeed, the existence and the divine authority of