of general as well as individual interest; it is replete with simple and manly narration, with passionate appeals, and overwhelming eloquence. It is addressed to ourselves; it is connected with us and our well-doing; it gives us a story of the past, and a lesson for the future. There is nothing in Homer which can mate with the soaring spirit of its poetry: there is nothing in Virgil which can equal the gentle pathos of its strains: Dante is less awful, and Ariosto less wild. Even Milton, who has topped the sublimity of all other writers, and Shakspeare, who has surpassed the united world in prodigality of imagery and variety of thought, must yield to the infinite grandeur and beauty which is impressed upon the prophetic oracles of the Hebrew writings, or scattered almost at random over its many stories.

We will now pass, without more preamble, to the Bible itself; and should we, in support of our opinion, bring forward more passages, or refer oftener to a book which is common to every one, than may at first sight seem necessary, it will be that we may at once be borne out in the reader's opinion by sufficient quotation, and vindicated from any charge, which may otherwise spring up in his mind, of speaking from bigoted feeling or early and immature preference. We will begin our extracts with the very commencement of the book of Genesis. There is nothing that we know of, in literature, that is so calm and awful.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

"And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters."

Then follows the birth of light, so often quoted. The brief sublimity of this passage can scarcely be too much extolled.

"And God said, Let there be light: AND THERE WAS LIGHT."

The words are quick and direct, without preamble, like the flash which follows the supreme command.. And in the same way are all things, one after the other, created, by the sole will of the Deity,-Night and Day, the land and the waters, the herb and the fruit-tree, the sun, the moon, and the world of stars; and all the ground is made populous, and all the sea; the great whales' and the winged fowls,' the beasts of the earth and the creeping things spring up and swarm in and over the newly fashioned world, and lastly, Man' is seen to arise, the image of his Maker. Thus, with a blessing, the Heavens and the earth were finished; and upon this foundation commences the great history of Man.

The second and third chapters detail the birth of Eve, the

Temptation, and the Fall. The fourth relates to the murder of Abel by his brother, and the curse stamped upon the forehead of Cain. He is 'cursed from the earth,' the ground is to be barren before him, and he is to wander a fugitive and a vagabond' for ever:

"And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear."

The first fear of the fratricide is of death; but the Lord said

"Whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him."

Then follows the degeneracy of man, and his punishment in the universal Deluge. This grand event is told without any effort, and yet with prodigious effect.

"In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. "And the flood was forty days upon the earth: and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. "And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

"And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven, were covered."

It goes on to state, that all things perished, beast, and fowl, and cattle, and all "in whose nostrils was the breath of life."

"And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth : and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.”

After this, is established the covenant with Noah; in sign of which it is said that the rainbow was formed, a beautiful memorial, in order that the after world might read for ever, in times of storm and darkness, upon the melting colours of this heavenly arch, the promise of God to man. We then hear of the descendants of Noah,-of Nimrod,-of Babel-of the confusion of tongues-the call of Abraham-the exile of Hagar, with her child Ishmael, into the desert, where an angel found her

the destruction of Gomorrah and Sodom by the fiery rain-the birth and adventures of Isaac and his two sons, of whom we are told that

"Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents."

Jacob, however, does not quite verify this description; for he steals (with the aid. of his mother Rebecca, of whom he is the favourite son) the blessing intended for his elder brother, Esau, and lies through all impediments in order to obtain it. There is not a more contemptible person in the Bible than the celebrated Jacob, (in his earlier life,) nor a nobler one than the stigmatized Esau.

How touching is his complaint when he discovers the cheat of his brother, and how passionate is his cry for his father's blessing

"And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father."

But the father answers

"Esau, behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?

"And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept."

*

We pass by the dream of the ladder of angels, which has been painted in so wonderful a manner by Rembrandt, (and by no one else,) to recount the submission of the crafty Jacob before his nobler and victorious brother. Assuredly, Esau was the first really great conqueror on record. He was a marvel in those barbarous times, and possessed a dignified clemency beyond either Scipio or Titus. We quote the passage, because, amongst churchmen in general, the character of Esau is slighted. They say that he sold his birthright for a “ mess of pottage," (he was starving:)-Why do they not, in preference, quote his noble conduct towards the fallen and sycophantic Jacob? The reader will understand, that the latter and his family, stand before Esau, who is a victor.

"And Leah with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves."

Esau inquires the meaning of this; to which Jacob replies, "These are to find grace in the sight of my lord. "And Esau said, I HAVE ENOUGH, MY BROTHER THOU HAST UNTO THYSELF."

KEEP THAT

This picture is in the Dulwich Gallery. It is the conception rather than the chiaro 'scuro to which we allude.

Following the current, we arrive at the pretty story of Joseph, who was sold (in "his coat of many colours,") by his false brethren to the Ishmaelites, but afterwards rose to be chief man under Egyptian Pharaoh, interpreting his dreams, and foretelling the famine which was to desolate the land. Then comes the history of the great lawgiver Moses, who wrought so many miracles-who heard the voice of God from the burning bush, and broke the tablets before the idolaters. He it was who smote Egypt with plague.—

("And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt;")

and divided the waters with so mighty a hand. His song upon this event must not be entirely omitted. It is a grand hymn to victory and the Giver of victories.

"I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.'

He proceeds to say what God has done upon his enemies— upon Pharaoh and his chariots and his hosts of soldiers-how he has cast them into the sea, and consumed them as stubble -and then adds

"And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together: the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

"The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil my lust shall be satisfied upon them, I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

"Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters."

We pass by the laws and customs contained in the books of Exodus and Leviticus, as well as by the wanderings of the Israelites the various deeds of Aaron and Moses-and come to the address of the latter when he speaks "in the ears of the congregation of Israel." of Israel." After alluding, in brief terms, to the corruption of the world, he inquires, Do ye thus requite the Lord, who separated the sons of Adam and looked down upon Jacob?

"He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness: he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; "So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him."

But his descendants provoked God with strange idols, and thereupon he said, " I will hide my face from them;"

"For a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

them.

"I will heap mischiefs upon them, I will spend my arrows upon.

"They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.

"The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. "I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:"

This is surely very grand and imposing language, to say the least of it; but, considered as the decision of a deity, it is exceedingly awful.

We now hear of Joshua who made the Sun and Moon to stand still "in the sight of Israel”—saying,

"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou Moon, in the valley of Ajalon.

"And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? so the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

"And there was no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.” and afterwards arrive at the delightful story of Ruth. She is a model for all daughters. Filial piety was never so sweetly represented, nor the fidelity of women more incontestibly manifested.

"And Orpah kissed her mother in law, but Ruth clave unto her. "And she said, Behold, thy sister in law is gone back unto her people, and unto her Gods: return thou after thy sister in law.

"And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:

"Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me." The next thing that strikes us in this extraordinary book, is the famous history of Saul. His enmity towards David, and the cause of it, is so generally known, that we need not fatigue the reader's patience with any unnecessary detail of facts. We will, however, extract a couple of verses, in order to shew how exceedingly picturesque the narrative occasionally becomes. It