268 BOOK THE Before they leave their Seats, thus ; Make me, I pray thee, a doer of thy word, not a hearer only. Accept both us and our fervices, through our only Mediator Jesus Christ. Amen. A Grace before Meat. Sanctify, O Lord, we beseech thee, thefe thy good creatures to our ufe, and us to thy fervice, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen. A Grace after Meat. Bleffed and praised be thy holy name, 179. Of the Scriptures, as the Rule of As you advance in years and understand- FIRST. and intelligible to the meaneft capacity I would chiefly recommend to your fre quent perufal fuch parts of the facred writings as are moft adapted to your understanding, and most neceffary for your spoken to the common people amongst the inftruction. Our Saviour's precepts were ner eafy to be understood, and equally Jews; and were therefore given in a manftriking and inftructive to the learned and unlearned: for the moft ignorant may comprehend them, whilft the wifeft mult be charmed and awed by the beautiful and expreffed. Of the fame kind are the Ten majestic fimplicity with which they are Commandments, delivered by God to Mofes; which, as they were defigned for uaiverfal laws, are worded in the most concife and fimple manner, yet with a majesty which commands our utmost reverence. I think you will receive great pleasure, concerning the method and courfe I with tures. beft ufe of this moft precious gift of God May you read the Bible, not as a talk, nor very very ill calculated to make them really acquainted with it; and too many people, who have read it thus, without understanding it, in their youth, fatisfy themselves that they know enough of it, and never afterwards ftudy it with attention, when they come to a maturer age. If the feelings of your heart, whilft you read, correfpond with thofe of mine, whilft I write, I fhall not be without the advantage of your partial affection, to give weight to my advice; for, believe me, my heart and eyes overflow with tendernefs, when I tell you how warm and earneft my prayers are for your happinefs here and hereafter. Mrs. Chapone. § 180. Of Genefis. I now proceed to give you fome fhort ketches of the matter contained in the different books of the Bible, and of the courfe in which they ought to be read. earth, to this or that particular fect or profeffion, when he is fo clearly and emphatically described as the Saviour of the whole world. The ftory of Abraham's proceeding to facrifice his only fon, at the command of God, is affecting in the highest degree; and fets forth a pattern of unlimited refignation, that every one ought to imitate, in thofe trials of obedience under temptation, or of acquiefcence under afflicting difpenfations, which fall to their lot. Of this we may be affured, that our trials will be always proportioned to the powers afforded us if we have not Abraham's ftrength of mind, neither fhall we be called upon to lift the bloody knife against the bofom of an only chlid; but if the almighty arm fhould be lifted up against him, we must be ready to refign him, and all we hold dear, to the divine will.This action of Abraham has been cenfured by fome, who do not attend to the diftincThe first book, Genefis, contains the tion between obedience to a fpecial commoft grand, and, to us, the moft interefting mand, and the deteftably cruel facrifices events, that ever happened in the univerfe: of the Heathens, who fometimes volunta-The creation of the world, and of man: rily, and without any divine injunctions, of-The deplorable fall of man, from his fered up their own children, under the nofrit ftate of excellence and blifs, to the tion of appeafing the anger of their gods. diftreffed condition in which we fee all his An abfolute command from God himselfdefcendants continue :-The fentence of as in the cafe of Abraham-entirely alters death pronounced on Adam, and on all his the moral nature of the action; fince he, race-with the reviving promife of that and he only, has a perfect right over the deliverance which has fince been wrought lives of his creatures, and may appoint for us by our bleffed Saviour:-The ac- whom he will, either angel or man, to be count of the early state of the world his inftrument of deftruction. That it was Of the aniverfal deluge:-The divifion of really the voice of God which pronounced mankind into different nations and lan- the command, and not a delufion, might guages:-The ftory of Abraham, the be made certain to Abraham's mind, by founder of the Jewish people; whofe un- means we do not comprehend, but which fhaken faith and obedience, under the fe- we know to be within the power of him verest trial human nature could fuftain, ob who made our fouls as well as bodies, and tained fuch favour in the fight of God, who can controul and direct every faculty that he vouchsafed to ftyle him his friend, of the human mind: and we may be af and promifed to make of his pofterity a fured, that if he was pleased to reveal himgreat nation, and that in his feed-that felf fo miraculously, he would not leave a is, in one of his defcendants-all the poffibility of doubting whether it was a real kingdoms of the earth fhould be bleffed. cr an imaginary revelation. Thus the faThis, you will eafily fee, refers to the Mef- crifice of Abraham appears to be clear of fiah, who was to be the bleffing and deli- all fuperftition: and remains the nobleft verance of all nations. It is amazing that inftance of religious faith and fubmiffion, the Jews, poffeffing this prophecy, among that was ever given by a mere man: we many others, fhould have been fo blinded cannot wonder that the bleffings bestowed by prejudice, as to have expected, from on him for it fhould have been extended this great perfonage, only a temporal deli- to his pofterity. This book proceeds with verance of their own nation from the fub- the hiftory of Ifaac, which becomes very jection to which they were reduced under interefting to us, from the touching scene the Romans: It is equally amazing, that I have mentioned-and ftill more fo, if we fome Chriftians fhould, even now, confine confider him as the type of our Saviour. the blessed effects of his appearance upon It recounts his marriage with Rebecca the the birth and hiftory of his two fons, Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes, and Efau, the father of the Edomites, or Idumeans the exquifitely affecting ftory of Jofeph and his brethren-and of his tranfplanting the Ifraelites into Egypt, who there multiplied to a great nation. Mrs. Chapone. 181. Of Exodus. In Exodus, you read of a series of wonders, wrought by the Almighty, to rescue the oppreffed Ifraelites from the cruel tyranny of the Egyptians, who, having first received them as guests, by degrees reduced them to a ftate of flavery. By the moft peculiar mercies and exertions in their favour, God prepared his chofen people to receive, with reverent and obedient hearts, the folemn reftitution of those primitive laws, which probably he had revealed to Adam and his immediate descendants, or which, at least, he had made known by the dictates of confcience; but which time, and the degeneracy of mankind, had much obfcured. This important revelation was made to them in the Wilderness of Sinah; there, affembled before the burning mountain, furrounded" with blacknefs, and darknefs, and tempeft," they heard the awful voice of God pronounce the eternal law, impreffing it on their hearts with circumftances of terror, but without thofe encouragements, and thofe excellent promifes, which were afterwards offered to mankind by Jefus Chrift. Thus were the great laws of morality reftored to the Jews, and through them tranfmitted to other nations; and by that means a great refraint was oppofed to the torrent of vice and impiety, which began to prevail over the world. To thofe moral precepts, which are of perpetual and univerfal obligation, were fuperadded, by the miniftration of Mofes, many peculiar inftitutions, wifely adapted to different ends-either, to fix the memory of thofe paft deliverances, which were figurative of a future and far greater falvation-to place inviolable barriers between the Jews and the idolatrous nations, by whom they were furrounded-or, to be the civil law by which the community was to be governed. To conduct this series of events, and to establish these laws with his people, God raised up that great prophet Mofes, whofe faith and piety enabled him to undertake and execute the most arduous enterprizes; and to purfue, with unabated zeal, the FIRST. welfare of his countrymen. Even in the Thus did Mofes, by the excellency of tains little befides the laws for the pecu- pitulation of the foregoing hiftory, with Mofes, and were revealed by the Meffiah, in § 183. Of Joshua. The book of Joshua contains the con- quefts of the Ifraelites over the feven nations, and their establishment in the promifed land. Their treatment of these conquered nations must appear to you very cruel and unjust, if you confider it as their own act, unauthorized by a pofitive command: but they had the moft abfolute injunctions, not to fpare these corrupt people-" to make no covenant with them, nor fhew mercy to them, but utterly to deftroy them:"-and the reafon is given, -left they should turn away the Ifraelites from following the Lord, that they might ferve other gods." The children of Ifrael are to be confidered as inftruments, in the hand of the Lord, to punish thofe, whofe idolatry and wickednefs had defervedly brought deftruction on them: this example, therefore, cannot be pleaded in behalf of cruelty, or bring any imputation on the character of the Jews. With regard to other cities, which did not belong to thefe feven nations, they were directed to deal with them according to the common law of arms at that time.. If the city fubmitted, it became tributary, and the people were spared; if it refifted, the men were to be flain, but the women and children faved. Yet, though the crime of cruelty cannot be justly laid to their charge on this occafion, you will obferve, in the course of their history, many things recorded of them, very different from what you would expect from the chofen people of God, if you fuppofed them felected on account of their own merit: their national character was by no means amiable; and we are repeatedly told, that they were not chofen for their fuperior righteoufnefs-" for they were a ftiff-necked people, and provoked the Lord with their rebellions from the day they left Egypt."-" You have been rebellious against the Lord," fays Mofes," from the day that I knew you.' -And he vehemently exhorts them, not to flatter themselves that their fuccefs was, in any degree, owing to their own merits. They were appointed to be the fcourge of other nations, whofe crimes rendered them fit objects of divine chaftifement. For the fake of righteous Abraham, their founder, and perhaps for many other wife reafons, undiscovered to us, they were felected from a world over-run with idolatry, to preferve upon earth the pure worship of the one only God, and to be honoured with the birth of the Meffiah 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 obfervances, from falling into the corrupt worship practifed by their neighbours. Mrs. Chapone § 184. Of Judges, Samuel, and Kings The book of Judges, in which you will find the affecting ftories of Sampfon and Jephtha, carries on the hiftory from the death of Jofhua, about two hundred and fifty years; but the facts are not told in the times in which they happened, which makes fome confufion; and it will be neceffary to confult the marginal dates and notes, as well as the index, in order to get any clear idea of the fucceffion of events during that period. The history then proceeds regularly through the two books of Samuel, and thofe of Kings: nothing can be more interefting and entertaining than the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon: but, after the death of Solomon, when ten tribes revolted from his fon Rehoboam, and became a feparate kingdom, you will find fome difficulty in understanding diftinctly the hiftories of the two kingdoms of Ifrael 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 ufe to you. The fecond book of Kings concludes with the Babylonifh captivity, 588 years before Chrift-till which time the kingdom of Judah had defcended uninterruptedly in the line of David. Ibid. § 185. Of Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Efther. The first book of Chronicles begins with a genealogy from Adam, through all the tribes of Ifrael and Judah; and the remainder is the fame history which is contained in the books of Kings, with little or no variation, till the feparation of the ten tribes. From that period, it proceeds with the hiftory 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 fecond book; but, by all means, read the remaining chapters, as they will give you more clear and diftinct ideas of the hiftory of Judah, than that you read in the fecond book of Kings. The fecond of Chronicles ends, like the fecond fecond of Kings, with the Babylonifh captivity. You must purfue the history in the book of Ezra, which gives an account of the return of fome of the Jews on the edict of Cyrus, and of the rebuilding the Lord's témple. Nehemiah carries on the hiftory for about twelve years, when he himself was governor of Jerufalem, with authority to rebuild the walls, &c. The story of Efther is prior in time to that of Ezra and Nehemiah; as you will fee by the marginal dates; however, as it happened during the feventy years captivity, and is a kind of episode, it may be read in its own place. This is the laft of the canonical books that is properly hiftorical; and I would therefore advife, that you pafs over what follows, till you have continued the hiftory through the apocryphal books Mrs. Chapone. § 186. Of Job. The ftory of Job is probably very ancient, though that is a point upon which learned men have differed: It is dated, however, 1520 years before Chrift: I believe it is uncertain by whom it was written: many parts of it are obfcure; but it is well worth ftudying, for the extreme beauty of the poetry, and for the noble and fublime devotion it contains. The fubject of the difpute between Job and his pretended friends feems to be, whether the Providence of God diftributes the rewards and punishments of this life in exact proportion to the merit or demerit of each individual. His antagonists fuppofe that it does; and therefore infer, from Job's uncommon calamities, that, notwithstanding his apparent righteousness, he was in reality a grievous finner. They aggravate his fuppofed guilt, by the imputation of hypocrify, and call upon him to confefs it, and to acknowledge the justice of his punishment. Job afferts his own innocence and virtue in the most pathetic inanner, yet does not prefume to accufe the Supreme Being of injustice. Elihu attempts to arbitrate the matter, by alledging the impoffibility that fo frail and ignorant a creature as man fhould comprehend the ways of the Almighty; and therefore condemns the unjuft and cruel inference the three friends had drawn from the fufferings of Job. He allo blames Job for the prefumption of acquitting himself of all iniquity, fince the beft of men are not pure in the fight of God-but all have fomething to repent of; and he advifes him to make this ufe of his afflictions. At laft, by a bold figure of poetry, the Supreme Being himself is introduced, fpeaking from the whirlwind, and filencing them all by the moft fublime difplay of his own power, magnificence; and wisdom, and of the comparative little nefs and ignorance of man.-This indeed is the only conclufion 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 fatisfactory folution of the difficulty arifing from the fufferings of good people in this life. Ibid. $187. Of the Pfalms. Next follow the Pfalms, with which you cannot be too converfant. If you have any tafte, either for poetry or devotion, they will be your delight, and will afford you a continual feaft. The bible tranflation is far better than that ufed in the common-prayer book, and will often give you the fenfe, when the other is obfcure. In this, as well as in all other parts of the fcripture, you must be careful always to confult the margin, which gives you the corrections made fince the laft tranflation, and it is generally preferable to the words of the text. I would with you to felect fome of the Pfalms that please you beft, and get them by heart: or, at least, make yourself mafter of the fentiments contained in them. Dr. Delany's Life of David will fhew you the occafions on which several of them were compofed, which add much to their beauty and propriety; and by comparing them with the events of David's life, you will greatly enhance your pleafure in them. Never did the fpirit of true piety breathe more ftrongly than in thefe divine fongs: 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 confider how great difadvantages any poem muft fuftain from being rendered literally into profe, and then imagine how beautiful thefe must be in the original. May you be enabled, by reading them frequently, to transfufe into your own breaft that holy flame which inspired the writer!-to delight in the Lord, and in his laws, like the Pfalmift-to rejoice in him always, and to think one day in his courts better than a thoufand!"-But may you efcape the heart-piercing forrow of |