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SECTION I.-THE PREDICTIONS OF MOSES. The predicted judg-

ments of God upon disobedience. The Chaldæans and Romans. Par-

ticulars of the final dispersion of the Jews specified. p. 462.

SECTION II.-PREDICTIONS MADE BY THE JEWISH PROPHETS. The
dismemberment of the kingdom of Israel. The destruction of idola-
trous priests. The captivity of Israel. The preservation of Judah.
The Captivity-Its precise duration. Cyrus. The destruction of

HISTORY OF THE JEWS,

IN ALL AGES.

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

INTRODUCTORY.

FROM THE CREATION OF THE WORLD TO THE CALL OF

ABRAM.

SECTION I.

THE CREATION.

WHAT is the first principle stated in the Holy Scriptures?

THAT there is a great First Cause, to whose wisdom and energy, the primitive formation of the universe is exclusively to be ascribed, is the first principle which is stated in the volume of inspiration. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth”—that is, according to the exposition of the immortal Newton, "God, in the beginning, created by his power, and set in order by the counsels of his intelligence, all material things, in such sizes and figures, and with such other properties, and in other proportions to space, as most conduced to the end for which he formed them."

How is the great work of Creation described in the Bible?

Having stated this great principle, the sacred narrative proceeds to detail the process, by which this

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terrestrial globe was prepared to become the residence of a race of intelligent and immortal beings, and a scene for the astonishing display of the divine glory. "The earth was without form," or invisible, concealed by the waters which flowed over its surface; and "void," or unfurnished, unprepared for the reception of its subsequent inhabitants; while "the Spirit of God," or, as the Psalmist explains it, "the breath of his mouth," moved upon the bosom of the deep. Thus "He covered the earth with the deep as with a garment: the waters stood above the mountains." Psa. civ. 6. The omnipotent fiat then went forth, "Light be," and light immediately was; while at this first sudden and magnificent illumination of the universe, "the morning stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for joy. The darkness was divided from the light; the names of day and night were imposed; and the first momentous day in the annals of time terminated, with the formation of the whole material fabric of the globe. Then the watery vapours, which during the preceding day had been constantly ascending from the aqueous surface beneath, were separated from it, and raised to an adequate elevation above it by the formation of an atmosphere; and this stupendous and glorious operation, closed the second day. Again the voice of the Omnipotent was heard; the mandate was given for the collection of the waters and the appearance of the dry land; by a sublime exertion of Almighty power, the fabric of the globe was changed; to an abyss thus provided for them by this astonishing revolution, the floods immediately rolled; at "his rebuke the waters fled; at the voice of his thunder they hasted away; they went over the mountains; they went down by the valleys, unto the place which he founded for them. He set a bound that they might not pass over; that they turned not again to cover the earth." Psa. civ. 7-10. The surface of the globe was instantly employed for the purpose for which it had been formed and disengaged from the waters; the system of vegetation, with its established laws, was brought into existence; and the trees of the forest and the verdure of the field, instead of rising by a gradual process of growth, were at once perfectly formed in the full maturity of all their productions. Such were the opera

tions of the third day. Then the obscurity which had shrouded the brilliant luminaries of the skies was removed; the vivifying rays of the sun by day, and the silver beams of the moon by night, enlightened the world, and "acquired their first optical existence as it respects the earth;" and the heavenly bodies were appropriated to the uses to which they were severally designed to conduce, as indications of time. The command was given, and was performed; "Let it be, that the lights in the firmament of heaven for dividing between the day and the night, be for signs, and for seasons, and for solemn days, and for years." And to the present hour, these glorious orbs have dispersed their lustre unimpaired in their splendour; and so they shall remain, according to the will and the promise of their Creator, until the tremendous day of doom shall arrive, and the globe shall disappear amidst the flames of the final conflagration. On the fifth day, were formed the winged tribes which "fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven," and the marine animals, from the most immense to the most minute, began to swarm in the depths of the sea. The sixth day was distinguished by the vast enlargement of the kingdom of animal existence, by the formation of the "beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth on the earth after his kind."

Describe the Creation of Man.

The sacred narrator introduces, with peculiar circumstances of dignity, the constitution of intellectual, moral, and immortal being. "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness......So God created man in his own image; in the image of God, created he him." It is evidently impossible that this language can apply to the construction of the human form, however superior in dignity and beauty to the figure of the animals. For God dwelleth in light, which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see:" but since the Scriptures elsewhere place the image of God "in righteousness and true holiness,' ," it may be concluded, that the phrase refers to

Eph, iv. 24. Col. iii. 10.

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