We may mention another example ;-that of Job, who, in all his variety of suffering, held fast his integrity, and openly maintained, such was his confidence in the divine justice, that, should the disorder which had already consumed his skin go on to destroy his body, he believed that in his flesh'-while yet among the living-he should be restored to the favor of God. If we remember that life and immortality were not then brought to light; that he and his friends both believed this world to be the only place of retribution, we shall see that this confidence was devoted and sublime. How any one can believe that he was acquainted with the future state, except as an imagination, we do not know, when the single word immortality,' could he have spoken it, would have overthrown all the long arguments of his friends to show that he had sinned because he suffered, and would have lighted up his heart like a flame of fire. Had he known that state of retribution, the language of complaint and defiance to the Almighty which he used, would have been unpardonable. As it was, his fortitude was noble and commanding in one, who, to all appearance, was standing on the awful boundary between the living and the dead. But his endurance, great as it was, is not such as is expected and demanded in a Christian.

which can

There is another common and pernicious error, be traced directly to the use of the Old Testament without regard to the design of its parts, and the times when and for which they were written. It is the doctrine that misfortunes are sent as judgments for sin; a doctrine manifestly belonging to an age when another life was unknown, or known only as a dim and imperfect reflection of the present life, and therefore one of the first errors which the light of Christianity might have been expected to dispel. The friends of Job took it for granted that whoever sinned was punished, and that no man ever suffered who was not guilty, and, knowing nothing of the future state, supposed that those judgments must be experienced now. To all their reasonings Job had nothing to return, except that he had an unshaken confidence in God, and believed that he would as certainly do justice to the innocent as the guilty. Owing to his ignorance, his hands were bound. But he would have asked no more than a single ray of the light which we enjoy, to bring his pertinacious friends to shame, and to strengthen him for his departure which seemed so near at hand.

Still, in some portions of the earth, and those not usually considered the darkest, men talk of judgments as if the present were the state of retribution. Forgetting that whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth,' they believe, as we have seen it expressed, that all their neighbours' misfortunes are judgments, and all their own are trials. It is in vain that our Saviour explained this very error to the Jews, telling them that the persons on whom the tower fell, and the idolaters whom Pilate slew, did not suffer, as they supposed, because they were worse than others. Such language is still used in the world, and there are many who look upon those who use it, as subjects of admiration for their piety, not as deserving pity for their unacquaintance with the character and providence of God.

This comes of reading the Hebrew scriptures with a veil upon the heart, and applying what was said of far off ages, to our own. The Jews lived under a system which made their national prosperity dependent on their fidelity to God. But now every one sees that prosperity does not follow the order of moral distinctions, though it is certain that it is our interest to be Christians in this world, even were there none beyond it. As a general rule the bad are miserable, and the just are happy. Still there are exceptions, and the knowledge of a future state is needed to explain the mysterious events of this. We know of no inflictions in the order of Providence, no sorrows sent on purpose to punish the guilty soul. The misery which is called the future punishment of sin, is a natural and inseparable consequence of sin, not a judgment sent directly down by the Almighty; and the accidents and misfortunes of life, which are sometimes so severe, are means by which the character is formed, because, like him who was made perfect through sufferings, our virtue must pass through trial and exposure, before God will pronounce it good.

We might also refer to the superstition which has been encouraged by reading the Hebrew scriptures without understanding. This may seem like a trifle. But superstition is not always harmless, like that which spreads paleness through the winter evening circle. It has done much to debase manly and powerful understandings. Witness Johnson, who would fain believe in ghosts, because he wanted more evidence of a spiritual world; as if sensible forms, visible to the eye, could be any evidence of spiritual and unseen things. The history of justice in this country, as well as in England, affords many examples

of the strange manner in which superstition has made savages of tolerably enlightened men, and taught them that the command thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,' was a sufficient justification for all manner of hypocrisy and falsehood in executing the sentence of blood; for we defy any one to read the registry of witchcraft in our land, without the conviction that there was unexampled knavery in those who were thought to be simply deluded, and that it was justified to their conscience by the denunciations of the Hebrew law against witches and offenders of that description. It seems certain that they imposed upon others, and it is probable that, like all deceivers, they imposed in a measure upon themselves.

We do not think that the Old Testament, read with any understanding, encourages this kind of superstition. Moses, in this provision against sorcery, knowing that such impostors were the pest of every unenlightened people, and might easily gain a dangerous influence, made the punishment severe enough to deter them from the crime. It does not appear that he believed in the reality of their powers and charms. We can infer nothing from his language, except that others believed; for the sternest infidel in New England might have approved severe statutes against witches, as persons who live by abusing the credulity and encouraging the vices of men. In the story of the resurrection of Samuel by the witch of Endor, everything bears the mark of evident imposture. The witch knew Saul by his extraordinary height, and his attendants. The ghost did not appear to Saul, except in the woman's own description; and the prophecy was made at a venture, trusting that his own desperation would make it true. While, therefore, we cannot charge the writers of the Old Testament with giving wrong impressions, it is evident that superstition has found its strong hold in the Hebrew scriptures, and can never be dislodged, till those remarkable writings, with their time and circumstance, spirit and letter, are better and more generally understood.

But we let these things pass, in order to show how entirely readers of the Old Testament lose the consolations of religion. The Hebrew faith never taught the immortality of the soul. Doubtless, there were intimations of this truth before Christianity. But the first clear, full, and convincing disclosure of a future existence, was made by him who died and rose again. Before he came, the grave was cold and dreary; no human eye could look through its caverns; no returning footprint was

ever seen in the churchyard way; no word of God revealed the destiny of man. And yet, in the day of solitude, sorrow, and bereavement, Christians turn over the pages of ancient inspiration, for that comfort which gilds every page of the gospel. When they pay the last tribute of affection, you hear them reading from that word which sums up all that was then known of the departed, in the withering sentence, 'dust to dust.' No wonder they mourn. Such language gives a double chilness to sorrow, and a deeper darkness to the tomb. If they had no other consolation, their tears would flow till time should dry them away. Happily they have. If they only lift up their eyes, they see the Sun of Righteousness rising, and his first warm radiance cast on the dark mountains on which their weary feet have trod.

Other instances might be pointed out, in which men go to the Old Testament for that instruction which it was never meant to afford them, and return without benefit, though not always without injury, from that word of truth which might have enlightened and improved them, had they read it without the veil on their hearts. But we may trace the effect of this misuse of it in the religious spirit of the present day. It is not the free and joyous reverence which should be paid to God. It is not that surrender of the heart and affections which duty and improvement require. It is a sullen devotion, a slavish submission. It is more like the studied homage offered to a king, than the pouring out of the soul in gratitude for a father's never weary love. It loves darkness rather than light. It is more at home in some melancholy tabernacle, than in the open sunshine and the broad creation.. It is not the feeling inspired by a deep acknowledgement of the great perfections of God. We are impressed with the conviction, that the religion of many good Christians is but an imperfect likeness of that contained in the gospel. There, we read that devotion is a manly fervor, benevolence a noble and ever active principle; that Christianity is something more than a name and a profession, and that it absolutely and entirely disowns the livery or chain of party. And we fear that one great cause of it is, that men go to sit at the feet of kings and prophets, whilst the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than they-whilst the humblest Christian could have taught them that of their destiny, which they would have given worlds to know, had it not been revealed.

Let no one charge us with undervaluing the Old Testament,

because we say of it that it does not contain Christianity, and that men do wrong to go to it to learn the duties, feelings, and consolations of the christian religion. Deny it who can! We acknowledge the grandeur of its inspirations, the sublimity of its visions of God. We love the plaintive music of its hymns. We feel the greatness of the prophets, who sent a gleam of light down into future ages, seeing what none beside could see, hearing what others could not hear. We bow with reverence to all those mighty men, who, in their successive ages, lifted up the banner of religion and of God. Still we must say, that the Hebrew faith is not Christianity-it was only the preparation, which, when that which was perfect came, was ready to be done away.

8vo.

ART. VI. 1. Du Perfectionnement Moral, ou de l'Education de Soi-même. Par M. DEGERANDO. Seconde Edition. Paris. 1826. 2 tom. 2. Self-education, or the Means and Art of Moral Progress. Translated from the French of M. LE BARON DEGERANDO. Boston. Carter & Hendee. 1830. 8vo. pp. 456.

OUR readers may remember the opinion, expressed in a former number, that we have no ethical work of any living English writer, to be compared to the treatise, which we have now placed at the head of this article. We might, perhaps, with perfect justice, make this remark still more comprehensive, and declare our conviction that it holds a station in moral philosophy, which has not been filled by any writer in our language, either among the living or the dead. We do not mean to intimate by this, that it is superior, in all respects, to every treatise on morals which has preceded it. We would not have it understood, that we are insensible to the various merits of the great English moralists, by whose writings the habits of thought on ethical subjects, in our own country, have been principally formed. The theory of morals has certainly been discussed with uncommon ability, by some of the most acute minds in England, since the shock it received, in the age of Charles II., from the speculations of Hobbes. His writings were the signal for the commencement of an effectual study of human na