and exact statistics, that their number at this moment is very nearly the same as it was on their leaving Egypt under Moses-somewhere about three millions and a half. Now, the only way in which their preservation can be accounted for is by accepting the scriptural solution of the fact, and ascribing it to the miraculous exercise of the Divine Power. This, indeed, is very generally admitted already. The visions of the poet are haunted by the fact, as by a voice from the invisible world. The philosophic historian confesses that he has no place for it in all his generalizations; and refers it to the mysteries of Providence. The enlightened Christian recognises in it the presence and agency of Him who hath said, "I am God, I change not therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." The Jew himself is, of course, willing to ascribe it to the hand of God, for it ministers to his selfimportance. But when, in the best, the highest respect, he "shall be turned unto the Lord," in how different a sense will he trace the preservation of his people to the Divine Being! A time of conversion is a period of reflection and review. How many a man converted late in life-converted towards the close of a long and hazardous career-awakes as from a dream to spend the rest of his days in grateful astonishment at the power which "preserved him in Christ Jesus" till he was called. He clearly sees that his past history exhibits one continued series of Divine interpositions for his safety; and as his fellow-Christians listen to his tale of the Divine goodness, 'they glorify God in him." But here will be a whole people converted in the evening of time. And when it shall be remembered that they were called in the morning of time; that they were then the subjects of Divine 66 impressions; that God himself could say concerning II. But will it not further redound to the glory of God when it shall be seen that the preservation of the Jews has not been effected by mere power-by the capricious exercise of blind force, or arbitrary might,— but that, from first to last, that power was under the guidance of wisdom, or was exercised according to a plan? A new light is dawning on the mind of men respecting the existence and the nature of this plan. History is beginning to be written in a new manner. Formerly the historian was only required to collect and to record facts. But at length it has occurred to him that all the facts of history are, in a variety of ways 4 connected; that could the principles of this connexion be traced and developed, it would be found that all history forms one organic whole; and, hence, to trace and to expound these principles has now come to be considered the highest office of the historian-the very philosophy of history a philosophy dignified by the name of "The New Science." It should be remembered however by every lover of the Bible that its histories were never written in any other way. Some of the modern writers of history indeed are free to acknowledge, and even to lay stress on the fact as very remarkable, that the man who made one of the first sustained and consistent attempts to exhibit the facts of universal history in ideal unity should have been an ecclesiastic-Bossuet; that philosophy should have been indebted to theology for this prolific suggestion. But Biblical history, I repeat, was never written in any other way. It both states the facts, and the principles which unite them. True, after sketching, by a few masterly strokes, the history of the race from the creation to the dispersion at Babel, it does not follow each branch of the human family, but confines its history to one-that of the Jews. But in the history of that one, you have, in effect, a type of the whole. And more; in the history of that one, you frequently catch glimpses of the othersglimpses of them at the most eventful moments of their existence. You see them, for example, as on the plains of Dura-the world in an act of idolatrous worship ;—or you hear the tramp of their armies going forth to depopulate whole regions; or you hear the crush of towers and thrones smitten by an invisible hand. And more still; the Bible is prophetic as well as historic ; affords us visions of the future as well as records of the past. Here the idea of the unity and universality of Providence in the history of man is fully brought out. Before Herodotus, called the Father of History, had begun to amass his confused materials, Isaiah had sung the glory of the latter day; and Daniel had foretold the kingdoms which would arise, and the order of their succession, to the end of time. Nay, ages earlier than "Ask thy father," said thy elders, and they will Again, then, I repeat the Bible never spoke of the course of human events but as conducted on a great plan. -And with this peculiarity, that from the time of the promise to Abraham, "that in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed," the entire plan was regulated in relation to his posterity. that, the plan began to evolve. Moses, "and he will show thee; tell thee. When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." Yes, before Moses, before Pisgah itself, from which Moses looked down on the promised land, existed, His eye had looked down from the height of his sanctuary, and had beheld prospectively that Sinai whence his law should be given-that Zion which should be crowned with his temple-and that Calvary which should receive the mystery of the Cross. The great principle on which the habitable part of the globe was moulded and mapped out, was a principle of relation to his chosen people. And, as the great drama of Providence unfolded, act after act, the civilized portion of the world invariably found itself involved with that people. Think of those noble Psalms, the 78th, 105th, and 106th, in which you have the recapitulations of their early history; do you not hear Jehovah, as he leads them through the nations, saying, "Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm?" Are they invaded and oppressed?" Who delivered up Jacob to be a spoil, and Israel to the plunderers ?-Was it not Jehovah ?" saith the prophet; "He against whom they had sinned." Does the Assyrian monarch afflict Israel?" The Assyrian, saith God, is the rod in my hand." Does the Persian deliver Israel?" I called thee distinctly by thy name," saith God to Cyrus; "I made honourable mention of thee, though thou knewest me not." Did nations change hands in consequence of the Persian movement ?" "I," saith God to his people, "I have given Egypt for thy ransom; Cush and Seba for thee." The transfer was Persia's reward for Israel's liberation. Have the ancient persecutors of Israel perished? Their destruction was foretold; and this was the reason assigned for it: "Jehovah hath a day of vengeance, a year of recompence in vindication of Zion." "Search out,' saith the prophet, "search out from the not one of these shall fail." And when, at length, "the time shall have come, yea, the set time to favour Zion "for even that is foretold; when in the light of a Divine teaching they shall search out of the book of Jehovah, and read; when they shall see that in all their wanderings from God, he has never allowed them to pass beyond the lines of a plan which his own finger had traced out; that, as often as they essayed to do so, they invariably encountered some form of evil arresting their progress, which He had foretold; that, in that comprehensive plan, every useful agent had his post assigned, every event its book of Jehovah, and read: |