It is remarkable that from the Book of Genesis we derive the only true and authentic history of mankind from the creation of the world. Moses, the inspired writer of that inestimable record, had also written the Book of Job for the use and improvement of the Israelites in the wilderness. This was fifteen hundred years before the birth of Christ. Moses had the great advantage of being descended from Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, yet was the son of a poor woman of Israel. Both his father and his mother were of the tribe of Levi, the son of Jacob. Four hundred years were the Israelites kept like slaves in Egypt, where they were employed in building large cities and temples to Heathen gods, also pyramids and tombs. Some of the kings of Egypt were men of very superior wisdom and humanity, and greatly encouraged the pursuits of science, and all mental intelligence. The Egyptians possessed great knowledge of agriculture; by which corn and wine were found in Egypt, when the rest of the inhabitants of the world were only shepherds, by which means they had made that kingdom pre-eminent, when Moses was born, and adopted by the Princess, the daughter of the King. Moses by this means had got a very superior education. He was chosen by God to be the agent by whom the Almighty was to make himself manifest to mankind, agreeably to the Divine will, in the progress of time, from the days of Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jacob. To all of them God had conveyed by Angels information of his will,

that the Seed of the woman would bruise, and gradually destroy the evil Spirit which was permitted to tempt and try the obedience and the virtue of Adam and Eve.

In various of the learned writings of Judge Hale on Divinity, he agrees with Dr. Barrow, his intimate friend, (who was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge) regarding original sin. "Various are the degrees of sin derived from our first parents; we can only judge of that subject as through a glass darkly," says St. Paul of the transgression committed in the garden of Eden. We can suppose justly that Adam and Eve were highly endowed with great powers and perfections by God Almighty, to enable them to attain perfect happi

All that was grand, beautiful, and interesting was placed around them. Every beast, every bird, every fruit, every flower was in great perfection. They were subject to no sickness, no pain, no poverty, no fear of death, with very considerable free agency, the liberty of choice, well described by Moses to the Israelites in his last discourses to them, so highly important, where, after two long chapters, (the 28th and 29th of Deuteronomy), he says in the thirtieth, "Thou shalt obey the voice of the Lord, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day. For this commandment, (to love and obey God), is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, who shall go up for us to Heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it, and do

it? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, who shall go over the sea, and bring it unto us, that we may hear and do it? The word, said Moses, (meaning the word of God), is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, in thy heart, that thou mayst do it, meaning, Do thy duty to God and man, and obey the commandments of God." Again, he says in the same chapter, " See, I have set before thee this day life and good, death and evil." Again Moses says, in the same chapter, "I call Heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that thou and thy seed may live." St. Paul preached similar words, and similar commands, when he said, "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you," meaning, resist the first beginnings of pride and sin, before the Devil gets any strength to enable him to destroy the works of God, and the faith and virtue of mankind, which he begins to do always by small matters. The apple of Eve (which has been a stumbling block to many weak minds) had been the first beginning of pride and self-conceit, by which discontent is produced, and is soon followed by sinful propensities and passions offensive to God. We have mentioned that the learned Judge had often written verses; many of them are full of piety and cheerfulness. We extract the following, The fall of Adam.

ON EVE.

In Eden's gardens, Eve was seen,
In wit and beauty she was Queen,
Our mother Eve, can it be true?
The fashion led, of stockings blue.
In learning she laid down the law,
In Paradise no rivals saw.
O! let her daughters all beware,
Her pride of talent was her snare.

When fallen from her high estate,
And toil and death her future fate,
When pain and penitence oppress'd her,
The Angel Gabriel thus address'd her,
"O daughter of affliction! rise,
And raise thy soul to reach the skies,
Celestial light shall yet appear,
Let faith and hope extinguish fear:
All mental gifts we owe to Heaven,
And nothing here is perfect given.
Yet the Almighty, wise and just,
Knows that your feeble frame is dust,
And gentle virtues void of strife
Shall sweeten your domestic life.
An innocent and cheerful heart,
Candour and sense, disdaining art.
While mankind have got various powers
For grave pursuits, or cheerful hours,
If my wise dictates you pursue,
Your pleasures will be ever new;
Too high for sordid minds to know,
Who on themselves all good bestow,
When the true wisdom from above,'
Is temper, patience, truth, and love."

6

We do not hear of any excellent merits of Adam after the fall. He lived nine hundred and thirty years, and by the best chronological accounts we know that the deluge destroyed all mankind about sixteen hundred and fifty-seven years after Adam and Eve had left Paradise, or seven hundred and twenty years after the death of Adam. We read in the 6th chapter of Genesis, "God said to Noah, (who was a just man and perfect) The earth is corrupted, and full of violence, my spirit shall not always strive with man. The wickedness of man is great, and I will destroy mankind from the face of the earth, for the imaginations of the thoughts of his heart are evil." Here we see that the Spirit of God knows the heart, and all its imaginations. Bad passions, if not subdued, will enter into the heart of man, beginning indeed by little degrees, but soon advancing by rapid and alarming steps, and poisoning the happiness which God intended for mankind. Yet the Almighty has placed good and evil before them, to choose what is good, and avoid what is evil. But the beginning of all happiness must be found in habits of virtue and piety. Mankind must correct the temper and the heart; the sinful passions must be subdued by religion and reason. It is only by the Scriptures, diligently searched, that we can teach the heart to know God. His power, wisdom, and goodness will appear more and more wonderful; his laws will give happiness to mankind. By them we have light in darkness, and by the Gospel of Christ the heart feels that