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him of the future depravity and servitude of his offspring, to which his own example would largely contribute.

A third question is, in what respects was this curse fulfilled? We answer, it was verified 1st, by the destruction or subjugation of the Canaanites to the people of Israel, the descendants of Shem; 2d, by the conquest and extermination of the Tyrians, Thebans, and Carthaginians, who were also Ham's posterity, by the Greeks and Romans, who descended from Japhet; and 3dly, by the present servile and wretched condition of the Africans, who sprang from the same fatal stock, compared with the state of Europeans, who originated from a different branch of the Patriarch's family. Those, who wish to be greatly entertained and confirmed by fully comparing these historic facts with the predictions of Noah, are referred to the masterly treatise of Newton on the prophe

cies.

LECTURE II.

Its

Patriarchal government farther illustrated. Sentence of Jacob on his twelve sons. Special government of the Jews. leading design, the preservation of the true religion among them, in connection with their temporal freedom and prosperity. Why temporal blessings and evils employed to enforce this constitution. Objections answered. Hebrew policy contrasted with that of the

antient heathens.

IN

the beginning of our first Lecture of this kind we informed you that, in obedience to the will of the Founder of the theological professorship, and of the College Legislature, we had determined to give you a series of private discourses on Jewish and Christian Antiquities. After hinting a few things on the importance of being acquainted with the antiquities of the Jews, particularly as such knowledge affords the best clue to the meaning, propriety, and beauty of many parts of their inspired scriptures; we proposed to begin our disquisitions by attending to their civil polity. To throw light on this, we went into a brief investigation of the origin and progress of civil government in the early ages. The result of this inquiry was, that political government was at first parental or patriarchal; that in time it branched out and grew up into a number of more extended and independent monarchies; that the sovereignties, however, were primarily, or at least ultimately established by express or implied agreement between the rulers and subjects; and that there is no proof from Scripture, reason, or history, that the early founders and governors of man, kind possessed unlimited power, much less that they transmitted it by hereditary succession in the line of their Яrstborn.

Having made these preliminary observations, we proceeded to notice some faint vestiges of a limited patriarchal government in the story of Cain and of Lamech before the flood, and in the sentence denounced by Noah after that deluge upon a wicked son and his future descend

ants.

Omitting several other traces of civil authority, exercised by succeeding patriarchs, let us advert a few moments to the sentence, pronounced by Jacob just before his death on each of his respective sons, and the several tribes, of which they were the destined founders. Two of these sons, viz. Simeon and Levi, for their perfidious and barbarous murder of the Shechemites, are thus denounced by their dying father-" Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." This prophetic doom was remarkably verified. For though the land of Canaan was divided among the Israelites by the contingency of lots; yet the tribe of Simeon had no distinct portion assigned to it, but only a small inheritance in the midst of the tribe of Judah ; and the posterity of Levi had no separate inheritance in lands, like the rest of the Hebrews, except a few cities with their suburbs taken from the possessions of all the other tribes. Thus the families of Simeon and Levi, in exact agreement with this prophecy, continued divided and scattered in Israel, to the end of their commonwealth. This address of Jacob to his sons foretels with great exactness many other surprising traits in the characters and circumstances of their future offspring. We will select one remarkable instance. In blessing the tribe of Judah he utters this prediction-" The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his

feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be." That by Shiloh is intended the Messiah appears from the import of the Hebrew word, which the most learned critics derive from verbs, signifi ing either to send, to enjoy peace, or to prosper and save; and which accordingly denotes the great promised Messenger, Peace maker, or Saviour. It also appears from its being included in the appropriate blessing pronounced upon Judah, to whom the preeminence or highest privilege belonged; from the gathering of the people to this Shiloh, which is the same with all nations being converted to and blessed in him; from the consent of all the antient, and many of the modern Jews, as well as Christians; and finally from the exact agreement of the prophecy, thus understood, with the truth of facts before and after the coming of Christ. It is a fact, that a scepter or lawgiver, that is the supreme government of Israel was first set up in the tribe of Judah, in the person of David, and continued in that tribe, in a line of regular descent from him till the time of the Babylonish captivity; after which it still subsisted in the same tribe under a different form, till the birth of our Saviour. But soon after this event Judea was made a Roman province; its civil administration was transferred to Roman governors; and not long after its capital city was destroyed, and its surviving inhabitants dispersed. Since this dispersion the family of Judah has been so far from possessing civil authority, that its very existence, as a distinct tribe, has been confounded and lost. This train of facts at once explains the meaning, and proves the divine inspiration of this antient prediction.

Having briefly traced the history of that authority, which was possessed by the early ancestors of the Jew

ish nation, we are prepared to examine the special gov ernment of this people from the commencement of their civil polity to its final extinction. To form a just estimate of this government, we must first attend to its leading design, or inquire what objects the Deity proposed in its erection. If we can show that the ends designed by it were worthy of God, and that the means employed were eminently adapted to those ends, you will need no other proof of its wisdom and excellence.

The Hebrew constitution, like all good governments, was intended to protect the freedom, property, and peace of the community at large, and of its several members. But this was not its only intention. It was also designed to preserve in that nation the knowledge and service of the one true God, and to set up an effectual barrier against the contagious and destructive evils of idolatry. Agreeably, the Jewish form of government was founded in a mutual and explicit contract to the following purpose-The people, on their part, solemnly chose or accepted Jehovah as their political, as well as religious Sovereign, engaging to adhere to his worship and laws, in opposition to every species of idolatry: God, on his part, promised that on this condition he would govern, protect and bless them in a peculiar and immediate way, securing to them not only the transcendent privileges and comforts of the true religion, but high degrees of tempoporal liberty, peace and prosperity. The reasons why temporal blessings and evils are so much employed to enforce this constitution, are weighty and obvious. It was fit that God, as the political King of Israel, should guard his laws with political sanctions. Such sanctions were peculiarly needful and beneficial to so gross a people, as the Jews, and in a period of the world, when the doc

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