the Almighty, against these shocking idolatries, and repeatedly threatened with the judgments which would follow their transgression and wickedness, and awfully and repeatedly punished for practising these horrible iniquities, which at length brought down the vengeance of God on these nations. Canaan was swept with the besom of destruction, and Egypt became the basest of kingdoms. What a melancholy and dreadful picture of human degeneracy is here! that a nation, the most refined and polite, which boasted of its antiquity, and superiority over all others, in invention, discoveries, wisdom, and learning, should exceed all others in their gross, absurd, and cruel superstitions and idolatries; what a demonstration is here that the world by wisdom knew not God, and that without a divine revelation of his will, no clear apprehensions of his being and attributes, nor the worship due to him, can be obtained. What an unspeakable blessing -family, all in a few years, Egypt was taken possession of by one of his generals, and continued long governed by the Ptolemies. Lagus became very partial to Alexandria, and during his flourishing reign, rendered its port the mart of Africa, and by the construction of the Pharos, which takes its date in this reign, it was deemed one of the wonders of the world. The other Ptolemies followed his example, enriched it with Grecian arts, and formed those celebrated libraries, which excited the admiration of cotemporary travellers. Cleopatra, the last Grecian sovereign of Egypt, attempting to excel all her predecessors in magnificent buildings, erected several, more splendid than elegant, and more brilliant than useful, though several, which take date in her reign, now exhibit ruins of the first celebrity. During the reigns of the Ptolemies, the Jews were much encouraged in Egypt, and Ptolemy Philadelphus, or his son, caused the Scriptures to be translated into the Greek language, then generally known, which, with the dispersion of the Jews into almost every country, enlightened the nations, struck at the foundation of idolatry, and prepared mankind for the manifestation of the Messiah. CHAP. XX. Wonderful Preservation of the Sacred Scriptures-Their unspeakable Value-Blessed Effects produced by them-Disingenuousness and Ingratitude of the Infidel—His cheerless System contrasted with the animating and purifying Experience of the Truth of the Bible, instanced in a Believer, in his departing Moments-SecurityCaution to young and unexperienced Persons-Preparations for Departure-Final Farewell Anticipation-Camelion-Brief Account of this curious Animal-Pleasant Passage to Malta-Hint to MarinersPassage to Barbary-Description of Tunis, as connected with Carthage-Present State. THE preservation of the Scriptures during so many ages, calls for increasing gratitude. and admiration, as a marvellous display of infinite wisdom, goodness, and power. When we consider the author, antiquity, matter, and end of this wonderful book, its value becomes unspeakably great, as it is alone able to make men wise unto salvation, through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. What a mercy, that amidst the fall of empires, kingdoms, and states, the change of manners, customs, and the whole fa ce of worldly affairs, the mutability of language, the wars of bigotry, and rage of persecution, the devastation of the sword, pestilence, fire, and earthquake, the determined enmity, and deep-laid schemes of the scourges of mankind, and enemies to truth and goodness, to root out, as it were, every vestige of the Sacred Writings, and to extirpate the very names of Jew and Christian out of the earth. What a mercy of mercies is it that this infinitely precious gift to man, these lively oracles, these sacred records of the Almighty's dealings and communications with his creatures, emphatically called the Book, as putting at an infinite distance every other |