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fupport of this opinion, which, as it was originally held, was not at all inconfiftent with the unity of the Deity, he quotes Pfalm viii. 5. where they are represented as little fuperior to mankind. The introduction of thefe beings gives the Hebrew poetry, fays M. HERDER, the genuine characters of fublimity and truth; and renders it peculiarly adapted to the purposes of religious inftruction.

The ideas of the ancient Hebrews concerning the invifible world, and their notions of chaos, are inveftigated with great accuracy and judgment in the third dialogue: the book of Job forms the fubject of the fourth and fifth. The exquifite tafte, with which the author enters into the spirit of this admirable poem, the judicious and striking light, in which be confiders and illuftrates its numerous beauties, his excellent obfervations on its defign and tendency, the warm and liberal piety with which he feems infpired, together with his animated and pleafing ftyle of compofition, entitle him to a very high rank as a good critic, and an elegant writer.

Among the various opinions, which have been maintained concerning the hero of this poem, M. HERDER inclines to that expreffed in the note fubjoined to the Septuagint verfion; and fuppofes Job to have been an Emir, or Prince, who lived in the neighbourhood of Idumea, and was defcended from Efau. The afflictions which befel this excellent man, and his exemplary i behaviour under them, are here confidered as facts; and the author thinks that the poem founded on them, with all its beautiful imagery and fublime machinery, was composed by fome bard among his fubjects, or perhaps one of his family, with a view to communicate inftruction to mankind, by cele brating the virtues of his prince. M. HERDER is of opinion, that it was originally written in Hebrew; but that it was unknown to the Jews, till the conqueft of the Edomites by David: his reafons for this conjecture are ingenious and plausible, and are founded on a comparison between the ftyle and imagery of fome of the Pfalms, with the fragments of Jewish poetry of preceding periods. He confiders the manner in which Satan is introduced in the firft chapter of Job, as a proof of the great antiquity of this book, and a powerful argument against thofe, who fuppofe the poet to have been a Chaldean. The Satan of this people was an evil principle, like the Arimanius of the Perfians; but, in the book of Job, he appears in a very different character, as a minifter of judgment, commiffioned to explore and punith the fins of mankind; he is reprefented as one of the angels, and as paying his homage with them, in the prefence of the Sovereign of the Universe: he executes with fidelity the order given to him, without tranfgreffing its limits; and though his fufpicions, with respect to Job's integrity, feem rather unfavour

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able to his character, yet, we find, that fo far from incurring the Divine difpleasure, the permiffion to afflict this excellent fufferer, appears to have been given with an inftructive view,to convince him of the power and excellence of piety in beings inferior to himself. After dwelling at confiderable length on the beauties of this poem, M. HERDER apoftrophifes its unknown author in a moft animated and eloquent manner.

The account tranfmitted by Mofes, of the paradifiacal state, and of the fall, is confidered, in the fixth dialogue, as an allegorical and poetical narration of real facts; but the manner in which M. HERDER attempts to explain this allegory, however ingenious it may be thought, will not, perhaps, be deemed very fatisfactory. He thinks that the defcription of the garden of Eden is a poetical fiction, representing a ftate of pure and unimpaffioned affection, in which our common parents paffed the first period of their life; but which the Creator intended as only preparatory to their further deftination, and to be of fhort continuance: they ate the forbidden fruit; their paffions were inflamed, and they violated a pofitive prohibition, defigned only as a temporary trial; to this act of difobedience, fucceeded the painful fenfations of remorfe and terror. In this diftreffed ftate of their minds, their heavenly Father takes occafion to point out the natural confequences of their tranfgreffion, and to convince them of the neceffity of felf-government; he teaches them to know and abhor their feducer; and, from the alteration which had taken place in their feelings and circumftances, indicates the new scenes of life in which they were to engage. Eve was to exchange the bridal ftate of Paradife, for the duties of the wife, and the pains and cares of the mother: Adam, inftead of the eafy culture of Eden, which had been the pleasing employment of his preparatory ftate, was to be occupied in more arduous labours, for which, however, he was originally intended: a profpect of the difficulties and diftreffes of their future ftate of probation in this life was laid before them, by which their minds were gradually prepared for the fentence of death, which was denounced in the gentleft manner. In fhort, the first tranfgreffion of man was, in M. HERDER'S opinion, rendered the means of introducing him into thofe circumstances for which he was originally defigned; and what had the appearance of a punishment, was, like all the corrective difpenfations of Infinite Goodness, a real bleffing in difguife. The hiftory of the fall, he adds, thus confidered, is applicable to all mankind:

We are always fubject to fome prohibitory law, indicated either by the dictates of confcience, or by pofitive prefcription: a ferpent, which feduces, or feeks to feduce, is ever prefent; our fenfual defires, the errors of reafon, or, perhaps, both these causes united: the confequences of tranfgreffion are ever the fame; and I trust that the punishments, which our merciful God and Father provides for

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all his erring creatures, will always be of a fimilar nature, that by truly paternal, though apparently fevere difpenfations, they will promote our beft and final happiness."

Such are the ideas of the author on this interefting fubject. The feventh and eighth dialogues treat of the opinions of the ancient Hebrews concerning the nature and deftination of man, and the judicial providence of God. They are full of excellent obfervations, both of a critical and philofophical nature. The judicious and friking metaphors by which the facred writers indicated the infirmity of human nature, and the frailty of human life; their notions of the breath of God, as the univerfal principle of animation, of the immediate and abfolute dependance of all creatures on the Supreme Being, and of the particular paternal relation in which he ftood to his people, together with the influence of these fentiments on their poetry, are here amply dif cuffed and well illuftrated. He obferves, that the doctrine of a future ftate of happiness with God, was an effential article of their belief; and that they thought the fouls of good men entered on this felicity immediately after their decease, and joined their ancestors in the heavenly Canaan; to this opinion, the expref fion of being gathered to their fathers, evidently refers.

In the ninth dialogue, M. HERDER vindicates the writings of the Old Testament from the imputations, often caft on them, of fuggefting narrow and partial ideas of Providence; and, in the tenth, he inquires into the antiquity of the Hebrew, which, though he does not think the original language of Paradife, he confiders as one of the moft ancient that are derived from it.

In the firft differtation of the fecond volume, M. HERDER particularly examines the origin and nature of Hebrew poetry, explains and illuftrates feveral obfervations, which he had made in the preceding dialogues, and reduces them into a more regular order. The earlier traditions of the Hebrews were, he thinks, handed down to fucceeding generations as family or national poems, in which facts were related in figurative expreffions, and adorned with allegorical allufions founded on the names of perfons and places: this ftyle, he obferves, prevails in their historical books, down to the time of their Kings. Of this, he cites several inftances in the courfe of his work, taken, no only from the ancient monuments collected by Mofes, but alo from the book of Joshua, and that of Judges. To this cafs, he refers the account of the fun and moon ftanding fill at the command of Jofhua; by which, he thinks, no more is meant, than that the battle began very early in the morning, and was continued till late at night, after the moon was risen. It is not improbable, he adds, that, in the ardour of purfuit, Joshua might utter a wifh that the day were lengthened to give him an opportunity of completing the advantage he had gained

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over his enemies; if he did this, if the evening was remarkably light, and was followed by a ftorm of thunder and hail, by which the enemy was thrown into further confufion, what could be more natural, in a fong of triumph, than to represent this day of victory as exceeding others in length, as well as celebrity, and the hero as retarding the fun and moon in their course, and having ftorms and tempefts at his command? Such figures would not feem extravagant to the Jews, becaufe fuch were frequent in their writings. God is often reprefented as fighting for Ifrael, and, in the fong of Deborah, the flars in their courses are faid to have fought against Sifera. In a fimilar manner does M. HERDER explain the fall of the walls of Jericho on the fhouting of the people; which was nothing more than the fignal for attack; 1 and in confequence of this affault, the place was taken by ftorm, and the walls were deftroyed. The book of Judges, he obferves, is full of thefe poetical exaggerations, agreeable to the fpirit of the period to which it relates; it forcibly paints the fiery and irregular courage of a people, newly fettled; which, having yet no regular political establishment, was often oppreffed by the furrounding nations, and involved in circumftances of diftrefs, that afforded individuals opportunities of fignalifing their patriotifm and valour, in the deliverance of their countrymen: hence M. HERDER calls this the poetical age of Ifrael, and thinks, that, when the fpirit of the Lord is faid to come on the heroes of this book, an expreffion fometimes applied to perfons and actions not remarkable for moral goodness, nothing more is meant, than that these heroes were animated with the national fpirit of the Jews. Thefe obfervations are particularly applied to explain the hiftory of Samfon, whofe actions, he fays, were really nothing more than what might be expected from a man of extraordinary perfonal ftrength and courage, and are rendered marvellous by the poetical exaggerations of the narration.

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The second differtation is concerning the vocation and office of the prophets, and contains many judicious observations, which our limits will not allow us to infert.

The third relates to the deliverance of the Ifraelites out of Egypt, and the evident marks of a particular providence attending them in their journey through the wilderness. This part of facred hiftory is, in a mafterly manner, vindicated from the objections that have been repeatedly made against it; and our author obferves that, whatever may be urged concerning the probability of thefe events, the feftivals, which were immediately inftituted in commemoration of them, celebrated by the Jews even to this day, and the frequent references to them by the writers of that nation, confirm, beyond all poffibility of reafonable doubt, whatever

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whatever Mofes has related of their miraculous deliverance and prefervation.

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The Mofaical laws and inflitutions form the subject of the two next differtations; in which the influence of the theocracy on the national character is admirably delineated: the law, by which every male was obliged to appear at Jerufalem on the three great annual feftivals, contributed greatly to cherish and increase this effect. There were feasons of general joy and feftivity. The Jews, fays the author, affembled during feven days, not to hear maffes and fermons, but to rejoice together in the privilege which they enjoyed of being the peculiar people of God. Their feftivals were celebrated with public repafts, with mufic and dancing; and thus combined the allurements of pleafure, with the fentiments of religion. As inftances of the inAuence of these affemblies on the minds of the Jews, M. HER DER mentions the 84th, 95th, and 122d Palms; in which he thinks it abfurd to imagine that myftical and prophetic meaning, which fome divines have pretended to discover in them.

In the fixth, seventh, and eighth differtations, the writer endeavours to explain the prophetic bleffings, which Jacob pronounced on the patriarchs defcended from him; and enters on a further examination of the poetical paffages in the hiftorical books of the Old Teftament. Among other fubjects, the friendfhip between David and Jonathan particularly engages his attention. The character of the latter is fet in the most amiable and affecting light, and his generofity and greatness of mind, in refigning his pretenfions to the crown in favour of his friend, are celebrated in the warmest terms of praise.

But (adds he) when Jonathan died, and left the throne to David, what return did he make for all this difinterested friendship? -An elegy on his grave! An elegy, in which, however beautiful it may be, Saul and Jonathan are equally commemorated, as if they had an equal claim on his heart. I know that this elegy was written for the people; but I wish it had been intended folely for Jonathan and for David, and not for Saul and for the people.'

The Pfalms, and their writers, are the fubject of the three following differtations. M. HERDER obferves, that David con tributed greatly to improve and refine the poetry of the ancient Hebrews, not only by his own writings, but alfo by encourage. ment as well as the example which he gave to others; but, in proportion as it became refined, it loft much of that native vigour, that animated eloquence, and bold imagery, which are the cha racters of a lefs polifhed age. M. HERDER by no means ap proves of the indifcriminate manner in which the Pfalms are generally read and fung in Chriftian congregations. No book of fcripture, he fays, except Solomon's Song, has been fo much perverted from its original meaning and defign, as this, which

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