l.' 5 A I.nT TO HER 



an;A^|iis; a .-uitl Ka\e found out this branch in my 

 room. 



2d, Sunday. Deuteronomy, the title of the 

 fifth book of {he Pentateuch, is derived, I find, 

 from two Greek words, which signify the second 

 law, or rather the repetition of the law. Mish- 

 nah, the name the Jews give it, has nearly the 

 same meaning. " Moses, in this book," said 

 my uncle, " not only recapitulates the laws he 

 had already ordained, but makes several expla- 

 natory additions, and enforces the whole by the 

 most earnest and impressive appeals to the gra-r 

 titude, the hopes, and the fears of the people. 

 To them it is principally addressed, as most of 

 what particularly related to the priests is omitted ; 

 and as it was drawn up in the last year of their 

 abode in the wilderness, we may suppose that 

 it was intended as a compendium for the benefit 

 of the new generation, who had not been present 

 at the first promulgation of the law. 



6C It is remarkable that, in the preceding 

 books, Moses speaks of himself in the third per- 

 son ; but in Deuteronomy he drops the assumed 

 character of an historian, and addresses himself 

 to the nation in the animated language of a pro- 

 phet, and with the authority of their chieftain 

 and lawgiver. He begins by reminding them of 

 the many circumstances since their departure 

 from Horeb, in which they had experienced the 



