8 
B I B 
in difpofmg erf w Lie IV'the law [lands as it did in the former 
divifion, and the prophets'are diftributed into the former 
and latter prophets. The former prophets are, Jofliua, 
Judges, Samuel, Kings. The latter prophets are, Ifaiah, 
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and tire twelve minor prophets. And 
the hagiographi'a conlifts of, the Pfalms, the Proverbs, Job, 
the Song of Solomon, Ruth, the Lamentations, Eccleli- 
aftes, Efther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehem'iah, and the Chronicles. 
The Pentateuch, or five books of Mofes, called the Law, 
are 'the foundation, or baits, of the whole fabric of tlip 
holy fcriptures. The firjl of thefe books, which the He¬ 
brews call Bcrejheth , “ in the beginning,” is by th.e Greeks' 
called Genefis, that is, “ the origin or generation of all 
things becaufe it contains the hi,(lory of the creation of 
the world, and the genealogy of the patriarchs, from Adam, 
the firft man, down to the Ions and grandfons of Jacob. 
This bookwell deferved upon every account to be placed 
not only at the head of the pentateucb, but alfo of the 
whole facred code; for nothing can be more grand, more 
interefting, more uf'eful, than its fubjefls: the providence 
of God fhjnes forth in it in an admirable manner, and his 
auguft perfections are every where molt ftrikingly remark¬ 
able. Nor is its defign lei's interelting than the fubjefls 
whereof it treats: it is intended to imprint (trongly upon 
the minds of men an auguft idea of the Supreme Being, 
the creator and preferver of the univerfe ; to nonrifit in 
their hearts the expectation of a Redeemer, ordained for 
the falvation ofithe human race, in order to withdraw men, 
and the Hebrews more efpecially, from idolatry; to dif- 
pofe them fubmiffively to obferve the laws enjoined them, 
and to animate them to march boldly to the conqueft of a 
country, which had been folemnly promifed to their fore¬ 
fathers. No other introduction could fo well have fuit’ed 
what follows in the Pentateuch. Eufebins long ago made 
a remark upon it, wlrich is too excellent for us to omit in 
this place : “ Mofes,” lays he, “ that admirable theologift 
and lawgiver of the Hebrews, intending to prefcribe to 
that people a form of government intireiy religious and 
facred, thought it not proper to make life of an exordium, 
or a common and ordinary preface ; but having conceived 
the defign of all thole excellent laws, which were to regu¬ 
late the conduCt of the Ifraelites, lie applied himlelf to 
derive from the theology of their anceftors what lie was to 
teach them. An enemy to the polytheif m of the .Egyp¬ 
tians, Phoenicians, and other idolatrous nations, who fcvery 
where'made gods after their own imagination, lie began 
with the lovereign Author and Creator or all tilings, via¬ 
ble and invisible : he reprefented Him to the Ifraelites as 
the governor and arbitrer of the univerfe ; as asking, un¬ 
der vvliofe empire this world was but one vaft city ; and 
by thefe means lie taught them to revere this great Being, 
iefs as the legillator of their nation in particular, than as 
Him whole Cupreine commands regulate nature and all its 
motions. Thus (continues Eufebins) the lublime theo¬ 
logy of the Hebrews begins with a proof of the almighty 
power which hath produced all things.; and iliews what 
is that original cattle, n.ot by fubtie and artificial argu¬ 
ments, but in a didadlic manner, full of authority, and 
wortiiy tlie divine infpiration.” 
As to the Jlik of Moles in this book, it is equally plain 
and affecting, clear and elevated, and is, as it ought to be, 
fimple and majeftic, grave and- animated ; in a word, we 
may here boldly apply Mr. Dupip’s Eulogium of the Elo¬ 
quence of the Scriptures : “ It's narration pleafes by its 
juftnefs ; its inftruCtioiis are agreeable, from the lively and 
noble manner in which they are propofed : there is notliing 
languid, nothing mean, nothing fuperfluous; every tiling 
fuits th.e ■ perfons and fubjeCts. The things which are ex¬ 
plained by deferiptions and comparifuns, are indeed bold, 
according to the cuftoms of'the eafterns, but juft and no¬ 
ble ; the difeourfe is adorned with necelfary figures, lim- 
ple and natural; it has all that is requisite to pleale thofe 
who underftand true eloquence. Mofes infpires admira¬ 
tion, by the ftiblinie manner in which he treats of divine 
fubjeCts,; lie. imprints terror, by the vehemence and force 
L £. 
of liis exprefiroiis; lie excites-the love of virtue, and tjre 
hatred of vice, by liis deferiptions of both ; he aftonifhes 
by the ftrength of his menaces; lie gives courage by the 
fweetnefs of his cOnfolations; he .communicates ardour by 
that divine flame with which he is infpired : in (liort, it 
may be laid, that there are no books more calculated than 
liis to perfuade the unJEerftandiiig,, and to move the heart; 
and, what is no lefs admirable in that eloquence whiclvis pe¬ 
culiar to them, is, that it is always proportioned to tlie per¬ 
fons and the (objects. Minute, things are fpoken in a fun ole 
ftile ; the moderate iaa higher; the great.in a fublime; and 
every thing in them is couched in a grave, Iqrious, majeftic, 
ftile, fuitabie to tlie dignity of the fubject and tlie perfons. 1 ' 
The fr.ccnd book of Mofes is called Exodus, from a Greek 
word, which fignifies “the departure;” becaufe it con¬ 
tains principally the hiftory of the departure of tlie Iffael- 
ites out of Egypt. The Seventy, when tiiey divided the 
work of Mofes into five books, gave this the name of Exo¬ 
dus ; but, as it is only the continuation, of .Genefis, it has 
no title in the Hebrew. The Jews' only called it rv;r nbttl 
Ualeh S/ianct, “ Now thefe are the names ;” becaufe in 
their language it begins with thofe words. This book is 
naturally connefled with that of Genefis by its fiibjeCt mat¬ 
ter : bolides the liiftory of the Hebrews, continued imme¬ 
diately from the deatli of Jofepli, with which the Genelis 
concludes, we there find the evident accomplifliment of 
tiie promifes which God had made to the patriarch Abra¬ 
ham. He had promifed him that his polterity fhould “be 
as the ftars of heaven that tlipy fliould “ dwell "as ftran- 
gers in a land which fhould not be theirs;” fliould be op- 
preffed, and brought under fubjeCtion : but that at length 
he would judge that cruel nation ; would make the de- 
f'cendants of the patriarch formidable to it; and at laft, 
with an high hand, deliver them from it. It is tlie illuf- 
trious accomplilhnient of this prophetical pro mile, which 
makes the chief fubjpCt of the book of Exodus. Every 
thing refers efTeritially to this end: the Fatal fiavery to 
which the Ifraelites were reduced in Egypt, is painted in 
the nioft affecting colours'; the defeription of the prodigies 
wrought for their deliverance, affords, after thefe mourn¬ 
ful representations, a profpedt equally magnificent and 
confolalory ; and when,, at length, we fee the Supreme 
Being forming to himfelf a peculiar people of the pofteri.ty 
of Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, after having brought them 
out with a mighty hand, and an outftretched arm, from 
under tlie Egyptian yoke, becoming the monarch of the 
Ifraelites ; honouring them with his prefence, entrufting 
them with his oracles, covering them with liis protection, 
governing them by his laws, and ruling amongft them 
according to that form of worlliip which was to difringuifh 
them from all the nations of the earth; we cannot fail to 
admire die good-nefs and fhithfulnefs of this auguft Being. 
The Greek interpreters, and after them the Latin, have 
given the title of Leviticus to the third book of the Penta¬ 
teuch ; becaufe it principally contains divers' laws touch¬ 
ing the facrifices, and other ceremonies; the care of which 
was committed to “Aaron the, Levite,” and liis fons;- 
(Exod. iv. 14.) Indeed thofe inferior niinifters who affift- 
ed tlie facrificers or priefts, and wliofe functions are de- 
feribed by Mofes in the book of Numbers, were properly 
called Levites; but, as the prieffiiood was.entirely intrud¬ 
ed to the houfe of Aaron, one of the branches of the tribe 
of I.evi, it was hardly pdifible to fpecify more ftiirably a 
book, which efpecially treats of the duties annexed to that 
eminent dignity, than by calling it Leviticus; in the fame 
fenfe that St. Paul gives the title of Leviticaf prieft-' 
hood ” to this auguft difpenfation, (Heb. vii. 1 x.) So that, 
though in the Hebrew- tlie book goes by the finiple name 
of tnp'l Uikra, the rabbis frequently call it “ the book or 
law of the prieft ;” and this is the title given to it in the 
S) r'ac and Arabic veffions. 
The Numbers is the fourth book of Mofes, and is tlie 
only one that has a title which may be called Englifli; 
the words Genefis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, are 
Greek. The Latin verlion, known by the name of th.e 
Vulgate, 
