the headship of Christ, it is not to be
denied that this hope of the ancient Jew is given to all mankind. Each
new stage in universal history may be said to open with this same
conjunction. It links the history of England with that of Julius Caesar
and of the Red Indian; nor is the chain composed of accidents: it is
forged by the hand of the God of providence. Thus, in the conjunction
which binds these Old Testament narratives together, is found the germ
of that instinctive and elevating phrase, the Philosophy of History. But
there is nowhere in Scripture the notion which too often degrades and
stiffens that Philosophy--the notion that history is urged forward by
blind forces, amid which the individual man is too puny to assert
himself. Without a Moses the Exodus is inconceivable, and God always
achieves His purpose through the providential man.

* * * * *

The Books of the Pentateuch are held together in a yet stronger unity
than the rest, being sections of one and the same narrative, and having
been accredited with a common authorship from the earliest mention of
them. Accordingly, the Book of Exodus not only begins with this
conjunction (which assumes the previous narrative), but also rehearses
the descent into Egypt. "And these are the names of the sons of Israel
which came into Egypt,"--names blotted with many a crime, rarely
suggesting any lovable or great association, yet the names of men with a
marvellous heritage, as being "the sons of Israel," the Prince who
prevailed with God. Moreover they are consecrated: their father's dying
words had conveyed to every one of them some expectation, some
mysterious import which the future should disclose. In the issue would
be revealed the awful influence of the past upon the future, of the
fathers upon the children even beyond the third and fourth
generation--an influence which is nearer to destiny, in its stern,
subtle and far-reaching strength, than any other recognised by religion.
Destiny, however, it is not, or how should the name of Dan have faded
out from the final list of "every tribe of the children of Israel" in
the Apocalypse (Rev. vii. 5-8), where Manasseh is reckoned separately
from Joseph to complete the twelve?

We read that with the twelve came their posterity, seventy souls in
direct descent from Jacob; but in this number he is himself included,
according to that well-known Orientalism which Milton strove to force
upon our