justice the footsteps of those who looked towards them. He did more: he
caused the lives of those his servants whom he sanctified and almost
glorified in this world, to be recorded by their followers; and his own
Spirit did not disdain to inspire the men who executed a work so
salutary to mankind. From Adam to Noe, from Noe to Abraham, from Abraham
to the days of Christ, what period is not marked by the life of some
eminent saint; and what portion of the Old Testament has always been and
still is most interesting to true believers? Is it not that which
instructs us as to the life and manners of those patriarchs, prophets,
and other holy persons of whom we ourselves are, according to the
promise, the seed and the descendants? The innocence of Abel, the cruel
deed of Cain, the piety of Seth, the fidelity and industry of Noe,
furnish to us the finest moral instruction derived from the primeval
times. The life of Abraham is perhaps the most precious record in the
Old Testament! Who even now can read it, and not repose with more
devotion on the providence of God? Who can contrast his life and conduct
with that of all the sages of paganism, and not confess there is a God;
yea! a God who not only upholds this {010} world, and fills every
creature in it with his benediction, but who also conducts by a special
providence all those who put their trust in him,--a God who teaches his
elect, by the unction of his Spirit, truths inaccessible to the wise of
this world; and who makes them, by his grace, to practise a degree of
virtue to which human nature unassisted is totally unable to attain? The
God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, is exceedingly glorified by the
virtues of those great men; and that glory is exalted, and we are led to
adore it, because the lives of those men have been written for our
instruction. Is not Moses the keystone, as it were, of the Jewish
covenant? Are they not his trials, his meekness, his attachment to God
and to God's people, his incessant toils, and patience, and
long-suffering, even more than the miracles wrought by his
interposition, which render the law published by him, and the ministry
established by him, worthy of all acceptation in our eyes? Who can
contemplate the rejection of Saul, and the election of David,--the
wisdom of Solomon in early life, and his utter abandonment in his latter
days,--and not be stricken with a salutary dread of the inscrutable
judgments of a just God? Who can read t