Besides these prophecies of Jacob, which were sufficiently verified in after times, the Jews ascribe some other works to him, namely, a treatise entitled, "The Ladder to Heaven," and another called, "Jacob's Testament," which Pope Gelasius classes among the Apocrypha; together with some forms of prayer, which the Jews use every night, and pretend that they were composed by him. As to the commendations which they so plentifully bestow upon this patriarch, these are justified, in a great measure, by the character which the author of Ecclesiasticus gives him (chap. xliv. 23.) And as the Mahommedans allow him not only to be a prophet, but the father, likewise, of all the prophets, except Job, Jethro, and Mahomet, so they believe that the royal dignity did not depart from his posterity until the times of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ, and that from him the twelve tribes of the Jews descended, even as their own did from Ishmael.*

• See Calmet's Dictionary, art. Jacob.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Antiquity of the writings of Moses. The Book of Job. Works attributed to Moses. Sublimity of his Thanksgiving Ode.

THERE remain no written records so remote in time as the writings of Moses, who is admitted on all hands to be the most ancient author known, unless he was preceded by Job, of whom nothing authentic is handed down to us beyond what can be gathered from the book bearing his name, which not only leaves it very doubtful who Job was, but offers no decisive testimony with reference to the time in which he lived; neither is any direct proof furnished, by this remarkable production, as to who was its author. From the various allusions in it to modes of life with which the early Hebrews were familiar, and from the numerous forms of expression adopted out of the Hebrew writings which compose the Bible, it is evident that those writings were well known to the author of this magnificent poem. From this fact alone I should say that it was produced after the Pentateuch; and I know of no one so likely as Moses to have been the writer of it, he having sufficiently shown his competency in the thanksgiving ode, composed just

after the Israelites had passed the Red Sea, and in that divine poem embraced in the twentysecond chapter of Deuteronomy, a poem exhibiting the combined qualities of elegance, richness, copiousness of thought, condensation of language, masculine power, and surpassing sublimity; in which qualities it is only equalled, seldom excelled, by portions of the book of Job.

Besides the Pentateuch, the Jews ascribe to Moses several other compositions, and among them, eleven psalms, the ninetieth to the hundred and first; but they offer no proof of any value in corroboration of this statement. There has been likewise ascribed to the great Jewish lawgiver, an Apocalypse or Revelation of Moses, a lesser Genesis, the Ascension of Moses, the Assumption of Moses, the Testament of Moses, the Mysterious books of Moses, two of which productions are supposed to be quoted in the New Testament, namely, the Apocalypse of Moses and the Assumption of Moses. From the first, it is imagined that St. Paul quotes the following passage to the Galatians: "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love."* And again,+" For neither circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." It is likewise supposed that St. Jude, where, in his epistle, he alludes to the contention concerning the body of Moses

* Chap. v. 6.

+ Chap. vi. 15.

betwixt the devil and Michael the archangel, takes the account from the Assumption of Moses."* Of these supposed facts, however, no satisfactory proofs have been obtained.

case.

The thanksgiving ode composed by Moses after having crossed the Red Sea, is, upon the whole, the most remarkable thing of its kind on record. It is the first regular ode which has come down to us duly authenticated from a very remote age. It is the earliest specimen existing of epic poetry, unless the Mahabarat, a celebrated Sanscrit poem, consisting of many thousand couplets, and maintained, by the Hindoos, to be of extraordinary antiquity, were written previously, which they assume to be the Their claim for this poem to so early an existence is not established by any thing like satisfactory proof, though there are strong reasons for supposing that such claim is not altogether without foundation. There can, however, be no doubt of the antiquity of the thanksgiving ode of Moses. It forms a part of the inspired history of the Pentateuch; and those proofs which establish the antiquity of the one, at the same time establish the antiquity of the other. So far as we know, therefore, this sublime song is the oldest poem of the epic character extant. "The author of the book of Wisdom," says Dr. Adam Clarke, "attributes it in a particular manner to the wisdom of God, and says on this occasion (chap. x. 21), For wisdom (that is,

See Fabricious Apoc. Vet. Test.

divine wisdom) opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of them that cannot speak eloquent.' As if he had said, every person felt an interest in the great events which had taken place, and all laboured to give Jehovah that praise which was due to his name."

Upon the whole, I have no hesitation in affirming that this composition is unequalled by any thing of a similar kind. It appears to have been adapted for alternate recitation, and this was no doubt accompanied by the musical instruments then in use; and from the choruses it is clear that the whole was sung as a thanksgiving hymn to solemnize the great deliverance of the Israelites.

Of this poem Bishop Lowth says (twentyseventh prælection), "The most perfect example which I know of that species of the sublime ode, possessing a sublimity dependant wholly upon the greatness of the conceptions and the dignity of the language, without any peculiar excellence in the form and arrangement, is the thanksgiving ode of Moses, composed after passing the Red Sea. Through every part of this poem the most perfect plainness and simplicity is maintained; there is nothing artificial, nothing laboured, either in respect to method or invention. Every part of it breathes the spirit of nature, and of passion; joy, admiration, and love, united with piety and devotion, burst forth spontaneously in their native colours. A miracle of the most interesting nature to the Israelites is displayed. The sea divides, and the waters are raised into