Egypt. "And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua." So when Moses, with the Israelites, had encamped on Mount Horeb, and the law was given to them, the ten commandments were written by God on two tables of stone, and put into the ark; hence it was called the ark of the covenant-the ark of testimonyand which, together with the rest of the law given at the same time, Moses was to teach the people throughout all their generations. This could not be done, but by making them matter of record, from which copies might be taken, for the instruction of their future generations.

When Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, with the seventy elders, were ordered to go up to the mountain, Moses left them at the foot of it, and went up alone to speak with the Lord: he returned with the words of the Lord to the people: " then Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel; and he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the audience of the people."* And after he came down from the mountain with all the commandments of the Lord, and the second pair of tables of stone, he was again commanded to write what he had received-" And the Lord said unto Moses, write thou these words, for after the te. nor of these words, I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel."† And afterwards it is said, " And Moses wrote the law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, who bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel."* When Moses recapitulates the several journies of the people in their presence, he says, "That he wrote their goings out according to their journeys, by the commandment of the Lord."+

Moses not only wrote the book of the law, and put it into the side of the ark, while the two tables of stone were put into the ark itself, but he also " commanded the priests, and all the elders of Israel, saying, at the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release in the feast of tabernacles, when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel, in their hearing-gather the people together, men, women and children, and the stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law."‡ Here is every mark of honest integrity that could have been expected, and every mode of preserving this book unadulterated, that publicity could have suggested and what renders imposition less possible, was the command to "study this book constantly-to bind it for a sign upon their hands, and frontlets between their eyes; to teach it to their children, speaking of it when they sat in the house, and when they walked by the way, and when they lay down, and when they rose up-to write it upon the door posts of their houses, and upon their gates.'"||

In describing the acts and duties of a king, when the people should thereafter desire one, it is ordered,

"That when he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write a copy of this law, in a book, out of that which is before the priests and Levites, and it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life."* So necessary was the knowledge of the law to good government, that it was not only to. be kept with religious care by the principal officers of the government, and read in the ears of the people; but it was essentially necessary that it should be of easy access to the people at large, that they might know and understand it-copying a sufficient number for three millions of people, being not an easy task. Therefore God commanded, that, when the congregation should pass over Jordan, where they were to inherit the land and become a great nation; and of course many must live at a great distance from the tabernacle, where the book of the law was kept, and read to the people every Sabbath day, "they should set up great stones, and plaster them with plaster; and should write upon the stones, all the words of this law, very plain."† And afterwards it is commanded, "When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read the law before all Israel, in their hearing;" and again he is commanded to write his song and teach it to the people, which he accordingly did.‡

We read throughout the Old-Testament, in almost every period of the the Jewish state, "of the law of the book of Moses-the law of the Lord-the book of the covenant-the book of the Chronicles of the

kings of Israel-the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel and Judah-the book of the Acts of Solomon-the Chronicles of king David-the book of Samuel the Seer-the book of Shemaiah, the prophet;" and many others.

It is expressly recorded in Joshua, that he built an altar, and performed the directions and commandments as written in the book of the law of Moses, after his passing over Jordan, and taking the cities of Jericho and Ai, by writing on the plastered stones, "A copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the presence of all the people." And when the elders, and officers, and judges, with the people, were placed half over against Mount Gerizim, and half over against Mount Ebal, as had been commanded; "Joshua read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the book of the law; there was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not before all the congregation of Israel."* And just before Joshua's death, he made a covenant with the people, "and Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God." This was all done immediately after the death of Moses, while the whole congregation were complete witnesses of all the transactions related to them.

In a word, we find Moses commanded by the Lord, to write the law and the commandments, with the goings out of the people, and indeed all the public transactions, in a book. We find him actually executing this commandment, for it is written, "And it

came to pass, when Moses made an end of writing the words of this law in a book until they were finished, that Moses commanded the Levites, which bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for a witness against thee."*

In the time of his successor, we find him reading it publickly to all the congregation. Throughout the administration of the judges and reigns of their kings, we find it kept in the temple, while copies are in every principal man's hands, and referred to on every occasion, and usually read in the ears of all the peo. ple, from day to day.

The judgments of God are constantly said to be inflicted on the nation for not walking after the law of the Lord, as given by Moses the servant of the Lord. In the reign of king Josiah, only 600 years before the Christian æra, the book of the law was found in the house of the Lord, and he read all the words of it to the people.† This is repeated in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah.‡

David appointed certain of the Levites " to minister before the ark of the Lord, and to record, and to thank, and to praise the Lord God of Israel." ||

"Josephus asserts, that from the death of Moses to the reign of Artaxerxes, the prophets, who succeeded that legislator, wrote the transactions of their own times. This assertion is confirmed by the sacred writers who mention the names of many prophets, as