"THE three most eminent men in the Hebrew annals, Moses, David, and
Solomon, were three of their most distinguished poets. The hymns of
David excel no less in sublimity and tenderness of expression than in
loftiness and purity of religious sentiment. In comparison with them
the sacred poetry of all other nations sinks into mediocrity. They
have embodied so exquisitely the universal language of religious
emotion, that (a few fierce and vindictive passages excepted, natural
in the warrior-poet of a sterner age,) they have entered with
unquestioned propriety into the ritual of the holier and more perfect
religion of Christ. The songs which cheered the solitude of the desert
caves of Engedi, or resounded from the voice of the Hebrew people as
they wound along the glens or the hill-sides of Judaea, have been
repeated for ages in almost every part of the habitable world, in the
remotest islands of the ocean, among the forests of America or the
sands of Africa. How many human hearts have they softened, purified,
exalted!--of how many wretched beings have they been the secret
consolation!--on how many communities have they drawn down the
blessings of Divine Providence, by bringing the affections into unison
with their deep, devotional fervour."
The present volume extends from the time of Abraham to the Babylonian
Captivity. It is illustrated with three excellent maps, and a few wood
cuts; but we are convinced that we need add nothing further of its
contents to recommend the _History of the Jews_ to the attention of
our readers; for it is one of the most splendid and fascinating works
in our recollection.
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