the palpable darkness of their infidelity, a kind of intuitive conviction, that without shedding of Blood there is no Remission: -thus, as it were, preserving to the na

tions

after their Exodus from that country, on a certain melancholy occasion, a temporary Institution, which seems to indicate the Origin of the Crux Ansata, as an Hieroglyphic; and which consisted in the erection of a pole, or standard, on which was placed a serpent of brass, and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass he lived. It appears not improbable, especially considering the meaning of the one, and the use of the other, that there might be some relative connection between the two; and that the Egyptian Symbol of "Life," both in its Form and Signification, might be derived from the Hebrew Standard

tions of mankind, generally, in this one grand character of the scheme of Redemption, a memorial, however obscure, both of their guilt, and of the Holiness of Him

whom

Standard and brazen Serpent, which God had instituted amongst his rebellious and perishing people as a temporary ordinance of Life. Could this connection be fully ascertained, an additional proof would be furnished, even by the pillar of Heliopolis, if any further proofs were needed, of the truth of the Mosaic Records. Should, however, a higher antiquity be assigned to the generality of the sacred characters of the Egyptians, than that of the Exodus of the Israelites, it is still not improbable that the Hieroglyphic in question was adopted by them, (that is, by the Priests, to whom alone the sacred characters were known,) subsequently to that pe

riod:

whom they did not like to retain in their

knowledge.

Amongst the Patriarchs, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job, and without all doubt, Adam himself, in the

first

riod for as, in the early ages of the world, and before the introduction of letters into any country, it may be supposed that the signs or characters by which things were denoted, were adopted, not all at once, but successively, as the things represented became the objects of attention; so, it is not unreasonable to conclude, that the Crux Ansata, which represented no visible object, but a subject purely speculative, would be amongst those characters which were the latest adopted by the people of Egypt... It is needless to remark, that the Hebrew Institution is adverted to by our Lord, in direct reference to his Cross: As Moses lifted up, &c.

first instance, erected altars to JEHOVAH, and caused the smoke of their propitiatory offerings to ascend towards the heavens: nor was the offering of these sacrifices a rare occurrence with these holy ancients; but one to which they ever attached the utmost importance, and to which some of them at least, as, for instance, Job, attended continually; or, as it is emphatically expressed in the original, bɔ, cal ha

yamim, all, or every of the days *. And,

as

Although this Text may relate only to Job's offerings on behalf of his children, during the days of their feasting, yet it must be taken, as our Translators appear to have assumed, as a fair specimen of his constant and most religious attention to the ordinance, both for himself and others.

as for the divinely-instituted religion of the Jewish people, it was principally and essentially a system of sacrificial rites and observances, which were a figure for the time then present of the future advent and death of the promised Christ,—the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; to whom these rites and observances all referred, and in whom they all had their accomplishment: For, saith the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people, according to the Law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people; saying, this is the blood of the Testament which God hath