singularly rare and important; and, if I may be permitted to use the metaphor, in the Perihelion of Truth, i. e. in the Orbit of Divine Revelation. It may be further remarked, that the numerous sketches in Mr. Osburn's work prove the Israelites to have been proficients in the art of metallurgy: a quotation will afford conclusive proof of their skill.

THE SERVICE OF THE TABERNACLE.

"The record of the first ages of the world, contained in the Bible, ascribes the various arts of common life altogether to the Divine teaching. Though this is not formally stated, the expressions employed evidently assume it. The Lord God himself made the coats of skins with which our first parents were clothed on their expulsion from Paradise (Gen. iii. 21). The account of their sons and descendants also, which follows, speaks at once of their occupations: Abel was a feeder of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground' (Gen. iv. 2), at a period too early to have allowed the slow processes of invention and application time to have originated these pursuits. It is also said of certain

of the descendants of the latter, that Jabal was

'the father of the dwellers in tents, having herds ; that Jubal, his brother, was

of great cattle,'

the father of all

such as handle the pipe and

organ; and that Tubal-cain was the instructor of all artificers in brass and iron' (Gen. iv. 19, 22). The mode of expression employed here, excludes the idea of invention. Jabal and Jubal and Tubalcain were the fathers of their respective crafts, in the sense in which Abraham was afterwards called 'the father of all them that believe.' The epithet does not imply that Abraham was the originator of faith, but that a large measure of that gift of God had been imparted to him (Rom. iv. 11, 12). It is, moreover, the express teaching of the Bible, that even excellence in these mechanical arts is a Divine gift (see Exod. xxx. 1-5); and if their mere use and application be from God, it will follow by necessary consequence, a fortiori, that God must be the author of them.

This our view is still further confirmed by its perfect accordance with one of the fundamental canons of Scripture truth; for the whole revelation

rests upon the doctrine, that every good gift and every perfect gift,' whether relating to this world or that which is to come, whether bearing upon time or eternity, 'is from above' (James i. 17).

"The passages we have considered scem to imply that the mechanical arts were taught to mankind as soon as they were wanted; which would be immediately on the expulsion of our first parents from Paradise. Such an arrangement, which might also be inferred from the general benevolence of the dealings of God with man, appears still more evidently in the subsequent portions of the concise history of the first representatives of the human race, contained in the Bible. For example, the application of these arts to the building of the ark (Gen. vi. 14-16) is stated in terms which necessarily assume the universality of the knowledge of them. . . . . In the inspired account of the Exodus, the state of the mechanical arts in Egypt at that period is frequently referred to. The tombs of Egypt, still in existence, are many of them contemporaneous with that event; and the operations of these arts are the subjects of many of the paintings with which their walls are covered. They will