“Israel is rich in such psalms as this. The history of our nation lives in their poetry, it is interwoven with their prayers, it is the groundwork of doctrine and the theme of narrative; all our festivals rest upon it as their basis, and nothing great or important can take place in Israel, which has not an historical reference. The cause of this lies in the promise of Jehovah and in its fulfilment. We seek our wisdom in the revelation which God has given us—ye seek it in your own reflections: hence our wisdom is historical, yours speculative. What we know of God and of his law, was communicated to us through the discourses of God to our fathers, or derived from the observation of his dealings with them. It is therefore a bold undertaking in which I engage, to relate the history of our nation, and I must stipulate beforehand that you will not expect from me any thing like a perfect view of it, in the halts of a caravan. You must also permit me, Myron, to go on, after the oriental manner, in an unbroken narrative, which besides better suits a history, than that dialogue form, interrupted by question and objection, in which you Greeks so much delight. There will be time for these when my narrative is ended.” “Make what stipulations thou wilt,” said Myron, “only begin.” “For to-day,” said Elisama, resuming, “I must confine myself to the patriarchs, not only because our discourse has been accidentally led to them, but because the knowledge of their history is absolutely necessary to understand what follows. “Our father Abraham is at once, the last star in the night of primeval history, and the morning star which announces the approaching day. The history of the creation and the fall you have doubtless heard already in the Bruchium; for I am told that both your philosophers and our Hellenists employ themselves very diligently upon it; and I must lament, that, leaving the true path of knowledge, they should prize the interpretations of the heathens above the genuine word of Jehovah. But enough of these men.