SACRED BIOGRAPHY: OR THE HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS. By H E N R Y H U N T E R, D. D. SACRED BIOGRAPHY; O R T H E HISTORY OF THE PATRIARCHS. BEING A COURSE OF LECTURES, DELIVEREDATTHE SCOTS CHURCH, LONDON-WALL. By HENRY HUNTER, D. D. VOLUME HI. JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM. JOHN VIU. 58. I AM ALPHA AND OMEGA, THE BEGINNING AND THE ENDING, SAIVh THE LORD, WHICH IS, AND WHICH WAS, AND WHICH IS TO COME, THE ALMIGHTY. REVELATION. I. 8. LONDON: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR, BY ROBERT HAWES: AND SOLD BY J. MURRAY, NO. 32, FLEET-STREET AND JAMES DICKSON, EDINBURGH. M. UCC. LXXXV I. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, p.i Luke XX. 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38. — Then came to him certain of the Sadducees (which deny that there is any refurrec- tion) and they afked him, faying, Mafter, Mofes wrote unto us. If any man's brother die, having a wife, and he die without children, that his brother fhould take his wife, and raife up feed unto his brother. There were, therefore, {even brethren ; and the iirft took a wife, and died without children. And the fecond took her to wife, and he died childiefs. And the third took her ; and in like manner the feven alfo : and they left no children, and died. Laft of all the woman died alfo. Therefore in the refurredlion, whofe wife of them is flie ? for feven had her to wife. And Jefus anfv/ering, faid unto them, The chil- dren of this world marry, and are given in mar- riage. But they which fhall be accounted wcr- a 3 thy VI CONTEETS. thy to obtain that world, and the refurreftion from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage. Neither can they die any more : for they are equal unto the angels ; and are the chil- dren of God, being the children of the refurrec- tion. Now that the dead are raifed, even Mofes fliewed at the bufh, when he calleth the Lord, the God of Abraham, the God of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob, For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live unto him. LECTURE IL Hiftory of Mofes. 33 Heb. xi. 24, 25, 26, 27. — By faith Mofes, when he was come to years, refufed to be called the fon of Pharaoh's daughter ; chufing rather to fufFer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleafures of fm for a feafon. Efteem- ing the reproach of Chrift greater riches than the treafures of Egypt : for he had refpe6l unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he for- fook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as feeing him who is invifible. LEG- CONTENTS. Vll LECTURE HI. Hiftory of Mofcs. 57 Exod. iii. 13, 14. — And Mofes faid unto God, Behold when I come unto the children of Ifrael, and fhall fay unto them, The God of your •fathers hath fent me unto you ; and they fhall fay unto me, What is his name ? What fhall I fay unto them ? And God faid unto Mofes, I AM THAT I AM : and he faid, Thus fhalt thou fay unto the children of Ifrael, I AM hath fent me unto you. LECTURE IV. Hiflory of Mofes. S^ Exod. vi. 9. — And Mofes fpake fo unto the chil- dren of Ifrael : but they hearkened not unto Mofes, for angui/h of fpirit, and for cruel bond- age. LECTURE V. Hiftory of Mofes. 109 Exod. vi. I. — Then the Lord faid unto Mofes, Now Ihalt thou fee what I will do to Pharaoh : for with a ftrong hand fhall he let them go, and with aflrong hand fhall he drive them out of his land. • L E C« Vin CONTENTS. LECTURE Vr. Hiftory of Mofes. 133 Exod. X.7. — And Pharaoh's fervants faid unto him, How long fhall this man be a fnare unto us ? Let the men go, that they may fcrve the Lord their God : knoweft thou not yet that Egypt is de- llroyed ? LECTURE Vn. Hiftory of Mofes. 155 Exod. xii. I, 2, 3. — And the Lord fpake unto Mofes and Aaron, faying. This month fhall be unto you the beginning of months : it fhall be the firfl month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Ifrael, faying. In the tenth day of this month they fhall take to them every man a lamb, according to the houfe of their fathers, a lamb for an houfe. LECTURE Vin. Hiflory of Mofes. 181 Exod. xii. 26, 27. — And it fhall come to pafs, when your children fhall fay unto you, Wha^ mean CONTENTS. IX mean you by this fervice ? That ye mall fay, It is the facrifice of the Lord's pafTover, who^pafled over the hoiifes of the children pf Ifrael in Egypt, when he fmote the Egyptians, and delivered our houfes. And the people bowed the head and wOrfhipped. Pfal. xci. 5, 6, 7, 8. — Thou fhalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day ; nor for the peftilence that walketh in darknefs, nor for the deftrudiion that waftelh at noon-day. A thoufand (hall fall at thy fide, and ten thoufand at thy right-hand ; but it fhall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes fhalt thou behold, and fee the reward of the wicked. L E C T U R E IX. Hiflory of Mofes. 207 Exod. xiii. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. — And it came to pafs, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Phiiiftines, although that was near ; for God faid, Left peradventure the people repent, when they fee war, and they return to Egypt. But God led the people about, through the way of the wildernefs of the Red fea. And the children of Ifrael went up harneffed out of the land of Egypt. And Mofes took the bones of Jofeph with him : for CONTENTS. for he had ftraitly fworn the children of Ifrael, faying, God will furely vifit you ; and ye fliall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Succoth, and en- camped in Etham, in the edge of the wildernefs. And the Lord went before them, by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a pillar of fac, to give them light ; to go by day and night. He took, not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of the fire by night, from before the people. LECTURE X. The Hiftoiy of Mofes. -J/ Exod. xiv. 21, 22. — And Mofes ftretched out his hand over the fea j and the Lord caufed the fea to go back by a ftrong eaft wind all that night, and made the fea dry land, and the waters were di- vided. And the children of Ifrael went into the midftofthe fea upon the dry ground 3 and the waters were a wall unto them on their right- hand, and on their left. L E C T U R E XL Hiflory of Mofes. 263 Exod. XV. I, 2. — Then fang Mofes and the children of Ifrael this fong unto the Lord, and fpake, fay- ing. CONTENTS. 3a ing, 1 will fing unto the Lord, for he hath tri- umphed glorioufly : the horfe and his rider hath he thrown into the fea. The Lord is my flrenj^th and fong, and he is become my falvation : he is my God, and 1 will prepare him an habitation ; my father's God, and I will exalt him. LECTURE XIL Hiftory of Mofes. 295 Exod. XV. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27. — And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah ; for they were bitter : therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured againft Mofes, faying. What fliall we drink ? And he cried unto the Lord ; and the Lord fhewed him a tree, which when he had cafl into the waters, the waters were made fweet : there he made for them a ftatute and an ordi- nance, and there he proved them. And faid. If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his fight, and will give ear to his command- ments, and keep all his ftatutes ; I will put none ofthefe difeafes upon thee, which T have brought upon the Egyptians : for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elira, where were twelve wells of water, and threefcore and ten palm-trees ; and they encamped there by the waters, L E C- Xll CONTENTS. LECTURE XIII. Hiflory of Mofes. 316 Exod. xvi. II, 12, 13, 14, 15. — And the Lord fpalce unto Mofes, faying, I have heard the mur- murings of the children of Ifrael : fpealc unto them, laying, At even ye fhall eat flefh, and in the morning ye (hall be filled with bread : and yc Ihall know that I anvthe Lord your God. And it came to pafs, that at even the quails came up and covered the camp : and in the morning the dew lay round about the hoft. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wildernefs there lay a fmall round thing, at fmall as the hoar-froft on the ground. And when the children of Ifrael faw it, they faid one to another, It is manna : for they wift not what it was. And Mofes faid unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. LECTURE XIV. Hiflory of Mofes. 345 Exod.xvii. I, 2, 5, 6. — And all the congregation of the children of Ifrael journeyed from the wil- dernefs of Sin, after their journies, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim : CONTENTS. Xlll Rephidlm : and there was no water for the people » to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Mofcs, and faid. Give us water, that we may drink, ^nd Mofes faid unto them. Why chide you with me ? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord ? And the Lord faid unto Mofes, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Ifrael ; and thy rod, wherewith thou fmoteft the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will ftand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb ; and thou flialt fmite the rock, and there fhall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Mofes did fo, in the fight of all the elders of Ifrael. LECTURE XV. Hifloiy of Mofes. ^TS Exod. xvii. 8, 9, 10, II, 12, 13. — Then came Amalek, and fought with Ifrael in Rephidim. And Mofes faid unto Jofliua, Choofe out men, and 2:0 out, fijiht with Amalek : to-morrow I will ftand on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in mine hand. So Jofliua did as Mofes had faid to him, and fought with Amalek : and I^.Iofes, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pafs, when Moles held up his hand, that Ifrael prevailed : and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Mo. XlV CONTENTS. Mofes' hands were heavy ; and they took a ftone, and put it under him, and he fat thereon : and Aaron and Hur flayed up his hands, the one on the one fide, and the other on the other fide ; and his hands were Heady until the going down of the fun. And Jofliua difcomfited Amalek and his people, with the edge of the fword. LECTURE XVI. HiiLory of Mofes. 403 Ex©d. xviii. 7, 8, 9, 10, If, 12. — And Mofes went out to meet his father-in law, and did obeifance, and kifTed him : and they afked each other of their welfare ; and they came into the tent. And Mofes told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians, for Ifrael's fake, and all the travel that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodnefs which the Lord had done to Ifracl; whom he had delivered out of tiie hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro faid, Blefll-d be the Lord who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh ; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods : for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above CONTENTS. XV above them. And Jethro, Mofes' fathe-ln-law , took a burnt-offering and facrifices for God : and Aaron came, and all the elders of Ifrael, to cat bread with Mofes' father-in-law, before God. LECTURE XVII. Hiflory of Mofes. 431 Exod. xix. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22. — And it came to pafs on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightenings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; fo that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Mofes brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they flood at the nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether on a fmoke, becaufe the Lord defcended upon it in fire j and the fmoke thereof afcended as the fmoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet founded long, and waxed louder and louder, Mofes fpake, and God anfwered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount : and the Lord called Mofes up to the top of the mount, and Mofes went up. And the Lord faid unto Mofes, Go down XVI CONTENTS. down, charge the people, left they break thtough unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perifli. And let the priefts alfo, which come near the Lord, fanftify themfelves, left the Lord break forth upon them. LECTURE XVIIL Hiflory of Mofes. 461 Jofh. i. ly. — According as we hearkened unto Mofes in all things, fo will we hearken unto thee : only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Mofes. John i. ly. — The Law was given by Mofes, but grace and truth came by Jefus Chrift. SACRED SACRED BIOGRAPHY. LECTURE I. LUKE XX. 27 38. THEN CAME TO HIM CERTAIN OF THE SADDUCEES (WHICH DENY THAT THERE IS ANY resurrection) AND THEY ASKED HIM, SAYING, MASTER, MOSES WROTE UNTO US, IF ANY MANS BRO- THER DIE, HAVING A WIFE, AND HE DIE WITHOUT CHILDREN, THAT HIS BROTHER SHOULD TAKE HIS WIFE, AND RAISE UP SEED UNTO HIS BRO- THER. THERE WERE THEREFORE SEVEN BRETHREN : AND THE FIRST TOOK A WIFE, AND DIED WITHOUT CHILDREN. AND THE SECOND TOOK HER TO WIFE, AND HE DIED CHILDLESS. AND THE THIRD TOOK HER ; AND IN LI K E MAN- NER THE SEVEN ALSO. AND THEY LEFT NO CHILDkEN, AND DIED. LAST A O^F INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, OF ALL THE WOMAN DIED ALSO, THEREFORE IN THE RESURRECTION WHOSE WIFE OF THEM IS SHE ? FOR SEVEN HAD HER TO WIFE. AND JESUS ANSWERING SAID UNTO THEM, THE CHILDREN OF THIS WORLD MARRY, AND ARE GIVEN IN MARRIAGE: BUT THEY WHICH SHALL BE ACCOUNTED WORTHY TO OBTAIN THAT WORLD, AND THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD, NEITHER MARRY, NOR ARE GIVEN IN MARRIAGE. NEITHER CAN THEY DIE ANY MORE; FOR TJIEY ARE EQUAL UNTO THE ANGELS, AND ARE THE CHILDREN OF GOD, BEING THE CHILDREN OF THE RESURRECTION, NOW THAT THE DEAD ARE RAISED, EVEN MOSES SHEWED AT THE BUSH, WHEN HE CALLETH THE LORD THE COD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB. FOR HE IS NOT A GOD OF THE DEAD, BUT OF THE LIVING I FOR ALL LIVE UNTO HIM, ONE INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 3 N E of the moft obvious and natural L ECT. confolations of Reafon under the ' ^r— lofs of thofe whom we dearly loved, and one of the mofi abundant confolations, furnilhed by Religion, is the belief, that our departed friends, are, at their death, difpofed of infinitely to their advantage. We weep and mourn while Vv'e reflefb upon the deprivation of comfort we have fuilained : but we wipe the' tears of for- row from our eyes, when we conlider that our lofs, is their unfpeakable gain. *' Rachel weeping for her children," re- fufes to be comforted, fo long as fhe thinks " they are not ;" but her foul is tra,nquillized and comforted, when her eyes in faith, look within the veil, and behold them foftly and fecurely repoling in the bofom of their Father and God. It is an humbling and a mortifying em- ployment to vifit church-yards, to ftep from grave to grave, to recal the memory, while we trample upon the allies of the young, the beautiful, the wife and the good ; but we find immediate relief, we rife into joy, we tread among the ftars, A 2 when 4 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LEG T. when, aided by Religion, we tranfport < ^ ' ourfelves in thought, to thofe blefled regions where all the faithful live, and reign, and rejoice: where "they that *' be wife fhine as the brightnefs of the ^' firmament, and they that turn many " to righteoufnefs as the ftars for ever " and ever.*" Then diflance is fwal- lowed up and loft, and we mingle in the noble employments and pure delights of the blefled Immortals who encircle the throne of God. It is aftonifliing to think, that there have been men difpofed willingly to de- prive themfelves of this glorious fource of comfort, ready to refign the high pre- rogative of their birthright, and by a fpecies of humility ftrange and unnatural, fpontaneoufly degrading themfelves to the level of the brutes that perifh. And yet there have been, in truth, fuch men in every age. But it is no wonder to find thofe who fatisfy themfelves with the purfuits and enjoyments of a mere beaflly * Dan. xii. 3. nature. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 5 nature, while they live, contented to lie ^ ^^ '^• down with the beafts in death, to arife « — w — ' no more. They firfl make it their in- terefl that there fliould be no hereafter, and then they fondly perfuade themfelves, that there fhall be none. Errour of every kind, both in faith and morals prevailed in the extreme, at the period when, and in the country where the Saviour of the world appeared for our redemption. The nation of the Jews, was divided in refpe£l of moral and re- ligious fentiment, into two great fe<5ls or parties, who both pretended to found their opinions upon the authority of the Infpired books, which were held in uni- verfal eflimation among them ; particu* larly the writings of Mofes. But they drew concluiions direiSlly oppofite, from the fame fa£ls and dodrines ; and both deviated in the groffefl manner from the fpirit and defign of that precious record, which they both affe£ted to hold in the highefl: veneration. The Pharifees, earn- eflly contending for the flridl obfervance A3 of 6 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. of tlie law, confined their attention to its ' ^ > minuter and lefs important objects, and paid " the tithe of mint and anife and *' cummin," but omitted " the weightier " matters of the law, judgment, mercy *' and faith :" and raifing oral tradition to the rank and dignity of Scripture, found a pretence for difpenling with the plainefl and moft eflential obhgations of morality, when they contradicted their Intereflis and opinions. Scrupuloufly of- fended at the negle6l of wafhing hands previous to eating ; they were wicked e^ nougli to eftablKh by a law of their own, negle£t of, unkindnefs, and difobedience to parents ; thus, according to the juft cen- fure which our Lord paffed upon them, " flraining out a gnat, and fwallowing " a camel." The Sadducees on the other hand, the ftrong fpirits of the age, difdaining the reftraints impofed on man- kind by a written law, thought fit to become a law unto themfelves. They left the aufterities of a ftrift religion and morality to vulgar minds ; and that they ITiirht procure peace to themfelves in the INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 7 the enjoyment of thofe finfiil pleafures L EC T. to which they were addicfled, denied the * — ^^_j exiftence of fpirit, the immortality of the foul, and a future ftate of retribution. They alledged that the law was lilent on thofe points, and that this filence was a fufficient reafon for reje6ling the belief of them. They went farther, and con- tended, that were fuch do6lrines con^ tained in the law, they ought not to be admitted, becaufe they implied a contra- diction, or, at leaft involved fuch a num- ber of difficulties as it was impofiible fatisfadorily to folve. The chief of thofe difficulties, they propofe to our bleffed Saviour in the pafTage I have read, not in the fpirit of docility and diffidence, to have it removed, but in the pride of their hearts, vainly taking it for granted, that it was infurmountable. My principal intention in leading your thoughts to this fubjedl at this time, is the occalion which it afforded to the great Teacher, who came from God, of dil- courfing on a theme nearly connecfled A 4 with. 8 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT.-vvith the defign of thefe ledures, and of *> — V — ' difclofing to us fundrj important parti- culars refpeding the venerable men whofe lives we have been converfant with, and thofe which we are ftill to examine ; and refpe^ling that world, in which, we to- gether with them, have a concern fo deeply, becaufe eternally interefting. To thefe we fliall be led, by making a few curfory remarks on the preceding con- verfation which took place between Chrifl and the Sadducees. And this (hall ferve as an Introdu6lion to the farther conti- nuation of a courfe of Lectures on the hiflory of the memorable perfons and events prefented to us in the holy Scrip- tures of both the Old and New Tefta- ment. The Sadducees inlidioufly begin theif attack by profcffing the hlghefl refped for the authority of Mofes and his writ- ings : "Mafter, Mofes wrote unto us.'* The moil pernicious defigns, the mofl ma- levolent purpofes are neceffitated to clothe themfelvcs, in fmiies ; while mifchief lies ^ INTKODUCTORY LECTURE. 9 lies brooding in mens hearts " their L EC T. *' words are fmoother than oil." The [ * father of Hes himfelf can have recourfe to truth, if it be likely to ferve his turn ; and the enemy of all goodnefs will con- defcend to quote that Scripture which he hates, if it can help him to an argument for the occafion. With this affefted defe- rence for Mofes, they are aiming at the total fubverfion of every moral and reli- gious principle ; by weakening one of the ftrongefl motives to virtue, and under- mining the furefl foundation of hope and joy to man. They alledge that obedience to the law might eventually lead to much confulion and diforder ; and they fuppofe a iituation, for none fuch ever exifted, in which compliance with the revealed will of God in this world, would infalli- bly lead to difcord and diftrefs in that which is to come. In this we have an example of a very common cafe, that of men {training their eyes to contemplate objecfls at a great dillance or totally out of fight ; and wilfully neglecting or overlook- ing thofe which are immediately before them : lO INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, L E CT. them : troubling themfelves about effects « — V — ' and conlequences ofwhich they are ignor- ant and over which they have no power : regardlefs of obvious truth and command- ed duty, which are their immediate bufinefs and concern. The Sadducees to cloke their licentioufnefs and infidehty affe6l fohcitude about the regularity and peace of a future ftate, which in words they denied, if they did not from the heart difbelieve. I make but one remark more, before I come to our Lord's reply. Eagernefs and anxiety to bring forward and to eftablifh an opinion, betray an inward doubt or difbelief of it. Truth is not ever pro- claiming itfelf from the houfe-tops, is not forward to obtrude itfelf upon every occafion, but is fatisfied with maintain- ing and defending itfelf when affaulted : but falfhood is eternally flriving to con- ceal or ilrengthen its confcious weaknefs by a parade of words, and a ihew of rea- fon. The zeal of the Sadducees to ex- plode and run down the dodrine of the refur- INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. II refurrection, plainly betrays a fecret dread ^ ECT. and belief of it. » — , — ^ Our Lord in his anfwer, points out dired:ly the fource of all errour and infi- delity, " Ye do err, not knowing the " fcriptures, and the power of God." Not knowing the Scriptures, 3''e fuppofe a dodlrine is not in them, becaufe ye have not found it in them : becaule ye have fiiut your own eyes, ye vainly imagine there is no light in the fun ; and take upon you to affirm it. Not knowing the power of God, you call that impofiible which you cannot do, deem that abfurd, which you do not comprehend, and pronounce that falfe which you wifli to be fo. The whole force of the .objedlion to the truth of the refurre^lion goes upon the fuppofition that the future world is exactly confti- tuted as the prefent ; that the relations and diftindiions which fubfift among men "upon earth, are to fubfift in the kingdom of heaven. But the fuppofition is found- ed in ignorance and fallhood, and the moment it is denied, the mighty argu- ment 12 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, LECt. ment built upon It, falls to the ground. i / ' " In the refurre^tion," faysChrift " they *' neither marry, nor are given in mar- " riage, but are as the angels of God in " Heaven." In thefe words the con- dition of men in the world to come is defcribed, firft, negatively, " They " neither marry, nor are given in marri- '^ ^ge." The power which created the heavens and the earth, and all the hoft of them, might undoubtedly, had it pleafed him, have created the whole hu- man race at once, as ealily as he formed the firft of men, Adam, and as he rears up one generation of men after another in the courfe of his Providence. But thinking it meet to people the earth, by multiplying mankind gradually upon it, difference of fex, and the inftitution of marriage were the means he was pleafed to employ. In the refurre£lion, the num- ber of the redeemed being complete at once, that difference and that inftitution being unnecei^ary, fhall be done away. The Evangelift adds, " neither can they die any more/' Death too enters into the INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 13 the plan of Providence for the govern- L E C T, ment of this world. Men muft be re- moved to make room for men. But be- caufe this fphere is narrow and contra6led, and unable to contain and fupport the increafing multitudes of many genera- tions, Is the Lord's hand fliortened, that he cannot expand a more fpacious firma- ment, and compa6l: a more fpacious globe to contain at once the countlefs nations of them that are faved ? O how greatly men err ; not knowing the Power of God ! Death is no part of the plan of Providence for the government of that world of blifs. In our Father's houle above there are many manfions, there is bread enough, and to fpare, tliere is room for all, provifion for all : the father need not to die to give fpace to the fon, nor the mother fpare that the child may have enough. For they are *' as the angels *' of God," fays our Lord, according to Matthew, " equal to the angels, fays ©ur evangeliil:, " and are the children of God.'* This defcribes their happinefs pofitively. Men on earth '* fee in aglafs '' darkly ; 14 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. << (darkly; know in part, prophefy in '^ — V — ' *' part," are encompafled with infirmity : but the " angels in heaven" excel in <' ftrength, ftand before the throne of God, *' ferve him day and night in his temple " without wearying, lee face to face, know '' as they are known." Their number is completed, their intercourfe pure and per- fe£t, without the means of increafe and union here below. Having thus reproved their ignorance and prefumption,refpe61:ing the " power of God," our Lord proceeds to expofe their ignorance relpe6ling " the fcriptures," and produces a pafl'age from Mofes, in whom they trufled, which they had hitherto overlooked or mifunder- ilood, wherein the do6trine in difpute was clearly laid down ; and which Vv^e had principally in view in leading your attention to this paffage on this occa- fion. The paffage is that noted declaration of God to Mofes from the midfl of the burning buih, "I am the God of thy " father, the God of Abraham, the God " of INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. I5 " of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob*." LECT. That God fliould have condefcended to ^ — ^ — ' hold this language concerning Enoch, *' who was tranflated that he fhould not " fee death, had been lefs wonderful ; for that holy man, who walked with God upon earth, was exalted immediately to a more intimate union with God in heaven . But to fpeak thus of men who were long ago mouldered into duft, of whom nothing remained among men but their names, conveys an idea of hu- man exiftence before which the life of a Methufaleh dwindles into nothing, which fwallows up mortality, and gives a dig- nity and a duration to man which bids defiance to the grave. That God fhould fay to Abraham while he lived, " I am " thy fhield, and thy exceeding great " rewardf," was a miracle of grace and condefcenfion ; but to fpeak thus, more than three centuries after he had been configned to the tomb, " I am the God * Exoduwii. 6. t GcneiisxY. i. «^of l6 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. " of Abraham," exhibits a relation be- I. « ^ J tween God and the Faithful, which per- fectly reconciles the mind to the thoughts of difiblution. Indeed it is impoflible to conceive any thing more elevating, any thing more tranquillizing to the foul than the view of future blifs with which the text prefents us. And this ^tran- quillity and elevation are greatly height- ened by the confideration that Jehovah from the midfl: of flaming fire under the Old Teflament difpenfation, and Jehovah in the perfon of the great Redeemer under the New, taught the fame glori- ous truth to the world. And what is it ? *' I am the God of Abraham, and *' the God of Ifaac, and the God of " Jacob." When God was pleafed to exprefs his favourable regard to Abraham upon earth, what did it amount to ? He led him through a particular diftridt of land in the length and breadth of it, and faid " I " will give it thee." But Abraham now expatiates through a more ample region, and tNTRODlfCTORY LECTlTREJ. I 7 and contemplates a fairer inheritance, an L E C T. inheritance, his, not in hope, but in ••- pofleffion. Abraham though follownig the leading of the divine Providence, faw the Redeemer's day only afar off: but in virtue of his relation to God he has now beheld the dawning of the morning ex- panded into the pure light of the perfect day. He once felt the events which af- fected his family, with the emotion na- tural to a man ; he has lince beheld them extending their influence to nations he thought not of, and now looks forward in holy rapture to that period, when he, and his Ifaac, and an earthly Canaan, and every thing of a temporal and tran- fitory nature, fhall bring their glory and their honour, and lay all at the feet of *' Him, who fitteth upon the throne, an4 before the Lamb.'* From Abraham zve are removed to a diflance of time and place in which thought is loft ; and we feem to have no more intereft in him, than if He had never exifted. But the dodrine of ths Vol. IIL B tex; •I 8 INTRODUCTORY LECTUrC. LECT. text brings us fo clofe to him, that we recognife the friend of God, in the midft of myriads of faints, in glory. We con- verfe with him, and continue to be in- truded by him. The Dufl: of Abraham fleeps unno- ticed and forgotten in the cave of Mach- phelah ; but lift up thine eyes, and behold Abraham on high, and Lazarus in his bofom ; his fpirit united to God '' the Father of Spirits," and to all " the *' Spirits of juft men made perfe6(:." *' And even that duft'* alfo " refls in *' hope :" It fhall not always be left in the place of the dead ; it fhall not re- main for ever a prey to corruption. Abraham purchafed a tomb, and buried his Sarah out of his fight ; but he has overtaken, regained her, in the regi- ons of eternal day, where virtuous and believing friends meet, never more to be disjoined. Abraham received his Ifaac from the wonder-working hand of heaven, when nature was dead to hope ; at the Cjommand of God, he chearfuUy furrend- ered Introductory lecture. 19 efed him again, and devoted him upon ^ ^^^ '^' the altar : again he receives him to new- ^ — /— *> nefs of life, and that darUng fon lives to put his hand upon his eyes. But they were not long difunited ; the Son has overtaken the Parents ; they rejoice in God, and in one another ; they are the Children and heirs of the Refurreclion ; " they are as the angels of God in hea- «' ven." " I am the God of Ifaac." This Ifaac, the heir of Abraham's poffeffions, of his faith, of his virtues, was on earth united to the God of the Spirits of all fiefh, by many tender and important relations : — by piety, by filial confidence, by good- nefs, by patience and fubmiffion on his part ; by eleftion, by fpecial favour, by highnefs of deftihation on the part of his heavenly father. Yet thefe diftinguifhed advantages exempted him not from the ftroke of affliction. Many years did this heir of the promifes, this chofen feed, in whom all the families of the earth fhould be blefled, many years did he go child- B 2 lefs 20 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. lefs. Early in life was he viiited with v— ~,^ I lofs of light, and thereby was expofed to much mortification and dejediion of fpi- rit. Children are at length given him, and they prove the torrnent of his life ; they excite a war betwixt nature and grace in his own breafl: ; difcord and jealoufy arm them againfl: each other ; he is in danger of " loling them both in " one day." One muft be banifhed from home, the other mingles with idolators. Behold a wretched, blind old man, a prey to grief of heart." But thefe things, on the other hand, diflblved not, inter- rupted not his covenant relation to God : they ferved but to cement and ftrengthen the divine friendfliip : and death which to human apprehenfion feparates all con- nexion, and indeed tears afunder every mortal tie, only brought into a clearer light, intercourfe and intimacy, which can never expire. " I am the God of Jacob." In all the wanderings, in all the dangers, in all the diflrefies of this Patriarch ; in all INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 21 his fucccfles, all his acquifitions, allhis^^^'^' joys, we difcover the relation of God to« — , — ^ him, exprefl'ed in thefe words, and the prefence of God with him whitherfoever he went, conftantly relieving the wretch- ednefs of the one ftate ; dignifying and fupporting the felicity of the other. This gave him fecurity from the violence of an incenfed brother ; this cheared the folitude of Liiz,' and turned it into a Bethel ; by this the (lumbers of a head repofed on a pillar of ftone were made refrefhing and inftru6live ; this reprefled and overbalanced the rapacity of Laban ; this fupported and fanclified the lofs of Jofeph ; this fweetened the defcent into Egypt, and diffipated the gloom of death ; by this, though dead he exifts, though lilent he fpeaketh, " abfent from the " body he is prefentwith the Lord;" the moment of his departure is on the wing- to overtake that of his redemption froro tlie power of the grave. Before God, the diftance flirinks into nothing ; that word, that one little word, I AM, unites the aera of Nature's birth with that of its B 3 diflblutioa. Zt INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. dif^olution, joins eternity to eternity., * ^ _ i *' and fvvallows up death in vi(5lory»'* The fame gracious dechiration apphes with equal truth and juftice to every Ion and daughter " ot faithful Abraham" to every " Ifraelite indeed." We fpeak of departed friends in the pajl time, we " cannot but remember fuch things we-'ei '' and were moft dear to us ;" but it is the glorious prerogative of Jehovah to employ eternally the prejent in defcribing his ow^n Effence, and his covenant relation to his People : '' I AM THAT I AM." «' I AM the God of thy Father' of thy buried, thy lamented brother, friend, lover, child. And to us alfo is the word of this confolation fent, *' Fear not, for *' I am Vv4th thee, be not difmayed, " I am thy God." " Thus faith the *' Lord, that created thee, O Jacob, and *' he that formxcd thee, O Ifraei ; Fear *' not : fori have redeemed thee, I have *' called thee by name, thou art mine, ^' When thou paflefl: through the waters, ^* J will be with thee, and through the «' i'iverS| INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 23 ^* rivers, they fhall not overflow thee,LECT. *' when thou walkefl through the fire,» — ^— » " thou fhalt not be burnt ; neither (hall " the flame kindle upon thee. For li^m " the Lord thy God, the Holy One of " Ifrael, thy Saviour." Believing, refl- ing upon this fure foundation, the Chrif- tian triumphs in the profpecl of " de- parting and being with Chrifl: ;" fmiles at the threatening looks of the king of terrours, exults andfings " with the fweet **" finger of Ifrael," " Yea, though I " walk through the valley of the fliadow " of death, I will fear no evil : for thou " art with me, thy rod, and thy flafr, " they comfort me. Surely goodnefs " and mercy fhall follow me all the *' days of my life : and I will dwell in " the Houfe of the Lord for ever."-!- and with the enraptured apollile of the Gentiles, *' O Death, where is thy fting ; " O Grave where is thy victory ? Thanks " be to God who giveth us the vi£lory " through our Lord Jefus Chrifl*." t Pfalm xxiii. 4. 6. * i Cor. ky. 15 — 57. B4 Ic 24 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. Itis a tranfporting refledion, that the fond wiflies and defires of the human heart, are warranted, encouraged and fupported by the revelation of God : that the life and immortality which we natural- ly-pant after, are brought to light by the Gofpel. It is pieafant to find wife and good men, guided only by the light of reafon, and the honefl propeniities of nature, cherifhing that very belief, cleav- ing to that very hope which the Text infpires. Cicero, in his beautiful treat- jfe on Old-Age, while he relates the fentiments of others, fweetly dehvers his own on this lubject. The elder Cyrus, according to Xenophon, thus ad- drefled his fons before his death, *' Do ' not imagine, O my dear children, ' that when I leave you, I ceafe to exiil. ' For even while I was yet with you, ' my Spirit you could not difcern ; but ' that it animated this body you were ' fully aflured, by the anions I per- * formed. Be aflured it will continue * the lame, thouo-h ftill you fee it not. * The glory of ill uftrious men muil: fink *^ with INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 25 with them into the grave, were not L E C T. their furviving fpirits capable of ex- v__.^«»-/ ertion, and concerned to refcue their names from oblivion. I can never fuffer myfelf to be perfuaded, that the man lives only while he is in the body, and dies, when// is diflblved ; or that the foul lofes all intelligence, on being feparated from an unintelli- gent lump of clay ; but rather, that on being liberated from all mixture with body, pure and entire, it enters upon its true intellectual exiftence. At death any one may difcover what becomes of the material part of our frame : all finks into that from which it arofe, every thing is refolved into its lirft principle ; the Soul alone is apparent neither while it is with us, nor when it departs. What fo much refembles death as fleep ? Now the powers of the mind in fleep loudly proclaim their own divinity ; free and unfettered, the foul plunges into fu- turity, afcends its native iky. Hence we iTiay conclude how enlarged thofe ** powers 26 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. L E C T. a powers will be,- when undepreffed, un- ^— V- — ' ^' retrained by the chams of flefh. Since *' thefe things are fo, conlider and rever- " ence me as a tutelary deity. But, " granting that the mind were to expire " with the body, rieverthelefs, out of " reverence to the immortal Gods who ■ *'' fupport and dire^l this fair fabrick of " Nature, pioufly, affectionately cherifh " the memory of your affectionate Fa- *' then" — The great Roman Orator puts thefe words into the mouth of Cato in addreffing his young friends Scipio and " Laelius. Thofe excellent men, your " Fathers, who were fo dear to me in '* life, I confider as ftill alive ; aiid in- '^ deed as now enjoying a flate of being '' which alone deferves to be dignified " with the name of life. For as long " as we are (hut up in this dungeon of " fenfe, w^e have to toil through the *' painful and neceflary drudgery of life, *' and to accomplish the laborious talk " of an hireling. The celcftial Spirit is, '' as it were, deprefled, degraded from *' its native feat, and plunged into the " mire INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 27 *' mire of this world, a ftate repugnant L EC T. " to its divine nature and eternal dura- v«-_,^ — / " tion." — And again, " Nobody ihall " ever perfuade me, Scipio, that your " Father Paullus, and your two Grand- *' fathers, Paullus and Africanus, and *' many other eminent men whom it is " unneceflary to mention, v»^ould have *' attempted and atchieved fo many " fplendid adlions, which were to ex- " tend their influence to pofterity, had *' they not clearly difcerned that they " had an intereft in, and a connexion " with the ages of futurity, and with " generations yet unborn. Can you " imagine, that I may talk a little of " myfelf, after the manner of old men, " Can you imagine, that I would have " fubmitted to fo many painful toils, by *' night and by day, in the forum, in the " fenate, in the field, had I apprehended " that my exiftence and my reputation " were to terminate wath my life ? ** Were this the cafe, would it not have been much better to dofe aw^ay" in *^ indolejice an iniignifiqant and ufelefs^ life ? 28 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. «' life ? But I don't know how, the foul ' " inceflantly exerting its native vigour, '^ ilill fprung eagerly forward into ages yet *' to come, and feized them as its own. " I feel myfelf tranfported with de- light, at the thought of again feeing and joining your fathers, whom on earth I highly refpe6led and dearly loved : and borne on the wings of hope and defire I am fpeeding my flight to mingle in the honoured fo- ciety not of thofe only whom on earth I knew and with whom I have converfed ; but of thofe alio, of whom I have heard and read, and the hiftory of wdiofe lives I myfelf have written, for the inftruclion of mankind. — I have the confolation of refle6ting, that I have not lived wholly in vain : and I quit my ftation in life without re- gret, as the way- faring man wliofe face is towards home, bids farew^ell to the Inn w^here he had flopped for a little refrelhment on his way. O glo- rious day, w^hen I fhall be admitted " into INTRODUCTORY LECTURE, 29 " into the divine aflembly of the wifeLECT. *' and good ! When I fhall make an * *' eternal efcape from this fink of cor- " riiption, and the din of folly ! When. *' amidfl the happy throng of the immor- " tals, I fhall find thee alfo my Son, my " Cato, heft, mofl: amiable of men ! *' On thy aflies, I beftowed the honours " *of the Tomb. Ah ! why did not mine *' rather receive them from thy hand ! *' But your Spirit, I know it, has never " forfaken me ; but cafting back many " a longing, lingering look to your af- *' fli£led Father, has removed to that *' region of purity and peace whither *' you were confident I fliould fhortly *' follow you.— And I feel, I feel our fepa- '' ration cannot be of long continuance. *' If, indulging myfelf in this fond hope, my young friends, I be under the power of dclufion, it is a fweet, it is an innocent delufion. I wall hold it fail and never let it go, while I live. I defpife the liieer of the wit- ling, who would attempt to laugh '' me 30 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. <6 me out of my Immortality. Siippofe V , y I „■ / " him in the right, and myfclf under a " miftake, he (hall not have the power *' to infult me, nor fhall I have the *' mortification of feeling his fcorn, w^hcii *' we are both gone to the land of ever- '' lafting forgetfulnefs." 'How pleafing the thought, my dear Chriilian friends, I again repeat it ; how pleafing the thought, that the honefl propenfities of nature, the faireft con- clufions of unaffifled reafon, and the mofl ardent breathings of Truth and Virtue, are here in unifon with the ciearefi: and moft explicit declarations of the holy - fcriptures ! But the facred Dove foars into a region which nature and reafon never could have explored. Revelation, to the immor- tality of the Soul, has added the Refurrec- tion of the Body. And, " wherefore " iliould it be thought a thing incredible «' that God fhould raife the dead"? The Spirit fays to " thefe dry bones, live." " We. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 3 I " We believe that Tefus died and rofeLECT. I. again." What a fure ground of hope, j that " them alfo who deep in Jefus, God will bring with him !" Delightful re- fledlion ! Who would be fo unjuft to God, and fo unkind to himfelf, as to part with it ? How it fmooths the rugged path of life, how it tempers the bitternefs of affliction, how it diffipates the horrours of the grave ! One child fleeps in the duft, the diameter of the globe feparates me from another, but the word of life, " I AM the God of thy feed," refcues that one from corruption, and puts the other in my embrace. Time dwindles into a point, the Earth melts away, *' the Trumpet founds," " the dead arife incorruptible." Behold all things are made new ! New Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteoufnefs." ** Arife, let us go hence," and " fit down with Abraham, Ifaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God," LEC= THE HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE IL Heb. xi. 24 — 27. «Y FAITH MOSES WHEN HE WAS COME TO YEARS, REFUSED TO BE CALLED THE SON OF Pharaoh's daughter ; CHUSING RATHER TO SUFFER AFFLIC- TION WITH THE PEOPLE OF GOD, THAN TO ENJOY THE PLEASURES OF SIN FOR A season: ESTEEMING THE REPROACH OF CHRIST GREATER RICHES THAN THE TREASURES OF EGYPT : FOR HE HAD RESPECT UNTO THE RECOMPENCE OP THE REWARD. BY FAITH HE FORSOOK EGYPT, NOT FEARING THE WRATH OF THE KING ; FOR HE ENDURED, AS SEEING HIM WHO IS INVISIBLE. TH E Hiftory of mankind contains many a lamentable detail of the fad reveries to which human affairs are Vol. L C liable; 34 HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. liable ; of the affluent, by unforefeen, u . , „; unavoidable calamity, tumbled into in- digence ; of greatnefs in eclipfe ; of the mighty fallen ; of princgs dethroned, baniflied, put to death. In fome inftan- ces of this fort, we fee the unhappy fufferers making a virtue of neceffity, and bearing their misfortunes with a certain degree of patience and magnanimity ; but in general, fudden and great diflrefs cither fours or deprefles the fpirit, and men fubmit to the will of Providence with fo ill a grace, that it is evident they are not under the power of religion ; that they flee not for confolation to the pro-^ Ipeds of immortality. We are, this evening, to contemplate one of thofe rare examples of true great- - nefs of mind, which made a voluntary facriiice of the mofl: enviable lituation, and the mofh flattering profpe6ls which human life admits of; and that at an age, when the heart is moft devoted t© the puifuit of pleafure, moft fufceptiblc ©/ the allurements of ambition. It is ^he HISTORY OF MOSES. , ^^ the fiiipular inftance of Mofes, the Pro- LECT, ^ . II. phet and Leglflator of Ifrael, who, brought "^ up from infancy in a court, inftru6led in all the learning of the Egyptians ; treat- ed as the heir of Empire, and encouraged to afpire to all that the heart naturally covets, and that Providence beftows on the moft favoured of mankind ; at the age of forty, chearfully religned all thefe advantages, and preferred the life of a flave with his brethren, and of a fhepherd in the land of Midian among Grangers, to all the luxury and fplendour belonging to the fon of Pharaoh's daugh- ter, to all the dazling hopes of royalty, or of power next to majefty. Scripture, in its own admirably con- cife method, dilpatches the hiftory of this great man's life, from his infancy to his fortieth year in a few ihort words, namely, " And Mofes was learned in all the wif- " dom of the Egyptians, and was mighty " in words, and in deeds.*'* As not * Afts vii. 22. C J, deeming ^6 HISTORY OF MOSES. L EC T. deeming information concerning attain- i ments in human fcience, or feats of martial prowefs, worthy of the know- ledge of pofterity, compared to the tri- umphs of his Faith, the generous work- ings of his Public Spirit, and the noble Ardour of fervent Piety. Philo and Jofephus, however, and other Jewifh Writers have taken upon them to fill up this Interval of Time, by a fanciful, fabulous, unfupported ac- count of the earlier years of Mofes ; which we fhould perhaps be difpofed in part to retail for your amufement, if not for your inftrudion, had not the Spirit of God fupplied us with well authenticated me- moirs of a more advanced period of his life. In the perufal of which, with ferl- ous meditation upon them, we fhall, I truft, find pleafure and profit blended to- gether. Taking Infpiration then for our guide, we divide the Hiftory of Mofes, into three periods, of equal duration in refpe£l of time. HISTORY OF MOSES. 37 time, namely of forty years each ; but L E C T. very different in refpedt of fitiiation, no- v ^ > toriety and importance. The firfl, and of which the Bible is filent, or fpeaks but a fingle word, prefents him to us a fludent in the fchools of the Egyptian Magi, one among the Princes in the court of Pharaoh, a Poet, an Orator, a Statefman, a General, or whatever elfe imagination pleafes to make him. The fecond, exhibits an humble fhepherd, tending the flocks of Jethro his father- in-law, and fulfilling the duties, and exemplifying the virtues of the private citizen. In the third, \ye attend the foot- fteps of the Saviour of his nation, the leader and commander, the lawgiver and judge of the Ifrael of God : under whom that chofen race was conducted from Egyptian opprefiion, to the pofleffion of the land promifed to Abraham and to his feed ; the inftrument chofen, raifed up, and employed of the Divine Providence, to execute the purpofes of the Almighty in a cafe which afFeded the general in- C 3 terefts, 38 H I S T O R Y O F M O S E S. L E C T. terefts, fpiritual and everlafting, of all * — ,— *; mankind. It is of the fecond of thefe periods we are now to treat ; and though our mate- rials be fmall and few, if we be fo happy as to make a proper ufe of them, we fliall find that by the bleffing of God our labour has not been in vain. In Mofes then, in the very prime and vigour of his life, we fee a mind uncor- rupted by the maxims and manners of an impious, tyrannical, idolatrous court ; not intoxicated by royal favour, not fe- duced by the allurements of ambicion, not deadened by the uninterrupted poflef- fion of profperity, to the impreflions of humanity and compaffion. And what . preferved him ? He believed in God. The mind's eye was fixed on Him who is invifibleto the eye of fenfe ? And what is the wifdom of Egypt compared to this ? It was a land of aftronomers, a land of warriours, a land of artifts ; and the improvement which Mofes made in every liberal HISTORY OF MOSES. 39 liberal art and fclence, we may well fup- L ECT. pofe was equal to any, the firfl of the age < v f and nation in which he lived. But a principle infinitely fuperiour to every thing human, a principle not taught in the fchools of the Philofophers, a principle that carries the foul where it relides, beyond the limits of this little world, infpired high thoughts, didated a noble, manly, generous condudl. And firft, it taught him to defpife and to reje£l empty, unavailing worldly honours. " By faith *' Mofes when he was come to years, re- " fufed to be called the fon of Pharaoh's " daughter.*" Ordinary fpirits value them- felves on rank and diftindlion. Ordinary men raifed unexpedledly to eminence, flrive to conceal and to forget the mean- nefs of their extraction ; but Mofes would rather pafs for the fon of a poor, opprefled Ifraelite, than for the adopted fon and heir of the oppreffing tyrant's daughter. Putting religion out of the queftion, true, magnanimity will feek to derive confe- Hebrews v. 34. 40, HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. quence from itfelf, not from parentage or ' ^ any other adventitious circumftance ; will not confider itfelf as ennobled by what it could have no power over, nor debafed, by what has in itfelf no blame. To be either vain of one's anceftry, or alha- med of it, is equally the m.ark of a gro- velling fpirit. Are you highly defcended my friend ? Let high birth infpire high, that is worthy, generous fentiments. Beware of difgracing reputable defcent, by fordid, vulgar, vicious behaviour. Haft thou nothing to boaft of in refpe6t j of pedigree ? Strive to lay the foundation of thy own nobility : convince the fools of the world that ^oodnefs is true great- nefs ; that a catalogue of living virtues is much more honourable than a long lift of departed names. Know ye not that faith makes every one who lives by it, more than the fon of a king ? For the fon of a king may be a fool or a profligate ; but faith makes its pofleflbr a fon of God, that is, a wife and a good man ; and by it Mofes was more noble in the wildernefs of HISTORY OF MOSES. 41 of Sinai, than in the imperial court ofLECT. Pharaoh. ^ — „ — j As this divine inftru(5tor taught him to undervalue and to refufe empty honours, fo it infpired him with pity to his afflicted brethren. *' And it came to pafs in thofe " days, when Mofes was grown, that he " went out unto his brethren, and looked " on their burdens, and he fpied an *' Egyptian fmiting an Hebrew, one of *' his brethren.*" Eafe and affluence ge- nerally harden the heart. If it be well with the felfifh man himfelf, he little cares what others endure. But religion teaches another leflon : " Love to " God whom we have not feen," will always be productive of " love to men " whom we have leen." From the root of faith, many kindred ftems fpring up ; and all bring forth fruit. There, arifes the {lately plant of heavenly mindednefs, producing the golden apples of felf-go- vernment, felf-denial, and contempt of * Exodus ii. II. the ^^ H I S T O R Y O F M O S E S. ^^CT. the world ; and clofe by its fide, and fhel- II. , J ■> V — , — ' tered by its branches, gentle fympath)*? expands its bloflbms and breathes its per- fumes ; confolation to the afflided, and relief to the miferable. The progrefs of compaffion in Mofes, is defcribed with wonderful delicacy and judgment. Firfl, he foregoes the *plea- fures of acourt. Unable to relifh a foli- tary, felfifh gratification, while he refleded that his neareft and deareft relations were eating the bread, and drinking the water of afflidlion ; he goes out to look upon their mifery, and tries by kind looks and words of love, to foothe their woes. Unable to alleviate, much lefs to remove their anguifh, he is determined at leafl to be a partaker of it ; and fince he cannot raife them to the enjoyment of hh liberty and eafe, he voluntarily takes a fhare of their bondage and oppreflion. There is fomething wonderfully pleafing to a* foul in trouble, to fee one who might have fhunned it, and have turned away from the fufFerer, out of pure love, drinking from HISTOIIY OF MOSES. 43 from the fame bitter cup, fubmitting to ^ E C T. the fame calamity. At length an honeft zeal breaks forth, and overleaps the bounds of patience and difcretion. Seeing a bru~. tal Egyptian fmiting an Hebrew, inca- pable of furpreffing his indignation, he afiaults the oppreflbr, and puts him to death. " Mofes was meek above all the " men of the earth." But " furely *' oppreffion maketh a wife man mad." This we alledge as an apology for the condudl of Mofes, not a vindication of it ; for we pretend not to fay it was in all refpects juifiiiable. But it is one of thofe fmgular cafes to which common rules will not apply. The day after, he had the mortification of feeing two Hebrews ftriv^Ing together. Unhappy men ! As it they had not enemies enough in their common, cruel taik-mafters ; as if condemnation to labour in making bricks without fome of the neceflary materials, could not find em- ployment for their mofl: vigorous efforts ; as if an edi£l to deftroy all their male children 44 HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. children from their birth, had not been V — ^ — I fufficient to fill up the meafure of their woe ; they pour hatred and ftrife into the bowl, already furcharged with worm- wood and gall. Wretched fons of men ! Eternally arraigning the wifdom and good- nefs of Providence ; eternally complaining of the hardfhips of their lot ; and eternally dwelling the catalogue of their miferies by their own perverfenefs and folly ; adding vinegar to nitre, and then won- dering how their diftrefles came to Ibe fo great. Mofes reproved the offending Egyptian by a blow, and a mortal one ; he tries to gain an offending brother by meeknefs and gentlenefs ; he makes reafon and humanity fpeak ; but they fpeak in vain ; for the fame fpirit that leads men to commit cruelty or injuftice, leads them alfo to vindicate and fupport them. *' And «' he faid to him that did the wrong, * wherefore fmiteft thou thy fellow ? ** And he faid, who made thee a prince and " a judge over us ? Intended thou to kill me, as thou killedfl the Egyptian ? *'* * Exodus ii. 13, 14. From 66 HISTORY OF MOSES. 45 From this Mofes dlfcovered that the rafli L E C T. 2.£tion he had committed the day before, j was pubHckly known and talked of, and might prove fatal to him, unlefs he In- ftantly fled from the danger. The affair had reached the ears of Pharaoh, who, it would appear, wanted only a decent pre- tence to rid himfelf of a man, of whom all Egypt was jealous. He hurries away therefore out of the territories of the king of Egypt, into that part of Arabia which is called Petrea, from its mountainous or rocky afpe^l ; and by a fingular concur- rence of providential circumftances, is flopped at a city of that country called Mldlan, and induced to remain there for many years. There lived in this city a perlbn of dlftlnguiihed rank and ftatlon ; but whe- ther poflefled of a facred or a civil chara6ter, the ambiguity of the term in the holy language permits us not to de- termine ; and the Scripture leaves us totally uncertain whether he were a priefl or a prince of Mldlan. But we are left in no doubt refpedlng his moral and intel- ledual 46 HISTORY OF MO S£S. LECT.jg£^ual qualifications; and we fhall have ^^ V » ^no reafon to be difpleafed at finding the hiftory of Mofes blended with that of fo fenfible and fo good a man as Jethro, or Raguel, turns out to be. Whatever his dignity was, the facerdotal or royal, we find his daughters trained up in all the limplicity of thofe early times ; following the humble, harmlefs profeffion of fhep- herdefles. Wife is that father, kind and juft to his children, who, whatever his fta- tion, polleffions, or profpe(Sls maybe, brings up his fons and his daughters to fome virtuous and ufeful employment ; for idlenefs is not more odious, difhonour- able, and contemptible, than it is inimi- cal to happinefs, and irreconcileable to inward peace. Mofes being arrived in the neighbour- hood of Midian, weary and faint with a long journey, through a barren and un- hofpitable country, fits down by a well of water to reft and refrefh himfelf.— - And as a good man's footfteps are all ordered of the Lord, Providence fends hiiTi thither, juil at tlie monaentj to fuc- cour HISTORY OF MOSES. 45^ cour the daughters of Raguel from the L E c T. violence of fome of their neighbours. In that country, the precious fluid be- ftowed upon us in fuch boundlefs pro- fufion, being difpenfed as it were ill drops, became an objed of defire, and a ground of contention. The daughters of Jethro, fenfible of their inferiority in point of ftrength, endeavour to fupply it by diligence and addrefs. They arrive at the well before their rival fliepherds, and are preparing with all poffible difpatch to water their flocks, when behold they are overtaken by thefe brutals, who rudely drive them and their flocks away, and cruelly attempt to convert the fruits of their labour to their own ufe. Mofes poflefling at once fenfibility, courage, and force, takes part with the injured, and affords them efFeclual fupport againft their oppreffors. An helplefs, timid female, aflaulted and infulted, is an obje6l of peculiar concern to a brave and generous Spirit ; and for this reafon, courage and intrepidity are qualities in men, held m great and jufl eftimation by the Female Sex. If 48 HISTORY OF MOSES« If the heroic behaviour of Mofes merit approbation and refped, the modeft re- ferve of the virgin daughters of Raguel is equally amiable and praife-w^orthy. It does not appear that they folicited pro- te£llon, but modeftly received it, they look their thanks rather than utter them ; and they deem it more fuitable to their fex and character to appear ungrateful to a generous ftranger, than to offend him by forw^ardnefs and indelicacy. They haften home to their father, who, fur- prized at the earlinefs of their return, enquires into the caufe of it. Happy, I doubt not, to celebrate the praifes of a man whofe appearance and behaviour miull: have made a deep impreffion upon them, they relate the adventure of the morning, and Raguel, ftruck with the magnanimity, gallantry, and fpirit of this Granger's conduct, eagerly enquires after him, fends to find him out, invites him to his houfe and table, and endeavours to exprefs that gratitude which the young women could not, by every effort of kindnefs and hofpitality. Minds fo well aflorted HISTORY OF MOSES. 49 aflbited as thofe of Mofes and Jethro;^^p^- and attraded to each other by mutual a6ls of beneficence, would eafily aflimi- late, and unite in friendfhip. And the pleafing recolle6lion of protection given and received, the natural fenlibility of a female mind to perfonal accompliih- ments, but more efpecially to generofity and courage, on tlie one hand ; and the irrefiftible charm of feminine beauty and modefty to a manly heart, on the other, would fpeedily and infenfibly between Mofes, and fome one of the Prieft of Midian's fair daughters, ripen into love. What follows therefore, is all in the courfe of honeft Nature, which nevejj fwerves from her purpole, never fails to accomplilh her end. But it was Provi- dence that furnifhed the field, and the inftruments with which Nature fhould work. That Providence which faved him forty years before, from perifhing in the Nile ; that Providence which de- livered him fo lately from the hands of an incenfed king ; the fame Providence now, by a concourfe of circumflances D equally 5^ HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. equally beyond the reach of human pow- t / i er or forefight, fixes the bounds of his habitation, forms for him the moft im- portant conne6lion of human life ; and for another fpace of forty years, makes him forget the tumultuous pleafures of a court, in the more calm and rational de- lights of difinterefted friendfhip and vir- tuous affe6lion. It was in this delicious retreat, that the man of God is fuppofed to have com- pofed by divine Infpiration, and commit- ted to writing, that moil ancient, mofl elegant, and moft inftruftive of all books ; which contains the hiftory of the world from the creation down to his own times : a period which no other writer has pre- fumed to touch upon ; holy ground, which none but the foot of God himfelf has dared to tread. Here alfo, and at this time, it is conjedured by interpre- ters, he wrote that beautifully poetical, moral and hiflorical work, the Book of Job : which, for fublimity of thought, force of expreffion, juflnefs of fentiment, flrength HISTORY OF MOSES. 5I ftrength of reafoning, and variety of mat- L E C T, ter, holds a diflinguillied place in the * facred code. If from the fchools of the Magi he drew fuch flores of wifdom and eloquence, high mufl our ideas rife of thofe noble feminaries of learning. But Mofes derived his wonderful accomplifh- ments, from a much higher fource ; even from the everlafting Spring of all know- ledge, even from him who made the Hea- vens and the Earth, and caufed the light to arife ; even from him who can make the defert of Horeb a fchool of Wisdom, and the fimple wifer than all his teachers. Here alfo he has the felicity of becoming a Father ; and in Midian, God builds up one of the families of Ifrael. And now at laft the time to favour that defpifed opprcfled Nation was come, Egypt had changed its fovereign, in the mean time, but the Seed of Jacob had felt no mitigation of their dillrefs ; eve- ry change they have undergone is only from evil to worfe. Mofes was now arrived at his eightieth year ; but re- D 2 mained ^2 HtSTORY OP MOSES.^ L E C T. niained in the full vigour of his bodily V— V — ' ftrength and of his mental powers. Er- ring, reafoning, cavilling men will be aiking, Why was the employment of Mofes in fo important a fervice fo long delayed ? Why bury fuch talents, for fuch a fpace of time, in the inglorious life of an obfcure fhepherd ? Why call a man at fo late a period of life, in the evening of his day, in the decline of his facul- ties, to a fervice that required all the fervour, intrepidity, and exertion of youth ? To all which we anfwer in the words of our Saviour, *' It is not for you ** to know the times or the feafons, *' which the Father hath put in his own ** power." Man is perpetually in a hurry, and often haftens on, without making progrefs ; but "he that be- lieveth Ihall not make hafte." God, the father of believers advances to his end, not [in a vehement and hur- ried fl:ep, but in a folemn, flieady, ma- jeftic pace ; his progrefs, which we may in our folly account flow, in the iflue proves to have been the moft expeditious, and the I HISTORY OF MOSES. ^^ the eourfe which human ignorance jj^ "^^ may condemn as irregular and circuitous, * — >r— '. in the end will be found the fhortefl and the fur eft. The eourfe of the hiftory then has brought us to that important, event- ful hour when the iliepherd of Mi- dian, trained up in retirement, and con- templation, and converfe with God, was to fhake off his difguife, and ftand con- fefled, the minifter of the moft high God, the king in Jefhurun, the fcourge of Egypt, the deliverer of Ifrael. As the commiffion given him to execute, and the ftation affigned him, were altogether , iingular and uncommon, we are not to be furprized, if the feal and lignature affixed to that commiffion, and the pow- ers beftowed for the faithful and effedual execution of it, were likewife out of the ufual eourfe of things, and befpoke the power and authority of him who granted it. But as this merits a principal place in the eourfe of thefe exercifes, we ffiall not comprefs it into the conclufion of a Ledure ; hoping through the help of D*^ God, 54 HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. God, to refume and continue the fubje£t *— .^-_j next Lord's day. Such was Mofes the Jewifh legiflator and hero, durhig the two firft great periods of his life. But a greater than Mofes is here, even he, " the latchet of whofe fhoes Mofes is unworthy to ftoop down and unloofe.'* To whom Mofes and Ehas on the Mount of transfiguration brought all their glory and honour, and laid them at his feet ! Mofes refufed to be called the fon of Pharaoh's daughter ; and Jefus difdained not to be called the Son of the carpenter. Supreme, all divine, though he was, yet he declined not the fociety of the poorefl, meaneft, moft afflidcd of man- kind ! Was the humiliation of Mofes chear- ful and voluntary, not forcibly obtruded 'Hpon him, but fought out and fubmitted to ? Chrifl:, though " in the form of •' God, and thougllt it not robbery to be % " equal HISTORY OF MOSES. ^^ *' equal with God, yet made himfelf of ^ ^^ '^» " no reputation, and took upon him the y , , ^ ■ i» •' form ofafervant?" Was fympathy a leading feature in the character of Mo- fes ? Jefus " hath not defpifed, not abhorred the affliction of the afflided ; neither hath he hid his face from him, but when lie cried unto him, he heard.*" " In all our affliction, he was afflicted, and the angel of his pre- fence faved them ; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. t " Did Mofes, through the vale of obfcurity, arrive at the fummit of glory ? Of Chrift it is faid, as following up the fcene of his humiliation, " Wherefore God alfo hath highly .exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name : that, at the name of Jesus, every knee fhould bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth : and that every tongue fhould confefs, that Jefus Chriil is * Pfalm xxii, 24. f Ifalah Ixiil. 9. P 4 «' Lord, ^6 HISTORY OF MOSES. LEC T, " Lord, to the glory of God the Father.*' * But the time would tail to point out every mark of rcfemblance. Chrift derives no glory from fimilitude to Moles ; but all the glory of Mofes flows from his typifying Chrifi:, the Lord, in whom " all the pro- mifes are yea and amen ;" and who is " the end of the Law for Righteoufnefs to every one that believeth." L E C- HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE in. Exodus iii. 13, 14. AND MOSES SAID UNTO GOD, BEHOLD WHEN I COME UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AND SHALL SAY UNTO THEM, THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS HATH SENT ME UNTO YOU : AND THEY SHALL SAY TO ME WHAT IS HIS NAME ? WHAT SHALL I SAY UNTO THEM ? AND GOD SAID UNTO MOSES, I AM THAT I AM : AND HE SAID, THUS SHALT THOU SAY UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL_, I AM HATH SENT ME UNTO YOU. THE objects prefented to us in the commerce of the world, have a rela- tive greatnefs ; but thofe with which we converfe in folitude and retirement, poflefg a real grandeur and magnificence. A vaft city,a numerous and well-difciplined army, 58 HISTORY OF MOSES. ^^j^"^- a proud navy, a fplendid court, and the ^»^ — V — ' like, dazzle the eyes of a flranger, and produce a tranfient wonder and delight. But a little acquaintance diflblves the ichaim, the dimenfions of created great- nefs fpeedily contraft themfelves, the" glory departs^ and what once filled us with aftonifhment, is regarded with calm indifference, perhaps with difguft. The Eye, almoU: with a fingle glance, reaches the end of human perfection, and in-* ftantly turns from what it has feen, in fearch of fomething yet undifcovered, ftriving to find in novelty and variety, a compenfation for the poverty, littlenefs, nothingnefs of the creature. But when we withdraw from the haunts of men, and either retire within ourfelves, or fend our thoughts abroad to contemplate God and his works ; we meet a height and a depth, which the line of finite under- f}:anding cannot fathom ; we expatiate in a region which flill difclofes new fcenes of wonder ; we feel ourfelves at once invited and checked, attraded and repel- led ; we behold much that we can com- prehend HISTORY OF MOSES, '5$ prebend and explain ^ but mucb more ^ ^ J^ '^' tbat pafl^th knowledge ; we find our- ' — , — i felves, like Mofes, at tbe bufb, " upon " holy Ground," and the fame wonder- ful fight is exhibited to our view — *' JEHOVAH !" IN A FLAME OF FIRe! whofe light irradiates and encourages our approach ; but whofe fervent heat arrefls our fpeed, and remands us to our proper dillance. That great man had now paffed the fecond great period of his life, in the humble ftation of a fliepherd, and the fhepherd of another man's flock. He had quitted the enchanted regions of high life, not only without regret, but with joy ; not impelled by fpleen, not foured by difappointment ; but filled with a noble difdain for empty honours, with generous fympathy towards his afflicted brethren, animated by exalted piety, which fettled on an invifible God, and infpired with a foul which looked at pomp with contempt, and on obfcurity with acquief- eence and defire. It was in this calm retreat 6o HISTORY OF MOSES. ^ ^^ '^- retreat that he cultivated thofe quali- » — y— ^ ties, which proved more favourable to the defigns of Providence, than all the learning he had acquired in Egypt. At the age of eighty, the race of glory is at an end with moft men : nay, the drama of life concludes with the generality, long before that period arrives. ^ But the fame, activity, and ufefulnefs of Mofes,com- menced not till then; for as it is never too early, fo it is never too late to ferve God, and to do good to men ; and true Wif- dom confifts in waiting for and following the call of heaven, not in anticipating and out-running it. Abraham was turned out a wanderer and an exile at feventy- five. And Mofes at fourfcore was fent upon an enterprize,which it required much courage to undertake, much vigour to condu£l and fupport, and a great length of time to execute. But before tlie di- vine mandate, every mountain of diffi- culty finks, every valley is exalted, the crooked becomes flralght, and the rough ^places plain, Abraham at- -the head of ft HISTORY OF MOSES. 6r a handful of fervants, fubdues five vie- L E c T. •11- • 01 III- torious kings, with their armies : Sarah, v>__^ / at ninety, bears a fon ; and Mofes at eighty with a limple rod in his hand, advances to fuccour Ifrael and crufh the power of Egypt. The folemnity with which the com- miffion was given, fuited the dignity and importance of the undertaking. The whole was of God, and he does every thing in a manner worthy of himfelf. While Mofes was employed in the inno- cent cares and labours of his lowly fla- tion ; and faithful attention to the duties of our feveral ftations is the befl prepara- tion for the vifits of the Almighty ; a very unufual and unaccountable appear- ance prefented itfelf to his eyes, A bufh wholly involved in flames, yet continuing unchanged, undiminifhed, unconfumed by the fire. Whether na- ture preferves her Heady tenour, or fuffers an alteration or fufpenfion of the laws by which fhe is ufually governed, the finger of -God is eoually vifible in both ; for what 62 HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. what power, fave that which Is divine, V ^ > could have eftabUfhed, and can maintain the order and harmony of the univerfe ? And what power fliort of omnipotence, can break in upon that order, make the Sun to il:and ftill, or its fhadow return back to the Meridian after it had declined ; can leave to fire its illuminating, but withdraw its devouring quality ; and ren- der artificial fire fuch as that of Nebu- chadnezzar's furnace, harmlefs to the three children of the captivity, but fatal to the minifters of the king of Babylon ? Were our hearts right with God, miracu- lous interpofitions would be unneceflkry ; every creature, every event fhould promote our acquaintance with our Maker. And fuch is the condefcenfion of the Moft High, that he vouchfafes to cure our ignorance, inattention, or unbelief, by making the mighty facrifice of that fta- ted courfe of things which his wifdom fettled at firft, and which his power continues to fupport. Rather than man fhall remain unchanged, unredeemed, the great fyftem of nature Ihall undergo al- teration ; HISTORY OF MOSES, 6^ teration; fire fhall ceafe to. burn, the^EC'^, Nile run blood inftead of water, the fun *^ — , — 4 forget to fhlne for three days together ; the eternal uncreated Word become flefh, and the fountain of life to all, expire in death. It required not the fagacity of a Mofes to difcover, that there was fomething ex- traordinary here ; but miflaking it at firft, for merely an unufual, natural appearance, whofe caufe, by a clofer invefligation, he might be able to difcover, he is prepar- ing by nearer obfervation to fatisfy his Guriofity : when lo ! to his ftill greater aftonifliment, the bufli becomes vocal as well as brilliant, and he hears his own name diftindly and repeatedly called, out of the midfl of the flame. Curioiity and wonder are now checked by a more pow^* erful principle than either. Terrour thrills in every vein, and arrefls his trembling fteps. How dreadful muffc the villtations of God's anger be to his enemies, if to his beft beloved children, the intimations of his goodnefs, clothed in any thing like 64 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. liJ^^e fenflble glory, be fo awful and orer- *— V ' whelming ? When I meet thee, O my God, llripped of this veil of flefli, may I find thee a pure, a genial and lambent flame of loving-kindnefs, not a confuming fire of ivrath and vengeance ! Mofes inftantly comprehends that the Lord was there ; or if he could for a mo- ment have doubted who it was that talk- ed with him, in a moment his 4o^bt muil: have been removed by the continua- tion of the voice of him that fpake. We find here, as in many other places of the Old Teftament, the fame perfon who is fliled in the courfe of the narration the " Angel of the Lord,'* filling himfelf Jehovah and God ; exerciiing divine prerogatives, manifefling divine perfec- tions ; and claiming the homage which is due to Deity alone. The perfon there- fore thus defcribed can be none other than the uncreated " Angel of the Covenant," who, " at fundry times, and in divers " manners," in maturing the work of Redemption, afiiamed a fenfible^^ appear- ance HISTORY OF MOSES. 6^ ance; and at length, in the fuhiefs ofLECT. time, united his divine nature to ours, « — , — ' and dwelt among men, and made them " to behold his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Every thing here is lingular, and every thing inftruftive. The firft interviev? between God and Mofes infpires terrour ; but the fpirit of bondage gradually dies away, and refines into the fpirit of adop- tion and love. Acquaintance begets con- fidence, perfect love cafteth out fear; and the man Who fpake to God with trembling, in Horeb, by and by becomes ftrengthened to endure his prefence forty days together in Sinai. " Enduring, as " feeing Him who is invifible," he " defpifed the wrath of an earthly king.*' When he comes to the knowledge of that fame God, by the feeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear, he *' exceed- ingly fears and quakes, abhors himfelf, and lies low in duft and afhes." But fol- lowing on to know the Lord, he comes E at 66 HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. at length to converfe with lilm, as a man V ^ ...; with his friend. *' Acquaint thy felf then " with him, and be at peace, thereby *' good fliall come unto thee." Miferable- beyond expreffion, beyond thought, are they, whofe acquaintance with God has to begin at death ; who having lived without a gracious, merciful, long- fufFering God in the world, find they muft, by a dreadful neceffity, fall into the hands of aaiegle6led, forgotten, righteous, incenfed God, when they leave it. The appearance of Jehovah in the bufli, was not only preternatural, but emble* matical ; not only fan£lioned the com- miffion given to Mofes by the feal of Deity, but exhibited a lively reprefenta- tion of the ftate of his church and peo- ple in Egypt ; opprefled, but not cruflied, brought low, but not deferted of heaven, In the midll of flames, but not confumed. And it is a ftriking emblem of the Church of God in the world, to the end of time ; ** troubled on every fide, yet not diftrefl- t' ed, perplexed, but not in defpair, per- " fecuted H ISTORY OF MOSES. 67 *' fecuted but not forfaken, caft down, t- EC T. " but not deftroyed." < — , — », The fame voice which folicited inter- courfe with Mofes, which tendered friend- fhip, which encouraged hope, fets a fence about the divine majefty ; reminds him of his diftance, of his impurity ; forbids rafhnefs, prefumption, familiarity. In veneration of the fpot which God had honoured with his fpecial prelence, he Is commanded to " put off his fhoes from off his feet :" A mandate, which by an image natural and obvious, enjoins the drawing near to God in holy places, and in facred fervices, with ferioufnefs, attention, and reverence ; divefled of that impurity which men necefl'arily contrail by com- ing into frequent conta6l w^ith the world. And furely, it is owing to the want of a due fenfe of the majefty of God upon our fpirits, that his houfe is profaned, and his fervice marred by levity, carelefliiefs, and inattention. Did we ferioufly con- fider, that the place where we ftand is " holy ground," that the word which we E 2 fpeak 68 HISTORY OF MOSES. ^ ^' ^ '^* fpeak and hear is " not the word of men, < — y — ' but of the living God," Could one fhort hour's attendance betray us into {lumber ? Could the little jealouiies and ftrife of a bafe world Intrude into a worfliiping heart ? Could the eye find leifure to wander upon the drefs and appearance of another ? Durft a fcornful leer, or limpering coun- tenance communicate from one vain, lilly, irreverent fpirit to another the private fneer and cenfure ? Would there be a contention for place and pre-eminence ? Now, furely, God is as really though lefs fenflbly in this place, as he was in the bufh at Horeb : And though we fee him not, his eyes are continually upon us, and he will bring every thing into judg- ment. O Lord, open thou our eyes, that 'Ave may behold thee, and every other obje£l fhall inilantly difappear. The words which follow, if any thing can increafe their intrinfic force and im- portance, derive a peculiar energy and value to the Chriftian world, as the pafl- age quoted by our blefied Lord, from an HISTORY OF MOSES 69 an authority which they could not L E c T^ III. deny, to confute the Sadducees, on ^ the fubje£l of the Immortality of the foul, and the Refurredlion of the body. " I " AM the God of Abraham, and the God " of Ifaac, and the God of Jacob." We fpeak of the dead, under the idea that they were ; but God reprefents them as ftill exifling, and his relation to them as unbroken, his care of them uninterrupted. The eite£l which this declaration had upon Mofes, is fuch as might have been expell- ed ; no more " turning afide to fee this great fight ;" he hides his face, " afraid to look upon God." It is ignorance of God, not intimate communion, which encourag- es forwardnefs and freedom. Angels who know him beft, and love him mofl, are moil fenfible of their diilance, and are reprefented as " covering their faces with their wings" when they approach their dread Creator. In the declaration which immediately follows, under a fandion fo folemn and afFeding, Which fliall we mod admire, E 3 the * *J0 HISTORYOF MOSES. Ilf '^'^^^ mercy and goodnefs of God, or his .*^ — ^ — 'perfe6l wifdom and foreknowledge? — Four hundred years have elapfed lince this wretched ftate of his pofterity had been foretold and revealed to Abraham. For wife and gracious purpofes it was ap- pointed, and brought to pafs. But the days of darknefs are now almofl ended, and the Sun returns. Like rain' to a dry and thirfty land, the promifes of favour and falvation fall upon a perfecuted. oppreff- ed people ; and " that Mofes whom they refufed faying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge r" is after an interval of forty years fent back to Egypt on the kind and merciful errand of falvation to an opprefled and perfecuted people. Mofes however, it would appear, has not forgotten the furly reception, which his well-meant interpofition had met with from his brethren, fo long before ; and prefumes to urge it as a reafon, why a perfon of more influence and authority, fhould be intrufled with the commiffion. He HISTORY OF MOSES. 71 He confidered not, that formerly he a^ted L EC T. from the hiipiilfe of his own mind.With in- ^ — , — t <3eed an upright and benevolent intention, but with a zeal rather too bold and impetu- ous ; whereas now, lie was following the dire£lion of Providence, and therefore certain of fuccefs. As there is a fmful pride which urges men to feek flations and employments, to which they have neitl^ier pretenfion, title, nor qualification ; fo there is a flnful humility, which fhrinks from the call of God, which, in the guife of felf-denial, contains the fpirit of rebel- lion and difobedience ; and which, under the affedlation of undervaluing and debaf- Ingourownperfons and qualities, indireftly charges God with foolifhnefs, in pitching upon an inftrument fo inapt and impro- per. Such humility is of the very ef- fence of pride, and fuch, with regret we obferve it, was the fpirit by Which Mofes was on this occafion a£luated. The hea- venly viiion removes the objection at once, by afl'uringhim of the divine prefence, blef- (ing, and fupport ; and refers him for the proof of it, to a train of events clofely fuc- E 4 ceeding *72 HISTORY OF MOSES. L E C T. ceeding each other ; and all iflliing m the t / ' people's aflcmbUng together in that very fpot to worfhip, after their enfranchife- ment, as a chain of evidence, that the authority under which he aded was divine. Still doubting and irrefoliite, Mofes ventures to urge another difficulty, which he exprefles in thefe terms, *' And Mofes *' faid unto God, Behold, when I come *' unto the children of Ifrael, and fhall ** fay unto them. The God of your Fa- '' thers hath fent me unto you : and they ** fhall fay to me. What is hig name ? " What fliall I fay unto them ?" God had already declared his name, and pur- pofe, and given his charge, and yet Mofes dares to make enquiry. How rare a thing it is, to fee a foul wholly refblved into the will of God ! How feldom do we find a faith entirely difpofed to be, to do, and to endure, neither more nor lefs, than what God is pleafed to appoint ! But the incredulity and prefumption of Mofes fhall not render the defign of God or HISTORYOF MOSES, 73 of none efFe(5l. When men are contra- '^ ^J^ "^^ dicled or oppofed, they fly out, and ftorm, « — ^— ' and threaten. But the great God bear$ with our frowardnefs and folly, gives way to our fcruples, and, yielding to our obflinacy, overcomes evil with good. And we are almoft tempted to rejoice that Mofes flood out fo long, as it gave occafion to the moft folemn and fatisfy ing proclamation of the name and nature of God, from his own mouth, and the moft amiable and engaging pi£lure of ten- der mercy and long- fuffe ring, that ever was exhibited. " And God faid unto *' Mofeg, I AM THAT I AM: And he *' faid. Thus fhalt thou fay unto the ^ " children of Ifrael, I AM hath fent ** me unto you." What flimfy things are commiffions ifllied under the hand-writing and feals of kings compared to this ! A fhred of parchment, a morfel of wax, an unmean- ing fcrawl ; a flender, contracted Ihort-lived power, delegated from one worm to ano- ther. Where is now the fignet of Aha- fuerus. 74- HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. fuerus, which pretended to communicate irreverfible authority to the writing whereto it was affixed ? Where are the warrants under which the ftatefmen and heroes of other times deUberated, fought, and conquered ? With the princes who granted them, they are gone to obHvion. They were what they were. They fulfill - ed their day, and then they fell afleep, and now are feen no more ! What avail the long lift of empty titles which po- tentates and princes, in the pride of their hearts, affix to their perifhmg names ? All, all fhrink and fade, before that tre- mendous power, whofe authority no change of circumftances can affedl, whofe exiftence no fucceffion of ages can impair ; who yefterday, to day, and for ever, flill proclaims of himfelf, *' I am." f Nothing can equal the fimpliclty, fubll- mity, and force ofthefe remarkable words. Independency of exiftence, eternity of duration, immutability of purpofe, faith- fulnefs and truth in keeping covenant and ihewing mercy, all conveyed in one little HISTORY OF MOSES. 75 little fentence, '' i am that i am."LECT. Longinus the celebrated critic, has with ^ — ^— J equal judgement and tafte, quoted a well-known paflage from the writings of Mofes, as an inftance of the true fublime, viz. The firfl words pronounced by the Creator in the formation of the world, " And God faid, Let there be " Light, and there was Light." Why- did not Longinus dip deeper into the works of this great hiflorian, enrich and embellifh his own beautiful little book, and farther approve his exquifite tafle, by inferting other paflage 3 from the page of Infpiration, particularly the paflage under review ? A paflage which Jews, Heathens, and Chriflians, as one man liave confented to admire. Under the fandion of this mofl: awful Name, God repeats his commiflion, re- peats his charge, repeats his fpromife of fupport, afliilance, and fuccefs : fuccefs with the elders of Ifrael ; fuccefs with the people ; fuccefs againfl: Pharaoh. — And yet, Mofes " flaggers at this promife," although y6 HISTORY OP MOSES. L E C T. although It be the promife of the Eternal, 1 ^ [_' '^ thro' unbelief!" — What have we moft to wonder at here, The flrange incredu- lity and perverfenefs of the Prophet^ or the fingular fidelity and exadnefs of the Hifiorian^ in recording his own erroiirs ? God had faid, ' ' They fljall hearken to thy *' voice :'* Yet Mofes prefumes, in the face of this exprefs declaration, to gainfay, and draw back — " And Mofes anfwercd, arid *' faid, But behold, they will not believe " me ; nor hearken unto my voice: for they *' will fay, The Lord hath not appear- «' ed unto thee." — Surely the LORD is *' God, and not man, and therefore the *' children of men are not confumed." — A man of common fpirit would here have broken off the conference, and left the timid, froward fhepherd to his own folly, and permitted him to remain def- titute of the honour which he obfVinate- ly perfevered to decline. But it plea- fed God to fliew us patience, at leaft in one inftance, too powerful for un- belief; *' for his ways are not like our HISTORY OF MOSES. 77 *' our ways, nor his thoughts, as ourLECT. " thoughts." ^__^ He who would cure infidelity in others, muft firll be purged of the old leaven himfelf. To effedi this in the heart ' of his fervant Mofes, God vouchfafes to perform miracle upon miracle. He turns 'the rod which was in the hand of Mofes, into a ferpent ; and from a ferpent to a rod again : in order to intimate to him, and to the world, that the moll: harmlefs things become noxious, and the moft pernicious things innocent, at his command. His hand is in a moment covered over with leproly, and in a mo- ment reftored — to ihew the power of God's holy law, to fix guilt upon the lin- ner, and of his grace, to remove it from the penitent. He is enjoined and author- ized to perform thefe figns before all Ifrael, in order to produce that: convic- tion in them, which they had firfl wrought upon his own mind. Should thefe happen to fail, he is permitted to go a flep farther. Nature Ihall fubmit to ^^ HISTORY OF MOSES. lii^ *to a thorough alteration, rather than > > —'the feed of faithful Abraham continue flaves in Egypt, or perifh through un- belief ! — Water fhall become blood before their eyes, rather than the blood of their innocent children be poured out any more, like water upon the ground. And now furely Mofes is gained, and the work of God fhall no longer fland flill. Alas ! the fullen fpirit is not yet fubdued. Though forced to retreat, he continues to fight as he retires. The llownefs of Ifrael to believe, was formerly the plea ; now his own want of talents is urged, in excufe of his ftrange back- wardnefs and difobedience. That objec- tion too, is immediately removed, by a promife of wifdom and eloquence fuited to the occafion. ,The language of the oracle, and the long-fufTering of the fpeak- er, are miraculous and fupernatural, as all the other circumftances of the cafe. ^' And the Lord faid unto him ; Who *' hath made man's mouth ? or who mak- „ eth HISTORY OF MOSES, 79 " eth the dumb, or deaf, or the feemg, L E C T. *' or the blind ? have not I the Lord ? — . *' Now therefore go, and I will be with '' thy mouth, and teach thee what •' thou ihalt fay*.'* ' *' Wonder, O heavens, and beaftoniih- ed, O earth !" This inftead of producuig humble fubmiffion and inftantaneous com- pliance, without a reafon, without a plea, meets with a direct refufal ; " O " my Lord, fend I pray thee, by the *' hand of him whom thou wilt fend.'* And now what heart does not tremble for fear, that the fire which had fpared the bufh, fhould wax hot to punifh the madnefs of the prophet ? What patience can endure fuch a repetition of infult ? The anger of the Lord was kindled againft Mofes ; and — and what ? O it became a flame of Love to melt his heart, and purify it of its drofs. *' The anger of " the Lord was kindled againft Mofes, <' and he fiiid, is not Aaron the Levite, * Exodus iv, II, 12. t Exodus iii. 13. " thy HISTORY OF MOSES. brother ? I know that he can ** fpeak well. And alfo behold, he com- *' eth forth to meet thee ; and when he " feeth thee, he will be glad in his *' heart." Providence had all this while been preparing a concluding, a convin- cing proof of power, wifdom, and good- nefs inconceivable. Lo, Aaron is al- ready far advanced on his way from E- gypt, in quefl of his brother. That after fo long an interval, through a field of fo many chances, he fhould at that very inftant of time arrive — How is it to be accounted for ? On no other prin- ciple but this, the Lord is, "wonderful in *' counfel, and excellent in working." *' He feeth the end from the beginning.'* He faith, ** my counfel Ihall fl.and, *' and I will fulfill all my pleafure." *' He doth according to his will in the '* armies of heaven, and among the in- *' habitantsof the earth. Let everv knee bow, let every tongue confefs, let every heart adore and love. Mofes HISTORY OF MOSES. 8l Mofes is at length fubdued ; and we^^pT. ftand, with aftonifhment and joy, to con- * — -v— ^ template the triumph of mercy over judge- ment. God grant we may improve the ex- ample of his divine patience, as a pattern. God, in mercy, preferve us from prefum- ing upon it, as an encouragement to of- fend. And may God blefs what has been Ipol^en. Amen. Vol. III. F LEG- •HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE IV. Exodus vL 9. AND MOSES SPAKE SO UNTO THE CHILDREN? OF ISRAEL ; BUT TPIEY HEARKENED NOT UNTO MOSES, FOR ANGUISH OF SPIRIT, AND FOR CRUEL BONDAGE. EVERY Nation has, in its hiftory, events of peculiar importance, whick lateft poflerity is difpofed fondly to com^ memorate. But the memory of remarkably deliverances, is neceffarily blended with the recolledion of heavy diflrefs, or imminent danger ; and whether as men, or as citif zens, we greatly rejoice, by that vejy joy we expreflly declare that we, or o\jr Fathers, once had caufe to mourn. Per- petual funfhine fuits not the ftate of the natural world ; perpetual fuccefs is by no F 2 mean 9 84 HISTORY OF MOSEfe. L E C T. means favourable either to human happi- <— .V — I nefs, or virtue. Hunger is neceflary to give a relifli to food ; the gloom of win- ter is the happieft recommendation of the chearfulnefs and bloom of fpring* We difcover the value of health by dif- eafe, and the bleffings of peace, would be but half underflood, were it not for the antecedent anxieties and calamities of war. Men therefore a£l foolifhly as well as impioufly, when they charge the wile, righteous and merciful Governour of the World with careleffnefs or unkindnefs, becaufe he admits into the fyflem of his works, or into his moral government of the Univerfe, what ignorance calls dif- order, prefumption cries down as unne- ccflary, and pride condemns as unjuft. What fo irregular, at firft fight, and, al- ways fo, to the vulgar eye, as the face of the ftarry heavens ? A handful of little fparks, Scattered at random in the air !— ^ But to the attentive, enquiring, enlight- ened Ipirit, a vaft combination of worlds, each in its place, every one moving in its proper orbit ; the whole pofleffing every HISTORY OF MOSES. 85 every quality that can at once excite afto- ^^^ "T* nifliment and infpire delight ; greatnefs, * — ,— -i order, beauty, harmony, utility ! Ex- cellencies obvious to the flighteft obfer- vation, of the moft fhallow underflanding : Excellencies undifcoverable by the clofeft inveftigation of the moil: penetrating ge- nius. Now, clownifh thoughtlefliiefs and flupldity is not more incompetent to judge of the order and frame of Nature, than paflion and prejudice, by which all men are governed, are to determine upon the vvifdom and goodnefs of the ways of Providence. Every man would have every thing bend, to his humour, conveniency, indolence or intereft. This would produce, were it permitted, endlefs confufion and mifery ; did not God over-rule and em- ploy the a6llvity and the indolence, the fenfelefs caprices and the jarring interefls ©f men, to execute his purpofes, and without their intention, nay in fpite of their efforts, make them produdive of regularity, ftability and happlnefs. • In contemplating therefore agents and '^ - F 3 events. 86 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. events; thofe which we have hoard and ^ , ^ , ./ read of, or thofe which we fee and are con- cerned in, the only road to compofiire and improvement, is, to confider the whole, as the work of a fupremc, intelhgent, al- mighty, Invifihle Agent, who is carrying on a plan which we comprehend not, or underftand only in part ; and who, from all that we can know of him, from nature, from experience, and from revelation, takes delight in fliewlng mercy and doing good ; but who, in the exercife of even thefe gracious prerogatives, governs not him- felf by the partial lights, hafly concep- tions, and contra6led views of ignorant, erring men, but by his own all-compre- hending intelligence, all-pervading be- nignity, all-fubduing Love. If in that portion of ancient hiflory w^hich is now to come under our confider- ation, we obferve Providence treating one nation with uncommon feverity, and another with indulgence jiltogether aS lingular. We are to regard the parties not as they are in thcmfelves, or in re- lation HISTORY OF MOSES. B7 lation to each other, but in their relation L E C T. IV. to God, and to mankind in general ; as * an important link in the great chain of Providence ; as ferving and inflruding the human race to the end of the world. The perverfenefs and unbelief of Mofes met with pity and forgivenefs, and were cured by a feries of miracles. The im- piety ^nd unbelief of Pharaoh met with refentment and punifhment ; and were even confirmed and flrengthened by a moft • awful feries of miracles ; not for the fake of Mofes and Pharaoh merely, but to il- luflrate, in the eyes of the whole world, the goodnefs and feverity of God ; the wifdom and fafety of repentance and fub- miflion on the one hand, the madnefs and danger of impenitence on the other. Egypt was plagued, and Ifrael faved, that violence and cruelty might be awakened, to fee the naked fword of Juftice, fulpen- ded by a (ingle hair over its guilty throat ; and that mifery and depreffion might find a refuge from deipair. We have feen with what folemnity F4 the 88 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. the commiflion to Mofes for the deliver- IV. «, y ... t ance of Ifrael was granted, and the aw- ful Seal which was appended to it : even the great and fearful name, Jehovah, " I AM THAT I AM." We have {ten the backwardnefs, irrefoliition,, and ti- midity of the prophet, in undertaking an employment fo flattering to ambition, fo delirable to the fpirit of patriotifm, fo elevating to a mind awake to the influ- ence of religion. We have feen the good- nefs and condefcenfion of God, in deign- ing by repeated exertions of power and mercy to remove the fcruples, and level the objections of incredulity and fear. And we have feen Aaron the brother of Mofes, providentially conducted to the fpot, and at the moment, to eflablifli a belief, in the divine power and veracity, to confirm the wavering trembHng foul : and conffituted to a fhare of the diligence, difficulty, danger and glory of the illuf- trious enterprize. Behold then, two plain old men, one of eighty, and the other of eighty-three years old HISTORY OF Moses* 89^ old, fettlng out from the defarts of Arabia, ^ ^^CT. on an undertaking, to human reafon, the ^ — , — ». moft wild and romantic that ever was at tempted : to perfuade, or to conflrain, one of the moil: powerful princes of the world, to enfranchife, nay to difmifs, the tenth part of his moft valuable and ufeful fub- jcQis ! And how are they provided for this vaft undertaking ? The pleas of rea- fon, the powers of eloquence, the calls of humanity, the claims of juftice, it is well known, make but a feeble impreflion on the hearts of kings, when their pride, ambition, or intereft oppofe. For fuch a multitude to flip aw?y by ftealth, is im- poffible ; and to think of forcing an efcape from a power fo greatly fuperior is ralhnefs and ruin. When men en- gage in hazardous and difficult expeditions, they levy armies, accumulate treafure, provide magazines, ftrengthen themfelves with alliances. But when God addrefles himfelf to adlion, we behold no appara- tus, no effort. Is an univerfe to ftart out of nothing ? " God ffeaks, and it is " done.'* Is a fun to arife, and light to fliine ? ^5 HISTORY OF MOSES. tECT.fhIne? God fays, " Let there be light." V ^ . > Is a great nation to be fubdued, and a fmall one aflerted into liberty ? Our eyes are dire6led, not to a general at the head of a mighty hoft, but to a Ihepherd with a rod in his hand. But the commands of Heaven break not in upon the facred duties, and the vir- tuous charities of private life. The charge given to Mofes was prefTing, the objeft moft important, and the authority under which it was ifllied, fupreme ; but ye*: he is permitted, to return for a little while, to attend the calls of nature, of gratitude ; the gentle claims of filial piety, of conjugal and paternal afFe(3:ion. He went back to his father-in-law, to acknowledge his pro- teftion, hofpitality and kindnefs to him when a ftranger : to inform him of the extraordinary commiflion he had juft re- ccjivod, and the neceffity he was thereby laid under of ii?imcdiately entering upon tlje execution of it; to obtain his confent for thi> purpofc, and to alk his paternal be- jiedi>3aon,» Roli^ioa is in a happy ilatc ariSTORY OF MC'SESw 9f ih the foul of that man, who has learned L EClV to unite and reconcile the views and pur- fuits of the citizen, with thofe of the private man ; who pleads not the per- formance of one duty, as [an excufe for the omiffion of another ; whofe life ex- hibits every moral and divine principle in a(Sion, every one in his feafon, every one in his place. How fimple and affec- tionate the difmiffion which honefl Ra- guel gave to Mofes, compared to that of the felfifh, rapacious Laban to Jacob— " Go in peace !" An adieu expreffive at oiiice of fubmiflion to the will of Provi- dence, and of affection to his fon-in-law, mixed with regret at the thought of part- ing with him. It pleafed God again to confirm the confidence of Mofes, by afluring him that all who had ever harboured a defign againft his life, were now dead ; and that no- thing therefore remained but to addrefs himfelf boldly to his great work. Ac- cpmpanied with his wife and two fons, lie. leaves 92 HI^STORY OF MOSES* L EC T. leaves the land of Midian, and proceeds ^ ^ ' ' towards Egypt. On this journey a very extraordinary jncident befel him : but the concifenefs of the facred hiftory leaves it involved in much darknefs and difficulty. God had blefled him with two fons inMidian, whom, in compliance with the commandment of God, and as a fon of Abraham, he ought to have circumcifed on the eighth day from their birth. This however, either for want of the proper minifler, from inat- tention, or out of improper refpe£l to the feelings or prejudices of Zipporah his wife, or fome other reafon that ap- pears not, had been hitherto wholly ne- gleded ; and thereby his children, the younger at ieafl, through his negle