:s«»?t' M~ ';/*■< ^' U'-^h OP THE Theologicab Seminary, PRINCETON, N. J. Case, Division Shelf "SiC^Cl^ Section...!. «„., 7^31 .„ : - f \ c^^lZ^l V T ,■« •.* / V SACRED BIOGRAPHY: OR, THE ^istorp of ti)t ^atnarcfjs;* TO WHICH IS ADDED, THE HISTORY OF DEBORAH, RUTH, AND HANNAH. BEING A COURSE OF LECTURES DELIVERED AT THE SCOTS CHURCH, LONDON WALL. BY HENRY HUNTER, D.D. %^t "StcoiiB ante^ican ©citiom Complete in Four Volumes. VOL. H. yejus said unto them, Verily, -verily, I say ufitoyou, Before Abraham ivas, lam. John viii. 58. / am Alpha and Omega, the begiiining and the ending, saith the Lord, lukich is, and ivhich luas, and 'which is to come, the Almighty, • - Revelation i. 8. ^urlingtan : PUBLISHED Br DA FID JLLINSOy. NEW-YORK, PRINTED BY ROBERT CRUM8IE. 180*6, Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/sacredbiograp02hunt Contente OF VOLUME IL LECTURE I. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. TAGE Luke XX. 27, S8 — Then came to him certain of the Sadducees (whicli deny that there is any resurrection) and they asked him, saying. Master, Moses wrote unto us, If any man's 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 like manner the seven also : and they left no children, and died. Last 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 he accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are givea in marriage. Neither can they die any more : for they iire 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 called the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isauc, and the God of Jacob. For he is not a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live unto him. LEG rURE II. HISTORY OF MOSES. 2 Heb. xi. 24, 27. — By faith Moses, when iie was come to years, refused to be called the sen of Pharaoh's daughter ; choos- ing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Esteeming the re- proach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt : for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king : for he endured as seeing him who ie invisible. 11 CONTENTS. LECTURE III. HISTORY OF MOSES. 27 Exod. iii. 13, 14. — Aad INIoses 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, '1 hus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM, hath sent mc unto you. LECTURE IV. HISTORY OF MOSES. 5Q Exod. vi. 9. — And Moses spake so unto the children of Is- rael : but they hearkened not unto Moses, for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage. LECTURE V. HISTORY OF MOSES. 63 Exod. vi. 1. — Then the Lord said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh : for with a stfong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. LECTURE VI. HISTORY OF MOSES. 75 Exod. X. 7. — And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us ? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God : knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed. LECTURE Vn. HISTORY OF MOSES. 87 Exod. xii. 1, 3. — And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying. This month shall be unto you ^ the beginning of months : it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. LECTURE VIII. HISTORY OF MOSES. 10© Exod. xii. 26, 27. — And it shall come to pass when your chil- dren shall say unto you, W' hat mean you by this service ? that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. CONTENTS. Ill Psalm xci. 5, 8 — Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by- night ; nor for the arrow that ttieth by day ; nor for the pes- tilence that walketh in darkness ; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-duy. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at t!iy right hand ; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold) and see the reward of the wicked. LECTURE IX. HISTORY OF MOSES. " 113 Exod. xiii. 17, 22. — And it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that ivas near ; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent Avhen they see war, and they return to Eg-ypt. But God led the peo- ple about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea, And the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And Moses took the bones of Joseph ■with him : for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you ; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their jour- ney from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. 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 fire, 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 fire by night,yrom before the people. LECTURE X. HISTORY OF MOSES. 128 Exod. xiv. 21, 22. — And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea ; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground ; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. LECRURE XI. HISTORY OF MOSES. 141 Exod. XV. 1, 2. — Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation : he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation ; my father's God, and I will exalt him. IV CONTENTS. LECTURE XII. HISTORY OF MOSES 157 Exod. XV. 23. 27. — And when they came to Marah, theycould not drink of the waters of Marah ; for they were bitter ; therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the peo- ple murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the Lord ; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which, when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet : there he made for them a statute and an ordinarice, and there he proved them, and said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes ; I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians : for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and three score and ten palm-trees ; and they encamped there by the waters. LECTURE XIIL HISTORY OF MOSES. 169 Exod. xvi. 1 1, 15. — And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel ; speak unto them, saying, At even you shall cat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread : and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up and covered the camp : and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar-frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna ; for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unlo them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat. LECTURE XIV. HISTORY OF MOSES. 182 Exod. xvii. 1, 2, 5, 6. — And all the congregation of the chil- dren of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journies, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim : and there was no water for the people to drink. "Wherefore the people did chide with Mo- ses, and said, give us water, that we may drink. And Mo- ses, said unto them. Why chide you with me ? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel ; CON TEN IS. V. and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that tlie people may drink. And Moses did »o in the sight of the elders of Israel. LECTURE XV. HISTORY OF MOSES. .196 Exod. xvii. 8, 13. — Then came Amalek, and fought with Is- rael in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek ; to-morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek : and Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed ; and when he let down hi» hand Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy: and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon : and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side ; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. LECTURE XVI. HISTORY OF MOSES. 209 Exod. xviii. 7, 12. — And Moses went out to meet his father- in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him : and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done imto Pharaoh, and to the Egyptians, for Israel's sake, and all the travel that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel ; whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said. Blessed 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 tliat the Lord is greater than all gods ; for in ihe thing wherein ihcy dealt. proudly he was above them. And Jethro, Moses' father- in-law, took a burnt-offering and sacrifices for God : and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law, before God. VI CONTENTS. LECTURE XVII. HISTORY OF MOSES. 222 Exod. xix. 16, 22. — And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire ; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greately. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mount ; and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount, and ^ Moses went up. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. LECTURE XVIIL HISTORY OF MOSES. 237 Josh. i. 17. — According as we hearkened unto Moses in all things, so will we hearken unto thee : only the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses. John i. 17. — For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Contents OF SECOND COURSE OF LECTURES. LECTURE r. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. PAGE 255 2 Tiui. i. 8, 10. — Be not therefore asliamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel, according to the power of God ; M'ho hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own pur- jxjse and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus, before the world began ; but is now made manifest by the ap- pearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. LECTURE n. HISTORY OF MOSES 26§ Exod. xxiv. 15, 18. — And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days : and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in ihe eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount : and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. LECTURE in. HISTORY OF MOSES 285 Exod. xxxii. 1, 4. — And when the people saw that ?vIoses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him. Up, make us gods which shall go before us ; for as for this Vlll CONTENTS. Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden ear-rings, which arc in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings which were in their cars, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool after he had made it a molten calf : and they said, These be thy gods, O Is- rael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. LECTURE IV. HISTORY OF MOSES. 298 Exod. xxxiii. 3, 1 1. — And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the tabernacle, that all the people rose up, and stood every man at his tent-door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the tabernacle. And it come to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar de- scended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord talked with Moses. And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle-door: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man in his tent-door. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. LECTURE V. HISTORY OF MOSES. 313 Exod. xxxiii. 18. — And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. LECTURE VL HISTORY OF MOSES. 325 Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30. — And it came to pass when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, (with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount) that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone, while he . talked wiih him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and I hey were afraid to come nigh him. LECTURE VIL HISTORY OF MOSES. 338 Exod. xxxix. 42, 43 — According to all that the Lord com- manded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it : and Moses blessed them. COM TENTS. IX LECTURE VIII. HISTORY OF MOSES. 34») Exod. xl. 17, 34, 38 — And it came to pass in the first month, in the second year, on the first day of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congrepfation, and the glory of the Ijord filled the ta- bernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud aliode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Anrl when the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journies. But if the cloud Avere not taken up, then they journeyed not, till the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journies. LECTURE IX. HISTORY OF AARON. 364 Numb. XX. 23, 29. — And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, Aaron shall be gathered unto his people : for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against ray word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, ^and bring them up unto Mount Hor : and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son : and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. And Moses did as the Lord commanded : and they went up into Mount Hor, in the sight of all the congre- gation. And Moses stripped Aaron of his garmenti and put them upon Eleazar his son : and Aaron died there in the top of the mount- And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. LECTURE X. HISTORY OF AARON. 377 Numb. xx. 23,29. LECTURE XI. HISTORY OF AARON. 392 Numb. xx. 23, 29. X CONTENTS, LECTURE XII. HISTORY OF AARON. 404 Numb. xx. 23, 29. LECTURE XIIL HISTORY OF BALAAM. 4lS 2 Pet. ii. 15. !<>. — These are Rone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of un- riohteousness. But was rebuked for his iniquity ; the dimib ass, speaking with man's voice, forbad the madness of the prophet. LECTURE XIV. HISTORY OF BALAAM 435 Numb. xxii. 21. — And Balaam rose up in tlie morning and saddled his ass, and wei)t with the prince of Moab. LECTURE XV. HISTORY OF BALAAM. 446 2 Pet. ii. 15,1 6. — These are gone astray, following the way of Balaam, the son of Bosor, Vv-ho loved the wages of unrigh- teousness. But was rebuked for his iniquity ; the dumb ass, speaking with man's voice, forbad the madness of the Prophet. LECTURE XVI. HISTORY OF BALAAM. 460 Nun b. xxiii. 10 Wlio can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of L rael ? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his I LECTURE XVII. HISTORY OF BALAAM. 472 Rt;v. ii. U — But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast here them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, ■who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block befoie the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols and to conamit fornication. sae mxt'i BiograpJ^. LECTURE I. Then came to him certain of the Sadducees fzvhich dejiy that there is any resurrection) and they asked hint, saying. Master, Moses zvrote unto ns, If any man'^s brother die, having a wife, and he die zvithout chil- dren, that his brother should take his zvife, and raise lip seed unto his brother. There were therefore seven brethren : and the first took a wife, and died with- out children. And the second took her to wife, and he died childless. And the third took her; ajid in like manner the seven also. And they left no chil- dren, and died. Last of all the woman died also, Tlierefore in the resurrection, xvhose ivife of them is she ? for seven had her to wife. And Jesus answer- ing said unto them. The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage : but they zvhich shall be accounted worthy to obtain that zvorld, and the re- surrection 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 children of God, being the children of the resurrection. Nozv that the dead are raised, even Moses shezved at the bush, zvhen he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. For lie is nvt a God of the dead, but of the living : for all live unto him. ...I^uke xx. ^7-.38. ONE of the most obvious and natural consolations of reason, under the loss of those whom we dearly loved, and one of the most abundant consola- VOL. ir. 3 10 INTIIODUCTOIIY LECTUREo iECT. 'I. tions famished by religion, is the belief that our de- parted friends, are, at their death, disposed of infinitely to their advantage. We weep and mourn while wc reflect upon the deprivation of comfort which we have sustained ; but we wipe the tears of sorrow from our eyes, w hen we consider tliat our loss is their unspeaka- ble gain. " Rachel weeping for her children," refuses to he comforted so long as she thinks " they arc not ;" !)ut her soul is tranquilized and comforted when her eyes, in faith, look within the veil, and behold them softly and securely reposing in the bosom of their Father aiid God. It is an humbling and mortifying employ- r.ieut to visit church-yards, to step from grave to grave, lo recal the memory while we trample upon the ashes (-f the youFig, the beautiful, the wise and the good i but we ftr.d immediate relief, we rise into joy, we tread among the slurs, when aided by religion, we transport ourselves in thought to those blessed regions where ai! the faithful live, and reign, and rejoice ; where " tliey that be wise shine as the brightness of the fir- mament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever, Dan. xii. 3. Distance is ihen b\\ allowed up and lost, and we mingle in the noble employments and pure delights of the blessed immor- tals who encircle the throne of God. It is astonishing to think, that there should have been men disposed willingly to deprive themselves of this glorious source of comfort ; men ready to resign the high prerogative of their birthright, and by a spe- cies (jf humility strange and unnatural, spontaneously degrading themselves to the level of the brutes that pe- rish. And yet there have been in truth such men in every age. But it is no wonder to find those who sa- tisfy themselves with the pursuits and enjoyments of a mere beastly nature while they live, contented to lie down with the beasts in death, to rise no more. They first make it their interest that there should be no here- LECT: I. INTllODlfCTOBY LECTURE. fj after, nnd then they fondly persuade themselves that' there shall be none. Error of every kind, both in faith and morals, pre- vailed 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 respect of moral and religious sentiment, into two great sects or parties, who both pretended to found their opinions upon the authority of the inspired books, which were held in universal estimation among them ; and particularly the writings of Moses. But thev drew conclusions directly opposite from the same facts and doctrines ; and both deviated, in the grossest manner, from the spirit and design of that precious record which they both affected to hold in the highest veneration. The Pharisees, earnestly contending for the strict observance of the law, confined their attention to its minuter and less important objects, and paid " the tithe of mint and anise and cummin," but omitted *' the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy and faith :" and, raising oral tradition to the rank and dignity of scripture, found a pretence for dispensing with the plainest and most essential obligations of mo- rality, when these contradicted their interests and opinions. Heinously offended at the neglect of wash- ing hands previous to eating, they were v\ icked enough to establish, by a law of their own, neglect of, unkind- ness and disobedience to parents ; thus, according to the just censure which our Lord passed upon them, " straining out a gnat, and swallowing a camel." The Sadducees, on the other hand, the strong spirits of the age, disdaining the restraints imposed on man- kind by a written law, thought fit to become a law unto themselves. They left the austerities of a strict religion and morality to vulgar minds ; and, that they might procure peace to themselves in the cnjoyment- of those sinful pleasures to whicli they were ..ddictetlj 12 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. I. they denied the existence of spirit, the immortality of the soul, and a future state of retribution. They al- ledged that the law was silent on those points, and that this silence was a sufficient reason for rejecting the be- lief of them. They went farther, and contended, that were such doctrines contained in the law, they ought not to be admitted, because they implied a contradic- tion, or at least involved such a number of difficulties as it was impossible satisfactorily to solve. The chief of those difficulties they propose to our blessed Savi- our in the passage which I have read ; and they do this, not in the spirit of docility and diffidence, to have it removed, but in the pride of their hearts, vainly taking for granted that it was insurmountable. My principal intention in leading your tlioughts to this subject at this time, is the occasion which it af- forded to the great Teacher who came from Go.l, of discoursing on a theme nearly conrrct'-d with the de- sign of these Lectures ; and of disclosing to us sun- dry important particulars, respecting the venerable men whose lives we hav^e been studying, and those which we are still to examine ; and respecting- that world in which we, together with them, have a con- cern so deeply, because eternally, interesting To these we shall be led by making a few cursory remarks on the proceeding conversation which uook place be- tween Christ and the Sudducees. And this shall serve as an Introduction to the farther continuation of a Course of Lectures on the history of the memorable persons and events presented to us in the holy scrip- tures of both the Old and New Testaments. The Sudducees insidiously begin their attack by professing the highest respect for the authority of Mo- ses and of his writings : " Master, Moses wrote unto us." The most pernicious designs, the most malevo- lent purposes, are frequently found to clothe themselves in smiles ; often while mischief lies brooding in men*s kearts, " their words are smoother than oil." The LECT. I., INTRODUCTORy LECTURE. 13 father of lies himself can have recourse to truth If it be likely to serve his turn ; and the enemy of all good- ness will condescend to quote that scripture whicli he hates, if it can help him to an argument for the occa- sion. With this affcctfd deference for Moses, the Sad- ducees are aiming at the total subversion of every mo- ral and religious principle, by weakening one of the strongest motives to virtue, and undermining the surest foundation of hope and joy to man. They alledge, that obedience to the law might eventually lead to much confusion and disorder ; and they suppose a situation, for none such ever existed, in which com- pliance with the revealed will of God in this world would infallibly lead to discord and distress in that ivhich is to come. In this we have an examiDleofa very common case ; that of men straining their eyes to contemplate objects at a great distance, or totally out of sight, and wilfully neglecting or overlooking those which are immediately before them : troubling themselves about effects and consequences of which they are ignorant, and over which they hav5 no power, while they are regardless of obvious truth, and com- manded duty, though these are their immediate busi- ness and concern. The Sadducees in order to cloak their licentiousness and infidelity, affect solicitude about the regularity and peace of a future state, which in words they denied, if they did not from the heart disbelieve. I make but one remark rriore before I proceed to our Lord's reply. Eagerness and anxiety to bring forward and to establish an opinion, betray an inward doubt or disbelief of it. Truth is not ever proclaiming itself from the house-tops, is not forward to obtrude itself upon every occasion, but is satisfied with maintaining and defending itself when assaulted ; but falsehood is eternally striving to conceal or strengthen its conscious weakness by a parade of words, and a shew of reason. The zeal of the Sadducees to explode and run down 14 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT, I. the doctrine of the resurrection, plainly betrays a se- cret dread and belief of it. Our Lord, in his answer, points out directly the source of all error and infidelity, *' ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, ana tlie power of God." Not knowing the scriptures, ye suppose a doctrine is not in them, because ye have not found it there : because ye have wihlilly shut your own eyes, ye vainly imagine there is no light in the sun ; and take upon you to af- firm there is none. Not knowing the power of God, you call that impossible which you cannot do, deem that absurd which you do not comprehend, and pro- nounce that false which you wish to be so. The whole force of the objection to the truth of the resurrection, goes upon the supposition, that the future world is to be exactly constituted as the present ; that the relations and distinctions which subsist among men upon earth, are to subsist in the kingdom of heaven. But the sup- position is founded m ignorance and falsehood ; and, the moment it is denied, the mighty argument built upon it falls to the ground. " In the resurrection," says Christ, " they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as' the angels of God in heaven." In these words, the eondition of men in the \vorld to come, is described, first, negatively, " they neither marry, nor are given in marriage." The power whicl) created the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, might undoubtedly, had it pleased him, have created the whole human race at once, as easily as he formed the first of men, Adam, and as easily as he rears up one generation of men after another, in the course of providence. But, thinking it meet to peo- ple tlie earth by multiplying mankind gradually upon it, difference of sex and the institution of marriage were the means wJiich he was pleased to employ. In the resurrection, the number of the redeemed being complete at once, that difference, and that institution, Ixnng: unnecessarv, shall be do":ie a^^av. Our Saviour JLECT. I. INTRODUCTORY LECTURL. 13 adds *' neither can they die anymore." Death, too, enters into the plan of Providence for the government of this worhl. Men must be removed, to make rocnn for men. But because this sphere is narrow and con- tracted, and unable to contain and support the increas- inf multitudes of many generations, is the Lord's hand shortened, that he cannot expand a more spacious fir- mament, and compact a more spacious globe, to con- tain, at once, the countless nations of them that are saved '? O how greatly do men err ; not knowing the power of God ! Death is no part of the plan of Provi- dence for the government of that \vorId of bliss. In our Father's house above there are many mansions ; there is bread enough, and to spare ; there is room for all, provision for all : the father need not to die, to give space to the son, nor the mother to spare, that the child may have enough. For they are "as the angels of God," says our Lord, accordingto Matthew, "equal to the an- gels," says our evangelist, "and arc children of God." This describes their hj-.ppiness positively. Men on earth " see in a glass darkly ; know in part, prophecy in part," are encompassed with infirmity; but the " angels in heaven" excel in strength, stand before the throne of God, serve him day and night in his temple, without wearying, see face to face, know as they are known." Their number is completed, their intercourse is pure und perfect, without the means of increase and union which exist here below. Having thus reproved their ignorance and presump- tion, respecting the " power of God," our Lord pro- ceeds to expose their ignorance respecting " the scrip- tures," and produces a passage from Moses, in whom they trusted, which they had hitherto overlooked or misunderstood, wherein the doctrine in dispute v.-as clearly laid down ; and which we had principally in view in leading your attention to this passage on the present occasion. The passage quoted, is that noted declaration of 16 INTROEUCtORY LECTURE. LECT. l". God to Moses, from the midst of the burning bush, " I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob," Exod. iii. 6. That God should liave condescended to hold this kinguage concerning Enoch, " who was translated that he should not see death," had been less wonder- ful ; for that holy man, who walked with God upon earth, was exalted immediately to a more intimate union v. ith God in heaven. But to speak thus of men who v\ere long ago mouldered into dust, of whom nothing remained among men but their names, con- veys an idea of human existence, before which the life of a Methuselah dwindles into nothing, an idea which swallows up mortality, and gives a dignity and a duration to man that bids defiance to the grave. That God should say to Abraham, while he lived, *' I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward," Gen. XV. 1 was a miracle of grace and condescension; but to speak thus, more than three centuries after he had been consigned to the tomb, " I am the God of Abraham," this exhibits a relation between God and the faithful, which perfectly reconciles the mind to the thoughts of dissolution. Indeed it is imposibie to conceive any thing more elevating, any thing more tranquiiizing to the soul, than the view of future bliss with which the text presents us. And this tranquility and elevation are greatly heightened by the considera- tion, that Jehovah, from the midst of flaming fire, xuider the Old 'J'estament dispensation, and Jehovah in the person of the great Redeemer, under the New, taught the same glorious truth to the world. And what is it? " i am the God oi" Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." When God was pleased to express his favorable re- gard to Abraham upon earth, what did it amount to? He led him through a particular district of land, in the length and the breadth of it, and said *' I will give it thee." But Abraham now expatiates through a more LECT. I, INTRODUCTOr. Y LECTURE. Vf ample rcp;ion, and contcmpl.'.tcs a fairer inheritance, an inheritance his ow n, not in hope, but in possession. Abraham, thoiii^li following the leading of Divine Providence, saw the Redeemer's day only afar off: but, in virtue of his relation to Gcd, he has now be- held the dawniigof the morning cxpandtd into the pure light of the perfect day. Ke once felt the events which affected his family, with the emotion natural to a man ; he has since beheld them extending their in- fluence to nations uhich he thought not of; and he now looks forward in holy rapture, to that period when he, and his Isaac, and an earthly Canaan, and every thing of a temporal and tn>nsitory nature, shall bring their glcry and their honor, and lay all at the feet of " Him, w ho sitttth upon the throne, and before the Lamb." From Abraham rve are removed to a distance of time and place, in which thought is lost, and we seem to ha^■e no more interest in him than if he had never existed. But the doctrine of the text brings us so close to him, that we recognise the friend of God, in the midst of myriads of saints in glory ; we converse with him, and continue to be instructed by him. The dust of Abraham sleeps unnoticed and forgotten in the cave of Machpelah ; but lift up thine e} es, and behold Abraham on high, and Lazarus in his bosom ; his spirit united to God " the Father of spirits," and to all " the spirits of just men made perfect." " And even that dust" also "rests in hope:" It shall not always be left in the place of the dead; it shall not remain forever a prey to corruption. Abraham pur- chased a tomb, and buried his Sarah out of his sight; but he has overtaken, regained her, in the regions of eternal day, w here virtuous and believing friends meet, never more to be disjohied. Abraham received his Isaac from the wonder-w orking hand of Heaven, w hen nature was dead to hope ; at the command of God he cheerfully surrendered him again, and devoted hira v^oi. ir. c m INTRODUCTORY lECTrRE. tECT. t, upon the altar : again he receives him to newness of ]ife, and that darling son lives to put his hand upon his eyes. But they were not long disunited ; the son- has overtaken the parents ; they rejoice in God, and in one another ; they are the children and heirs of the resuirection ; "they areas theangelsof God inheaven." " I am the God of Isaac." This Isaac, the heir of Abraham's possessions, of his faith, and of his virtues^ was, on earth, united to the God of the spirits of all flesh, by many tender and important relations : by piety, by filial confidence, by goodness, by patience and submission, on his part ; by election, by special favor, by bigness of destination, on the part of his hea- venly Father. Yet these dibtinguished advantages ex- empted him not from the stroke of affliction. Many vears did this heir of the promises, this chosen seed, " in w liom all the flimilies of the earth should be bless- ed," many years did he go childless. Early in life 'ivas he visited w ith the loss of sight, and thereby ex- posed to much mortification and dejection of spirit. Children are at length given him, and they prove the torment of his life ; they excite a war betwixt nature and grace in his own breast; discord and jealousy arm them against each other ; he is in danger of " losing them both in one day." llie one must be banished from his father's liouse, the other mingles with idola- tors. Behold a wretched, blind old man, a prey to " grief of heart." But these things, on the other hand, dissolved not, interrupted not his covenant rela- tion to God : they served but to cement and strengthen the divine friendship : and death which, to human ap- i[)rehension, separates every connexion, and indeed terrs asunder every mortal tie, only brought him into a clearer light, and to intercourse and intimacy, which can never expire. " 1 am the God of Jacob." In all the wanderings, in all tht dangers, in all the distresses of this patriarch ; in all his successes, all his acquisitions, all his joy^, •i.ECT. I. IXTRODUCTORV LECTURE. :il/ we discover the relation of God to liim, expressed in these words ; and we behold the presence of God w ith him whithersoever he went, constantly relieving the wretchedness of one state ; dignifying and supporting the felicity of the other. This gave him security from the violence of an incensed brother ; tliis cheered the solitude of Luz, and turned it into a Bethel ; by this the slumbers of a head reposed on a pillar of stone were made refreshing and instructive ; this repressed and overbalanced the rapacity of Laban ; this supported and sanctified the loss of Joseph ; this sweetened the vdcscent into Egypt, and dissipated the gloom of death ; by this, though dead, he exists, though silent he speak- cth, " absent from the body he is present with the ■Xord ;*' the moment of his departure is on the wing to overtake that of his redemption from the power of tji^ grave. Before God, the distance siirinks into nothing. The word, the one little word, I AM, unites the era of nature's birth with that of its dissolution, it joins eter- nity to eternity, " and swallows up death in victon'." The same gracious declaration applies, with equal truth and justice, to every son and daughter " of faith- ful Abraham," to every " Israelite indeed." We speak of departed friends in the past time, u'e " can- not but remember such things zvere ; and zvere most dear to us ;" but it is the glorious prerogative of Jeho- vah to employ eternally the present in describing his own essence, 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, fiiend, lover, child. And to us also is the word of this con- solation sent, " Fear not, for I avi with thee, be not dismayed, I mn thy God." " Thus saith the Lord, that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel ; Fear not : for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by name, thou art mine. When thou pass- est through tiie vi^aters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou 20 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. t. "walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt ; nei- ther shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy one of Krael, thy Saviour." Beiifeving and resting upon this sure foundation, the christian triumphs in the prospect of " departing and being with Christ ;" he smiles at the threatening looks of the king of terrors, exults and shigs *' with the sweet singer of Israel," " ye.i, thougli I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, 1 will fear no evil : for thou art widi with me, thy rod, and thy staff, they comfort Tue. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life : and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,"" Psalm xxiii. 4, 6, and triumphs with the enraptured apostle of the Gentiles, *' O deiith, where is thy sting ; O grave, where is thy victory ? Th-inks be to God who giveth us the victory through our L')rd Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. xv. 15, 57. It is a traii.,porting reflection, that the fond wishes and desires of the human heart are W'arranted, cncour- aged and supported by the revelation of Gr,d : that the life and immortality Vvhich we naturally pant after, are brought to light by the gospel. It is pleasant to find wise and good men, guided only by the light of rea- son, and the honest propensities of nature, cherishing that very belief, cleaving to that very hope, which the text inspires. Cicero, in his beautiful treatise on old age, while he relates the sentiments of others, sweetly de- livers his own on this subject. The eider Cyrus ac- cording to Xenophon, thus addressed his sons before his death : " Do not imagine, O my dear children, that when I leave you, I cease to exist. For even while I was yet with you, my spirit you could not discern ; but that it animated this body you were fully assured by the actions which I performed. Be assured it will continue the same, thomrh still vou see it not. The glory of illustrious men would sink w'ith them into the grave, were not their surviving spirits capable of exer- tion, and concerned to rescue their names from oblivion. • XECT. I. INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. 21 I can never sufi'er myself to be persuaded, that the man lives only while he is in tlie body, and dies when it is dissolved ; or that the soul loses all intellijjence on being separated iVom an uiiintelliiijent lump of e'.ay ; but rather that, on beinj^ liberated from all niixturc witli body, pure and entire, it enters upon its true intellectual existence. At death, any one may disco- ver what becomes of the material part of our frame : all sinks into that from which it arose, every thini^ is resolved into its first principle ; the soul alone is ap- parent neither while it is with us, nor when it departs. What so much rt?sembles death as sleep? Now the powers of the mind, in sleep, loudly proclaim their own divinity ; free and unfettered, the soul plunges into futurity, ascends its native sky. Hence \a e may conclude how enlarged those powers will be, when un- depressed, unrestrained by the chains of flesh. Since these things are so, consider and reverence me as a tutelary deity. But, granting that the mind were to expire with the body, nevertheless, out of reverence to the immortal gods, who support and direct this fair fabric of nature, piously, aflfectionately cherish the memory of your affectionate father." The great Ro- man orator puts these words into the mouth of Cato, in addressing his young friends Scipio and Lasiius. " Those excellent men, your fathers, who were so dear to me in life, I consider as still alive ; and indeed, as now enjoying a state of being which alone deserves to be dignified with the name of life. For as long as we are shut up in this dungeon of sense, we have to toil through the painful and necessary drudgery of life, and to accomplish the laborious task of an hireling. The celestial spirit is, as it were, depressed, degraded from its native seat, and plunged into the mire of this world, a state repugnant to its divine nature and eternal dura- tion." And again, *' Nobody shall ever persuade me, Scipio, that your fither Paullus, and your two grand- fathers, Paullus and Africanus, and many other emi- 5>2 INTRODUCTORY LECTUllE. LECT. I. r.ent men whom it is unnecessary to mention, would have attempted and acheived so many splendid actions, >vhich were to extend their influence to posterity, had they not clearly discerned that they had an interest in, snd a connexion with the ag-es of futurity, and with, generations yet unborn. Can you imagine, that I may talk a little of myself, after the manner of old men, can you imagine, that I would have submitted to so ni:my painful toils, by night and by day, in the forum, in. the senate, in the field, had I apprehended that my existence, and my reputation, were to terminate with my life ? Were this the case, would it not have been much better to dose away in indolence an insignificant xind useless life ? But, 1 do not know how, the soul, incessantly exerting its native vigor, still sprung eagerly forward into ages yet to come, and seized them as its own. *' I feel myself transported with delight at the thought of again seeing and joining your fathers, whom on earth I highly respected and dearly loved ; and, borne on the wings of hope and desire, 1 am speeding my flight to mingle in the honored society. Slot of those only whom on earth I knew, and with whom 1 have conversed ; but of those also of whom I have heard and read, and the history of whose lives 1 myself I have written, for the instruction of mankind. I have the consolation of reflecting, that I have not lived wholly in vain : and I quit my station in life ^vithout regret, as the Avay-faring man, whose face is towards home, bids farewell to the inn where he had stopped for a little refreshment on his way. O glori- ous day, when I shall be admitted into the divine as- sembly of the wise and good ! When I shall make an eternal escape from this sink of corruption, and the din of folly ! When amidst the happy throng of the immortals, I shall find thee also my son, my Cato, best, most amiable of men ! On thy ashes, I bestow- ed tlie honors of the tomb. Ah ! wh\' did not imne 1.ECT. I. JNTRODUCTORV LUCfL/KJf. ftS tather receive liicm fioni thy hand ! But your spirit, I know it, h;is iitvcr lorsiiken nic ; but cabtini^ b;.'ck many a lonpjing, lingering look to your afflicted ratl\er, lias removed to that iei2;ion of puiity and peace whither you were confident I bhould sliortly follow you. And I feci, 1 feel our separation cannot be of loui^- continuance. '* If, indulging- mvi-clf in this fond liope, my 3oun£^ friends, I am under the power of delusion, it is a sweet, it is an innocent delusion. I will hold it fast and never let it go, w hile I live. I despise the sneer of the whit- ling, who would attempt to laugh me out of my im- mortality. Suppose him in the right, and myself under a mistake, he shall not have the power to insult me, nor shall I have the mortification of feeling his scorn, when we are both gone to the land of everlasting forgetful- ness." How pleasing the thought, my dear christian friends, I again repeat it, how pleasing the thought, that the honest propensities of nature, the fairest conclusions of unassisted reason, and the most ardent breathings of truth and virtue, are here in unison with the clearest and most explicit declarations of the holy scriptures! But the sacred Dove soars into a region which na- ture and reason never could have explored. Revelation, to the immortality of the soul, has added the resurrec- tion of the body. And, " wherefore should it be thought a thing incredible that God should raise the dead?" The Spirit says to " these dry bones. Live." " We believe that Jesus died and rose again." What a sure ground of hope, that '* them also who sleep in Jesus, God will biing with him !" Delightful reflec- tion ! Who would be so unjust to God, and so unkind to himself, as to part with it? How it smooths the rugged path of life, how it tempers the bitterness of affliction, how it dissipates the horrors of the grave ! One child sleeps in the dust, the diameter of the globe separates me from another, but the word of life, " 1 AM the God of thy seed," rescues that one from cor- I? Z4 INTRODUCTORY LECTURE. LECT. I. niption, and puts the other hi my embrace. Time dwindles into a point, the earth melts away, *' the trumpet sounds," '* the dead arise incorruptible." Behold all things are made new ! " New heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." " Arise, let us go hence," and " sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God." 4t ■ •- ■'■•' ,i HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE II. By faith Moses ^ when he was come to years ^ refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than /o enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the trea- sures of Egypt : for he had respect unto the recom- pense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not feainng the wrath of the king : for he endured as see- ing him ivho is invisible. ..Hebrews, xi. 24. ..27. THE history of mankind contains many a lament- able detail of the sad reverses to which human affairs are liable ; of the affluent, by unforeseen, un- avoidable calamity, tumbled into indigence ; of great- ness in eclipse ; of the mighty fallen ; of princes de- throned, banished, put to death. In some instances of this sort, we see the unhappy sufferers making a virtue of necessity, and bearing their misfortunes with a certain degree of patience and magnanimity ; but in genera], sudden and great distress either sours or de- presses the spirit, and men submit to the will of Pro- vidence with so ill a grace, that it is evident they are not under the power of religion, and that they flee not for consolation to the prospects of immortality. We are this evening to contemplate one of those rare examples of true greatness of mind, which made a voluntary sacrifice of the most enviable situation, and the most flattering prospects, which human life admits VOL. II. fi 26 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. YI. of ; and that at an age when the heart is most devoted to the pursuit of pleasure, most susceptible of the al- lurements of ambition. It is the singular instaiuce of Moses, the prophet and legislator of Israel, who, brought up from infancy in a court, instructed in all the learning of the Egyptians, treated as the heir of empire, and encouraged to aspire to all that the heart naturally covets, and that Providence bestows, on the most favored of mankind ; at the age of forty cheer- fully resigned all these advantages, and preferred the life of a slave with his brethren, and of a shepherd in the land of Midian, among strangers, to all the luxury and splendor belonging to the son of Pharaoh's daugh- ter, to all the dazzling hopes of royalty or of power next to majesty. Scripture, in its own admirably concise method, dispatches the history of this great man's life, from his infancy to his fortieth year, in a few short words, iiamely, '^ and Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds," Actsvii. 22, as not deeming information con- cerning attainments in human science, or feats of mar- tial prowess, worthy of the knowledge of posterity, compared to the triumphs of his faith, the generous workings of his public spirit, and the noble ardor of fervent piety. Philo and Josephus, however, and other Jewish writers, have taken upon them to fill up this interval of time, by a fanciful, fabulous, unsupported account of the earlier years of Moses ; which v\ e should per- haps be disposed, in part, to retail for your amusement, if not for your instruction, had not the Spirit of God supplied us with well authenticated memoirs of a more advanced period of his life. In the perusal of which, with serious meditation upon them, ^ve shall, I trust, find pleasure and profit blended together. Taking inspiration then for our guide, we divide the history of Moses into three periods of equal dura- LEGT. ir. HISTORY OF JIOSES. -^7 tion in respect of time, namely of forty years each;, but very different in respect of situation, notoriety and importance. The first, and of which the Ijible is silent, or speaks but a single word, presents him to us a stu- dent in the schools of the Egyptian Magi, one among the princes in the court of Pharaoh, a poet, an orator, a statesman, a general, or whatever else imagination pleases to make him. The second, exhibits an hum- ble shepherd, tending the flocks of Jethro his father-in- law, and fulfilling the duties and exemplifying the vir- tues of the private citizen. In the third, we attend the footsteps of the saviour of his nation, the leader and commander, the lawgiver and judge of the Israel of God : under whom that chosen race was conducted from Egyptian oppression, to the possession of the land promised to Abraham and to his seed ; the instrument chosen, raised up and employed of the Dlvin*^ Provi- dence, to execute the purposes of the Almighty, in a case which affected the general interests, spiritual and. everlasting, of all mankind. It is of the second of these periods we are now to treat ; and though our materials be small and few, if we be so happy as to make a proper use of them, we shall find that, by the blessing of God, our labour has not been in vain. In Moses, then, in the very prime and vigor of his life, we see a mind uncorrupted by the maxims and manners of an impious, tyrannical, idolatrous court ; a mind not intoxicated by royal favor, not seduced by the allurements of ambition, not deadened by the uninterrupted possession of prosperity, to the impres- sions of humanity and compassion. And what pre- served him ? He believed in God. The mind's eye was fixed on Him who is invisible to the eye of sense. And what is the wisdom of Egypt compared to this ? It was a land of astronomers, a land of \\an iors, a land of artists ; and the impiovement which Moses made in every liberal art ai}d science, we may well 28 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. II. suppose was equal to any, the first, of the age and na- tion in which he Hved. But a principle infinitely su- perior to every thing human, a principle not taught in the schools of the philosophers, a principle which carries the soul where it resides, beyond the limits of this little world, inspired high thoughts, dictated a no- ble, manly, generous conduct. And first, it taught him to despise and to reject empty, unavailing, worldly honors. '* By faith Mo- ses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter," Heb. xi. 24. Ordi- nary spirits value themselves on rank and distinction. Ordinary men, raised unexpectedly to eminence, strive to conceal and forget the meanness of their extraction ; but Moses would rather pass for the son of a poor, oppressed Israelite, than for the adopted son and heir of the oppressing tyrant's daughter- Putting religion out of the question, true magnanimity will seek to de- rive consequence from itself, not from parentage or any other adventitious circumstance ; will not consider itself as ennobled by what it could have no power over, nor debased by what has in its own nature no shame. To be either vain of one's ancestry, or ashamed of it, is equally the mark of a grovelling spirit. Art thou highly descended, my friend? Let high birth inspire high, that is, worthy, generous sentiments. Beware of dis- gracing reputable descent, by sordid, vulgar, vicious behaviour. Hast thou nothing to boast of in respect of pedigree ? Strive to lay the foundation of thine own nobility : convince the fools of the world, that good- ness is true greatness ; that a catalogue of living vir- tues is much more honorable than a long list of depart- ed names. Know ye not, that faith makes every one who lives by it more than the son of a king ? For the son of a king may be a fool or a profligate ; but faith makes its possessor a son of God, that is, a wise and a good man ; and by it, Moses was more noble in the wil- derness of Sinai, than in the imperial court of Pharaoh. LECT. It. HISTORY OF MOSES. 29 As this divine instructor taught him to undervalue and to refuse empty honors, so it inspired him with pity to his afflicted brethren. " And it came to pass in those days, when Moses \\as grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens : and he spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren," Exod. ii. 11. Ease and affluence generally harden the heart. If it be well with the selfish man himself, he little cares what others endure. But re- ligion teaches another lesson : " Love to God whom we have not seen," w ill always be productive of " love to men whom we have seen." From the root of faith many kindred stems spring up; and all bring forth fruit. There, arises the stately plant of heavenly mindedness, producing the golden apples of self-government, self- denial, and contempt of the world ; and close by its side, and sheltered by its branches, gentle sympathy expands its blossoms and breathes its perfumes ; con- solation to the afflicted, and relief to the miserable. The progress of compassion, in Moses, is described "with wonderful delicacy and judgment. First, he foregoes the pleasures of a court. Unable to relish a solitary, selfish gratification, while he reflected that his nearest and dearest relations were eating the bread and drinking the water of aflSiiction, he goes out to look upon their misery, and tries by kind looks and words of love, to soothe thei?- woes. Unable to allevi- ate, much less to remove their anguish, he is deter- mined at least to be a partaker of it ; and since he can- not raise them to the enjoyment of Ids liberty and ease, he voluntarily takes a share of their bondage and oppres- sion. There is something \^onderfully pleasing to a soul in trouble, to see one \\ho might have shunned it, and have turned away from the sufferer, out of pure love, drinking from the same bitter cup, and submitting to the same calamity. At length an honest zeal breaks forth, and overleaps the bounds of patience and dis» jcretion. Seeing a brutal Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, 20 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. 11. incapable of suppressing his indignation, he assaults the oppressor, and puts him to death. '^ Moses was meek above all the men of the earth." But " surely oppression niaketh a wise man mad." This we alledge as an apology for the conduct of Moses, not a vindica- tion of it ; for we pretend not to say it was in all re- spects justifiable. But it is one of those singular cases to which common rules will not 2ipply. The da}' after, he had the mortification of seeing two FIebrev\ s striving together. Unhappy men ! as if they had not enemies enough in their common, cruel task-masters ; as if condemnation to labor in making bricks without some of the necessary materials, could not find employment for their most vigorous efforts ; as if an edict to destroy all their male children from their birth, had not been sufficient to fill up the mea- sure of their woe ; they pour hatred and strife into the bowl, already surcharged with wormwood and gall. Wretched sons of men ! eternally arraigning the wis- dom and goodness of Providence ; eternally complain- ing of the hardships of their lot ; and eternally swelling the catalogue of their miseries, by their own perverse- iiess and folly ; adding vinegar to nitre, and then won- dering how their distresses came to be so great ! Moses reproved the offending Egyptian by a blow, and a mortal one ; he tries to gain an offending brother by meekness and gentleness ; he makes reason and humanity speak ; but they speak in vain ; for the same spirit that leads men to commit cruelty or injustice, leads them also to vindicate and support their ill conduct. *' And he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow ? And he said, AVho made thee a prince and a judge over us : intendest thou lo kill me, as thou killeclst the Egyptian," Exod. ii. 13, 14. From this, Moses discovered that the rash action which he had committed the day before, was publicly known and talked of, and might prove fatal to him, unless he in- stantly ficd from the danger. The affair had reached iECT. II. HISTOBV OF MOSES. 31 the ears of Pharaoh, who, it would appear, wanted onlv a decent pretence to rid himself of a man of u hom all Egypt was jealous. He hurries away therefore out of the territories of the kint^ of Egypt, into that p^rt of Arabia which is called Petrea, from its mountain- ous or rocky aspect ; and by a singular concurrence of providential circumstances, is stopped at a city of that country called Midian, and is induced to remain there for many years. There lived in this city a person of distinguished rank and station ; but whether possessed of a sacred or a civil character, the ambiguity of the term in the holy language permits us not to determine ; and the scripture leaves us totally uncertain whether he were a priest or a prince of jVIidian. But we are left in no doubt respecting his moral and intellectual qualifica- tions ; and we shall have no reason to be displeased at finding the history of Closes blend^^d with that of so sensible and so good a man as Jethro, or Raguel, turns out to be. Whatever his dignity was, the sacerdotal or royal, we find his daughters trained up in all the simplicity of those early times ; following the humble, harmless profession of shepherdesses. Wise is that father, kind and just to his children, who, whatever his station, possessions or prospects may be, brings up his sons and his daughters to some virtuous and useful employment ; for idleness is not more odious, dishon- orable and contemptible, than it is inimical to happi- ness, and irreconcileable to inward peace. Moses, being arrived in the neighborhood of Midian, weary and faint with a long journey, through a barren and unhospitable country, sits down by a well of water to rest and refresh himself. And, as a good man's foot- steps are all ordered of the Lord, Providence sends him thither just at the moment, to succor tlie daughters of Raguel from the violence of some of their neighbors. In those countries, the precious lluid bestowed upon us in such boundless profusion, being dispensed as it were 32 HISTOllY OF MOSES. LECT. IT, in drops, became an object of desire and a ground of contention. The daughters of Jethro, sensible of their inferiority in point of strength, endeavor to supply it by diligence and address. They arrive at the well before their rival shepherds, and are preparing with all possible dispatch to water their flocks, when behold they are overtaken by these brutals, who rudely drive them and their flocks away, and cruelly attempt to convert the ijruits of their labor to their own use. Moses possess- ing at once sensibility, courage and force, takes part with the injured, and affords them effectual support against their oppressors. An helpless, timid female, assaulted and insulted, is an object of peculiar concern to a brave and generous spirit ; and for this reason, courage and intrepidity are qualities in men, held in great and just estimation by the female sex. If the heroic behavior of Moses merit approbation and respect, the modest reserve of the virgin daugh- ters of Raguel is equally amiable and praise-worthy. It does not appear that they solicited protection, but modestly received it j they look their thanks rather than utter them ; and they deem it more suitable to their sex and character to appear ungrateful to a generous stranger, than to offend him by forwardness and indeli- cacy. They hasten home to their father, who, sur- prised at the earliness of their return, inquires into the cause of it. Happy, I doubt not, to celebrate the praises of a man whose appearance and behavior must have made a deep impression upon them, they relate the adventure of the morning ; and Raguel, struck with the magnanimity, gallantry and spirit of this stranger's con- duct, eagerly inquires after him, sends to find him out, invites him to his house and table, and endeavors to express that gratitude, which the young women could not, by every effort of kindness and hospitality. Minds so well assorted as those of Moses and Jethro, and attracted to each other by mutual acts of benefi- eejice, would easily assimilate and unite in friendship. LECT. II. HISTORY OF MOSES. 3i And the pleasing recollection of protection given and received, the natural sensibility of a female mind to per- sonal accomplishments, but more especially to gene- rosity and courage, on the one liand ; and the irresisti- ble charm of feminine beauty and modesty to a marily heart, on the other, would speedily and insensibly, be- tween Moses, and some one of the priest of Midian's fair daughters, ripen into love. What follows, there- fore, is all in the course of honest nature, which never swerves from her purpose, never fails to accomplish her end. But it v.'as Providence that furnished the field and the instruments with which nature should work. That Providence which saved him forty f'yC'ii's before from perishing in the Nile ; that Providence which de- livered him so lately from the hands of an incensed king; the sarae Providence now% by a concourse of circumstances equally beyond the reach of luiman power or foresight, iixcs the bounds of his habitation, forms for him the most important connexion of human life ; and for another space of forty years makes him forget the tumultuous pleasures of a court, in the more calm and rational delights of disinterested friendship, virtuous affection, and heavenly contemplation. It was in this delicious retreat, that the man of God is supposed to have composed, by divine inspiration, and to have committed to ^\ riting, that most ancient, most elegant, and most instructive of all books ; which con- tains the history of the world, from the creation down to his own times : a period which no other writer has presumed to touch upon; holy ground which none but the foot of God himself has dared to tread. Here also, and at this time, as it is conjectured by interpre- ters, he wrote that beautifully poetical, moral and his- torical work, the book of Job : which, for sublimity of thought, force of expression, justness of sentiment, strength of reasoning, and variety of matter, holds a distinguished place in the sacred code. If from the schools of the Magi ha drew such stores of wisdom VOL. IT. E i 34. HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. II. and eloquence, high must our ideas rise of those noble seminaries of learning. But Moses derived his won- derful accomplishments from a much higher source, even from the everlasting Spring of all knowledge, even from Him who made the heavens and the earth, and caused the light to arise; even from Him who can make the desert of Horeb a school of wisdom, and the simple to be wiser than all his teachers. Here, also, he has the ftlicity of becoming a father ; and, even in Midian, God builds up one of the families of Israel. And now at last the time to favor that despised, op- ])ressed nation was come. Egypt had changed its sovereign in the mean time, but the seed of Jacob had felt no mitigation of their distress. Every change which they have undergone is only from evil to worse. Moses was now arrived at his eightieth year, but re- mained in the full vigor of his bodily strength, and of jjis mental powers. Erring, reasoning, cavilling man will be asking, Why was the employment of Moses in so important a service so long delayed ? Wherefore bury such talents for such a space of time in the in- glorious life of an obscure shepherd ? Wherefore call a man at so late a period of life, in the evening of his day, in the decline of his faculties, to a service that required all thefervor, intrepidity and exertionof youth? To all which we answer in the words of our Saviour on a well-known occasion, " It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power." Man is perpetually in a hurry, and of- ten hastens forward without making progress; but " he that belie veth shall not make haste." God, the father of believers, advances to his end not in a vehe- ment and hurried step, but in a solemn, steady, majes- tic pace ; his progress, Vvdiich we may in our folly ac- count slow, in the issue proves to have been the most expeditious ; and the course which human ignorance mav condemn as irres:ular and circuitous, will be found in the end the shortest and the surest. LF.CT. II. HISTORY OF MOSES. 35 The course of the history then has brought us to that importunt, tventful hour, vvlicn the shepherd of ^lldian, trained up in retiienicnt and coiiteinplalicn, and converse with God, was to bhake ofi' his disguise, and stand confessed the minister of the most high God, the king in Jeshurn, the scourge of Elgypt, the deliverer of Israel. As the commission which was given him to execute, and the station assigned to him, were alto- gether singular and uncommon, we are not to be sur- prised if the seal and signature affixed to that commis- sion, and the powers bestowed for the faithful and ef- fectual execution of it, should likewise be out of the usual course of things, and should announce the power and authority of Him who granted it. But as this merits a principal place in the course of these exercises, we shall not compress it into the conclusion of a Lec- ture ; hoping, through the help of God, to resume and continue the subject next Lord's day. Such was Moses, the Jewish legislator and hero, during the two first great periods of his life. But a greater than Moses is here, even He, *' the latchet of whose shoes Moses is unworthy to stoop down and to unloose;" to whom Moses and Elias, on the mount of transfiguration, brouj^ht all their glory and honor and laid them at his feet 1 Moses " refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;" and Jesus disdained not to be called ** the son of the carpenter." Supreme, all divine though He was, yet he declined not the society of the poorest, meanest, most afflicted of mankind ! AVas the humiliation of Moses cheerful and volun- tary, not forcibly obtruded upon him, but sought out and submitted to? Christ, thougli " in the form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal witli God, yet made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant." Was sympathy a leading feature in the character of Moses? Jesus " hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, 36 IIISTOIIY or MOSES. LECT. II. neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard," Psahn xxii. 24. " In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them ; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old," Isaiah Ixiii. 9. Did Moses, through the vale of obscurity, arrive at the summit of glory ? Of Christ it is said, as following up the scene of his humiliation, *' Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name : that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things urrder the earth : and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Fatlier." But the time would fail to point out every mark of resemblance. Christ derives no glory from similitude to Moses, but all the glory of Moses flows from his typifying Christ the Lord, in whom " all the promises are yea and amen," and who " is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE III. jind 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 yon j and they shall say to me, What is his name P What shall I say ?into them ? And God said unto Moses, J AM THAT I AM : And he saidy Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me wito you.... E-xoavs iii. 13,14. THE objects presented to us in the commerce o f the world have a relative greatness, but thos e with which we converse in solitude and retirement possess a real grandeur and magnificence. A vast city, a numerous and well-disciplined army, a proud navy, a splendid court, and the like, dazzle the eyes of a stranger, and produce a transient wonder and de- light. But a little acquaintance dissolves the charm ; the dimensions of credited greatness speedily contract, the glory departs, and what once filled us with aston- ishment is regarded with calm indifference, perhaps with disgust. The eye, almost with a single glance, reaches the end of human perfection, and instantly turns from what it has seen, in search of something yet undiscovered, striving to find in novelty and vari- ety a compensation for the poverty, littleness, nothing- ness of the creature. But when we withdraw from the haunts of men, and either retire within ourselves or send our thoughts abroad to contemplate God and 38 HISTORY GF MOSES. LECT. III. his works, we meet a heighth and a depth which the line of finite understanding cannot fathom ; we expatiate in a region which still discloses new scenes of wonder ; we feel ourselves at once invited and checked, attract- ed and repelled ; we behold much that we can compre- hend and explain, but much more that passeth know- ledge ; we find ourselves, like Moses at the bush, upon *' holy ground," and the same wonderful sight is ex- hibited to our view...." JEHOVAH!" in a flame OF FIRE ! whose light irradiates and encourages our approach ; but whose fervent heat arrests our speed, and remands us to our proper distance. The great man had now passed the second great period of his life in the humble station of a shepherd, and the shepherd too of another man's flock, He had quitted the enchanted regions of high life, not only without regret, but with joy ; not impelled by spleen, nor soured by disappointment; but filled with a noble disdain for empty honors, with generous sympathy towards his afflicted brethren, animated by exalted piety which settled on an invisible God, and inspired with a soul which looked at pomp with contempt, and on obscurity with acquiescence and desire. It was in this calm retreat that he cultivated those qualities, which proved more favorable to the designs of Providence than all the learning which he had acquired in Egypt. At the age of eighty the race of glory is at an end with most men ; nay, the drama of life concludes with the generality long before that period arrives. But the same activity and usefulness of Aloses commenced not till then ; for as it is never too early, so it is never too late to serve God and to do good to men ; and true wisdom consists in waiting for and following the call of Heaven, not in anticipating and outrunning it. Abraham was turned out a \vanderer and an exile at seventy-five. And Moses at four-score was sent upon an enterprize, which it required much courage to un- dertake, much vigor to conduct and support, and a LECT. III. HISTORY OF MOSES. 39 great length of time to execute. But before the divhie mandate every mountain of difficulty sinks, " every valley is exalted, the crooked becomes straight, and the rough places plain." Abraham, at the head of a handful of servants, subdues five victorious kings, with their armies : Sarah, at ninety, bears a son ; and iMoses, at eighty, with a simple rod in his hand, advances to succour Israel, and to crush the power of Egypt. The solemnity with which the commission was given suited the dignity and importance of the undertaking. The whole was of God, and he does every thing in a manner worthy of himself. While Moses was em- ployed in the innocent cares and labors of his lowly station ; and faithful attention to the duties of our se- veral stations is the best preparation for the visits of the Almighty ; a very unusual and unaccountable ap- pearance presented itself to his eyes. A bush wholly involved in flames, yet continuing unchanged, undi- minished, unconsumed by the fire. Whether nature preserves her steady tenor, or suffers an alteration or suspension of the laws by which she is usually govern- ed, the finger of God is equally visible in both ; for, what power, save that which is divine, could have established and can maintain the order and harmony of the universe ? And what power short of Omnipo- tence can break in upon that order ; can make the sun to stand still, or its shadow return back to the meridian after it had declined ; can leave to fire its illuminating, but withdraw its devouring quality ; and render arti- ficial fire, such as that of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace harmless to the three children of the captivity, but fatal to the mmisters of the king of Babylon ? Were our hearts right with God, miraculous interpositions would be unnecessary; every creature, every event should promote our acquaintance with our Maker. And such is the condescension of the Most High, that he vouchsafes to cure our ignorance, inattention or unbelief, by making the mighty sacrifice of that 40 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. III. stated course of things, which his wisdom settled at first, and which his power continues to support. Rather than man shall remain unchanged, unre- deemed, the great system of nature shall undergo alteration ; fire shall cease to burn, the Nile shall run blood instead of water, the sun forget to shine for three days together; the eternal uncreated Word shall become flesh, and the fountain of life to all, shall expire in death. It required not the sagacity of a Moses to discover, that there was something extraordinary here. But mis- taking it at first for merely an unusual, natural appear- ance, whose cause, by a closer investigation, he might be able to discover, he is preparing by nearer observa- tion to satisfy his curiosity ; when lo ! to his still greater astonishment, the bush becomes vocal as well as brilli- ant, and he hears his ow n name distinctly and repeat- edly called, out of the midst of the flame. Curiosity and wonder are now checked by a more powerful prin- ciple than either. Terror thrills in every vain, and ar- rests his trembling steps. How dreadful must the visitations of God's anger be to his enemies, if to his best beloved children, the intimation of his goodness, clothed in any thing like sensible glory, be so awful and overwhelming? When I meet thee, O my God, stripped of diis veil of flesh, may I find thee a pure, a genial and lambent flame of loving-kindness, not a consuming fire of wrath and vengeance! Moses instantly comprehends that the Lord was there ; or if he could for a moment have doubted who it was that talked with him, in a moment his doubt must haAc been removed by the continuation of the voice of Him v, ho spake. We find here, as in many other places of the Old Testament, the same person ^vho is styled, in the course of the narration, the " An- gel of the Lord," styling himself Jehovah and God ; exercising divine prerogatives, manifesting divine per- fections, and claiming the homage which is due to Deity alone. The person therefore, thus described, lECT. III. KISTORT Of MOSRS. il can be none other than the uncreated " Angel of the covenant," who '* at sundry times, and in divers man- ners," in maturing the work of redemption, assumed a sensible appearance ; and at lei\a;th, in tlic fulness of 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 inuh.'' Every thing here is singular and every thing in- structive. The first interview between God and Mo- ses inspires terror ; but the spirit of bondage gradually dies away, and refines into the spirit of adoption and love. Acquaintance begets confidence, " Perfect love castcth out fear ;" and the man who spake to God with trem- bling in Horeb, by and by becomes strengthened to endure his presence forty days and nights together, in Sinai. " Enduring, as seeing Him who is invisible," 'he " despised the wrath of an earthly king." When he comes to the knowledge of that same God, by the seeing of the eye and the hearing of the ear, he " ex- ceedingly fears and quakes ; abhors himself, and lies low in dust and ashes." But, following on to know the Lord, he comes at length to converse with Him, as a man with his friend. " Acquaint thyself then u ith him, and be at peace, thereby good shall come unto thee." Miserable beyond expression, beyond thought are they, ^vhose acquaintance with God has to begin at death; who having lived without a gracious', mer- ciful, long-suffering God in the world, find they must, by a dreadful necessity, fall into the hands of a neglect- ed, forgotten, righteous, incensed God, when they leave it. The appearance of Jehovah in the bush was not only preternatural, but emblematical; it not only sanctioned the commission given to Moses by the seal of Deity, but exhibited a lively representation of the" state of his church and people in Egypt ; oppressed, but not crush- ed, brought low, but not deserted of Heaven, in the midst of flames, but not consumed. And it is a strik- VOL. II, J 4^ HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. III. ing emblem of the church of God in the world, to the end of time ; " troubled on every side, yet not distres- sed, perlexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed." The same voice which solicited intercourse with MosGS, which tendered friendship, which encouraged hope, sets a fence about the divine Majesty ; it re- minds him of his distance, of his impurity ; it forbids rashness, presumption, familiarity, in veneration of the spot which God had honored with his special pre- sence, he is commanded to " put off his shoes from off his feet ;" a mandate, which by an image natural and obvious, enjoins the drawing near to God in holy places, and in sacred services, with seriousness, atten- tion and reverence ; divested of that impurity which men necessarily contract by coming into frequent con- tact with the world. And surely, it is owing to the want of a due sense of the majesty of God upon our spirits, that his house is profaned and his service mar- red by levity, carelessness and inattention. Did wc seriously consider that the place where we stand is " holy ground," that the word which we speak and hear is " not the word of men, but of the living God,'* could one short hour's attendance betray us into slum- ber? Could the little jealousies and strife of abase world intrude into a worshipping heart ? Could the eye find leisure to wander upon the dress and appearance of another? Durst a scornful leer or simpering coun- tenance communicate from one vain, silly, irreverent spirit to another, the private sneer and censure? Would there be a contention for place and pre-eminence ? Now, surely, God is as really, though less sensibly, in this place, as he was in the bush at Horeb : and though we sec him not, his eyes are continually upon us, and he will bring every thing into judgment. O Lord, open thou our eyes, that we may behold Thee, and every other object shall instantly disappear. The words which follow, if any thing can increase LECT. II[. HISTORY OF MOSiiS. 4S their intrinsic force and importance, derive a peculiar cnerg)' iind \'alue to the christian world, as the passage quoted by our blcbsed Lord, from an authority which they could not deny, to confute the Sadducc'Cis, on the subject of tlie immortality of the soul, and the resur- rection of the body. " I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." We speak of the dead,, under the idea that they iverc ; but God represents them as still existing, and his relation to them as unbroken, his care of them as uninterrupted. The effect which this declaration had upon Moses, is such as might have been expected ; no more *' turning aside to see this great sight;" he hides his face, " afraid to look upon God." It is ignorance of God, not intimate communion, which encourages for\A'ard- ness and freedom. Angels, who know him best, and love him most, are most sensible of their distance ; and are represented as " covering their faces with their wings' ' when they approach their dread Creator. In the declaration which immediately follows, under a sanction so solemn and affecting, which shall wc most admire, the mercy and goodness of God, or his perfect wisdom and foreknowledge. Four hundred years have elapsed since this wretched state of his pos- terity had been foretold and revealed to Abraham. For w^ise and gracious purposes it was appointed and brought to pass. But the days of darkness are now almost ended, and the sun returns. Like rain from heaven to a dry and thirsty land, the promises of favor and salvation fall upon a persecuted, oppressed people : and " that Moses whom they refused, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge?" is after an interval of forty years sent back to Egypt, on the kind and merciful errand of salvation to an oppressed and per- secuted people. Moses however, it would appear, has not forgotten the surly reception which his well meant interposition had met with from his brethren so long before ; and 44 HISTORT OF MOSES. LECT. Ill, presumes to urge it as a reason, why a person of more influence and authority should be entrusted with the commission. He considered not, that formerly he acted from the impulse of his own mind ; with indeed an upright and benevolent intention, but with a zeal rather too bold and impetuous ; whereas now, he was following the direction of Providence, and was therefore certain of success. As there is a sinful pride which urges men to seek stations and employments, to which they have neither pretensions, title, nor qualification ; so there is a sinful humility, which shrinks from the call of God, which, in the guise of self-denial, contains the spirit of rebellion and disobedience ; and which, under the af- fectation of undervaluing and debasing our o^vn per- sons and qualities, indirectly charges God with foolish- ness, in choosing an instrument so inapt and improper. Such humility is of the very essence of pride, and such, with regret we observe it, was the spirit by which Mo- ses was on this occasion actuated. The heavenly vision removes the objection at once, by assuring him of the divine presence, blessing and support ; and refers him for the proof of it, to a train of events closely succeed- ing each other; and all issuing in the people's assem- bling together, in that very spot, to worship, after their enlianchisement, all forming a chain of evidence, that the authority under which he acted was divine. Still doubting and irresolute, Moses ventures to urge another difficulty, v^hich he expresses in these terms ; " And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall sa}' unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you : and they shall say to me, What is his name ? What sl^.all I say unto them ■?" God had iilready de- clared his name, and purpose, and given his charge, and yet Moses dares to make inquiry. How rare a thing it is, to see a soul wholly resolved into the will of God ! How seldom do we find a faith entirely disposed LECT. III. HISTOllY OF MOSES. 45 to be, to do, and to endure, neither more nor less than Avhat God is pleased to appoint ! But the incredulity and presumption of Moses shall not rer.der thcdcsiL;ii ol' God of none cftect. When men are contradicted or opposed, they fly out, and storm, and threaten. But the great God bears with our forwardness and folly, gives way to our scruples, and, yielding to our obsti- nacy, overcomes evil with good. And we are a'- most tempted to rejoice that Moses stood out so long, as it gave occasion to the most solemn and satisfying proclamation of the name and nature of God, from his own mouth, and the most amiable and engag- ing picture of tender mercy and long-suffering that ever was exhibited. " And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM : And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM haih sent me unto you." What flimsy things are commissions issued under the hand- writing and seals of kings, compared to this ! a shred of parchment, a morsel of wax, an unmeaning scrawl ; a slender, contracted, short-lived power, de- legated from one worm to another. Where is now the signet of Ahasuerus, which pretended to commu- nicate irreversible authority to the writing whereto it was afiixed ? Where are the warrants under which the statesmen and heroes of other times deliberated, fought and conquered ? With the princes who granted them they are gone to oblivion. They were what they toere. They fulfilled their day, and then they fell asleep, and now are seen no more ! What avail the long list of empty titles, which potentates and princes, in the pride of their hearts, affix to their perishing- names ? All, shrink and fade, before that tremend- ous Power, whose authority no change of circum- stances can affect, whose existence no succe-ssion of ages can impair ; who, yesterday, to-day, and forever still proclaims of himself, " I am." Nothing can equal the simplicit}', sublimity and . 46 HISTOBY OF MOSES. LECT. III. force of these remarkable words. Independancy of existence, eternity of duration, immutability of pur- pose, faithfulness and truth in keeping covenant and shewing mercy, are all conveyed in one little sen- tence, " I AM THAT I AM." Longinus, the cele- brated critic, has with equal judgment and taste, quoted a well known passage from the writings of Moses, as an instance of the true sublime, viz. the first words pronounced by the Creator in the formation of the world, " And God said let there be light, and there was light.** Why did not Longinus dip deeper into the works of this great historian ; why did he not enrich and ejnbellish his own beautiful little book, and farther approve his exquisite taste, by inserting other passages from the page of inspiration, particularly the passage under review? A passage which Jews, Hea- thens and Christians, as one man have consented to admire. Under the sanction of this most awful name, God repeats his commission, repeats his charge, repeats his promise of support, assistance and success : suc- cess with the elders of Israel ; success with the peo- ple ; success against Pharaoh. And yet, Moses " staggars at this promise," " although it be the promise of the Eternal, through unbelief!" What have we most to wonder at here, the strange incre- dulity and perverseness of the prophet^ or the singu- lar fidelity and exactness of the historian^ in record- ing his own c.rors ? God has said " they j/z a// hear- ken to thy voice ;" yet Moses presumes, in the face of this express declaration, to gainsay and draw back *' And Moses answered, and said. But behold, they ivill not believe me ; nor hearken unto my voice ; for they will say, the LORD hath not appeared unto thee." Surely " the Lord is God, and not man, and there- fore the children of men are not consumed." A man of common spirit would here have broken off the con- ference, and left the timid, fro ward shepherd to his LECT. III. HISTORY OF MOSES. 47 own folly, and permitted him to remain destitute of the honor which he obstinately persevered to decline. But it pleased God to shew us patience, at least in one instance, too powerful for unbelief: " for his ways are not like our ways, nor his thoughts as our thoughts." He who would cure infidelity in ethers, must first be purged of the old leaven himself. To effect this in the heart of his servant Moses, God vouchsafes to perform miracle upon miracle. He turns the rod which was in the hand of Moses into a serpent ; and from a serpent to a rod again ; in order to intimate to him and to the w^orld that the most harmless things be- come noxious, and the most pernicious things inno- cent, at his command. His hand is in a moment covered with leprosy, and in a moment restored.... to shew the power of God's holy law to fix guilt upon the sinner, and of his grace to remove it from the penitent. He is enjoined and authorized to perform these signs before all Israel, in order to produce that conviction in them, which they had fir^t wrought upon his own mind. Should these still happen to fail, he is permitted to go a step farther. Nature shall submit to a thorough alteration, rather than the seed of faithful Abraham continue slaves in Egypt, or pe- rish through unbelief. AVater shall become blood be- fore their eyes, rather than the blood of their inno- cent children be poured out any more like v. ater upon the ground. And now, surely, Moses is gained, and the work of God shall no longer stand still. Alas ! the sullen spirit is not yet subdued. Though forc€d to retreat, he continues to fight as he retires. The slowness of Israel to believe, w as formerly the plea ; now his own want of talents is urged in excuse of his strange back- wardness and disobedience. That objection too is immediately removed, by a promise of wisdom and eloquence suited to the occasion. The language of 48 HISTORY OF MOSES. LECT. Ill, the oracle, and the long-suffering of the speaker are miraculoiis and supernatural, as all the other circum- stances of the case. And the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth ? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? Have not I the Lord ? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say," Exodus iv. 11, 12. '* Wonder, O heavens, and be astonished, O earth !'' This instead of producing humble submission and in- stantaneous compliance, without a reason and without a plea, meets with a direct refusal ; " O my Lord, send I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send." And now what heart does not tremble for fear, that the fire which had spared the bush, should "wax hot, to punish the madness of the prophet ? What patience can endure sucha repetition of insult? The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses ; and. ...and what ? O it becomes a flame of love to melt his heart, and purify it of its dross. " The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said. Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother ? I know that he can speak W'tll. And also behold, he corneth forth to meet thee ; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart." Providence had all this while been preparing a concluding, a convincing proof of power, wisdom and goodness inconceivable. Lo, Aaron is already far advanced on his way from Egypt, in quest of his bro- ther. That after so long an interval, throupji a field of so m.any chances, he should at that veiy instant of time arrive.... How is is it to be accounted for ? On no other principle but this, the Lord is " wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working." " He secth the end from the beginning." He saith " My counsel shall stand, and I will fulfil all my pleasure." " He doth accord- ing to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth.'' Let every knee bow, let i I LECT. in. IflSTORY OF MOSES. 4,9 every ton<^ue confess, let every heart adore and love and submit. Most's is at length subdued, and we stand with astonishment and joy to contemplate the triumph of mercy over judgment. God grant we may improve the example of his divine patience as a pattern. God in mercy preserve lis from presuming upon it, as an encouragement to offend. And may God bless what has been spoken. Amen. VOL. II. cjis HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE IV. And Moses spake so unto the children of Israd ; but they hearkened ?iot unto MoseSy Jar anguish of spi- rit, and for cruel bondage. ...YjXodusyi. 9. EVERY nation has in its history events of peculiar importance, which latest posteiity is disposed fondly t