LECT. L.] HISTORY OF MOSES. "Our God is a and imperfection which enters into every | ous prophet is punished. "It is a fearful thing to Remark, in the fourth place, The rashness and folly of man shall not, cannot render the purpose of God of none effect. A whole people shall not be permitted to perish for thirst because the prescribed mode of relief has not been exactly followed. Though the rock be stricken, instead of being spoken unto, it shall not fail to yield the promised fountain of water. Moses is frail, but God is good. Seems it not as if God intended to write There has prevailed, since the beginning, a vanity and shame on all the glory of man, strange contention between the folly and "that no flesh should glory in his presence?" perverseness of the fallen, apostate creature, by showing us faithful Abraham mistrusting and the wisdom and goodness of the gracious his God, and seeking refuge in falsehood: Creator. And, glory be to God, our evil is the patient Job growing peevish, and "curs- overcome of his good. And when all struging his day:" the affectionate and zealous gle and opposition are at an end, when the Peter basely denying his Master; and the will of God shall finally prevail, "and every meek and gentle Moses waxing warm, and high thought shall be brought into captivity in his haste speaking disrespectfully of God, to the will of Christ," it shall then be found, and unkindly of men. "Be not high-minded, that "the wrath of man" has all along been but fear." "Let him who thinketh he stand-"working the righteousness of God;" that "Keep thy the elementary strife which was permitted eth, take heed lest he fall." heart with all diligence; for out of it are the to take place in the natural world; the jarissues of life." "Set a watch, O Lord, be- ring, discordant passions which seemed to convulse and disturb the moral government fore my mouth, keep the door of my lips."} of God, and even the infernal devices of the powers of darkness, were all, without their design, nay, contrary to their intention, carrying on the great plans of the divine providence to their consummation. Glorious, transporting thought! I will henceforth command my troubled soul into peace. I will calmly wait the issue, and leave it to the great God, in his own time and way, to exThe troubles plain the reasons of his conduct, and fully vindicate his ways to men. which I see, the troubles which I feel, the troubles which I fear, though they may come nigh, shall not overwhelm my soul; "I shall not be afraid when I hear of evil tidings; my heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."+ "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceed. ing and an eternal weight of glory."‡ Observe, thirdly, The delicacy and the danger of assuming a latitude and a liberty in sacred things. In what concerns the conduct of human life, and our intercourse one with another as the citizens of this world, many things must be left to be governed by occasion and discretion; but, in what relates to the immediate worship of God, and where the mind of the Lord has been clearly made known, to assume and exercise a dispensing The tapower is criminal and hazardous. bernacle must be constructed, to the minutest pin and loop, according to the pattern delivered in the mount. If Uzzah presume to put forth his hand to support the tottering ark, it is at his peril. A holy and a jealous God will be served only by the persons and in the manner which he himself has appointed; and the intruder into sacred offices and employments is ready to be broken in upon in hot displeasure. Has God said, "Speak to the rock." Who has the boldness to strike Fifthly, When we behold a holy and righ it? Moses dares to do it; and his rashness forfeits his title to a part and lot in the pro- teous God thus severely punishing what may mised inheritance. Into Canaan he shall be deemed, by some a slight offence, in one never enter, but only see it at a distance of the dearest and best of his children, let with his eyes. The offending, chiding, mur-none dare to trifle with his justice. If Moses, muring congregation is pitied, forgiven, and in one rash moment, by one unadvised step, relieved. The offending, hasty, presumptu- incurred a displeasure which he could never remove, and forfeited an inheritance, which 12 Cor iv. 13 Psalm cxii. 7. ↑ Rom. viii. 28. Numb. xi. 3 Numb. xx. 10. 19* he never was able to recover, what hast thou, O man, to expect, whose whole life has been an accumulation of offence; has been the addition only of sinfulness to weakness, and of presumption to folly? "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear.' Take care how you estimate the malignity, guilt, and danger of sin, by the erroneous and fluctuating standard of your own weak understanding, or still weaker passions. Not according to these, nor the maxims of the world, nor the prejudices of a misguided spirit; but by a steadier rule, by an unchanging law, thou shalt be judged, and finally justified or condemned. If Moses lost an inheritance in an earthly Canaan for neglecting to give glory to God in one instance, tremble to think of being eternally excluded from "the inheritance of the saints in light," for ten thousand offences of the same nature. Beware of reckoning any transgressions small, any sin venial, any temptation contemptible. Behold the mighty fallen, and be humble. his crime; and though well assured he is not to have the honour of conducting Israel into Canaan, nor the happiness of enjoying a personal possession in that promised inheritance, yet he withdraws himself from no particular of duty, relaxes not his diligence, cools not in his zeal; he labours to the last, does what he can, though he be not permitted to do what he would; he goes before Israel to the land of promise, though access into it was denied him. This, as much as any thing in his history, marks his character and evinces the greatness of his soul. And this teaches a lesson of no mean importance in friendship among men, namely, to cultivate with dili gence and assiduity the charities which we have in common, and to suffer those things to rest and sleep, which, if stirred and awakened, are likely to disturb and separate us. It is not the design of Providence that we should think exactly the same way on all points. But, shall I agree with my brother in nothing, because we happen to differ in one thing? It is truly affecting to find Moses in the I detain you till I have made only one resequel earnestly entreating a remission of mark more upon the whole history. The the sentence, but entreating in vain; and, distress of the cattle for want of water, is when unable by supplication to prevail, sub-mentioned as a circumstance of importance missively resigning himself to the will of God. But the world has seen a still more awful demonstration of God's displeasure at sin. When the Lord laid upon the head of the great atonement "the iniquity of us all; it pleased the Lord to bruise him, and put him to grief." "God spared not his own Son, but gave him up for us all." Is it possible to conceive a motive so cogent to abstain from evil, and even from the appearance of it; and to loathe and put off from us the garment spotted with the flesh? But again, one offence, though it may provoke the anger and call down the chastisement of a holy God, breaks not off all intercourse, and forever, between him and a good nan. With the firmness of a wise and just father, he denounces the punishment and indicts it. With the tenderness and love of a gracious and relenting parent, he carries on the correspondence; and even admits the of fending child to closer intimacy, and to familiarity more endearing. For the great God is not like them who mar and embitter their pardon with hard conditions, cruel upbraidings, and mortifying recollections; and who plainly show, that though they may be capable of forgiving, they know not what it is to bury injuries in everlasting forgetfulness. The conduct of Moses too, under the weight of this awful displeasure, is amiable and instructive. He mutters not, with sullen Cain, "my punishinent is greater than I can bear;" he sinks not into dejection; he replies not in resentment. While he deprecates the penalty, he attempts not to extenuate the guilt of 1 Peter iv. 18. both in the books of Exodus and Numbers, and it is especially attended to in the miraculous relief which heaven provided. Is the great God degraded, when he is represented as "caring for oxen, and feeding the ravens, and hearing the young lions when they cry?" No, no; these minuter views of his providential care and kindness endear him but the more to the understanding that discerns, and the heart that feels. I know not a more tender stroke of the pathetic eloquence than that which we have in the prophesy of Jonah, when God extended mercy in a manner peculiar to himself, to Nineveh, that great and sinful city. "Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than threescore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle."* One stage more will bring us with Israel to the foot of Sinai, to observe and to improve one of the most notable dispensations of Providence upon record; "The giving of the law." But here let us pause with devout acknowledgment of that bountiful hand, which fed the seed of Abraham immediately from the clouds for forty years together; and which feeds us, through rather a longer process, by blending and compounding the qualities and influences of earth, air, fire, and water. While we adore the providential care which refreshed Israel by streams from * Jonah vi. 10, 11, the rock, let us rejoice together, that it refreshes us by keeping our rivers ever flowing, our fountains constantly supplied, and the clouds of our atmosphere, in their season, al ways impregnated with the rain and the dew. "With the bread that perisheth," gracious God! grant us that "which endureth to life everlasting." Amen. HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE LI Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel 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 his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses's 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.-EXODUS xvii. 8-13. NOTHING can be more afflicting to a hu- | mane and serious mind, than to reflect on that strife and contention which have in every age deluged the world with human blood. Who could believe, if all history did not prove it, and who can think of it without horror, that men should be continually lying in wait, like beasts of prey, to catch and devour men; that the strong, the cunning, and the fierce should be forever on the watch, to take advantage of the weak, the simple, and the gentle? And must it be? Father of Mercies! must it needs be, that war should continue to waste the nations! shall the earth be forever a field of blood? Must the peace of private families, and the repose of kingdoms, be eternally disturbed by lust and pride, avarice and ambition, envy and revenge? Blessed God! send forth the Spirit of thy Son into the hearts of men. Prince of Peace! command this troubled ocean into a calm. Spirit of Love! put a full end to bitterness and wrath. Subdue this carnal mind, which is enmity against God. Glorious gospel of salvation! as thou bringest goodwill from God to men, restore good-will to men among themselves. It is difficult to say whether men suffer most from their own folly, or from the cruelty and injustice of others. We generally find, that when evil from without would, for a while, permit wretched mortals to breathe and be at peace, they perversely become selftormentors, and ingeniously contrive sources of vexation to themselves. And, which is the greater evil of the two? That, undoubtedly, of which we are the authors to ourselves. We have, then, to encounter an enemy from whom we cannot hope to escape, and whom we are unable to overcome. From a conflict with Amalek, Israel comes off with both credit and comfort; but a strife of discontent, impatience, and rebellion against God, must of necessity issue in shame and loss. God, rich in mercy, slow to anger, and of great kindness, has graciously forgiven the murmuring at Horeb, and extracted water from the rock, for the relief of his people. But this wo is no sooner past than another overtakes them. "Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim." The transaction recorded here, so simply and uncircumstantially, is mentioned again in Deuteronomy, with many circumstances of aggravation, which greatly increase our detestation of this conduct in Amalek, and explain the deep resentment which a holy and righteous God himself expresses upon the occasion, and which, by a positive statute, he transmits to Israel. "Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt; how he met thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget it."* Amalek, the father of this nation, as we learn from Genesis xxxvi. 12, was grandson to Esau, and son to Eliphaz, by a concubine named Timna. The Amalekites indeed are mentioned much earlier in scripture, even in the days of Abraham when Chederlaomer is represented, with his victorious army, as ra vaging all their country. But it is well known that the sacred writers, when treatDeut. xxv. 17-19. ing of various periods, give appellations to Why did he join to afflict the miserable, and regions and countries which did not belong to overwhelm the oppressed? "He feared to them till ages afterwards, but by which not God." Why did he meanly attack the they were better known at the time when weaker and more vulnerable part of his adthe historian wrote. They possessed a large versary, in the hope of safety and impunity' tract of country, extending from the confines" He feared not God." Wherefore, in gene of Idumea to the eastern shore of the Red Sea; and from their neighbourhood to, and commerce with, Phoenicia, they are by some called Phoenicians. Immediately on their passing through the Red Sea, it behoved the children of Israel to enter into this territory, on their way to Canaan. And probably the paternal relation which subsisted between them and Amalek, encouraged the posterity of Jacob to advance on their way with greater confidence. "It is the land of our brethren through which we are to pass;" would they say one to another. "The heart of Esau himself relented, when he saw his brother Jacob return, encumbered with a train of women and children, and cattle. He forgot his resentments: he became the protector of the man whom he had, in the hour of passion, vowed to destroy. The injury done him in the matter of the birthright, and of the blessing, he generously forgave. Surely the posterity of Esau, after many generations, will not revive a quarrel which is extinguished and forgotten, first in the reconciliation, and then in the death of the original parties to it. After a servitude so long and so bitter in Egypt, we shall at length find a time and a place to breathe; and the soothings of fraternal love shall console us for the rigours of oppression." Vain expectation! What foe so dreadful as a brother disaffected! Egypt smote with the rod; Amalek smites with the sword; he basely, cruelly seizes the moment of Israel's languor, weakness, and dejection, and attempts to crush those whom a sanguinary tyrant had persecuted, and whom Heaven itself had bruised. The cowardice of this behaviour is equal to the unkindness of it. Had they boldly appeared at the first, to dispute the passage of the Red Sea, and to repel by force of arms the invasion of their country, their conduct, though ungenerous and unkind, had been ingenuous and manly. But, either through fear or policy, they permit Israel to advance, they watch the moment of their difficulty and distress, and, like dastards, steal upon the rear of an army whose front they dared not to oppose. Neither good qualities nor bad are found single in the human breast. And, in the nation whose character is now the object of our censure, we find a combination of the worst qualities of which our nature is capable, all originating in the deficiency of one great principle, which is at the root of all the evil which men commit, "he feared not God." Why did Amalek rake up the ashes of an ancient grudge? "He feared not God." | ral, are men subtile, revengeful, cunning, and selfish? "They fear not God;" they "harden themselves against him," and yet think "to prosper." They "love not their brother whom they have seen," because they are wilfully ignorant of, or hate God, “whom they have not seen." Such is the union which Providence has established between all the parts of the natural and of the political body, that the weakness or distress of one member is the infirmity and suffering of the whole. The hindmost and the feeble of Israel are smitten; the foremost and the strong feel and immediately resent it. "And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose 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." We have here a combination which ought never to be separated, and in which safety and success are ever to be found, namely, the acknowledgment of Heaven, and the use of appointed means, the sword in the hand of Joshua, the rod in that of Moses, the embattled host below in the valley, the intercessor with God, "wrestling" and "making supplication" upon the hill. In vain had Moses prayed if Joshua had not fought. Destitute of "the effectual, fervent prayer of the righteous man," the skill and courage of the warrior had failed before the enemy. The rod of God! in how many different services is it employed! how many various purposes does it answer! It smites the river of Egypt, and it becomes blood. It smites the rock in Horeb, and it sends forth a stream of water. It is extended towards heaven, on the top of the hill, and Amalek is destroyed. Striking and instructive type of that" rod of God's mouth,' wherewith "he slays the wicked:" of that sword of the Spirit "which is the word of God: of that hammer which breaketh the nuck in pieces:" of that gospel, which is “a savour of God in them that believe, and them that perish." Observe how God appoints to every man his station of usefulness and importance. It was not for want either of zeal or courage, that Moses takes his post at a distance on the hill. It is not for want of piety, that Joshua leads on the armies of Israel on the plain. The mistakes and miscarriages of the world arise from the weakness and wickedness of men; at one time overrating their talents, and thrusting themselves forward into situations for which they are wholly unfit; and at another, through timidity shrinking from the duties of that station which Provi dence has assigned them; and at a third, treacherously, through some bias of private interest, passion, or party, selling the trust committed to them, to the foe. Happily, in the case before us, the head which directed, and the hand which executed, were in perfect unison. The spirit that fought, and the spirit that prayed, were one. Let us first ascend the hill with Moses and his two friends, and adopt the feelings of men, who at once felt for the public cause, were not without well founded apprehensions from the common enemy, and at the same time feared and trusted the Lord. Moses has given his orders to Joshua, and he has so far done well; but to stop there had been doing nothing. He has set the means to work, and now he can confidently look up to Heaven for that blessing which can give success to the means. He ascends to meet God, but ascends not alone. As wickedness seeks to fortify and to keep itself in countenance by the society of the wicked, so the fire of devotion keeps itself alive by the sacred communication of a kindred flame. The hands of Moses alone had soon become feeble, and must have dropped down, and Amalek finally had prevailed; supported by Aaron and Hur, they continue "steady till the going down of the sun;" and Amalek and his people are discomfited with the edge of the sword. Of Aaron, one of the companions of Moses upon the mount, we know much; of Hur, the other, the scripture account is more sparing. Those who are never at a loss so long as fancy and invention can create, make him the son of Caleb, and the husband of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. It appears from the history, that he was the father of Uri; and the grandfather of Bezaleel, the famous artist, employed, by special endowment and appointment of Heaven, for the construction of the more curious and costly furniture of the tabernacle and sanctuary. But it is of more importance for us to know him, and for him to be reported, as a person of the first quality, and his quality supported by that which gives rank its highest lustre, genuine piety. Moses left him, in commission with Aaron, to judge the people, when a short while after this he went up alone into Mount Sinai, to meet God. This is argument sufficient of his high rank; and the assumption of him to assist his devotion in Mount Horeb, while Israel was engaged with Amalek, is a proof equally clear and decisive of his extraordinary piety. Behold then the man of God, supported and encouraged by two such companions, discovering all the honest anxiety of the patriot, together with all the confidence and fervour of the saint; with his eyes eagerly bent on the conflicting armies in the plain below; and his hands, with his heart, lifted | up to God in the heavens, from whom his help came. It was clearly the intention of Providence, that the deliverance which should be wrought for Israel on this occasion, though not wholly independent on the use of means, should evidently appear to flow chiefly and only from the interposition and grace of Heaven. "It came to pass when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, that Amalek prevailed." This is the first battle which Israel was called to fight; and it was designed to be a model of all that should follow; of assured success to them, and victory over all their enemies, provided they constantly acknowledged God, with hands continually lifted up to heaven. And it had undoubtedly a farther view, namely, to represent in general, the powerful and certain effect of prayer to God, and of a sense of dependence upon him; to show that our strength is in exact proportion to the perception of our own weakness, and to our confidence in almighty grace. The lesson inculcated in this history is the same which Christ taught his disciples in the parable of the unjust judge and the importunate widow, "That men ought always to pray, and not to faint."* If importunity and the love of ease have power to constrain a man to do his duty, though he have no inclination to it, how much more certain the effect of earnestness and importunity with the Hearer of prayer, the Father of mercies; who is ever more ready to grant than man to ask? "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him."+ Have you considered then, my christian friend, what a powerful instrument is put into your hand, mighty as the rod of God in the hand of Moses, wherewith he did wonders? "Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit." Surely, then, "the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." God has not given you assurance of success in all your undertakings, but he has bestowed upon you the privilege, and promised you the spirit of prayer, by which you shall certainly obtain one of two things; either that blessing from above upon your honest endeavours, which maketh rich, which insures success, and makes it durable; or, that resignation of spirit, and submission to the will of God, which subdue misfortune, and which turn calamity and disappointment themselves into advantage. God |