ither because he is unable to comprehend | world, and a heart devoted to the love of God the cause, or will not employ the necessary and mankind-basely received the wages of time and pains to understand it. But what are the greatest and most shining abilities, destitute of a principle of conscience? They are but a mischievous weapon in the hands of a bad man. A judge, therefore, ought to be a man that fears God. A man, not only restrained by respect to the world, or actuated by regard to reputation: these are found feeble and inefficacious in the hour of temptation; these are fluctuating and unsteady, as the opinions, passions, and interests of men; but the fear of the Lord is a perpetual, unchanging motive and restraint, the same in darkness as in the light, the same in secret as before the eyes of the whole world. This principle is closely connected with, and indeed it naturally produces, a third quality, of primary importance in this character. A judge must be a man of truth. A sacred observer of truth in what he says himself; a diligent promoter of truth, and an impartial avenger of falsehood and injustice in others. Even a regard to some of the principles of religion, unconnected with the love of truth and justice, which are of the number of those principles, might be apt to mislead a man. Compassion, for example, might dispose a judge to favour the poor man, though he has the worst cause. The allwise God, therefore, thought it necessary to throw in a special caution to this purpose, lest a principle, amiable and excellent in itself, should be perverted into a source of injustice, and has enjoined, by a positive statute, that the cause, not the person or condition of the man, should be considered by him who sits in judgment. unrighteousness, accepted a bribe to pervert justice, was accused and convicted of corruption in the execution of his high and important trust, acknowledged his own shame, and was deservedly driven, with disgrace to himself, and with the indignation, shame, and pity of a mortified and astonished world, from an honourable station which he filled so unworthily. But alas, after all, when we read of the appointment of judges and of generals and of their requisite qualities, of what does it remind us but that men are selfish, covetous, litigious, and violent: tenacious of their own and ready to encroach upon others? Wherefore is law? Wherefore are there tribunals? They are for "the lawless and disobedient." Make men just, gentle, kindly affectioned; make them Christians indeed, and then war is at an end; the courts are shut up; then there would be no need of a judge, because there would be no offender. The advice which was wisely and kindly given, is graciously and candidly received. A proud and self-sufficient spirit would have rejected the council, however salutary, because tendered by a stranger. But true wisdom only considers whether the hint be useful, practicable, and necessary, without regarding from what quarter it comes. And such was the wisdom of Moses, and he was prepared for converse with God, who had learned deference and respect for the opinions of men. And thus the very first rudiments of the Jewish constitution, were suggested by the observation and experience of a stranger and a Midianite. And the great Jehovah disdained not to permit his prophet to be taught and his people to be governed, by the wisdom and intelligence of a good man, though he was not of the commonwealth of Israel. If men were capable of learning to be wise and good, He who is wisdom and goodness itself would vouchsafe to teach them, not by precept only, but by example also. As Jethro suggested, so it was done. Moses was eased of a burthen intolerable, the course of justice was not stopped, God was glorified, and the Jethro finally lays it down as essential to the character of a judge, that he be a man who hates covetousness. In which there is a strong insinuation, that where the love of money predominates, the exercise of all other necessary and suitable qualities are likely to be obstructed or perverted; ability under such influence rendered only more dangerous and hurtful; the fear of God lulled asleep; the heart hardened; the conscience, by the strong opiate of gold, reduced to a state of insensibility, and truth and justice hood-world edified. winked on the tribunal. The history of our own country affords a melancholy example of the truth of this observation, in the conduct of that "greatest, wisest, meanest of mankind," Sir Francis Bacon. Lord Verulam, and Lord High Chancellor of England, in the reign of James I. who with a soul that comprehended, filled, extended, enlarged the circle of science; a genius that penetrated through the whole vast system of nature, an imagination that transcended the flaming boundaries of the "Neither shalt thou countenance a poor man in his -cause."-Exod. xxiii. 3. You must have observed, that I have once and again held out to your expectation a subject of discourse, from which I have once and a second time shrunk back. It is still before me, and I feel myself as reluctant as ever to proceed. Who is not ready to sink under the awful terrors of the dispensation of the law from Sinai? "Who is sufficient for such things?" But I must venture to go on, and endeavour to carry you with me to the foot of that tremendous mountain. And I flatter myself you have not been altogether disappointed or injured in being stopped a little in your progress. With recruited strength and spirits, we shall attempt to advance on our way. But we shall first from this eminence survey the ground over which we have travelled. Eminence did I say? No. Let us join the innocent, cheerful society in the tent of Moses, and learn to cultivate the endearing charities of private life; and having considered it well, let us retire, making such reflections as these That it is not fortitude, but folly, unnecessarily to expose ourselves, or those whom we love, to hardships and danger. "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel."* It is our care, not our labour and reflection, which we are encouraged to cast upon God. That it argues a deficiency in some moral principle or another, when persons whom nature, and the obligations of society have united, discover an inclination to live asunder. Wisdom or necessity may impose a temporary separation: but well-disposed minds ever look to, and eagerly lay hold of the means and the season of restoration and anion. 1 Tim. v. 8. That regard to public utility, exalts and improves private friendship. That to promote the glory of God, his own virtue, and the good of his fellow creatures, is the great and constant aim of every good man. That as none are too wise to learn, it is a proof of affection to communicate useful hints; and a high proof of wisdom to take and use them, from whatever quarter they come. There is one Being only who is not to be instructed. "How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out; for who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor."* And finally that, though we cannot successfully imitate eminent men in every particular of conduct, or in the display of talents which may be denied to ourselves, we are not thereby precluded from the exercise of the inferior talents which we possess, and from a virtuous emulation where it is possible for us to succeed. Let me strive to be a Moses in some things, though I be conscious I must fall inconceivably behind him in most. Amen. Rom. xi. 32. 34. HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE LIIL 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 greatly. 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.-EXODUS xix. 16-22. IN man, as he came perfect from the hands | He makes sense his road to the mind: he of his Creator, the immortal principle, the "breath of life," "the living soul" exercised its just dominion over the earthly and sensual part of his nature. In man, degraded by sin, we behold the grosser domineering over the purer, the heavenly subjected to the terrestrial, the soul a slave to the senses. When our nature through grace shall be restored, the soul shall resume its empire; the body itself shall become spiritual, shall shake off the power of gravitation, and "ascend to meet the Lord in the air," being "fashioned like unto Christ's glorious body.' The dispensations of Heaven are suited to the condition of man. "God knows our frame, and remembereth that we are dust." seizes the conscience, and melts the heart, by speaking to the eyes and the ears. And when we consider how easily, and through how many different channels he can force his way to the inmost recesses of the man, who but must shudder at the thought of meeting the Father of spirits, ourselves disembodied spirits; at the thought of dropping the clay tabernacle in its native dust, and of becoming all eye to see God as he is, all ear to hear his voice, all soul to perceive and comprehend him! If God, encouraging and amiable in purifying and directing fire, in the cloudy pillar, and in harmless, unconsuming fire in the bush at Horeb, be awful, if dreadful at Sinai, coming in flashing, daz zling, threatening fire to promulgate his law; what must he be "coming in flaming fire to take vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?" If the sound of that trumpet, which proclaimed the approach of God to Israel, was ready to kill the living with fear, what must be the trumpet which shall awake the dead? Whatever majesty and solemnity may appear in the giving of the law, every one shall in a little while behold it infinitely exceeded in the consummation of the gospel. God has hitherto declared his divine perfections by the effects which they produced. The plagues of Egypt awfully manifested his power and justice. The daily showers of manna, and water following them from the rock, bespeak his power and goodness. But he now opens his mouth, to proclaim in the ears of men, his name, his nature, and his will. Let us, with Israel, at a trembling distance contemplate this great sight, and listen with reverence to the Almighty uttering his voice. The posterity of Abraham, according to the promise, is now become a great nation. But what are multitudes without government, and what government is a blessing without law? Happiness consists not in having such and such possessions, but in being fitted to enjoy what we have. The constitution of other states is the work of time, is the result of experience, arrives at maturity by degrees. Laws and restrictions, encouragements and restraints are suggested by events. But when the great Jehovah condescends to become a legislator, the ut most extent of possibility lying open to his view, provision is made from the beginning for every case that can happen. The rule of his government is laid down at once; and the civil and religious constitution of that nation over which he chose to preside, is established by a wisdom which cannot err. It was not unpleasant, as we were contemplating the scene exhibited in the preceding chapter, to listen to a wise and good man giving advice with respect to the administration of public justice. But we now tread upon holy ground; and we listen not to a man like ourselves, but to the only wise God. The whole taken together unfolds an unparalleled display of mercy and majesty, of goodness and grandeur. shall we most admire, the greatness of the works which God performs, or the facility with which he brings them to pass? What a high value are we taught to put upon time, when we see to what valuable purposes, through the blessing and assistance of Hea ven, a little time may be made subservient. Three days more are employed in making solemn preparation for this celestial visitation; so that the law was delivered exactly on the fiftieth day after the celebration of the feast of passover: and in commemoration of it, the Jewish feast of Pentecost was ever after observed and rendered illustrious in the annals of the Christian church, by a new dispensation, not of terror but of grace; the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles of our Lord, in the miraculous gift of tongues. Even the minute circumstances of times and places, may have a significancy and an importance of which we have at present no apprehension. And I am fully persuaded, when God shall be pleased to ouchsafe us clearer light, and fresh discoveries of his will, numberless instances of coincidence and resemblance between the legal and evangelical dispensations shall rush upon us, of which we can now form no conception. Why God has appointed the seventh day to be the weekly sabbath; why the law was proclaimed from Mount Sinai just after seven times seven days had elapsed from the going out of Egypt; why, in the possession of Canaan, the land was to be permitted to rest every seventh year; why the general release, or year of jubilee, was to be statedly observed, after a constant revolution of seven times seven years; and why the Holy Ghost was given "when the day of Pentecost was fully come," or after seven times seven days from the day that "Christ our passover was sacrificed for us?" These are questions which we pretend not to resolve. But certain it is these things have a meaning: "I know it not now, but I shall know it hereafter." Sinai, the scene of this splendid exhibition, is the highest eminence of a vast ridge of mountains, which run from east to west through Arabia Petrea, as you go from the north-east coast of the Red Sea to Palestine. The adjoining eminence is called Horeb, and is rendered illustrious by the miracle of the water issuing from the rock. And from their propinquity, and their forming part of the same chain of mountains, they are often put the one for the other; and the adjacent desert country is called, indifferently, the wilderness of Horeb, or the wilderness of Sinai. Forty-seven days have now elapsed, since that "night much to be remembered," when the destroying angel walked through the midst of Egypt, and slew all the first-born. And how many singular and interesting events have taken place in that short period? Moses was first called up into the mount The Red Sea has been divided; the bitter alone, and thence sent back to the people waters of Marah sweetened; bread from with repeated messages full of tenderness heaven rained down; a living stream ex- and love. Preparation was made for the tracted from the flinty rock of Horeb; Ama- tremendous appearance of the glory of the lek discomfited! Whether of the two | Lord, by the most gracious and reiterated as 2 G 20* above all people: for all the earth is mine." Segulah, "a peculiar treasure," something exceedingly prized and sedulously preserved, a gem of peculiar lustre and value, which an affluent and powerful prince culls out from among many, takes under his own particular charge, and will not entrust to the care of another. surances of favour and protection. This is solemn ratification of a covenant, performed the endearing language which the great God according to rites of God's own appointing; condescends to employ on the occasion; "Ye so the political existence and importance of have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, that nation were directed to take their rise in and how I bear you on eagle's wings, and the cutting or dividing a covenant, with simibrought you unto myself. Now therefore, if lar solemnities. And this was the tenor, these ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my were the conditions of it. On the part of covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure Israel, in one word, obedience to the voice unto me above all people; for all the earth of God; submission in all things to the will is mine. And ye shall be unto me a king- of their best friend, and kindest benefactor, dom of priests, and an holy nation. These who could have nothing in view but their are the words which thou shalt speak unto happiness. On the part of God, the promise the children of Israel." The beautiful image of a profusion of blessings temporal, spiritual, of the eagle, and her young ones, is happy and everlasting; a rank among the nations, beyond expression, and evidently proceeds which should render them the envy and wonfrom Him from whose view no part of the der of the world; an establishment, which world of nature lies concealed. The natural length of time should not impair; a succeshistory of that king of the feathered race, sion of prophets, of priests, and of princes, were this the time and the place to introduce which was to issue in the eternal priesthood it, would be the best commentary on the pas- and unlimited sovereignty of one, whose sage. But we may at least stop to illustrate, government was to be an universal and everby comparing it with the same image, de- lasting blessing to them and to mankind. lineated by the same masterly hand, with" Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me still greater strength of colouring, and greater force and variety of expression. "For the Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings; so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock."* The sagacity and vigilance of the eagle in providing the means of support and safety for her callow brood, her strength and fierceness in defending them, her tender sympathy with their weak-priesthood was held in high estimation; ness, her anxiety to hasten on their maturity and capacity to provide for themselves, the pains which she takes to instruct them to fly, as they are all fully justified by facts, so they are conveyed to us in language the most simple, plain, and elegant; and raise us to the contemplation of an object, of all others the sublimest, sweetest, most interesting, and most composing to the soul. They represent to us, the all-comprehending view of eternal Providence, the never-sleeping eye of the Watchman of Israel, the unassailable protection of the heavenly Guardian, the more than maternal care, diligence, and zeal which Jehovah continually exercises over them that are his. Happy is that people that is in such a case; yea, 66 happy is that people whose God is the Lord."+ These are the words which Moses is comAs the friendship between God and Abra-manded to rehearse in the ears of all the ham, the father and founder of that great people. Having descended from the mount, nation, commenced and was confirmed in the he collects them accordingly by their elders *Deut. xxxii. 9, &e. † Psalm cxliv. 15. Moses takes up this striking idea again in that beautiful song of praise, in which, at the close of life, he recapitulates the wonderful ways of Providence to that chosen family: "The Lord's portion is his people: Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." The promise which follows in the sixth verse, is wonderfully calculated to inspire ideas of dignity and importance: "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation." They had just left a country where the where the persons of those who bore that sacred character were inviolable, and their property exempted from the imposts which were laid upon that of other subjects. But the peculiar respect paid to this order of men, and the immunities which they enjoyed, served only to expose more glaringly the contrast, the degradation, and distress of the great body of the people. Whereas here was a whole nation destined of Heaven to equal honours; not a king and subjects, but a commonwealth of kings; not one ministering at the altar in the name of thousands, one admitted within the veil, and myriads removed to a humbling, mortifying distance: but a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, majesty and sanctity in one. * Deut. xxxii. 9. the men first in age, first in wisdom, first in | their thoughts. When God came to give dignity and authority; and delivers to them the law, he came after solemn warning, he the high message which he had in charge. gave evident signs of his approach, he deImpressed at once with the power and grace clared to a moment when he was to be heard of their heavenly King, they as one man re- and seen in his majesty. But, when he shall ply, "All that the Lord hath spoken we will come to execute the law, we are informed do." Which answer Moses again reports to that he shall take the world by surprise, that his dread Employer. Thus, in the very pre- men may be always ready. "Behold I will paratives for the publication of the law, the come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not mediation of the gospel was clearly taught know what hour I will come upon thee."* and inculcated; and thus throughout we per- "Watch therefore: for ye know not what ceive that guilty creatures can have no safe hour your Lord doth come."† "Be ye also nor comfortable access to a holy God, but by ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, means of "a days-man to lay his hands upon the Son of Man cometh."‡ both;" and thus, the very minister of a fiery law exhibited a type of that great High Priest, at once "merciful and faithful;" "faithful in the things pertaining to God;" "merciful, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." well known to need any remark. It is only when the King of kings, and the Lord of lords announces his approach, that men are incurious, unceremonious, careless, and indifferent. When but a friend or neighbour is expected to visit us, decency requires that our persons, our houses, our entertainment, be rendered as inoffensive and as acceptable as we can make them. The anxiety which men feel, and the pains which they take to reMoses is upon this informed, that God in-ceive and entertain their superiors, is too tended on the third day from that time to manifest himself to all the people as the Leader and Ruler of that vast army, and as the Employer and Patron of Moses his prophet, in a manner that should leave no room to doubt in whose name he spake, and by what authority he acted: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord." "I come to thee in a thick cloud." God already resided among Israel, and presided over them in a pillar of fire and a cloud. But whatever be the medium of communication between the Deity and his creatures, it is capable of being increased and improved beyond imagination. There is a darkness grosser, and a cloud thicker, and more awfully impregnated than any of which we have had experience. There is a voice louder, and a glory brighter than any which we have heard or seen. Who can declare, who can conceive the utmost extent of the power of the Almighty? There is a splendour infinitely superior to that of "the sun shining in his strength." There may be an angel excelling in might: "Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God." Know we ever so much, there is a field of discovery before us infinite as the immensity of JEHOVAI, to employ a duration of inquiry endiess as his eternity. A command is now issued to the people to employ themselves that day and the next in solemn preparation for this august visit. They are directed, as an external mark of respect to the most holy God, as a token of obedience, and as an indication of inward purity, to wash their clothes, to abstain from whatever might defile the body or the mind, and even to deny themselves such innocent and lawful gratifications as might have a tendency to disturb their attention and distract | The great Jehovah was to manifest him self first to the eye. "Be ready against the third day; for the third day the Lord will come down, in the sight of all the people, upon Mount Sinai." All is hitherto attractive and encouraging. The face of God is clothed with smiles. He comes "to dwell with men upon earth." But the grace and condescension of God, while they invite to the communications of friendship, forbid the boldness and freedom of familiarity. While he makes himself known as a Father, a Protector, a Guide, he permits us not to forget that he is at the same time "a great God, and a great King." Therefore a strict injunction is given in the twelfth and thirteenth verses, "And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to death. There shall not a hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, ye shall come up to the mount." This last expres sion, "When the trumpet soundeth long, ye shall come up to the mount," is evidently caution and a threatening, not an invitation, and seems to import, "Let him who dares, presume to approach nearer; let him come up into the mount, if he will." At the sound of that tremendous trumpet, they were ready to sink into the earth with terror, instead of desiring or attempting a nearer intercourse with the great and terrible God, who hath put all nature into consternation. As they were commanded, so they did. + Ver. 44 * Rev. iii. 3. Matt. xxiv. 42. |