But what new doctrine is to be ushered in under all this formidable apparatus? What law, unknown, unheard of before, is to be introduced and enforced by ceremonies so dreadfully august and solemn? Just that which was from the beginning, that which the finger of God more silently and curiously interwove with the very texture and frame of the human soul. The voice of God says, from the heights of Sinai, none other things than those which conscience speaks to every man, from the deep recesses of his own breast. It is this that gives weight to both the law and the gospel. They have their counterpart in the nature and condition of man. They are of God, who knows what is in man and what is good for man.

All impurity is carefully removed; and they among lions, more composedly than Darius see, in solemn silence and earnest expectation, in his palace, surrounded by his officers and in hope mingled with fear, the gradual ap- guards; he sleeps calmly, as a father in the proach of this all-important, this eventful day. midst of his children. He who fears God has At length, in all its pomp and importance, nothing else to fear. the third day arrives. Every creature, every element feels and gives witness to the appearance of its God. Heaven and earth, angels and men, the water and the land, air and fire, announce the presence of their great Creator and Ruler. I tremble as I read. What must it have been to see and hear? "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." Lo, the hoarse thunder is lost in the louder sound of the trumpet; and that awful sound, in its turn sinks into silence, before the all-penetrating, all-commanding accents of the voice of God himself. The thick darkness of a cloud, impregnated with But can He whose "presence fills heaven the terrors of divine justice, threatens one and earth," change his place? Can God be moment to extinguish forever hope and joy; said to ascend, or descend? The devout eye and that darkness the next moment is dis- sees him in every creature, in every place, in pelled by the more terrible flashes of celestial every event. The pious soul feels and acfire. How poor the state of an earthly prince knowledges him incessantly. But to rouse compared to this! "God maketh his angels stupidity, to reprove carelessness, to convince spirits, his ministers a flame of fire." What infidelity, God must assume state, clothe heart is not melted in the midst of this wild himself with thunder, involve the top of uproar? There is not an object of astonish- Sinai in clouds, and shake its foundation. ment which we are acquainted with, but what As in the composure of Moses we behold enters into this description. Thunder, light- the confidence of divine friendship, and the ning, blackness of darkness, tempest, earth-security arising from union with God, so in quake, the trumpet of God; and all these are but the coverings of terror, the harbingers of majesty and might. Behold, God is in the thunder, in the lightning, in the tempest, in the earthquake! they are mere instruments to do his pleasure.

the caution which is given in the twenty-first verse, "Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish," we see the danger of unlicensed curiosity, of presumptuous boldness. Fire and darkness equally repel and intimidate, equally compose and encourage. All the dealings of God with man, are “line upon line, and precept upon precept.'

The similitude of the legal and evangelical dispensations, and their difference, would necessarily occupy a much larger portion of your time and attention than now remains. It were better, therefore, to bring them together in one discourse calculated for the purpose.

But we are directed to one object perfectly placid and composed in the midst of tumult and confusion: "even when the voice of the trumpet sounded long and waxed exceeding loud," Moses possessed his soul in patience. "Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." It is guilt that gives force to fire, that lends fury to the stormy wind, that shakes the earth by first shaking the soul. Faith in God controls the elements, and soothes the soul to rest in communion with God, as the I conclude the present Lecture with simply child falls asleep in the fond maternal bosom. reading two or three short passages of scripMoses comes up at the command of Him ture, closely connected with and serving to who is King and Lord of nature, and there-illustrate our subject; written at two very fore he has nothing to fear. The three children fall down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace, but the flames have no power to kindle upon them; they consume only the cords with which they are bound; they themselves walk at liberty through the Inidst of the fire; they rest as on a bed of roses, for behold another is in company with them, and "the form of the fourth is like the Son of God." Daniel sleeps secure in the den

different periods, and in two very different states of the church. The first is in the history of Elijah, the great restorer of the law, near six hundred years afterward. "And he rose, and did eat, and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb, the mount of God. And he came thither unto a cave and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him; and he said unto him, What doest thou

HISTORY OF MOSES.

here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only am left; and they seek my life to take it away. And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And behold the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces, the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire, a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave: and behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." "* The second is the winding up of that wonderful comparison and contrast of the law and the gospel, which constitute the great body of the epistle to the Hebrews, and which the apostle sums up in these remarkable words, sixty-four years after the advent of Jesus Christ. "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, 1 Kings xix. 8, &c.

and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of
a trumpet, and the voice of words; which
voice they that heard entreated that the word
should not be spoken to them any more. For
they could not endure that which was com-
manded. And if so much as a beast touch
the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust
through with a dart. And so terrible was the
sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and
quake. But ye are come unto mount Sion,
and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels: to the general assembly
and church of the first-born, which are writ-
ten in heaven, and to God the judge of all,
and to the spirits of just men made perfect.
And to Jesus the mediator of the new cove-
nant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that
speaketh better things than that of Abel.
See that ye refuse not him that speaketh:
for if they escaped not who refused him that
spake on earth, much more shall not we es-
cape if we turn away from him that speaketh
from heaven; whose voice then shook the
earth: but now he hath promised, saying,
Yet once more I shake not the earth only,
but also heaven. And this word, Yet once
more, signifieth the removing of those things
that are shaken, as of things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken
may remain. Wherefore we receiving a
kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have
grace, whereby we may serve God accepta-
bly, with reverence and godly fear. For our
God is a consuming fire."*

HISTORY OF MOSES.

LECTURE LIV.

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.-JOSHUA i. 17.

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.-JOHN i. 17.

In forming estimates of greatness, it is na- ledge speedily levels the fabric which ima tural for men to consult their senses, not gination had raised. But the wonders of their reason. With the idea of royal majes- nature, the mighty works of God, grow upon ty we connect those of a chair of state, a nu- us as we contemplate them. No intimacy of merous and splendid retinue, an ermine robe, acquaintance reduces their magnitude or tara sceptre, and a crown. But wisdom and nishes their lustre. And if the very frame goodness are the qualities which confer real of nature, the vastness, the variety, the hardignity, and command just homage and re-mony and the splendour of the visible creation spect. Our preconceptions of earthly mag- be calculated to fill us with astonishment and nificence much exceed the truth, and know- delight, how must the plan of Providence,

the work of redemption, the great mystery | phet from among their brethren, like unto of godliness, excel in glory!

thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words, which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him."** "Search the scriptures," says Christ, "for in them ye think ye have

fy of me. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words."+

The persons, characters, and offices of the two legislators, therefore, naturally fall to be first considered, in tracing the resemblance of the two covenants which were established with mankind through their mediation.

In the discoveries which it has pleased God, at sundry times and in diverse manners to make of himself to mankind, he has at one time addressed himself directly to the understanding at another, made his way to the heart and conscience through the channel of sense. The law was given in every circum-eternal life: and they are they which testistance of external pomp; it was accompanied with every thing that could dazzle the eye, fill the ear, and rouse the imagination. The kingdom of God, in the gospel of his "Son, came not with observation." The great Author of the dispensation of grace, according as it was predicted concerning him, "did not strive nor cry, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets." He had, in the eyes of an undiscerning world, "no form nor comeliness, no Of the birth of Moses, and salvation to Isbeauty why he should be desired." And rael by him, there seems to have been a getherefore, "he was despised and rejected of neral expectation in his own nation, and an men. But we are taught to think very dif-apprehension of such an event as general in ferently of his second appearance. "He the minds of the Egyptians. Hence the shall come in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory:" "In his Father's glory, and all his holy angels:" "With the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God." The manner of delivering the law corresponded with its nature. It was clothed with thunder. It was surrounded with the blackness of darkness. It emitted flaming fire. It denounced death. The spirit of the gospel, in like manner, breathed in the mode of its publication. The doctrine of peace and reconciliation was delivered to men, in the tenderest accents of human friendship. And temporal mercies and deliverances prepared the way for "spiritual and heavenly blessings

99

in Christ Jesus."

We are now to bring these two dispensations together, and to compare the one with the other, in order that we may discover and admire that uniformity of design which they jointly aim at promoting, the mutual lustre which they shed upon, and the mutual aid which they lend to, each other.

By "the law" we understand the whole of that scheme of the divine providence which related to the posterity of Abraham; the promises which were made to them, the ordinances prescribed, the character which they bear, the events which befel them, from the day in which that patriarch left his kindred and country, till the day when the whole was swallowed up and lost in the person, doctrines, ordinances, life, sufferings, and death of Him, who was held up from the beginning as the great, leading, commanding object in the eternal eye! the accomplishment of the promises, the substance of the types and shadows, the "end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

Moses and Christ frequently speak of their mutual relation and resemblance. "I will raise them up," says God by Moses, “a pro

bloody decree of Pharaoh, to destroy from the womb all the male children of the Hebrews; and hence, on the other hand, that eagerness to save a child, who, from the moment of its birth, exhibited unequivocal signs of his future greatness and usefulness. When Christ came into the world, multitudes were looking for the "Consolation of Israel." The prophecies concerning the promises of the Messiah, were evidently hastening to fulfil them selves. The Jews expected their king: Herod dreaded a rival. The person of the promised Saviour was pointed out by signs in heaven, and signs on earth, which it was impossible to misunderstand. An extraordinary star describes an unknown path through the air to the place of his birth. A multitude of the heavenly host proclaim the joyful event to the shepherds. It was revealed unto Simeon by the Holy Ghost, “that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Conducted of the Spirit he came into the temple at the moment when Christ was presented there, according to the law. He recognizes the promised of the Lord, and closes his eyes in peace. Anna, the prophetess, instructed by the same Spirit, gives a similar testimony, and speaks of "the holy child to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem."}

The circumstances of extreme danger which attended the birth of Moses and of Christ, and the wonderful means of their preservation and deliverance, constitute a striking mark of resemblance between them. Behold the long-looked-for deliverer of the Jewish church and nation, ready to perish by the hand of Pharaoh: and the great King and Head of the Christian world, threatened by the murdering dagger of the tetrarch of

to be spoken after; but Christ as a Son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end."*

Moses died and was buried. Jesus died and "was buried, and rose again." Moses received the law; Christ gave it. Moses and Elias attend the Saviour on mount Tabor, as his ministering servants; Jesus receives their attendance and homage, as their Lord.

Having spoken of the resemblance between the authors of the two dispensations, we proceed, as was proposed, to speak in the same view of the two dispensations themselves.

and the type, having fulfilled its design, was lost in the thing typified; and those which, being temporary and transitory, ceased with the occasion of them. Of the first sort are the precepts of the decalogue, or the ten commandments; which, under every constitution that affects such a being as man, must be immutable and everlasting. Of them it is that Christ said, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: 1 am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."* Of the second class are the laws of the daily sacriAnd first, They rest on one and the same fice, the great annual feasts, the levitical authority, are dictated by the same unerring priesthood, and the like. They pointed out wisdom, and are directed to the same great Christ the Lord, they led to him, they were and glorious end. Indeed, one of the great lost in him. And in the third rank we place proofs that both are of God is the conformity the law of circumcision, the political econoof both to the nature and condition of man.my of the Jewish nation, all that related to The precepts of the law are not novel con- the possession of Canaan, and which ceased stitutions, which had no existence till the of course with the dissolution of their godays of Moses: neither are the consolations vernment, and the loss of their national imof the gospel new discoveries of grace, un-portance. These observations being attendheard of till the four thousandth year of the ed to and kept in mind, will prevent the world. Sinai thundered and lightened in confusion arising from the ambiguous acAdam's conscience the moment he tasted the ceptation of the word "law," as expressing forbidden tree, and drove him to seek refuge the Old Testament dispensation. "from the presence of the Lord God amidst the trees of the garden." The terrors of the law raged in Cain's guilty breast, long before there was any record written on brass or stone. And the promises of pardon and salvation are coeval with the conviction of the first offender, and the denunciation of his punishment. The tongue which pronounced on man the doom of death, proclaims the glad tidings of life and recovery.

I know that the law is of God, for I have that within me which acknowledges and approves its rectitude and excellency; and even when it condemns me, I am constrained to call it "holy, just, and good." I know that the gospel is of God, for I feel that within me which welcomes its approach, discerns its suitableness, rejoices in its fulness, rests upon its truth. It is of God, for it descends to the level of my guilt and misery, corresponds with my hopes, suits my necessities.

Our blessed Lord took an early opportunity of explaining himself on this subject. An absurd idea prevailed, that the kingdom of the Messiah was to be a total subversion of the Mosaic dispensation. An absurdity into which some Christians have inadvertently, given, for want of making a plain and necessary distinction, between those particulars of the law which are in their own nature eternal and unchangeable, like the nature of that God who is its author; and those, which being typical and prophetical, ceased of course when the predicted event arrived,

Heb. iii. 1, &c.

The law, then, and the gospel, the two tables of stone delivered to Moses, and the "grace and truth which came by Jesus Christ," coincide, secondly, in this, that they both point out with equal clearness and force the necessity of a Saviour. Every word pronounced by the voice of God from Sinai, is in truth a sentence of condemnation. While it enjoins future obedience, it fixes past guilt. While it says, "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath," it accuses of idolatry. While it recommends the observance of the sabbath, it charges home the violation of it; and so of the rest of the precepts of the decalogue.

The law, therefore, carried the gospel in its bosom, as the new changed moon exhibits a great body of obscurity, embraced by a small semicircle of light; but which is to be irradiated by degrees, till the whole becomes one great globe of light and glory; and Moses performs the part of "a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.”

To hear of a constitution by which I might have lived, after my life is forfeited, is only to embitter my misery. It is like hearing of a cordial after a man has swallowed poison. Now it could never be the design of the gracious Lawgiver to insult human misery, by holding out a system which could avail the guilty nothing. While, then, the divine justice lays down the law in all its strictness, purity, and extent, saying, "I am

*Matt. v. 17, 18.