naan, it was not by opposing force to force, skill to skill, that Providence decided the contest; but by a scattered, broken remainder; but by a dispirited handful, that durst not trust themselves in the plain against the enemy, but by an unarmed rabble whom Sisera held in contempt, that Jehovah trampled the glory of Jabin in the dust; as by a cake of barley bread rolling down upon a tent, and levelling it with the ground.

To set the divine sovereignty in a still stronger light, Deborah suggests, but not in the spirit of self-confidence, that when God did appear for his people, he did it, not by kindling martial ardour and resentment in manly bosoms, by putting the machine in m'otion in the usual way; but by creating a new thing in the earth; by endowing a woman with more than manly sagacity and resolution; by making a woman the life and soul of a sinking nation; that God himself might have the undivided praise. "The Lord made me have dominion over the mighty." Is it not somewhat remarkable, that Deborah is only once described as the wife of Lapidoth? whereas Barak is repeatedly, both in history and in song, brought forward as the son of such a father. Is it to mark the base degeneracy of Israel at this period? all mascu

simplicity, what pathos, what sublimity! She the strength of Israel which God employed seems to regret her exhausted powers; her in crushing the "nobles" and pride of Caspirit is still willing; she cannot bear to cease so soon from so divine an employ; she starts into fresh enthusiasm. Having put words of praise into the mouths of a whole saved people, she takes up her own peculiar strain; "Awake, awake, Deborah: awake, awake, utter a song:" And then, turning to the companion of her victory, excites him to make a public display of the wonderful trophies of that wondrous day; "Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam.' Exhibit them in chains, who had forged chains for the hands and feet of Israel; lead them captive, who led in captivity the free-born sons of God; show triumphantly the spoils of them that spoiled thee; "the prey taken from the mighty, and the lawful captive delivered;" them that "oppressed thee fed with their own flesh, and drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine;" a righteous "God contending with them, who contended with thee." "Thou son of Abinoam." She rouses her noble colleague to excel in praise, as he had excelled in counsel and courage, by one of the most powerful motives of human conduct, the honour of his father's name and family. Let the names of Barak and Abinoam be transmitted, hand in hand, with respect, to the latest generations; let the world know that on Abinoam a gracious Pro-line virtue extinguished, and importance vidence conferred the distinguished honour of being the father of the father of his country. It is not ancestry, it is not country, that can bestow celebrity on a deedless name, on an idle or worthless character; it is illustrious virtue, it is superior wisdom, it is useful ability that confers nobility, true nobility on families, and celebrity on countries. Contending cities claim the honour of giving birth to Homer. Strip Athens of her renowned sons, and she sinks into a mass of rocks and sand. How would the heart of Abinoam glow with delight, as often as the sound of his name reached his ears, in connexion with that of a son whom a grateful country acknowledged, and celebrated with songs, as its saviour!

In the 13th verse we see the low and reduced state of Israel again brought into view, to prepare for a fresh discovery of the power and goodness of God, and to exhibit in another point of light, the solidity, strength, and security of his church, "out of weakness made strong," "waxing," in a moment, "valiant in fight, turning to flight the armies of the aliens." "Then he made him that remaineth have dominion over the nobles among the people the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty."* In two striking particulars, this gracious interposition of Heaven is emphatically pointed out. "He made him that remaineth to have dominion. It was not * Judges v. 13.

sunk; the only trace of the existence of the man, that he was the husband of such a woman? The repetition of this relation, therefore, may have been omitted, because it would have reflected reiterated disgrace upon the one, without adding much to, perhaps somewhat detracting from, the glory of the other. Whereas the blazoning of a son's praise, instead of detracting from, is the most gratifying addition to, a father's honour.

In the passage which follows, the prophetess goes with a poetical and prophetic enthusiasm into a detail of the distinguishing characters of the several tribes of Israel, according to the part which they had taken, or neglected to take, in the cause of their country, at this trying crisis, which at present I shall simply quote, with a single remark; and then conclude. "And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; even Issachar, and also Barak; he was sent on foot into the valley. For the divisions of Reuben there were great thoughts of heart. Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds, to hear the bleatings of the flocks? for the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. Gilead abode beyond Jordan: and why did Dan remain in ships? Asher continued on the seashore, and abode in his breaches. Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field." This is the third Judges v. 15-18

time that prophetic inspiration has presented to resume our accustomed pursuits: If to us with the discriminating features of the sons of Israel, and of the tribes which descended from them, at three different periods, and in very different situations-Jacob on his dying bed, Moses on the wing to ascend mount Nebo, and Deborah on the defeat of Sisera. The comparative view of Israel, at these distant periods, seems to me a subject of curious, pleasant, and not useless disquisition, and I mean to devote the meditation of a particular evening to it.

The season* arrests us now, and demands a series of reflections suited to winter, and change, and decay, and death. The past rushes upon our memory and affections in an impetuous tide. The future still presents the same impenetrable curtain to our eager eyes. We go on fondly planning; and after a thousand proofs of vanity, return to treasure up for ourselves vexation of spirit. But we shall be relieved at length, and ere long land on that shore where fear and hope are no longer. If permitted to enter on the commencement of another year, we shall endeavour to improve that kind indulgence, by endeavouring to suggest reflections suited to the occasion. If permitted to advance to a second sabbath in a new year, we shall attempt *The last day of the year.

any, this be the last opportunity of the kind, the solemn farewell is now taken. And kind is that Providence which does not always let us know when we are saying "finally farewell;" which permits the bitterness of death to pass before we are sensible it is come. Wo, wo, wo, to the man who is punished with the foresight of the evil that is coming upon him. The exploits of a Deborah and a Barak now live only in the page of history: their song is now to be found only in a few measured words, whose rhythm is lost, whose sense is obscure, whose spirit is evaporated. But, my friends, we have this day been commemorating* an event which will never sink in oblivion, never spend its force, never lose its importance. We have this day been carrying on, keeping up the song, which the enraptured shepherds of Bethlehem caught two thousand years ago from a choir of the heavenly host, which is ever pleasing, ever new; let us again resume it, and teach it to our children. "Glory, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will towards men." "Blessing and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ever and ever." Amen. Hallelujah!

* In the participation of the Lord's supper.

HISTORY OF DEBORAH.

LECTURE XCI

They fought from heaven: the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon_swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon: O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.-JUDGES v. 20, 21.

character; but human nature the same under every government, in every climate, under every sky. We behold regions, and periods, and nations rising into notice, into eminence, into importance, by the talents, the virtues, the address of one man, of one woman; and returning again to obscurity and insignificance, through a defect of wisdom, of public spirit, of exertion.

In turning over the hallowed page of inspiration, and contemplating the various revolutions of human affairs which it unfolds, we seem transported to a superior region; we behold the earthly ball rolling round beneath our feet; we witness the birth, the progress, the dissolution of nations; we learn to correct the prejudices of education, and our narrowness of conception; we no longer ignorantly admire, nor superciliously despise The history of perhaps no nation exhibits our fellow-creatures; we adore the great such striking and instructive variety of chaFather and Lord of all, who "has of one racter and event, as that of the posterity of blood formed all nations of men to inhabit Abraham. It is interesting in itself, and it upon the face of the whole earth," and is closely connected with the general inter"whose kingdom ruleth over all." From ests of mankind. That people, through a that elevation, we observe with humble ac-dispersion of near two thousand years, quiescence and holy joy, the designs of eter- preserved an existence. Hated, despised, nal Providence, maturing, and executing and persecuted by all other nations, they themselves; the individual passing away, remain unextirpated; a monument at once but the species permanent; states and king- of the vengeance and of the care of Heaven; doms changing their form, their spirit, their and no unequivocal intimations, from the

have

oracles of truth, hold them up as the objects, in conjunction with those of Zebulun and

many circumstances of the case, which the conciseness of the sacred history enables us not to discover; that there is a singularity in the whole conduct and occasion of the bu siness, which forbids it to be drawn into a precedent, and pleaded in ordinary cases as

tinguish carefully betwixt the poetic ardour and enthusiasm of a female bard and patriot, and the calm, unimpassioned praise and censure of sound reason, or the deliberate approbation of the God of truth, mercy, and jus tice. We know certainly that God cannot love nor commend perfidy, cruelty, or revenge. But he justly may, and often does employ the outrageous passions of one great offender to punish those of another. And that through ignorance, prejudice, or wilful misconception, the wisest of men are very incompetent judges of the ways and works of the Almighty.

affecting; and is a happy preparation for a display of that unexpected and astonishing relief, which had just turned their sorrow into gladness. Judah lulled asleep in listless inaction, without exertion, without existence; a fourth part of the national force, on the other side Jordan, careless, tending their flocks; ano-an example or an excuse, that we are to disther fourth devoted to their private traffic; the sword of judgment in the feeble hand of a female; confederated kings threatening their utter extirpation; enemies, numerous, "strong and lively, and hating them with a cruel hatred;" what power can dissipate the gathered storm? That power which says to the roaring ocean, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here shall thy proud waves be stayed." "They fought from heaven: the stars in their courses fought against Sisera."* Behold all nature engaged in the cause of Israel's God. The heavenly host first take up the quarrel; angels, legions of “angels that excel in strength:""the least of whom could wield these elements." The most powerful and splendid parts of inanimate nature feel the alarm, and join their influence; "the stars in their courses. The earth quickly hears the heaven; the waters swell and rage; Kishon increased, most probably, by the recent dreadful tempest which had fallen from the air, rises suddenly upon them, and like the Red Sea of old, swallows up, as in a moment, the enemy and the avenger.

There is a singular force and beauty in the repetition of the name of the river, with the edition of the epithet "ancient." It is natural for men to value themselves on the antiquity of their country, and its cities. It is the fond term which, in the honest pride and exultation of our hearts, we affix to our own land; it seems to confer additional dignity and importance; we associate in the idea, the valour and success of former times; we feel our hearts attracted as to a common parent; filial affection and brotherly love revive at the sound. In the enthusiasm of pious and poetical inspiration, she bestows animation and passion on the flood; she represents it as rising in pride and joy, and overflowing its banks, to serve the cause of ancient friends, lying under the rod of insolence and oppression. And the period pathetically closes, with the prophetess, in a single word, apostrophizing herself as the honoured, happy instrument of co-operating with intelligent and animated nature in trampling pride and cruelty into the dust. "O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength."

conduct of 66

66

I have already anticipated much of what I had to say, on the subject of the glowing eulogium which Deborah pronounces on the Jael the wife of Heber." Permit me only to repeat, that in order to our fully adopting the sentiments of the Israelitish poetess, we must be acquainted with

Judges v. 20.

The winding up of the sacred poem, suggests the most satisfactory apology for the conduct of Jael, and accounts at the same time for the warmth of the strains in which Deborah celebrates that conduct. It is the hor rid use which conquerors usually made of victory, to which I allude. The wretched females of the vanquished people fell a prey to the brutal lust of the victors. This was a case so common that "the mother of Sisera and her wise ladies" are represented as so lost to feminine delicacy and compassion as remorselessly to exult in the thought of portioning out the virgins of Israel to Sisera and his soldiers, as the mere instruments of a brutal pleasure; as an article of horrid booty for the lawless plunderer. "The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots? Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself, Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey, to every man a damsel or two? To Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needle-work, of divers colours of needle-work on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?" Now, may we not suppose both Jael and Deborah animated with a holy indignation against the intended violators of their sex's modesty and honour, and with a holy joy, on the defeat of their ungracious purpose? May we not innocently suppose a mixture of virtuous female spirit inspiring what the one acted and the other sung? Our pity for the fallen warrior, and his untimely, inglorious fate, must of course abate, when we consider that a righteous and merciful Providence, by whatever means, shortened a life, and stopped a career, which threatened the life, the virtue, the happiness of thousands. In personifying the character of Sisera's mother and her attendants, Deborah presents

* Judges v. 28-30

us with a happy imitation of a passage in the song of Moses on the triumphant passage of the Red Sea; where the poet insinuates himself, by a bold figure of eloquence, into the councils of Pharaoh, overhears their formidable resolutions, and in the close of the scene, rejoices in seeing their counsels, once so much dreaded, turned into foolishness, by the grace and power of Heaven. "The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them; they sank as lead in the mighty waters."** So here, Deborah brings in the matrons of Canaan as anticipating the fruits of victory, prematurely enjoying the triumph of the subjection of the Israelitish damsels to their own pride, and the pleasure of their warriors; and she inspirits the gratitude and joy of her fair country women, by gently hinting at the dreadful hazard which they had run. This too, of course, diminishes our concern for the cruel disappointment which the mother of Sisera endured, looking and looking, from her window, but still looking in vain for him who was never more to return; expecting and expecting that lingering chariot, which the ancient river Kishon had long ere now swept down its stream: flushed with hope, only to make calamity more bitter. And let that hope be for ever blasted, which could be accomplished only by what humanity shudders to think of.

Having thus enjoyed self-gratulation, and called forth the grateful congratulations of her delivered country, and with heroic ardour trampled on disappointed lust, insolence, and ambition, she now aims a nobler flight. The world and its transitory interests and employments disappear. The throne of God meets her enraptured eye. Private, personal,, national animosity are no more: all, all is lost in the higher, unlimited, unchanging interests of the divine glory. "So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord." This is but a prophetic enunciation of what needs must be. After one revolution has obliterated another, one mortal interest swallowed another upafter the distinctions of Jew and Gentile, Greek and barbarian, bond and free are lost and forgotten, the honours of the divine justice and mercy shall flourish and prevail. They that are afar from him; of whatever other name or description, shall perish; and the workers of iniquity shall be destroyed.

But the pious leader of the heavenly theme, as if unwilling to shut up her song with an idea so gloomy as the awful displeasure of the great God against his adversaries, relieves herself and us, by taking up the more encouraging view of the favour of Jehovah to his friends, and thus she fervently breathes out her soul; "But let them that love him, be

*Exod. xv. 9, 10.

to us invisible,

Or dimly seen, in these his lowest works; MILTON. that glorious creature of his power, the sun, is the most striking and impressive of all objects. And poets of every description have enriched and ennobled their compositions by allusions to the glorious orb of day, "of this great world the eye and soul," as the brightest inanimate image of Deity here below, the fountain of light, the dispenser of vital warmth, the parent of joy. The inspired sacred writers have likewise happily employed it to represent the most glorious animated image of God in our world, a wise and good man "going from strength to strength;" shining as a light in a dark place; silently, without expectation of return, without upbraiding, in an unceasing revolution of diffusing happiness; aiming at resemblance to his Creator by becoming a god to his fellow-creatures. It is thus that Deborah concludes her song; with a warm effusion of faith, and hope, and desire, that righteousness might abound and increase, that good men might be in succession raised up, each in his day a light to his country, to mankind; "going forth as the sun in his might," from lustre to still higher lustre, from usefulness to usefulness, without diminution, and without end. By the same simple but powerful imagery, the wise man represents the progress of true goodness; "the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." And Wisdom itself by a similar suggestion animates the zeal and supports the industry of those who are to teach his religion to the nations of the earth: "Ye are the light of the world. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

To the whole is affixed an historical note, short indeed, but highly interesting and important; " And the land had rest forty years." This is the noblest eulogium of Deborah, the most honourable display of her talents and virtues. If there be feelings worthy of envy, they are those of this exalted woman, on reflecting that God had honoured her to restore liberty, and peace to her country; and to establish such a system of administration of justice, of civil government, of military discipline, and of religious worship, as preserved the public tranquillity for forty years. How effectually may every individual serve the community! Of what importance, then, is every, the meanest individual! How lasting and how extensive is the influence of real worth! There is one way in which every man may be a public blessing, may become a saviour of his country-by cultivating the