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is alfo to be obferved, that St. John defcribes the judgments of the last days in terms plainly alluding to those poured out upon the Egyptians, "as locufts "and frogs; blood and darkness," &c. See Rev. ix, and xvi, et al. Under these images are reprefented, falfe teachers and erroneous doctrines, carnality and ignorance, and, in a word, whatever contributes to ravage the moral or fpiritual world, to deface the beauty of holiness, and destroy the fruits of faith. And of all the divine judgments, these are by far the most dreadful, though generally the least dreaded.

49. He caft upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and trouble, by fending evil angels among them.

Some of the Egyptian plagues having been specified in the foregoing verses, others of them are here thrown together, and the whole fcene is affirmed to have been a full display of wrath and vengeance, executed upon the oppreffors of the church by pyn O'ɔxba “ evil angels, agents, or meffengers:" whether by this expreffion, we understand the material inftruments of divine difpleafure; or angels employed as ministers of vengeance; or the actual appearance and miniftration of evil fpirits, fuffered to torment the wicked in this world, as they certainly. will do, in the next. Tradition feems to have favoured this last opinion, fince the author of the book of Wisdom, above referred to, describes the Egyptian darkness as a kind of temporary hell, in which there appeared to the wicked, whose consciences fuggested to them every thing that was horrible, "a fire "kindled of itself, very dreadful; they were scared " with

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"with beasts that paffed by, and hiffing of ferpents "and they were vexed with moftrous apparitions, "fo that they fainted, and died for fear; while over "them was fpread an heavy night, an image of that "darkness which fhould afterwards receive them." Wifd. xvii.

50. He made a way to his anger, he spared not their foul from death, but gave their life over to the peftilence; 51. And fmote all the first born in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham.

The laft plague was the death of the first born both of man and beaft; Exod. xii. 29. when God, having removed every obftacle that mercy had thrown in the path of justice, " made a way to his "indignation," which then rushed forth like a fiery ftream. An unlimited commiffion was given to the destroyer, who at midnight paffed through the land, and gave the fatal ftroke in every house. "While "all things, O Lord, were in quiet filence, and "that night was in the midft of her swift courfe, "thine Almighty WORD leaped down from heaven. "out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war "into the midst of a land of deftruction, and

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brought thine unfeigned commandment as a fharp "fword, and ftanding up, filled all things with "death and it touched the heaven, but it stood

upon the earth." Wisd. xviii. 14. Pharaoh and all his fervants rofe up in the night; there was a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt; and univerfal confternation reigned, inferior only to that which is to extend it's empire over the world, when "the trumpet shall found, and the dead fhall be

"raised."

"raised." May we be faved, like Ifrael, in that hour, through the blood of the true pafchal Lamb, flain to take away the fins of the world! "When I "fee the blood," fays Jehovah to his people, "I will pafs over you."

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52. But made his own people to go forth like sheep; and guided them in the wilderness, like a flock; 53. And he led them on fafely, fo that they feared not; but the fea overwhelmed their enemies. 54. And he brought them to the border of his Sanctuary, even to his mountain, which his right hand had purchafed. 55. He caft out the heathen alfo before them; and divided them an inheritance by line: and made the tribes of Ifrael to dwell in their tents.

Having related the punishments inflicted on Egypt, the Pfalmift returns to thofe mercies experienced by the Ifraelites, when God overthrew their enemies, took them under his protection, fed and conducted them in the wilderness, brought them to the promised land, expelled the heathen, fettled his people, and at length fixed his refidence on mount Sion, which is reprefented as the conqueft and acquifition of his own arm; fince the victories of Joshua, &c. were all owing to the divine prefence and affiftance. The Chriftian church, after her redemption by "the blood of the Lamb," paffed 300 years in a state of minority, as it were, and under perfecution, which, with allufion to what befel Ifrael of old, is called in the Revelation, her flight and abode in the WILDERNESS. Rev. xii. 6. At length, the true "Jofhua," or JESUS, "brought' her" into the poffeffion of the Gentiles;" fee Acts

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vii. 45. and the enjoyed a temporary reft and profperity. But no terreftrial Canaan, no fecular advantages fhould make us forget, as the Jews did, and as Christians are apt to do, that the church is in the wilderness, while fhe is in the world; and that "there "remaineth yet" another and far more glorious "rest "for the people of God," after which they ought ever to be aspiring. See Heb. iv, 9.

56. Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his teftimonies: 57. But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned afide like a deceitful bow.' 58. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

The Ifraelites, when fettled in the promised land, foon fhewed themselves to be the genuine defcendants. of thofe men, who tempted God in the defert. We can hardly read two chapters in the book of Judges, but we meet with the words, "And the children of "Ifrael again did evil in the fight of the Lord." For this their frequent revolting they are compared to "a deceitful bow," which, when put to the trial, is fure to disappoint the archer, either dropping the arrow at his feet, or carrying it wide of the mark. Their zeal and love were either wholly relaxed and enervated by fenfuality and indolence, or else turned afide, and mifplaced on falfe objects of worship. Thus, in the prefent decline of religion, the devotion of the Romanists hath attached itself to faints, angels, and images; while that of Proteftants fleepeth, and must be awakened. In what manner, is known to God only.

59. When

59. When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Ifrael: 60. So that he forfook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men: 61. And delivered his firength into captivity, and his glory into the enemies hand.

Rebellion against God will, fooner or later, draw down his vengeance, and caufe the most beloved nation to be" abhorred" by him; he will forfake the place of his refidence," the tent placed among men," where he dwelleth by his Spirit; and the church, by which his "ftrength," and his "glory" are manifefted to the world, fhall go "into captivity, and "the enemies hand." All this we are taught by that which came to pafs in Ifrael, when for the fins of priests and people, the ark of God, which then abode in Shiloh, was fuffered to fall into the hands of the Philistines. 1. Sam. iv. The present state of Jerufalem, and of all the once flourishing eaftern and African churches, fpeaks aloud the fame awful and concerning truth. "He that hath ears to hear let

him hear."

62. He gave his people over alfo to the fword: and was wroth with his inheritance. 63. The fire confumed their young men: and their maidens were not given to marriage. 64. Their priests fell by the fword: and their widows made no lamentation.

These verses refer to the flaughter of Ifrael by the Philiftines, which was an effect of divine wrath, compared here, as elsewhere, to "a confuming fire;" they refer likewife to the death of old Eli, of Hophni and Phinehas, and the widow of Phinehas, who expired in child-bed, on hearing the mournful news,

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