intreat, that GOD would be pleased to communicate his will through him, and not speak any more himself, lest they should die. GOD (for an obvious reason to be mentioned hereafter) approves of their request, and appoints Moses a mediator between himself and them. He is called up to the top of the mountain, and there, the tables of the Ten Commandments are given to him, written with the finger of God. He is shewn the heavenly patterns of the earthly tabernacle, and of all its service; he receives, by the ministry of Angels attending on God at this great solemnity, the Dispensation of the Law, which he delivered to the people, first by word of mouth, and afterwards in writing; the original of which was with the tables of stone deposited in the ark, and faithful copies taken and transmitted for public and private use through all succeeding generations.

Such are the events to which our text refers, Events, that involve in their consequences the whole race of man, but which exemplify to a Christian people (to whom the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, hath spoken through an heavenly Redeemer) the danger of doubting

his authority, or of rejecting his admonitions, Infidelity may deny the fact, but it cannot get rid of the evidence; it cannot falsify the historical records of a whole people; it cannot persuade them, that the memorials of their ancestors, the code of their laws, the manual of their devotion, and the celebration of their ordinances, had no foundation in truth. With as little prospect of success could it attribute the series of miracles, the accomplishment of prophecy, and all the pretensions of their favoured nation, to the common arts of human legisla tion. And though it might find the unbelieving Jew ready to join in an opposition to Christianity, it never could excite a prejudice against their great and revered legislator; it never could convert their faith into a system of credulity, nor change the Mosaic ritual into an engine of superstition.

To these hard speeches, and to this contradiction of sinners, we need not furnish the Jewish believer with an answer. But in the face of avowed hostility to Him who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the Christian will reply, that He who gave the law, came to fulfil

and not to annul its injunctions; that the œconomy of grace lightened only the burthen of legal ceremonies; and that the gracious Author of their redemption from Egyptian bondage and Babylonish captivity was only manifesting, in their deliverance, the power and design of Him who was finally to lead captivity captive, to triumph over sin and death, and in whom all the seed of Israel shall be justified and shall glory. The sanctions and doctrines of both dispensations, like those of every other preceding covenant, were confirmed by the word and in the presence of the Deity. And the revelation of his will from mount Sinai is only preparatory to a more tremendous display of his majesty, when not the mountain alone, but the whole earth, shall be on fire, and the universal race of mankind be assembled before Him.

In the redemption of fallen man, and in his justification through Christ, ends every covenant; and through Him will be accom→ plished every promise made to the faithful.Upon this foundation, the pillar of all true and spiritual religion, were the holy lives of the Patriarchs supported; and when they are said

to have worshipped GOD in a right faith, it is that faith which looked with eager longing after that gracious Redeemer, who was to come the light of the world, and to join the chain of heavenly love, which the disobedience of man had broken.

From Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, and throughout all the successive ages of the Old Testament, we find a divine Ambassador, a spiritual Deliverer, an everlasting Redeemer, taking upon him the cause of his church, issuing his commands, aiding it by his protection, or comforting it by his assurances. And under the Jewish theocracy, temporal punishments and temporal deliverances were only a covenanted interposition of GOD's providence on striking occasions, to shew that the GOD of Israel alone had power to save or to destroy; and that the one Gop, from whom both Jew and Gentile were fallen away, by departing from the faith and religion of their first fathers, was the only GOD, in whose hands the promised reward was as unfailing as his nature, and in whose hands the threatened chastisement was as sure as the denunciation.

The nature of their hope in the Messiah, and the opinion they entertained of him who was to come, till it was corrupted by worldly expectations, may be learnt from the exalted titles and attributes with which He is every where invested. He is called-the Lord or JEHOVAH, the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Saviour and Redeemer, the Angel of the Covenant, and the Strength of Israel; a Prophet, Priest, and King; the Portion of Jacob, the Light of his People, and the Rock of their Salvation. In short, under every claim of inherent divinity, under every title and name assertive of power and defence, was He known and acknowledged by the Jewish nation, whom they trusted should have redeemed Israel. They never disputed the dignity of the character, but the humility of the person who assumed it. When they ignorantly crucified the Lord of Glory, they crucified him for blasphemously arrogating a title, which could belong only to the exalted personage who was to reign over them. They challenge him to an exertion of that divinity, which was to prove his right to the sovereignty; they connect deity with royalty, they even interchange the terms, and in