Suppose, for a moment, the cup wherewith | daring, the presumptuous sinner: whom thou art ready to quench thy burning thirst, goodness could not mollify, nor judgments instantly turned into blood, to the loathing subdue; and let him who is without sin cast of thy soul and thy flesh. Suppose thy body the first stone at him. Who can flatter himstruck with an universal leprosy, or the dust self with the thought, that the errors of his under thy feet quickened into abominable life were the mere inadvertencies of haste vermin: the air around thy head impregnated and inattention? Who can say of himself, with swarms of noisome insects; thy sun ex- "This fault I corrected, as soon as I distinguished for three tedious lingering days, covered it? Having been once made sensiand the thunder of an angry God rolling over ble of the danger and wickedness of that sinthy guilty, devoted habitation; and suppose ful course, I instantly forsook it, and have all this to be but the beginning of sorrow; returned to it no more. Smarting from the the mere threatenings of wrath to come; effects of my folly, I have never again dared wo that may be endured, torment that may to provoke the lash of my Father's chastenexpire: for ah! from yonder fearful pit arises ing rod. The resolutions which I made in the smoke of a fire that shall not be quench- the day of sickness, and sorrow, and calamied; smoke that shall ascend forever and ever. ty, I have faithfully remembered, and diliI hear groans bursting from the bosom of gently kept. Vows made at the Lord's table, despair; and the rattling of everlasting ada- I have made conscience to perform. The mantine chains. Behold the wild looks, the threatenings of God's word I have not disreagonizing pangs of that poor rich man, when, garded; the long-suffering of my God I have from the flames of his torment, he beholds not abused." Alas! alas! the reverse of all Lazarus in Abraham's bosom: when he be- this is the truth which condemns every one. holds heaven removed to an inaccessible dis- Not a single, but repeated acts of intempetance: heaven disjoined by an unpassable rance, injustice, impurity, impiety; not casugulf. Heaven, the rest of the weary, and al and undesigned expressions, but deliberate the reward of the faithful, affords to him a and indulged habits of falsehood, malevomomentary glimpse of its joys, only to em- lence, selfishness, and uncharitableness, place bitter remorse, only to pierce the soul with us as criminals at the bar, by the side of keener pangs, and to heat the furnace seven Pharaoh, and forbid us to condemn him, betimes hotter than it was before. "It is a cause we also have sinned. What avails it fearful thing to fall into the hands of the me to say, that my offence is not the same living God." with his? Perhaps I had neither power, nor After serious reflection upon these things, inclination, nor opportunity, for committing our second observation would seem ill found- that man's transgression. Have I therefore ed, and destitute of all probability and truth, washed my hands in innocence? Can I did not all history, and daily experience con- therefore plead," not guilty?" The great firm the woful certainty of it. It is this: question is, Have I kept myself free from that by frequent indulgence, and inveterate mine own transgression? And, spared of habits of sin, the heart may at length become God to make the inquiry-let Pharaoh's imquite callous; may be rendered equally in- penitence, and Pharaoh's doom, awaken us sensible to the calls of mercy, and the alarms to a sense of our danger; and urge a speedy of justice. We are struck with astonish-flight from the wrath that is to come. ment, at the sight of a poor, infatuated wretch Thirdly, This history leads us to remark like Pharaoh, repeatedly braving that power the great difference between the slow, rewhich returned to crush and humble him,luctant, partial submission of fear, and the and slighting that grace which as often re- prompt, cheerful, and unreserved compliance lented and afforded space and means for re- of a grateful and affectionate heart. Pharaoh, pentance. Would to God there were room like a sullen, sturdy slave will not move a to think the representation more unnatural step, till stimulated by a fresh application of than it is, and that the character of Pharaoh the whip; the moment that the pain of the were a rarity in the world. But alas! what stripe ceases, he stands still, or turns back. is the life of most men, but an habitual fight- The first summons is treated by him with ing against God? Upon whom falls the insolence and scorn; and he resolves that weight of our remark? Upon a few thought- Israel shall not have a single moment's reless, hardened wretches only, who have laxation from their burthens. Brought to found out the secret of lulling conscience to himself by a few strokes of the rod of God's rest; who, having conquered the sense of anger, he yields a tardy consent to the interfear and of shame, commit iniquity with mission of their labours for a little while, and greediness; who "hide not their sin, like to their doing sacrifice to their God: but it Sodom, but publish it like Gomorrah?" Let must be "in the land where they dwelt, even us not deceive ourselves, but watch over our in Egypt." That alternative being rejected, own hearts, and "exhort one another daily, and a new demand made, backed with a new lest any be hardened through the deceitful-threatening, and followed with a new plague, ness of sin." "There stands Pharaoh, the he agrees to permit the male part of Israel

devices of Satan falling upon his own head, | persons; bidding defiance to the whole force his momentary triumphs covering him with of a wise and populous, and warlike country. more accumulated disgrace, and his infernal And we see them in the course of a few years malice and diabolical craft made ministering taking forcible possession of one of the strongservants to the wisdom and goodness of God. est, most impracticable, and best defended A good reason, among many others, why we countries in the world. should judge nothing rashly before the time till the Lord cometh, who shall bring light out of obscurity, and fully vindicate his ways to men. Sixthly, We observe how unlike the latter ends of things are to their beginnings. The world laughs at the idea of two feeble old men, issuing forth from a desert, the patrons of liberty; to force a mighty prince, and a powerful nation, to listen to the dictates of justice and humanity, and to liberate a million of wretched creatures, whose spirits were totally broken by their miseries, and who seemed to have lost even the inclination of vindicating their own rights. Pharaoh despised them; the magicians defied them; Israel distrusted them; they themselves are ready to sink under the difficulty and danger of the enterprise. But, conducted of Heaven, they attempt, they proceed, they prosper, they overcome. They invade Egypt, two solitary, unsupported individuals! They leave it at the head of six hundred thousand men, fit to bear arms, with a corresponding number of females, besides old men and children, and a mixed multitude of non-descript

I need but hint to you the counterpart of this. Behold the unconnected son of a carpenter, at the head of twelve simple, illiterate fishermen, attacking the religious establishments of the whole globe, and prevailing. Behold him, armed with a few plain facts, and a few doctrines as plain, overturning the whole fabric of heathen mythology and worship; ingrafting on the stock of Moses, and the legal dispensation, a scion from a nobler root; which has swallowed up the parent tree, has filled the earth with its branches, is feeding the nations to this day with its fruit, and is likely to maintain its place till all the gracious purposes of Heaven are accomplished. "It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes." "When the world by wisdom knew not GOD, it pleased GOD by the foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe." The next Lecture will, by divine favour, exhibit the institution and celebration of the first passover, with the event which gave occasion to it. May GoD bless what has been spoken. To him be glory and honour forever and ever.

HISTORY OF MOSES.

LECTURE XLIII.

And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house.-EXODUS xii. 1—3.

In the history of all nations, there are eras and events of peculiar importance, which extend their influence to future ages and generations, and are fondly commemorated by latest posterity. Hence, every day of the revolving year becomes, in its course, to one people or another, the anniversary of something memorable which befel their forefathers, and is remembered by their sons with triumph or with sorrow. Most of the religious observances which have obtained in the world, when traced up to their source, are found to originate in providential dispensations; and history thereby becomes the best interpreter of customs and manners. It is a most amusing employment, to observe the operation and progress of the human mind 2 A

in this respect; and to consider how variously different men, and at different periods, have contrived to transmit to their children the memory of similar achievements, successes, or disasters. A great stone set up on end, a heap of stones, a mound of earth, and the like, were, in the earlier, ruder, simpler state of the world, the monuments of victory; and to dance around them with songs, on an appointed day, was the rustic commemoration of their rude and simple posterity. The triumphs and the death of heroes came, in process of time, to be remembered with conviviality and mirth, or with plaintive strains and solemn dirges. The hoary bard varied and enlivened the feast, by adapting to his rough voice or 16*

rougher harp the uncouth rhymes which he himself had composed, in praise of departed gallantry and virtue. As arts were invented and improved, the wise, the brave, and the good were preserved from oblivion by monuments more elegant, more intelligible, and more lasting. A more correct style of poetry, and a sweeter melody were cultivated. Sculpture and painting conveyed to children's children an exact representation of the limbs and lineaments of the venerable men who adorned, who instructed, who saved their country. And thus, though dead, they continued to live and act in the animated canvass, in the breathing brass, or the speaking marble. At length, the pen of the historian took up the cause of merit, and diffused over the whole globe, and handed down to the very end of time the knowledge of the persons and of the actions which should never die.

We are this evening to bestow our attention upon an institution altogether of divine appointment, intended to record an event of singular importance to the nation immediately affected by it, and which, according to its intention and in its consequences, has involved a great part of mankind.

Moses and Aaron having, as the instruments in the hand of Providence, chastised Egypt with nine successive and severe plagues, inflicted in the view of procuring Israel's release, are at length dismissed by the unrelenting tyrant, with a threatening of certain death, should they ever again presume to come into his presence. Moses takes him at his word, and bids him a solemn, a long, and everlasting farewell. When men have finally banished from them their advisers and monitors, and when God has ceased to be a reprover to them, their destruction cannot be very distant. Better it is to have the law to alarm, to threaten, and to chastise us, than to have it in anger altogether withdrawn. Better is a conscience that disturbs and vexes than a conscience laid fast asleep, than a conscience "seared as with a hot iron."

now it is, "I will go out into the midst of Egypt." "And it came to pass that at midnight the LORD smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle." As mercies coming immediately from the hand of our heavenly Father are sweeter and better than those which are communicated through the channel of the creature; so judgments, issuing directly from the stores of divine wrath, are more terrible and overwhelming. The sword of an invading foe is a dreadful thing, but infinitely more dreadful is the sword of a destroying angel, or the uplifted hand of God himself.

Secondly, The nature and quality of the calamity greatly increase the weight of it. It is a wound there, where the heart is most susceptible of pain; an evil which undermines hope; hope, our refuge and our remedy under other evils. The return of another favourable season, may repair the wastes and compensate the scarcity of that which preceded it. A body emaciated or ulcerated all over, may recover strength, and be restored to soundness; and there is hope that the light of the sun may return, even after a thick darkness of three days. But what kindness of nature, what happy concurrence of circumstances, can reanimate the breathless clay, can restore an only son, a firstborn, stricken with death?

The universality of this destruction is a third horrid aggravation of its woe. It fell with equal severity on all ranks and conditions; on the prince and the peasant; on the master and the slave. From every house the voice of misery bursts forth. No one is so much at leisure from his own distress as to pity, soothe, or relieve that of his wretched neighbour.

Fourthly, The blow was struck at the awful midnight hour, when every object assumes a more sable hue; when fear, aided by darkness, magnifies to a gigantic size, and clothes in a more hideous shape the real What solemn preparation is made for the and fantastical, the seen and the unseen distenth and last awful plague of Egypt! God turbers of silence and repose. To be preis about to reckon with Pharaoh and his sub-maturely awakened out of sleep by the dyjects, for the blood of the Israelitish male ing groans of a friend suddenly smitten, to children, doomed from the womb to death, be presented with the ghastly image of death by his cruel edict. His eye pitied not nor spared the anguish of thousands of wretched mothers, bereaved of their children the instant they were born; and a righteous God pities, spares him not in the day of visitation. The circumstances attending this tremen-nishment could equal this? dous calamity are strikingly calculated to The keen reflection that all this accumuexcite horror. First, God himself is the im-lated distress might have been prevented, mediate author of it. Hitherto He had was another cruel ingredient in the embitplagued Egypt by means and instruments; tered cup. How would they now accuse "Stretch out thy hand:" "Say unto Aaron, their desperate madness, in provoking a Stretch forth thy hand with thy rod." But power, which had so often and so forcibly

in a darling object lately seen and enjoyed in perfect health, to be forced to the acknowledgment of the great and holy Lord God, by such an awful demonstration of his presence and power! what terror and asto

warned them of their danger? If Pharaoh | ject kind, into freedom the most exalted and were not past feeling, how dreadful must perfect, even the glorious liberty of the sons have been the pangs which he felt, while he reflected, that after attempting to destroy a hapless, helpless race of strangers, who lay at his mercy, by the most unheard of cruelty and oppression, he had now ruined his own country, by an obstinate perseverance in folly and impiety; that he had become the curse and punishment of a nation, of which he was bound by his office to be the father and protector; and that his own hopes were now blasted in their fairest, most flattering object, the heir of his throne and empire, because he regarded not the rights of humanity and mercy in the treatment of his vassals.

Finally, if their anguish admitted of a still higher aggravation, the distinction from first to last made between them and Israel, the blessed exemption which the oppressed Hebrews had enjoyed from all these calamities, especially from this last death, must have been peculiarly mortifying and afflictive. “But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know how that the LORD doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel." This partakes of the nature of that misery which the damned endure: who are represented as having occasional, distant, and transitory glimpses of the blessedness of heaven, only for their punishment, only to heighten the pangs of their own torments. Of the approach of their other woes, these unhappy persons had been repeatedly warned. But this, it would appear, came upon them suddenly and in a moment. They had gone to rest in security. The short respite which they enjoyed from suffering had stilled their apprehension; "surely," said they, "the bitterness of death is past." But ah! it is only the deceitful calm which precedes the hurricane or the earthquake. Let men never dream of repose from the righteous judgment of God, whatever they may have already endured, till they have forsaken their sins, and fled for refuge in the divine mercy.

of God. They are distinctly informed of the stroke which Providence was meditating against Egypt, and of the precise time when the blow was to be struck. They are accordingly directed to two things; first, to provide for their own safety; and, secondly, to hold themselves in perfect readiness to take advantage of the permission to depart, which the panic occasioned by the death of the first-born should extort from Pharaoh. For the former of these purposes, every particular family, or the two adjoining, in proportion to their number, the lowest, according to the Jewish writers, being not under ten, nor the highest above twenty, were commanded to choose out, and to set apart, every household, a male lamb, or kid, of a particular description, on the tenth day of the month, and to kill it on the evening of the fourteenth. The flesh of the victim was commanded to be eaten by every several household apart, roasted with fire. They were all enjoined carefully to keep within their houses. And the blood of the sacrifice was to be taken and sprinkled on the two side-posts, and the upper door-post of every house where it was eaten. This sprinkling of the blood was to be the token of God's covenant, and a protection to the families so distinguished, from the sword of the avenging angel.

But, a positive institution so immediately from heaven, an institution so full of meaning and instruction, of such celebrity in the history of the world, and connected so closely with an ordinance of still greater notoriety, and of much more extensive influence, an ordinance of much longer duration, and which commemorates an event of infinitely greater importance, surely demands the most minute attention, and the most serious inquiry. We pretend not to comprehend, and therefore undertake not to explain every particular circumstance of this solemn, divine institution: but the moral and religious design is, in general, so obvious, that a reader of ordinary capacity has but to run over it with a It is now worth while to consider the no- common degree of seriousness and attention, tice given to God's own people of this ap-in order to understand what the Spirit of God proaching evil, and the means which were is saying in it, for the edification of mankind. appointed and employed to secure them from being involved in the general ruin. The event so destructive to Egypt, was intended to be the era of their liberty, and the means of their deliverance. They had hitherto reckoned the beginning of their year from the month Tisri, which answers to our September; which, as they supposed, was the time when the creation was begun and completed; but they are now positively enjoined to begin to reckon from the month Abib or Nisan, that is, March, in memory of a new creation; whereby their condition was totally changed, from servitude of the most ab

And first, GoD was about to distinguish Israel by special marks of his favour. În order to this, they must carefully distinguish themselves by a punctual observance of his command. Is more expected of an Israelite than of an Egyptian? Undoubtedly. The blessings which come down from above, from the Father of lights, are not mere arbitrary and capricious effusions of liberality, falling upon one spot, and passing by another without reason or design. No, they are the wise and gracious recompense of an intelligent, observing, and discriminating Parent, to faithful, affectionate, and obedient children.