THERE is in mankind a good-natured disposition to spare the dead. Without very high provocation, indeed, who could think of disturbing the peace and silence of the grave, and of dragging again before the tribunal of man those who have already undergone the more awful judgment of a righteous God? But this generosity does not always proceed from pure benevolence. The dead no longer stand in our way; they are no longer our rivals in the pursuits of fame or of fortune. We can here earn the praise of magnanimity, without any danger of suffering in the interests of our reputation, our consequence, our self-love. From whatever source this lenity and forbearance proceed, we would not be thought altogether to condemn them; but good-nature in this, as in a few other cases, is apt sometimes to be carried too far. Through fear of being thought severe to those who have no power to defend themselves, extravagant and unmerited commendation has been often lavished on the worthless and the wicked. I will cheerfully engage not to violate the ashes of the dead by unjust censure, nor even by merited invective; but I must not be forced, on the other hand, to commemorate virtues that were never practised; to bring to light worth that never existed, except in the tropes of a funeral oration; to represent as right, what God, and truth, and reason pronounce to be wrong. My tongue shall be silent as the grave over the memory of the proudest, most selfish, hardhearted, unkind, uncomplying wretch that ever lived: but I must not be called in to prostitute my conscience by celebrating his humility, generosity, compassion, or sweetness of temper. I would correct the common adage a little, and then give it all the currency in my power. Instead of rendering it, "of the dead say that only which is good," I would translate it, "of the dead say that only which is true." noblest, because one of the most scriptural parts of it, with indiscriminating charity dispenses the kingdom of heaven to the evil and the good, to "him that sweareth as to him who feareth an oath." The wretch whose whole life has been a notorious violation of every law human and divine, who grew old in hatred and contempt of the gospel, falls asleep in the "sure and certain hope of a resurrection to eternal life." What is this but to encourage men to continue in sin, that grace may abound; to live profligates, and yet hope to die in peace? Happily, the character we are this evening to bring under your review will stand the test of the strictest examination, will shine with superior lustre from being touched and retouched, will discover new excellencies on every investigation, will furnish to the humble, the penitent, and the believing, perpetual ground of instruction and consolation. After a course of more than fourscore Lectures on the life, character, and writings of Moses, it may perhaps be thought superfluous, to employ the whole of another discourse in attempting to elucidate his character, to recommend his example, to embalm his memory. But it is this very circumstance which determined me to attempt a delineation of this wonderful man's portrait, to request that you would join me in meditating a few moments over one who has been honoured of God, to do more, in order to please and instruct mankind, than any mere man that ever existed. To say truth, I consider the person of Moses as a pledge of affection between you and myself. He brought us together at first, and he has kept us together a considerable part of these three years past; to part with him and his writings seems a kind of presentiment of our final dissolution likewise; and, in losing him, I feel as if I were losing a thousand friends at a stroke. But let us speak and think of Moses, not of ourselves. Indeed, the best thing that can befall most It is impossible to think of Moses without men, when they die, is to be forgotten as first thinking of "his Father and our Father, soon as possible. Few, very few characters of his God and our God." To be a chosen are such as not to suffer by handling; and instrument in the hand of Heaven to carry there is great danger of rousing and pro- on the plans of Providence, to promote the voking slumbering resentments against our wisdom and happiness of mankind, is man's departed friends, by an officious zeal to trum-highest glory: as it is his truest felicity to pet their praise, and display their good qualities. The praise bestowed on the dead is generally contemptible adulation to the living; adulation, vilely bestowing the rewards of piety and goodness on mere greatness or affluence, and thereby strengthening the hands of vice, by lulling the conscience to rest, and deceiving men into the belief, that a good name may be purchased without possessing a spark of virtue. The liturgy of our established church, in how many other respects soever useful and excellent, is here faulty, and certainly does mischief. The funeral service, one of the do this voluntarily and from the heart, as an obedient, zealous, and cheerful fellow-worker with God. Now, Moses possessed this distinction and felicity in a very eminent degree. God raised up Pharaoh "in very deed for this cause, to show in him his power, that his great name might be declared throughout all the earth;" and Pharaoh, unhappily for himself, accomplished the designs of Heaven, by his pride, obstinacy, and rebellion. God called "Cyrus his anointed, by name, and surnamed him who had not known him for Jacob his servant's sake, and Israel his elect." Nebuchadnezzar he employed as the rod of his anger to chastise a disobedient and gainsaying people, and then broke it in pieces and dashed it to the ground. These, and many others, stand upon record, as executing the will of the Eternal without their own consciousness or intention, nay, totally against it; but Moses had the rare felicity of engaging in one of the most generous purposes which can animate a human breast, knowing it to be, at the same time, the leading, commanding purpose of God himself. Every step he moved was supported by the enlivening reflection, that every step he moved was executing the decrees of the Almighty, and promoting the relief and salvation of his wretched countrymen. How delightful the progress, when duty and inclination go hand in hand! deliverance which, in process of time, Goc was by him to work in behalf of a whole people. The same spirit which beheld Egyptian oppression with just resentment, beheld discord among brethren with godly sorrow and regret. He boldly exposed his life to repe! the one; in the spirit of meekness he tried to heal the other: and he very early experi enced the ungracious, and ungrateful, and discouraging requital of services the most kindly intended; the sad presage of that life of mortification unparalleled, and most unmerited, which he was afterwards called to endure. The insolent retort of an unkind brother awakened prudence, and put him for a season to flight; for valour, as the case then stood, valour against such fearful odds, could not have deserved the name of courage, but of rashness. The circumstances in which God raised up Moses mark him peculiarly as his own. Every thing concurred to prove, that here Providence still directs his path, and con"the arm of the Lord was revealed." Ano-ducts him at once to usefulness and happither king had arisen, "who knew not Joseph," the hope of Israel seemed to be perishing; Egypt was alarmed with expectation or rather apprehension, of the appearance of this wonderful child; Israel was awakened to expectation, but abandoned it in despair. To reach the life of one, ten thousand innocents perish by the sword. But, as if in defiance of the precautions of human wisdom, Moses is born in the very rage of that persecution which threatened his life. The daughter of Pharaoh becomes his protector, and Egyptian Magi vie with each other in rearing that genius, whose ascendant threatened the downfall of their country; and Moses is become great, before the world apprehends that it is he by whose hand God would deliver his people from bondage. ness. It seems as if the all-wise Jehovah meant to display in Moses an example of the great and of the petty virtues, the virtues of the man, of the citizen, and of the believer united; and in none of his future exploits, perhaps, is he more amiable, more estimable, than in protecting the virgin daughters of Jethro from the violence of their rough and surly neighbours. Here we behold again on what delicate hinges the great God turns round the affairs of men. This piece of natural, honest, commendable gallantry, introduces Moses to the acquaintance of a prince, lays the foundation of an important alliance for life, and influences all his future fortunes, and feelings, as a man. Hence we are conducted to the delicious, the calm, the contemplative period of our This brings us forward to the period when hero's mortal existence. We behold a sim his personal character began plainly to unfold ple shepherd tending a flock not his own, but itself; and it discovers to us a mind superior enjoying tranquillity and contentment; 80to every mean, every selfish gratification. cluded from the society of men, but blessed Men love to adopt the cause that prevails; with the visions of the Almighty; losing and the cause of Israel was at that time low himself in sweet oblivion of a busy, bustling indeed. At a certain period of life passion world, awake only to the innocent joys of bears unlimited sway. At forty, the calls of domestic life, and the sublimer pleasures of ambition and pride are loudest; and they who religion. It was in all probability in this deare themselves at ease are little disposed to lightful retreat, during this blessed interval embark in the miseries of others. But in of retirement from and unconnectedness with Moses behold a man, not sunk into poverty what passed on the great theatre, that, divineviolently obtruded upon him, but poverty de-ly taught, he sung "how the heavens and liberately chosen; a man of forty relinquishing, without reluctance or regret, the pleasures, riches, and honours of a court, and exchanging them for the labour and oppression of an Israelitish slave, and glorifying in the reproachful name of Hebrew, much more than in that of "the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Behold the manly indignation of a noble spirit hastening to avenge wretchedness and depression of insolence and cruelty, and in the punishment of one oppressor exhibiting an anticipated view of that great earth rose out of chaos." It was then and there that the divine Spirit disclosed to his astonished, his enraptured eye, the years be yond the flood, the spring season of nature, the first man whom God created upon the earth, the amiableness of pure primeval in nocence, the glories of paradise, the unlimit ed bounty of indulgent heaven. It was then and there, that good Spirit put the pen into his hand, to trace that sacred record, which has descended to us for our delight and instruction, and which shall remain, till time expire, the wonder, the monitor, the guide of mankind unto all manner of truth. What a happy period for the human race! how happy for himself. Were the will of man to prevail, who would exchange such a retirement as this, for the noise and glare which captivates fools? But men, such as Moses, are not made for themselves alone; and ill would he have improved the blessings of solitude, had he not learned in it, cheerfully to sacrifice his own humour and his own ease to the work and glory of God. The time to favour Israel was now come, and Moses must think of privacy and selfenjoyment no longer. By a vision, such as might appal the boldest, and encourage the most fearful, he is remanded to Egypt with a commission under the seal of Heaven, to haughty Pharaoh, and he fears no more the wrath of a king. But we have insensibly deviated into the history of Moses, instead of delineating his character. Are they not, however, one and the same thing? To know what he was, we have but to consider what he said, and how he acted. But how is it possible to comprise, within the bounds of one discourse, a detail of forty active, busy years, from the day that God appeared to him in a flame of fire in the bush, to the day of his ascending to the top of mount Nebo to die? In general, they contain a display of almost every human shining virtue, brought forward to the eye, and impressed on the heart, by their most lovely foil, modesty, meekness, and humility. What magnanimity! united to what coolness and self-government! what firmness and intrepidity! what patience and gentleness! what consummate wisdom! what amiable simplicity! in youth, in maturity, in old age; in public and in private life; in every relation and condition, who is like him, who deserves to be compared with him? In forming an idea of human excellence, Moses presents himself immediately to my view; it is no longer an idea, it is a delightful reality. The more attentive part of my hearers will observe that, to complete the proposed plan of this discourse, there is still wanting the general leading idea of all these discourses, the resemblance between the type and the person typified-the analogy of Moses and Christ. This I refer to another Lecture; and beg leave to subjoin as a proper sequel to this, the following eulogium of Moses, translated from the works of an eloquent critic of his writings.* rable du vieux Testament par JAQUES SAURIN, Tome L Discours LXX. * Discours Hist. Critique, &c. sur les Evenemens memo EULOGIUM OF MOSES. "This most extraordinary personage was presented to the world in very singular circumstances. He appeared at a period of peculiar affliction to his kindred and nation; and Divine Providence seems to have raised him up expressly for the purpose of exemplifying virtues, which distress and persecution alone are calculated to place in the fairest point of light. By a series of miraculous events he escaped in infancy, the fatal effects of a sanguinary decree, which doomed to death all the male children of the Hebrews from the womb. And, what highly merits consideration, and serves strikingly to display the influence which Sovereign Wisdom exercises over all the affairs of men, he owed his preservation in a great measure, to persons whose interest it was to have destroyed him. These very persons assisted in forming that superior genius, and in cultivating those wonderful talents, which, in time, qualified him to be the deliverer of a nation which it was their intention utterly to extirpate. "Scarcely arrived at that stage of life when men begin to form plans for the remainder of their existence, he feels himself called to determine between two objects, so incompatible in their nature, that the maturest judgment can with difficulty hold the balance even; religion and worldly interest. Under the necessity of making a choice so difficult, he rises above his age, above his passions, nay, in some sense, above humanity, and nobly sacrifices every worldly prospect to religion. He resolves to partake in the miseries of an oppressed people, in order to secure an interest in the favour of that God who is continually watching over his children, even when he seems to have abandoned them to their persecutors; he values nothing in comparison with that favour; he prizes it infinitely more than that of a great king, nay, more than the prospect itself of being heir to a throne and kingdom; and, according to the expression of St. Paul, Esteemed the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypl.† "Not satisfied with being a spectator and a partaker of the misery of his wretched brethren, he resolves to meet the torrent; and, of a witness, hastens to become the avenger of the tyranny under which they groaned. Observing one of the merciless tools of oppression abusing an Israelite, he braves the rigour of all the laws of Egypt, kills the oppressor, delivers the sufferer, and, as we have said in another place, performs an anticipated act of the deliverer of his country. ↑ Heb. xi. 20. "Prudence constrains him to withdraw which had endured in it cruelties the most from the danger which threatened the stran- unexampled. The tyrant pursues him, gains ger who dared to shed the blood of an Egyptian. ground, presses hard upon him. Behold him He retires into the land of Midian, and there encompassed on every side, by a vast and inexperiences repeated proofs of the care of vincible army, by a ridge of inaccessible that miraculous Providence which accompa- mountains, and by the waters of the Red Sea. nied him through the whole course of a long He rebukes the roaring billows; they inlife. Cut off from every opportunity of dis- stantly become obedient to the man whom playing the qualities of the hero, he exhibits the DEITY has made, (if the expression be those of the philosopher. He employs the lawful) the depository of his power. The calmness of that retreat in contemplating the waters were a wall unto them on their right divine perfections; or rather, in this delicious hand and on their left,* as the sacred historetirement it was, that he enjoyed the inti- rian expresses himself. Moses advances into mate communications of the Almighty, who the wilderness, and, by a continuation of miinspired him, and appointed him to the high raculous interposition, he beholds those very destination of laying the first foundations of waters which had divided, to favour the pasrevealed religion, which was to supply the de- sage of Israel, closing again, and swallowing fects of that of nature, already clouded and up Pharaoh, his court, and his host. disfigured by the prejudices and the passions of mankind. He composed the book of Genesis; and thereby furnished the world with irresistible arms to combat idolatry. He attacks the two most extravagant errors into which the human race had fallen, the plurality of gods, and that which admits imperfection in the Deity. To the one, and the other, he opposes the doctrine of the unity of an allperfect Being. "That God, whose existence and attributes he thus published, was pleased to manifest himself to him in mount Horeb in a manner altogether singular and miraculous. He confers on this chosen servant, the glorious but formidable commission to take the field against Pharaoh, to stem the current of oppression, to attempt to mollify the tyrant; and, if persuasion failed, to employ force, to support arguments by prodigies, to exact from all Egypt the expiation of those barbarities which she had dared to exercise upon a people distinguished as the object of his tenderest love, and of his most illustrious miracles. "Delivered, in appearance, from his most formidable enemies, he soon finds he has to maintain a lasting conflict with foes still more formidable, the very people whom he conducted. He discovers in these degenerate sons of Israel every mean and grovelling sentiment which a servile state has a tendency to inspire; all the absurdity of weak and capricious minds; all the cowardice, perfidy, and ingratitude of corrupted hearts. With such a race, Moses found himself under the necessity of living in a waste and parched desert, and of struggling there with all the horrors of hunger and thirst, and a total want of every necessary. Exposed to all the insults of an enraged, ungovernable multitude, he is at the same time constrained to act as their intercessor with an offended God. He feels himself called upon to maintain the interests of the divine glory with a stiffnecked and perverse nation: and to plead the cause of that very nation with Deity, provoked to execute righteous judgment on a race of men who were continually disposed to insult his "This appointment Moses presumes to de-authority, and to degrade his perfections, by cline: but from a spirit of humility rather than associating him with the infamous idols of the of disobedience. He could not conceive it Pagan world. possible that, at the age of fourscore, and labouring under a defect of speech, he could be the person qualified to address a mighty prince, and overturn a whole kingdom. The appointment is a second time pressed upon him; a second time he refuses it. At length, however, his reluctance is overcome; and, filled with that Spirit which animated him to the conflict, he enters on the career of glory which was presented to him, and his first victory is a victory over himself. He tears himself from the delights of the land of Midian; he quits the house of a father-in-law, by whom he was most tenderly beloved, to encounter a host of enemies and executioners. "He arrives in Egypt. He presents himself before Pharaoh: he entreats; he threatens; he draws down upon the Egyptians plagues the most tremendous. He departs from that kingdoin, at the head of a people "Moses had sometimes the felicity of averting the divine displeasure, and of restraining the madness of the people. But more frequently he endured the mortification of seeing the inefficacy of all his well-meant efforts. The violence of the people bore down all opposition; and offended Heaven turned a deaf ear to the voice of his supplication. Divine justice vindicated its rights; Israel felt its severest strokes, and twentyfour thousand fall at one stroke. "The most awful chastisements have proved equally ineffectual with the tenderest expostulations, to bring them back to a sense of their duty. And as if Moses had been responsible for the calamities which they had brought upon themselves, by their reiterated crimes, they talk of stoning him. They propose to appoint a commander to conduct them † Numb. xxv. 9. *Exod. xiv. 29. back to Egypt, from whence God had deliver- source! Witness these ardent aspirations of ed them by a strong hand and a stretched-soul after God: If thy presence go not with out arm: they prefer an inglorious servitude me, carry us not up hence. I beseech thee, to the miraculous protection afforded them in show me thy glory.* the wilderness, and to all the prospects of the fair inheritance which God had promised to bestow upon them. “What zeal for the glory of God! Witness the tables of the law broken in pieces at the sight of a people who had rendered themselves unworthy of receiving marks so tender of the love of God. Witness that rigorous order issued to the sons of Levi: "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from "In a state of such anxiety and distress, Moses passed forty complete years, and conducted, at length, the remains of this people to the borders of the promised land. Was ever life so singularly eventful? Was ever hero signalized by so many extraordinary ex-gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay ploits? "If we go into a more particular detail of his great actions, we meet with a bright display of every shining virtue. "What magnanimity! Witness the armies he so successfully commanded; witness the crown and kingdom of Egypt despised, rejected, when put in competition with the obligations and prospects of religion. "What firmness! Witness his undaunted addresses, and his animated replies to Pharaoh. Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me.* We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; there shall not be an hoof left behind. Thou hast spoken well, I will see thy face again no more.† "What fervour! Witness these hands lifted up to heaven, while Israel was fighting against Amalek. Witness these ardent prayers in behalf of the rebellious Israelites: Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt, with great power, and with a mighty hand! Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of, will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.'t "What charity! Witness these forcible expressions: Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt, forgive their sin and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. "What gentleness! Witness what is said of him, Numbers xii. 3. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. What earnest desire to draw supplies of grace and truth immediately from their every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.'† Witness his answer to Joshua, when he expressed an apprehension lest the prophetic gifts bestowed on Eldad and Medad should eclipse the glory of his master: Enviest thou for my sake, would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them!' "What perseverance! Witness those exhortations; and that sacred song, with which he concluded his ministrations and his life. "But where was perfect virtue ever to be found? Moses too had his infirmities. In a life so long, however, and so peculiarly circumstanced, who is chargeable with faults so slight and so few? His very errors seem to partake of the nature of virtue. The darker shades of his character become perceptible from the contrast they form with a whole life so bright and luminous. That he should shrink back, at first, from the proposal of an embassy to the king of Egypt; that he should neglect, for a season, from certain domestic considerations, the circumcision of a child; that he should be slow of belief respecting the disposition of a righteous God to extract water miraculously from the rock, to supply the wants of a murmuring generation; that he should strike the rock a second time, rather from indignation against the rebels, than from distrust of God in whom compassions flow. These undoubtedly are blemishes, nay, offences which God might punish with death, were he strict to mark iniquity; but, when human infirmity is taken into the account, they are faults that excite pity rather than indignation. "Should any part of the eulogium we have pronounced on Moses seem exaggerated, we shall add, to all the honourable traits under which we have represented him, one infinitely more glorious still, traced by the hand of God himself, who best knows how to appreciate merit and distribute praise, and which exalts our prophet far above all human panegyric: There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face: in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do Exod. xxxiii. 15. 18. 32* + Exod. xxxii. 27. |