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point of taste as well as authenticity. The powerful rod is once more stretched out. The east wind blows: the sea retires; and a safe and easy passage is opened for Israel through the channel of the deep. "This also cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working."

"Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." The word which commands the progress also prepares the way. As in latter times, by the effectual working of the same almighty power, the grace which cured the father's unbelief, at the self-same in. stant likewise cast the devil out of the son. It is the sensible language of the common proverb, "The king said, Sail; but the wind said, No." The command of the King of kings alone procures prompt obedience, from every creature; for all are his subjects in fact, as well as of right. Thrones, principalities and powers are subject unto him; and "a sparrow falleth not to the ground without our heavenly Father." When we behold our blessed Saviour, in the New Testament, saying to the stormy wind and foaming billows,

Peace, be still," and a great calm instantly ensuing; and compare it with the work of the great Jehovah under review, we are led directly to the conclusion of the Roman centurian who observed the wonders attending the crucifixion, Truly this was the Son of God."

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In the history of our country there is a passage, which the event we are considering suggests to our thoughts, and which does honour to the piety, modesty and good sense of the prince whom it concerns. Canute, one of the earthly kings of the southern division of England, justly disgusted at the gross and impious adulation of some of his coutiers, who ascribed to him the attributes which belong only to God, and called him "lord of the earth and of the sea," that he might check their folly by something more than a simple reproof, commanded his chair of state to be placed

on the beach near Southampton, during the flowing of the tide. Arrayed in his royal robes, and attended by all the nobility and great men of his court, he sat down with his face towards the sea, and thus addressed it; "I charge thee upon thy allegiance, O sea, to advance no farther. Here I, thy lord, have thought proper to fix my station. Know thy distance; respect my authority, nor dare to touch the feet of thy sovereign, under pain of his highest displeasure." The swelling billows, regardless of his command and threatenings, continued to rush in, advanced impetuously to the steps of his throne, and speedily constrained the monarch and his train to retire. Upon which, turning round to his flatterers, he observed, "that he only deserved to be acknowledged as Lord of the land and the sea, whose will the winds and the waves obeyed."

The breadth of the passage opened through the Red Sea must have been very considerable indeed, to have afforded to such a multitude as four millions of people, for less there could not be, space to get over in a single night's time. To determine this we must have recourse to calculation. But your time being far spent, this, together with an attempt to solve some of the difficulties of the dispensation, and to remove some of the objections which infidelity has raised to the credibility or miraculousness of the history, must make a constituent part of another Lecture.

In practically applying this subject, we may consider the Red Sea, by which the armies of Israel were stopt short, as an emblematical representation of that great fight of affliction, that sea of trouble, through which every believer must pass in his way to the heavenly Canaan. Through the furnaces of Egypt, through the parts of the Red Sea, through the swellings of Jordan, God's ancient people at length got possession of the promised land. And it is "through manifold tribulations that we must enter into the king

dom of God. It is of importance not only that we be going forwards, but that we be making progress; that growth in grace should keep pace with the uninterrupted flux of human life. The course which Providence leads us, though neither the shortest nor the most desirable, will be found upon the whole the safest, the surest and the best. The possession of Canaan is not always the next step to our escape from Egypt. Justification by the grace of God puts us beyond the reach of our enemies, and adoption makes good our title to "the inheritance of the saints in light;" but it is sanctification that makes us meet for the enjoyment of the purchased possession. The Red Sea seemed to put an end to Israel's progress, but actually shortened the distance. So affliction, while it appears intended to overwhelm, is accelerating the believer's speed to his Father's house above. "All these things are against me," saith frail, faltering, erring man, in his haste. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God," saith the better informed, the experience-taught christian, on reviewing the mysterious ways of Providence; and on having attained "the end of his faith, even the salvation of his soul." If we look to the creature only, all is dark and comfortless: nothing but cloud. When through the crea ture we look to an invisible God, all is peace and joy. We cannot remove mountains, nor turn floods into dry ground. It is not meet we should be trusted with such power. Obedience is our proper province; submission to the will of God our truest wisdom; and when we follow the direction of Provi. dence, our way cannot but be prosperous. "Lord, we will follow thee whithersoever thou goest." Human conduct is a woful inversion of this rule. We torment ourselves about the event over which we have no power, and trifle with the commandment with which alone we have to do...We neglect our duty, and then foolishly and impiously complain that we are

unkindly dealt by, when Providence promotes not, or crosses our inclinations. Let us show cheerful and unreserved compliance; and be the issue what it may, whether our wishes be opposed or succeed, we shall at least have the consolation of reflecting, that the miscarriage is not chargeable to our own perverseness or folly. It is a dreadful, it is a two-edged evil, at once to lose our aim, and incur the just displeasure of God by disobedience. "Thy will," O Father," be done on earth, as it is in heaven." Amen.

HISTORY OF MOSES.

LECTURE XI.

Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my Father's God, and I will exalt him. EXODUS XV. 1, 2.

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To no one man has the world been so much indebted for rational pleasure and useful knowledge, as to the inspired author of these sacred books. Moses, as he is the most ancient, so he is by far the best writer that ever existed. Never in one and the same character were united talents so various, so rare, and so valuable. He may without hesitation be pronounced, the most eloquent of historians, the sublimest of poets, the profoundest of sages, the most sagacious of politicians, the most acute of legislators, the most intrepid of heroes, the clearest sighted of prophets, the most amiable of men. The qualities of his heart seem to strive for the mastery vith those of the understanding: so that it is difficult to determine whether, as the reputed son of Pharaoh's daughter, as a voluntary exile from the splendor of a court, as the sympathizing friend of his afflicted brethren, as the bold protector of virgin innocence, as the contented shepherd of Jethro's flock, as the magnanimous assertor of Israelitish liberty, or finally, as king in Jeshurun, ruling the

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