for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be the gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt," Verses 7, 8. An offended God refuses any longer to acknowledge as his, a generation of wretches who had rendered themselves so entirely unworthy of his slightest regard. Justice awakes to a recapitulation of the benefits which they had received and the offences which they had committed, and concludes with a resolution totally to consume them. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."

In the dialogue which passed upon this occasion, some of the most interesting objects that can be contemplated present themselves to our view. The condescension of divine friendship: As God would not "hide from Abraham the thing which he was about to do;" would take no step towards the destruction of Sodom till that friend of God had been fully heard in its behalf; and could do nothing till Lot was departed; so the same God, rich in mercy, will not arise to vengeance against Israel, till Moses has been consulted and has acquiesced in the sentence. O the wonderful power of faith and prayer! Moses is represented as possessing a constraining power over Omnipotence, the anger of Jehovah refuses to burn till his permission is obtained. O the wonderful grace and condescension of the most High God! Thus is justice ever tempered with mercy: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not," Lam. iii. 22.

A proposal is made to Moses, (and what is too hard for the Lord to perform?) which a selfish heart would eagerly have grasped at; "I will make of thee, says God, a great nation." But selfishness in this

truly great man was controlled by much nobler and more generous principles; zeal for the honour of God, and compassion for a devoted people.

The intercessory addresses of Moses is a master piece of eloquence, and discovers a soul superior to all regards, but such as are worthy of a prophet, a hero, a patriot, and, what is superior to all, the friend of God. "And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, 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," Verses 11-13. The holy man of God is concerned not only that the Judge of all the earth should do right, but that the divine conduct should stand vindicated in the eyes of the heathen. He proposes to himself the same end which Jehovah himself has in view in all that he does-the glory of his great name. He nobly prefers the fulfilling of the ancient covenant with his venerable ancestors, Abraham, Isaae and Jacob, to the establishment of a new covenant with himself and his seed. He is willing to decrease, willing that his family continue obscure, that his head be laid low, provided the Lord be magnified, and Israel saved, This is a greatness of mind which religion alone could inspire. Like a true son of Israel, he wrestles and makes supplication; and as a prince he too has power with God, and prevails, if not to prevent every expression of displeasure, at least to prevent the execution of the general doom. Having

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obtained this great point, he descends with haste from the mount, bearing in his hand the most precious work of art that skill ever executed. Who does not shudder at the thought of its having been destroyed? "And Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables," Verses 15, 16. But why should we regret that a piece of curious workmanship in dumb matter, was destroyed? That loss soon might be and soon was repaired. Alas! we behold a more shocking spectacle every day-a race of thoughtless wretches deliberately, presumptuously defacing God's image, destroying his signature, engraved

not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of the heart;" inflicting on themselves a loss never to be repaired, not in a fit of holy zeal, but in a paroxysm of diabolical frenzy.

Moses might destroy the tablets, but the spirit of the writing he could not disannul. When all sensible monuments are dissolved, the law maintains its adamantine solidity, its uncontaminated purity, its unpliant steadiness, its unbending dignity. The tablets were written on both sides, within and without. Every fragment therefore had some part of the law and testimony written upon it. Thus, in every particle of the human frame, there are self-evident traces of the finger of God-the understanding, the heart, the conscience, the memory; shivers indeed, mutilated, defaced, but capable of being repaired and united.

But I find it impossible to collect into one efficient point of view the sequel of this eventful history, within the limits of one discourse. Here therefore we set up another resting place, and from it take a cursory view of the ground over which we have travelled.

J. What a melancholy view presents itself, of the

corruption, the degeneracy and degradation of human nature. Behold a people lost to every noble, generous, manly principle: restrained by no law, awed by no threatening, susceptible of no endearment, influenced by neither shame nor gratitude; boldly overleaping the bounds of reason and religion-and in that people behold "the carnal mind, which is enmity against God: which is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Behold "the wickedness of man, how great it is in the earth; and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart, how it is only evil continually." Think not, however, O man, that thou art surveying a distant prospect, or travelling through a foreign land. Think not that these Israelites are sinners above all the men of the earth. When thou hast thoroughly searched and known thyself, no account of human frailty will appear exaggerated. They framed and worshipped a golden image. How many myriads hourly bend the knee to the same idol, changed only a little in form! See the temple of mammon, how it is crowded. His votaries, see how much in earnest they are in their devotions. Early and late the incense ascends. Neither Jewish nor Christian sabbath interrupts their attendance or cools their ardor; while truth, and justice, and mercy, and the love of God are offered a perpetual sacrifice to the insatiate demon, who never says, "It is enough." think that gold is the only deity which men adore. On searching into thy own bosom, some lurking imp, of different form, complexion and texture will be found; hid in close disguise, unknown indeed of men; but to the eye of God and conscience clearly confessed. Down with it; it is thy dishonour, and threatens thy ruin.

Nor

II. Rejoice with trembling, while you contemplate the affecting prospect which opens of the severity and . mercy of the great God-the severity, which by the hand of Levi cut off three thousand of the offenders,

in the heat of their offence; which threatened to exterminate the whole race, and which, in "the day of visitation, visited their sin upon them"-the mercy which relented, which pitied and spared the guilty, which listened to the voice of intercession, and accepted the atonement. Thou thyself, O sinner, art a monument of both the one and the other. Thy life is forfeited to justice; thou art daily enduring the punishment of thy transgressions; thou standeth continually exposed to severer ills than any thou hast yet felt, and far beyond what fear itself can figure. Yet mercy suffers thee to live; there is hope concerning thee: the glad tidings of salvation are in thine ears; "Behold the lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world!" "Behold now is the accepted time, behold now is the day of salvation!" "Wherefore, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and brake off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor: it may be" more than "a lengthening of thy tranquillity," it may prevent eternal misery.

III. Behold a greater man than Moses is here-an Intercessor more compassionate, more earnest, more powerful: "a Prince with God" who ever prevails; a propitiation ever meritorious and successful: "blood that cleanseth from all sin." "If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world," 1 John ii. 1, 2. "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard, in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him," Heb. v. 7-9. "Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip.