SERMON XVII. LIFE OF MOSES. No. I. EXODUS i. ii. 1-10. THE God of Abraham had promised to this pa triarch that his descendants should occupy the land of Canaan. To preserve this family distinct from the other nations of the world, who universally were devoted to idolatry, until it became sufficiently powerful to conquer and possess the promised land, the Lord brought it into Egypt, the inhabitants of which were by their religious institutions forbidden to maintain a strict fellowship with strangers, and besides, regarded with peculiar aversion the occupation of shepherds, which was the employment of the Israelites. In scarcely any other country could they have been kept distinct from idolaters. Here the small company of seventy, that went down with Jacob, protected by Joseph, favoured by that Pharaoh who had derived such benefits from this patriarch, and enjoying the peculiar blessing of Divine Providence, rapidly increased and flourished. But in vain do we expect uninterrupted or long-continued prosperity upon earth. When Joseph and the monarch who had promoted him had been sometime dead; when the blessings conferred upon the nation by this patriarch were no longer fresh in remembrance, his descendants were treated with cruelty. From their rapid increase, they appeared formidable to the Egyptians, who, regardless of the attachment and gratitude that the Israelites had ever displayed, expressed their apprehensions that they would endeavour to obtain possession of the whole kingdom, or in case of war. enter into alliance with their enemies. "A new king arose who knew not Joseph." Not that he was unacquainted with the history of this holy man, or the obligations of the empire to himthis is scarcely possible-but, according to the frequent use of the word, to know,* in Scripture, he felt no affection for him-he regarded his memory without gratitude. The silence of Moses, and the want of records of profane history, render it impossible for us to decide who was this monarch.† Had his name been preserved, it would have been mentioned only with execration. To check the growing power of the Israelites, he first cruelly oppressed them, and imposed upon them the severest burdens. But "the more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and grew." Urged on by a sanguinary policy, sacrificing every sentiment of humanity to his chimerical fears, he then ordered that all the male children should be privately strangled at their birth. Those to whom the *See in the Concordances instances of this use of y, ade, and referring to the affections, not the understanding. γίνωσκα, The opinion of Marsham, founded on a fragment of Manetho, that it was a king of another race, called in Josephus Salatis, and in Artaphanus, as preserved by Eusebius, Philamanothes, is unfounded. It was probably Ramesses Miamun, or his son Amenophis. execution of this barbarous order was committed; evaded it. This is not surprising. They were females, perhaps mothers, and knew the heart of a parent. Disappointed by the benevolence of these pious women, he published an edict, the execution of which was committed to more relentless persons, that every male child, born of the Israelites, should be cast into the river. The Nile was esteemed sacred; and probably the king intended at once to destroy these children, and to make to his God an offering conformed to the cruel spirit that always has marked idolatry. It is impossible to describe, and only you who are parents can conceive, the anguish which this edict excited in the habitations of the Israelites: the bursts of indignation and horror from the father; the tears and overwhelming distress from the mother, when they thus heard the sentence of death pronounced upon their unborn and innocent child. And when the child is born, who does not sympathize with the poor mourner, whose heart almost breaks with anguish as she hangs over her babe, (that smiles perhaps unconscious of its danger,) and trembles lest each moment the bloody executioner should come to tear it from her reluctant arms, and consign it to its watery grave? And when these fears were realized when the dear object of maternal affection was plucked from her bosom, was dragged from her arms, which could no longer retain it, although they were nerved by despair and agony-what she then felt, mothers, your hearts must declare. And now the tyrant supposed that the people who had excited his jealous fears would soon be exterminated; that his plans could no longer be thwarted, his power resisted, nor his throne shaken. But ah! how vain are the designs of men when they oppose the counsels of the Almighty! How easily can he rescue his servants out of the hands of their enemies -wither the power of even the greatest monarchsshelter his people, and destroy their oppressors. The infants of Bethlehem may bleed, but that Messiah who had excited the apprehensions of Herod, shall not suffer: the children of the Israelites may perish, but he who is to be the deliverer of the people of God, shall be shielded by the Almighty. Painful as were these sufferings to the Israelites, they were necessary in order to prevent them from being corrupted by the idolatry of the Egyptians, and to dispose them to depart from this country to the land promised to their fathers. From several passages (Josh. xxiv. 14. Ezek. xx. 7, 8. xxiii. 8.) it appears that, notwithstanding the obstructions which the political and religious institutions of the Egyptians opposed to a familiar intercourse with the children of Israel, these had even at this time a strong tendency to idolatry; and there can be little doubt, that had they have been caressed by the Egyptians; nay, had they been only moderately persecuted, they would have been entirely seduced to unite in all their superstitions. Besides, the time was approaching when they must take possession of the land of Canaan; and if, notwithstanding their distresses, they were so attached to Egypt that they could scarcely be persuaded to leave it, and were ready so often to return to it-how impossible would it have been to have induced them to depart, had they enjoyed there uninterrupted prosperity and pleasure? And are not these still the causes of those sorrows with which we are visited?-Sometimes to punish us for our departure from God, and make us cleave to him; sometimes to render us willing to leave this "land of bondage," this "house of affliction," to which we are inordinately attached, and to make us sigh to enter into our true country, that heavenly Canaan, which is secured to believers by a promise which cannot fail. rents. Let this effect be produced especially upon all those of you, my dear friends, who have experienced bereavements similar to those of the Israelitish paLet the death of your children prepare you for the Jerusalem on high. They have gone before you into the bosom of God: let them serve as a link connecting you with heaven. Instead of indulging the tears of nature, let faith lift up an eye sparkling with joy, and behold them radiant with glory in that world to which we are invited to follow them. Ah! think of the mothers of Israel, and cease to murmur! You could watch by the sick couch of your child, and perform for it every tender office of affection: on your bosom it expired: you resigned it to the Father of mercies, who called for it, and beheld no murderous arm intervening to hide your view of your God; you saw it consigned to the house of silence; and imagination does not haunt you with a picture of its swollen body mangled by the monsters of the Nile! Be thankful that you are saved from such woes. Learn wisdom from your bereavements. It is true, you formed a thousand delightful expectations from the sweet plant that you watched with such tenderness, that you cultivated with such care. You imagined that you saw the blossoms of every thing wise and virtuous rapidly expanding; but it is torn up by the roots-its buds have withered-its colours have faded-and with it your hopes have |