"shall not be seen." Thus was fulfilled the precious declaration made to Moses: "I will make all my goodness pass before thee." This goodness shone more brightly in this display of the redeeming grace and infinite love that should produce the incarnation of Immanuel, than if heaven had been opened to Moses, and he had beheld the divine goodness crowning the angel and beatifying the seraph.

After this privilege, Moses, at the command of God, again ascended the mount with two tables of stone, on which the commandments were again to be written. There the Lord manifests himself to him in a more spiritual manner, and teaches him that the bright assemblage of divine perfections, and particularly his sovereign authority, the riches of his grace, and the terrors of his justice, constitute the divine glory." And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." I regret that I have not time to illustrate in detail this sublime and tender passage. The heart of the believer will comment upon it. Let me just remark, with respect to the last clause, that these words are annexed to the second commandment; that they almost always refer to the punishments attending on idolatry; and that, without exception, they apply to temporal judgments. That God, by these, does visit children for the iniquity of their fathers, is a fact that cannot be doubted by one who looks around him. There is no

reference to eternal punishment. With regard to these, it is everlastingly true, that the "son shall not bear the iniquity of the father," but that "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," and "every man shall bear his own burden."

A manifestation of God, though in mercy, must strike a sinful creature with awe. We are not surprised, therefore, that even Moses, who had so long enjoyed the visions of God," made haste and bowed his head and worshipped." Oh! what a change must take place in our whole frame, before we can bear to stand with unveiled faces, in the immediate presence of God, round the throne of his glory!

Thus beholding the displays of mercy, Moses again intercedes for that people so dear to his heart; and supplicates that if he himself has found acceptance, Israel also may be forgiven fully, and favoured with the tokens of his gracious residence among them. An answer of peace is returned, and happiness is again restored to the heart of the generous Moses.

Again he continued forty days and forty nights upon the mount. He was taught all the ordinances of God. In descending, his countenance shone with a bright lustre, partaking, as it were, of the effulgence of that Deity with whom he had conversed. This was a new proof of his divine mission; and when he drew near to the people, with such evident proofs of being an immediate messenger from heaven, they feared to approach him till he had covered his face with a veil. This he constantly wore in giving them the instructions which he had now received, and laid it aside only when he entered into the tabernacle of God, before whom the highest splendour of a crea ture is utterly obscured.

This portion of history,

1. Strongly teaches us the efficacy of prayer, and the duty of intercession. Had not Moses fervently and perseveringly prayed, Israel would have been destroyed. What cannot prayer effect? We have seen, in the striking expression used by the Lord, that it has a kind of omnipotence, since it has an interest and a prevalence with the omnipotence of Jehovah. It opens the door of mercy, and keeps out an inundation of judgments. Be importunate, then, in your supplications. In the exercise of prayer you will receive strength, light, and consolation. By it, in every age, the pious have been supported, the afflicted comforted, the martyr cheered. By frequent converse with God in prayer, the soul will shine, as did the face of Moses after his converse with the Lord upon the mount.

And while you supplicate for yourselves, like the generous law-giver of the Jews, bear others on your hearts before the mercy-seat. Like him, intercede for those who have injured, reproached, and exercised ingratitude towards you: you may have the Christian revenge of seeing them melted in penitence, and warmed with love. Like him, implore, with tears implore, the compassion of God upon the violaters of his law, upon those who are exposed to everlasting ruin. You may have the joy of beholding them humbled for their guilt, and fleeing to the grace of the Most Merciful, and the sacrifice of the Redeemer for pardon. Like him, plead for your relatives who have sinned. Is there no Aaron, whom you must censure, but for whom you also should pray -no irreligious child, no unrenewed partner, no thoughtless friend? Oh! let the voice of intercession rise in their behalf from the centre of your soul;

and, in answer to your petitions, God may pluck them from death, everlasting death!

2. Let us turn our eyes for a moment from Moses to that great Intercessor whom he typified; to that glorious High Priest, who appears, not merely upon the mount, but in the heaven of heavens for us, and whom "the Father heareth always." We admire the disinterested love of Moses; what was it to the ineffable charity of Jesus, who not only fasted and prayed, but bled and died for us, and then ascended into heaven, giving us the consolatory assurance, that "if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Moses had no ground of intercession but undeserved mercy and abounding grace; Jesus pleads the merit of his blood, the full ransom he has paid for his children, and through him the tribunal of justice itself becomes a throne of grace, where absolutions are pronounced, and whence blessings flow. Moses interceded, not only for Israel in general, but also for Aaron in particular. Jesus pleads, not only for his whole church, but also for every single member of it; for Peter, that his faith fail not. The Son of God is at prayer in heaven for thee, believer, for thee in particular, with as much tenderness and care as though thou wast the only happy creature throughout the universe under his guardianship and dominion. But recollect also, my brethren, that the same Moses who interceded for the rebellious, punished the incorrigible. And it is the same Jesus who now intercedes for sinners, that "shall be revealed from heaven in flaming fire, taking vengeance on all that know not God, and that obey not the gospel." That in that day the "despisers" who have continued to slight his mercy, shall behold and wonder, and perish." 38

VOL. I.

3. Finally we are taught by the apostle Paul, (2 Cor. iii.) to consider the veil on the face of Moses as emblematical of the nature of that dispensation, comparatively dark, concealed in types and shadows, so that they could not clearly see the end. Let us rejoice that the veil is removed by the gospel of Christ; that "the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth." Let us live as children of the light, and then "we all, beholding with open face the glory of the Lord, shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of our God:" and beyond the grave, shall be encircled with a brightness greater than that which shone on the face of Moses at Horeb; lustrous as that which encircled his whole body upon Tabor. “The Lord himself shall be our everlasting light, and our God our glory."

SERMON XXIV.

LIFE OF MOSES.

No. VIII.

EXODUS xl. 29. LEVITICUS Vii. 9, 10. NUMBERS ix. 1—5.

In our last lecture, we beheld the Israelites, forgetful of their solemn protestations, and of the commands of God, bowing down to the molten calf; and at this humbling view, we deplored the ingratitude