detailed by Moses. The great fact of the Deluge, omitting the mention of every other, is not only fully confirmed by the remains of marine animals in every quarter of the globe, but is attested with more or less correctness by many ancient pagan writers. In fine, without this history, the world would be in comparative darkness, not knowing whence it came, nor whither it is going. Even in the first page, a child may learn more in an hour, than all the philosophers in the world learned without it in four thousand years.

"Reader, thou hast now before thee the most ancient and the most authentic history in the world; a history that contains the first written discovery that God has made of himself to mankind: a discovery of his own being in his wisdom, power, and goodness, in which thou and the whole human race are so intimately concerned. How much thou art indebted to him for this discovery he alone can teach thee, and cause thy heart to feel its obligations to his wisdom and mercy. God made thee and the universe, and governs all things according to the counsel of his own will. While under the direction of this counsel thou canst not err; while under the influence of this will thou canst not be wretched. Give thyself up to his teaching, and submit to his authority; and after guiding thee here by his counsel, he will at last bring thee to glory." Dr. A. Clarke.

EXODUS,

A period of 145 years, from A. M. 2369 to 2514.

Exodus is a Greek word, which signifies going out, or departure; and this book is so named, because it relates the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt. The book of Exodus was written by Moses. It was designed to serve as a memorial, 1. Of the wonderful deliverance of the Israelites from the horrors of Egyptian slavery; 2. Of their being formed, in the wilderness, into a religious community for the support of the public and constant worship of God; 3. Of the divine origin and obligation of their religious and political institutions, God graciously condescending to acknowledge himself as their King and their Father. The book of Exodus was further designed to show the exact fulfilment of the prophecies and promises delivered to Abraham, Gen. xv. 5-16. Exod. xii. 35, 36. 40, 41. that his descendants would be afflicted in a strange land, whence they should depart in the fourth generation with great substance.

Exodus is divided into forty chapters, and it contains eight principal sections.

Section I. Relates the surprising increase of the descendants of Jacob, while in Egypt, and their grievously oppressed condition, ch. i.

Sec. II. The birth and life of Moses till he was called and ordained by the Lord to be the deliverer of Israel from their bondage, ch. ii.-vi.

Sec. III. The wickedness of Pharaoh, and the ten plagues inflicted upon the land and people of Egypt, ch. vii.-xi.

Sec. IV. The institution of the passover, and the deliverance of the Israelites, ch. xii. xiii.

Sec. V. The miraculous passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites, and the overthrow of Pharaoh with his army, ch. xiv. xv.

Sec. VI. The account of several miracles wrought for the relief of the Israelites in the Arabian desert, ch. xvi.--xviii.

Sec. VII. The giving of the laws to Moses, by God, on the mountain of Sinai, ch. xix.—xxii.

Sec. VIII. The costly establishment for the public worship of God, with the manner of the ceremonies and sacrifices, ch. xxiii.-xl.

The things most deserving to be remembered, as recorded in the book of Exodus are seven :

1. The ten plagues, brought as a punishment from God upon the wicked Egyptians.

2. The institution of the passover to commemorate the deliverance of Israel.

3. The Red Sea opening a passage to save the Israelites, and its closing upon the Egyptians for their destruction. 4. The various miracles which God wrought to feed and supply the Israelites during forty years in the deserts of Arabia.

5. God, in awful majesty, giving the law from mount Sinai in Arabia.

6. The foolish and wicked idolatry of the Israelites in making a golden calf as an object of worship.

7. The costly and particular system of ceremonies for the public worship of God, designed to shadow forth th way of salvation by Jesus Christ.

1 Cor. x. 7.

xxiv. 6. 8.
xxvi. 35.

4.

1 Pet. ii. 9.

Heb. xii. 18-20. ix. 19-22.

xvi. 15. John vi. 31. 39-49.

Observations on the Ten Plagues of Egypt.

These ten plagues were inflicted upon Egypt in a manner remarkably adapted to punish the stupid idolatries of that people, their monstrous wickedness, and their wanton cruelties. This will evidently appear from a few

observations.

1. The waters turned to blood. The priests of Egypt

held blood in abhorrence, yet they cruelly sported with the blood of the captive Israelites, whose children they had caused to be cast into the river. The Egyptians worshipped the river Nile, calling it the ocean; but its waters being turned into blood, must have excited their loathing and detestation, while the calamity would cover them with confusion and shame, their fish having died, and their deity being degraded.

2. The plague of frogs. Frogs were consecrated to the Egyptian deity Osiris; and their swelling was employed, by the priests, as an emblem of divine inspiration. Their gross superstition, therefore, was suitably punished when their sacred river was polluted with miraculous swarms of these creatures, so as to fill the land, and to enter even their houses, their beds, and the vessels of their food, making the whole country offensive.

3. The plague of lice. The idolatries of Egypt were accompanied with rites, the most unclean, foul, and abominable; but these were performed under the appearance of scrupulous external cleanliness, especially in respect to the priests. They were excessively cautious lest any lice should be found upon their garments; so that by this plague, their superstitious prejudices must have been distressingly shocked, and the people with the priests overwhelmed with a common disgrace.

4. The plague of flies. The Egyptians worshipped several deities, whose province it was to drive away flies. In many places they even offered an ox in sacrifice to these despicable insects. Beelzebub, or Baalzebul, the god of Ekron, 2 Kings i. 2. was a fly deity of this people. The plague of flies, therefore, was the more grievous to them, as it so utterly degraded this revered divinity.

5. The murrain of the cattle. The Egyptians held many beasts in idolatrous veneration. The lion, wolf, dog, cat, ape, and goat, among the wild animals, were held sacred by them; but especially the ox, heifer, and ram. The soul of their god Osiris was believed to reside in the body of the bull Apis: yet neither Osiris nor all the rest could save the beasts of Egypt from the fatal

disease which fell upon them at the command of Moses the messenger of Jehovah.

6. The plague of boils. The Egyptians had several medical divinities, to whom, on particular occasions, they sacrificed living men. These were taken, it is supposed, in those times, from among the Israelites. They were burnt alive upon a high altar, and their ashes were cast into the air; that with every scattered atom a blessing might descend. Moses, therefore, took ashes from the furnace, and cast them into the air; atoms of which were scattered by the wind, and overspread the land, and these descended upon both priests and people in curses, with tormenting boils, which shamed their honoured deities.

7. The plague of hail, rain, and fire. In Egypt it neither hails nor rains: consequently this plague must have been very terrible. By the destruction of the barley, their supply of food must have been grievously diminished; and by the loss of the flax the trade in fine linen, which in Egypt was very great and important, must have been extensively spoiled.

8. The plague of locusts. In Africa these destructive creatures so dreadfully abound, that their swarms sometimes cover an extent of land a hundred miles square; and, devouring in a single night every green herb, they produce a fearful famine. Such havoc followed them in Egypt; nor could Isis, Serapis, and all the divinities of the land, avail to deliver them from under the rod of Moses, the appointed badge of his divine mission.

9. The plague of darkness. The Egyptians worshipped darkness as the origin of their gods. Orpheus, the most ancient pagan writer, who borrowed his notions from Egypt, in one of his hymns says, "I will sing of night, the parent of the gods and men: night, the origin of all things." They were therefore plagued with a horrible darkness-the blackness of darkness, with darkness which might be felt; and which their gods had no power either to prevent or alleviate, while the Israelites enjoyed light in all their dwellings.

10. The death of the first-born in every family. The howlings of the Egyptians at their funerals, and at the