to Mofes; but, was it entirely unknown to the Egyptians? What, in fo great an army, led by the fovereign in perfon, in a land renowned for natural knowledge, was there no man aftronomer enough to know, that the difference of a few hours is every thing in a cafe of this fort; that to be in such a spot, at fuch a time, was inevitable deftruction? Incredible! impoffible! Finally, it is altogether inconceivable that the space of three or four hours, the utmost that an ebb merely natural could have afforded them, was fufficient for the tranfition of fuch an astonishing multitude as that which Mofes conducted. The learned Calmet has fo fully demonftrated this point,* as to enforce the conclufion, that no degree of human knowledge could have difclofed to Mofes a forefight of the events which proved fo propitious to him. Not therefore to the fuperiority of genius, but to a power divine, the praife is to be afcribed. And to the fame principle we must recur in order to explain the mighty difference which Providence puts between the Ifraelites and the Egyptians, in the midst of the Red Sea. Attempts have been made to debase the dignity of this great event, by reducing it to the level of fimilar appearances recorded by profane hiftorians. That degenerate fon of Ifrael, Jofephus, firft ftarted this objection. Thefe are his words; "This," fpeaking of the paffage of the Red Sea, "I have related with all the circumftances, as I find them in our facred authors. Nobody ought to think it an incredible thing, that a people which lived in the innocence and fimplicity of the first ages, might have found a way through the fea to fave themselves. Whether it was that the fea itself opened it for them, or whether it was done by the will of God: fince the fame thing happened long after to the Macedonians, when they pafied through the fea of Pamphylia, under the con. duct of Alexander, when God thought fit to make Differt. fur le paffage de la Mer Rouge. ufe ufe of that people for the deftruction of the Perfian empire, as it is affirmed by all the hiftorians who have written the life of that prince. However, I leave all men to judge of this matter as they think fit." Thus far Jofephus. The other inftances which fome prefume to be put in competition with this, are the approach of Scipio with his army to the attack of New Carthage, by means of an extraordinary ebb at the change of the moon, recorded by Livy:f a fimilar ebb of the river Euphrates, related by Plutarch, in his life of Lucullus ; and, a flood altogether as fingular, upon the coaft of Holland, in the year 1672; which kept up for twelve whole hours, and was apparently the means of preserving that republic from the confequences of a joint attack of the fleets of England and France. It is handed down to us in the life of the famous admiral De Ruyter, who had the command of the Dutch fquadron at that time. Neither your time nor patience admitting of an inquiry into the truth of thefe feveral facts, we fatisfy ourselves with obferving, that admitting them to be true, not one of them is any way worthy to be compared with the Mofaic account of the paffage across the Red Sea. The pointed and particular prediction of Mofes; the rod employed, and the inftantaneousness of the effect; the facility and speed of the paffage; the rashness of the Egyptians; their tragical end; every thing in fhort concurs to render this an unparalleled event. And nothing but an immoderate defire of depreciating the miracles of the facred hiftory, could have attempted to diminish this celebrated tranfit into a comparison with any of the other events which are alluded to. The third objection is, to the truth of the hiftory; pretended to be taken from the hiftory itfelf. The time allotted by Mofes, by his own account, for the congregation, confifting of fo many myriads, to pafs * Antiq. Jud. Lib. ii. Cap. vii. over, over, is confidered by the objectors as much too fhort for the purpose. But in order to fupport it, they are obliged to go into uncertain, fanciful and unfupported conjectures, about the breadth of the Red Sea at the place where the paffage was opened. They make the breadth of that paffage just what it fuits their own arbitrary conjecture and calculation. They must needs constrain a great multitude, in very peculiar circumftances, unaccustomed to discipline, stimulated by fear, and borne on the wings of hope, to move with the leifure and deliberation of a regular army. They will not deign to acknowledge the power and grace of the Moft High in every part of the tranfaction. They overlook the defcription given of that people, Palm cv. 37. as a people full of strength and vigour, and "not one fickly among them." They forget what God himself foon after says of them, "You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings, and brought you unto myfelf." We conclude, that as the case taken all together was fingular, unprecedented, and followed by nothing like it; fo the particular circumftances of it are likewife fingular and unexampled, and will, with every candid perfon, bear out Mofes, the facred hiftorian, against the charge of being inconfiftent with himself. We proceed to the second object which we propofcd, namely, to point out a few of the more ftriking beauties of the facred fong, which was compofed and fung in grateful acknowledgment of that great deliverance which we have been contemplating. What will undoubtedly give it a high value in the eftimation of many is, that it is the moft ancient morfel of poetwhich the world is in poffeffion of: being three thousand three hundred and thirty-feven years old, that is, fix hundred and forty-feven years before Homer, the most ancient and the beft of heathen bards, lived or fung. But its antiquity is its flighteft excellency. The general turn of it is great, the thoughts nobly fimple, the ftyle fublime, the expreffion (trong, ry the It the pathos fweet, the figures natural and bold. abounds throughout with images which at once ftrike, warm, aftonish and delight. The occafion of it you well know. The poet's view is to indulge himfelf in tranfports of joy, admiration and gratitude, and to infpire the people with the fame fentiments. cordingly he thus impetuously breaks out, Ac Verfe 1. "I will fing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed glorioufly: the horfe and his rider hath he thrown into the fea." Here the tremendous majesty of God the deliverer, and the lively gratitude of the people faved, the leading object of the piece, are placed instantly and powerfully in fight; and they are never dropt for one moment, to the end. I, in the fingular number, is much more energetic and affecting than we in the plural would have been. The triumph of Ifrael over the Egyptians did not refemble the ufual triumphs of nation over nation; where the individual is overlooked and loft in the general. No; every thing here is peculiar and perfonal. Every Ifraelite for himself reflects with joy on his own chains now forever broken in pieces. He seems to exult over his own tyrant-mafter now fubdued under him, and hails his perfonal liberty now effectually fecured. For it is natural to the heart of man, in extreme danger, to refer every thing to himself, and to confider himfelf as all in all. The horfe and his rider hath he thrown into the fea:" for the fame reason the horse is much more forcible than horses would have been; it marks ftrongly the fuddennefs, the univerfality, the completeness of the deftruction. The Egyptian cavalry, numerous, formidable, covering the face of the ground, is reprefented in a moment, by a fingle effort, at one blow, overthrown, overwhelmed, as if they had been but one horfe and one rider. Verse 2. 66 JEHOVAH IS my ftrength and fong, and he is become my falvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him." Is it lawful to fay, that the poet employs employs the most exquifite art, in reprefenting this great deliverance, in every part and every view of it, as the work of JEHOVAH the great "I AM THAT Į AM:" that name of God, by which he chose to be known to Ifrael through the whole of thofe memora ble tranfactions? My ftrength, that is, the fource or caufe of my strength and it points out the great God as the courage and force of Ifrael, without the neceffity of their exerting any of their own. "My fong, that is, the fubject of it. No inftrument divides the praise with him. No power, no wisdom is employed but his own. He planned, arranged, executed every thing by himself. "HE is become my falvation.' The fine writers of Greece or Rome would probably have faid, "He hath faved me." But Mofes fays much more; The Lord hath undertaken himself to work deliverance for me: he hath made my falvation his own, his perfonal concern, and is become to me every thing I can want. : "He is MY GOD." Every word is emphatical. "He," in oppofition to the gods of Egypt, which cannot hear, nor fee, nor fave. "My God:" all-attentive to my intereft and fafety, as if he had no creature but me to care for and therefore my God: for I acknowledge not, I never will acknowledge, any other. "My father's God." This repetition is most beautifully tender and pathetic. He whofe greatness I adore, is not a strange God, unknown till now; a protector for a moment. No, he is the ancient patron of my family, his goodnefs is from generation to generation. I have a thousand domeftic proofs of his conftant, undiminifhed affection; and he is now making good to me only that which he folemnly promised to my forefathers. And how has he effected this? "The LORD is a man of war." An ordinary writer would probably have represented the Almighty here as the God of armies; and as fuch, difcomfiting the host of Pharaoh. But Mofes does more; he brings him forth as a champion, a fol dier |