fting out of death. Undoubtedly, when an object fo important and a doctrine fo inftructive can by whatever means be impreffed upon the heart, we ought not too fqueamishly to reject applications and illuftrations of this fort. In order to promote the ends of true piety, what though we relax a little of the laws of rigid criticifm? If imagination ferve as an handmaid to virtue and devotion, let men be as fanciful as they will. If a ferious foul be edified or comforted, fhall I mar his joy and disturb his tranquillity by forcing him to comprehend the meaning of Greek and Hebrew particles? Whether it be warrantable or not to give this evangelical turn to the paffage before us, its moral intention and import will hardly be disputed. It exhibits the reluctance which men feel to encounter affliction, their impatience and unreasonablenefs under it, the wife defign of Providence in afflictive difpenfations, namely to "prove men, whether they will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord their God, and do that which is right in his fight." And finally, it illuftrates the power, wisdom and goodnefs of God in counteracting one natural evil, by another evil; making poifon ferve as an antidote to poifon, and healing the greater plague of fin by the lefs, that of fuffering. Some commentators have conjectured, that it was about this very fpot that Hagar was relieved and fupplied with water, fhe and her fon, by the angel of the Lord, when they were banished from Abraham's houfe; and they reprove the incredulity of the Ifraelites by the example of her faith. After all, it was undoubt edly a very fevere trial; whether we confider how much water, fweet water, is connected, not merely with the convenience and comfort, but with the very existence of human life; the immenfe quantity neceffary for the fupport of fuch a vast multitude of men and women, befides cattle; or the peculiar demand occafioned by a vertical fun and a parched foil. We pass on from Marah as men, and as the inhabitants of more favoured regions, praifing,God, "who walks upon the the clouds," and refreshes us from heaven above; gufhe's upon us in a thousand streams of limpid com fort from the earth beneath, and gently flows through every field in a tide of delight; and as chriftians we flee for refuge and refreshment to that wonderful Man, defcribed in prophetic vifion in fuch. beautiful figures as these; "A man fhall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempeft: as rivers of water in a dry place; as the fhadow of a great rock in a weary land.”* Gold, filver, and precious ftones, are produced in fmall quantities, and are of difficult and dangerous investigation. And happily the life of man confifts not in fuch things as thefe. Whereas the things which really minifter to human comfort, and conftitute the real fupport of human life, are poured down upon us with unbounded profufion. The choiceft bleffing which ever was bestowed upon the world, is common and free to all as the water in the ftream, as the light and air of heaven. But though the bitter waters are sweetened for pres ent ufe, Ifrael must not think of continuing encamped by them. They are to be but the tranfient refreshment of the way-faring man, not the ftated fupply of the land of promife. Whatever we have attained, whatever we enjoy, the voice of Providence ftill fummons us away, faying, "Arife ye and depart, for this is not your rest." Their next journeying is from Marah to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threefcore and ten palm-trees; and they encamped there by the wa ters.' In the preceding ftation, their provifion was partly from nature, partly from the kindness of a gracious Providence. Nature furnished the fubftance, a miracle endowed it with the fuitable qualities. But at Elim, nature feems to do the whole, with her "threefcore and ten palm-trees, and twelve wells of water." And what is nature, but the great JEHOVAI performing the most astonishing wonders in a stated * Ifaiah xxx. 2. and "66 and regular courfe? Water iffuing from a rock when fmitten by a rod, is not in itself a whit more miraculous than the continually fupplying one little stream from the fame fpring. Being arrived at Elim, they encamped by the waters." The word "Elim" ftanding in our verfion untranflated, is generally confidered as the proper name of a place; but it is by fome, and with a great appearance of reafon, rendered, the forefts." This is fupported by a paffage of Strabo,* the famous geographer and historian of Cappadocia, to this purpofe; that " at five days journey from Jericho there is a forest of palm-trees, which is held in great veneration throughout all that country, on account of the fprings of water which are found there in great abundance." The numbers twelve and Seventy in the facred text, inftead of fignifying a determinate quantity, may undoubtedly denote indefinitely according to a licenfe common in all languages, a large abundance. And then the account of Strabo, and the narration of Mofes, will mutually confirm and ftrengthen each other. Two writers of no lefs eminence and credit than Tacitust and Plutarch, plainly allude to this paffage, when they fay that "the Jews, being ready to perifh with thirft, happily discovered fprings of running water." But, instead of fettling the geography of the spot, and the import of the word Elim, let us look into the fact recorded, and through it into the volume of human nature. "They encamped there by the waters." The felf-fame fpirit which murmured at the taste of a bitter stream, disposed them to feek repofe by the fide of one that was fweet and placid. Mistaken in both, a carnal mind is eafily unhinged and foon fatisfied. Like children, they are put out of humour with a ftraw, and prefently pacified they know not why; and behold unbelief lying at the root of both one and the * Lib. xvi. + Hift. Lib. V. other. other. Now, eager to get home before the time; by and by drowning all thoughts and hopes of it in the bauble of the present hour. See Ifrael at one time difconcerted and chagrined to find that the wilderness did not produce every thing to a wifh; at another, ready to forego the profpect of Canaan for Egypt, and ́ to accept the land of dates and water for that flowing with milk and honey. Never did any good come of fitting down contentedly in temporal poffeffions. No fooner do men become eafy and comfortable in their circumstances, than they grow capricious and fantaftical in their wishes and defires. If Providence vifit them not with fcarcity, or unpleafantnefs of water; their own restless appetite fhall vifit them with an abfurd and unreasonable craving for flesh. The fruit and fhade of the palm-tree, and the deliciousness of a fresh fpring, please not long. Put an end to novelty, and farewel delight. But a month and fourteen days have elapfed, fince with fo much joy they quitted the houfe of bondage and they are weak and wicked enough to with themselves thither again. And why? because, in a march of a few fhort weeks at most, through a wild and defert country, they wallowed not in the profufion of Egypt, which they were obliged to purchase at the price of their liberty and blood. When we hear of fuch an univerfal mutiny, for it was not the murmuring of a few factious difcontented fpirits, but of the whole congregation of Ifrael, what have we not to fear from the juft refentment of a holy and righteous God, thus infulted by mistrust and unbelief? We find him immediately taking up the cause, and, in a manner peculiar to himself. Wonder, O heavens, and be aftonifhed, O earth. "And the Lord faid unto Mofes, Behold I will rain"-what? Fire and brimstone from heaven, upon this generation of incorrigible rebels, until they be utterly coníumed? No but "I will rain bread from heaven upon you.' Is this thy manner with men, O Lord God? Surely, "it "it is of thy mercy we are not confumed, because thy compaffions fail not,' The hiftorical fact which follows, as the accomplishment of this promife, is one of the moft fingular upon record; and fo mixes itself with the leading objects of the New Testament difpenfation, that it well merits a feparate and particular confideration. Being arrived at another of the great epochas, or periods of ancient history, the going out of Egypt; we shall make a brief recapitulation of the whole, from the beginning. The first great period of the hiftory of the world, is from the creation down to the deluge; containing the space of one thousand fix hundred and fifty-fix years; and a fucceffion of eight lives, from Adam, to the fix hundredth year of Noah. The fecond is, from the flood to the calling of Abraham, and contains four hundred and twenty-feven years; and a fucceffion of ten lives, from the hundred and eighth year of Shem, the fon of Noah, to the feventy-fifth of Abraham, the father and founder of the Jewish nation: fix of the patriarchs, after the flood, being now dead, Noah, Phaleg, Rehu, Serug, Nahor, and Terah; and four of them ftill living, Shem, Arphaxad, Salah, and Heber. So that one life, that of Shem, connects the antediluvian world, and the call of Abraham. For he was ninety-eight years old before the flood came; and lived till Abraham was one hundred and fifty, and Ifaac fifty years old. The third grand period of the world, containing four hundred and thirty years, commences on the fifteenth day of the month Abib, which anfwers to the end of our April, or the beginning of May. And fome learned chronologifts have undertaken to prove, from the fcripture history and astronomical calculations, that Abraham departed from Haran, the pafchal lamb was facrificed in Egypt, and Chrift expired upon the cross, as the propitiation for the fins of the world, on Calvary, in the identical month of the year, day of the month, and hour and minute of the day. This pe |
