God appeareth to Moses in a burning bush.

1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

7 And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason

of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

11 And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

12 And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

LECTURE 107.

We ought to live under the conviction of God's presence. The faith which we have in divine things comes of our being told of them. As for the things that we see around us, these are only sensible, and for a time. All our own experience may seem to be confined to impressions made on our outward senses, and to the objects which make them. And yet mankind have in all ages been under the conviction, that there is every where something more than meets the eye, something besides all which our ears can hear, and all which our hands can handle. We feel that in our own body there is a soul. We find evidence of a soul thinking, or feeling, acting, or suffering, in every one of our fellow creatures

who approaches us. We conceive it probable, that besides these embodied spirits like our own, there are others which have no such burden as the flesh, which think or feel, act, suffer, or enjoy, independently of any outward sense. And we no less readily entertain the notion, that besides all these, there is some One, who rules all others, a Spirit such as we mean by God.

Now these sentiments, which have been current with more or less of acceptance amongst nearly all mankind, are in every case to be traced to those revelations of Himself, which the One only true God has been pleased from time to time to give unto mankind. And one of the most remarkable of these, one which has most largely influenced the belief of all succeeding generations, and is most closely connected with our own faith also, is this, of which we here have the introduction. Familiar as we are with the profession of our faith, and stoutly as we maintain, against all gainsayers, that God is almighty and every where present, it would startle us to see suddenly in this room any such manifest token of something supernatural, as a bush burning and not consumed. It would startle us to hear a voice issue from such a fire as that; even though we should suppose it to be some one of created spirits, and not the Creator Himself. But what if the voice should say, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?" What if the things spoken were such as God alone could say? What if a token were given us such as God only could fulfil? The more thoroughly we were convinced, that it was, in truth, God manifesting Himself to man, we should be so much the more apt with Moses to hide our faces; being like him "afraid to look upon God."

And yet one chief use of this record of what happened to Moses, is to convey to us the same lively impression of an ever present God, as it must have made effectually on him. And if faith be the evidence of things not seen, we ought to live under as sure persuasion that God is present, and might at any moment make Himself manifest, as if we had seen what Moses saw. Behold, to us also He has given a commission. And who are we, O Lord, that we should be able to fulfil thy commandments? Hark, it is his voice that answers us; "Certainly I will be with thee." There shall nò temptation happen to us beyond what we are able to bear. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. He proves his presence, by enabling us to do, what without it we never could accomplish, to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord. See 2 Cor. 7. 1.

O ever present God, let us henceforth distrust no more. Let us love to do all that Thou dost command. Let us long to know all that Thou hast revealed. And as we approach Thee in the confidence of sons, through the intercession of our blessed Saviour, let it be the earnest desire of our hearts, to behold thy face in glory!

The name of God. His message to Israel.

13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Í AM hath sent me unto you.

15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. 16 Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:

rizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

18 And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.

19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.

20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty.

22 But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment : and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians. LECTURE 108.

17 And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Pe

That the one only true God is in covenant with us.

In this marvellous revelation of Himself, God did by no means overpower the selfpossession, or understanding, of his servant Moses. Though he hid his face out of reverential awe, never having doubted for one moment that it was the voice of God, yet he was able to reflect; he was able to weigh the nature of the commission which God gave him. In the humble exercise of his own reason he first suggested how unequal he was to the task proposed. See ver. 11. And when this objection was overruled, by the

promise of God's presence to uphold him, he then enquired how he should answer the children of Israel, who by way of sifting his authority, would be sure to ask the name of the God that had sent him.

To this enquiry God vouchsafed to give the answer following: "I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you." And further He directed Moses to tell them that it was the God of their fathers who had sent him unto them, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob;" a name by which He declares He would be known "for ever," his "memorial unto all generations." And after this, He bade Moses promise them, in his name, that He would bring them up out of Egypt, into the land of Canaan. And God also assured him, that they would hearken to his voice, shewed him how to proceed with the king of Egypt, warned him that this Pharaoh would not let the people go, but by a mighty hand," (Margin), promised him that this mighty hand should be revealed, and foretold that by means of the favour which He would give his people in the sight of the Egyptians, it should come to pass that they should not go empty, but that by borrowing, or rather, demanding their ornaments and raiment, under circumstances which will be explained hereafter, they should "spoil the Egyptians."

Are we, like Moses, ourselves convinced, and desirous to know how we may convince others? Let us tell them, that the God in whom we put our trust, and in whom we would persuade them to put their's, is no other than He that dwelleth in eternity, who is "the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever." Heb. 13. 8. He is that He is. Neither is there any other like to Him. All other beings are of his creation. He is from everlasting to everlasting. But though He be so high above out of our reach, He has been pleased to enter into a covenant of love with the children of men. And in memorial thereof, He calls Himself the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And according to his covenant He has visited and redeemed his people, both the children of Israel according to the flesh, and the seed of Abraham according to the spirit. He has sent his Son to save us from our enemies. He has given us the promise of this world, and of that which is to come. Only let us hearken to the voice of our Redeemer; and behold, by the help of the Lord, we go forth, laden with spoil, from contending with our adversary for a season, to join the triumph of our King for

ever.

God grant that we may know, both how to prove all things, and how to hold fast that which is good! God teach us, how to use our understanding in believing what He has revealed, and at the same time to resign our hearts!

Moses is empowered to work miracles. 1 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee.

2 And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod.

3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. 4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand :

5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee.

6 And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

7 And he said, Put thine hand into thy bosom again. And he put his hand into his bosom again; and plucked it out of his bosom, and, behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

10 And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak unto him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

16 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these 17 And thou shalt take this rod two signs, neither hearken unto in thine hand, wherewith thou thy voice, that thou shalt take of shalt do signs. LECTURE 109.

That we must not be cold in undertaking the work of God. Here we see how revelation is accredited by miracles. Here we have the proper notion of a miracle set forth, a work beyond the course of nature, an interruption of the laws of nature, wrought