ceive convey, as well as they can, a sense of the obligation under which we lie, to Him, who hath done away the deadly plague which wastes, which threatens, which destroys the soul; to Him, who hath paid the enormous debt "to the uttermost farthing," purchased a release, set open the prison doors; to Him who hath cancelled the awful sentence of a righteous God, " nailing it to his cross." He hath abolished death, with all the woe that leads to it, all the dreaded woe that is in it, all the more tremendous woe that succeeds: sickness and pain, anguish and old age: the bitter pang that rends asunder the body and the spirit; the hell that follows. And by what wonderful means hath all this been effected? "through death" he has destroyed "him that had the power of death." Into his own snare the deceiver has fallen; by his own weapons the enemy has been disarmed; his own triumph hath proved his O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ."* ruiu. 66 What hath been executed? He hath brought life and immortality to light. It is more than flattering hope or fond desire; it is more than the speculation of a philosophic mind, or the presumptuousness of reasoning pride; it is more than patriarchal confidence, or the dawning light of Mosaic revelation. It is desire warranted, and hope supported by facts; it is reason justified and confirmed by demonstration; it is the morning light of promise, advanced to the perfect day of discovery and accomplishment. "He that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.' 1." "For if we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." This is not the cold peradventure of a sage, saying, "If in this I err, I willingly err;" but the blessed assurance of an apostle, saying, "I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing."|| And can it be necessary to inquire who caused this light to arise? Who removed the veil, and disclosed the hidden glories of eternity? What power could tune the human tongue to such raptures and inspire a mortal breast with such holy and triumphant joy? "God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light." It is "the revelation of Jesus Christ, who sheweth to his servants things which must shortly come to pass." "By the gospel life and immortality are brought to light;" "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the 'Gentiles; which is Christ in you the hope of glory."¶ -Learn hence the folly and danger of all opposition to the plans of eternal Providence. "He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against Him and hath prospered ?"** “ Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: The LORD shall have them in derision. Yet have I set my King upon my holy hill of Zion. of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the utter Ask most parts of the earth for thy possession."* "If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought: but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God."+ "Verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." "Woe be to him who striveth with his Maker." Sinner, learn wisdom in time; cease from the ruinous contention; "it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks ;" thou art wounding, destroying only thyself."Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."§ -Christians, be of good courage; "in patience possess ye your souls." God will support and vindicate the cause that is his own. His truth and faithfulness, evinced by the interposition of ages past, are a full security for his care and attention through ages to come. Time, which impairs all things else, gives stability, force and effect to the purposes of Heaven. The dissolution of the frame of nature is the consummation of the work of redemption. As the writings of Moses are an improvement upon the traditional knowledge of the antediluvian world; and as the gospel is an improvement upon the law and the prophets, so," according to his promise," we look for a new economy, which shall be an improvement upon, and an extension, confirmation and accomplishment of the gospel dispensation. Learn to aspire after the honour and happiness of working together with God in forwarding this gracious design. It is the glory of the most exalted of all beings; and therefore, surely, deservedly claims the employment of the noblest powers of man. What heart would not rejoice in putting forth a helping hand towards rearing this blessed fabric, were it but to drive a pin, or fasten a cord. Remember that carelessness here is highly criminal; that to sit still is not only robbing yourself of the most exquisite pleasure, and declining the highest honour of which your nature is capable, but is at the same time the highest insult to your Creator, and the most certain means of incurring his displeasure. Look around you, and observe these myriads of fellowcreatures, less favoured of Heaven than you are, consider them well, and be to them in the place of God. Extend to them that compassion which the Father of mercies hath extended toward thee. See, my brothers, they are deformed, diseased in body; they are distressed in their circumstances; they are grieved in mind; alas, they "are dead in trespasses and sins!" Lost to God, lost to all the valuable purposes of existence, better for them they had never been born. But yet they are your brethren; they are susceptible of pleasure and pain like you; the same sun enlightens them; the gospel aims at relieving them as well as you; the same God created, and sustains, and cares for you both. Have pity upon them; strive to restore them to peace with themselves, to peace with the world, to peace with God. "It is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."|| "Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy upon them." Let the purpose of grace comprehend them, even them also. Son of God, who didst restore agility to the lame, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, the faculty of speech to the dumb, life to the dead, and who givest wisdom to the wise,-thou shalt renovate all things, thou shalt abolish death and point out the path of life! O, I shall bless thee with transports of joy ineffable, in the day when the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and the heavens pass away with a great noise, and the earth with all that it contains * Psal. ii. 2, 3, 4, 6, &. + Acts v. 38. 39. Matt. v. 18. Psal. ii. 12. Matt. xviii. 14. shall be consumed! Then thy suffering creatures, delivered from all the ills which oppressed them, shall be clothed upon with a glorious and immortal body, fashioned like to thy glorious body; shall be perfectly conformed to thy blessed image the image of the first-born among many brethren! Then the Saviour of the world shall pronounce, not from the expiring agony of the cross, but from the radiance of a throne above the skies, "It is finished!" Then He who "maketh all things new," shall with complacency contemplate this second glorious creation, and proclaim "all is good, yea, very good!" HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE II. EXODUS XXIV. 15, 16, 17, 18. And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. And the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. BREAD is not more necessary to the support of human life, than religion is to the happiness of a rational being. Man, in his better, his immortal part, "lives by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." In more than one instance the miracle has been exhibited, of sustaining the body without food, and yet no pain nor inconveniency felt; but for the soul to exist, and to exist in comfort, undirected by the precepts, unenlightened by the discoveries, unsupported by the consolations of religion, is a miracle not to be performed. It is the more to be lamented that the attempt is so often fatally made, of living "without God in the world ;" of pursuing a happiness that is independent of the great Source of light and joy; of seeking peace, rest and enjoyment in the neglect or violation of his commandments. Happy it is for men, if after having made the fruitless experiment of "seeking the living among the dead," and after having at length discovered that success is vanity, and that disappointment is vexation of spirit, have been persuaded, before it was too late, to draw their felicity from the pure and never-failing sources of faith and a good conscience; happy they, who, reconciled to God through Christ Jesus their Lord, enjoy real tranquillity in life, and well-grounded hope in death. We tremble as we behold Moses advancing to the summit of the burning mountain to meet God. Who can walk into the midst of a flaming furnace and live? But is it possible to remove from God an instant of time, a hair's breadth of space? No: God is about our path and our bed, is watching our going out and coming in, our lying down and rising up. God is in this place; and, were our eyes opened, we should even now behold his face clothed with the frowns of just displeasure, or beaming with the smiles of paternal love. Was the law given by "the disposition of angels," arrayed in all their majesty and might? O how benign their aspect, how affectionate their assiduity, how vigilant their care, could we but behold them, while they aid the preaching of the everlasting gospel, while they attend the assemblies of a christian church, and minister to them who are the heirs of salvation! As the awfulness and solemnity of the prophet's condition are not peculiar to him, and to that important occasion, so neither are the privileges which he enjoyed, nor the communion to which he was admitted, peculiar and personal. Christian, you have but to retire into your closet and to shut the door after you, and you are immediately on the top of a higher mountain than Moses climbed, and are near to God as he was in the most precious moments of the most intimate communication. Alone or in company, we have access at all times to the throne of grace; and we have what gave him safety and confidence in drawing nigh unto God-an Advocate with the Father, a great High Priest, a Mediator betwixt God and us. The great Jehovah, having delivered in every circumstance of magnificence that could excite attention, procure respect, and enforce obedience, that law, whose general nature, tendency and design, together with its relation to the evangelical dispensation, were the subject of a former Lecture, proceeded to regulate their civil polity. But not by an audible voice, in the ears of all the people, as he had done the law of the ten commandments, but in private conference with Moses, to be by him delivered to the people, he delivered those institutions of a civil and political nature, which regarded their social and national capacity. In studying these, the lovers of scripture will rejoice to trace the justest and most comprehensive views of human nature, the noblest and most liberal ideas of legislation, the most perfect equity, the profoundest sagacity, and the most unbounded kindness and benevolence. But it exceeds our strength, and it consists not with our plan, to go into the detail of these excellent statutes. We pursue the history. The voice from Sinai having, in dreadful glory, proclaimed the conditions of this new covenant, directions are given for the solemn and public ratification of it. This was done that the obligation, which was originally, invariably and necessarily binding upon the parties, might acquire additional force from voluntary consent, and from the intervention of august and significant ceremonies. I trust it will be neither unentertaining nor uninstructive to attend to the description of these ceremonies as they stand upon the sacred record, They are highly interesting whether we consider them as the venerable remains of a very remote antiquity, being no less than three thousand three hundred and forty-three years prior to the present time;* or as the original compact in the constitution of an ancient, important, well-known, and generally interesting national government; or as forming part of the plan of a divine administration, whose force can never be spent, whose influence on human virtue and happiness can never expire. God has "spoken once in his holiness," in a sensible manner, has made himself seen, heard and felt by a whole people together. But it is neither consistent with his dignity nor favourable to man's improvement, that he should always or often make himself known in that manner. He has spoken thus once, that every hearer might have a personal reason for acknowledging and adoring the dread Jehovah, the Fountain of all power, the supreme Author of every establishment. And he speaks thus but seldom, that all men may learn to revere conscience, his vicegerent upon earth, to study his word, the interpreter of his nature and will; and to respect and "be subject to the powers which he ordained of God, not only for wrath but for conscience sake." Directions are accordingly given to ratify the covenant, not by the whole people in person, but by their representatives. The persons summoned to attend on this great occasion, are; first, Moses himself, who was to represent the Mediator between the high contracting parties; then Aaron and his two sons, Nadab and Abihu, who represented the Levitical body, or order of priesthood; and finally, seventy of the elders of Israel, who were to act in the name of the congregation at large. When we observe the names of Nadab and Abihu in * A. D, 1792. |