duces him to their standard, because the confidence of innocence raised them not to his. The law of God must be taught to the people, though the teacher is become more glorious. This is a plain and striking lesson to all who undertake to instruct others. It is a wretched ambition merely to shine. The great aim of a teacher should be to communicate knowledge; and he shews himself to be possessed of most, who knows best how to convey it to others. He is the truly rich man, who, by the proper use of his wealth, assists in making many rich; not he who possesses a vast hoard which he knows not how to enjoy; nor he who makes an ostentatious display of riches, merely to insult his poorer neighbour. And he who speaks three words in a known language, to the edification of the hearer, has more real learning than the babbler of ten thousand, in a language which no one understands.

"Till he had done speaking," then, "Moses put a veil on his face;" that the sound of his voice might be heard, while the terrifying lustre of his face was obscured. But this was not merely an incidental circumstance, arising out of the occasion, and done away with it; but was designed, in providence,to be a symbolical representation of the whole Mosaic dispensation; which was nothing else but the gospel under a veil. That this is not a fanciful conjecture, we appeal to the great apostle of the Gentiles, who has removed the veil, and discovered the hidden glory which lies under it, and thus writes, "Not that we," meaning the apostles of the Lord Jesus under the New Testament, "not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves: but our sufficiency is of God. Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance, which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. For even that which was made glorious, had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished. But their minds were blinded; for until this day remaineth the same veil untaken away, in the reading of the Old Testament; which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away."+

From the days of Moses down to those of Paul, and by Paul himself, in the days of his ignorance, Moses was heard and read with the veil over his face; was understood in the letter, not in the spirit; and even after the veil was done away in Christ, who is "the end of the law for righteousness;" after the types were explained, the predictions accomplished, and the great prophet of the Jews had brought all his glory, and laid at the feet of the great Apostle and High Priest of our profession, still the people who had the best means of information, who had the power of comparing spiritual things with spiritual, read them, and continue to read them to this day, under the power of passion and prejudice. And he who sees in Moses, and the other writings of the Old Testament, nothing but the histories of certain events long since past, and confined in their operation and effects to a particular district; nothing but the religious usages and ceremonies practised by a particular people, that man looks with a bandage upon his eyes, understands not what he reads, and there fore cannot profit.

* Exodus xxxiv, 38.

12 Cor. iii. 5-16.

There is a gracious intimation in the passage we have just now quoted, that a period is approaching when Israel too shall turn unto the Lord; when the veil shall be taken away, and Moses, in whom they trusted, shall be seen without a covering; and "if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be but life from the dead ?"*

What glorious views of God, of his providence, of his grace, does the gospel disclose! The gentile nations behold their admission into the family of God, and their privileges, as his children, in the promises which were made to Abraham and his seed. And the Jews will in time discover the intention and design of their political and religious establishment, in the nature, duration and extent of the Redeemer's kingdom: when "Israel also shall be saved:" as it is written, "There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob."+

Human frailty rendered the interposition of a veil necessary between Moses and the people; because "they could not look steadfastly to the end of that which is abolished;" but when Moses went into the tabernacle, to converse with God, a veil to cover his face being unnecessary, it was laid aside.

It is natural to hold out our most favourable appearance to men, to catch at their good opinion, to secure their approbation; but we see in Moses a mind intent only upon usefulness. He joyfully gives up a little fame, for the sake of doing much good. If the church of God be enlightened, what is it to him that he himself is a little obscured? His lustre is to illuminate Israel. Vain glory always defeats the purpose which it had formed; humility as certainly gains the point at which it aimed not. Who does not esteem Moses, modestly shrouded in a veil, infinitely more than all the loquacious boasters and exhibitors of themselves that ever existed? Moses, in talking with the people, employed a veil, not as a mask to insinuate a false idea of what he was not, but to conceal the real excellency which he had; unlike the hypocrisy and disguise of the world; and, to use disguise with God he knew would be impious, profane and unavailing. We find him changing his appearance, as the occasion required. This was not, in him, versatility and address, a cunning accommodation to circumstances for selfish ends; but the compliance of wisdom and necessity, in order to be more extensively useful. Thus Paul "became all things to all men, that he might gain some." And, for the same reason, a greater than Moses, a greater than Paul disdained not the festivity of a marriage solemnity; refused not the invitation of one ruler, nor rejected the visit of another; abhorred not to eat with publicans and sinners, if by any means the ignorant might be instructed, the proud and selfish checked and reproved, the modest encouraged, and the mourner comforted.

At the first descent of Moses from the mount, we see the glory of a man zealous for God: at his second, the glory of a man owned and honoured of God; "the skin of his face shining.' But at his appearance many days afterwards on Tabor, we behold a saint, from the world of bliss, altogether glorious. Such is the blessed effect of being with God and “ seeing him as he is," not for forty days only, but during a series of ages. And what must it then be, to "be ever with the Lord," to glorify God, and to be glorified of him "in body and spirit which are the Lord's?" And why was Moses again exhibited on the mount of transfiguration? Wherefore again displayed in glory? Again to put a veil upon his face, to empty himself, and to deposit his glory at the feet of Him in whose light and likeness he shone-To talk with Jesus "concerning the decease he should accomplish at Jerusalem.”

The Jewish Rabbins pretend to account for the unabated vigour, the unfading lustre of the latter years of the life of Moses, from these very circum

stances. The eye, say they, which had endured the sight of God, could not become dim the natural strength which supported a fast of forty days, could not sink under any future decay.

:

-Christian, consider Moses, the man of God, invested with lustre which dazzled the eye of every beholder, and which length of time could not impair ; and reflect, to what a height of glory communion with God can raise a fallen creature; and aspire after a participation of that grace which adorned him. The glory of his person was a rare and singular attainment; but that of his spirit may be imitated and attained by all. His piety, resignation and obedience; his meekness, gentleness and compassion, present amiable patterns, and they are the ornaments suited to your present state. It is given but to a favoured few to exhibit heroic virtue, to perform splendid actions, to acquire extensive reputation; but none is excluded from the honour of simple, modest worth, of habitual beneficence, of honest fame. And those are the most valuable and solid acquisitions, which "are in the sight of God of great price." -Steady and persevering intercourse with Heaven will infallibly transform the whole man into the image of God. The very exteriour will be meliorated and improved, and the world itself will "take knowledge" of the disciple who "has been with Jesus." The exercises of the closet will be seen and felt in the serenity of the countenance, the kindness of the eye, the melody of the voice, the affability and graciousness of the whole deportment. "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

-The time is at hand when the glory which irradiated the face of Moses shall be imparted to the whole company of the redeemed; when the name of God and the Lamb shall shine in every forehead. Behold, and wonder, behold, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, "A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars."+ They that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever."‡ "The Lord God is a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”§

Matt. v. 16.

Rev. xii. 1.

+ Dan. xii, 3.

§ Psalm lxxxiv. 11.

HISTORY OF MOSES.

LECTURE VII.

EXODUS XXXIX. 42, 43.

According to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. And Moses did look upon all the work, and behold they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it: And Moses blessed them.

If reason were to maintain its full dominion in man, were the senses perpetually under the control of the mind, a motive to religion would be continually supplied from the natural impulse of a grateful and affectionate heart. The vast universe would become one great temple; every pebble, every plant, every star would be a witness for God; and the heaven-born spirit would arise on the wing of every bird, of every breeze of air, to its glorious Author. But man, degraded by sin, blinded by passion, involved in error; man, impaired in understanding, grovelling in affection, in captivity to sense, needs to be frequently admonished of his obligation to, and dependence upon God, his Creator and Preserver. He needs forms, and seasons, and places of worship; the heart must be approached through the channels of sense; and our acquaintance with the Father of spirits must be preserved, by means of things seen and temporal. Hence a sabbath, a tabernacle, a temple; sacrifices, sacraments, sermons, are the institution of Heaven; are the ordinances of Him "who knows what is in man," and what is necessary to man.

66

It is easy to conceive what the world would be, destitute of the modes and offices of religion, when we consider what men are, with the advantage of line upon line, precept upon precept," revelation upon revelation. The religious ceremonies and services in use among ancient nations, whatever were their origin, become respectable in our eyes, merely from their antiquity: but when to antiquity is superadded divine authority; when we behold the great JEHOVAH condescending to describe and to appoint the rites of his own worship, to exhibit a model of all the instruments to be employed in his service, we feel something more than respect; we are filled with veneration: we break out into the exclamation of Solomon. "Will God indeed dwell with men upon the earth?"

Moses had now finally descended from the mount, furnished with complete instructions for settling the civil government and the religious polity of the nation which God "chose, to place his name there." Under the direction of men divinely inspired for the work, he addresses himself to the execution of the plan which God himself had vouchsafed to delineate. From the liberality and zeal of the peeple, materials are speedily and amply supplied. Through the skill and assiduity of the artists, the business is speedily and successfully

dispatched and, on the first anniversary of the departure out of Egypt, the tabernacle is ready to be reared up.

It is not my design to attempt a minute description of that sacred structure, and of its furniture. But I find it impossible to pass them by entirely, as I apprehend a few remarks of a practical nature, fall directly within the design of these exercises, and may, by the divine blessing, render the awful monuments of religion in the wilderness, instructive and useful in gospel times.

The name and the nature of the tabernacle were, perhaps, intended to be emblematical of the whole dispensation, of which it was a leading instrument. A tent, or tabernacle is a temporay and portable habitation, suited to a state of journeying or warfare; and this, in particular, was to be the guide to Canaan, to give the signal of motion and of rest; to lead the way to victory and peace and when full possession was at length given, the tabernacle transferred its transitory glory, to the stationary glory of the temple; or rather was consolidated into one glory with it. Thus, all the positive institutions of religion are designed to be our monitors, guides and comforters in the wilderness; to introduce us into the promised land; and then the objects of faith shall become objects of vision, and the redeemed of the Lord shall worship together in that temple, from which there is no more going out.

Jehovah declared himself not only the spiritual Head of the Israelitish church and nation, but also their temporal Sovereign; the supreme Head and Governor of their political economy. As such, he gave commandment to pitch a tent for the leader and commander of his people, from whence orders were expected and issued; over which the royal standard was seen perpetually hovering in the dreadful glory of a pillar of cloud by day, and of fire by night. And the final fulfilling of the scriptures is the gathering into one, to the standard of the Redeemer, "a great multitude, which no man can number of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,' " when at the sounding of the seventh angel, there shall be "great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."+

From the contemplation of a tabernacle constructed of parts that might be separated, and joined together again, as occasion required, we are led to contemplate the "city of our solemnities," Jerusalem that is above, "a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down, not one of the stakes thereof shall ever be removed, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken. But there the glorious Lord will he unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby."

The fabric in the wilderness was not a design of human skill, nor fashioned according to models seen in Egypt, but planned of infinite wisdom, erected, to a single pin, according to a pattern shewn to Moses on the mount. In things which relate to the management of this world, a latitude is given to the exercise of human prudence and discretion; but in what regards the immediate worship and service of God, men are tied up to an iota and a tittle, "Thus saith the Lord." The work of God is perfect, his law is perfect, his word is perfect, none can with safety add thereto, or diminish from it. A holy and a jealous God has fenced himself and his ordinances as with a wall of fire, which presumption attempts to break through at its peril. "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophesy of this book: if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophesy, God shall take away his part out of the book of Isaiah xxxiii. 20, 21.

* Rev. vii. 9.

+ Rev. xi, 15.

Vol. VII.