is he to forget all that Christ hath done for him! Fear puts out the light of faith, and hides the prospect of the promised land; imagination recalls the former gratifications of sense; he is tempted to regret the desertion of Egypt, and to wish for a return tỏ it again.

8. Nevertheless, he saved them for his name's sake; that he might make his mighty power to be known. 9. He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. 10. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11. And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left. 12. Then believed they his

words; they sang his praise.

Comforted and encouraged by Moses, the armies of Israel advanced to the shore; and, lo, the waves, at the lifting up of the powerful rod, instantly parted, and, like so many well-disciplined troops, arranging themselves in two columns, disclosed a new and strange path, by which the people of God were conducted, in perfect security, to the opposite shore; when the waters, falling down, and reassuming their ancient habitation, overwhelmed the infidel host, and left not a man to carry the news to Egypt. Through all the difficulties and dangers of the Christian course, faith will ever find a way opened, by the power of Jesus, from sin to righteousness, and from death to life the enemies of our salvation, how formidable soever, shall disappear, and be no more; and we

shall sing, like Israel, a song of triumph to the Lord our God.

13. They soon forgat his works, Heb. They made haste, they forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel. 14. But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. 15. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their souls.

Soon after the Israelites had experienced the power and goodness of Jehovah, at the Red Sea, we find them murmuring against him, Exod. xv. 24. They grew impatient, they looked upon themselves as forgotten, and given over to destruction. They loathed manna, and required flesh; flesh was sent them, on which they surfeited themselves; the wrath of God smote them, and many were carried off by a grievous plague: Numb. xi. 4. 33. Let us learn to wait God's time and counsel, for the supply of necessaries, much more of conveniences; remembering that he hath given us his Son, and therefore will not deny us such inferior corporeal blessings, as he foreseeth will really prove blessings to us. Let us be duly thankful for that "bread which cometh "down from heaven," cautious how we request the good things of this world, and strictly temperate in the use of them when given.

16. They envied Moses also in the camp, and •Aaron the saint of the LORD. 17. The earth opened, and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. 18. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burnt up the wicked.

Moses and Aaron were the divinely appointed governors of Israel, in church and state. Envy and ambition led Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, to accuse the former of tyranny, and the latter of priestcraft. Jehovah was appealed to, a day appointed, and a decision made. One body of the malcontents went down alive into the pit, another was consumed by fire from heaven: Numb. xvi. Let schismatics and rebels beware of that " pit," which is bottomless, and of that" fire," which shall never be quenched.

19. They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. 20. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. 21. They forgat God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt: 22. Wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea.

While the terrible presence of God abode upon mount Sinai, and Moses was gone up thither to receive the law, even then, and there, "at Horeb,” the people apostatized to the old favourite sin of idolatry, and persuaded Aaron to make them a

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calf," or "ox," before which they prostrated themselves, acknowledging it, or the power represented by it, whatever that was, to have been the author of their deliverance from Egypt; Exod. xxxii. : " for as "to Moses, they knew not what was become of him," nor ever expected to see him any more. Thus they exchanged their " glory," "the glory which had accompanied them in the mystic cloud, nay, which was then present before their eyes on the top. of the mount, "for an image made like to a four-footed

"beast," as it is said of the Heathen in their worst estate, Rom. i. 23. and thus they forgat Jehovah, who had wrought his works and wonders for them in Egypt and at the Red Sea. It is to be hoped, we shall never live to see a time, when the miracles of our Redemption shall be forgotten; when the return of Jesus Christ from heaven shall be despaired of; and when the people shall solicit their teachers to fabricate a new philosophical deity, for them to worship, instead of the God of their ancestors, to whom glory hath been ascribed, from generation to generation.

23. Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.

When we hear Jehovah saying to Moses, on account of his people's monstrous ingratitude, and atrocious wickedness, "Let me alone, that my wrath

may wax hot against them, and that I may con"sume them, and I will make of thee a great na"tion ;" when we hear Moses, notwithstanding this, interceding for his countrymen, with the offended Majesty of heaven; urging to God the glory of his name, the relation in which he stood to Israel, the covenant he had made with their fathers; and if they must be cast off, desiring himself to perish with them; "if thou wilt, forgive their sin; and if not,

blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou "hast written;" how we are astonished at an instance of such invincible fortitude, fervent piety, unadulterated patriotism, triumphant faith, and un

bounded charity! Once, and but once, was this instance exceeded, by Him, in whose name the intercession of Moses was made and accepted; who' really taking upon himself the sins of his people, suffered the vengeance due to them; and who is now at the right hand of God interceding for us all. See Exod. xxxii. 10—14, and 32.

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24. Yea, they despised the pleasant land; they believed not his word; 25. But murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the LORD. 26. Therefore he lifted up his hand against them, to overthrow them in the wilderness: 27. To over throw their seed also among the nations, and to scatter them in the lands.

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The history here alluded to is contained in Numb. xiii. and xiv. The spies brought back a favourable account of the promised land and its productions, but communicated to the people those terrible apprehensions, with which themselves were possessed, concerning the power of the Anakims, and other inhabitants of Canaan. Infidelity presently discovered itself by its usual fruit, disobedience. They thought they should never be able to surmount all these difficulties, but should become a prey, with their wives and children, to the sword; and a return to Egypt was once more the cry of the camp of Israel. Therefore did Jehovah "lift up his hand against "them;" he declared, that none of the generation then in being, Joshua and Caleb only excepted, should enter into his rest, but that they should fall in the wilderness, without setting foot in that pleasant and most desirable land. Discomfiture and dis