Moses and Aaron had been permitted to go up into the Mount, before the day of this most awful appearance of the Divine glory; but they were sent down to the people before the voice of God uttered the law, which was afterwards "written by the finger of God upon tables of stone (a)," and given to Moses, when he was called within the cloud, which rested upon Mount Sinai, "to receive the statutes and the judgments," which he was commanded to teach the people.

It is to be observed that the laws, which extend from the 20th to the 24th chapter of Exodus, laws which, from their nature, must be considered as of general obligation, appear to have been given to Moses in the presence of all the people; for after their request that God would not again speak to them himself, it is said, “And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was; and the Lord said unto Moses, thus thou shalt say to the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from Heaven (b):" and then follows a number of statutes, and ordinances, and promises, and conditions, concluding with a command for Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, to come up towards the Mount to worship God, as the representatives of the people, who stood at a distance; but they were ordered "to keep afar off" from the glory of the Lord, excepting Moses, who was alone allowed to "approach near the Lord;" and the history

(a) When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, and found Aaron and the people of Israel defiling themselves with all the abominations of idolatry, in a fit of wrath he broke these tables of stone; but the ten commandments were afterwards written upon two other tables of stone, by the express direction of God, in the same manner as before.

of this solemn covenant then continues thus: "And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all his judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the Lord hath said, will we do. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel." And having offered sacrifices, "Moses took half of the blood, and put it into basons, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar; and he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people; and they said, All that the Lord hath said, will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words." Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy elders of Israel, probably within "the borders," or a little way up the Mount," and saw the glory of the God of Israel" appearing with a peculiar radiance, in confirmation of this solemn covenant. And afterwards "the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the Mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments, which I have written, that thou mayest teach them." Then Moses, after giving directions to the elders of the people for their conduct in his absence, "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 all Israel. And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and was in the Mount

forty days and forty nights (c);" and there God delivered to him those commandments, statutes, and ordinances, which are generally called the Law of Moses, or the Mosaic Dispensation. And it pleased God to distinguish Moses, after having been thus highly honoured by admission into the Divine presence, by a kind of divine light which beamed from his countenance (d). And thus were the people constantly reminded that their Lawgiver was invested with divine authority (e).

The laws thus delivered by God himself, with all these solemn preparations, and in a manner so peculiarly calculated to impress awe, and excite obedience, were of three sorts, moral, ceremonial, and civil. The moral law, which is comprised in the ten commandments, "written with the finger of God," and the law of nature, as it is called, are, in all essential points, the same. The heart of man being much depraved, and his understanding darkened in consequence of the fall of Adam, God had been pleased to renew the impression of the general law of nature, from time to time, by occasional communications of his will; and he now confirmed and explained it by an express Revelation, which he commanded to be recorded in writing, for the use of all future ages. This moral law, founded in the natural relation subsisting between God and man, being originally declared to Adam, either through the medium of his reason, or by some sensible impression upon his mind, or by the audible (c) Ex. c. 24, &c. Deut. c. 4, &c.

(d) Ex. c. 34. 2 Cor. c. 3. v. 7. 13, &c.

(e) When it is said, "And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend," we are to understand that God conversed with Moses, not in dreams and visions, as he did with other prophets, but in such a clear and plain manner as one person would converse with another.

voice of God himself, is of universal and eternal obligation (ƒ). The ceremonial or positive law relates to the priests, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, and other religious rites and services. God commanded that those who should be employed about the tabernacle, or in the offices of public worship, should be of the posterity of Levi; and hence this law is sometimes called the Levitical law; but the priesthood itself was to be confined to Aaron and his descendants. The principal objects of the ceremonial law were, to preserve the Jews from idolatry, to which all the neighbouring nations were addicted, and to keep up in their minds the necessity of an atonement for sin. The civil law relates to the civil government of the Israelites, to punishments, marriages, estates, and possessions. The ceremonial and civil laws are intermixed with each other, and being adapted to the particular purpose of separating from the rest of the world one

(f) We are to remember that the change which sin produced in the nature of man, weakened the faculties with which he was originally created, and obscured the light of reason. We may conceive that perfect reason would direct man to right conclusions concerning the nature of God and of man, and the duties which he owes to God and to his fellow-creatures. Still, while man, as a free agent, had, as necessarily belonging to that character, the power of opposing the suggestions of will to the deductions of reason, his state of happiness must have been insecure. Whether we consider the knowledge of this moral law as derived from perfect human reason, or, which is the same thing under another name, from the original nature of man given him by his Creator, (and in this sense the moral law would be justly termed the law of nature,) or whether we suppose the knowledge of this law communicated by some impression upon the mind, some mode of divine inspiration, like that by which the prophets were enabled to distinguish clearly and positively the declarations of God from the dictates of their own reason, or by the audible voice of God himself, accompanied by some visible mark of the divine presence, the divine origin of this law is equally established, and its immutable truth is equally apparent.

nation, among whom the knowledge of the true God, and the promise of a Redeemer, might be preserved, were designed for the sole use of the Israelites, and were to be binding upon them only till the coming of the Messiah.

At this time God commanded Moses to make a tabernacle, or tent, for public worship, and gave him directions respecting its materials, dimensions, utensils, and every thing relative to it. In the tabernacle (g) was placed the ark, or chest, in which were deposited the two tables of stone, whence it is frequently called` the Ark of the Covenant. The lid of the ark was called the Mercy-seat, upon the ends of which were two cherubim, with expanded wings, in the attitude of worship. Upon the mercy-seat the Shechinah (h), or symbol of the divine presence, rested, in the appearance of a luminous cloud, and thence the divine oracles were either audibly given, or communicated by the Urim and Thummim (i), as often as God, who con

(g) Aaron's rod, which was indeed the testimony of his divine appointment to the priesthood, and an omer of manna, were also deposited in the tabernacle," to be kept for the generations of Israel."

(h) Frequent mention is made in Scripture of the appearance of the Lord in the earliest ages of the world. To be "banished from his presence," to be excluded" from the light of his countenance," and many other expressions, seem evidently to allude to some appearance of the divine glory, either occasional or stationary, upon earth, at fixed times, probably on the sabbaths, or at appointed places, whither men went to worship, and inquire of the Lord," in cases of doubt or distress." See Patrick's Commentary, Shuckford's Connexion, and Jennings's Jewish Antiquities.

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(i) Ex. c. 28. v. 30. Lev. c. 8. v. 8. Numb. c. 27. v. 21. The Urim and Thummim, which words signify light and perfection, are applied to a miraculous ornament worn on the breast of the high priest, and erroneously supposed by some to be descriptive of the twelve jewels in the breast-plate of the high priest, but which in reality meant something distinct from these: