error and diffuse the light of divine truth. Whenever the Lord gives power to those weapons to overcome, he substantially repeats anew the judgment of the Red sea; and when all that exalteth itself against the knowledge of Christ shall be put down by the victorious energy of the truth, then shall be the time to sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb.

SECTION IV.

THE MARCH THROUGH THE WILDERNESS-MANNA-WATER FROM THE ROCK THE PILLAR OF CLOUD AND FIRE.

THE children of Israel are now in the condition of a ransomed people, delivered from the yoke of the oppressor, and personally in a state of freedom and enlargement. They have been redeemed for the inheritance, but still the inheritance is not theirs; they are separated from it by a great and terrible wilderness, where many trials and difficulties must certainly be encountered, and nature, if left to itself, will inevitably perish. They were not long in feeling this. To the outward eye, the prospect which lay immediately before them, when they marched from the shores of the Red sea, was peculiarly dark and disheartening. The country they had left behind, with all the hardships and oppressions it had latterly contained for them, was still a rich and cultivated region. It presented to the eye luxuriant fields, and teemed with the best of Nature's productions; they had there the most delicious water to drink, and were fed with flesh and bread to the full. But now—even now, after the most extraordinary wonders had been wrought in their behalf, and the power that oppressed them had been laid low-every thing assumes the most dismal and discouraging aspect; nothing to be seen but a boundless waste of burning sand and lifeless stones; and a tedious march before them, through trackless and inhospitable deserts, where it seemed impossible to find for such an immense host even the commonest necessaries of life. What advantage was it to them in such a case to have been brought out with a high hand from the house of bondage? They had escaped, indeed, from the yoke of the oppressor, but only to be placed in more appalling circumstances, and exposed to calamities less easy to be borne. And as death seemed inevitable anyhow, it might have been as well, at least, to

have let them meet it amid the comparative comforts they enjoyed in Egypt, as to have it now coming upon them, through scenes of desolation and the lingering horrors of want.

Such were the feelings expressed by the Israelites shortly after their entrance on the wilderness, and more than once expressed again as they became sensible of the troubles and perils of their new position.1 If they had rightly interpreted the Lord's doings, and reposed due confidence in his declared purposes concerning them, they would have felt differently. They would have understood, that it was in the nature of things impossible for God to have redeemed them for the inheritance, and yet to suffer any inferior difficulties by the way, to prevent them from coming to the possession of it. That redemption carried in its bosom a pledge of other needful manifestations of divine love and faithfulness. For, being in itself the greatest, it implied that the less should not be withheld, and being also the manifestation of a God, who in character, as in being, is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, it bespoke his readiness to give, in the future, similar manifestations of himself, in so far as such might be required.

The Israelites, however, who were still enveloped in much of the darkness and corruption of Egypt, though they were outwardly delivered from its thraldom, understood as yet comparatively little of this. They knew not how much they had to expect from God, as the JEHOVAH, the self-existent and unchangeable, who, as such, could not leave the people whom He had redeemed to want and desolation, but must assuredly carry on and perfect what he had so gloriously begun. They readily gave way, therefore, to fears and doubts, and even broke out into open murmuring and discontent. But this only shewed how much they had still to learn in the school of God. They had yet to obtain a clearer insight into God's character, and a deeper consciousness of their covenantrelation to him. And they could not possibly be in a better position for getting this, than in that solitary desert where the fascinating objects of the world no longer came between them and God. There they were in a manner forced into intimate dealings with God; being constantly impelled by their necessities, on the one hand, to throw themselves upon his care, and drawn,

1 Ex. xv. 24; xvi. 2; xvii. 2, 3; Num. xi.; xx.

on the other, by his gracious interpositions in their behalf, into a closer acquaintance with his character and goodness. By the things they suffered, not less than those they heard, they were made to learn obedience, and were brought through a fitting preparation for the calling and destiny that was before them. Even with all the advantages which their course of wildernesstraining possessed for this purpose, it proved insufficient for the generation that left Egypt with Moses; and the promise of God required to be suspended, till another generation had sprung up, in whom that training, by being longer continued, was to prove more thoroughly effectual. So again, in later times, when their posterity had fallen from their high calling, the Lord had again to put them through a discipline so entirely similar to the one now undergone, that it is spoken of as a simple repetition of what took place after the deliverance from Egypt. And where is there now a genuine follower of the Lamb of God, having his face steadfastly set toward the heavenly Jerusalem, who does not, in like manner, march to it through the desert? Spiritually he enters upon such a desert the moment he takes up his Master's cross and begins to die to the world; the proper portion of his soul is henceforth in the land of rest and felicity before him. In respect to his higher interests, the world has become to him as a land of drought; and the crosses and trials, perplexities and bereavements, which are so often made to befal him by the way, are so many outward appliances, necessary to help out the deficiency of this heavenly elevation of mind; that by such means, if not otherwise, his heart may be weaned from the world, and suitably disciplined and prepared for the divine presence and glory.

ent.

1

1 See Ezek. xx. 35, 36, and the beautiful passage, Hos. ii. 14-23, which both describe the course to be adopted for restoring a degenerate church, and God's future dealings with her, as if the whole were to be a re-enacting of the transactions which occurred at the beginning of her history. The same mode of procedure was to be adopted now which had been pursued then, though the actual scenes and operations were to be widely differAs a proof how little it is necessary to suppose the formal recurrence of the past scenes and operations, in order to verify the import of such delineations, and how readily the most unlettered Christians can enter into their true meaning, persons in the humblest rank of life have been often found to find peculiar delight in such figurative delineations, and the author has known one who had a relish for the passage in Hosea above almost any other portion of the Bible, because it so exactly described the nature of God's dealings with herself.

In regard to the Lord's manifestations and dealings toward Israel during this peculiar portion of their history, the general principle unfolded is, that while he finds it needful to prescribe to his ransomed people a course of difficulty, trial, and danger, before putting them in possession of the inheritance, he gives them meanwhile all that is required for their support and well-being, and brings to them discoveries of his gracious nearness to them, and unfailing love, such as they could not otherwise have experienced.

I. This appeared, first of all, in the supply of food provided for them, and especially in the giving of manna, which the Lord sent them in the place of bread. It is true, that the manna might not necessarily form, nor can scarcely be supposed to have actually formed their only means of subsistence during the latter and longer period of their sojourn in the wilderness. For to say nothing of the quails, of which at first in kindness, and again in anger, a temporary supply was furnished them (Ex. xvi., Numb. xi.), there were within reach of the Israelites not a few resources of a common kind. The regions which they traversed, though commonly designated by the name of desert, are by no means uniform in their character, and contain in many places pasturage for sheep and cattle. Hence considerable tribes have found it possible, from the most distant times, to subsist in them-such as the Ishmaelites, Midianites, Amalekites. That the Israelites afterwards availed themselves of the means of support which the wilderness afforded them, in common with these tribes of the desert, is clear from what is mentioned of their flocks and herds. They are expressly said to have left Egypt with very large property in these (Ex. xii. 38); and that they were enabled to preserve, and even perhaps to increase these possessions, we may gather from the notices subsequently given concerning them, especially from the mention made of the cattle, when they sought liberty to pass through the territory of Edom (Numb. xx. 19); and from the very large accumulation of flocks and herds by Gad and Reuben, which led to their obtaining a portion beyond the bounds of what was properly the promised land (Numb. xxxii.). The Israelites thus had within themselves considerable resources as to the supply of food; and the sale of the skins and wool, and what they could