should be hushed, and the hard-working man should be permitted to rest physically for a little. And it is this, I have often said, what I am perfectly sure is right—that is the cause of the present demand for the desecration of the Sabbath- for such I must call it; a demand that is the reaction of the grinding exaction of the masters, who work their servants beyond what is due, and necessitate rest for the body on the Sabbath, when there ought to be religious instruction and improvement also. And while on this subject, I may mention, that on the continent of Europe, and in those countries now under the dominion of the Romish system, there is one fact that we must acknowledge to be worthy of imitation-they have many holidays; too many in Spain, and in some other parts, but still in so far desirable; and thus we may get from ancient days some customs conducive to the health of the people, meet for modern imitation. This is, so far, an institution that we may wish for, while we reject the superstition in which it may chance to be embosomed.

We read, in the next place, of the three great festivals which they were to observe, and at which all the people were to meet together; the three great festivals which characterized the Jewish economy, and which were to be observed all the days of its existence.

God says, "Behold, I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way." That this was not a created angel, appears to me plain, from the frequent allusions to his character in other portions of the Bible. "The angel of the Lord," it is in our translation; every Hebrew scholar knows that that is the translation of Melek Yehovah, which means, "Angel Lord;" of is not in the original, it is literally, "Angel Jehovah." And the word here which has been rendered "Angel," might, with as great propriety, have been rendered "Messenger," or 66 one sent." Behold, I send an Angel before thee," a Messenger before thee,-"to keep

thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions." Now, that this is not a created angel, is obvious from that phrase; and never, at any age of the church that has ever given a sort of subordinate religious service to angels, did it ever attribute to an angel the prerogative of pardoning sin. And the very fact, therefore, that this Messenger is gifted to such an extent, implies that he was not a created angel, but that he was the Angel of His presence, of whom Hosea says, "The Angel of the Lord, the Lord of Hosts is his name." I have no doubt, therefore, that this was our blessed Redeemer, in one of those forms of humanity which he took, and in which he appeared before his Incarnation, eighteen hundred years ago. And this Angel, or Messenger, appeared in the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, by which the people were guided in their way.

We thus see, then, how merciful, how just, how wise these laws are; we see that civilized nations have not yet got beyond them, and that some of our highest judicial arrangements are but copies or plagiarisms from what Infidelity would call the obsolete and antiquated notions of Moses and of the Jews. It has been discovered that all our improvments have not yet reached further than Leviticus, and perhaps they never will.

Whilst there is much that was local, national, and peculiar, there is in all this much that is moral and universal; as advantageous to man, as it is honorable and glorious to God.

The nineteenth century is not yet in advance of the Christianity of the New Testament. It is, in many re

spects, behind the morality of the Old.

CHAPTER XXIV.

MOSES GOES UP TO GOD. VALUE OF A WRITTEN WORD. RESPONSIBILITY. THE SIGHT OF GOD. OUR PRIVILEGED PLACE.

IN the first verse we find a summons addressed to Moses, who was figuratively the type of the only Mediator, Jesus Christ, to come up into the immediate presence of Jehovah ; an access so near and intimate as had never been vouchsafed to any creature before, and this special communion was given to him rather from his official relationship than from his personal character. He said that Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel, were to worship afar off-evidently upon the mountain side, about its middle, and not near its top, or the intenser apocalypse of Deity — Moses alone was to go up to its loftiest crag, as invited, and there hold communion and fellowship with the Great "I Am."

Forthwith Moses told the people the solemn message he had received from God, and all the judgments which he read to the people, and submitted to their minds for their preference and acceptance; and all the people pledged themselves to their observance by a solemn and unanimous proclamation -"All the words which the Lord hath said will we do." They were sincere, but too self-sufficient they did not expect that so soon these solemn vows, uttered with such emphasis, would be forgotten and violated. Some vowed in their own strength, some vowed rashly, and some without thought. Others, however, strong in that strength

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which is made perfect in weakness, pledged themselves to an observance that was as much their privilege and duty, as it was glorious and honorable to God.

We read that "Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar." How important is it now to us that what God revealed should be written. The great experiment was tried from the Creation to the Deluge, whether traditional transmission of God's truth would prove adequate; and the result of that traditional transmission in the lapse of two thousand years, was that all flesh had corrupted its way, and that, with the exception of eight persons, a universal apostasy had spread over all the earth, and infected all families. Now, therefore, God commanded his Word not to be intrusted to failing memories, and to frail hearts, for its transmission, but to be written, made a stereotype, a fixture, upon living stone, that the people might, in all generations, have access to God's own Word, written in God's own way, and free to them, and to all their children, without money and without price, for ever.

Moses builded twelve pillars and an altar- twelve pillars to represent the twelve tribes, and the altar as a place of sacrifice, indicating that by sacrifice alone, in that dispensation, there was access to God.

We are told, that "he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and sacrificed peaceofferings of oxen unto the Lord." The order of the Levitical priesthood was not yet instituted, and hence the firstborn of each family, being regarded as the most excellent in that family, was selected to be the officiating priest, and to offer sacrifices to God; and, therefore, he sent young the first-born - of the children of Israel, to offer up

men

these burnt-offerings.

The sacrifice was slain, and the blood was shed, in order to enable the people, in a yet more solemn manner, to ratify

by sacrifice the promise they had given, in so many words. And when they had thus ratified the pledge by sacrifice, they substantially said, "As the blood of this lamb is shed and poured out on the altar, so may we suffer death, with all its consequences, if we do not cleave to these solemn obligations that we have undertaken, from the mouth of Moses, the servant of God, this day." It was, therefore, a very solemn pledge of adhesion to the commandments which God had promulgated, and a unanimous declaration that they were not ashamed to own themselves the Lord's.

"Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel" - Moses the nearest to the top and the others to remain at the middle of the mountain.

And what an instance have we, in Nadab and Abihu, of great privilege to-day being followed by great sin and heavy judgment to-morrow. Only a short time afterwards, Nadab and Abihu both incurred the penalty of death for offering strange fire; as if to teach us that people may enjoy the utmost privilege, may be raised to heaven by their privileges, and may yet sink to the depths of ruin by their sins. Justly does our Lord say, that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for such and that if Tyre and Sidon had known those things that Chorazin and Bethsaida knew, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

We have here also a sublime and impressive portrait of the glory of God. It is plain they did not see a human shape when they saw the Deity; but the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, revealed to them the intensest splendor, and they themselves were brought nearer into contact and communion with it. We are told by an apostle, "God, whom no man hath seen or can see.' The human eye cannot see a spirit; spirit may see spirit, but flesh and blood cannot now see spiritual and eternal things.