"It is observable, that the Psalms contain many excellent instructions and exhortations, as well as praises and prayers; and therefore St. Paul recommends them to Christians, for their mutual instruction and admonition. It was common, therefore, for one to sing, and the rest to hearken to their instruction and edification, as appears in 1 Cor. xiv. 31: 'For ye may all prophesy, one by one, that all may learn, and be comforted.' Prophesying here, as we may find from the 26th verse of this chapter, includes psalms, as well as doctrines, tongues, revelations, and interpretations; and the praising God one by one, or by turns, amounts to praising Him by way of responses, or answering; and though these prophets were inspired, yet it is plain they acted in this according to the settled order of the Church (ver. 33), As in all the churches of the saints;' and these inspired prophets thus praising God one by one, is an unquestionable precedent that God approves this way in His praises.

"This way of praising God, by answering one another, is the most ancient we find in Scripture. For thus Miriam praised God (Exod. xv. . 21): ́ And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously,' &c. And the last song recorded in Scripture is of the same sort (Rev. xix), as is before mentioned.

"I reckon the songs with which the women

of Israel received Saul (1 Sam. xviii. 7) to be religious; and there it is expressly said, that they answered one another;' and (xxi. 11), Did they not sing one to another,' &c. ? But whether these songs were religious or not, it is certain that the frame and composition of some psalms are such, as plainly discover that they were designed to be sung in parts, and as much is owned by the best commentators: such are the 24th and 118th Psalms.

"It is to be observed, that the law of Moses neither prescribes Psalms, in the praises of God, nor singers, nor the way of singing; these all, therefore, are parts of natural religion, and, indeed, more ancient than the law, as appears by Exod. xv. What, therefore, we find in the Old Testament concerning these, is either from the immediate prescriptions and revelations of God by His prophets, or from the dictates of nature, and not any part of the ceremonial law. And it is obvious, that natural necessity will teach any considering man this way of alternate singing or answering in parts, for if these songs be long, as some of the Psalms are, no one man's voice can hold out to the end 1."

1 A Discourse concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God, by William King, D.D., Lord Archbishop of Dublin, 6th edit., London, 1714, p. 13, &c.

SECTION XCIX.

EXODUS XV. 22-26. NUMBERS XXXIII. 9.

NUMBERS XXXIII. 10, 11.

EXODUS XV. 27. EXODUS XVI. 1—12.

TITLE.-Theory of the Types of Scripture. The history of the wanderings of the Israelites between their deliverance from the Red Sea and their safe arrival at Canaan is, for the most part, a divinely intended and general representation of the progress of the Christian soul, from the first consciousness of baptismal or Christian privileges, till its arrival at the heavenly Canaan. The encampment at Marah. The fifth, sixth, and seventh journeys in the wilderness. The murmuring for water at Marah. The refreshment at Elim. The promise of the quails and manna in the wilderness of Sin.

INTRODUCTION. We are now brought to that most interesting portion of the sacred narrative-the wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness, from the coast of the Red Sea till their arrival in the promised land; and to the question, to what extent were these things written for our instruction? If the Old Testament had been composed, as our modern Neologists affirm, by uninspired men, as narratives of human events, in which the providence of God was only so far

visible as it is visible in the histories of Greece, Rome, and England; where all things, though overruled for good, are accomplished by seemingly unassisted human agency; we might then interpret the narratives of the Old Testament as if they were secular histories, relating only to the Israelites, and capable only of affording some lessons of experience, wisdom, and caution in worldly affairs. If they are to be regarded, on the contrary, as written by persons under the influence of a divine power, suggesting new thoughts, preventing erroneous decisions, guiding the judgment in the choice of materials, directing the mind to truth, and, so far as the nature of the case required, prompting the very expressions which should relate things unknown, and even unintelligible to the writer (1 Peter i. 11); we may justly conclude that the object of such interference on the part of the Creator and Director of the human soul, would not have reference to the bodies of men, and the transitory events of this life only; but to the souls of men, and to the circumstances of the manner in which the souls of men are guided from the commencement to the completion of their covenant with God.—And the only enquiry we have to make, relates to the sound judgment with which we should follow the Scripture, wherever it leads us; while we avoid, in humbly seeking for its instruction, every speculative or unwarranted conclusion.-The Israelites then wandered from the Red Sea to Canaan. They committed many errors. They were preserved by wonderful interferences. They suffered many punishments. They are called "the Church in the wilderness;" and as a Church, they obtained the promised land.—The soul of the Christian, in the same manner, wanders in the wilderness of the world from the beginning to the end of his course, falling into many errors, conscious of many providences, suffering many afflictions. He is called "the elect of God;" and as the elect of God, he obtains, by God's mercy, the promised immortality.-Is there, or is there not, such an analogy between the wandering of the Israelites in the wilderness, and the journey of the soul to heaven, that we may safely affirm that the former is the designed representation of the latter? The only safe reply to this question must be derived from a close adherence to the interpretation afforded us in the New Testament, of these portions of the Old Testament. If we are guided by this canon or rule of Scripture, we shall find that some events of the narrative are undoubtedly designed to represent a part of the Christian progress; and consequently, that we are probably right in affirming that other events of the narrative are designed to relate other parts, or portions, of the same progress; but we should act unadvisedly, if we declare that they all, undoubtedly and certainly, have this meaning. Thus, when St. Paul would persuade the Corinthians, because they had become partakers of the Christian covenant, to remember that they had many spiritual dangers to overcome; he bids them remember the case of their forefathers in the wilderness, the passage of the Red Sea, the pillar of the cloud and fire, the manna, the rock, the water that flowed from it. The transgression committed, the punishment endured, are all declared to be types, or examples, written for our instruction. In another of his Epistles, we read that the rest in Canaan, the institutions of the tabernacle, the priesthood, the entrance of the high priest into the holy of holies, were also types, written for our instruction. lf,

then, so many circumstances in the wanderings of the Israelites were undoubtedly divinely appointed to illustrate the present condition, and to describe the future state of the soul of the Christian; we are justified in believing the great probability that the supporting of the arms of Moses by Aaron and Hur, the war with Amalek, the refusal of ten spies to bring back a good report of the promised land, with many other events, are no less intended to afford us spiritual instruction; and therefore, that the events related in the present Section are designed also as types, or intended illustrations of the progress of the Christian, from the dawning consciousness of his covenant privileges, through the earlier stages of his career. These types are to be derived from four sources, which we shall carefully keep in view throughout they are either those which are expressly declared to be such in the New Testament, or they are deducible from the nature of the facts recorded, or they are derivable from the spiritual meaning of the names of places where they encamped, or from the expressions commemorating the events which occurred to them.

The present Section begins with the encampment at Marah, the present Howara. This word signifies 'bitterness.' They had expected to reach the Holy Land from Egypt in thirty days. They had probably provided water for little more than that time only. That time had elapsed, and the water was expended. They had sang with joy and triumph the song of their deliverance from the Red Sea. They had wandered three days in the wilderness without water; and now, when they arrived at Howara, or Marah, they probably shouted for joy on discovering the springs in the wilderness. They approached to drink. The water was bitter. They complained of the disappointment. Their leader was commanded to cast a tree into the water. The bitterness was removed; and this statute and ordinance was given to them as the guide of their way, that as their God had thus healed the waters of their bitterness, He would heal them of all such diseases as troubled the Egyptians, if they would be faithful to their allegiance to God their Sovereign (Exod. xv. 22—26).—So it is, that when the young Christian has commenced his career in the wilderness of life, with the song of joy and delight at the conviction that the God of Israel, by the waters of his baptism, has removed the original curse upon man; and with the conviction also, by the baptism of the Holy Spirit upon his soul, that he is in covenant with God, he goes into the parched, barren, dry wilderness of the employments and engagements of life, and finds no water to refresh his fainting spirit. The waters which the wilderness of the world presents to him, are full of bitterness; and that bitterness can be only then removed, when the tree of life and hope is planted by their side, or when the cross of Christ, in the continued remembrance of His bitter sorrows, is mingled with the streams of the desert. Then, and then only, the Christian, going through the wilderness, drinks of its bitter waters, and the cross alone renders them endurable to his soul. Then it is that the covenant of God with that soul is daily renewed-when the consciousness of daily bitterness, sweetened by the remembrance of the cross of Christ, reminds the soul of its allegiance; and compels it to remember that the diseases of Egypt, wilful sin, despair, and condemnation for ever, are worse than the outward afflictions of the wilderness of

life; and that God who comforts him, has promised to remove those bitternesses which are greater than any earthly sorrow. v.-From Marah they proceed to Elim. This word denotes powers, strengths, or the angels of God. There they found twelve springs of water, free from all bitterness, so that each tribe, without clashing or contention, could drink in peace; and forests of palm trees, among which were seventy more remarkable than others. So the Christian soul, after it has experienced the comforts of the cross of Christ, amidst the bitterness of the springs of the wilderness at Marah, is refreshed by the strength and power of God, by the strong consolations which proceed from the comforter of the soul; and it delights in the twelve fountains of refreshment which spring from the contemplation of God's providence over the twelve tribes, and over the one universal Church; and which flow also from the doctrine of the twelve Apostles, and the seventy disciples who preached the common faith to the Church. There the Church encamped by the waters; there it still encamps; there it will delight to dwell so long as the providence of God gives the living fountains of His holy Scriptures to refresh the soul in the wilderness.

From Elim they skirt the borders of the Red Sea. There, when they gazed on the waters, they were reminded of their great deliverance; and the Christian must ever be careful to keep in view the vows, the privileges, and the object of that commencement of his Christian career, when the curse was removed, and the promise of his final salvation confirmed.

From the borders of the Red Sea, they removed to that part of the desert called the wilderness of Sin (Exod. xvi. 1). Here they began to suffer from the pangs of hunger; here they looked back with regret at the tranquil manner in which they endured their slavery in Egypt. There they had always sufficient bodily provision, so long as they neither asserted their national independence, nor vindicated the honour of the God of their fathers, nor offended the superstitions of Egypt, by manifesting in the presence of their idolatrous and wicked enslavers, their concern and care for the holy faith of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.-We shall consider the events at this encampment in the next Section. Let it be sufficient to observe, that they complained of hunger, and God promised them that provision which has ever been considered as the type of the bread from heaven, which can alone nourish the soul in the wilderness of life. Happy shall we be if we lay to heart the instruction which these narratives thus afford us; if we learn from the encampment at Marah, to heal our worldly sorrows, by the remembrance of the cross; if we learn from the encampment at Elim, to value the comforts of the Holy Spirit, in the study of the doctrine of the Apostles; if we learn from the encampment by the Red Sea, to remember the vows, privileges, and promises of the covenant which began at our baptism; and from the encampment in the desert of Sin, to depend on God's providence for the daily food both of the body. and the soul. All these things happened to the Israelites as types and examples of instruction to the Christian. The shadow preceded the substance; the figure preceded the truth: the darkness of the law has passed; the true light of the blessed Gospel, thanks be to the God who giveth, now shineth upon the Christian soul and the Christian Church.