arrived about three, soon after the com. mencement of the evening. The people, when they came in sight, in their terror reproached Moses, who was commanded to direct them to be calm. (Exod. xiv. 10-14.) The Egyptians, believing that their slaves could not escape, reposed themselves for a few hours. The night of the 22nd came on, and about midnight, the time when the firstborn of Egypt had been slain by the Divine vengeance in the preceding week, the Israelites began their wonderful march forward, between the opening waters of the Red Sea. The Egyptians, waking from their short repose, were commanded to secure their prey; and guided in the darkness by the sound of the cattle, and the cries and the hum of so large a multitude, they followed Israel till the light of the morning began to dawn. The Israelites arrived in safety on the opposite shore, the sea returned to its strength, and the people, on the morning of another Sabbath, saw their enemies dead upon the shore, and rested on the Sabbath-day. That day was passed in rejoicing; and the glorious song of Moses and the children of Israel on that day, demonstrated that another Sabbath was kept by the Church in the wilderness to their Creator and Preserver, the God of nature, and the God

of Israel.

They now prosecuted their journey more leisurely. The place where they rested after the overthrow of the Egyptians, was probably Ain Mousa1. They did, however, rest here longer than the Sabbath of their triumph. The next Sabbath was the first of Zif or Iyar. On the three first days of this week, the 24th, 25th, and 26th, they travelled in the wilderness of Shur. (Exod. xv. 22.) They found no water, and their only supply was that which they had brought with them. On the fourth day, the 27th, they arrived at Marah, where they found water, but bitter. This was probably the same as Howara, where the waters are still so brackish, that the Arabs cannot drink them. The people murmured, and the bitterness was miraculously removed. On the 28th or 29th, they journeyed on till they came to Elim. This is supposed to be the same as the modern Wady Gharendel, or perhaps Tor. They found at Elim twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees; and it is said by Oriental travellers, that there is still no place in the desert where so many wells and palm trees are to be found. Not only so, but the people of the place still point out the spot where, according to their traditions, the Israelites rested. They are said to have encamped here, and though the Hebrew word 2 may denote that they merely pitched their

tents for a short time, as at Etham1, yet it may denote also that they rested for many days. And we accordingly find that their next journey was to the wilderness of Sin, where they arrived sixteen or seventeen days after they encamped at Elim. This part of the desert is only twenty-two miles from Elim : I conclude, therefore, that they were permitted to rest many days at Elim. If they arrived there on the 28th or 29th, they would certainly rest on the 1st day of Iyar, the day of the next Sabbath, and employ their time in the grateful contemplation of God's providence, as they encamped by the waters of Elim. (Exod. xv. 27.)

The next Sabbath was the 8th. There is no reason to disbelieve the Jewish tradition, which tells us that they remained some days at Elim. They probably remained there till after the next Sabbath. This is not the place to discuss the extent of the spiritual knowledge of the Israelites; but as the God of their fathers was guiding them, and as that God had communion with Moses, I believe that both he and many of his pious brethren were taught that many, or all of the events that now occurred to them, were symbolical, religious types of future developments relating to the Messiah. This is the uniform belief of the Jewish and Christian Churches. As we believe the happiness of another state to be shadowed forth by such expressions as white robes, golden crowns, palms, and harps; so I believe that Moses and the pious Israelites were divinely taught that there was a mystical meaning in their encampment by the waters, among the twelve wells and seventy palm trees, relating to the Messiah's kingdom; and that in contemplations upon such subjects two Sabbaths were passed at Elim.

The next Sabbath must have been the 15th. They removed from Elim on some uncertain day after the Sabbath of the 8th; and we are told (Exod. xvi. 1) that they arrived at Sin on the 15th day of the second month. As this day was the Sabbath, it would appear at first sight that the Sabbath was broken, and not observed. The expression, however, may prove the very contrary, and confirm therefore the opinion that the Sabbath was regularly observed. The Jewish Sabbath began on the evening, and ended in the evening. The expression therefore may denote that they arrived at the wilderness of Sin on the conclusion of the 14th, on the evening of the commencement of the Sabbath which ended on the evening of the 15th. And this opinion is confirmed by the narrative. The people, we are told (Exod. xvi. 1, &c.), arrived at the wilderness of Sin on the 15th, the day of the Sabbath. On that day they murmured against Moses, for want of provisions. Flesh is promised them. It is not given to them at the

1 Exod. xiii. 20.

moment. Bread from heaven is also promised them, but not immediately given. In the midst of the conversation between the people and their leaders, the glory of the Lord was manifested by light in the cloud which guided Israel, and a voice spake to Moses from the cloud, confirming the promise of a miraculous supply of food during the whole of their wanderings in the wilderness. According to this promise, quails are sent in the evening, and manna in the morning.

All this seems to me to demonstrate that the people observed the 15th as a Sabbath. On the preceding evening, they arrived at Sin. On the following morning, when the congregation, or the heads of the families of the people, met for worship, they complained, after the worship, of the want of food. The God of their fathers is manifested on His own day to confirm the promise which He had enabled His servants, by inspiration, to make to the people. But the Sabbath must be ended before even the Almighty would interrupt the spiritual employments and privileges of His own Sabbaths, which consist chiefly in communion with God; and the seventh day was completed, and then the quails were sent in the evening of the 15th, and the manna covered the ground on the morning of the 16th. That day was the first of the six days alluded to in Exod. xvi. 22. On the morning of that day, after the manna had fallen for the first time, the command was given that they should gather it according to their eating, and on the sixth day gather twice the usual quantity, that they might not break the Sabbath. The majority of the people obeyed the command-ate of the sixth day's manna on the seventh day, and rested on the seventh day (Exod. xvi. 30), according to the commandment which God had given, and man had observed, since the creation of the world. This Sabbath was the 22nd, and on it Moses commanded the ordinance, which was kept till the day of the Babylonish captivity-that some of the manna should be perpetually preserved, and kept in the sanctuary as a memorial of these events. So ended another Sabbath.

The following Sabbath was the 29th of the second month. On the 23rd, the people left the wilderness of Sin, and travelled twelve miles to Dophkah. (Numbers xxxiii. 12.)

On the 24th, they journeyed from Dophkah twelve miles to Alush. (Numbers xxxiii. 13.) On the 25th, they journeyed eight miles from Alush to Rephidim, Maribah, or Massah (Exod. vii. 7), where the people clamoured for water, and were supplied from the rock which Moses struck.

To the 26th day I would assign the appearance of the Amalekites, to fight against Israel, as it is not probable that the striking the rock, after the conversation between Moses and

the people, would take place on the same day. This, however, is uncertain; but on the 26th or 27th, Amalek threatens the people, and on the morrow (Exod. xvii. 9), that is, on the 27th or 28th, Joshua fights with Amalek, and defeats him. After the defeat on the 28th, Moses built an altar (Exod. xvii. 15) on Horeb, according to the Jewish traditions, and called it Jehovah-Nissi-the Lord is my banner, or the Lord is my miracle.

On the next day, which would be the Sabbath, the 29th, he probably worshipped at that altar; and there, in communion with God, the promise was given, that the God of Israel would have no peace with Amalek, the enemy of His people.

The next Sabbath was the 6th of the third month, Sivan, when the law was given on the seventh day from Mount Sinai.

On the 30th of Iyar, the last day of the month, the people still rested at Rephidim.

On the next day, the first day of Sivan, they marched from Rephidim to Sinai. (Exod. xix. 2.)

On the second day, Moses, called by the Lord, ascends the mountain, and is assured that Israel was set apart from all nations to be the peculiar people of God. The message is communicated to the people. (Exod. xix. 3-7.

On the third day, he again holds communion with God in the mountain. (Exod. xix. 8, 9.)

On the fourth and fifth days, the people are sanctified; and on the sixth day of the month, the Sabbath, the fiftieth day from their leaving Egypt, (which had been on the day before the Sabbath, seven weeks previous,) the ten commandments were given, as the sermon of Jehovah on the Sabbath to the Church for ever; and the seventh day was kept holy for ever, till the first day of the week was consecrated as the Christian Sabbath, on the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

Such are some of the reasons which induce me to believe that the seventh day was always kept from the beginning as the Sabbath, before the falling of the manna, or the giving of the Law from Mount Sinai. I have entered thus fully into the subject, that the student may conclude that the remark of Hales', that the Sabbath was revived, of Mede 2, that the day of the Sabbath was changed when the manna was given, and the conclusions of their many followers, are erroneous; and that the general opinion of the best theologians and commentators is correct, -that the Sabbath is of perpetual and divine obligation, and is as much and as certainly a part of the law of God, and of the law of

1 Analysis of Chronology, vol. ii. pt. i. p. 204. 2 Works, Discourse 15th, p. 55-57.

nature, as the command to avoid theft, or murder, or any other crime. The light thrown on the typical institutions and events of the law and history of Israel will be evident, when we consider the several circumstances in the order of their arrangement 1.

NOTE 2. On the use of the words Altar and Table.-Introduction to the Section.

Among the miserable party words which we so recklessly use to increase and exacerbate our silly and wicked divisions, we find the two sacred terms, Altar and Table. Because the Church of Rome has abused the word "altar," and the Puritans the word "table," some Christians studiously avoid the word table, while others no less carefully avoid the word altar. Our Reformers certainly did so as a caution against an opposite evil; and there is still reason for a wise jealousy against the unscriptural doctrine which has been identified with the use of the word. But it cannot be denied, as Joseph Mede2 has shown, that the word altar, as well as the word table, was used in the very time of the Apostles, and by the early Church, to denote the surface, whether of wood or stone, on which the bread and wine were placed at the time of the com munion. ̓́Εχομεν θυσιαστήριον, ἐξ οὗ φαγεῖν οὐκ ἔχουσιν ἐξουσίαν οἱ τῇ σκηνῇ λατρεύοντες. St. Paul, Heb. xiii. 10. παρακαλῶν ὑμᾶς, μιᾷ πίστει, καὶ ἑνὶ κηρύγματι, καὶ μιᾷ εὐχαριστία χρῆσθαι, &c. μία γάρ ἐστιν ἡ σὰρξ, &c. ἓν ποτήριον, &c. ἓν θυσιασ Thptov, &c., says Ignatius (ad Philad. § 4). The one eucharist, one flesh, one cup, one altar, one bishop, form together the one bond of unity which was recommended to the Church. The words altar and table may be indiscriminately used. If they were so, as in the times of the early Church, there would be one link less in the chains of the hatreds which fetter us. If we hope for the restoration of the primitive unity of the Church, we must agree to use the primitive language of the Church, whatever may have been the subsequent, early, mediæval, or modern corruptions. The Christian altar receives the memorials of the sacrifice of Christ, which are thankfully offered to God. The Christian table is the place of our holy communion with God, and of our eating spiritually of the flesh of the sacrifice. Mede's references make his arguments unanswerable3.

For the geographical observations in the above note, and for information generally, on the positions of the Israelitish stations, in their route through the wilderness, I refer the student to the notes in the Pictorial Bible, and to Hughes's maps, in his Illuminated Atlas of Scripture Geography.-Knight, 1840. 2 Works, p. 386, &c.

3 Mede's Works, 1 vol. folio, p. 382, &c. &c.

As

After attentively perusing Mr. Scholefield's Sermon on this text, I cannot believe that he, with Whitby, and other divines with them, are correct in interpreting the term "altar" (Heb. xiii. 10), as the cross of Christ. St. Paul is drawing a comparison between the Jewish ordinances respecting the sacrifices, and the Christian ordinances relating to Christ. I paraphrase his words in this manner :-It is a good thing that your hearts be established with grace, and not with dependence upon your routine of sacrifices upon the Jewish altars, with the paschal lamb, and burnt-offerings, which are merely types of Christ, and are therefore placed upon the altar. We pray to have our hearts thus established with grace; and though we reject your routine of sacrifices, because their object is accomplished, yet we are not without sacrifices and without an altar. the paschal lamb was placed upon the altar, the pledge that Christ was to come, the bread and the wine of the Holy Communion are placed upon the table, which I may therefore call an altar, in commemoration that Christ has come. You ate of the lamb, to prove your faith that He would visit His people; we eat of the bread, and drink of the wine, to prove our faith that He has so visited them. You, therefore, have no right to partake of the bread which commemorates His death as our sacrifice, while you eat of the paschal lamb, which was the ordinance anticipative of that death, and which you prove that you do not believe to have taken place, by partaking of the Jewish altar.-There is no necessity to shrink from the right use of any scriptural language because it has been perverted, either by a papist or by a sectarian1.

NOTE 3. On the expression—“ the beginning of months." Exod. xii. 2.

Cocceius and Houbigant both interpret the word, in this passage, as the chief of months, not the beginning. The civil year still began in Tisri, or September, though the ecclesiastical year began in Abib, or March. A similar distinction prevails with us in the Church of England. The civil year commences on the first of January, the ecclesiastical year on Advent Sunday; the financial year may be said to commence on the 5th of April; the legal year on the 25th of March.

NOTE 4. On the sacrifice of the Passover being taken from among the goats, as well as from the sheep (Exod. xii. 5); because Christ, according to the flesh, was descended from sinners, as well as from holy persons.

See Augustine, Questions on Exodus, No. 42.

1 Professor Scholefield's Sermon before the Univer sity of Cambridge (Oct. 28, 1843).-Cambridge.