ed it, was the blessed Redeemer! He reaches forth to you, he solicits you to be sprinkled with this "blood of the new covenant which was shed for

many, for the remission of sins." He invites you externally and symbolically in the sacrament, and by faith internally, to" eat the flesh and drink the blood" of this victim of love, and thus to feast upon the sacrifice. Can you neglect these merciful invitations? Can you be insensible to the offer which God makes you, to give you, in covenant, his Son with all his graces, his Spirit with all his influences, his heaven with all its glory, himself as the abundant and eternal portion to your souls? Can you trifle with this offer, and not tremble lest, in righteous indignation, he should for ever "cut you off from the people” of his love? And ye who have observed the external forms of the covenant, look at those who perished in the wilderness; look at the awful death of Nadab and Abihu; and rest not in outward forms and external symbols, but see that your hearts be right before God.

4. Awful as were the scenes on which we have meditated, there are more awful scenes in which we must bear a part. Full of terror as was the giving of the law, still more terrible shall be the judgment according to that law. What, ah! what will be our emotions, when we shall hear that trump which shall not merely chill the living with terror, but awaken the dead; when, not Sinai only, but the world shall be wrapped in flames; when, not a single nation, but all who have ever lived, shall appear before the Great Tribunal, not to receive a law, but a sentence that shall decide their everlasting state; when “the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on

all that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel!" From what crowds then shall burst the agonized cry, "Who can stand before this holy Lord God?" Who? Those on whom is sprinkled the blood of the atoning sacrifice-those who are in covenant with God, and interested in the great Mediator: these shall stand before God; and, happier than Moses, shall behold him, not merely for a few days, but eternally, "there where he darts forth the full rays of his brightness, and causes his glory ever to appear, without any interposing cloud or veil."

SERMON XXIII.

LIFE OF MOSES.

No. VII.

EXODUS Xxxii. xxxiii. xxxiv.

IN our last lecture we beheld the Israelites standing at the foot of Sinai, trembling at that awful display of the divine majesty which they witnessed, and crying with one voice," All that the Lord hath said we will do." This language was not hypocritical; they were sincere in these purposes of obedience; and they thought that nothing could henceforth turn them from their attachment to their God.

But the Lord knew the frailty and the treachery of their hearts; he saw in the future the rebellions, the violations of their promises and professions of which they would be guilty; and he said to Moses, "I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken. O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever." (Deut. v. 28, 29.) Nothing can be more tender than these words, which at once express the complacency which God would have in their obedience, and the danger in which they were of breaking their engagements. An affecting commentary on them is given in the history which succeeds.

The thunder had ceased to roll; the lightning no longer flamed before them; the deep, shrill sound of the trump was no longer heard; the symbol of the divine presence rested on the top of the mountain; Moses who had so often ascended and returned to them, had not come back from that glory of Jehovah into which he had entered, and which had appeared to them like devouring fire. Under these circumstances, the resolutions formed under the impression of terror, and the promises extorted by fear, are forgotten; since the pillar of cloud descends not from the mountain. Too gross to adore an invisible God, they resolve to form another symbol of the presence of the divinity with them; they therefore cry to Aaron," Up, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses we wot not what is become of him." Not that they wished entirely to renounce the service of Jehovah; not that they supposed that their hands could give being to a divinity; but that

they might have an idol that would be the medium of worship, and at whose feet they might lay those services that had as their ultimate object the God of Israel. This is evident, since in announcing its worship, Aaron proclaimed, "To-morrow is a feast to Jehovah;" and since in the services that were performed before it, those sacrifices were used that were appointed by God. Still it was an express and daring violation of those commandments that had just been announced to them.

Aaron required of them their golden ornaments; perhaps supposing that avarice or vanity would prevent them from parting with these ornaments to form an idol. But they cheerfully bestowed them; and of them a molten calf was formed, probably in imitation of Apis the Egyptian divinity, whom they had seen worshipped under the form of an ox. How could they forget the impotence of this idol to defend himself or his worshippers from the plagues which at the command of Jehovah descended upon Egypt?

An altar was built on which this idol was placed, and the Israelites "rose up early in the morning," anxious to commence those services, the result of which was so dreadful to them, "and offered those burnt-offerings and brought those peace-offerings" due only to Jehovah.

They "ate and drank" before the idol; thus expressing their wish to have the same communion with it that Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel had with the Lord, when they feasted on the sacrifice before him; and then rushed to those excesses that have always attended on idolatry.

This whole history fills us with astonishment; but it can appear incredible only to those who have

In

never reflected on the ingratitude of man, and the treachery of the human heart. How many circumstances equally surprising, equally criminal, have occurred to those around us-have occurred to ourselves. How many, affected by some striking providence, or peculiar manifestation of the greatness or power of God, have been all zeal, all fire for his worship, and have made him the most solemn promises, but who have been as ready to violate these promises as they were bold in forming them. How many on the bed of sickness, in communion seasons, have cried, “All that the Lord hath spoken will we do;" but who have almost immediately forgotten all their resolutions of amendment and obedience. reproaching the Israelites, do not then many of us condemn ourselves?" But they resisted miracles which we have not beheld?" Yes, but is their conduct more inconceivable, more criminal, than ours; who, believing in these and in far greater miracles wrought by our Redeemer; enjoying a purer and more brilliant light than the Israelites possessed; beholding in the sublime spectacle of nature the display of the divine attributes; witnesses of his works around us; and sensible that our lives and happiness depend only upon his good will, dare yet to violate his laws, to give to creatures that place in our hearts which belongs only to the Creator, and to defy his thunders? Such conduct in us shows as much guilt, and blindness, and insensibility, and rebellion, as was displayed by the Israelites when they bowed before the molten calf.

One great purpose of God in separating the Israelites from other nations and giving laws to them, was to preserve that fundamental doctrine of the unity of the Godhead, which was in danger of being lost