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(3) Lice. (4.) Flies. (5.) Murrain among Cattle. (6.) Boils, and Blifters on Man and Beast. (7.) Thunder, Lightning, and Hail. (8.) Locufts. (9.) Thick Darknefs. (10.) The First-born flain. 15 Q. Were Pharaoh and his People willing to release the Ifraelites at laft?

A Yes; when they faw they were all like to be destroyed, for there was not a House wherein there was not one dead: Then they hastened them out, and lent them Jewels and Gold to adorn their Sacrifices and Worship, Exod. xii. 29-36.

16 Q. How great was the Number of the lfraelites that went out of Egypt?

A. Six hundred thousand men, befides Children, and all went on Foot, Exod. xii. 37.

17 Q. Which Way did the Ifraelites bend their Journey?

A. Towards the Wilderness of the Red-fea, as they were guided by God himself marching before them in a Pillar of Cloud by Day, and in a Pillar of Fire by Night, Exod. xiii. 18, 21.

18 Q. But did not Pharaoh and his Army purfue them after they were gone?

A. Yes, they repented that they let them go, and purfued them to the Red-fea, refolving to deftroy them, Exod. xiv. 5. and xv. 9.

19 Q. How did the People of Ifrael, who came out of Egypt, get over the Red-fea?

A. When they were in Diftrefs with the Red-fea before them, and Pharaoh's Army behind them, they cried unto God, whereon Mofes bid them ftand ftill, and fee the Salvation of the Lord. Then, at the Command of God, Mofes ftruck the Sea with his Rod, and divided the Waters asunder, and the Children of Ifrael went through upon dry Land, Exod. xiv. 10, 16, 21, 29. 20 Q. What

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20 Q. What became of the Egyptians that followed them ?

A. God troubled their Army, retarded their March, and when Mofes ftretched out his Hand over the Sea again, the Waters returned upon them, and they were drowned, Exod. xiv. 28.

21 Q. Whither did theChildren of Ifrael go then? A. They went wherefoever God guided them. by the Pillar of Cloud, and the Pillar of Fire; and they moved, and they refted, according to the Reft or the Motion of this Cloud, Exod. xiii. 21. Numb. x. 33, 34.

22 Q. How did the People of Ifrael, who had feen all thefe Wonders, behave themfelves in their Travels?

A. At every new Difficulty, when they wanted Meat or Water, or met with Enemies, they fell a murmuring against GoD and Mofes, Exod. xv. 23, 24. and xví, 2, 3.

23 Q. How long was it before they came to the Place that God promised them?

A. They wandered forty Years in the Wilderness for their Sins, Numb. xiv. 32, 33. See Pfalm lxxviii. 24 Q. What did they eat all the Time?

4. God fed them with Manna, or Bread that came down every Night from Heaven, and lay all round the Camp, Exod. xvi. 4, 15,35. Deut. viii. 3.

25 Q. What did they drink in the Wilderness? A. Mofes fmote the Rock with his Rod, and Water gushed out in a River, which attended them in their Journeys, Exod. xvii. 5, 6. 1 Cor. x. 4. I Numb. xx. 11. Nehem. ix. 15.

26 Q. What did they do for Clothes during these forty Years?

A. Their Raiment waxed not old, nor did their Shoes wear out, Deut. xxix. 5.

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27 Q. Did

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27 Q. Did Mofes govern all the People himself? A. By his Father-in-law Jethro's Advice, and by God's Approbation, he appointed Officers and Judges over the People for common Cafes, but every harder Caufe was brought to Mofes, Exod. xviii.

28 Q. You told me, that Mofes was a Lawgiver to the Jews or People of Ifrael, pray how came he by thofe wife and holy Laws which he gave them?

A. He converfed with God fourscore Days and Nights in Mount Sinai, and there he learnt them, Exod. xxiv. 12-18. Deut. ix. 9, 18. Note, The People of Ifrael were not all called Jews, till after their Return from the Captivity of Babylon, the chief Part of those who returned being of the Tribe of Judah: Yet in all later Hiftories, the Ifraelites are so univerfally called Jews, that I have fometimes used this Name even in the earlier Part of their Hiftory.-It is plain, that Mofes was twice with God on Mount Sinai, and that forty Days each time; for Mofes coming down, and finding the Idolatry of the golden Calf, broke the Tables of the Law which God wrote firft; and God called him up the fecond Time, and wrote the Law on new Tables. See Exod. xxxiv. 1-5, 28.

29 Q. What Token was there that Mofes had been with God?

A. The Face of Mofes fhone fo that the People could not converse with him till he put a Vail on his Face, Exod. xxxiv. 29-35.

30 Q. What Sort of Laws were those which Mofes gave the Jews?

A. Moral Laws, Ceremonial Laws, and Judicial Laws, and all by God's own Appointment, Exod. xxiv. 12. Ifa. xxxiii. 22.

31 Q. What was the Religion of the Jews, or Ifraelites?

A. The fame with the Religion of Adam after

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his Fall, of Noah, and Abraham, in Chap. I. 2. 50. with thefe Additions given by Mofes. Note. This is called the JEWISH, or MOSAICAL. or LEVITICAL DISPENSATION; and herein God may be confidered under three Characters:

1. As the Univerfal Creator of all Men, and as the Lord God and Ruler of the Souls and Confciences of all; and of the Jews, as a Part of Mankind: And under this Character He required of the Jews all the Duties of the Light of Nature, or the Moral Law, which obliged all Mankind, as well as them, and that under every Difpenfation.

2 He may be confidered as the God of Ifrael, or the Jews, as a Church outward and visible; whom He had feparated from the reft of the Nations to be a peculiar People to Himfelf; and fo He prefcribed to them peculiar Forms of Worship, and special Ceremonies and Rites of Religion, as Tokens of their Duty and his Grace.

3. He may be confidered as the proper King of the Ifraelites, as a Nation, and as they were his Subjects; and fo He gave them Judicial or Political Laws, which relate to their Government, and the common Affairs of the civil Law.-But these three Sorts of Laws are not kept fo entirely diftinct as not to be intermingled with each other. Itis all indeed, but one Body of Laws, and given properly to that one People under different Difpenfations. And on this Account it is fometimes hard to fay, under which Head fome of thefe Commands of God must be reduced. Some Commands relating to their Houses and Garments, their Plowing and Sowing, and the Prohibition of particular Sorts of Food, are naturally ranked under their Political Laws: and yet there is plainly fomething Ceremonial or Reli. gious defigned or included in them. Again, That which we call the Moral Law, or the Ten Commands, is for the most part the Law of Nature, but it has fomething of a pofitive Inftitution, ceremonial or ritual, in it. This is very plain in the fourth

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Command.

Command, of the feventh Day Sabbath: But in this History it was not proper to enter into foo nice Inquiries on this Subject. The three Branches of this Diftinction of the Jewish Laws in the main are evident enough, though they happen to be intermingled in fome Inftances.

CHA P. IV.

Of the MORAl Law.

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Q. WHICH was the Moral Law given to the Jews?

A. All thofe Commands which relate to their Behaviour, confidered as Men, and which lie fcattered up and down in the Books of Mofes; but they are as it were reduced into a small Compass in the ten Commandments.

2 Q. How were these ten Commands firft given them?

A. By the Voice of God on Mount Sinai, three Months after their coming out of Egypt; and it was attended with Thunder, and Fire, and Smoke, and the Sound of a Trumpet, Exod. xix. 18, 19. and xx. I, 18.

3Q Where was this Moral Law more efpecially written?

A. In the Two Tables of Stone which God wrote with his own Hand, and gave to Mofes, Exod. xxiv, 12 chap. xxxii. 15, 16. and xxxiv. 1. 4 Q. What did the firft Table contain ?

A. Their Duty towards God in the four firft Commandments. See Exod. xx. 3-11. Deut. v. 22. 5Q. What are thefe four firft Commandments? A. I." Thou shalt have no other Gods before " me."

II. Thou shalt not make to thyfelf any graven

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