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nounce its sovereignty, to shake off its chains, and to rejoice in the glorious liberty wherewith Christ has made his people free.

EXPOSITION VII.

EXODUS iii. 1—6.

1. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the back side of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

2. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4. And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

6. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

The second term of forty years of preparation in the life of Moses was now drawing to a close. How it had been employed, beyond the mere pastoral occupations in which we have seen him engaged, is not revealed to us; although its fruits are no doubt visible, in the peculiar holiness and meekness which so strongly predominated in his character, during the remainder of his life, and which form so striking and singular a contrast to the indignant impatience of oppression and fiery zeal which marked his opening

years. His long and solitary communings with the God of his fathers, his many days of anxiety and nights of watchfulness, his entire seclusion from the strivings of his fellow men, had all, no doubt, greatly tended to mellow his temper, to increase his patience, to improve his judgment, to elevate his piety, to regulate, though not to destroy, his zeal. It is not difficult to imagine how greatly such a course of preparation would tend to qualify him in a most eminent degree for the inconceivable difficulties and trials which the leadership of 600,000 men, of perverse wills and stubborn hearts, would assuredly entail upon him.

And now, the time had come for the Almighty to manifest himself in a more distinct and remarkable manner to Moses than he had ever yet done, and to call and consecrate him for his deeply important office. The method selected by God was, at the same time, pre-eminently striking, and highly symbolical. Moses, while tending his flock on Mount Horeb, which, together with Mount Sinai, form the two distinct summits of the same mountain, beheld a bush burning with fire, yet not consumed. Under this symbol, it pleased God to represent to him the suffering state of his brethren, the children of Israel, and at the same time their assurance of protection and preservation: for the bush, although on fire, was not consumed. From the midst of this bush, the "angel of the Lord," i. e. the uncreated angel, the angel "Jehovah," for he is called by that name in the fourth verse, appeared to him, and as the second person in the ever

blessed Trinity, revealed himself to Moses, as the God of his fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob.

Thus carrying on the symbol, and showing, that if the burning bush typified the suffering state of the children of Israel, they were like the Church of the Redeemer in after ages, "cast down, but not destroyed, persecuted, but not forsaken:" that their God was in the midst of them, and they were safe. We are not surprised to read, that when ordered to take off his sandals and draw near, Moses "was afraid to look upon God." " Where is the individual who would not have been? Where is the person, who, if the Almighty were to vouchsafe, at this moment, to manifest himself in any visible form, in this room, would not cry out, with Isaiah, "Wo is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips;" or with St. Peter, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." "Perfect love casteth out fear," but while carrying about with us a body of sin and death, our love is, alas! far from perfect. If we can approach God with any degree of confidence or comfort, it can only be, as clad in that "robe of righteousness," which the Lord Jesus Christ, who is "the Lord our righteousness," has prepared for all who love him. Blessed for ever be his holy name, that he is as willing and as ready to invest, at this moment, the weakest and humblest of his followers with his robe of salvation, as the king who invited the outcasts from the highways and hedges, to his supper, was, to clothe every individual among them with a "wedding-garment." Do you desire, then, not to be "afraid to look upon God?" We know but of one remedy for that fear,

and it is faith. "Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me," are the words of our Lord himself. See, then, that you refuse not him that speaketh from heaven, and offers you his protection, his righteousness, himself. Afraid of God you will ever be, until you have learnt to approach him thus, for then, and then only, will you have access with boldness to a throne of grace; then only, will you be enabled to come, as God's dear children, crying, Abba, Father; then, only, will you know, experimentally, that filial love, which casteth out slavish fear, and will enable you to say from the overflowings of a full and grateful heart, "We love God, because he first loved us." "Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that we love thee,"

EXPOSITION VIII.

EXODUS iii. 7—14.

7. And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

8. And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land into a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyp tians oppress them.

10. Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that

thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

11. And Moses said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Isruel out of Egypt?

12. And he said, Certainly I will be with thee; and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee: When thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

13. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

The remarkable dialogue, between the Almighty and his chosen servant Moses, which was commenced in the last portion of Scripture, is continued in the verses that we have just read; where it pleased God to reveal to Moses the great embassy in which he was about to employ him, and at the same time, the reasons for which the Lord, at this period, interfered on behalf of his people. How instructive, how consolatory to the church of God, in all ages, are those reasons! "I have seen the afflictions of my people!" "I have heard their cry," "I know their sorrows." Were it not for these distinct declarations on the part of the Almighty, how difficult would it be to believe, that the cries and sorrows of earth could ever enter heaven, that the groans even of the most unpitied slave should be heard and answered from on high. But where is the mourner who, with such evidences of the Divine sympathy before his eyes, can venture to doubt that his own prayers are heard, his

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