an Intercessor, the heart of the Christian feels, 'if in the midst of my darkest conflict, perhaps that which may possibly shadow my closing scene, when my own tongue shall be speechless, and my mind have lost its power, if my gracious. intercessor were then to fail me, how fatal would be the result! my soul's great enemy might: succeed, and I still might perish., Blessed be God for the certainty that my Intercessor is divine; were he the highest of saints, the most glorious of archangels, the first and brightest of created intelligences, still I should fear; the hour may come, the trembling heart would say, when his hands will be heavy, and his intercessions end; but now, at once my Saviour, Intercessor, God, such an event is absolutely impossible; I will not, cannot fear it.' Never shall this blessed employment know one moment's intermission, until, in the language of our Church, it has pleased Him "to accomplish the number of his elect," and to bring the last and latest of his sheep within the safe enclosure of the heavenly fold. Then, indeed, shall every intercession finish, since then there will be an end of sin, and there will be none for whom to intercede. That awful period will arrive, so strikingly alluded to by the apostle, when he says, “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up

the kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."*

EXPOSITION XLII.

EXODUS Xviii. 1—12.

1. When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' fatherin-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt;

2. Then Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back,

3. And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land:

4. And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh:

5. And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:

* 1 Cor. xv. 24, 25, 27.

6. And he said unto Moses, I thy father-in-law Jethro am come unto thee, and thy wife, and her two sons with her.

7. And Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obeisance, and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare; and they came into the tent.

WE are now called to turn aside from the general history of the Israelites, to a little incident in the domestic life of Moses. It appears, that, probably owing to the great difficulties which he found awaiting him in Egypt, Moses had sent back his wife and children to his father-in-law Jethro, that they might dwell in safety under his charge, until his own authority was established, and the way made plain before him. These having now, by the Almighty's merciful guardianship, been accomplished, it was his bounden duty, and no doubt his earnest desire, to enjoy again the society of his wife and family. Accordingly, the chapter opens by informing us, that Jethro, having heard of all that God had done for Moses, came with his daughter and her sons, to the camp of the Israelites, and brought them unto Moses. It is added, that Jethro was a priest of Midian. There can be no doubt that he was a priest of the true God, or Moses would not have permitted him, as we find him in the 12th verse, to offer a

burnt offering and sacrifices to Jehovah.

As

Jethro was descended from Midian, who was the son of Abraham and Keturah, it is not surprising that the knowledge of the Most High should have been retained in his family; and even had it not, it is difficult to imagine Moses dwelling for forty years under Jethro's roof, and marrying his daughter, without having been instrumental in imparting the word of life to her family.

As soon as Jethro had arrived at the encampment, he sent to announce the fact to Moses, who, notwithstanding his own high rank and authority, at once went forth to meet him, and "did obeisance." Such, in the best days, and by the best men, has ever been the respect and reverence paid to age, and to superior relationship; and it is impossible that it should not remind us of one of the greatest men in our own national history, who, when advanced to the highest legal dignity, never passed the inferior court in which his aged father sat, without entering it, and humbly kneeling before him, asked a parent's blessing. Happy are Happy are those families in which such feelings are not extinct, and doubly happy when the bond of close relationship is drawn still closer by the mutual love and reverence of each, to the heavenly Father of them all.

8. And Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them.

9. And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.

10. And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.

11. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly he was above them.

Moses, having brought his relatives into his tent, affords us another improving domestic lesson, by the nature of the conversation with which he entertains them. "Moses told his father-in-law all that the Lord had done unto Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, and all the travail that had come upon them by the way, and how the Lord delivered them." In fact, he narrates to them, as all would have done, the events which had passed during their separation, only he does not, as many under his remarkable circumstances would have been tempted to do, make himself the hero of his story; but delights to refer all to God, and to allow the Lord's doings, and the Lord's deli