then only, that we learn rightly, although, alas! how imperfectly, to know either God or ourselves. The world, when seen from a distance, appears for the first time in its true dimensions, and has no longer the exaggerated charms and glories with which, while closely engaged in it, we are so apt to invest it; and we are enabled, when thus temporally removed from it, to see something of its exceeding emptiness and worthlessness and vanity; and thus, if we persevere in prayer, fully following out these true and holy impressions, we may be led, by the grace given unto us, to renounce 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 backside 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,

C

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.

66

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, "Woe 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 "weddinggarment." 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."