that Prophet, has the following allusions to These Miracles of JEHOVAH in His Past Rescue of His Chosen People-THOU Art The LORD, The GOD, Who didst Choose Abram, and Broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and Gavest him the name of Abraham; and Foundest his heart faithful before Thee; and Madest a Covenant with him to Give the Land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Gir gashites, to Give it to his Seed; and hast Performed Thy Words; for Thou art Righteous; and didst See the affliction of our Fathers in Egypt; and Heardest their cry by the Red Sea; and Shewedst Signs and Wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his Servants, and on all the People of his Land; for Thou Knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst Thou Get Thee a Name, as it is this day; and Thou didst Divide the Sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the Sea on the dry Land; and their Persecutors Thou Threwest into the Deeps, as a stone into the mighty Waters: moreover, Thou Leddest them in the day by a Cloudy Pillar, and in the night by a Pillar of Fire, to Give them Light in the Way wherein they should go. THOU Camest down also upon Mount Sinai, and Spakest with them from Heaven, and Gavest them right Judgments and true Laws, good Statutes and Commandments; and Madest known unto them Thy Holy Sabbath; and Commandedst them Precepts, Statutes, and Laws, by the hand of Moses, Thy Servant; and Gavest them Bread from Heaven for their hunger; and Broughtest forth Water for them out of the Rock for their thirst; and Promisedst them that they should go in to possess the Land, which Thou hadst Sworn to Give them-Neh. ix. 5 to 15. In the Mosaic Account of the Miraculous Supply of Water it is said, The People thirsted in the Wilderness for water, and murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our Children and our Cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto The LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this People? they be almost ready to stone me! And The LORD Said unto Moses, Go on before the People, and take with thee of the Elders of Israel; and thy Rod, wherewith thou smotest the River, take in thine hand, and go! Behold, I will Stand before thee there upon the Rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the Rock, and there shall come Water out of it that the People may drink: and Moses did so in the sight of the Elders of Israel: and he called the name of the Place Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the Children of Israel, and because they tempted The LORD, saying, Is The LORD among us, or not?--Exod. xvii. 3 to 7. In the Book of Numbers a rather more detailed Account of this Miracle is afforded (Numb. xx.) When in the Desert of Zin, the whole Congregation of the People of Israel gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, because there was no water there for them; and the People chode with Moses and spake, saying, Would GOD that we had died when our Brethren died before The LORD? And why have ye brought up the Congregation of The LORD into this Wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt to bring us in unto this evil Place? It is no Place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink! And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the Assembly unto the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation; and they fell upon their faces. And the Glory of The LORD Appeared unto them; and The LORD Spake unto Moses, Saying, Take the Rod, and gather thou the Assembly together, thou and Aaron thy Brother, and speak ye unto the Rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth its Water; and thou shalt bring forth to them Water out of the Rock: so thou shalt give the Congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the Rod from before The LORD, as He Com

manded him; and Moses and Aaron gathered the Congregation together before the Rock; and he said unto them, Hear now, ye Rebels, must we fetch you Water out of this Rock? And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his Rod he smote the Rock twice; and the Water came out abundantly; and the Congregation drank and their beasts also-1 to 11. And as such an unlooked for supply of abundance of water in a dreary and wearying Land was most grateful to the Multitudes, suffering, as they had done, from the want of such a necessary of life; when thus Dealt out to them even amidst their faithlessness and rebellious Spirit towards That POWER, Who had so Markedly Proved His Providential Care and Tender Consideration for them: So is the Love of CHRIST Ever Issuing in Streams to Satisfy the Spiritual thirst and cravings of all Such, as feel their total destitution and call for Aid in Mercy. And to Such, as receive It gratefully, how unspeakably Refreshing is It!Such was the faithlessness, and such were the perpetual murmurings of the Israelites, that they forfeited all claim to the Continuance of The DIVINE Love and Protection; and when Its Forbearance was in Justice thus Exhausted, the Angel of Desolation was Sent forth, and All from the age of twenty years old and upwards, save the Two only faithful amongst the Faithless, Joshua and Caleb, perished in the Wilderness, their Descendants alone witnessing the Fulfilment of The DIVINE Promise, and reaching and permanently resting in the Land of Canaan-See Numbers xiv. and xxvi. 64, 65.—In the xcv. Psalm, so familiar in our Church Service, this rebel Spirit amongst the emancipated Jews is dwelt upon, and the Record of DIVINE Displeasure and Chastisement briefly referred to; and the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews reasons from that awful period in the Jewish history, to inculcate confidence in The DIVINE Word, and in the Offer of Salvation through JESUS CHRIST; representing Such as of the Household of CHRIST, who hold fast the confidence and the joy of the Christian hope unto the end. Adding this salutary caution, which we should each apply to our own hearts, Take heed lest there be in any of us an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the True Spirit of The Gospel, and we become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, and be found Hypocrites, not having that vital operative faith, which alone has the Assurance of DIVINE Sonship and Eternal Rest and Blessedness Heb. iii. 12, 13. And St. Jude's admonition has reference to the same occasion of Desolation through Infidelity, saying, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the Common Salvation, it was needful for me to exhort you, that you should earnestly contend for the Faith, which was once Delivered unto the Saints: I will therefore put you in remembrance, how that The LORD, having Saved the People out of the Land of Egypt, afterward Destroyed them that believed not-3, 5. Would that unbelief and murmurings in and at the Dispensations of PROVIDENCE had been peculiar to the whole course of the then Jewish History; and that when The DAY-SPRING from on High Visited the Earth to Give Light to Lighten the Gentiles, and to be the Glory of the People of Israel, the Spirit of Regeneration in the hearts of Mankind had universally and continuously manifested itself through that and all succeeding Generations; and that from the Least to the Greatest the desire had been to shew forth, in the meekness of Christian wisdom, a grateful resignation to the Dealings of A Gracious and Almighty GOD, and to centre all joy in the hope of a Blessed Immortality through JESUS CHRIST, Its Merciful PROCURER! Then indeed would have been reaped, in the richest measure, the benefit of the Jewish example both of evil and of good, by cleaving to the one and avoiding the other.

VERSES 7 to 12.-Neither be ye idolaters, as were Some of them; as it is Written, The People sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as Some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty Thousand! Neither let us tempt CHRIST, as Some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents; neither murmur ye, as Some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the Destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are Written for our Admonition; upon whom the Ends of the World are come. Wherefore let him, that thinketh he standeth, take

heed lest he fall!

The idolatry of the Jews was attributable in a great measure to their uncontrouled passions and misguided affections; the beauty and fascinations of the Heathen Women, amidst their obvious ungodliness, were the snare laid for them by Satan, but too successfully, and into it they but too willingly fell. It was the effect of that lustful propensity, that disappoints the very object of the Sexes' union, which was in the Wise Purpose of The Universal CREATOR, when He Formed Man after His Own Likeness, and Woman to be an Help-meet for him, that he might not be alone; but that his love might be wholly hers, and that the incense of gratitude to GOD, for so Goodly and Gracious an Appointment, might arise in unison from the hearts of Each. To tempt CHRIST is in any way to resist the Grace of The HOLY SPIRIT, Whose Influence we owe to His Merciful and Mysterious Intercession, that Thereby we should be Guided unto all Truth Essential to Salvation; and by rejecting This Truest FRIEND to our Souls and their Present and Everlasting Interests, we tempt CHRIST to Withdraw His Mediatorial Office on our behalf, and are left to the ruinous guidance of our own self-will and self-love; and finally become the Victims of that old Serpent, the Devil, whose food and delight are in the endless and hopeless misery of those he has infatuated by his subtilty, and kept by his cunning in his spares to the end of their Lives here, that he may disport himself with their proving the success of his art against the Invitations to That Heaven, and Holiness and Happiness, from Which he has fallen, never to rise again.The Ends of the World is perhaps a figurative expression for the Consummation of The DIVINE Dealings with it in the Advent of The SON of GOD into the World, Fulfilling all Righteousness therein, and by being Himself without sin, yet the Free-Will Offering in Sacrifice as The Atonement for sin, even the sins of the World, Opening the Door of Heaven to all true Believers in That Mediation (equally in Its Necessity as Its Sufficiency), and in the Excellency of That Example of Life, Which He Set, and of Those Precepts He Inculcated, so as, with the heart and the Soul, to observe the one, and to follow the other. But let us studiously and guardedly avoid any approach to presumption and especially to Spiritual pride! And on the contrary, manifest a meek and docile and ever grateful and confiding spirit in The Gospel Dispensation, that we may indeed stand fast in the faith, as it is in JESUS, and rest on the hope of experiencing, in His Own Well Chosen Time, the Assurance of That Salvation, Which Awaits the Redeemed in the Life to Come within the Realms of Peace and Joy, and in Communion with All, that is Good and Great and Excellent; immeasurably more than surpassing the highest and fondest reach of our imaginations amidst the Wonders of the World we now are in, and the Manifestations of the Wisdom and Providence and Beneficence of Its Gracious CREATOR. Let us heartily pray, that we may be kept from that fatal error, which prompts the self-confiding Soul to rest on its own sufficiency and righteousness! vainly thinking it standeth in the Favour of The ALMIGHTY, when it has fallen away from the Appointed Path, that Leads to the Attainment of That Promised and Inestimable and Everlasting Blessing.—The occasion alluded to by St. Paul, as proving the rapid departure of the Israelites from the worship of The True GOD, was when Moses had withdrawn from them to hold communion with The

DIVINE NATURE, during a period of forty days; the People then importuning Aaron to make them gods; and a calf of gold was madly set up as an object of worship; and the People, in their vain and weak and wanton hearts, after paying it the semblance of adoration, lent themselves to all the excesses and indulgences of infidel festive occasions; as recorded in the xxxii. of Exodus.-The abandonment to lasciviousness, also alluded to by the Apostle, is recorded in Numbers xxv. when the Daughters of the Moabites fascinated the Israelites, and won them to the worship and outward adoration at least of the fabricated idols and polluting sacrifices and rites of the Land of Moab; when the zeal of Phinehas was called forth, and led the way to Corrective Chastisement from JEHOVAH. See also Numb. xxi. 6 and xiv. 2, 29.- -The DIVINITY of JESUS is here asserted by Paul, when quoting the historic passage, which describes all the Congregation of the Children of Israel as chiding Moses, by reason of the scarcity of water, and Moses replying, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt The LORD?-Exod. xvii. 1, 2. The DIVINE Mercies have Flowed to us through CHRIST from the First Creation until now; and Indivisible as He is from THE GODHEAD, no disrespect shewn to THE GODHEAD, but affects Him. Let us not tempt CHRIST! lest we fall into the like Condemnation.-On Spies being sent to know the real character of the Land of Canaan and its People, and the majority proving faithless or treacherous, the People gave way to their own fears, and practically disclaiming any confidence in the Promise of JEHOVAH, resigned themselves to such a murmuring and rebel Spirit, as to call down on them the Just Judgment of The ALMIGHTY and an experience of the awfulness of His Displeasure; being Cut off in all the ages of Manhood from twenty and upwards, with the two only exceptions of Caleb and Joshua. Nor was it peculiar to the times of Egyptian Deliverance, that the absence of a resignation to The DIVINE Appointments manifested itself amongst the Children of Judah and the People of Israel, as in the every chapter of the Book of Judges the condemning Record is retained, that again the People did evil in the Sight of The LORD; and doubtless for the iniquity of the People, though connectedly with one of the weak points in the generally holy character of David, as well after as before his being placed on the Throne of Government, The LORD Sent a pestilence upon Israel; and the Angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it: But The LORD Stayed his hand; and Said, It is Enough-2 Sam. xxiv. 15, 16. Happy is the Man that feareth, with a holy fear and reverential love, The LORD, Who Created him, The SAVIOUR, Who Bought him, and The SPIRIT, Who is Willing to Sanctify him: thus fulfilling the spirit of the Wisest of Men's admonition-Prov. xxviii. 14; and as Paul elsewhere cautions, Be not high-minded; but fear! and stand by Faith on That ROCK of Ages, Which is The Only Sure Foundation Whereon to rest the Assurance of Salvation-Rom. xi. 20.

VERSES 13 to 15.-There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to Man: but GOD is Faithful, Who will not Suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also Make a Way to escape; that ye may be able to bear it. Wherefore, my dearly Beloved, flee from idolatry! I speak as to wise Men; judge ye what I say!

The attractions to idolatry in a particular degree were thrown in the way of All, who lived within or visited Heathen Countries; and the passion of inordinate concupiscence or of covetousness was excited by the Spirit of evil amongst Jews as well as Gentiles. Mercifully however hath The ALMIGHTY Planted in the heart of every One a sense between right and wrong through the workings of conscience, as at once and in an instant to prompt to avoid the one, and adopt the other. GOD, Who is A GOD of Righteousness, of Purity and of

Holiness, is Faithful in the Exercise of These Exalted Attributes, in His Dealings with His Favoured Creature, Man. And not only is DIVINE Light Thrown upon the pathway of Man's progress in life; but a feeling of inward and enduring gratification is felt in the stedfast adherence to that course, unto which That Light Graciously Points; so that the Soul is thereby Enriched with consolation and with pervading joy, which no severity of trial or affliction from temptation, if encountered in a Christian spirit, can dissipate. And the firmer the constancy under an exposure to such temptation, the stronger is the Blissfulness, which flows from the consciousness of The DIVINE Approval in resisting it. Whereas to fall before the excitements of folly, vanity, and unhallowed lusts and passions, is assuredly to bring on, not only the chidings of conscience in this life, but the hopelessness of Acceptance at the Bar of That Judgment, to Which the Soul must finally and awfully be Called. How Wondrous is the Goodness, and how adorable are the Condescending Care and Attention of The MOST HIGH to the Inhabitants of Earth, Ever to be Ready to Hear the supplications of every Human Being, of whatever age, or station, and to Answer them Promptly and Effectually, when offered with the spirit of meekness, resignation and confiding Trust. O my GOD, Help me in this my dire necessity!'or Guide me in this my trying temptation!'or Sustain me under this my severe affliction!' Such a prayer, brief as it is, under each class of circumstance, yet, if coming from the heart, and in all the fulness of the Christian's faith, will doubtless be Answered in a Way, eventually at least, to confirm that faith, and to strengthen that Hope which The Gospel of JESUS CHRIST, and the Sure Promise Therein of The HOLY SPIRIT's Aid, are Given to Plant and to Cherish in the Human Soul. If temptation be strong, yet The LORD On HIGH is Mightier, and He will Open to the believing Heart a Sure Way to escape from it. This is a Doctrine that should be pressed to conviction upon every Disciple of Christianity, even from the earliest age of consciousness; and Conscience be declared as The DIVINE Organ of Benevolent Communication; and Reflection, at the happiness and inward and lasting satisfaction attendant on being Enabled to overcome the evil, should be challenged as the Proof of the Truth of that Doctrine. All Wisdom and Knowledge that are Profitable to the Soul (as the Apostle elsewhere says), are Hid in CHRIST. Therefore All Such, as possess the meekness and simplicity and singleness of heart, which a lively faith in His Gospel inculcates, whether learned or unlearned in the wisdom of this World, are wise in the truest and only acceptable Scriptural sense of Wisdom; as knowing The LORD JESUS, and reposing on the Efficacy of His Mediation. With this spirit of Wisdom from Above, and a thirst after That Knowledge, which Endureth unto Eternal Life, safely may the Sayings of St. Paul, mysterious as many of them may appear to the Unspiritualized and Sceptical Examiners of them, be judged of; and in proportion to the depth of the research will be the exulting recompense felt in arriving at the Assurance of their being an Added and Lustrous Light to lead the Soul on to The SAVIOUR's Paths of Pleasantness and Peace.- -The Prophet Daniel, strong in that faith, which trusts implicitly in the Providence of GOD and in His Gracious Interference to Give Protection or Peace to His faithful Worshippers, entered the lion's den with an untrembling heart; and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his Followers in the same Sustaining confidence, when threatened to be cast, for a perseverance therein, and a resistance of idolatry, into a fiery furnace, manifested most signally that confidence, by saying to the Despot, who threatened it, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter, as thou expectest; If it be so, our GOD, Whom we serve, is Able to Deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and He will Deliver us out of thine hand, Ō King-Dan. iii. 15 to 17; vi. 16, &c.St. Peter