ployer. Upon this Moses is informed that God intended, on the third day from that time, to manifest Himself to all the people, as the leader and ruler of that vast army; and as the employér and patron of Moses his prophet, in a manner that should leave no doubt by whose authority he acted.

And the Lord said unto Moses: "Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe for ever! And thou shalt set bounds to the people round about; saying, take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, nor touch the border of it; for whosoever toucheth the mount shall surely be put to death." A command was then given to them to employ themselves that day, and the next, in solemn preparation for this august visit. As a token of obedience, and indication of inward purity, they are directed to wash their clothes; to abstain themselves from whatever might defile the body, or the mind; and even to deny themselves those lawful gratifications which might have a tendency to divert their attention.

"And Moses sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes." "And it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud, on

the mount; and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp, to meet with God." "And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace; and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice." And the Lord called. Moses up to the top of the mount, and said : "Charge the people lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. And let the priests also which come near unto the Lord sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.”

CHAPTER XX.

ON THE PATRIARCHAE DISPENSATION.

e THE spreading of corruption after the deluge, is not to be assigned to ignorance of religion, but to religion directed to wrong objects and pursuits.

While men retained the knowledge of the true God, they cared not to glorify Him by the practice of virtue and holiness; "neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations.” Rom. i. 21.

Artful men, through pride and wantonness, indulging idle conceits, involved their own understandings, and those of others, in the thickest clouds of error and delusion. It is probable, they represented the sun, moon, and stars, as illustrious intelligences, which, being so eminently exalted, must have the highest interest in the favour of God, the direction of human affairs, and the distribution of temporal blessings. Thus the people might be driven, enticed, and drawn in, to worship them; see Deut. iv. 19; for the attri

butes of supposed deities and benefactors of mankind, being feigned purely by human imagination, they would naturally be represented by men who had their own interests and lusts to serve, in such a manner as best suited the corrupt taste and inclinations of those who were disposed to follow them. And by this method, men would be led to believe they might be religious; gain health, long life, and fruitful seasons; plenty and prosperity, without the practice of holiness and virtue.

We may add to this, that cunning men, who knew how to make an advantage of the foibles of mankind, introduced into their minds notions of fate, destiny, fortune, chance, necessity, with many other delusions. Hence arose professors of the vilest arts, pretending to look into futurity, to gratify the malicious desires of those who consulted them, by professing to procure bad luck to others. Deut. xviii. 10. Of this class were diviners, observers of times, enchanters, witches, or such as pretend to work upon the mind or body for evil purposes, by herbs or potions, charmers, consulters with a pretended familiar spirit, wizards, necromancers. And so far were the people infatuated, that they made their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, under a notion of a sacrifice to their idols; probably to gain their blessing upon their children, and

to make them 31. xviii. 10.

healthy and fortunate. Deut. xii. Thus their hope and trust was diverted from the Divine Being and his Providence, to vain idols, and the vilest impostors.

In Abraham's time, the delusions of idolatry were so strong, that all nations seem to have run into it, at once, and alike; and such was the infatuating nature of the infection, that there was no rational prospect of reformation, by arguments or reasoning, when the most dreadful judgments were no longer regarded. The knowledge and worship of the one living and true God, the great principle of moral goodness, and of public and private happiness, might have been lost in the earth, had not the gracious Father of the universe, instead of destroying all nations, as at the deluge, been pleased to introduce a new and noble plan, which, under several variations and improvements, was to reach to the end of time. The scheme was to choose and adopt one family, afterward to be formed into a nation, instructed in religious knowledge by God himself, and favoured with such extraordinary privileges and honours, above all the nations of the earth, as were, in their own nature, adapted to engage this people by the most rational motivés, to adhere to God and to his worship. At the same time, to prevent their being infected with the