authenticated by the history given in the Bible. When the people were thus delivered, they stood upon the other side of the sea, and their affections, in answer to the call which God had made upon them, gushed forth in thanksgiving and praise. Hear the response of their hearts, and their allusion to the cause which produced that response: "O sing unto the LORD, for HE hath triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider he hath thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my SALVATION. He is my God; and I will prepare him a habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him." Exod. xv. 1, 2, &c. Thus was the attention of the whole nation turned to the true God. An impression of his goodness was fixed deeply in their memory, and their affections were drawn out and fastened upon the true object of worship. Now this, as was shown in the commencement of the chapter, was necessary, before they could offer worship either honourable or acceptable to God. The end was accomplished by means adapted to the nature of the human soul, and to the circumstances of the Israelites; and by means which no being in the universe, but the Maker of the soul, could use. The demonstration is therefore perfect, that the Scripture narrative is true, and that no other narrative, differing materially from this in its principles, could be true. CHAPTER VI. CONCERNING THE DESIGN AND NECESSITY OF THE Ar this stage of our progress it will be useful to recapitulate the conclusions at which we have arrived, and thus make a point of rest from which to extend our observation further into the plan of God for redeeming the world. This review is the more appropriate, as we have arrived at a period in the history of God's providence with Israel, which presents them as a people prepared (so far as imperfect material could be prepared) to receive that model which God might desire to impress upon the nation. 1. They were bound to each other by all the ties of which human nature is susceptible, and thus rendered compact and united, so that everything national, whether in sentiment or practice, would be received and cherished with unanimous, and fervent, and lasting attachment; and furthermore, by a long and rigorous bondage, they had been rendered, for the time being at least, humble and dependent. Thus they were disciplined by a course of providences, adapted to fit them to receive instruction from their benefactor with a teachable and grateful spirit. 2. Their minds were shaken off from idols; and Jehovah, by a revelation made to them, setting forth his name and nature, had revealed himself as a DIVINE BEING, and by his works had manifested his almighty power, so that when their minds were disabused of wrong views of the Godhead, an idea of the first, true, and essential nature of God was revealed to them; and they were thus prepared to receive a knowledge of the attributes of that divine essence. 3. They had been brought to contemplate God as their Protector and Saviour. Appeals the most affecting and thrilling had been addressed to their affections; and they were thus attached to God as their almighty temporal Saviour, by the ties of gratitude and love for the favour which he had manifested to them. 4. When they had arrived on the farther shore of the Red Sea, thus prepared to obey God and worship him with the heart, they were without laws, either civil or moral. As yet, they had never possessed any national or social organisation. They were therefore prepared to receive, without predilection or prejudice, that system of moral instruction and civil polity, which God might reveal, as best adapted to promote the moral interests of the nation. From these conclusions we may extend our vision forward into the system of revelation. This series of preparations would certainly lead the mind to the expectation that what was still wanting, and what they had been thus miraculously prepared to receive, would be granted-which was a knowledge of the moral character of God, and a moral law prescribing their duty to God and to men. Without this, the plan that had been maturing for generations, and had been carried forward thus far by wonderful exhibitions of divine wisdom and power, would be left unfinished, just at the point where the finishing pro cess was necessary. But, besides the strong probability which the previous preparation would produce, that there would be a revelation of moral law, there are distinct and conclusive reasons evincing its necessity. The whole experience of the world has confirmed the fact, beyond the possibility of scepticism, that man cannot discover and establish a perfect rule of human duty. Whatever may be said of the many excellent maxims expressed by different individuals in different ages and nations, yet it is true that no system of duty to God and man, in anywise consistent with enlightened reason, has ever been established by human wisdom, and sustained by human sanctions; and, for reasons already stated,* such a fact never can occur. But, it may be supposed that each man has, within himself, sufficient light from reason, and sufficient admonition from conscience, to guide himself, as an individual, in the path of truth and happiness. A single fact will correct such a supposition. Conscience, the great arbiter of the merit and demerit of human conduct, has little intuitive sense of right, and is not guided entirely by reason, but is governed in a great measure by what men believe. Indeed, faith is the legitimate regulator of the conscience. If a man has correct views of duty to God and men, he will have a correct conscience, but if he can, by a wrong view of morals and of the character of God, be induced to believe that theft, or murder, or any vice, is tight, See chap. I. p. 30, et seq. his conscience will be corrupted by his faith. When men are brought to believe, as they frequently do believe in heathen countries, that it is right to commit suicide, or infanticide, as a religious duty, their conscience condemns them if they do not perform the act. Thus, that power in the soul which pronounces upon the moral character of human conduct, is itself dependent upon, and regulated by, the faith of the individual. It is apparent, therefore, that the reception and belief of a true rule of duty, accompanied with proper sanctions, will alone form in man a proper conscience. God has so constituted the soul, that it is necessary, in order to the regulation of its moral powers, that it should have a rule of duty revealed under the sanction of its Maker's authority; otherwise its high moral powers would lie in dark and perpetual disorder. Further, unless the human soul be an exception, God governs all things by laws adapted to their proper nature. The laws which govern the material world are sketched in the books on natural sciencesuch are gravitation, affinity, mathematical motion. Those laws by which the irrational animal creation is controlled, are usually called instincts. Their operation and design are sketched, to some extent, in treatises upon the instincts of animals. Such is the law which leads the beaver to build his dam, and all other animals to pursue some particular habits instead of others. All beavers, from the first one created to the present time, have been instinctively led to build a dam in the same manner, and so their instinct will lead them to build till the end of time. The law |