NOTES 
 
 THE BOOK or EXODUS. 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 1 He led them forth byihe right way." 
 (Psalm cvii. 7.) 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 LOIZEAUX BROTHERS, 96 FOURTH AVENUE. 
 
 1880. 
 
PKEFATOKY NOTE 
 
 TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. 
 
 As several persons in America have, without any au- 
 thority whatever from me, undertaken to publish my 
 four volumes of " Notes," I deem it my duty to inform 
 the reader that I have given full permission to Messrs. 
 LOIZEAUX BROTHERS to publish an edition of those books 
 in such form as they shall consider most suitable. 
 
 C. II. MACKINTOSH. 
 
 6 West Park Terrace, Scarborough. 
 May 1st, 1879. 
 
PEEFACE TO THE THIED EDITION. 
 
 rriHE writer cannot suffer a new edition of this volume 
 to issue from the press without a line or two of deep 
 thankfulness to the Lord for His grace in making use of 
 such a feeble instrumentality in the furtherance of His 
 truth and the edification of His people. Blessed be His 
 name, when He takes up a book or a tract, He can make it 
 effectual in the accomplishment of His gracious ends. He 
 can clothe with spiritual power pages and paragraphs 
 which to us might seem pointless and powerless. May He 
 continue to own and bless this service, and His name shall 
 have all the praise. 
 
 C. H. M. 
 Dublin, April, 1862. 
 
PEEFAOE. 
 
 F manuscript and proof-sheets, we have been traveling 
 over a deeply instructive and most interesting portion 
 of the Word of God THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 
 
 Redemption by blood occupies a prominent place there- 
 in, it characterizes the book. God's many mercies to Jlis 
 redeemed, in the display of His power, the patience of His 
 love, and the riches of His grace, flow from it. The great 
 question of Israel's relationship to God is settled by the 
 blood of the lamb. It changes their condition entirely. 
 Israel within the blood-sprinkled door-posts was God's 
 redeemed, blood-bought people. 
 
 God being holy, and Israel guilty^ no happy relationship 
 could exist between them till judgment had been accom- 
 plished. Sin must be judged. A happy friendship once 
 existed between God and man, on the ground of innocence ; 
 but sin having entered and snapped the link asunder, there 
 can be no reconciliation but through the full expression of 
 the moral judgment of God against sin. We can only have 
 ''life through death." God is the God of holiness, and He 
 must judge sin. In saving the sinner, He condemns his 
 sin. The cross is the full and perfect expression of this. 
 
 Typically, this was the great question, on "the evening 
 of the fourteenth day of the first, month; namely, How can 
 God exempt from judgment , and receive into His favor, those 
 whom His holiness condemns ? To this most solemn ques- 
 tion, there was but one answer that would satisfy the de- 
 mands of the God of holiness, and that was the blood of the 
 Lamb of His own providing. "When I see the blood, I 
 will pass over you." This settled the all-important ques- 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 tion. It was one of life or death, of deliverance or judg- 
 ment. The blood-sprinkled door-post was a perfect answer 
 to all the claims of holiness, and to all the need of the 
 congregation. All was settled now. God was glorified, 
 sin judged and put away, and Israel saved through the 
 blood of the lamb. 
 
 Blessed truth ! Israel was now at peace with God, a 
 sheltered, saved, and happy people, though still in Egypt 
 the land of death ajid judgment. God was now pledged 
 to deliver Israel, precious type of the perfect security of 
 all who are trusting to the blood of Christ ! They were 
 securely and peacefully feeding on the roasted lamb, when, 
 "at midnight, the Lord smote all the first-born in the land 
 of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his 
 throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the 
 dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh 
 rose up in the night, he and all his servants, and all the 
 Egyptians ; and there was a great cry in Egypt ; for there 
 was not a house where there was not one dead" (xii. 29, 
 30.). "But against any of the children of Israel shall not 
 a dog move his tongue, against man or beast ; that ye may 
 know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the 
 Egyptians and Israel." (xi. 7.) 
 
 But why, some may ask, put this difference ? The Israel- 
 ites were sinners as well as the Egyptians. True, on this 
 ground there was "no difference ; " but, in type, the judg- 
 ment of God against sin had been expressed in the death 
 of the unblemished lamb. The blood "on the lintel and 
 the two side-posts " was the proof of this. It proclaimed, 
 with a loud voice, that the lamb was slain, the ransom 
 paid, the captive freed, justice satisfied, and the hour of 
 Israel's deliverance fully come. It was the blood that made 
 the difference, and nothing else; "for all have sinned and 
 come short of the glory of God." (Rom. iii. 23.) 
 
 But oh, what a difference ! The one, divinely shielded 
 from the sword of judgment; the other, defenceless and 
 
PREFACE. V1L 
 
 slain by it: the one, feasting on the rich provisions of 
 grace ; the other, compelled to taste the bitterness of the 
 cup of wrath. The destroying angel entered every house, 
 throughout all the land of Egypt, that was not sprinkled 
 with the blood. The first-born of Pharaoh on the throne, 
 and the first-born of the captive in the dungeon, fell 
 together. 
 
 No rank, age, or character escaped. The day of God's 
 long-suffering was ended, and the hour of His judgment 
 was come. One thing alone guided the angel of death on 
 that dark and dreadful night, and that was, WHERE 
 THERE IS NO BLOOD, THERE IS NO SALVATION. 
 
 Dear reader, this is as true now as it was then ! Where 
 there is no blood, there is no salvation, "without shed- 
 ding of blood is no remission." Can any question be of 
 such importance to you as this one : Am I shielded by the 
 blood of Jesus? Oh! have you fled for refuge to the blood 
 that was shed on Calvary? There, "^Christ, our passover, 
 was sacrificed for us." His blood is represented as being 
 sprinkled on "the mercy-seat above." There, God's eye 
 ever sees the blood of our trueipaschal Lamb. Have you 
 faith in that precious blood ? Though deeply sensible of 
 your guilt, can you say in truth, This is my only hiding- 
 place: I do depend upon the blood? Then rest assured 
 that you are perfectly safe that you are eternally saved. 
 You have God's own word for it "When I see the blood, 
 I will pass over you." "We have redemption through His 
 blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of 
 His grace." "But now, in Christ Jesus, ye who some- 
 times were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ." 
 "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through 
 faith in His blood." (Eph. i. 7; ii. 13; Rom. iii. 25.) 
 
 "Happy they who trust in Jesus, 
 Sweet their portion is and sure." 
 
 But, on the other hand, if the blood of Jesus is neglected 
 or despised, there can be no' security, no peace, and no sal- 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 vation. "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salva- 
 tion ?" (Heb. ii. 3.) Unless the destroying angel sees the 
 blood, he enters as the judge of sin. Every sin must be 
 punished, either in the person of the sinner, or the sinner's 
 substitute. This is a deeply solemn truth ; but how blessed 
 to know that "Christ hath once suffered for sins, the just 
 for the unjust, that He might bring us to God." " For He 
 hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that W T C 
 might be made the righteousness of God in Him." (1 Peter 
 iii. 18; 2 Cor. v. 21.) To neglect this divine Substitute, 
 and the shelter which He has provided, is to expose the 
 soul to the unrelenting judgment of God. No sin, however 
 small, can escape judgment, either on the cross of Christ, 
 or in the lake of fire. Oh, the priceless value of that blood 
 which "cleanseth us from ALL sin"! which makes us 
 clean enough for heaven ! 
 
 [Redemption being now accomplished, and Israel divinely 
 prepared, they commence their journey. But observe, in 
 passing, how they start. Before taking one step, cvory 
 question between the conscience and God is divinely 
 settled. They are forgiven, justified, and accepted, in His 
 sight. Hence it is written, "When Israel was a child, then 
 I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt." (Hosea xi. 
 1.) Blessed type of the real condition in which every true 
 believer begins his Christian course ! He may not see this 
 blessed truth, or he may have a very feeble apprehension 
 of it, as Israel had, but that does not alter the fact. God 
 acts according to His own knowledge of the relationship, 
 and the affections which belong to it. We see this in the 
 glorious deliverance of His beloved people at the Red Sea, 
 in the manna from heaven, the water from the flinty rock, 
 and in the pillar of His presence, which accompanied them 
 in all their wanderings. He ever acts according to the 
 purposes of His love, and the value of the blood of 
 Jesus. 
 
 Once more, dear reader, allow me to ask, Arc you sure 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 that you are under the safe shelter, the secure refuge, the 
 blessed hiding-place, of the Redeemer's blood ? 
 
 But I must now leave my reader, earnestly recommend- 
 ing him to pursue the journey across the wilderness in 
 company with God and His redeemed. He will find the 
 "Notes" most useful. They convey truth, agreeably and 
 intelligently to the heart, the conscience, and the under- 
 standing. May many find them to be a real oasis in the 
 desert. The journey will prove a most profitable one if 
 we thereby learn more of the natural unbelief of our own 
 heart and the abiding faithfulness of God's. He never 
 changes, blessed be His name ; and the blood of the slain 
 Lamb never loses its efficacy. 
 
 "Blest Lamb of God ! Thy precious blood 
 
 Shall never loco its power, 
 Till every ransomed saint of God 
 Be saved to sin no more." 
 
 May the Lord graciously own and use the following 
 "Notes" for His own glory and the blessing of many 
 souls. 
 
 A. M. 
 
 .London. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I, - 
 
 " II. 1-10, - 
 " II. 11-25, 
 
 III, - 
 
 IV, 
 
 " V. & VI, - 
 " VII. XI, 
 
 XII, - .- 
 " XIII, 
 
 XIV,- 
 " XV, 
 " XVI,- 
 " XVII, - 
 " XVIII, 
 
 XIX, - 
 " XX, - 
 
 " % xxi. xxnr, 
 
 XXIV, 
 " XXV, - 
 
 XXVI, 
 
 " XXVII,- 
 " XXVIII. & XXIX, - 
 " XXX, - 
 
 XXXI, 
 
 " XXXII,- 
 " XXXIII. & XXXIV, 
 " XXXV. XL, 
 
OF THE 
 
 NOTES 
 
 ON 
 
 THE BOOK OF EXODUS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 WE now approach, by the mercy of God, the 
 study of the Book of Exodus, of which the 
 great prominent theme is redemption. The first five 
 verses recall to the mind the closing scenes of the 
 preceding book. The favored objects of God's 
 electing love are brought before us ; and we find 
 ourselves very speedily conducted, by the inspired 
 penman, into the action of the book. 
 
 In our meditations on the Book of Genesis, we 
 were led to see that the conduct of Joseph's breth- 
 ren toward him was that which led to their being 
 brought down into Egypt. This fact is to be looked 
 at in two ways. In the first place, we can read 
 therein a deeply solemn lesson, as taught in Israel's 
 actings toward God ; and, secondly, we have therein 
 unfolded an encouraging lesson, as taught in God's 
 actings toward Israel. 
 
 And, first, as to Israel's actings toward God, what 
 can be more deeply solemn than to follow out the 
 results of their treatment of him who stands before 
 
2 EXODUS. 
 
 the spiritual mind as the marked type of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ ? They, utterly regardless of the an- 
 guish of his soul, consigned Joseph into the hands 
 of the uncircumcised. And what was the issue, 
 as regards them ? They were carried down into 
 Egypt, there to experience the deep and painful 
 exercises of heart which are so graphically and 
 touchingly presented in the .closing chapters of 
 Genesis. Nor was this all. A long and dreary 
 season awaited their offspring in that very land in 
 which Joseph had found a dungeon. 
 
 But then God was in all this, as well as man ; aid 
 it is His prerogative to bring good out of evil. 
 Joseph's brethren might sell him to the Ishmaelites, 
 and the Ishmaelites might sell him to Potiphar, and 
 Potiphar might cast him into prison ; but Jehovah 
 was above all, and He was accomplishing His own 
 mighty ends. "The wrath of man shall praise 
 Him." The time had not arrived in which the heirs 
 were ready for the inheritance and the inheritance 
 for the heirs. The brick-kilns of Egypt were to 
 furnish a rigid school for the seed of Abraham, 
 while as yet "the iniquity of the Amorites" was 
 rising to a head amid the " hills and valleys" of 
 the promised land.. 
 
 All this is deeply interesting and instructive. 
 There are "wheels within wheels" in the govern- 
 ment of God. He makes use of an endless variety 
 of agencies in the accomplishment of His unsearch- 
 able designs. Potiphar's wife, Pharaoh's butler, 
 Pharaoh's dreams, Pharaoh himself, the dungeon, 
 
CHAPTER I. 6 
 
 the throne, the fetter, the royal signet, the famine 
 all are at His sovereign disposal, and all are made 
 instrumental in the development of His stupendous 
 counsels. The spiritual mind delights to dwell upon 
 this, it delights to range through the wide domain 
 of creation and providence,, and to recognize, in all, 
 the machinery which an All- wise and an Almighty 
 God is using for the purpose of unfolding His coun- 
 sels of redeeming love. True, we may see many 
 traces of the serpent, many deep and well-defined 
 footprints of the enemy of God and man, many 
 things which we cannot explain nor even compre- 
 hend ; suffering innocence and successful" wicked- 
 ness may furnish an apparent basis for the infidel 
 reasoning of the sceptic mind ; but the true believer 
 can piously repose in the assurance that "the Judge 
 of all the earth shall do right." He knows* right 
 well that^- 
 
 " Blind unbelief is sure to err, 
 And scan His ways in vain; 
 God is His own interpreter, 
 And He will make it plain." 
 
 . Blessed be God for the consolation and encour- 
 agement flowing out of such reflections as these. 
 We need them every hour while passing through an 
 evil world, in which the enemy has wrought such 
 appalling mischief, in which the lusts and passions- 
 of men produce such bitter fruits, and in which the 
 path of the true disciple presents roughnesses which 
 mere nature could never endure. Faith knows, of a 
 surety, that there is One behind the scenes whom 
 
4 EXODUS. 
 
 the world sees not nor regards ; and, in the con- 
 sciousness of this, it can calmly say, "It is well," 
 and, "It shall be well." 
 
 The above train of thought is distinctly suggested 
 by the opening lines of our book. " God's counsel 
 shall stand, and He will do all His pleasure." The 
 'enemy may oppose, but God will ever prove Himself 
 to be above him ; and all we need is a spirit of simple, 
 childlike confidence and repose in the divine purpose. 
 Unbelief will rather look at the enemy's efforts to 
 countervail than at God's power to accomplish. It 
 is on the latter that faith fixes its eye. Thus it ob- 
 tains victory and enjoys abiding peace. It has to 
 do with God and His infallible faithfulness. It rests 
 not upon the ever-shifting sands of human affairs 
 and earthly influences, but upon the immovable rock 
 of Gold's eternal Word. That is faith's holy and 
 solid resting-place. Come what may, it abides in 
 that sanctuary of strength. "Joseph died, and all 
 his brethren, and all that generation." What then ? 
 Could death affect the counsels of the living God ? 
 Surely not. He only waited for the appointed m< 
 ment the due time, and then the most hostile influ- 
 ences were made instrumental in the developmen 
 of His purposes. 
 
 "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, 
 which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his peo- 
 ple, ' Behold the people of the children of Israel are 
 more and mightier than we: come on, let us deal 
 wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it come to 
 pass that when there falleth out any war they join 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 also unto our enemies and fight against us, and so 
 get them up out of the land." (Yer. 8-10.) All 
 this is the reasoning of a heart that had never learnt 
 to take God into its calculations. The unrenewed 
 heart never can do so ; and hence, the moment you 
 introduce God, all its reasonings fall to the ground. 
 Apart from, or independent of, Him, they may seem 
 very wise ; but only bring Him in, and they are 
 proved to be perfect folly. 
 
 But why should we allow our minds to be, in any 
 wise, influenced by reasonings and calculations 
 which depend, for their apparent truth, upon the 
 total exclusion of God ? To do so is, in principle, 
 and according to its measure, practical atheism. 
 In Pharaoh's case, we see that he could accurately 
 recount the various contingencies of human affairs, 
 the multiplying of the people, the falling oat of 
 war, their joining with the enemy, their escape out 
 of the land. All these circumstances he could, with 
 uncommon sagacity, put into the scale ; but it never 
 once occurred to him that God could have anything 
 whatever to do in the matter. Had he only thought 
 of this, it would have upset his entire reasoning, 
 and have written folly upon all his schemes. 
 
 Now, it is well to see that it is ever thus with the 
 reasonings of man's sceptic mind. God is entirely 
 shut out ; yea, the truth and consistency thereof de- 
 pend upon His being kept out. The death-blow to 
 all scepticism and infidelity is the introduction of 
 God into the scene. Till He is seen, they may strut 
 up and down upon the stage with. an amazing show 
 
6 EXODUS. 
 
 of wisdom and cleverness ; but the moment the eye 
 catches even the faintest glimpse of that blessed 
 One, they are stripped of their cloak, and disclo^d 
 in all their nakedness and deformity. 
 
 In reference to the king of Egypt, it may assur- 
 edly be said, he did "greatly err," not knowing 
 God or His changeless counsels. He knew not that, 
 hundreds of years back, before ever he had breathed 
 the breath of mortal life, God's word and oath 
 "two immutable things" had infallibly secured 
 the full and glorious deliverance of that very people 
 whom he was going, in his wisdom, to crush. All 
 this was unknown to him, and therefore all his 
 thoughts and plans were founded upon ignorance of 
 that grand foundation-truth of all truths, namely, 
 that GOD IS. He vainly imagined that he, by his 
 management, could prevent the increase of those 
 concerning whom God had said, "They shall be as 
 the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon 
 the sea-shore." His wise dealing, therefore, was 
 simply madness and folly. 
 
 The wildest misfake which a man can possibly fall 
 into is to act without taking God into his account. 
 Sooner or later, the thought of God will force itself 
 upon him, and then comes the awful crash of all his 
 schemes and calculations. At best, everything that 
 is undertaken independently of God, can last but 
 for the present time. It cannot, by any possibility, 
 stretch itself into eternity. All that is merely hu- 
 man, however solid, however brilliant, or however 
 attractive, must fall into the cold grasp of death, 
 
CHAPTER I. 7 
 
 and moulder in the dark, silent tomb. The clod of 
 the valley must^ cover man's highest excellencies 
 and brightest glories ; mortality is engraved upon 
 IJL . ,-jrow, and all his schemes are evanescent. On 
 the contrary, that which is connected with, and 
 based upon, God, shall endure forever. "His name 
 shall endure forever, and His memorial to all gen- 
 erations." 
 
 What a sad mistake, therefore, for a feeble mortal 
 to set himself up against the eternal God, to "rush 
 upon the thick bosses of the shield of the Almighty" ! 
 As well might the monarch of Egypt have sought to 
 stem, with his puny hand, the ocean's tide, as to 
 prevent the increase of those who were the subjects 
 of Jehovah's everlasting purpose. Hence, although 
 4 ' they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them 
 with their burdens," yet, "the more they afflicted 
 them, the more they multiplied and grew." Thus 
 it must ever be. "He that sitteth in the heavens 
 shall laugh ; the Lord shall have them in derision." 
 (Ps. ii. 4.) Eternal confusion shall be inscribed 
 upon all the opposition of men and devils. This 
 gives sweet rest to the heart in the midst of a scene 
 where all is apparently so contrary to God and so 
 contrary to faith. Were it not for the settled assur- 
 ance that "the wrath of man shall praise" the Lord, 
 the spirit would often be cast down while contem- 
 plating the circumstances and influences which sur- 
 round one in the world. Thank God, "we look not 
 at the things which are seen, but at the things which 
 are not seen : for the things which are seen are 
 
O EXODUS. 
 
 temporal ; but the things which are not seen are 
 eternal." (2 Cor. iv. 18.) In the power of this, we 
 may well say, "Itest in the Lord, and ivait patiently 
 for Him : fret not thyself because of him who pros- 
 pereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth 
 wicked devices to pass." (Ps. xxxvii. 7.) How 
 fully might the truth of this be seen in the case of 
 both the oppressed and the oppressor, as set before 
 us in our chapter ! Had Israel ' ' looked at the things 
 that are seen," what were they ? Pharaoh's wrath, 
 stern taskmasters, afflictive burdens, rigorous serv- 
 ice, hard bondage, mortar and brick. But, then, 
 "the things which are not seen," what were they? 
 God's eternal purpose, His unfailing promise, the 
 approaching dawn of a day of salvation, the "burn- 
 ing lamp" of Jehovah's deliverance. Wondrous 
 contrast ! Faith alone could enter into it. Naught 
 save that precious principle could enable any poor, 
 oppressed Israelite to look from out the smoking 
 furnace of Egypt, to the green fields and vine-clad 
 mountains of the land of Canaan. Faith alone 
 could recognize in those oppressed slaves, toiling in 
 the brick-kilns of Egypt, the heirs of salvation, aud 
 the objects of Heaven's peculiar interest and favor. 
 
 Thus it was then, and thus it is now. "We walk 
 by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor. v. 7.) "It doth 
 not yet appear what we shall be." (1 John iii. 2.) 
 We are "here in the body pent," "absent from the 
 Lord." As to fact, we are in Egypt, yet, in spirit, 
 we are in the heavenly Canaan. Faith brings the 
 heart into the power cf divine and unseen things, 
 
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 9 
 
 and thus enables it to mount above everything down 
 here, in this place "where death and darkness reign." 
 O, for that simple childlike faith that sits beside the 
 pure and eternal fountain o.f truth, there to drink 
 those deep and refreshing draughts which lift up the 
 fainting spirit and impart energy to the new man, 
 in its upward and onward course ! 
 
 The closing verses of this section of our book 
 present an edifying lesson in the conduct of those 
 God-fearing women, Shiprah and Puah. They would 
 not carry out the king's cruel scheme, but braved 
 his wrath, and hence God made them houses. 
 "Them that honor Me I will honor, and they that 
 despise Me shall be lightly esteemed." (1 Sam. ii. 
 30. ) May we ever remember this, andact for God, 
 under all circumstances ! 
 
 CHAPTER II. V- 
 
 THIS section of our book abounds in the weighti- 
 est principles of divine truth principles which 
 range themselves under the three following heads, ft 
 namely, the power of Satan, the power of God, and U 
 the power of faith. * 
 
 In the last verse of the previous chapter, we read, 
 "And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, 'Every 
 son that is born ye shall cast into the river. ' " This 
 was Satan's power. The river was the place of 
 
10 EXODUS. 
 
 death ; and, by death, the enemy sought to frustrate 
 the purpose of God. It has ever been thus. The 
 serpent has -at all times watched with malignant eye 
 those instruments which God was about to use for 
 His own gracious ends. Look at the case of Abel, 
 in Genesis iv. What was that but the serpent watch- 
 ing God's vessel and seeking to put it out of the 
 way by death ? Look at the case of Joseph, in 
 Genesis xxxvii. There you have the enemy seeking 
 to put the man of God's purpose in the place of 
 death. Look at the case of "the seed royal," in 
 2 Chronicles xxii ; the act of Herod, in Matthew ii ; 
 the death of Christ, in Matthew xxvii. In all these 
 cases, you find the enemy seeking, by death, to in- 
 terrupt the current of divine action. 
 
 But, blessed be God, there is something beyond 
 death. The entire sphere of divine action, as con- 
 nected with redemption, lies beyond the limits cf 
 death's domain. When Satan has exhausted his 
 power, then God begins to show Himself. The 
 grave is the limit of Satan's activity ; but there it 
 is that divine activity begins. This is a glorious 
 truth. Satan has the power of death ; but God is 
 the God of the living, and He gives life beyond the 
 reach and power of death a life which Satan can- 
 not touch. The heart finds sweet? relief in such a 
 truth as this, in the midst of a scene where death 
 reigns. Faith can stand and look on at Satan put- 
 ting forth the plenitude of his power. It can stay 
 itself upon God's mighty instrumentality of resur- 
 rection. It can take its stand at the grave which 
 
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 11 
 
 has closed over a beloved object, and drink in, from 
 the lips of Him who is "the resurrection and the 
 life," the elevating assurance of a glorious immor- 
 tality. It knows that God is stronger than Satan, 
 and it can therefore quietly wait for the full mani- 
 festation of that superior strength, and, in thus 
 waiting, find its victory and its settled peace. We 
 have a noble example of this power of faith in tke 
 opening verses of our chapter. 
 
 "And there went a man of the house of Levi, 
 and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the 
 woman conceived and bare a son ; and when she 
 saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him 
 three months. And when she could no longer hide 
 him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes and 
 daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the 
 child therein ; and she laid it in the flags by the 
 river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit 
 what would be done to him." (Chap. ii. 1-4.) Here 
 we have a scene of touching interest, in whatever 
 way we contemplate it. In point of fact, it was 
 simply faith triumphing over the influences of nature 
 and death, and leaving room for the God of resur- 
 rection to act in His own proper sphere and charac- 
 ter. True, the enemy's power is apparent, in the 
 circumstance that the child had to be placed in such 
 position a position of death, in principle. And, 
 moreover, a sword was piercing through the mother's 
 heart in thus beholding her precious offspring laid, 
 as it were, in death. Satan might act, and nature 
 might weep ; but the Quickener of the dead was 
 
12 EXODUS. 
 
 behind the dark cloud, and faith beheld Him there, 
 gilding heaven's side of that cloud with His bright 
 and life-giving beams. "By faith Moses, when he 
 was born, was hid three months of his parents, be- 
 cause they saw he was a proper child ; and they 
 were not afraid of the king's commandment." 
 (Heb. xi. 23.) 
 
 Thus this honored daughter of Levi teaches us a 
 holy lesson. Her "ark of bulrushes, daubed with 
 slime and pitch," declares her confidence in the 
 truth that there was a something which could keep 
 out the waters of death, in the case of this "proper 
 child," as w r ell as in the case of Noah, "the preacher 
 of righteousness." Are we to suppose, for a mo- 
 ment, that this "ark" was the invention of mere 
 nature ? Was it nature's forethought that devised 
 it ? or nature's ingenuity that constructed it ? Was 
 the babe placed in the ark at the suggestion of a 
 mother's heart, cherishing the fond but visionary 
 hope of thereby saving her treasure from the ruthless 
 . hand of death ? Were we to reply to the above in- 
 quiries in the affirmative, we should, I believe, lose 
 the beauteous teaching of this entire scene. How 
 could we ever suppose that the " ark" was devised 
 by one who saw no other portion or destiny for her 
 child but death by drowning 9 Impossible. We 
 can only look upon that significant structure as 
 faith's drafb handed in at the treasury of the God 
 of resurrection. It was devised by the hand of 
 faith, as a vessel of mercy, to carry "a proper 
 child" safely over death's dark waters, into the 
 
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 13 
 
 place assigned him by the immutable purpose of the 
 living God. When we behold this daughter of Levi 
 bending over that "ark of bulrushes," which her 
 faith had constructed, and depositing therein her 
 babe, we see her "walking in the steps of that faith 
 of her father Abraham, which he had," when "he 
 rose up from before his dead," and purchased the 
 cave of Machpelah from the sons of Heth. (Gen. 
 xxiii.) We do not recognize in her the energy of 
 mere nature, hanging over the object of its affec- 
 tions, about to fall into the iron grasp of the king of 
 terrors. No; but we trace in her the energy of a 
 faith which enabled her to stand, as a conqueror, at 
 the margin of death's cold flood, and behold the 
 chosen servant of Jehovah in safety at the other side. 
 
 Yes, my reader, faith can take those bold and 
 lofty flights into regions far removed from this land 
 of death and wide-spread desolation. Its eagle gaze 
 can pierce the gloomy clouds which gather arouuad 
 the tomb, and behold the God of resurrection dis- 
 playing the results of His everlasting counsels, in 
 the midst of a sphere which no arrow of death can 
 reach. It can take its stand upon the top of the 
 Rock of Ages, and listen, in holy triumph, while 
 the surges of death are lashing its base. 
 
 And what, let me ask, was "the king's command- 
 ment" to one who was in possession of this heaven- 
 born principle ? What weight had that command- 
 ment with one who could calmly stand beside her 
 "ark of bulrushes" and look death straight in the 
 face? The Holy Ghost replies, "They were not 
 
14 EXODUS. 
 
 afraid of the king's commandment." The spirit 
 that knows aught of communion with Him who 
 quickens the dead, is not afraid of anything. * Such 
 an one can take up the triumphant language of 
 1 Cor. xv, and say, "O death, where is thy sting? 
 O grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death 
 is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But 
 thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ." He can give forth 
 these words of triumph over a martyred Abel ; over 
 Joseph in the pit ; over Moses in the ark of bul- 
 rushes ; in the midst of "the seed royal, ".slain by 
 the hand of Athaliah ; amid the babes of Bethlehem, 
 murdered by the hand of the cruel Herod ; and far 
 above all, he can utter them at the -tomb of the 
 Captain of our salvation. 
 
 Now, it may be there are some who cannot trace 
 the activities of faith, in the matter of the ark of 
 bulrushes. Many may not be able to travel beyond 
 the measure of Moses' sister, when u she stood afar 
 off, to wit what would be done to him." It is very 
 evident that ' ' his sister ' ' was not up to c ' the meas- 
 ure of faith" possessed by "his mother." No 
 doubt she possessed deep interest and true affection, 
 such as we may trace in "Mary Magdalene and the 
 other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre" 
 (Matt, xxvii. 61.); but there was something far 
 beyond either interest or affection in the maker of 
 the "ark." True, she did not "stand afar off, to 
 wit what would be clone to" her child, and hence, 
 what frequently happens, the dignity of faith might 
 
CHAPTER II. 1-10. 15 
 
 seem like indifference, on her part. It was not, 
 however, indifference, but true elevation the eleva- 
 tion of faith. If natural affection did not cause her 
 to linger near the scene of death, it was only be- 
 cause the power of faith was furnishing her with 
 nobler work in the presence of the God of resurrec- 
 tion. Her faith had cleared the stage for Him, and 
 most gloriously did He show Himself thereon. 
 
 "And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to 
 wash herself at the river ; and her maidens walked 
 along by the river's side : and when she saw the ark 
 among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And 
 when she had opened it, she saw the child ; and, 
 behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion 
 on him, and said, 'This is one of the Hebrews' 
 children.' ' Here, then, the divine response begins 
 to break, in sweetest accents, on the ear of faith. 
 God was in all this. Rationalism, or scepticism, or 
 infidelity, or atheism, may laugh at such an idea. 
 And faith can laugh also ; but the two kinds of 
 laughter are very different. The former laughs, in 
 cold contempt,, at the thought of divine interference 
 in the trifling affair of a ix^al maiden's walk by the 
 river's side: the latter laughs, with real heartfelt 
 gladness, at. the thought that God is in everything. 
 And;, assuredly, if ever God was in anything, He 
 was in this walk of Pharaoh's daughter, though she 
 knew it not. 
 
 The renewed mind enjoys one of its sweetest 
 exercises while tracing the divine footsteps in cir- 
 cumstances and events in which a thoughtless spirit 
 
1G EXODUS. 
 
 sees only blind chance or rigid fate. The most tri- 
 fling matter may, at times, turn out to be a most 
 important link in a chain of events by which the 
 Almighty God is helping forward the development 
 of His grand designs. Look, for instance, at Esther 
 vi. 1, and what do you see ? A heathen monarch 
 spending a restless night. No uncommon circum- 
 stance, we may suppose ; and yet, this very circum- 
 stance was a link in a great chain of providences at 
 the end of which you find the marvelous deliver- 
 ance of the oppressed seed of Israel. 
 
 Thus was it with the daughter of Pharaoh, in her 
 walk b}^ the river's side. Little did she think that 
 she was helping forward the purpose of "the Lord 
 God of the Hebrews." How little idea had she that 
 the weeping babe in that ark of bulrushes was yet to 
 be Jehovah's instrument in shaking the land of Egypt 
 to its very centre ! Yet so it was. The Lord can 
 make the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain 
 the remainder. How plainly the truth of this ap- 
 pears in the following passage ! 
 
 "Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, 
 'Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew 
 women, that she may nurse the child for thee ? ' 
 And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, 'Go.' And 
 the maid went and called the child's mother. And 
 Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, 'Take this child 
 away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy 
 wages.' And the woman took the child and nursed 
 it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto 
 Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 17 
 
 she called his name Moses; and she said, 'Because 
 I drew him out of the water.' " (Chap. ii. 7-10.) 
 The beautiful faith of Moses' mother here meets its 
 full reward ; Satan is confounded ; and the marvel- 
 ous wisdom of God is displayed. Who would have 
 thought that the one who had said, " If it be a son, 
 then ye shall kill him," and, again, "Every son that 
 is born ye shall cast into the river," should have in 
 his court one of those very sons, and such u a son." 
 The devil was foiled by his own weapon, inasmuch 
 as Pharaoh, whom he was using to frustrate the pur- 
 pose of God, is used of God to nourish and bring 
 up Moses, who was to be His instrument in con- 
 founding the power of Satan. Remarkable provi- 
 dence ! Admirable wisdom ! Truly, Jehtfvah is 
 "wonderful in counsel and excellent in working." 
 May we learn to trust Him with more artless sim- 
 plicity, and thus our path shall be more brilliant, 
 and our testimony more effective. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 1125. 
 
 IN considering the history of Moses, we must look 
 at him in two ways, namely, personally and 
 typically. 
 
 First, in his personal character, there is much, 
 very much, for us to learn. God had not only to 
 raise him up, but also to train him, in one way or 
 another, for the lengthened period of eighty years ; 
 
18 EXODUS. 
 
 first in the house of Pharaoh's daughter, and then 
 at "the backside of the desert." This, to our shal- 
 low thoughts, would seem an immense space of time 
 to devote to the education of a minister of God. 
 But then God's thoughts are not as our thoughts. 
 He knew the need of those forty years twice told, 
 in the preparation of His chosen vessel. When God 
 educates, He educates in a manner worthy of Him- 
 self and His most holy service. He will not have 
 a novice to do His work. The servant of Christ has 
 to learn many a lesson, to undergo many an exercise, 
 to pass through many a conflict, in secret, ere he is 
 really qualified to act in public. Nature does not 
 like this. It would rather figure in public than learn 
 in private, it would rather be gazed upon and ad- 
 mired by the eye of man than be disciplined by the 
 hand of God. But it will not do. We must take 
 God's way. Nature may rush into the scene of 
 operation ; but God does not want it there.. It must 
 be withered, crushed, set aside. The place of death 
 is the place for nature. If it' will be active, God 
 will so order matters, in His infallible faithfulness 
 and perfect wisdom, that the results of its activity 
 will prove its utter defeat and confusion. He knows 
 what to do with nature, where to put it, and where 
 to keep it. O, that we may all be in deeper com- 
 munion with the mind of God, in reference to self 
 and all that pertains thereto ! Then shall we make 
 fewer mistakes ; then shall our path be steady and 
 elevated, our spirit tranquil, and our service effective. 
 " And it came to pass in those days, when Moses 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 19 
 
 was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and 
 looked on their burdens ; and he spied an Egyptian 
 smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he 
 looked this way and that way, and when he saw 
 there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid 
 him in the sand." This was zeal for his brethren ; 
 but it was "not according to knowledge." God's 
 time was not yet come for judging Egypt and deliv- 
 ering Israel ; and the intelligent servant will ever 
 wait for God's time. " Moses was grown," and "he 
 was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians;" 
 and, moreover, "he supposed his brethren would 
 have understood how that God by his hand would 
 deliver them." All this was true ; yet he evidently 
 ran before the time, and when one does this, failure 
 mast be the issue.* 
 
 *Iii Stephen's address to the council at Jerusalem, there is an 
 allusion to Moses' acting, to which it may be Avell to advert. "And 
 when he was lull forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his 
 brethren the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer 
 wrong, he defended him, and avenged him that was oppressed, and 
 smote the Egyptian; for he supposed his brethren would have un- 
 derstood how that God by his hand would deliver them; but they 
 understood not." (Acts vii. 23-25.) It is evident that Stephen's 
 object, in his entire address, was to bring the history of the nation 
 to bear upon the consciences of those whom he had before him; 
 and it would have been quite foreign to this object, and at variance 
 with the Spirit's rule in the New Testament, to raise a question as 
 to whether Moses had not acted before the divinely appointed time. 
 
 Moreover, he merely says, " it came into his heart to visit his 
 brethren." He does not say that God sent him, at that time. Nor 
 does this, in the least, touch the question of the moral condition of 
 those who rejected him. "They understood not." This was the 
 fact as to them, whatever Moses might have personally to learn in 
 the matter. The spiritual mind can have no difficulty in appre- 
 hending this. 
 
 Looking at Moses typically, we can see the mission of Christ to 
 
20 EXODUS. 
 
 And not only is there failure in the end, but also 
 manifest uncertainty, and lack of calm elevation and 
 holy independence in the progress of a work begun 
 before God's time. Moses "looked this ivay and 
 that ivay." There is no need of this when a man is 
 acting with and for God, and in the full intelligence 
 of His mind, as to the detail of his work. If God's 
 time had really come, and if Moses was conscious 
 of being divinely commissioned to execute judgment 
 upon the Egyptian, and if he felt assured of the 
 divine presence with him, he would not have "looked 
 this way and that way." 
 
 This action teaches a deep practical lesson to all 
 the servants of God. .There are two things by which 
 it is superinduced, namely, the fear of man's wrath, 
 and the hope of man's favor. The servant of the 
 living God should neither regard the one nor the 
 other. What avails the wrath or favor of a poor 
 mortal to one who holds the divine commission and 
 enjoys the divine presence ? It is, in the judgment 
 of such an one, less than the small dust of the bal- 
 ance. "Have not I commanded tliee? Be strong 
 and of a good courage ; be not afraid, neither be 
 thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is with thee 
 whithersoever thou goest." (Joshua i. 9.) "Thou, 
 therefore, gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak 
 
 Israel, and their rejection of Him, and refusal to have Him to reign 
 over them. On the other hand, looking at Moses personally, we 
 find that he, like others, made mistakes and displayed infirmities, 
 sometimes went too fast and sometimes too slow. All this is easily 
 understood, and only tends to magnify the infinite grace and 
 exhaustless patience of God. 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 21 
 
 unto them all that I command thee : be not dismayed 
 at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. 
 For, behold, I have made thee this clay a defenced 
 city, and an iron pillar, and brazen walls against the 
 whole land, against the kings of Jndah, against the 
 princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and 
 against the people of the land. And they shall fight 
 against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee ; 
 for / am ivith thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee." 
 (Jer. i. 17-19.) 
 
 When the servant of Christ stands upon the ele- 
 vated ground set forth in the above quotations, he 
 will not "look this way and that way ; " he will act 
 on wisdom's heavenly counsel Ci Let thine eyes look 
 straight on, and thine eyelids look straight before 
 thee." Divine intelligence will ever lead us to look 
 upward and onward. Whenever we look around to 
 shun a mortal's frown or catch his smile, we may 
 rest assured there is something wrong ; we are off 
 the proper ground of divine service. We lack the 
 assurance of holding the divine commission and of 
 enjoying the divine presence, both of which are 
 absolutely essential. 
 
 True, there are many who, through profound ig- 
 norance, or excessive self-confidence, stand forward 
 in a sphere of service for which God never intended 
 them, and for which He therefore never qualified 
 them. And not only do they thus stand forward, 
 but they exhibit an amount of coolness and self- 
 possession perfectly amazing to those who are cap- 
 able of forming an impartial judgment about their 
 
22 EXODUS. 
 
 gifts and merits. But all this will very speedily find 
 its level ; nor does it in the least interfere with the 
 integrity of the principle that nothing can effectually 
 deliver a man from the tendency to "look this way 
 and that way" save the consciousness of the divine 
 commission and the divine presence. When these 
 are possessed, there is entire deliverance from human 
 influence, and consequent independence. No man 
 is in a position to serve others who is not wholly 
 independent of them ; but a man who knows his 
 proper place can stoop and wash his brethren's feet. 
 When we turn away our eyes from man, and fix 
 them upon the only true and perfect Servant, we do 
 not find Him looking this way and that way, for this 
 simple reason, that He never had His eye upon men, 
 ; but always upon God. He feared not the wrath of 
 man, nor sought his favor. He never opened His 
 lips to elicit human applause, nor kept them closed 
 to avoid human censure. This gave holy stability 
 and elevation to all He said and did. Of Him alone 
 could it be truly said, " His leaf shall not wither, and 
 ivkatsoever he cloeth shall prosper." Everything He 
 did turned to profitable account, because everything 
 was done to God. Every action, every word, every 
 movement, every look, every thought, was like a 
 beauteous cluster of fruit, sent up to refresh the 
 heart of God. He was never afraid of the results of 
 His work, because He always acted with and for 
 God, and in the full intelligence of His mind. His 
 own will, though divinely perfect, never once mingled 
 itself in aught that He did, as a man, on the earth. 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 23 
 
 He could say, "I came down from heaven, not to do 
 Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." 
 Hence, He brought forth fruit "in its season.' 9 He 
 did ' ' always those things which pleased the Father, ' ' 
 and therefore never had any occasion to ' ' fear, ' ' to 
 "repent," or to "look this way and that way." 
 
 Now in this, as in everything else, the blessed 
 Master stands in marked contrast with His most 
 honored and eminent servants. Even a Moses 
 "feared," and a Paul "repented;" but the Lord 
 Jesus never did either. He never had to retrace a 
 step, to recall a word, or correct a thought. All 
 was absolutely 'perfect : all was "fruit in season." 
 The current of His holy and heavenly life flowed on- 
 ward without a ripple and without a curve. His will 
 was divinely subject. The best and most devoted 
 men make mistakes ; but it is perfectly certain that 
 the more we are enabled, through grace, to mortify 
 our own will, the fewer our mistakes will be. Truly 
 happy it is when, in the main, our path is really a 
 path of faith and single-eyed devotedness to Christ. 
 
 Thus it was with Moses. He was a man of faith 
 a man who drank deeply into the spirit of his 
 Master, and walked with marvelous steadiness in 
 His footprints. True, he anticipated, as has been 
 remarked, by forty years, the Lord's time of judg- 
 ment on Egypt and deliverance for Israel ; ^yet, when 
 we turn to the inspired commentary, in Hebrews xi, 
 we find nothing about this ; we there find only the 
 divine principle upon which, in the main, his course 
 was founded. "By faith Moses, when he was come 
 
24 EXODUS. 
 
 to years , refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's 
 daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the 
 people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for 
 a season ; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater 
 riches than the treasures in Egypt ; for he had re- 
 spect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith 
 he forsook Eg} T pt, not fearing the wrath of the king ; 
 for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." 
 (Ver. 24-27.) 
 
 This quotation furnishes a most gracious view of 
 the actings of Moses. It is ever thus the Holy 
 Ghost deals with the history of Old Testanient 
 saints. When He writes a man's history, He pre- 
 sents him to us as he is, and faithfully sets forth all 
 his failures and imperfections. But when, in the 
 New Testament, He comments upon such histoiy, 
 He merely gives the real principle and main result 
 of a man's life. Hence, though we read, in Exodus, 
 that "Moses looked this way and that way" that 
 "he feared and said, ' Surely this thing is known,' ' 
 and, finally, "Moses fled from the face of Pha- 
 raoh;" yet we are taught, in Hebrews, that what 
 he did, he did "by faith" that he did not fear 
 "the wrath of the king" that "he endured as 
 seeing Him who is invisible." 
 
 Thus will it be, by and by, "when the Lord comes, 
 who both will bring to light the hidden things of 
 darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the 
 hearts: and then shall every man have praise of 
 God." (1 Cor. iv. 5.) This is a precious and con- 
 solatory truth for every upright mind and every 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 25 
 
 loyal heart. Many a "counsel" the "heart" may 
 form, which, from various causes, the hand may not 
 be able to execute. All such "counsels" will be 
 made c ' manifest ' ' when ' ' the Lord comes. ' ' Blessed 
 be the grace that has told us so ! The affectionate 
 counsels of the heart are far more precious to Christ 
 than the most elaborate works of the hand. The 
 latter may shine before the eye of man ; the former 
 are designed only for the heart of Jesus. The latter 
 may be spoken of amongst men ; the former will be 
 made manifest before God and His holy angels. 
 May all the servants of Christ have their hearts un- 
 dividedly occupied with His person, and their eyes 
 steadily fixed upon His advent. 
 
 In contemplating the path of Moses, we observe 
 how that faith led him entirely athwart the ordinary 
 course of nature. It led him to despise all the 
 pleasures, the attractions, and the honors of Pha- 
 raoh's court. And not only that, but also to re- 
 linquish an apparently wide sphere of usefulness. 
 Human expediency would have conducted him along 
 quite an opposite path. It would have led him to 
 use his influence on behalf of the people of God 
 to act /or them instead of suffering with them. Ac- 
 cording to man's judgment, providence would seem 
 to have opened for Moses a wide and most important 
 sphere of labor ; and surely, if ever the hand of God 
 was manifest in placing a man in a distinct position, 
 it was in his case. By a most marvelous interposi- 
 tion by a most unaccountable chain of circum- 
 stances, every link of which displayed the finger of 
 
2G EXODUS. 
 
 the Almighty by an order of events which no hu- 
 man foresight could have arranged, had the daughter 
 of Pharaoh been made the instrument of drawing 
 Moses out of the water, and of nourishing and edu- 
 cating him until he was "full forty years old." 
 With all these circumstances in his view, to abandon 
 his high, honorable, and influential position, could 
 only be regarded as the result of a misguided zeal 
 which no sound judgment could approve. 
 
 Thus might poor blind nature reason. But faith 
 thought differently ; for nature and faith are always 
 at issue. They cannot agree upon a single point. 
 Nor is there anything, perhaps, in reference to which 
 they differ so widely as what are commonly called 
 4 ' openings of providence. ' ' Nature will constantly 
 regard such openings as warrants for self-indul- 
 gence ; whereas faith will find in them opportunities 
 for self-denial. Jonah might have deemed it a very 
 remarkable opening of providence to find a ship go- 
 ing to Tarshish ; but, in truth, it was an opening 
 through which he slipped off the path of obedience. 
 
 No doubt it is the Christian's privilege to see his 
 Father's hand, and hear His voice, in everything; 
 but he is not to be guided by circumstances. A 
 Christian so guided is like a vessel at sea without 
 rudder or compass ; she is at the mercy of the waves 
 and the winds. God's promise to His child is, "I 
 will guide thee with Mine eye." (Ps. xxxii. 8.) His 
 warning is, u Be not as the horse or as the mule, 
 which have no understanding ; whose mouth must 
 be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 27 
 
 unto thee." It is much better to be guided by our 
 Father's eye than by the bit and bridle of circum- 
 stances ; and we know that, in the ordinary accepta- 
 tion of the term, "providence" is only another 
 word for the impulse of circumstances. 
 
 Now, the. power of faith may constantly be seen 
 in refusing and forsaking the apparent openings of 
 providence. It was so in the case of Moses. "By 
 faith he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's 
 daughter, ' ' and ' ' by faith he forsook Egypt. ' ' Had 
 he judged according to the sight of his eyes, he 
 would have grasped at the proffered dignity, as the 
 manifest gift of a, kind providence, and he would 
 have remained in the court of Pharaoh as in a sphere 
 of usefulness plainly thrown open to him by the hand 
 of God. But, then, he walked by faith, and not by 
 the sight of his eyes ; and hence he forsook all. 
 Noble example ! May we have grace to follow it ! 
 
 And observe what it was that Moses "esteemed 
 greater riches than the treasures in Egypt ; " it was 
 the "reproach of Christ.'* It was not merely re- 
 proach for Christ. ' ' The reproaches of them that 
 reproached Thee have fallen upon Me." The Lord 
 Jesus, in perfect grace, identified Himself with His 
 people. He came down from heaven, leaving His 
 Father's bosom, and laying aside all His glory, He 
 took His people's place, confessed their sins, and 
 bore their judgment on the cursed tree. Such was 
 His voluntary devotedness ; He not merely acted for 
 us, but made Himself one with us, thus perfectly de- 
 livering us from all that was or could be against us. 
 
28 EXODUS. 
 
 Hence we see how much in sympathy Moses was 
 with the spirit and mind of Christ in reference to 
 the people of God. He was in the midst of all the 
 ease, the pomp, and dignity of Pharaoh's house, 
 where "the pleasures of sin," and "the treasures of 
 Egypt," lay scattered around him in richest pro- 
 fusion. All these things he might have enjoyed if 
 he would. He could have lived and died in the 
 midst of wealth and splendor ; his entire path, from 
 first to last, might, if he had chosen, have been en- 
 lightened by the sunshine of royal favor: but that 
 would not have been "faith;" it would not have 
 been Christlike. From his elevated position, he saw 
 his brethren bowed down beneath their heavy burden, 
 and faith led him to see that his place was to be with 
 them. Yes ; with them, in all their reproach, their 
 bondage, their degradation, and their sorrow. Had 
 he been actuated by mere benevolence, philanthropy, 
 or patriotism, he might have used his personal influ- 
 ence on behalf of his brethren. He might have 
 succeeded in inducing Pharaoh to lighten their .bur- 
 den, and render their path somewhat smoother, by 
 royal grants in their favor ; but this would never do, 
 never satisfy a heart that had a single pulsation in 
 common with the heart of Christ. Such a heart 
 Moses, by the grace of God, carried in his bosom ; 
 and, therefore, with all the energies and all the affec- 
 tions of that heart, he threw himself, body, soul, and 
 spirit, into the very midst of his oppressed brethren. 
 He " chose rather to suffer affliction with the people 
 of God." And, moreover, he did this by "faith." 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. 29 
 
 Let my reader ponder this deeply. We must not 
 be satisfied with wishing well to, doing service for, 
 or speaking kindly on behalf of, the people of God. 
 We ought to be fully identified loith them, no matter 
 how despised or reproached they may be. It is, in 
 a measure, an agreeable thing to be a benevolent 
 and generous spirit, to patronize Christianity ; but 
 it is a wholly different thing to be identified with 
 Christians, or to suffer with Christ. A patron is one 
 thing, a martyr is quite another. This distinction 
 is apparent throughout the entire book of God. 
 Obadiah took care of God's witnesses, but Elijah 
 was a witness for God. Darius was so attached to 
 Daniel that he lost a night's rest on his account, but 
 Daniel spent that self-same night in the lion's den, 
 as a witness for the truth of God. Nicodemus ven- 
 tured to speak a word for Christ, but a more ma- 
 tured discipleship would have led him to identify 
 himself with Christ. 
 
 These considerations are eminently practical. The 
 Lord Jesus does not want patronage ; He wants fel- 
 lowship. The truth concerning Him is declared to 
 us, not that we might patronize His cause on earth, 
 but have fellowship with His Person in heaven. He 
 identified Himself with us, at the heavy cost of all 
 that love could give. He might have avoided this. 
 He might have continued to enjoy His eternal place 
 "in the bosom of the Father." But how, then, 
 could that mighty tide of love, which was pent up 
 in His heart, flow down to us guilty and hell-deserv- 
 ing sinners ? Between Him and us there could be 
 
30 EXODUS. 
 
 no oneness, save on conditions which involved the 
 surrender of everything on His part. But, blessed, 
 throughout the everlasting ages, be His adorable 
 name, that surrender was voluntarily made. " He 
 gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from 
 all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar peo- 
 ple, zealous of good works." (Titus ii. 14.) He 
 would not enjoy His glory alone. His loving heart 
 would gratify itself by associating "many sons " with 
 Him in that glory. "Father," He says, " I will that 
 they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me 
 where I am ; that they may behold My glory, which 
 Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before 
 the foundation of the world." (John xvii. 24.) Such 
 were the thoughts of Christ in reference to His peo- 
 ple ; and we can easily see how much in sympathy 
 with these precious thoughts was the heart of Moses. 
 He unquestionably partook largely of his Master's 
 spirit ; and he manifested that excellent spirit in 
 freely sacrificing every personal consideration, and 
 associating himself, unreservedly, with the people 
 of God. 
 
 The personal character and actings of this hon- 
 ored servant of God will come before us again in 
 the next section of our book. We shall here briefly 
 consider him as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 That he was a type of Him is evident from the fol- 
 lowing passage, "The Lord thy God will raise up 
 unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy 
 brethren, like unto me ; unto Him ye shall hearken." 
 (Deut. xviii. 15.) We are not, therefore, trafficking 
 
CHAPTER II. 11-25. . 31 
 
 in human imagination in viewing Moses as a type ; 
 it is the plain teaching of Scripture, and in the clos- 
 ing verses of Exodus ii. we see this type in a double 
 way : first, in the matter of his rejection by Israel ; 
 and secondly, in his union with a stranger in the 
 land of Midian. 
 
 These points 'have already been, in some measure, 
 developed in the history of Joseph, \vho, being cast 
 out by his brethren according to the flesh, forms an 
 alliance with an Egyptian bride. Here, as in the 
 case of Moses, we see shadowed forth Christ's re- 
 jection by Israel, and His union with the Church, 
 but in a different phase. In Joseph's case, we have 
 the exhibition of positive enmity against his person : 
 in Moses, it is the rejection of his mission. In 
 Joseph's case, we read, "They hated him, and could 
 not speak peaceably unto him." (Gen. xxxvii. 4.) 
 In the case of Moses, the word is, "Who made 
 tliee a prince and a judge over us ? ' ' In short, the 
 former was personally hated ; the latter, officially 
 refused. 
 
 So also in the mode in which the great mystery of 
 tho Church is exemplified in the history of those 
 two Old Testament saints. "Asenath" presents 
 quite a different phase of the Church "from that which 
 we have in the person of "Zipporah." The former 
 was united to Joseph in the time of his exaltation ; 
 the latter was the companion of Moses in the obscu- 
 rity of his desert life. (Comp. Gen. xli. 41-45 with 
 Exod. ii. 15; iii. 1.) True, both Joseph and Moses 
 were, at the time of their union with a stranger, re- 
 
32 EXODUS. 
 
 jected by their brethren ; yet the former was "gov- 
 ernor over all the land of Egypt ; " whereas the latter 
 tended a few sheep at "the backside of the desert." 
 
 Whether, therefore, we contemplate Christ as 
 manifested in gloiy, or as hidden from the world's 
 gaze, the Church is intimately associated with Him. 
 And now, inasmuch as the world Seeth Him not, 
 neither can it take knowledge of that body which is* 
 wholly one with Him. "The world knoweth us not, 
 because it knew Him not." (1 John iii. 1.) By and 
 by, Christ will appear in His glory, and the Church 
 witli Him. "When Christ our life shall appear, then 
 shall ye also appear witli Him in glory." (Col iii. 4.) 
 And again, "The glory which Thou gavest Me I 
 have given them ; that they may be one, even as We 
 are one : I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may 
 be made perfect in one ; and that the world may 
 know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them 
 as Thou hast loved Me." (John xvii. 22, 23.)* 
 
 Such, then, is the Church's high and holy position. 
 She is one with Him who is cast out by this world, 
 but who occupies the throne of the Majesty in the 
 heavens. The Lord Jesus made Himself responsible 
 for her on the cross, in order that she might share 
 with Him His present rejection and His future glory. 
 Would that all who form a part of such a highly 
 
 * There are two distinct unities spoken of in John xvii. 21, 23. 
 The lirst is that unity which the Church is responsible to have 
 maintained, but in Avhich she has utterly failed. The second is that 
 unity which God will infallibly accomplish, and which He will 
 manifest in glory. If the reader will turn to the passage, he will at 
 once see the difference, both as to character and result, of the two. 
 
CHAPTER III. 33 
 
 privileged body were more impressed with a sense 
 of what becomes them as to course and character 
 down here ! Assuredly, there should be a fuller and 
 clearer response, on the part of all the children of 
 God, to that love wherewith He has loved -them, to 
 that salvation wherewith He lias saved them, and to 
 that dignity wherewith He has invested them. The 
 walk of the Christian should ever be the natural 
 result of realized privilege, and not the constrained 
 result of legal vows and resolutions, the proper 
 fruit of a position known and enjoyed by faith, and 
 not the fruit of one's own efforts to reach a position 
 "by works of law." All true believers are a part 
 of the bride of Christ ; hence, they owe Him those 
 affections which become that relation. The relation- 
 ship is not obtained because of the affections, but 
 the affections flow out of the relationship. 
 
 So let it be, O Lord, with all Thy beloved and 
 blood-bought people 1 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 WE shall now resume the personal history of 
 Moses, and contemplate him during that 
 deeply interesting period of his career which he 
 spent in retirement a period including, as we 
 should say, forty of his very best years the prime 
 of life. This is full of meaning. The Lord had 
 graciously, wisely, and faithfully led His dear serv- 
 ant apart from the eyes and thoughts of men, in 
 
34 EXODUS. 
 
 order that He might train him under His own imme- 
 ate hand. Moses needed this. True, he had spent 
 forty years in the house of Pharaoh ; and, while his 
 sojourn there was not without its influence and value, 
 yet was it as nothing when compared with his so- 
 journ in the desert. The former might be valuable ; 
 but the latter was indispensable. 
 
 Nothing can possibly make up for the lack of 
 secret communion with God, or the training and 
 discipline of His school. "All the wisdom of the 
 Egyptians ' ' would not have qualified Moses for his 
 future path. He might have pursued a most bril- 
 liant course through the schools and colleges of 
 Egypt. He might have come forth laden with lit- 
 erary honors his intellect stored with learning, and 
 his heart full of pride and self-sufficiency. He might 
 have taken out his degree in the school of man, arid 
 yet have to learn his alphabet in the school of God. 
 Mere human wisdom and learning, how valuable so- 
 ever in themselves, can never constitute any one a 
 servant of God, nor equip him for any department 
 of divine service. Such things may qualify unre- 
 newed nature to figure before the world ; but the 
 man whom God will use must be endowed with 
 widely-different qualifications such qualifications as 
 can alone be found in the deep and hallowed retire- 
 ment of the Lord's presence. 
 
 All God's servants have been made to know and 
 experience the truth of these statements. Moses at 
 Horeb, Elijah at Cherith, Ezekiel at Chebar, Paul in 
 Arabia, and John at Patmos, are all striking exam- 
 
CHAPTER III. 35 
 
 pies of the immense practical importance of being 
 alone with God. And when we look at the Divine 
 Servant, we find that the time Pie spent in private 
 was nearly ten times as long as that which He spent 
 in public. He, though perfect in understanding and 1 , 
 in will, spent nearly thirty years in the obscurity of 
 a carpenter's house at Nazareth ere He made His 
 appearance in public. And even when He had en- 
 tered upon His public career, how oft did He retreat 
 from the gaze of men, to enjoy the sweet and sacred 
 retirement of the divine presence ! 
 
 Now we may feel disposed to ask, How could the 
 urgent demand for workmen ever be met if all need 
 such protracted training, in secret, ere they come 
 forth to their work ? This is the Master's care not 
 ours. He can provide the workmen, and He can 
 train them also. This is not man's work. God 
 alone can provide and prepare a true minister. Nor 
 is it a question with Him as ,to the length of time 
 needful for the education of such an one. We know 
 He could educate him in a moment, if it were His 
 will to do so. One thing is evident, namely, that 
 God has had all His servants very much alone with 
 Himself, both before and after their entrance upon 
 their public work ; nor will any one ever get on with- 
 out this. The absence of secret training and 'dis- 
 cipline will necessarily leave us barren, superficial, 
 and theoretic. A man who ventures forth upon a 
 public career ere he has duly weighed himself in the 
 balances of the sanctuary, or measured himself in 
 the presence of God, is like a ship putting out to 
 
36 EXODUS. 
 
 sea without proper ballast : lie will doubtless overset 
 with the first stiff breeze. On the contrary, there is 
 a depth, a solidity, and a steadiness flowing from 
 our having passed from form to form in the school 
 of God, which are essential elements in the forma- 
 tion of the character of a true and effective servant 
 of God. 
 
 Hence, therefore, when we find Moses, at the age 
 of forty years, taken apart from all the dignity and 
 splendor of a court, for the purpose of spending 
 forty years in the obscurity of a desert, we are led 
 to expect a remarkable course of service ; nor are 
 we disappointed. The man whom God educates is 
 educated, and none other. It lies not within the 
 range of man to prepare an instrument for the serv- 
 ice of God. The hand of man could never mould 
 "a vessel meet for the Master's use." The One 
 wiio is to use the vessel can alone prepare it ; and 
 we have before us a singularly beautiful sample of 
 His mode of preparation. 
 
 "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 mount- 
 ain of God, even to Horeb." (Exod. iii. 1.) Here, 
 then, we have a marvelous change of circumstances. 
 In Genesis, chapter xlvi. 31, we read, "Every shep- 
 herd is an abomination to the Egyptians ; " and yet 
 'Moses, who was "learned in all the wisdom of the 
 Egyptians," is transferred from the Egyptian court 
 to the back of a mountain to tend a flock of sheep, 
 and to be educated for the service of God. Assur- 
 
CHAPTER III. 37 
 
 edly, this is not "the manner of man/' This is not 
 nature's line of things. Flesh and blood could not 
 understand this. We should have thought that 
 Moses' education was finished when he had become 
 master of all Egypt's wisdom, and that, moreover, 
 in immediate connection with the rare advantages 
 which a court life affords. We should have expected 
 to find in one so highly favored, not only a solid and 
 varied education, but also such an exquisite polish 
 as would fit him for any sphere of action to which 
 he might be called. But then, to find such a man 
 with such attainments, called away from such a 
 position to mind sheep at the back of a mountain, 
 is something entirely be}^ond the utmost stretch of 
 human thought and feeling. It lays prostrate in the 
 dust all man's pride and glory. It declares plainly 
 that this world's appliances are of little value in the 
 divine estimation; yea, they are as "dung and 
 dross," not only in the eyes of the Lord, but also 
 in the eyes of all those who have been taught in His 
 school. 
 
 There is a very wide difference between human 
 and divine education. The former has for its end 
 the refinement and exaltation of nature ; the latter 
 begins with withering it up and setting it aside. 
 u The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
 Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness unto him ; 
 neither can he know them, because they are spiritu- 
 ally discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) Educate the "nat- 
 ural man" as much as you please, and you cannot 
 make him a "spiritual man." "That which is born 
 
38 EXODUS. 
 
 of the flesh is flesh ; and that which is born of the 
 Spirit is spirit." (John iii. G.) If ever an educated 
 "natural man" might look for success in the service 
 of God, Moses might have counted upon it ; he was 
 4 'grown," he was u learned," he was "mighty in 
 word and deed," and yet he had to learn something 
 at "the backside of the desert" which Egypt's 
 schools could never have taught him. Paul learnt 
 more in Arabia than ever he had learnt at the feet 
 of Gamaliel.* None can teach like God; and all 
 who will learn of Him must be alone with Him. 
 
 "In the desert God will teach thee." 
 There it was that Moses learnt his sweetest, deepest, 
 most influential and enduring lessons. Thither, too, 
 must all repair who mean to be educated for the 
 ministry. 
 
 Beloved reader, may you prove, in your own deep 
 experience, the real meaning of "the backside of the 
 desert" that sacred spot where nature is laid in the 
 dust, and God alone exalted. There it is that men 
 
 *Let not my reader suppose for a moment that the design of the 
 above remarks is to detract from the value of really useful informa- 
 tion, or the proper culture of the mental powers. By no means. 
 If, for example, he is a parent, let him store his child's mind with 
 useful knowledge; let him teach him everything which may, here- 
 after, turn, to account in the Master's service: let him not burden 
 him with aught which he would have to "lay aside" in running 
 his Christian course, nor conduct him, for educational purposes, 
 through a region from which it is well-nigh impossible to come 
 forth with an unsoiled mind. You might just as well shut him up 
 for ten years in a coal mine in order to qualify him for discussing 
 the properties of light and shade, as cause him to wade through 
 the mire of a heathen mythology in order to fit him for the inter- 
 pretation of the oracles of God, or prepare him for feeding the 
 flock of Christ. 
 
CHAPTER III. 39 
 
 and things, the world and self, present circum- 
 stances and their influences, are all valued at what 
 they are really worth. There it is, and there alone, 
 that you will find a divinely- adjusted balance in 
 which to weigh all within and all around. There are 
 no false colors, no borrowed plumes, no empty pre- 
 tentions there. The enemy of your soul cannot gild 
 the sand of that place. All is reality there. The 
 heart that has found itself in the presence of God, 
 at ' ' the backside of the desert, ' ' has right thoughts 
 about everything. It is raised far above the excit- 
 ing influence of this world's schemes. The din and 
 noise, the bustle and confusion of Egypt do not fall 
 upon the ear in that distant place. The crash in the 
 monetary and commercial world is not heard there ; 
 the sigh of ambition is riot heaved there ; this world's 
 fading laurels do not tempt there ; the thirst for gold 
 is not felt there ; the eye is never dimmed with lust, 
 nor the heart swollen with pride there ; human ap- 
 plause does not elate, nor human censure depress 
 there. In a word, everything is set aside save the 
 stillness and light of the divine presence. God's 
 voice alone is heard, His light enjoyed, His thoughts 
 received. This is the place to which all must go to 
 be educated for the ministry ; and there all must 
 remain if they would succeed in the ministry. 
 
 Would that all who come forward to serve in 
 public knew more of what it is to breathe the atmos- 
 phere of this place. We should then have far less 
 vapid attempts at ministry, but far more effective 
 Christ-honoring service. 
 
40 EXODUS. 
 
 Let us now inquire what Moses saw and what he 
 heard at "the backside of the desert/ 7 We shall 
 find him learning lessons which lay far bej'ond the 
 reach of Egypt's most gifted masters. It might 
 appear, in the eyes of human reason, a strange loss 
 of time for a man like Moses to spend forty }^ears 
 doing nothing save to keep a few sheep in the wil- 
 derness. But he was there with God, and the time 
 that is thus spent is never lost. It is salutaiy for 
 us to remember that there is something more than 
 mere doing necessary on the part of a true servant. 
 A man who is always doing will be apt to do too 
 much. Such an one would need to ponder over the 
 deeply-practical words of the perfect Servant, "He 
 wakeneth morning by morning, He wakeneth Mine 
 ear to hear as the learned." (Is. 1. 4.) This is an 
 indispensable part of the servant's business. The 
 servant must frequently stand in his master's pres- 
 ence, in order that he may know what he has to do. 
 The "ear" and the "tongue" are intimately con- 
 nected, in more ways than one ; but, in a spiritual 
 or moral point of view, if my ear be closed and my 
 tongue loose, I shall be sure to talk a great deal of 
 folly. "Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every 
 man be swift to hear, slow to speak.' 1 (James i. 19.) 
 This seasonable admonition is based upon two fads, 
 namely, that everything good comes from above, 
 and that the heart is brimful of naughtiness, ready 
 to flow over. Hence the need of keeping the ear 
 open and the tongue quiet, rare and admirable 
 attainments ! attainments in which Moses made 
 
CHAPTER III. 41 
 
 great proficiency at "the backside of the desert," 
 and which all can acquire if only they are disposed 
 to learn in that school. 
 
 44 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him 
 in a flame of fire, out of the midst of a bush : and 
 he looked, and behold the bush burned with fire, and 
 the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, 'I 
 will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why 
 the bush is not burnt/ " (Chap. iii. 2, 3.) This was 
 truly "a great sight" a bush burning, } T et not 
 burnt. The palace of Pharaoh could never have 
 afforded such a sight. But it was a gracious sight 
 as well as a great sight, for therein was strikingly 
 exhibited the condition of God's elect. They were 
 in the furnace of Egypt ; and Jehovah reveals Him- 
 self in a burning bush. But as the bush was not 
 consumed, so neither were they^ for God was there. 
 "The Lord of hosts is with us, the God cf Jacob is 
 our refuge." (Psalrn xlvi.) Here is strength and 
 security victory and peace. God with us, God in 
 ns, and God for us. This is ample provision for 
 every exigence. 
 
 Nothing can be more interesting or instructive 
 than the mode in which Jehovah was pleased to re- 
 veal Himself to Moses, as presented in the above 
 quotation. He was about to furnish him with his 
 commission to lead forth His people out of Egypt, 
 that they might be His assembly His dwelling- 
 place, in the wilderness and in the land of Canaan ; 
 and the place from which He speaks is a burning 
 bush. Apt, solemn, and beautiful symbol of Jeho- 
 
42 EXODUS. 
 
 vah dwelling in the midst of His elect and redeemed 
 congregation! "Our God is a consuming fire," 
 not to consume us, but to consume all in us and 
 about us whicb is contrary to His holiness, and, as 
 such, subversive of our true and permanent happi- 
 ness. "Thy testimonies are very sure; holiness 
 becometh Thy house, O Lord, forever." 
 
 There are various instances, both in the Old and 
 New Testaments, in which we find God displaying 
 Himself as "a consuming fire." Look, for exam- 
 ple, at the case of Nadab and Abihu, in Leviticus x. 
 This was a deeply solemn occasion. God was dwell- 
 ing in the midst of His people, and He would keep 
 them in a condition worthy of Himself. He could 
 not do otherwise.- It would neither be for His glory 
 nor for their profit were He to tolerate aught in them 
 inconsistent with the purity of His presence. God's 
 dwelling-place must be holy. 
 
 So, also, in Joshua vii. we have another striking 
 proof, in the case of Achan, that Jehovah could not 
 possibly sanction, by His presence, evil, in any 
 shape or form, how covert soever that evil might be. 
 He was "a consuming fire," and as such He should 
 act, in reference to any attempt to defile that assem- 
 bly in the midst of which He dwelt. To seek to 
 connect God's presence with evil unjudged is the 
 very highest character of wickedness. 
 
 Again, in Acts v, Ananias and Sapphira teach us 
 the same solemn lesson. God the Holy Ghost was 
 dwelling in the midst of the Church, not merely as 
 an influence, but as a divine Person, in such a way 
 
CHAPTER III. 43 
 
 as that one could lie to Him. The Church was, and 
 is still, His dwelling-place ; and He must rule and 
 judge in the midst thereof. Men may walk in com- 
 pany with deceit, covetousness, and hypocrisy ; but 
 God cannot. If God is going to walk with us, we 
 must judge our waj^s, or He will judge them for us. 
 (See also 1 Cor. xi. 29-32.) 
 
 In all these cases, and many more which might be 
 adduced, we see the force of that solemn word, 
 ''Holiness becometh Thy house, O Lord, forever." 
 The moral eifect of this will ever be similar to that 
 produced in the case of Moses, as recorded in our 
 chapter. "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes 
 from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest 
 is holy ground." (Verse 5.) The place of God's 
 presence is holy, and can only be trodden with un- 
 shod feet. God, dwelling in the midst of His people, 
 imparts a character of holiness to their assembly, 
 which is the basis of every holy affection and every 
 holy activity. The character of the dwelling-place 
 takes its stamp from the character of the Occupant. 
 
 The application of this to the Church, which is 
 now the habitation of God, through the Spirit, is of 
 the very utmost practical importance. While it is 
 blessedly true that God, by His Spirit, inhabits each 
 individual member of the Church, thereby impart- 
 ing a character of holiness to the individual ; it is 
 equally true that He dwells in the assembly, and 
 hence the assembly must be holy. The centre round 
 which the members are gathered is nothing less than 
 the Person of a living, victorious, and glorified 
 
44 EXODUS. 
 
 Christ, The energy by which they are gathered is 
 nothing less than God the Holy Ghost; and the 
 Lord God Almighty dwells in them and walks in 
 them. (See Matt, xviii. 20; 1 Cor. vi. 19; iii. 16, 
 17 ; Eph. ii. 21, 22.) Such being the holy elevation 
 belonging to God's dwelling-place, it is evident that 
 nothing which is unholy, either in principle or prac- 
 tice, must be tolerated. Each one connected there- 
 with should feel the weight and solemnity of that 
 word, "The place whereon thou standest is holy 
 ground." "If any man defile the temple of God, 
 him shall God destroy." (1 Cor. iii. 17.) Most 
 weighty words these, for every member of God's 
 assembly for every stone in His holy temple ! May 
 we all learn to tread Jehovah's courts with unshod 
 feet! 
 
 However, the visions of Hor.eb bear witness to the 
 grace of the God of Israel as well as to His holiness. 
 If God's holiness is infinite, His grace is infinite 
 also; and while the manner in which He -revealed 
 Himself to Moses declared the former, the very fact 
 of His revealing Himself at all evidenced the latter. 
 He came down because He was gracious ; but when 
 come down, He should reveal . Himself as holy. 
 "Moreover he said, C 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." (Verse 6.) The 
 effect of the divine presence must ever be to make 
 nature hide itself; and when we stand before God 
 with unshod feet and covered head i.e.. -in the atti- 
 
CHAPTER III. 45 
 
 tude of soul which those acts so aptly and beauti- 
 fully express, we are prepared to hearken to the 
 sweet accents of grace. When man takes his suited 
 place, God can speak in the language of unmingled 
 mercy. 
 
 "And the Lord said, C I have surely seen the 
 affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and have 
 heard the,ir cry "by reason of their taskmasters ; for 
 I know their sorrows ; and I am come down to de- 
 liver them out of the hand of the Eg} T ptians, and to 
 bring them np out of that land unto a good land and 
 a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. . 
 
 Now, therefore, behold, the cry of the 
 
 children of Israel is come unto Me ; and I have also 
 seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress 
 them.' " (Ver. 7-9.) Here the absolute, free, un- 
 conditional grace of the God of Abraham, and the 
 God of Abraham's seed, shines forth in all its native 
 brightness, unhindered 1^ the u ifs" and u buts," 
 the vows, resolutions, and conditions of man's legal 
 spirit. God had come down to display Himself, in 
 sovereign grace, to do the whole work of salvation, 
 to accomplish His promise made to Abraham, and 
 repeated to Isaac and Jacob. He had not come 
 down to see if, indeed, the subjects of His, promise 
 were in such a condition as to merit His salvation : 
 it was sufficient for Him that they needed it. Their 
 oppressed state, their sorrows, their tears, their 
 sighs, their heavy bondage, had all come in review 
 before Him ; for, blessed be His name, He counts 
 His people's sighs, and puts their tears into His 
 
4G EXODUS. 
 
 bottle. He was not attracted by their excellencies 
 or their virtues. It was not on the ground of aught 
 that was good in them, either seen or foreseen, that 
 He was about to visit them, for He knew what was 
 in them. In one word, we have the true ground of 
 His gracious acting set before us in the words, U I 
 am the God of Abraham," and "I have seen the 
 affliction of My people." 
 
 These words reveal a great fundamental principle 
 in the ways of God. It is on the ground of what 
 He is that He ever acts. "I AM," secures all for 
 "MY PEOPLE." Assuredly, He was not going -to 
 leave His people amid the brick-kilns of Egj^pt, and 
 under the lash of Pharaoh's taskmasters. They 
 were His people, and He would act toward them in 
 a manner worthy of Himself. To be His people, 
 to be the favored objects of Jehovah's electing love 
 the subjects of IJis unconditional promise, settled 
 everything. Nothing should hinder the public dis- 
 play of His relationship with those for whom His 
 eternal purpose had secured the land of Canaan. 
 He had come down to deliver them ; and the com- 
 bined power of earth and hell could not hold them 
 in captivity one hour beyond His appointed time. 
 He might and did use Egypt as a school, and Pha- 
 raoh as a schoolmaster ; but when the needed work 
 was accomplished, both the school and the school- 
 master were set aside, and His people were brought 
 forth with a high hand and an outstretched arm. 
 
 Such, then, was the double character of the reve- 
 lation made to Moses at Mount Horeb. What he 
 
CHAPTER III. 47 
 
 saw and what he heard combined the two elements 
 of holiness and grace, elements which, as we know, 
 enter into and distinctly characterize all the ways 
 and all the relationships of the blessed God, and 
 which should also mark the ways of all those who 
 in any wise act for, or have fellowship with, Him. 
 Every true servant is sent forth from the immediate 
 presence of God, with all its holiness and all its 
 grace ; and he is called to be holy and gracious he 
 is called to be the reflection of the grace and holi- 
 ness of the divine character ; and, in order that he 
 may be so, he should not only start from the imme- 
 diate presence of God at the first, but abide there, 
 in spirit, habitually. This is the true secret of 
 effectual service. 
 
 " Childlike, attend what Thou wilt say, 
 Go forth and do it, while 'tis day, 
 Yet never leave my sweet retreat." 
 
 The spiritual man alone can understand the meaning 
 of the two things, "go forth and do," and, "yet 
 never leave." In order to act for God outside, I 
 should be with Him inside. I must be in the secret 
 sanctuary of His presence, else I shall utterly fail. 
 
 Very many break down on this point. There is 
 the greatest possible danger of getting out of the 
 solemnity and calmness of the divine presence, amid 
 the bustle of intercourse with men, and the excite- 
 ment of active service. This is to be carefully 
 guarded against. If we lose that hallowed tone of 
 spirit which is expressed in "the unshod foot," our 
 service will very speedily become vapid and unprofit- 
 
48 EXODUS. 
 
 able. If I allow my work to get between my heart 
 and the Master, it will be little worth. We can only 
 effectually serve Christ as we are enjoying Him. It 
 is while the heart dwells upon His powerful attrac- 
 tions that the hands perform the most acceptable 
 service to His name ; nor is there any one who can 
 minister Christ with unction, freshness, and power 
 to others, if he be not feeding upon Christ, in the 
 secret of his own soul. True, he may preach a 
 sermon, deliver a lecture, utter prayers, write a 
 book, and go through the entire routine of outward 
 service, and yet not minister Christ. The man who 
 will present Christ to others must be occupied with 
 Christ for himself. 
 
 Happy is the man who ministers thus, whatever be 
 the success or reception of his ministry. For should 
 his ministry fail to attract attention, to command 
 influence, or to produce apparent results, lie has his 
 sweet re treat and his unfailing portion in Christ, of 
 which nothing can deprive him. Whereas, the man 
 who is merely feeding upon the fruits of his ministry, 
 who delights in the gratification which it affords, or 
 the attention and interest which it commands, is like 
 a mere pipe, conveying water to others, and retain- 
 ing only rust itself. This is a most deplorable con- 
 dition to be in ; and } T et is it the actual condition of 
 every servant vilio is more occupied with his work 
 and its results, than with the Master and His glory. 
 
 This is a matter which calls for the most rigid self- 
 judgment. The heart is deceitful, and the enemy is 
 crafty ; and hence there is great need to hearken to 
 
CHAPTER III. 49 
 
 the word of exhortation, u Be sober, be vigilant." 
 It is when the soul is awakened to a sense of the 
 varied and manifold dangers which beset the serv- 
 ant's path, that it is, in any measure, able to under- 
 stand the need there is for being much alone with 
 God : it is there one is secure and happy. It is 
 when we begin, continue, and end our work at the 
 Master's feet, that our service will be of the right 
 kind. 
 
 From all that has been said, it must be evident to 
 my reader that every servant of Christ will find the 
 air of "the backside of the desert" most salutary. 
 Horeb is really the starting-post for all w r hom God 
 sends forth to act for Him. It was at Horeb that 
 Moses learnt to put off his shoes and hide his face. 
 Forty years before, he had gone to work ; but his 
 movement was premature. It was amid the flesh- 
 subduing solitudes of the mount of God, and forth 
 from the burning bush, that the divine commission 
 fell on the servant's ear, "Come now, therefore, and 
 I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest 
 bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of 
 Egypt." (Yer. 10.) Here was real authority. There 
 is avast difference between God sending a man, and 
 a man running unsent. But it is very manifest that 
 Moses was not ripe for service when first he set about 
 acting. If forty years of secret training were need- 
 ful for him, how could he have got on without it ? 
 Impossible ! He had to be divinely educated and 
 divinely commissioned ; and so must all who go 
 forth upon a path of service or testimony for Christ. 
 
50 EXODUS. 
 
 O," that these holy lessons may be deeply graven on 
 all our hearts, that so our every work may wear 
 upon it the stamp of the Master's authority and 
 the Master's approval. 
 
 However, we have something further to learn at 
 the foot of Mount Horeb. The soul finds it season- 
 able to linger in this place. "It is good to be here." 
 The presence of God is ever a, deeply practical place ; 
 the heart is sure to be laid open there. The light 
 that shines in that holy place makes everything 
 manifest ; and this is what is so much needed in the 
 midst of the hollow pretension around us, and the 
 pride and self-complacency within. 
 
 We might be disposed to think that the very mo- 
 ment the divine commission was given to Moses, his 
 reply would be, Here am I, or, Lord, what wilt 
 Thou have me to do ? But no ; he had yet to be 
 brought to this. Doubtless, he was affected by the 
 remembrance of his former failure. If a man acts 
 in anything without God, he is sure to be discour- 
 aged, even when God is sending him. "And Moses 
 said unto God, 'Who am I that I should go unto 
 Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children 
 of Israel out of Egypt ?' " (Ver. 11.) This is very 
 unlike the man who, forty years before, "supposed 
 that his brethren would have understood how that 
 God by his hand would deliver -them." Such is 
 man ! at one time too hasty; at another time too 
 slow. Moses had learnt a great deal since the day 
 in which he smote the Egyptian. He had grown in 
 the knowledge of himself, and this produced diffi- 
 
 
CHAPTER III. 51 
 
 dence and timidity. But then he manifestly lacked 
 confidence in God. If I am merely looking at my- 
 self, I shall do "nothing;" but if I am looking at 
 Christ, ' ' I can do all things. ' ' Thus, when diffidence 
 and timidity led Moses to say, "Who am I ?" God's 
 answer was, "Certainly I will be with thee." (Yer. 
 12.) This ought to have been sufficient. If God 
 be with me, it makes very little matter who I am, or 
 what I am. When God says, " I will send thee," 
 and "I will be with thee," the servant is amply 
 furnished with divine authority and divine power; 
 and he ought, therefore, to be perfectly satisfied to 
 go forth. 
 
 But Moses puts another question ; for the human 
 heart is full of questions. "And Moses said unto 
 God, 'Behold, when I come unto the children of 
 Israel and shall say unto them, The God of your 
 fathers hath sent me unto you ; and they shall say 
 to me, What is His name ? what shall I say unto 
 them ? ' ' It is marvelous to see how the human 
 heart reasons and questions, when unhesitating obe- 
 dience is that which is due to God ; and still more 
 marvelous is the grace that bears with all the reason- 
 ings and answers all the questions. Each question 
 seems but to elicit some new feature of divine grace. 
 
 "And God said unto Moses, 'I AM THAT I 
 AM;' and He said, 'Thus shalt thou say unto the 
 children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.' ' 
 (Ver. 14.) The title which God here gives Himself 
 is one of wondrous significancy. In tracing through 
 Scripture the various names which God takes, we 
 
52 EXODUS. 
 
 find them intimately connected with the varied need 
 . of those with whom He was in relation. " Jehovah- 
 jireh" (the Lord will provide), " Jehovah-nissi" 
 (the Lord my banner), " Jehovah-shalom " (the 
 Lord send peace), " Jehovah-tsidkenu " (the Lord 
 our righteousness), all these His gracious titles 
 are unfolded to meet the necessities of His people ; 
 and when He calls Himself "I AM," it comprehends 
 them all. Jehovah, in taking this title, was furnish- 
 ing His people with a blank check, to be filled up to 
 any amount. He calls Himself "I AM," and faith 
 has but to write over against that ineffably precious 
 name whatever we want. God is the only significant 
 figure, and human need may add the ciphers. If we 
 want life, Christ says, "I AM the life ; " if we want 
 righteousness, He is "THE LORD OUR RIGHT- 
 EOUSNESS;" if we want peace, "He is our 
 peace;" if we want "wisdom, sanctification, and 
 redemption," He "is^made" all these "unto us." 
 In a word, we may travel through the wide range of 
 human necessity, in order to have a just conception 
 of the amazing depth and fullness of this profound 
 and adorable name, "I AM." 
 
 What a mercy to be called to walk in companion- 
 ship with One who bears such a name as this ! We 
 are in the wilderness, and there we have to meet 
 with trial, sorrow, and difficulty ; but, so long as we 
 have the happy privilege of betaking ourselves, at 
 all times and under all circumstances, to One who 
 reveals Himself in His manifold grace, in connection 
 with our every necessity and weakness, we need not 
 
CHAPTER III. 5,') 
 
 fear the wilderness. God was about to bring His 
 people across the sandy desert, when He disclosed 
 this precious and comprehensive name ; and although 
 the believer now, as being endowed with the Spirit 
 of adoption, can cry, "Abba, Father,' 1 yet is he not 
 deprived of the privilege of enjoying communion 
 with God in each and every one of those manifesta- 
 tions which He has been pleased to make of Himself. 
 For example, the title "God" reveals Him as acting 
 in the solitariness of His own being, displaying His 
 eternal power and Godhead in the works of creation. 
 "The Lord God" is the title which He takes in 
 connection with man. Then, as "the Almighty 
 God," He rises before the view of His servant Abra- 
 ham, in order to assure his heart in reference to the 
 accomplishment of His promise touching the seed. 
 As "Jehovah," He made Himself known to Israel, 
 in delivering them out of the land of Egypt, and 
 bringing them into the land of Canaan. 
 
 Such were the various measures and various modes 
 in which "God spake in times past unto the fathers, 
 by the prophets" (Heb. i. 1.); and the believer, 
 under this dispensation or economy, as possessing 
 the Spirit of sonship, can say, It was my Father 
 who thus revealed Himself, thus spoke, thus acted. 
 
 Nothing can be more interesting or practically 
 important in its way than to follow out those great 
 dispensational titles of God. These titles are always 
 used in strict moral consistency with the circum- 
 stances under which they are disclosed ; but there 
 is, in the name "I AM," a height, a depth, a length, 
 5 
 
54 EXODUS. 
 
 a breadth, which truly pass beyond the utmost 
 stretch of human conception. 
 
 "When God would teach mankind His name, 
 He calls Himself the great <I AM,' 
 And leaves a blank believers may 
 Supply those things for which they pray." 
 
 And, be it observed, it is only in connection with 
 His own people that He takes this name. He did 
 not address Pharaoh in this name. When speaking 
 to him, He calls Himself by that commanding and 
 majestic title, "The Lord God of the Hebrews;" 
 i.e., God, in connection with the very people whom 
 he was seeking to crush. This ought to have been 
 sufficient to show Pharaoh his awful position with 
 respect to God. "I AM" would have conveyed no 
 intelligible sound to an uncircumcised ear no divine 
 reality to an unbelieving heart. When God manifest 
 in the flesh declared to the unbelieving Jews of His 
 day those words, u Before Abraham was, I am," 
 they took up stones to cast at Him. It is only the 
 true believer who can feel, in any measure, the 
 power, or enjoy the sweetness, of that ineffable 
 name, "I AM.'\ Such an one can rejoice to hear 
 from the lips of the blessed Lord Jesus such declar- 
 ations as these: "/ am that bread of life," "I am 
 the light of the world,"" "/am the good Shepherd," 
 "/ am the resurrection and the life," "/ am the 
 way, the truth, and the life," "/aw the true vine," 
 "/aw Alpha and Omega," "/ aw the bright arid 
 morning star." In a word, he can take every name 
 of divine excellence and beauty, and, having placed 
 
CHAPTER III. 55 
 
 it after "I AM, find JESUS therein, and admire, 
 adore, and worship. 
 
 Thus, there is a sweetness, as well as a compre- 
 hensiveness, in the name "I AM, which is beyond 
 all power of expression. Each believer can find 
 therein that which exactly suits his own spiritual 
 need, whatever it be. There is not a single winding 
 in all the Christian's wilderness journey, not a single 
 phase of his soul's experience, not a single point in 
 his condition, which is not divinely met by this title, 
 for the simplest of all reasons, that whatever he 
 wants, he has but to place it, by faith, over against 
 "I AM" and find it all in Jesus. To the believer, 
 therefore, however feeble and faltering, there is un- 
 ' mingled blessedness in this name. 
 
 But although it was to the elect of God that Moses 
 was commanded to say, "I AM hath sent me unto 
 you," yet is there deep solemnity and reality in that 
 name when looked at with reference to the unbe- 
 liever. If one who is yet in his sins contemplates, 
 for a moment, this amazing title, he cannot, surely, 
 avoid asking himself the question, How do I stand 
 as to this Being who calls Himself, "I AM THAT 
 I AM"? If, indeed, it be true that HE IS, then 
 what is He to me ? What am I to write over against 
 this solemn name, "I AM"? I shall not rob this 
 question of its characteristic weight and power by 
 any words of my own ; but I pray that God the Holy 
 Ghost may make it searching to the conscience of 
 any reader who really needs to be searched thereb}'. 
 
 I cannot close this section without calling the at- 
 
56 EXODUS 
 
 tention of the Christian reader to the deeply inter- 
 esting declaration contained in the fifteenth verse, 
 "And God said, moreover, unto Moses, 'Thus shalt 
 thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord God 
 of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of 
 Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto 
 you : this is My name forever, and this is My memo- 
 rial to all generations.' ' This statement contains a 
 very important truth a. truth which many profess- 
 ing Christians seem to forget, namety, that God's 
 relationship with Israel is an eternal one. He is just 
 as much Israel's God now as when He visited them 
 in the land of Egypt. Only, because of rejecting 
 their Messiah, they are, in His governmental dealings, 
 set aside for a time. But His word is clear and em- 
 phatic : "This is My name forever." He does not 
 say, This is My name for a time, so long as they con- 
 tinue what they ought to be. No ; ' ; This is My name 
 forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations." 
 Let my reader ponder this. ' ' God hath not cast away 
 His people which He foreknew. ' ' (Rom. xi. 2. ) They 
 arc His people still, whether obedient or disobedient, 
 united together or scattered abroad, manifested to 
 the nations or hidden from their view. They are His 
 people, and He is their God. Exodus iii. 15 is un- 
 answerable. The professing church has no warrant 
 whatever for ignoring a relationship which God says 
 is to endure "forever." Let us beware how we 
 tamper with this weighty word, "forever." If we 
 say it does not mean forever when applied to Israel, 
 what proof have we that it means forever when ap- 
 
CHAPTER III. 57 
 
 plied to us ? God means what He says ; and He 
 will, ere long, make manifest to all the nations of 
 the earth that His connection with Israel is one 
 which shall outlive all the revolutions of time. "The 
 gifts and calling of God are without repentance." 
 When He said, "This is My name forever," He 
 spoke absolutely. "I AM" declared Himself to be 
 Israel's God forever ; and all the Gentiles shall be 
 made to bow to this ; and to know, moreover, that 
 all God's providential dealings with them, and all 
 their destinies, are connected, in some way or other, 
 with that favored and honored, though now judged 
 and scattered, people. "When the Most High 
 divided to the nations their inheritance, when He 
 separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of 
 the people according to the number of the children 
 of Israel. For the Lord's portion is His people; 
 Jacob is the lot of His inheritance." (Deut. xxxii. 
 8,9.) 
 
 Has this ceased to be true ? Has Jehovah given 
 up His "portion," and surrendered "the lot of His 
 inheritance"? Does His eye of tender love no 
 longer rest on Israel's scattered tribes, long lost to 
 man's vision ? Are the walls of Jerusalem no longer 
 before Him ? or has her dust ceased to be precious 
 in His sight ? To reply to these inquiries would be 
 to quote a large portion of the Old Testament, and 
 not a little of the New ; but this would not be the 
 place to enter elaborately upon such a subject. I 
 would only say, in closing this section, let not Chris- 
 tendom "be ignorant of this mystery, that blindness 
 
58 EXODUS. 
 
 in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of 
 the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be 
 saved." (Rom. xi. 25, 26.) 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 WE are still called to linger at the foot of Mount 
 Horeb, at "the backside of the desert ; " and 
 truly, the air of this place is most healthful for the 
 spiritual constitution. Man's unbelief and God's 
 boundless grace are here made manifest in a strik- 
 ing way. 
 
 "And Moses answered and said, 'But, behold, 
 they will not believe- me, nor hearken unto my voice ; 
 for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto 
 thee.' " How hard it is to overcome the unbelief of 
 the human heart ! How difficult man ever finds it 
 to trust God ! How slow he is to venture upon the 
 naked promise of Jehovah ! Anything, for nature, 
 but that. The most slender reed that the human 
 eye can see is counted more substantial, by far, as a 
 basis for nature's confidence, than the unseen "Rock 
 of ages." Nature will rush with avidity to any 
 creature stream or broken cistern, rather than abide 
 by the unseen "Fountain of living waters." 
 
 We might suppose that Moses had seen and heard 
 enough to set his fears entirely aside. The consum- 
 ing fire in the unconsumed bush, the condescending 
 grace, the precious, endearing, and .comprehensive 
 titles, the divine commission, the assurance of the 
 
CHAPTER IV. 59 
 
 divine presence, all these might have quelled every 
 anxious thought, and have imparted a settled as- 
 surance to the heart. Still, however, Moses raises 
 questions, and still God answers them ; and, as we 
 have remarked, each successive question brings out 
 fresh grace. "And the Lord said unto him, 'What 
 is that in thine hand?' And he said, 'A rod.'' 
 The Lord would just take him as he was, and use 
 what he had in his hand. The rod with which he 
 had tended Jethro's sheep was about to be used to 
 deliver the Israel of God, to chastise the land of 
 Egypt, to make a way through the deep, for the 
 ransomed of the Lord to pass over, and to bring 
 forth water from the flinty rock to refresh Israel's 
 thirsty hosts in the desert. God takes up the weak- 
 est instruments to accomplish His mightiest ends. 
 "A rod," u a ram's horn," " a cake of barley meal," 
 * ' an. earthen pitcher, " "a shepherd's sling, ' ' any- 
 thing, in short, when used of God, will do the ap- 
 pointed work. Men imagine that splendid ends can 
 only be reached by splendid means ; but such is not 
 God's way. He can use a crawling worm as well as 
 a scorching sun, a gourd as well as a vehement east 
 wind. (See Jonah.) 
 
 But Moses had to learn a deep lesson, both as to 
 the rod and the hand that was to use it. He had to 
 learn, and the people had to be convinced. "And 
 He said, 'Cast it on the ground.' And he cast it 
 on the ground, and it became a serpent ; and Moses 
 fled from before it. And the Lord said unto Moses, 
 'Put forth thine hand and take it by the tail.' And 
 
60 EXODUS. 
 
 he put forth his hand and caught it, and it became 
 a rod in his hand ; ' that they may believe that the 
 Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, 
 the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath ap- 
 peared unto thee.' ' This is a deeply significant 
 sign. The rod became a serpent, so that Moses fled 
 from it; but, being commissioned by Jehovah, he 
 took the serpent by the tail, and it became a rod. 
 Nothing could more aptly express the idea of Satan's 
 power being turned against himself. This is largely 
 exemplified in the ways of God. Moses himself was 
 a striking example. The serpent is entirely under 
 the hand of Christ ; and when he has reached the 
 highest point in his mad career, he shall be hurled 
 into the lake of fire, there to reap the fruits of his 
 work throughout eternity's countless ages. "That 
 old serpent, the accuser, and the adversary," shall 
 be eternally crushed beneath the rod of God's 
 Anointed. 
 
 "Then the end beneath His rod, 
 
 Man's last enemy shall fall; 
 Hallelujah ! Christ in God, 
 God in Christ, is all in all." 
 
 "And the Lord said furthermore unto him, 'Put 
 now thine hand into thy bosom.' And he put his 
 hand into his bosom ; and when he took it out, be- 
 hold his hand was leprous as snow. And He said, 
 'Put thine hand into thy bosom again.' And he put 
 his hand into his bosom again, and plucked it out of 
 his bosom ; and, behold, it was turned again as his 
 other flesh." The leprous hand and the cleansing 
 
CHAPTER IV. 61 
 
 thereof present to us the moral effect of sin, as also 
 the way in which sin has been met in the perfect 
 work of Christ. The clean hand, placed in the 
 bosom, becomes leprous ; and the leprous hand, 
 placed there, becomes clean. Leprosy is the well- 
 known type of sin ; and sin came in by the first 
 man and was put away by the second. "By man 
 came death, by man came also the resurrection of 
 the dead." (1 Cor. xv. 21.) Man brought in ruin, 
 man brought in redemption ; man brought in guilt, 
 man brought in pardon ; man brought in sin, man 
 brought in righteousness ; man filled the scene with 
 death, man abolished death and filled the scene with 
 life, righteousness, and glory. Thus, not only shall 
 the serpent himself be eternally defeated and con- 
 founded, but every trace of his abominable work 
 shall be eradicated and wiped away by the atoning 
 sacrifice of Him " who was manifested that He might 
 destroy the works of the devil." 
 
 "And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe 
 also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, 
 that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and 
 pour it upon the dry land ; and the water which thou 
 takest out of the river shall become blood upon the 
 dry land." This was a solemn and most expressive 
 figure of the consequence of refusing to bow to the 
 divine testimony. This sign was only to be wrought 
 in the event of their refusing the other two. It was 
 first to be a sign to Israel, and afterwards a plague 
 upon Egypt. (Comp. chapter vii. 17.) 
 
 All this, however, fails to satisfy the heart of 
 
62 EXODUS. 
 
 Moses. "And Moses said unto the Lord, ; O my 
 Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore nor since 
 Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant ; but I am slow 
 of speech, and of a slow tongue.' ' Terrible back- 
 wardness ! Naught save Jehovah's infinite patience 
 could have endured it. Surely, when God Himself 
 had said, "I will be with thee," it was an infallible 
 security, in reference to .everything which could 
 possibly be needed. If an eloquent tongue were 
 necessary, what had Moses to do but to set it over 
 against "I AM"? Eloquence, wisdom, might, 
 energy, everything was contained in that exhaust- 
 less treasury. "And the Lord said unto him, 'Who 
 hath made man's mouth ? or who maketh the dumb, 
 or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind ? have not I the 
 Lord ? Now, therefore, go, and I will be with thy 
 mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. ' ' Pro- 
 found, adorable, matchless grace ! worthy of God ! 
 There is none like unto the Lord our God, whoso 
 patient grace surmounts all our difficulties, and 
 proves itself amply sufficient for our manifold need 
 and weakness. "I THE LORD" ought to silence 
 forever the reasonings of our carnal hearts. But, 
 alas! these reasonings are hard to be put down. 
 Again and again they rise to the surface, to the 
 disturbance of our peace, and the dishonor of that 
 blessed One, who sets Himself before our souls, in 
 all His own essential fullness, to be used according 
 to our need. 
 
 It is well to bear in mind that when we have the 
 Lord with us, our very deficiencies and infirmities 
 
CHAPTER IV. G3 
 
 become an occasion for the display of His all-suffi- 
 cient grace and perfect patience. Had Moses re- 
 membered this, his want of eloquence need not have 
 troubled him. The apostle Paul learnt to say, 
 "Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my 
 infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon 
 me. Therefore / take pleasure in infirmities, in re- 
 proaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses 
 for Christ's sake;- for when I am weak, then am I 
 strong." (2 Cor. xii. 9, 10.) This is, assuredly, 
 the utterance of one who had reached an advanced 
 form in the school of Christ. It is the experience of 
 one who would not have been much troubled because 
 of not possessing an eloquent tongue, inasmuch as 
 he had found an answer to every description of need 
 in the precious grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 The knowledge of this truth ought to have de- 
 livered Moses from his diffidence and inordinate 
 timidity. When the Lord had so graciously assured 
 him that He would be with his mouth, it should have 
 set his mind at rest as to the question of eloquence. 
 The Maker of man's mouth could fill that mouth 
 with the most commanding eloquence, if such were 
 needed. This, in the judgment of faith, is most 
 simple ; but, alas ! the poor doubting heart would 
 place far more confidence in an eloquent tongue than 
 in the One who created it. This would seem most 
 unaccountable, did we not know the materials of 
 which the natural heart is composed. That heart 
 cannot trust God ; and hence it is that even the 
 people of God, when they suffer themselves to be in 
 
64 EXODUS. 
 
 any measure governed by nature, exhibit such a 
 humiliating lack of confidence in the living God. 
 
 Thus, in the scene before us, we find Moses still 
 demurring. "And he said, 'O my Lord, send, I 
 prav Thee, by the hand of him whom Thou wilt 
 send.' " This was, in reality, casting from him the 
 high honor of being Jehovah's sole messenger to 
 Egypt and to Israel. 
 
 It were needless to say that divinely-w T rought hu- 
 mility is an inestimable grace. To "be clothed with 
 humility" is a divine precept; and humility is un- 
 .questionably the most becoming dress in which a 
 worthless sinner can appear. But it cannot be called 
 humility to refuse to take . the place which God as- 
 signs, or to tread the path which His hand marks 
 out for us. That it was not true humility in Moses 
 is obvious from the fact that "the anger of the Lord 
 was kindled against him." So far from its being 
 humility, it had actually passed the limit of mere 
 weakness. So long as it wore the aspect of an 
 excessive timidity, however reprehensible, God's 
 boundless grace bore with it, and met it with re- 
 newed assurances ; but when it assumed the charac- 
 ter of unbelief and slowness of heart, it drew down 
 Jehovah's just displeasure; and Moses, instead of 
 being the sole, is made a joint, instrument in the 
 work of testimony and deliverance. 
 
 Nothing is more dishonoring to God, or more 
 dangerous for us, than a mock humility. When we 
 refuse to occupy a position which the grace of God 
 assigns us, because of our not possessing certain 
 
CHAPTER IV. 65 
 
 virtues and qualifications, this is not humility, inas- 
 much as if we could but satisfy our own consciences 
 in reference to such virtues and qualifications, we 
 should then deem ourselves entitled to assume the 
 position. If, for instance, Moses had possessed 
 such a measure of eloquence as he deemed needful, 
 we may suppose he would have been ready to go. 
 Now the question is, How much eloquence would he 
 have needed to furnish him for his mission ? The 
 answer is, Without God, no amount of human elo- 
 quence would have availed ; but with God, the 
 merest stammerer would have proved an efficient 
 minister. 
 
 This is a great practical truth. Unbelief is not 
 .humility, but thorough pride. It refuses to believe 
 God because it does not find in self a reason for be- 
 lieving. This is the very height of presumption. 
 If, when God speaks, I refuse to believe, on the 
 ground of something in myself, I make Him a liar. 
 (I John v. 10.) When God declares His love, and 
 I refuse to believe because I do not deem myself a 
 sufficiently worthy object, I make Him a liar, and 
 exhibit the inherent pride of my heart. The bare 
 supposition that I could ever be worthy of aught 
 save the lowest pit of hell, can only be regarded as 
 the most profound ignorance of my own condition 
 and of God's requirements. And the refusal to 
 take the place which the redeeming love of God 
 assigns me, on the ground of the finished atonement 
 of Christ, is to make God a liar, and cast gross dis- 
 honor upon the sacrifice of the cross. God's love 
 
66 EXODUS. 
 
 flows forth spontaneously. It is not drawn forth by 
 nay deserts, but by my misery. Nor is it a question 
 as to the place which I deserve, but which Christ 
 deserves. Christ took the sinner's place on the 
 cross, that the sinner might take His place in the 
 glory. Christ got what the sinner deserved, that 
 the sinner might get what Christ deserves. Thus 
 self is totally set aside, and this is true humility. 
 No one can be truly humble until he has reached 
 heaven ''s side of the cross ; but there he finds di- 
 vine life, divine righteousness, and divine favor. 
 He is done with himself forever, as regards any 
 expectation of goodness or righteousness, and he 
 feeds upon the princely wealth of another. He is 
 morally prepared to join in that cry which shall, 
 echo through the spacious vault of heaven, through- 
 out the everlasting ages, "Not unto us, O Lord, 
 not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory." 
 (Psalm cxv. 1.) 
 
 It would ill become us to dwell upon the mistakes 
 or infirmities of so honored a servant as Moses, of 
 whom we read that he ' fc was verily faithful in all his 
 house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things 
 which were to be spoken after." (Heb. iii. 5.) But, 
 though we should not dwell upon them in a spirit of 
 self-complacency, as if we would have acted differ- 
 ently in his circumstances, we should nevertheless 
 learn from such things those holy and seasonable 
 lessons which they are manifestly designed to teach. 
 We should learn to judge ourselves and to place 
 more implicit confidence in God, to set self aside, 
 
CHAPTER IV. 67 
 
 that He might act in us, through us, and for us. 
 This is the true secret of power. 
 
 We have remarked that Moses forfeited the dig- 
 nity of being Jehovah's sole instrument in that 
 glorious work which He was about to accomplish. 
 But this was not all. "The anger of the Lord was 
 kindled against Moses ; and He said, ' Is not Aaron 
 the Levite thy brother ? I know that he can speak 
 well: and also, behold, he cometh forth to meet 
 thee ; and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his 
 heart. And tliou slialt speak unto Mm, and put words 
 in Ills mouth : and I will be with thy mouth, and 
 with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do. 
 And he shall be thy spokesman unto the people: 
 and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a 
 mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God. 
 And thou shalt take this rod in thine hand, where- 
 with thou shalt do signs/ " (Chap. iv. 14-17.) This 
 passage contains a mine of most precious practical 
 instruction. We have noted the timidity and hesi- 
 tation of Moses, notwithstanding the varied promises 
 and assurances with which divine grace had furnished 
 him. And now, although there was nothing gained 
 in the way of real power, although there was no 
 more virtue or efficacy in one mouth than in another, 
 although it was Moses after all who was to speak 
 unto Aaron ; yet was Moses quite ready to go when 
 assured of the presence and co-operation of a poor 
 feeble mortal like himself; whereas he could not go 
 when assured, again and again, that Jehovah would 
 be with him. 
 
68 EXODUS. 
 
 Oh ! my reader, does not all this hold up before 
 us a faithful mirror in which you and I can see our 
 hearts reflected ? Truly it does. We are more 
 ready to trust anything than the living God. We 
 move along with bold decision when we possess the 
 countenance and support of a poor frail mortal like 
 ourselves ; but we falter, hesitate, and demur when 
 we have the light of the Master's countenance to 
 cheer us, and the strength of His omnipotent arm to 
 support us. This should humble us deeply before 
 the Lord, and lead us to seek a fuller acquaintance 
 with Him, so that we might trust Him with a more 
 unmixed confidence, and walk on with a firmer step, 
 as having Him alone for our resource and portion. 
 
 No doubt the fellowship of a brother is most valu- 
 able, "Two are better than one," whether in 
 labor, rest, or conflict. The Lord Jesus, in sending 
 forth His disciples, "sent them two by two," for 
 unity is ever better* than isolation ; still, if our per- 
 sonal acquaintance with God, and our experience 
 of His presence, be not such as to enable us, if 
 needful, to walk alone, we shall find the presence of 
 a brother of very little use. It is not a little remark- 
 able that Aaron, whose companionship seemed to 
 satisfy Moses, was the man who afterwards made the 
 golden calf. (Exod. xxxir. 21.) Thus it frequently 
 happens, that the very person whose presence we 
 deem essential to our progress and success, after- 
 wards proves a source of deepest sorrow to our 
 hearts. May we ever remember this ! 
 
 However, Moses at length consents to go; but 
 
CHAPTER IT. G9 
 
 ere he is fully equipped for his work, he must pass 
 through another deep exercise, yea, he must have 
 the sentence of death inscribed by the hand of God 
 upon his very nature. He had learnt deep lessons 
 at ' ' the backside of the desert ; ' ' he is called to 
 learn something deeper still, "by the way in the 
 inn." It is no light matter to be the Lord's servant. 
 No ordinary education will qualify a man for such a 
 position. Nature must be put in the place of death, 
 and kept there. "We had the sentence of death in 
 ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but 
 in God which raiseth the dead." (2 Cor. i. 9.) 
 Every successful servant will need to know some- 
 thing of this. Moses was called to enter into it, in 
 his own experience, ere he was morally qualified. 
 He was about to sound in the ears of Pharaoh the 
 following deeply solemn message: "Thus saith the 
 Lord, 'Israel is My son, even My first-born: and I 
 say unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve 
 Me : and if thou refuse to let him go, behold I will 
 slay thy son, even thy first-born.' " Such was to be 
 his message to Pharaoh, a message of death, a 
 -message of judgment; and, at the same time, his 
 message to Israel was a message of life and salva- 
 tion. But, be it remembered, that the man who 
 will speak, on God's behalf, of death and judgment, 
 life and salvation, must, ere he docs so, enter into 
 the practical power of these things in his own soul. 
 Thus it was with Moses. We have seen him, at the 
 very outset, in the place of death, typically ; but 
 this was a different thing from entering into the 
 6 
 
70 EXODUS. 
 
 experience of death in his own person. Hence we 
 read, "And it came to pass, by the way in the inn, 
 that the Lord met him, and sought to kill him. 
 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the 
 foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, 
 'Surely, a bloody husband art thou to me.' So He 
 let him go : then she said, c A bloody husband thou 
 art, because of the circumcision.' ' This passage 
 lets us into a deep secret in the personal and domes- 
 tic history of Moses. It is very evident that Zippo- 
 rah' s heart had, up to this point, shrunk from the 
 application of the knife to that around which the 
 affections of nature were entwined. She had avoided 
 that mark which had to be set in the flesh of every 
 member of the Israel of God. She was not aware 
 that her relationship with Moses was one involving 
 death to nature. She recoiled from the cross. This 
 was natural. But Moses had yielded to her in the 
 matter ; and this explains to us the mysterious scene 
 ' ' in the inn. " If Zipporah refuses to circumcise her 
 son, Jehovah will lay His hand upon her husband; 
 and if Moses spares the feelings of his wife, Jehovah 
 will * c seek to kill him. ' ' The sentence of death must 
 be written on nature ; and if we seek to avoid it in 
 one way, we shall have to encounter it in another. 
 
 It has been already remarked that Zipporah fur- 
 nishes an instructive and interesting type of the 
 Church. She was united to Moses during the period 
 of his rejection ; and from the passage just quoted, 
 we learn that the Church is called to know Christ 
 as the One related to her "by blood." It is her 
 
CHAPTER IV. 71 
 
 privilege to drink of His cup, and be baptized with 
 His baptism. Being crucified with Him, she is to 
 be conformed to His death to mortify her members 
 which are on the earth to take up the cross daily, 
 and follow Him. Her relationship with Christ is 
 founded upon blood, and the manifestation of the 
 power of that relationship will necessarily involve 
 death to nature. "And ye are complete in Him, 
 which is the head of all principality and power ; in 
 whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision 
 made without hands, in putting off the body of the 
 sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ! 
 buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are 
 risen with Him through the faith of the operation of 
 God, who hath raised Him from the dead/' (Col. 
 ii. 10-12.) 
 
 Such is the doctrine as to the Church's place with 
 Christ, a doctrine replete with the richest privileges 
 for the Church, and each member thereof. Every- 
 thing, in short, is involved: the perfect remission 
 of sin, divine righteousness, complete acceptance, 
 everlasting securit} r , full fellowship with Christ in all 
 His glory. "Ye are complete in Him." This, surely, 
 comprehends everything. What could be added to 
 one who is "complete"? Could "philosophy," 
 "the tradition of men," "the rudiments of the 
 world," "meats, drinks, holy days, new moons, or 
 Sabbaths " ? " Touch not ' ' this, ' ' taste not ' ' that, 
 "handle not" the other, "the commandments and 
 doctrines of men," "days, and months, and times, 
 and years," could any of these things, or all of 
 
72 EXODUS. 
 
 them put together, add a single jot or tittle to one 
 whom God has pronounced ' c complete ' ' ? We might 
 just as well inquire if man could have gone forth 
 upon the fair creation of God, at the close of the 
 six days' work, to give the finishing touch to that 
 which God had pronounced "very good." 
 
 Nor is this completeness to be, by any means, 
 viewed as a matter of attainment, some point which 
 we have not yet reached, but after which w r e must 
 diligently strive, and of the possession of which we 
 cannot be sure until we lie upon a bed of death, or 
 stand before a throne of judgment. It is the portion 
 of the feeblest, the most inexperienced, the most 
 unlettered child of God. The very weakest saint is 
 included in the apostolic "?/e." All the people of 
 God "are- complete in Christ." The apostle does 
 not say, Ye will be, Ye may be, Hope that } T e may 
 be, Pray that ye may be : no ; lie, by the Holy 
 Ghost, states, in the most absolute and unqualified 
 manner, that u ye are complete." This is the true 
 Christian starting-post ; and for man to make a goal 
 of what Gocl makes a starting-post, is to upset 
 everything. 
 
 But, then, some will ask, Have we no sin, no fail- 
 ure, no imperfection ? Assuredly we have. "If we 
 say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and 
 the truth is not in us." (1 John i. 8.) We have sin 
 in us, but no sin on us. Moreover, our standing is 
 not in self, but in Christ. It is "m Him" we "are 
 complete." God sees the believer in Christ, with 
 Christ, and as Christ. This is his changeless concli- 
 
CHAPTER IV. 73 
 
 tion his everlasting standing. "The body of the 
 sins of the flesh" is "put off by the circumcision of 
 Christ." The believer is not in the flesh, though the 
 flesh is in him. He is united to Christ in the power 
 of a new and an endless life, and that life is insep- 
 arably connected with divine righteousness in which 
 the believer stands before God. The Lord Jesus has 
 put away everything that was against the believer, 
 and He has brought him nigh to God, in the self- 
 same favor as that which He Himself enjoys. In a 
 word, Christ is his righteousness. This settles every 
 question, answers every objection, silences every 
 doubt. "Both He that sanctifieth and they who are 
 sanctified are all of one." (Heb. ii. ^l.) 
 
 The foregoing line of truth has flowed out of the 
 deeply interesting type presented to us in the rela- 
 tionship between Moses and Zipporah. We must 
 now hasten to close this section, and take our leave, 
 for the present, of "the backside of the desert," 
 though not of its deep lessons and holy impressions, 
 so essential to every servant of Christ, and every 
 messenger of the living God. All who would serve 
 effectually, either in the important work of evangeli- 
 zation, or in the varied ministries of the house of 
 God which is the Church will need to imbibe the 
 precious instructions which Moses received at the 
 foot of Mount Horeb, and "by the way in the inn." 
 
 Were these things properly attended to, we should 
 not have so many running unsent so many rushing 
 into spheres of ministry for which they were never 
 designed. Let each one who stands up to preach, 
 
74 EXODUS. 
 
 or teach, or exhort, or serve in any way, seriously 
 inquire if, indeed, he be fitted and taught and sent 
 of God. If not, his work will neither be owned of 
 God nor blessed to men, and the sooner he ceases, 
 the better for himself and for those upon whom he 
 has been imposing the heavy burden of hearkening 
 to him. Neither a humanly- appointed nor a self- 
 appointed ministry will ever suit within the hallowed 
 precincts of the Church of God. All must be di- 
 vinely gifted, divinely taught, and divinely sent. 
 
 " And the Lord said to Aaron, 'Go into the wil- 
 derness to meet Moses.' And he went and met him 
 in the mount of God, and kissed him. And Moses 
 told Aaron all he words of the Lord who had sent 
 him, and all the signs which He had commanded 
 him." This was a fair and beauteous scene a scene 
 of sweet brotherly love and union a scene which 
 stands in marked contrast with many of those scenes 
 which were afterwards enacted in the wilderness- 
 career of these two men. Forty years of wilderness 
 life are sure to make great changes in men and 
 things. Yet it is sweet to dwell upon those early 
 days of one's Christian course, before the stern 
 realities of desert life had, in any measure, checked 
 the gush of warm and generous affections, before 
 deceit and corruption and hypocrisy had well-nigh 
 dried up the springs of the heart's confidence, and 
 placed the whole moral being beneath the chilling 
 influences of a suspicious disposition. 
 
 That such results have been produced, in many 
 cases, by years of experience, is, alas! too true. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 75 
 
 Happy is he who, though his eyes have been opened 
 to see nature in a clearer light than that which this 
 world supplies, can nevertheless serve his generation 
 by the energy of that grace which flows forth from 
 the bosom of God. Who ever knew the depths and 
 windings of the human heart as Jesus knew them ? 
 
 o 
 
 "He knew all, and needed not that any should tes- 
 tify of man ; for he knew what was in man." (John 
 ii. 24, 25.) So well did He know man, that He 
 could not commit Himself unto him. He could not 
 accredit man's professions, or endorse his preten- 
 sions. And } r et, who so gracious as He ? Who so 
 loving, so tender, so compassionate, so sympathiz- 
 ing ? With a heart that understood all, He could 
 feel for all. He did not suffer His perfect knowledge 
 of human worthlessness to keep Him aloof from hu- 
 man need. " He went about doing good." Why? 
 Was it because He imagined that all those who 
 flocked around Him were real ? No ; but "because 
 God was with Him." (Acts x. 38.) This is our ex- 
 ample. Let us follow it, though, in doing so, we 
 shall have to trample on self and all its interests, at 
 every step of the way. 
 
 Who would desire that wisdom, that knowledge of 
 nature, that experience, which only lead men to en- 
 sconce themselves within the inclosures of a hard- 
 hearted selfishness, from which they look forth with 
 an eye of dark suspicion upon everybody ? Surely, 
 such a result could never follow from aught of a 
 heavenly or excellent nature. God gives wisdom ; 
 but it is not a wisdom which locks the heart against 
 
76 EXODUS. 
 
 all the appeals of human need and misery. He gives 
 a knowledge of nature ; but it is not a knowledge 
 which causes us to grasp with selfish eagerness that 
 which we, falsely, call "our own." He gives expe- 
 rience ; but it is not an experience which results in 
 suspecting everybody except myself. If I am walk- 
 ing in the footprints of Jesus, if I am imbibing, and 
 therefore manifesting, His excellent spirit, if, in 
 short, I can sa}^, "To me to live is Christ;" then, 
 while I walk through the world, with a knowledge of 
 what the world is ; while I come in contact with 
 man, with a knowledge of w r hat I am to expect from 
 him ; I am able, through grace, to manifest Christ 
 in the midst of it all. The springs which move me, 
 and the objects which animate me, are all above, 
 where He is, who is "the same yesterday, and to- 
 day, and forever." (Heb. xiii. 8.) It was this which 
 sustained the heart of that beloved and honored 
 servant, whose histoiy, even so far, has furnished us 
 with such deep and solid instruction. It was this 
 which carried him through the trying and varied 
 scenes of his wilderness course. And we may safely 
 assert that, at the close of all, notwithstanding the 
 trial and exercise of forty years, Moses could em- 
 brace his brother when he stood on Mount Hor, with 
 the same warmth as he had when first he met him 
 "in the mount of God." True, the two occasions 
 were very different. At "the mount of God" they 
 met and embraced, and started together on their 
 divinely-appointed mission. Upon "Mount Hor" 
 they met by the commandment of Jehovah, in order 
 
CHAPTER IV. 77 
 
 that Moses might strip his brother of his priestly 
 robes, and see him gathered to his fathers, because 
 of an error in which he himself had participated. 
 (How solemn ! How touching ! ) Circumstances vary : 
 men turn away from one ; but with God "is no vari- 
 ableness, neither shadow of turning. ' ' (James i. 17. ) 
 "And Moses and Aaron went and gathered to- 
 gether all the elders of the children of Israel ; and 
 Aaron spake all the words which the Lord had spok- 
 en unto Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the 
 people. And the people believed ; and when they 
 heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, 
 and that He had looked upon their affliction, then 
 thej- bowed their heads and worshiped." (Yer. 29- 
 31.) When God works, every barrier must give 
 way. Moses had said, "The people will not believe 
 me." But the question was not as to whether they 
 would believe him, but whether they would believe 
 God. When a man is enabled to view himself simply 
 as the messenger of God, he may feel quite at ease 
 as to the reception of his message. It does not de- 
 tract, in the smallest degree, from his tender and 
 affectionate solicitude in reference to those whom he 
 addresses. Quite the contrary ; but it preserves 
 him from that inordinate anxiety of spirit which can 
 only tend to unfit him for calm, elevated, steady 
 testimony. The messenger of God should ever re- 
 member whose message he bears. When Zacharias 
 said to the angel, c ' Whereby shall I know this ? ' ' was 
 the latter perturbed by the question? Not in the 
 least. His calm, dignified reply was, "I am Gabriel, 
 
78 EXODUS. 
 
 that stand in the presence of God, and am sent to 
 speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad 
 tidings." (Luke i. 18, 19.) The angel rises before 
 the doubting mortal, with a keen and exquisite 
 sense of the dignity of his message. It is as if he 
 would say, How can you doubt, when a messenger 
 has actually been dispatched from the very presence- 
 chamber of the Majesty of heaven ? Thus should 
 every messenger of God, in his measure, go forth, 
 and, in this spirit, deliver his message. 
 
 CHAPTERS V & VI. 
 
 THE effect of the first appeal to Pharaoh seemed 
 aught but encouraging. The thought of losing 
 Israel made him clutch them with greater eagerness 
 and watch them with greater vigilance; Whenever 
 Satan's power becomes narrowed to a point, his rage 
 increases. Thus it is here. The furnace is about 
 to be quenched by the hand of redeeming love ; but 
 ere it is, it blazes forth with greater fierceness and 
 intensity. The devil does not like to let go any one 
 whom he has had in his terrible grasp. He is "a 
 strong man armed," and while he "keepeth his 
 palace, his goods are in peace." But, blessed be. 
 God, there is "a stronger than he," who has taken 
 from him "his armor wherein he trusted," and 
 divided the spoils among the favored objects of His 
 everlasting love. 
 
 "And afterward, Moses and Aaron went in, and 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 79 
 
 told Pharaoh, 'Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, 
 Let My people, go, that they may hold a feast unto 
 Me in the wilderness.'" (Chap. v. 1.) Such was 
 Jehovah's message to Pharaoh. He claimed full de- 
 liverance for the people on the ground of their being 
 His, and in order that they might hold a feast unto 
 Him in the wilderness. Nothing can ever satisfy 
 God in reference to His elect, hut their entire eman- 
 cipation from the } 7 oke of bondage. " Loose him 
 and let him go" is really the grand motto in God's 
 gracious dealings with those who, though held in 
 bondage by Satan, are nevertheless the objects of 
 His eternal love. 
 
 When we contemplate Israel amid the brick-kilns 
 of Egypt, we behold a graphic figure of the condition 
 of every child of Adam by nature. There they were, 
 crushed beneath the enemy's galling yoke, and hav- 
 ing no power to deliver themselves. The mere men- 
 tion of the word liberty only caused the oppressor to 
 bind his captives with a stronger fetter, and to lade 
 them with a still more grievous burden. It was ab- 
 solutely necessary that deliverance should come from 
 without. But from whence was it to come ! Where 
 were the resources to pay their ransom ? or where 
 was the power to break their chains ? And even weye 
 there both the one and the other, where was the ivill? 
 Who would take the trouble of delivering them ? 
 Alas ! there was no hope, either within or around. 
 They had only to look up. Their refuge was in God. 
 He had both the power and the will. He could ac- 
 complish a redemption both by price and by power. 
 
80 EXODUS. 
 
 Iii Jehovah, and in Him alone, was there salvation 
 for ruined and oppressed Israel. 
 
 Thus it is in every case. "Neither is there salva- 
 tion in any other ; for there is none other name under 
 heaven, given among men, whereby we must be 
 saved." (Acts iv. 12.) The sinner is in the hands 
 of one who rules him with despotic power. He is 
 "sold under sin" "led captive by Satan at his 
 will" fast bound in the fetters of lust, passion, 
 and temper, c ' without strength, " " without hope, ' ' 
 "without God." Such is the sinner's condition. 
 How, then, can he help himself ? What can he do ? 
 He is the slave of another, and everything tie does 
 is done in the capacity of a slave. His thoughts, his 
 words, his acts, are the thoughts, words, and acts of 
 a slave. Yea, though he should weep and sigh for 
 emancipation, his very tears and sighs are the mel- 
 ancholy proofs of his slavery. He may struggle for 
 freedom ; but his very struggle, though it evinces a 
 desire for liberty, is the positive declaration of his 
 bondage. 
 
 Nor is it merely a question of the sinner's condi- 
 tion; his very nature is radically corrupt wholly 
 under the power of Satan. Hence he not only needs 
 to be introduced into a new condition, but also to 
 be endowed with. a new nature. The nature and the 
 condition go together. If it were possible for the 
 sinner to better his condition, what would it avail so 
 long as his nature was irrecoverable bad ? A noble- 
 man might take a beggar off the streets and adopt 
 him ; he might endow him with a noble's wealth, 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 81 
 
 and set him in a noble's position ; but he could not 
 impart to him nobility of nature ; and thus the nature 
 of a beggarman would never be at home in the con- 
 dition of a nobleman. There must be a nature to 
 suit the condition ; and there must be a condition 
 to suit the capacity, the desires, the affections, and 
 the tendencies of the nature. 
 
 Now, in the gospel of the grace of God, we are 
 taught that the believer is introduced into an entirely 
 new condition ; that he is no longer viewed as in his 
 former state of guilt and condemnation, but as in a 
 state of perfect and everlasting justification; that 
 the condition in which God now sees him is not only 
 one of full pardon, but it is such that infinite holi- 
 ness cannot find so much as a single stain. He has 
 been taken out of his former condition of guilt, and 
 placed absolutely and eternally in a new condition 
 of unspotted righteousness. It is not, by any means, 
 that his old condition is improved. This is utterly 
 impossible. ' c That which is crooked cannot be made 
 straight." "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or 
 the leopard his spots ? " Nothing can be more op- 
 posed to the fundamental truth of the gospel than 
 the theory of a gradual improvement in the sinner's 
 condition. He is born in a certain condition, and 
 until he is "born again" lip cannot be in any other. 
 He may try to improve, he may resolve to be better 
 for the future to "turn over a new leaf" to live a 
 different sort of life ; but, all the while, he has not 
 moved a single hair's breadth out of his real condi- 
 tion as a sinner. He may become "religious," as it 
 
82 EXODUS. 
 
 is called, he may try to pray, lie may clilligently 
 attend to ordinances, and exhibit an appearance of 
 moral reform ; but none of these things can, in the 
 smallest degree, affect his positive condition before 
 God. 
 
 The case is precisely similar as to the question of 
 nature. How can a man alter his nature ? He may 
 make it undergo a process, he may try to subdue it 
 to place it under discipline ; but it is nature still. 
 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh." There 
 must be a new nature as well as a new condition. 
 And how is this to be had ? By believing God's 
 testimony concerning His Son. "As many as re- 
 ceived Him, to them gave He power to become the 
 sons of God, even to them that believe on His name : 
 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John i. 
 12, 13.) Here we learn that those who believe on 
 the name of the only begotten Son of God, have the 
 right or privilege of being sons of God. They are 
 made partakers of a new nature : they have gotten 
 eternal life. "He that believeth on the Son hath 
 everlasting life" (John iii. 36.). "Verily, verily, 
 I say unto yo u, He that heareth My word, and be- 
 lieveth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, 
 and shall not come into condemnation ; but is passed 
 from death unto life" (John v. 24.). "And this is 
 life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only 
 true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" 
 (John xvii. 3.). "And this is the record, that God 
 hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 83 
 
 Son. He that hath the Son liatli life.'' (1 John v. 
 11, 12.) 
 
 Such is the plain doctrine of the Word in reference 
 to the momentous questions of condition and nature. 
 But on what is all this founded ? How is the be- 
 liever introduced into a condition of divine right- 
 eousness and made partaker of the divine nature ? 
 It all rests on the great truth that ".JESUS DIED 
 AND ROSE AGAIN." That blessed One left the 
 bosom of eternal 1< \ r e, the throne of glory, the man- 
 sions of unfading light ; came down into this world 
 of guilt and woe ; took upon Him the likeness of 
 sinful flesh ; and, having perfectly exhibited and 
 perfectly glorified God in all the movements of His 
 blessed life here below, He died upon the cross, 
 under the full weight of His people's transgressions. 
 By so doing, He divinely met all that was or could 
 be against us. He magnified the law and made it 
 honorable ; and, having done so, He became a curse 
 by hanging on the tree. Every claim was met, every 
 enemy silenced, every obstacle removed. "Mercy 
 and truth are met together ; righteousness and peace 
 have kissed each other." Infinite justice was satis- 
 fied, and infinite love can flow, in all its soothing 
 and refreshing virtues, into the broken heart of the 
 sinner ; while, at the same time, the cleansing and 
 atoning stream that flowed from the pierced side of 
 a crucified Christ, perfectly meets all the cravings of 
 a guilty and convicted conscience. The Lord Jesus, 
 on the cross, stood in our place. He was our repre- 
 sentative. He died, c ' the j ust for the unj ust. " "He 
 
84 EXODUS. 
 
 was made sin for us." (2 Cor. v. 21 ; 1 Peter iii. 18.) 
 He died the sinner's death, was buried, and rose 
 again, having accomplished all. Hence, there is ab- 
 solutely nothing against the believer. He is linked 
 with Christ, and stands in the same condition of 
 righteousness. " As He is, so are we in this world." 
 (1 Johniv. 17.) 
 
 This gives settled peace to the conscience. If I 
 am no longer in a condition of guilt, but in a condi- 
 tion of justification, if God only sees me in Christ 
 and as Christ, then, clearly, my portion is perfect 
 peace. "Being justified by faith, we have peace 
 with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. v. 
 1.) The blood of the Lamb has canceled all the 
 believer's guilt, blotted out his heavy debt, and 
 given him a perfectly blank page, in the presence of 
 that holiness which "cannot look upon sin." 
 
 But the believer has not merely found peace with 
 God ; he is made a child pf God, so that he can taste 
 the sweetness of communion with the Father and the 
 Son, through the power of the Holy Ghost. The 
 cross is to be viewed in two ways : first, as satisfy- 
 ing God's claims ; secondly, as expressing God's 
 affections. If I look at my sins in connection with 
 the claims of God as a Judge, I find, in the cross, 
 a perfect settlement of those claims. God, as a 
 Judge, has been divinely satisfied yea, glorified, in 
 the cross. But there is more than this. God had 
 affections as well as claims ; and, in the cross of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, all those affections are sweetly 
 and touchingly told out into the sinner's ear ; while, 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 85 
 
 at the same time, he is made partaker of a new 
 nature -which is capable of enjoying those affections 
 and having fellowship with the heart from which they 
 flow. "For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, 
 the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to 
 God." (1 Peter iii. 18.) Thus, we are not only 
 brought into a condition, but unto a Person, even 
 God Himself, and we are endowed with a nature 
 which can delight in Him. " We also joy in God, 
 through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have 
 now received the reconciliation (margin)." (Rom. 
 v. 11.) 
 
 What force and beauty, therefore, can we sec in 
 those emancipating words, "Let My people go, that 
 they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness." 
 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He 
 hath anointed Me to preach the gospel ; He hath 
 sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach de- 
 liverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to 
 the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised." 
 (Luke iv. 18.) The glad tidings of the gospel an- 
 nounce full deliverance from every }~oke of bondage. 
 Peace and liberty are the boons which that gospel 
 bestows on all who believe it, as God has declared it. 
 
 And mark, it is "that they may hold a feast to 
 Me." If they were to get done with Pharaoh, it 
 was that they might begin with God. This was a 
 great change. Instead of toiling under Pharaoh's 
 taskmasters, they were to feast in company with Je- 
 hovah ; and, although they were to pass from Egypt 
 into the wilderness, still the divine presence was to 
 
86 EXODUS. 
 
 accompany them ; and if the wilderness was rough 
 and dreary, it was the way to the land of Canaan. 
 The divine purpose was, that they should hold a 
 feast unto the Lord in the wilderness, and in order 
 to do this, they should be "let go" out of Egypt. 
 
 However, Pharaoh was in no wise disposed to yield 
 obedience to the divine mandate. "Who is the 
 Lord," said he, "that I should obey His voice to let 
 Israel go ? I know not the Lord, neither will I let 
 Israel go." (Chap. v. 2.) Pharaoh most truly ex- 
 pressed, in these words, his real condition. His 
 condition was one of ignorance and consequent dis- 
 obedience. Both go together. If God be not known , 
 He cannot be obeyed ; for obedience is ever founded 
 upon knowledge. When the soul is blessed with the 
 knowledge of God, it finds this knowledge to be life 
 (John xvii. 3.), and life is power; and when I get 
 power, I can act. It is obvious that one cannot act 
 without life ; and therefore it is most unintelligent 
 to set people upon doing certain things in order to 
 get that by which alone they can do anything. 
 
 But Pharaoh was as ignorant of himself as he was 
 of the Lord. He did not know that he was a poor, 
 vile worm of the earth, and that he had been raised 
 up for the express purpose of making known the 
 glory of the very One whom he said he knew not. 
 (Exod. ix. 16; Rom. ix. 17.) "And they said, 
 'The God of the Hebrews has met with us: let us 
 go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the desert, 
 and sacrifice unto the Lord our God ; lest He fall 
 upon us with pestilence or with the sword.' And 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 87 
 
 the king of Egypt said unto them, 'Wherefore do 
 3 r e, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their 
 
 work ? Get you unto your burdens let 
 
 there more work be laid upon the men, that they 
 may labor therein ; and let them not regard vain 
 words.'" (Ver. 3-9.) 
 
 What a development of the secret springs of the 
 human heart we have here ! What complete incom- 
 petency to enter into the things of God ! All the 
 divine titles and the divine revelations were, in Pha- 
 raoh's estimation, ; ' vain words. ' ' What did he know 
 or care about "three days' journey into the wilder- 
 'ness," or "a feast to Jehovah"? How could he 
 understand the need of such a journey, or the nature 
 or object of such a feast ? Impossible. He could 
 understand burden-bearing and brick-making ; these 
 things had an air of reality about them, in his judg- 
 ment; but as to aught of God, His service, or His 
 worship, lie could only regard it in the light of an 
 idle chimera, devised by those who only wanted an 
 excuse to make their escape from the stern realities 
 of actual life. 
 
 Thus has it too often been with the wise and great 
 of this world. They have ever been the most for- 
 ward to write folly and vanity upon the divine tes- 
 timonies. Hearken, for example, to the estimate 
 which the "most noble Festus" formed of the grand 
 question at issue between Paul and the Jews: 
 u They had certain questions against him of their 
 own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, 
 whom Paul affirmed to be alive." (Acts xxv. 19.) 
 
88 EXODUS. 
 
 Alas ! how little he knew what he was saying ! How 
 little he knew what was involved in the question, as 
 to whether "Jesus" was "dead" or "alive" ! He 
 thought not of the solemn bearing of that momen- 
 tous question upon himself and his friends, Agrippa 
 and Bernice ; but that did not alter the matter ; he 
 and they know somewhat more about it now, though 
 in their passing moment of earthly glory they re- 
 garded it as a superstitious question, wholly beneath 
 the notice of men of common sense, and only fit to 
 occupy the disordered brain of visionary enthusiasts. 
 Yes ; the stupendous question which fixes the destiny 
 of every child of Adam on which is founded the 
 present and everlasting condition of the Church and 
 the world which stands connected with all the di- 
 vine counsels, this question was, in- the judgment 
 of Festus, a vain superstition. 
 
 Thus was it in Pharaoh's case. He knew nothing 
 of "the Lord God of the Hebrews" the great "I 
 AM," and hence he regarded all that Moses and 
 Aaron had said to him, in reference to doing sacri- 
 fice to God, as "vain words." The things of God 
 must ever seem vain, profitless, and unmeaning to 
 the unsanctified mind of man. His name may be 
 made use of as part of the flippant phraseology of a 
 cold and formal religiousness ; but He Himself is 
 not known. His precious name, which, to a be- 
 liever's heart, has wrapped up in it all that he can 
 possibly need or desire, has no significancy, no 
 power, no virtue for an unbeliever. All, therefore, 
 connected with God His words, His counsels, His 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 89 
 
 thoughts, His ways, everything, in short, that treats 
 of or refers to Him, is regarded as "vain words." 
 
 However, the time is rapidly approaching when it 
 will not be thus. The judgment-seat of Christ, the 
 terrors of the world to come, the surges of the lake 
 of fire, will not be "vain words." Assuredly not; 
 and it should be the great aim of all who, through 
 grace, believe them now to be realities, to press them 
 upon the consciences of those who, like Pharaoh, 
 regard the making of bricks as the only thing worth 
 thinking about the only thing that can be called 
 real and solid. 
 
 Alas ! that even Christians should so frequently 
 be found living in the region of sight the region of 
 earth the region of nature as to lose the deep, 
 abiding, influential sense of the reality of divine and 
 heavenly things. We want to live more in the region 
 of faith the region of heaven the region of the 
 "new creation." Then we should see things as God 
 sees them, think about them as He thinks ; and our 
 whole course and character would be more elevated, 
 more disinterested, more thoroughly separated from 
 earth and earthly things. 
 
 But Moses' sorest trial did not arise from Pha- 
 raoh's judgment about his mission. The true and 
 whole-hearted servant of Christ must ever expect to 
 be looked on, by the men of this world, as a mere 
 visionary enthusiast. The point of view from which 
 they contemplate him is such as to lead us to look 
 for this judgment and none other. The more faith- 
 ful he is to his heavenly Master, the more he walks 
 
90 EXODUS. 
 
 iii His footsteps, the more conformed he is to His 
 image, the more likely he is to be considered, by the 
 sons of earth, as one "beside himself." This, 
 therefore, should neither disappoint nor discourage 
 him. But then it is a far more painful thing when 
 his service and testimony are misunderstood, un- 
 heeded, or rejected by those who are themselves the 
 specific objects thereof. When such is the case, he 
 needs to be much w r ith God, much in the secret of 
 His mind, much in the power of communion, to 
 have his spirit sustained in the abiding reality of his 
 path and service. Under such trying circumstances, 
 if one be not fully persuaded of the divine commis- 
 sion, and conscious of the divine presence, he will 
 be almost sure to break down. 
 
 Had not Moses been thus upheld, his heart must 
 have utterly failed him when the augmented pressure 
 of Pharaoh's power elicited from the officers of the 
 children of Israel such desponding and depressing 
 words as these, "The Lord look upon you, and 
 judge; because ye have made our savor to be ab- 
 horred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of 
 his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay 
 us." This was gloomy enough; and Moses felt it 
 so, for "he returned unto the Lord, and said, 'Lord, 
 wherefore hast Thou so evil entreated this people ? 
 Why is it that Thou hast sent me ? For since I 
 came unto Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath 
 done evil to this people ; neither hast Thou delivered 
 Thy people at all.' ' The aspect of things had be- 
 come most discouraging, at the very moment when 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 91 
 
 ' 
 
 deliverance seemed at hand; just as, in nature, the 
 darkest hour of the night is often that which imme- 
 diately precedes the dawn of the morning. Thus 
 will it assuredly be in Israel's history in the latter 
 day. The moment of most profound darkness and 
 depressing gloom will precede the bursting of "the 
 Sun of Righteousness" from behind the cloud, with 
 healing in His wings to heal eternally "the hurt 
 of the daughter of His people." 
 
 We may well question how far genuine faith, or a 
 mortified will, dictated the " wherefore ?" and the 
 "why?" of Moses, in the above quotation. Still, 
 the Lord does not rebuke a remonstrance drawn 
 forth by the intense pressure of the moment. He 
 most graciously replies, "Now shalt thou see what 
 I will do to Pharaoh : for with a strong hand shall 
 he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive 
 them out of his land." (Chap. vi. 1.) This reply 
 breathes peculiar grace. Instead of reproving the 
 petulance which could presume to call in question 
 the unsearchable ways of the great I AM, that ever- 
 gracious One seeks to relieve the harassed spirit of 
 His servant by unfolding to him what He was about 
 to do. This w r as worthy of the blessed God the 
 unupbraiding Giver of every good and every perfect 
 gift. "He knoweth our frame ; He remembereth 
 that we are dust." (Ps. ciii. 14.) 
 
 Nor is it merely in His actings that He would 
 cause the heart to find its solace, but in Himself in 
 His very name and character. This is full, divine, 
 and everlasting blessedness. When the heart can 
 
92 EXODUS. 
 
 find its sweet relief in God Himself when it can 
 retreat into the strong tower which His name affords 
 when it can find, in His character, a perfect an- 
 swer to all its need, then, truly, it is raised far above 
 the region of the creature, it can turn away from 
 earth's fair promises, it can place the proper value 
 on man's lofty pretensions. The heart which is en- 
 dowed with an experimental knowledge of God can 
 not only look forth upon earth, and say, "All is 
 vanity;" but it can also look straight up to Him, 
 and say, u All my springs are in Thee." 
 
 "And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him. 
 'I am the Lord: and I appeared unto Abraham, 
 unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God 
 Almighty ; but by My name JEHOVAH was I not 
 known to them. And I have also established My 
 covenant with them to give them the land of Ca- 
 naan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they 
 were strangers. And I have also heard the groan- 
 ing of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians 
 keep in bondage ; and I have remembered My 
 covenant.'" "JEHOVAH" is the title which He 
 takes as the Deliverer of His people, on the 
 ground of His covenant of pure and sovereign 
 grace. He reveals Himself as the great self-exist- 
 ing Source of redeeming love, establishing His 
 counsels, fulfilling His promises, delivering His 
 elect people from every enemy and every evil. It 
 was Israel's privilege ever to abide under the safe 
 covert of that significant title a title which dis- 
 plays God acting for His own glory, and taking 
 
CHAPTERS V & VI. 93 
 
 up His oppressed -people in order to show forth 
 in them that glory. 
 
 "Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, C I 
 am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under 
 the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out 
 of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a 
 stretched-out arm, and with great judgments ; arid 
 I will take you to Me for a people, and I will be to 
 you a God ; and ye shall know that I am the Lord 
 your God, which bringeth 3^011 out from under the 
 burderis~bf the Egyptians. And I will bring you in 
 unto the land -concerning the which I did swear to 
 give it unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob ; and 
 I will give it to you for a heritage : I am the Lord. ' ' 
 (Ver. 6-8.) All this speaks the purest, freest, rich- 
 est grace. Jehovah presents Himself to the hearts 
 of His people as the One who was to act in them, 
 for them, and with them, for the display of His own 
 glory. Ruined and helpless as they were, He had 
 come down to show forth His glory, to exhibit His 
 grace, and to furnish a sample of His power, in their 
 full deliverance. His glory and their salvation were 
 inseparably connected. They were afterwards re- 
 minded of all this, as we read in the book of Deu- 
 teronomy, "The Lord did not set His love upon 
 you, nor choose you, because ye were more in num- 
 ber than any people ; for ye were the fewest of all 
 people: but because the Lord loved you, and be- 
 cause He would keep the oath which He had sworn 
 unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out 
 with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the 
 
94 EXODUS. 
 
 house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh, king 
 of Egypt." (Chap. vii. 7, 8.) 
 
 Nothing is more calculated to assure and establish 
 the doubting, trembling heart than the knowledge 
 that God has taken us up just as we are, and in the 
 full intelligence of what we are ; and, moreover, that 
 He can never make any fresh discovery to cause an 
 alteration in the character and measure of His love. 
 "Having loved His own which were in the world, He 
 loved them unto the end." (John xiii.) Whom He 
 loves and as He loves, He loves unto the end. This 
 is an unspeakable comfort. God knew all about us 
 He knew the very worst of us, when He manifested 
 His love to us in the gift of His Son. He knew what 
 was needed, and He provided it ; He knew what was 
 due, and He paid it ; He knew what was to be 
 wrought, and He wrought it ; His own requirements 
 had to be met, and He met them. It is all His own 
 work. Hence, we find Him saying to Israel, as in 
 the above passage, "I will bring you out," "I will 
 bring you in," "I will take you to Me," "I will 
 give you the land," "I am Jehovah." It was all 
 what He would do, as founded upon what He was. 
 Until this great truth is fully laid hold of, until it 
 enters into the soul, in the power of the Holy Ghost, 
 there cannot be settled peace. The heart can never 
 be happy, or the conscience at rest, until one knows 
 and believes that all divine requirements have been 
 divinely answered. 
 
 The remainder of our section is taken up with a 
 record of "the heads of their fathers' houses,*" and 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 95 
 
 is very interesting, as showing us Jehovah coming 
 in and numbering those that belonged to Himself, 
 though they were still in the possession of the enemy. 
 Israel was God's people, and He here counts up 
 those on whom He had a sovereign claim. Amazing 
 grace ! To find an object in those who were in the 
 midst of all the degradation of Egyptian bondage ! 
 This was worthy of God. The One who had made 
 the worlds, who was surrounded by hosts of unfallen 
 angels, ever ready to u do His pleasure," should 
 come down for the purpose of taking up a number 
 of bond-slaves with whom He condescended to con- 
 nect His name. He came down and stood amid the 
 brick-kilns of Egypt, and there beheld a people 
 groaning beneath the lash of the taskmasters, and 
 He uttered those memorable accents, "Let My peo- 
 ple go ; " and, having so said, He proceeded to count 
 them up, as much as to say, These are Mine ; let Me 
 see how many I have, that not one may be left be- 
 hind. "He taketh up the beggar from the dunghill, 
 to set him amongst the princes of His people, and 
 to make him inherit the throne of glory." ( 1 Sam. ii. ) 
 
 CHAPTERS VII XI. 
 
 THESE five chapters form one distinct section, 
 the contents of which may be distributed into 
 the three following divisions, namely, the ten judg- 
 ments from the hand of Jehovah, the resistance of 
 " Jannes and Jambres," and the four objections of 
 Pharaoh. 
 
96 EXODUS. 
 
 The whole land of Egypt was made to trem"ble 
 beneath the successive strokes of the rod of God. 
 All, from the monarch on His throne to the menial 
 at the mill, were made to feel the terrible weight of 
 that rod. "He sent Moses His servant, and Aaron 
 whom He had chosen. They showed His signs 
 among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. He 
 sent darkness and made it dark ; and they rebelled 
 not against His word. He turned their waters into 
 
 ?5 
 
 blood, and slew their fish. Their land brought forth 
 frogs in abundance, in the chambers of their kings. 
 He spake, and there came divers sorts of flies and 
 lice in all their coasts. He gave them hail for rain, 
 and flaming fire in their land. He smote their vines 
 also, and their fig-trees ; and brake the trees of their 
 coasts. He spake, and their locusts came, and the 
 caterpillars, and that without number, and did eat 
 up all the herbs in their land, and devoured the 
 fruit of their ground. He smote also all the first- 
 born in their land, the chief of all their strength." 
 (Ps. cv. 26-36.) 
 
 Here the inspired Psalmist has given a condensed 
 view of those appalling inflictions which the hardness 
 of Pharaoh's heart brought upon his land and upon 
 his people. This haughty monarch had set himself 
 to resist the sovereign will and course of the Most 
 High God ; and, as a just consequence, he was given 
 over to judicial blindness and hardness of heart. 
 "And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, and 
 he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had spoken 
 unto Moses. And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Rise 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 97 
 
 up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, 
 and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God of the 
 Hebrews, Let My people go^ that they may serve Me. 
 For I will at this time send all My plagues upon 
 thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy 
 people ; that thou mayest know that there is none 
 like Me in all the earth. For now I will stretch out 
 My hand that I may smite thee and thy people with 
 pestilence ; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth. 
 And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee 
 up, for to show in thee My power, and that My name 
 may be declared throughout all the earth.' " (Exod. 
 ix. 12-16.) 
 
 In contemplating Pharaoh and his actings, the 
 mind is carried forward to the stirring scenes of the 
 book of Revelation, in which we find the last proud 
 oppressor of the people of God bringing down upon 
 his kingdom and upon himself the seven vials of the 
 wrath of the Almighty. It is God's purpose that 
 Israel shall be pre-eminent in the earth ; and, there- 
 fore, every one who presumes to stand in the way of 
 that pre-eminence must be set aside. Divine grace 
 must find its object ; and every one who would act 
 as a barrier in the way of that grace, must be taken 
 out of the way, whether it be Egypt, Babylon, or 
 "the beast that was, is not, and yet is," it matters 
 not. Divine power will clear the channel for divine 
 grace to flow, and eternal woe be to all who stand in 
 the way. They shall taste, throughout the everlast- 
 ing course of ages, the bitter fruit of having exalted 
 themselves against " the Lord God of the Hebrews." 
 
98 EXODUS. 
 
 He lias said to His people, "No weapon that is 
 formed against tliee shall prosper," and His infalli- 
 ble faithfulness will assuredly make good what His 
 infinite grace hath promised. 
 
 Thus, in Pharaoh case, when he persisted in hold- 
 ing, with an iron grasp, the Israel of God, the vials 
 of divine wrath were poured forth upon him ; and 
 the land of Egypt was covered, throughout its entire 
 length and breadth, with darkness, disease, and des- 
 olation. So will it be by and by, when the last great 
 oppressor shall emerge from the bottomless pit, 
 armed with satanic power, to crush beneath his 
 "foot of pride" the favored objects of Jehovah's 
 choice. His throne shall be overturned, his kingdom 
 devastated by the seven last plagues, and, finally, 
 he himself plunged, not in the Red Sea, but "in the 
 lake that burneth with fire and brimstone." (Comp. 
 Eev. xvii. 8; xx. 10.) 
 
 Not one jot or one tittle of what God has prom- 
 ised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob shall fail. He 
 will accomplish all. Notwithstanding all. that has 
 been said and done to the contrary, God remembers 
 His promises, and He will fulfill them. They are all 
 "yea and amen in Christ." Dynasties have risen 
 and acted on the stage of this world ; thrones have 
 been erected on the apparent ruins of Jerusalem's 
 ancient glory ; empires have flourished for a time, and 
 then fallen to decay ; ambitious potentates have con- 
 tended for the possession of "the land of promise" 
 all these things have taken place ; but Jehovah has 
 said concerning Palestine, "The land shall not be 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 99 
 
 sold forever: for the land is Mine." (Lev. xxv. 23.) 
 No one, therefore, shall ever finally possess that land 
 but Jehovah Himself, and He will inherit it through 
 the seed of Abraham. One plain passage of Scripture 
 is quite sufficient to establish the mind in reference 
 to this or any other subject. The land of Canaan is 
 for the seed of Abraham, and the seed of Abraham 
 for the land of Canaan ; nor can any power of earth 
 or hell ever reverse this divine order. The eternal 
 God has pledged His word, and the blood of the 
 everlasting covenant has flowed to ratify that word. 
 Who, then, shall make it void ? " Heaven and earth 
 shall pass away, but that word shall never pass 
 away." Truly, " there is none like unto the God of 
 Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in, thy help, 
 and in His excellency on the sky. The eternal God 
 is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting 
 arms ; and He shall thrust out the enemy from before 
 thee ; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall 
 dwell in safety alone : the fountain of Jacob shall be 
 upon a land of corn and wine ; also his heavens shall 
 drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, who is 
 like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the 
 shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy ex- 
 cellency ! and thy enemies shall be found liars unto 
 thee ; and thou shalt tread upon their high places." 
 (Deut. xxxiii. 26-29.) 
 
 We shall now consider, in the- second place, the 
 opposition of u Jannes and Jambres," the magicians 
 of Egypt. We should not have known the names of 
 these ancient opposers of the truth of God, had they 
 
100 EXODUS. 
 
 not been recorded by the Holy Ghost, in connection 
 with "the perilous times" of which the apostle Paul 
 warns his son Timothy. It is important that the 
 Christian reader should clearly understand the real 
 nature of the opposition given to Moses by those 
 magicians, and in order that he may have the subject 
 fully before him, I shall quote the entire passage 
 from St. Paul's epistle to Timothy. It is one of 
 deep and awful solemnity. 
 
 "This know also, that in the last days perilous 
 times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their 
 own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, 
 disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without 
 natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, in- 
 continent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
 traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures 
 rather than lovers of God ; having a form of godli- 
 ness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn 
 away. For of this sort are they which creep into 
 houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, 
 led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never 
 able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now 
 as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these 
 also resist the truth : men of corrupt minds, repro- 
 bate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed 
 no further ; for their folly shall be manifest unto all, 
 as theirs also was." (2 Tim. iii. 1-9.) 
 
 Now, it is peculiarly solemn to mark the nature of 
 this resistance to the truth. The mode in which 
 "Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses" was simply 
 by imitating, as far as they were able, whatever he 
 
CHAPTERS VII XI. 101 
 
 did. We do not find that they attributed his actings 
 to a false or evil energy, but rather that they sought 
 to neutralize their power upon the conscience, by 
 doing the same things. What Moses did they could 
 do, so that after all there was no great difference. 
 One was as good as the other. A miracle is a mir- 
 acle. If Moses wrought miracles to get the people 
 out of Egypt, they could work miracles to keep them 
 in ; so where was the difference ? 
 
 From all this we learn the solmen truth that the 
 most satanic resistance to God's testimony in the 
 world is offered by those who, though they imitate 
 the effects of the truth, have but "the form of god- 
 liness," and "deny the power thereof." Persons of 
 this class can do the same things, adopt the same 
 habits and forms, use the same phraseology, profess 
 the same opinions as others. If the true Christian, 
 constrained by the love of Christ, feeds the hungry, 
 clothes the naked, visits the sick, circulates the 
 Scriptures, distributes tracts, supports the gospel, 
 engages in prayer, sings praise, preaches the gospel, 
 the formalist can do every one of these things ; and 
 this, be it observed, is the special character of the 
 resistance offered to the truth "in the last days" 
 this is the spirit of "Jannes and Jambres." How 
 needful to understand this ! How important tore- 
 member that, "as Jannes and Jambres withstood 
 Moses, so do" those self-loving, world -seeking, 
 pleasure-hunting professors 4 'resist the truth. ' ' They 
 would not be without "a form of godliness;" but, 
 while adopting "the form," because it is customary, 
 
102 EXODUS. 
 
 they hate "the power," because it involves self- 
 denial. "The power" of godliness involves the 
 recognition of God's claims, the implanting of His 
 kingdom in the heart, and the consequent exhibition 
 thereof in the whole life and character ; but the 
 formalist knows nothing of this. "The power" of 
 godliness could never comport with any one of those 
 hideous features set forth in the foregoing quotation ; 
 but "the form," while it covers them over, leaves 
 them wholly unsubdued ; and this the formalist likes. 
 He does not want his lusts subdued, his pleasures 
 interfered with, his passions curbed, his affections 
 governed, his heart purified. He wants just as much 
 religion as w r ill enable him "to make the best of both 
 worlds." He knows nothing of giving up the world 
 that is, because of having found " the world to 
 come." 
 
 In marking the forms of Satan's opposition to the 
 truth of God, we find that his method has ever been, 
 first, to oppose it by violence ; and then, if that did 
 not succeed, to corrupt it by producing a counter- 
 feit. Hence, lie first sought to slay Moses (Chap, 
 ii. 15.), and having failed to accomplish his purpose, 
 he sought to imitate his works. 
 
 Thus, too, has it been in reference to the truth 
 committed to the Church of God. Satan's early 
 efforts showed themselves in connection with the 
 wrath of the chief priests and elders, the judgment- 
 seat, the prison, and the sword. But in the passage 
 just quoted from 2 Timothy, we find no reference to 
 any such agencj^. Open violence has made way for 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 103 
 
 the far more wily and dangerous instrumentality of 
 a powerless form, an empty profession, a human 
 counterfeit. The enemy, instead of appearing with 
 the sword of persecution in his hand, walks about 
 with the cloak of profession on his shoulders. He 
 professes and imitates that which he once opposed 
 and persecuted ; and, by so doing, gains most ap- 
 palling advantages for the time being. The fearful 
 forms of moral. evil which, from age to age, have 
 stained the page of human history, instead of being 
 found only where we might naturally look for them, 
 amid the dens and caves of human darkness, are to 
 be found carefully arranged beneath the drapery of 
 a cold, powerless, uninfluential profession ; and this 
 is one of Satan's grand masterpieces. 
 
 That man, as a fallen, corrupt creature, should 
 love himself, be covetous, boastful, proud, and the 
 like, is natural ; but that he should be all these be- 
 neath the fair covering of "a form of godliness," 
 marks the special energy of Satan in his resistance 
 to the truth in "the last da}'s." That man should 
 stand forth in the bold exhibition of those hideous 
 vices, lusts, and passions which are the necessary 
 results of departure from the source of infinite holi- 
 ness and purity, is only what might be expected, for 
 man will be what he is to the end of the chapter. 
 But on the other hand, when we rind the holy name 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ connected with man's 
 wickedness and deadly evil, when we find holy 
 principles connected with unholy practices, when 
 we find all the characteristics of Gentile corruption, 
 
104 EXODUS. 
 
 referred to in the first chapter of Romans, associated 
 with u a form of godliness," then, truly, we may 
 say , these are the terrible features of ' ' the last days ' ' 
 this is the resistance of " Jannes and Jambres." 
 
 However, there were only three things in which 
 the magicians of Egypt were able to imitate the 
 servants of the true and living God, namely, in turn- 
 ing their rods into serpents (Chap. vii. 12.), turning 
 the water into blood (Chap. vii. 22.), and bringing 
 up the frogs (Chap. viii. 7.); but in the fourth, 
 which involved the exhibition of life, in connection 
 with the display of nature's humiliation, they were 
 totally confounded, and obliged to own, "This is 
 the finger of God." (Chap. viii. 16-19.) Thus it 
 is also with the latter-day resisters of the truth. All 
 that they do is by the direct energy of Satan, and 
 lies within the range of his power. Moreover, its 
 specific object is to " resist the truth." 
 
 The three things which " Jannes and Jambres" 
 were able to accomplish were characterized by sa- 
 tanic energy, death, and uncleanness ; that is to say, 
 the serpents, the blood, and the frogs. Thus it was 
 they "withstood Moses;" and "so do these also 
 resist the truth," and hinder its moral weight and 
 action upon the conscience. There is nothing which 
 so tends to deaden the power of the truth as the fact 
 that persons who are not under its influences at all, 
 do the self-same things as those who are. This is 
 Satan's agency just now. He seeks to have all 
 regarded as Christians. He would fain make ns be- 
 lieve ourselves surrounded by "a Christian world ; " 
 
CHAPTERS VII -XI. . 105 
 
 but it is counterfeit Christianity, which, so far from 
 being a testimony to the truth, is designed by the 
 enemy of the truth, to withstand its purifying and 
 elevating influence. 
 
 In short, the servant of Christ and the witness for 
 the truth is surrounded, on all sides, by the spirit 
 of u Jannes and Jambres ; " and it is well for him to 
 remember this to know thoroughly the evil with 
 which he has to grapple to bear in mind that it is 
 Satan's imitation of God's reality, produced, not 
 by the wand of an openly- wicked magician, but by 
 the actings of false professors, who have "a form 
 of godliness, but deny the po\ver thereof," who do 
 tilings apparently right and good, but who have 
 neither the life of Christ in their souls, the love of 
 God in their hearts, nor the power of the Word in 
 their consciences. 
 
 "But," adds the inspired apostle, "they shall 
 proceed no further, for their folly shall be mani- 
 fested unto all, as theirs also was." Truly the 
 "folly" of u Jannes and Jambres" was manifest 
 unto all, when they not only failed to imitate the 
 further actings of Moses and Aaron, but actually 
 became involved in the judgments of God. This is 
 a solemn point. The folly of all who arc merely 
 possessed of the form will, in like manner, be made 
 inanifest. They will not only be quite unable to 
 imitate the full and proper effects cf divine life and 
 power, but they themselves become the subjects of 
 those judgments which will result from the rejection 
 of that truth which they have resisted. 
 
100 EXODUS. 
 
 Will any one say that all this has no voice for a 
 day of powerless profession ? Assuredly it has. It 
 should speak to each conscience in living power ; it 
 should tell on each heart, in accents of impressive 
 solemnity. It should lead each one to inquire seri- 
 ously whether he is testifying for the truth, by walk- 
 ing in the power of godliness, or hindering it, and 
 neutralizing its action, by having only the form. The 
 effect of the power of godliness will be seen by our 
 "continuing in the things. which we have learned." 
 None will continue, save those who are taught of 
 God; those, by the power of the Spirit of God, 
 have drunk in divine principle, at the pure fountain 
 of inspiration. 
 
 Blessed be God, there are many such throughout 
 the various sections of the professing Church. There 
 are manjr, here and there, whose consciences have 
 been bathed in the atoning blood of "the Lamb of 
 God," whose hearts beat high with genuine attach- 
 ment to His Person, and whose spirits are cheered 
 by "that blessed hope" of seeing Him as He is, and 
 of being eternally conformed to His image. It is 
 encouraging to think of such. It is an unspeakable 
 mercy to have fellowship with those who can give a 
 reason of the hope that is in them, and for the posi- 
 tion which they occupy. May the Lord add to their 
 number daily. May the power of godliness spread' 
 far and wide in these last days, so that a bright and 
 well-sustained testimony may be raised to the name 
 of Him who is worthy. 
 
 The third point in our section yet remains to be 
 
CHAPTERS, VII-XI. 107 
 
 considered, namely, Pharaoh's four subtle objections 
 to the full deliverance and complete separation of 
 God's people from the land of Egypt. The first of 
 these we have in chapter viii. 25. "And Pharaoh 
 called for Moses and Aaron, and said, 'Go ye, sacri- 
 fice to your God in the land. " ' It is needless to remark 
 here, that whether the magicians withstood, or Pha- 
 raoh objected, it w r as, in reality, Satan that stood 
 behind the scenes ; and his manifest object, in this 
 proposal of Pharaoh, was to hinder the testimony to 
 the Lord's name a testimony connected with the 
 thorough separation of His people from Egypt. 
 There could evidently be no such testimony had they 
 remained in Egypt, even though they were to sac- 
 rifice to Him. They would -have taken common 
 ground with the uncircumcised Egyptians, and put 
 Jehovah on a level with the gods of Egypt. In this 
 case, an Egyptian could have said to an Israelite, 
 I see no difference between us ; you have your wor- 
 ship and we have ours ; it is all alike. 
 
 As a matter of course, men think it quite right 
 for every one to have a religion, let it be what it 
 may. Provided we are sincere, and do not interfere 
 with our neighbor's creed, it does not matter what 
 shape our religion may happen to wear. Such are 
 the thoughts of men in reference to what they call 
 religion ; but it is very obvious that the glory of the 
 name of Jesus finds no place, in all this. The de- 
 mand for separation is that which the enemy will 
 ever oppose, and which the lieart of man cannot 
 understand. The heart may crave religiousness, be^ 
 
108 EXODUS. 
 
 cause conscience testifies that all is not right ; but 
 it craves the world as well. It would like to "sac- 
 rifice to God in the land;" and Satan's object is 
 gained when people accept of a worldly religion, and 
 refuse to "come out and be separate." (2 Cor. vi.) 
 His unvarying purpose from the beginning has been 
 to hinder the testimony to God's name on the earth. 
 Such was the dark tendency of the proposal, "Go 
 ye, sacrifice to your God in the land." What a com- 
 plete damper to the testimony, had this proposal 
 been acceded to ! God's people in Egypt and God 
 Himself linked with ttie idols of Egypt ! Terrible 
 blasphemy ! 
 
 Reader, we should deeply ponder this. The effort 
 to induce Israel to worship God in Egypt reveals a 
 far deeper principle than we might, at first sight, 
 imagine. The enemy would rejoice, at any time, 
 by any means, or under any circumstances, to get 
 even the semblance of divine sanction for the world's 
 religion. He has no objections to such religion. He 
 gains his end as effectually by what is termed "the 
 religious world" as by any other agency; and 
 hence, when he can succeed in getting a true Chris- 
 tian to accredit the religion of the day, he gains a 
 grand point. As a matter of actual fact, one knows 
 that nothing elicits such intense indignation as the 
 divine principle of separation from this present evil 
 world. You may hold the same opinions, preach 
 the same doctrines, do the same work ; but if you 
 only attempt, in ever so feeble a manner, to act 
 upon the divine commands, "From such turn away" 
 
CHAPTEKS VII-XI. 109 
 
 (2 Tim. iii. 5.), and "Come out from among them" 
 (2 Cor. vi. 17.), you may reckon assuredly upon the 
 most vigorous opposition. Now how is this to be 
 accounted for ? Mainly by the fact that Christians, 
 in separation from this world's hollow religiousness, 
 bear a testimony for Christ which they never can 
 bear while connected with it. 
 
 There is a very wide difference between human 
 religion and Christ. A poor, benighted Hindoo 
 might talk to you of his religion, but he knows no- 
 thing of Christ. The apostle does not say, If there 
 be any consolation in religion ; though, doubtless, 
 the votaries of each kind of religion find what they 
 deem consolation therein. Paul, on the other hand, 
 found his consolation in Christ, having fully proved 
 the worthlessness of religion, and that, too, in its 
 fairest and most imposing form. (Comp. Gal. i. 13, 
 14; Phil. iii. 4-11.) 
 
 True, the Spirit of God speaks to us. of "pure 
 religion and undefined;" but the unregenerate man 
 cannot, by any means, participate therein ; for how 
 could he possibly take part in aught that is c fc pure 
 and undefiled"? This religion is from heaven, the 
 source of all that is pure and lovely ; it is exclusively 
 before the eye of "God and the Father;" it is for 
 the exercise of the functions of that new nature with 
 which all are endowed who believe on the name of 
 the Son of God. (John i. 12, 13 ; James i. 18 ; 
 1 Peter i. 23 ; 1 John v. 1.) Finally, it ranges 
 itself under the two comprehensive heads of act- 
 ive benevolence and personal holiness, "To visit 
 
110 EXODUS. 
 
 the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and 
 to keep himself unspotted from the world." (James 
 i. 27.) 
 
 Now, if you go through the entire catalogue of the 
 genuine fruits of Christianity, you will find them all 
 classed under these two heads ; and it is deeply 
 interesting to observe that, whether we turn to the 
 eighth of Exodus or to the first of James, we find 
 separation from the world put forward as an indis- 
 pensable quality in the true service of God. Nothing 
 could be acceptable before God nothing could re- 
 ceive from His hand the stamp of "pure and unde- 
 filed," which was polluted by contact with an "evil 
 world." " 'Come out from among them, and be ye 
 separate,' saith the Lord, c and touch not the unclean 
 thing ; and I will receive you, and will be a Father 
 unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters,' 
 saith the Lord Almighty." (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18.) 
 
 There was no meeting-place for Jehovah and His 
 redeemed in Egypt ; yea, with them, redemption 
 and separation from Egypt were one and the same 
 thing. God had said, "I am come down to deliver 
 them," and nothing short of this could either satisfy 
 or glorify Him. A salvation which would have left 
 them still in Egypt could not possibly be God's 
 salvation. Moreover, we must bear in mind that 
 Jehovah's purpose in the salvation of Israel, as well 
 as in the destruction of Pharaoh, was, that u His 
 name might be declared throughout all the earth ; " 
 and what declaration could there be of that name or 
 character were His people to attempt to worship Him 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. Ill 
 
 in Egypt ? Either none whatever or an utterly false 
 one. Wherefore it was essentially necessary, in 
 order to the full and faithful declaration of God's 
 character, that His people should be wholly delivered 
 and completely separated from Egypt ; and it is as 
 essentially necessary now, in order to a clear and 
 unequivocal, testimony for the Son of God, that all 
 who are really His should be separated from this 
 present world. Such is the will of* God; and for 
 this end Christ gave Himself. u Grace unto you 
 and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might 
 deliver us from this present evil world, according to 
 the will of God and our Father ; to whom be glory 
 forever and ever. Amen." (Gal. i. 3-5.) 
 
 The Galatians were beginning to accredit a carnal 
 and worldly religion a religion of ordinances a 
 religion of "days, and months, and times, and 
 years;" and the apostle commences his epistle by 
 telling them that the Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself 
 for the purpose of delivering His people from that 
 very thing. God's people must be separate, not, by 
 any means., on the ground of their superior personal 
 sanctity, but because they are His people, and in 
 order that they may rightly and intelligently answer 
 His gracious end in taking them into connection 
 with Himself, and attaching His name to them. A 
 people still amid the defilements and abominations 
 of Egypt could not have been a witness for the Holy 
 One ; nor can any one now, while mixed up with the 
 defilements of a corrupt worldly religion, possibly 
 
112 EXODUS. 
 
 be a bright and steady witness for a crucified and 
 risen Christ. 
 
 The answer given by Moses to Pharaoh's first 
 objection was a truly memorable one. "And Moses 
 said, 'It is not meet so to do ; for we shall sacrifice 
 the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our 
 God ; lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the 
 Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone 
 us ? We will go three days' journey into the wilder- 
 ness, and sacrifice to the Lord our God, as He shall 
 command us.' " (Chap. viii. 2G, 27.) Here is true 
 separation from Egypt "three days' journey." 
 Nothing less than this could satisfy faith. The 
 Israel of God must be separated from the land of 
 death and darkness, in the power of resurrection. 
 The waters of the Red Sea must roll between God's 
 redeemed and Eg3^pt ere they can properly sacrifice 
 to Jehovah. Had they remained in Egypt, they 
 would have to sacrifice to the Lord the very objects 
 of Egypt's abominable worship.* This would never 
 do. There could be no tabernacle, no temple, no 
 altar, in Egypt. It had no site, throughout its entire 
 limits, for aught of that kind. In point of fact, as 
 we shall see further on, Israel never presented so 
 much as a single note of praise until the whole con- 
 gregation stood, in the full power of an accomplished 
 redemption, on Canaan's side of the Red Sea. Ex- 
 actly so is it now. The believer must know where 
 the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 
 *The word "abomination" has reference to that which the 
 Egyptians worshiped. 
 
CHAPTERS VIT-XI. 113 
 
 have forever set him, ere he c| 
 worshiper, an acceptable 
 witness. 
 
 It is not a question of beir 
 as such, a saved person. 
 God are very far from knowing 
 regards themselves, of the death and resurrection of 
 Christ. They do not apprehend the precious truth, 
 that the death of Christ has made an end of their 
 sins forever, and that they are the happy partakers 
 of His resurrection life, with which sin can have 
 nothing whatever to do. Christ became a curse for 
 us, not, as some would teach us, by being born under 
 the curse of a broken law, but by hanging on a tree. 
 (Compare, attentively, Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13.) 
 We were under the curse because we had not kept 
 the law ; but Christ, the perfect Man, having magni- 
 fied the law and made it honorable, by the very fact 
 of His obeying it perfectly, became a curse for us 
 by hanging on the tree. Thus, in His life He mag- 
 nified God's law, and in His death He bore our 
 curse. There is therefore now no guilt, no curse, 
 no wrath, no condemnation for the believer ; and, 
 albeit, he must be manifested before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ; but even there the question of sin' 
 is not raised. The cross of Christ has settled that 
 forever ; so that it is written of those that believe, 
 "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no 
 more." (Heb. x. 17.) The Christian's whole course 
 must indeed be manifested before the judgment- 
 seat of Christ ; but the Judge Himself has put away 
 
114 EXODUS. 
 
 all his sins, and is his righteousness, so that the 
 judgment-seat cannot but be friendly to him. He 
 surely will not condemn His own work. The right- 
 eousness that was required, God Himself has pro- 
 vided it. He surely will not find any flaw therein. 
 The light of the judgment-seat will be bright enough 
 to disperse every mist and cloud which might tend 
 to obscure the matchless glories and eternal virtues 
 which belong to the cross, and to show that the 
 believer is "clean every whit." (John xiii. 10; 
 xv. 3; Eph. v. 27.) 
 
 It is because these foundation,- truths are not laid 
 hold of in the simplicity of faith that many of the 
 children of God complain of their lack of settled 
 peace the constant variation in their spiritual con- 
 dition the continual ups and downs in their experi- 
 ence. Every doubt in the heart of a Christian is a 
 dishonor done to the Word of God and the sacrifice 
 of Christ. It is because he does not, even now, bask 
 in the light which shines from the cross of Christ, 
 that he is ever afflicted with a doubt or a fear. 
 And yet those tilings which so many have to deplore 
 those fluctuations and waverings are but trifling 
 consequences, comparatively, inasmuch as they mere- 
 ly affect their experience. The effect produced upon 
 their worship, their service, and their testimony, is 
 far more serious, inasmuch as the Lord's honor is 
 concerned. But, alas ! this latter is but little thought 
 of, generally speaking, simply because personal sal- 
 vation is the grand object the aim and end with 
 the majority of professing Christians. We are prone 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 115 
 
 to look upon everything that affects ourselves as 
 essential ; whereas, all that merely affects the glory of 
 Christ in and by us is counted non-essential. 
 
 However, it is well to see with distinctness, that 
 the same truth which gives the soul settled peace, 
 puts it also into the position of intelligent worship, 
 acceptable service, and effectual testimony. In the 
 fifteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians; the apostle sets 
 forth the death and resurrection of Christ as the 
 grand foundation of everything. " Moreover, breth- 
 ren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached 
 unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein 
 ye stand ; by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in 
 memory what I preached unto you, unless } T e have 
 believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of 
 all that which I also received, how that Christ died 
 for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He 
 was buried, and that He rose again the third day 
 according to the Scriptures." (Ver. 1-4.) Here is 
 the gospel in one brief and comprehensive statement. 
 A dead and risen Christ is the ground- work of sal- 
 vation. 4; He was delivered for our offences, and 
 raised again, for our justification." (Rom. iv. 25.) 
 To see Jesus, by the eye of faith, nailed to the cross, 
 and seated on the throne, must give solid peace to 
 the conscience and perfect liberty to the heart. We 
 can look into the tomb, and see it empty ; we can 
 look up to the throne, and see it occupied, and go 
 on our way rejoicing. The Lord Jesus settled every- 
 thing on the cross on behalf of His people ; and the 
 proof of this settlement is that He is now at the 
 
116 EXODUS. 
 
 right hand of God. A risen Christ is the eternal 
 proof of an accomplished redemption ; and if re- 
 demption is an accomplished fact, the believer's 
 peace is a settled reality. We did not make peace, 
 and never could make it ; indeed, any effort on our 
 part to make peace could only tend more fully to 
 manifest us as peace-breakers. But Christ, having 
 made peace by the blood of His cross, has taken His 
 seat on high, triumphant over every enemy. By Him, 
 God preaches peace. The word of the gospel con- 
 veys this peace ; and the soul that believes the gospel, 
 has peace settled peace before God, for Christ is 
 his peace. (See Acts x. 36 ; Rom. v. 1 ; Eph. ii. 14 ; 
 Col. i. 20.) In this way, God has not only satisfied 
 His own claims, but, in doing so, He lias found out 
 a divinely righteous vent through which His bound- 
 less affections may flow down to the guiltiest of 
 Adam's guilty prog*eny. 
 
 Then, as to the practical result of all this. The 
 cross of Christ has not only put away the believer's 
 sins, but also dissolved forever his connection with 
 the world ; and, on the ground of this, he is privi- 
 leged to regard the world as a crucified thing, and to 
 be regarded by it as a crucified one. Thus it stands 
 with the believer and the world, it is crucified to 
 him and he to it. . This is the real, dignified position 
 of every true Christian. The world's judgment 
 about Christ was expressed in the position in which 
 it deliberately placed Him. It got its choice as to 
 whether it would have a murderer or Christ. It 
 allowed the murderer to go free, but nailed Christ to 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 117 
 
 the cross, between two thieves. Now, if the believer 
 walks in the footprints of Christ if he drinks into 
 and manifests His spirit, he will occupy the very 
 same place in the world's estimation ; and, in this 
 wa} T , he will not merely know that, as to standing 
 before God, he is crucified with Christ, but be led to 
 realize it in his walk and experience every day. 
 
 But while the cross has thus effectually cut the 
 connection between the believer and the world, the 
 resurrection has brought him into the power of new 
 ties and associations. If in the cross we see the 
 world's judgment about Christ, in resurrection we 
 see God's judgment. The world crucified Him, but 
 "God hath highly exalted Him." Man gave Him 
 the very lowest, God the very highest, place ; and, 
 inasmuch as the believer is called into full fellowship 
 with God in His thoughts about Christ, he is enabled 
 to turn the tables upon the world, and look upon it 
 as a crucified thing. If, therefore, the believer is on 
 one cross and the world on another, the moral dis- 
 tance between the two is vast indeed. And if it is 
 vast in principle, so should it be in practice. The 
 world and the Christian should have absolutely 
 nothing in common ; nor will they, except so far as 
 he denies his Lord and Master. The believer proves 
 himself false to Christ to the very same degree that 
 he has fellowship with the world. 
 
 All this is plain enough ; but, my beloved Chris- 
 tian reader, where does it put us as regards this 
 world ? Truly, it puts us outside, and that com- 
 pletely. We are dead to the world and alive with 
 9 
 
118 EXODUS. 
 
 Christ. We are at once partakers of His rejection 
 by earth and His acceptance in heaven ; and the joy 
 of the latter makes us count as nothing the trial 
 connected with the former. To be cast out of earth, 
 without knowing that I have a place and a portion 
 on high, would be intolerable ; but when the glories 
 of heaven fill the soul's vision, a little of earth goes 
 a great way. 
 
 But some may feel led to ask, What is the world? 
 It would be difficult to find a term more inaccurately 
 defined than "world," or " worldliness ; " for we are 
 generally disposed to make worldliness begin a point 
 or two above where we are ourselves. The Word of 
 God, however, has, with perfect precision, defined 
 what "the world" is, when it marks it as that which 
 is "not of the Father." Hence, the deeper my 
 fellowship with the Father, the keener will be my 
 sense of what is worldly. This is the -divine way of 
 teaching. The more you delight in the Father's 
 love, "the more you reject the world. But who re- 
 veals the Father ? The Son. How ? By the power 
 of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore, the more I am en- 
 abled, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, to drink 
 in the Son's revelation of the Father, the more accu- 
 rate does my judgment become as to what is of the 
 woild. It is as the limits of God's kingdom expand 
 in the heart, that the judgment as to worldliness 
 becomes refined. You can hardly attempt to define 
 worldliness. It is, as some one has said, "shaded 
 off gradually from white to jet black." This is most 
 true. You cannot place a bound and say, Here is 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 119 
 
 where worldliriesa begins; but the keen and exqui- 
 site sensibilities of the divine nature recoil from it ; 
 and all we need is, to walk in the power of that 
 nature, in order to keep aloof from every form of 
 worldliness. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not 
 fulfill the lusts of the flesh.'' Walk with God, and 
 ye shall not walk with the world. Cold distinctions 
 and rigid rules will avail nothing. The power of 
 the divine life is what we want. We want to under- 
 stand the meaning and spiritual application of the 
 "three days' journey into the wilderness," whereby 
 we are separated forever, not only from Egypt's 
 brick-kilns and taskmasters, but also from its tem- 
 ples and altars. 
 
 Pharaoh's second objection partook very much of 
 the character and tendency of the first. "And 
 Pharaoh said, 'I will let you go, that ye may sacri- 
 fice unto the Lord your God in the wilderness ; only 
 ye shall not go very far away. 1 " (Chap. viii. 28.) If 
 he could not keep them in Egypt, he would at least 
 seek to keep them nearii, so that he might act upon 
 them by its varied influences. In this way, they 
 might be brought back again, and the testimony 
 more effectually quashed than if they had never left 
 Egypt at all. There is always much more serious 
 damage done to the cause of Christ by persons 
 seeming to give up the world and returning to it 
 again, than if they had remained entirely of it ; for 
 they virtually confess that, having tried heavenly 
 things, they have discovered that earthly things are 
 better and more satisfying. 
 
120 EXODUS. 
 
 Nor is this all. The moral effect of truth upon 
 the conscience of unconverted people is sadly inter- 
 fered with, by the example of professors going back 
 again into those tilings which they seemed to have 
 left. Not that such cases afford the slightest war- 
 rant to any one for the rejection of God's truth, 
 inasmuch as each one is personally responsible and 
 will have to give account of himself to God. Still, 
 however, the effect in this, as well as in everything 
 else, is bad. "For if after they have escaped the 
 pollutions of the world, through the knowledge of 
 the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again 
 entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is 
 worse with them than the beginning. For it would 
 have been better for them not to have known the 
 way of righteousness than, after t^hey have known it, 
 to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto 
 them." (2 Peter li. 20, 21.) 
 
 Wherefore, if people do not "go very far away," 
 they had better not go at all. The enemy knew this 
 well ; and hence his second objection. The main- 
 tenance of a border position suits his purpose amaz- 
 ingly. Those who occupy this ground are neither 
 one thing nor the other ; arid, in point of fact, what- 
 ever influence they possess, telis entirely in the 
 wrong direction. 
 
 It is deeply important to see that Satan's design, 
 in all these objections, was to hinder that testimony 
 to the name of the God of Israel, which could only 
 be rendered by a " three days' journey into the 
 wilderness." This was, in good truth, going "very 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XT. 121 
 
 far away.'* It was much farther than Pharaoh could 
 form any idea of, or than he could follow them. 
 And oh ! how happy it would be if all who profess 
 to set out from Egypt would really, in the spirit of 
 their minds and in the tone of their character, go 
 thus far away from it ; if they would intelligently 
 recognize the cross and grave of Christ as forming 
 the boundary between them and the world ! No 
 man, in the mere energy of nature, can take this 
 ground. The Psalmist could say, "Enter not into 
 judgment with Thy servant, for in Thy sight shall no 
 man living be justified." (Ps. cxliii. 2.) So also is 
 it with regard to true and effectual separation from 
 the world. "No man living" can enter into it. It 
 is only as "dead with Christ," and "risen again with 
 Him, through faith of the operation of God," that 
 any one can either be "justified" before God, or 
 separated from the world. This is what we may call 
 going "very far away." May all who profess and 
 call themselves Christians go jthns far. Then will 
 their lamp yield a steady light. Then would their 
 trumpet give a certain sound. Their path would be 
 elevated ; their experience deep and rich ; their peace 
 would flow as a river ; their affections would be heav- 
 enly and their garments unspotted. And, far above 
 all, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ would be 
 magnified in them, by the power of the Holy Ghost, 
 according to the will of God their Father. 
 
 The third objection demands our most special 
 attention. "And Moses and Aaron were brought 
 again unto Pharaoh : and he said unto them, 'Go, 
 
122 EXODUS. 
 
 serve the Lord your God ; "but who are they that 
 shall go ? ' And Moses said, 'We will go with our 
 young and with our old, with our sons and with our 
 daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will 
 we go; for we must hold a feast unto the Lord.' 
 And he said unto them, 'Let the Lord be so with 
 you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look 
 to it ; for evil is before you. Not so ; go now ye 
 that are men, and serve the Lord ; for that ye did 
 desire.' And they were driven out from Pharaoh's 
 presence." (Chap. x. 8-11.) Here, again, we have 
 the enemy aiming a deadly blow at the testimony to 
 the name of the God of Israel. Parents in the wil- 
 derness and their children in Egypt ! Terrible anom- 
 aly ! This would only have been a half deliverance, 
 at once useless to Israel and dishonoring to Israel's 
 God. This could not be. If the children remained 
 in Egypt, the parents could not possibly be said to 
 have left it, inasmuch as their children were part of 
 themselves. The most that could be said in such a 
 case was, that in part they were serving Jehovah, 
 and in part Pharaoh. But Jehovah could have no 
 part with Pharaoh. He should either have all or 
 nothing. This is a weighty principle for Christian 
 parents. May we lay it deeply to heart ! It is our 
 happy privilege to count on God for our children, 
 and to "bring them np in the nurture and admoni- 
 tion of the Lord." (Eph. vi.) We should not be 
 satisfied with any other portion for "our little ones " 
 than that which we ourselves enjoy. 
 
 Pharaoh's fourth and last objection had reference 
 
CHAPTERS V1T-XI. * 123 
 
 to the flocks and herds. "And Pharaoh called unto 
 Moses, and said, 4 Go ye, serve the Lord ; only let 
 your flocks and herds be stayed : let your little ones 
 also go with you/ " (Chap. x. 24.) With what per- 
 severance did Satan dispute every inch of Israel's 
 way out of the land of Egypt ! He first sought to 
 keep them in the land, then to keep them near the 
 land, next to keep part of themselves in the land, 
 and finally, when he could not succeed in any of 
 these three, he sought to send them forth without 
 any ability to serve the Lord. If he could not keep 
 the servants, he would seek to keep their ability to 
 serve, which would answer much the same end. If 
 he could not induce them to sacrifice in the land, he 
 would send them out of the land without sacrifices. 
 
 In Moses' reply to this last objection, we are fur- 
 nished with a fine statement of the Lord's paramount 
 claim upon His people and all pertaining to them. 
 "And Moses said, l Thou must give us also sacrifices 
 and burnt offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the 
 Lord our God. Our cattle also shall go with us ; 
 there shall not a hoof be left behind: for thereof must 
 we take to serve the Lord our God ; and we know 
 not with what we must serve the Lord until we come 
 thither.' " (Ver. 25, 2G.) It is only when the people 
 of God take their stand, in simple childlike faith, 
 upon that elevated ground on which death and res- 
 urrection set them, that they can have anything like 
 an adequate sense of His claims upon them. "We 
 know not with what we must serve the Lord until we 
 come thither." That is, they had no knowledge of 
 
124 EXODUS. 
 
 the divine claim, or their responsibility, until they 
 had gone "three days' journey." These things could 
 not be known amid the dense and polluted atmos- 
 phere of Egypt. Redemption must be known as an 
 accomplished fact, ere there can be any just or full 
 perception of responsibility. All this is perfect and 
 beautiful. "If any man will do His will, he shall 
 know of the doctrine." I must be up out of Egypt, 
 in the power of death and resurrection, and then, 
 but not until then, shall I know what the Lord's 
 service really is. It is when we take our stand, by 
 faith, in that "large room," that wealthy place into 
 which the precious blood of Christ introduces us, 
 when we look around us and survey the rich, rare, 
 and manifold results of redeeming love, when we 
 gaze upon the Person of Him who has brought us 
 into this place, and endowed us with these riches, 
 then we are constrained to say, in the language of 
 one of our own poets, 
 
 "Were the whole realm of nature mine, 
 That were an offering far too small; 
 Love so amazing, so divine, 
 Demands my heart, my life, my all." 
 
 "There shall not a hoof be left behind." Noble 
 words ! Egypt is not the place for aught that per- 
 tains to God's redeemed. He is worthy of all 
 "body, soul, and spirit ; " all we are and all we have 
 belongs to Him. "We are not our own, we are 
 bought with a price ; ' ' and it is our happy privilege 
 to consecrate ourselves and all that we possess to 
 Him whose we are, and Him whom we are called to 
 
CHAPTERS VII-XI. 125 
 
 serve. There is naught of a legal spirit in this. The 
 words, " until we come thither," furnish a divine 
 guard against this horrible evil. We have traveled 
 the " three days' journey," ere a word concerning 
 sacrifice can be heard or understood. We are put 
 in full and undisputed possession of resurrection 
 life and eternal righteousness. We have left that 
 land of death and darkness ; we have been brought 
 
 ' O 
 
 to God Himself, so that we may enjoy Him, in the 
 energy of that life with which we are endowed, and 
 in the sphere of righteousness in which we are placed : 
 thus it is our joy to serve. There is not an affection 
 in the heart of which He is not worthy ; there is not 
 a sacrifice in all the flock too costly for His altar. 
 The more closely we walk with Him, the more we 
 shall esteem it to be our meat and drink to do His 
 blessed will. The believer counts it his highest 
 privilege to serve the Lord. He delights in every 
 exercise and every manifestation of the divine nature. 
 He does not move up and down with a grievous yoke 
 upon his neck, or an intolerable weight upon his 
 shoulder. The yoke is broken "because of the 
 anointing," the burden has been forever removed 
 by the blood of the cross, while he himself walks 
 abroad, "redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled," 
 in pursuance of those soul-stirring words, "LET 
 MY PEOPLE GO." 
 
 NOTE. We shall consider the contents of chapter xi. in con- 
 nection with the security of Israel, under the shelter of the 
 blood of the paschal lamb. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 M 4 KD the Lord said unto Moses, 'Yet will I bring 
 ^JL one plague more upon Pharaoh, and upon 
 Egypt ; afterwards he will let you go hence : when 
 he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out 
 hence altogether.' " (Chap. xi. 1.) One more heavy 
 blow must fall upon this hard-hearted monarch and 
 his land ere he will be compelled to let go the favored 
 objects of Jehovah's sovereign grace. 
 
 How utterly vain it is for man to harden and exalt 
 himself against God ; for, truly, He can grind to 
 powder the hardest heart, and bring down to the 
 dust the haughtiest spirit. " Those that walk in 
 pride He is able to abase." (Dan. iv. 37.) Man 
 may fancy himself to be something ; he may lift up 
 his head, in pomp and vainglory, as though he were 
 his own master. Vain man ! how little he knows of 
 his real condition and character ! He is but the tool 
 of Satan, taken up and used by him, in his malignant 
 efforts to counteract the purposes of God. The most 
 splendid intellect, the most commanding genius, the 
 most indomitable energy, if not under the direct 
 control of the Spirit of God, are but so many instru- 
 ments in Satan's hand to carry forward his dark 
 designs. No man is his own master ; he is either 
 governed by Christ or governed by Satan. The king 
 of Egypt might fancy himself to be a free agent, yet 
 he was but a tool in the hands of another. Satan 
 
CHAPTER XII. 127 
 
 was behind the throne ; and, as the result of Pha- 
 raoh's having set himself to resist the purposes of 
 God, he was judicially handed over to the blinding 
 and hardening influence of his self-chosen master. 
 
 This will explain to us an expression occurring 
 very frequently throughout the earlier chapters of 
 this book, "The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart." 
 There is no need whatever for any one to seek to 
 avoid the full, plain sense of this most solemn state- 
 ment. If man resists the light of divine testimony, 
 he is shut up to judicial blindness and hardness of 
 heart. God leaves him to himself, and then Satan 
 comes in and carries him headlong to perdition. 
 There was abundant light for Pharaoh, to show him 
 the extravagant folly of his course in seeking to 
 detain those whom God had commanded him to let 
 go. But the real disposition of his heart was to act 
 against God, and therefore God left him to himself, 
 and made him a monument for the display of His 
 glory "through all the earth." There is no difficulty 
 in this to any, save those whose desire is to argue 
 against God "to rush upon the thick bosses of the 
 shield of the Almighty" to ruin their own immortal 
 souls. 
 
 God gives people, at times, according to the real 
 bent of their hearts' desire. ". . . . because of 
 this, God shall send them strong delusion, that they 
 should believe a lie ; that they all might be damned 
 who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un- 
 righteousness." (2 Thess. ii. 11. 12.) If men will 
 not have the truth when it is put before them, they 
 
128 EXODUS. 
 
 shall assuredly have a lie. If they will not have. 
 Christ, they shall have Satan ; if they will not have 
 heaven, they shall have hell.* Will the infidel mind 
 find fault with this ? Ere it does so, let it prove that 
 all who are thus judicially dealt with have fully an- 
 swered their responsibilities. Let it, for instance, 
 prove, in Pharaoh's case, that he acted, in any 
 measure, up to the light he possessed. The same is 
 to be proved in every case. Unquestionably, the 
 task of proving rests on those who are disposed to 
 quarrel with God's mode of dealing with the rejecters 
 of His truth. The simple-hearted child of God will 
 justify Him, in view of the most inscrutable dispen- 
 sations ; and even if he cannot meet and satisfac- 
 torily solve the difficult questions of a sceptical 
 mind, he can rest perfectly satisfied with this word, 
 "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 
 There is far more wisdom in this method of settling 
 an apparent difficulty, than in the most elaborate 
 argument ; for it is perfectly certain that the heart 
 which is in a condition to "reply against God," 
 
 * There is a vast difference between the divine method of dealing 
 with the heathen (Rom. i.) and with the rejecters of the gospel. 
 (2 Thess. i. ii.) In reference to the former, we read, "And even as 
 they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them 
 over to a reprobate mind : " but with respect to the latter, the word 
 is, "Because they received not the love of the truth that they might 
 
 te saved, God shall send them strong delusion, that they 
 
 should believe a lie; that they all might be damned." The heathen 
 refuse the testimony of creation, and are therefore left to them- 
 selves. The rejecters of the gospel refuse the full blaze of light 
 which shines from the cross, and therefore "a strong delusion" 
 will, ere long, be sent from God upon them. This is deeply solemn 
 for an age like this, in the which there is so much light and so 
 much profession. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 129 
 
 will not be convinced by the arguments of man. 
 
 However, it is God's prerogative to answer all the 
 proud reasonings, and bring down the lofty imagina- 
 tions of the human mind. He can write the sentence 
 of death upon nature, in its fairest forms. "It is 
 appointed unto men once to die." This cannot be 
 avoided. Man may seek to hide his humiliation in 
 various ways, to cover his retreat through the 
 valley of death in the most heroic manner possible, 
 to call the last humiliating stage of his career by 
 the most honorable titles he can devise, to gild the 
 bed of death with a false light, to adorn the funeral 
 procession and the grave with the appearance of 
 pomp, pageantry, and glory, to raise above the 
 mouldering ashes a splendid monument, on which 
 are engraven the records of human shame, all these 
 things he may do ; but death is death after all, and 
 he cannot keep it off for a moment, or make it aught 
 else than what it is, namely, "the wages of sin." 
 
 The foregoing thoughts are suggested by the 
 opening verse of chapter xi "One plague more ! " 
 Solemn word! It signed the death-warrant of 
 Egypt's first-born "the chief of all their strength." 
 "And Moses said, 'Thus saith the Lord, About 
 midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt ; and 
 all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from 
 the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, 
 even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is 
 behind the mill ; and all the first-born of beasts. 
 And there shall be a great fry throughout all the 
 land of Egypt, such as there was none like it, nor 
 
130 EXODUS. 
 
 shall be like it any more.' " (Chap. xi. 4-6.) This 
 was to be the final plague death in every house. 
 "But against any of the children of Israel shall not 
 a dog move his tongue, against man or beast ; that 
 ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference 
 between the Egyptians and Israel." It is the Lord 
 alone who can, "put a difference" between those 
 who are His and those who are not. It is not our 
 province to say to any one, "Stand by thyself; I am 
 holier than thou: " this is the language of a Phari- 
 see. "But when God puts a difference," we are 
 bound to inquire what that difference is ; and, in the 
 case before us, we see it to be a simple question of 
 life or death. This is God's grand "difference." 
 He draws a line of demarkation, and on one side of 
 this line is "life," on the other "death." Many of 
 Egypt's first-born might have been as fair and at- 
 tractive as those of Israel, and much more so ; but 
 Israel had life and light, founded upon God's coun- 
 sels of redeeming love, established, as we shall see 
 presently, by the blood of the lamb. This was 
 Israel's happy position ; while, on the other hand, 
 throughout the length and breadth of the land of 
 Egypt, from the monarch on the throne to the menial 
 behind the mill, nothing was to be seen but death; 
 nothing to be heard but the cry of bitter anguish, 
 elicited by the heavy stroke of Jehovah's rod. God 
 can bring down the haughty spirit of man. He can 
 make the wrath of man to praise Him, and restrain 
 the remainder. "And all these .thy servants shall 
 come down unto me, and bow down themselves 
 
CHAPTER XII. 131 
 
 unto me, saying, Get thee out, and all the people 
 that follow thee: and after that I will go out." 
 God will accomplish His own ends. His schemes 
 of mercy must be carried out at all cost, and con- 
 fusion of face must be the portion of all who stand 
 in the way. " O, give thanks unto the Lord; for 
 lie is good : for His mercy endureth forever. . . . 
 . . . To Him that smote Egypt in their first-born ; 
 for His mercy endureth forever: and brought out 
 Israel from among them ; for His mercy endureth 
 forever : with a strong hand and with a stretched-olit 
 arm ; for His mercy endureth forever. "(I* 8 - cxxxvi.) 
 
 " And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in 
 the land of Eg}'pt, saying, 'This month shall be unto 
 you the beginning of months : it shall be the first 
 month of the year to you.' " (Chap. xii. 1, 2. ) There 
 is here a very interesting change in the order of 
 time. The common or civil year was rolling on in 
 its ordinary course, when Jehovah interrupted it in 
 reference to His people, and thus, in principle, taught 
 them that they were to begin a new era in company 
 with Him ; their previous history was henceforth to 
 be regarded as a blank. Redemption was to consti- 
 tute the first step in real life. 
 
 This teaches a plain truth. A man's life is really 
 of no account until he begins to walk with God, in 
 the knowledge of full salvation and settled peace, 
 through the precious blood of the Lamb. Previous 
 to this, he is, in the judgment of God, and in the 
 language of Scripture, "dead in trespasses and sins ;" 
 4 c alienated from the life of God. ' ' His whole history 
 
132 EXODUS. 
 
 is a complete blank, even though, in man's account, 
 it may have been one uninterrupted scene of bus- 
 tling activity. All that which engages the attention 
 of the man of this world the honors, the riches, 
 the pleasures, the attractions of life, so called all, 
 when examined in the light of the judgment of God, 
 when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, must 
 be accounted as a dismal blank, a worthless void, 
 utterly unworthy of a place in the records of the 
 Holy Ghost. "He that believeth not the Son shall 
 not see life." (John iii. 36.) Men speak of "seeing 
 life" when they launch forth into society, travel 
 hither and thither, and see all that is to be seen ; 
 but they forget that the only true, the only real, the 
 only divine way to "see life," is to "believe on the 
 Son of God." 
 
 How little do men think of this ! They imagine 
 that 4 c real life " is at an end when a man becomes a 
 Christian, in truth and reality, not merely in name and 
 outward profession ; whereas God's Word teaches us , 
 that it is only then we can see life and taste true 
 happiness. "He that hath the Son, hath life." 
 (1 John v. 12.) And, again, "Happy is he whose 
 transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." 
 (Ps. xxxii. 1.) We can get life and happiness only 
 in Christ. Apart from Him, all is death and misery, 
 in Heaven's judgment, whatever the outward appear- 
 ance may be. It is when the thick vail of unbelief 
 is removed from the heart, and we are enabled to 
 behold, with the eye of faith, the bleeding Lamb, 
 bearing our heavy burden of guilt upon the cursed 
 
CHAPTER XII. . 133 
 
 tree, that we enter upon the path of life, and par- 
 take of the cup of divine happiness, a life which 
 begins at the cross, and flows onward into an eternity 
 of glory, a happiness which, each day, becomes 
 deeper and purer, more connected with God and 
 founded on Christ, until we reach its proper sphere, 
 in the presence of God and the Lamb. To seek life 
 and happiness in any other way is A r ainer work by 
 far than seeking to make bricks without straw. 
 
 True, the enemy of souls spreads a gilding over 
 this passing scene, in order that men may imagine 
 it to be all gold. He sets up many a puppet-show 
 to elicit the hollow laugh from a thoughtless multi- 
 tude, who will not remember that it is Satan who is 
 in the box, and that his object is to keep them from 
 Christ, and clrag them down into eternal perdition. 
 There is nothing real, nothing solid, nothing satisfy- 
 ing, but in Christ. Outside of Him, "all is vanity 
 and vexation of spirit." In Him alone true and 
 eternal joys are to be found ; and we only begin to 
 live when we begin to live m, live o?i, live with, and. 
 live for Him. "This month shall be unto you the 
 beginning of months : it shall be the first month of 
 the year to you." The time spent in the brick-kilns 
 and by the flesh-pots must be ignored. It is hence- 
 forth to be of no account, save that the remembrance 
 thereof should ever and anon serve to quicken and 
 deepen their sense of what divine grace had accom- 
 plished on their behalf. 
 
 "Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, 
 saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall 
 10 
 
134 EXODUS. 
 
 take to them every man a lamb according to the 
 
 house of their fathers, a lamb for a house 
 
 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the 
 first year ; ye shall take it out from the sheep or from 
 the goats : and ye shall keep it up until the four- 
 teenth day of the same month; and the whole 
 assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in 
 the evening." Here we have the redemption of the 
 people founded upon the blood of the lamb, in pur- 
 suance of God's eternal purpose. This imparts to 
 it all its divine stability. Redemption was no after- 
 thought with God. Before the world was, or Satan, 
 or sin before ever the voice of God was heard 
 breaking the silence of eternity, and calling worlds 
 into existence, He had His deep counsels of love ; 
 and these counsels could never find a sufficiently 
 solid basis in creation. All the blessings, the privi- 
 leges, and the dignities of creation were founded 
 upon a creature's obedience, and the moment that 
 failed, all was gone. But then, Satan's attempt to 
 mar creation only opened the way for the manifesta- 
 tion of God's deeper purposes of redemption. 
 
 This beautiful truth is typically presented to us in 
 the circumstance of the lamb's being "kept up" 
 from the "tenth" to "the fourteenth da}-." That 
 this lamb pointed to Christ is unquestionable. 
 1 Cor. v. 7 settles the application of this interesting 
 type beyond all question, "For even Christ our 
 passover is sacrificed for us." We have, in the first 
 epistle of Peter, an allusion to the keeping up of the 
 lamb, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not 
 
CHAPTER XII. 135 
 
 redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, 
 from your vain conversation, received by tradition 
 from your fathers ; but with the precious blood of 
 Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without 
 spot : who verily was foreordained before the founda- 
 tion of the world, but was manifest in these last times 
 for you." (Chap. i. 18-20.) 
 
 All God's purposes from everlasting had reference 
 to Christ, and no effort of the enemy^ could possibly 
 interfere with those counsels ; yea, his efforts only 
 tended to the display of the unfathomable wisdom 
 and immovable stability thereof. If the "Lamb 
 without blemish and without spot" was "foreor- 
 dained before the foundation of the world," then, 
 assuredly, redemption must have been in the mind 
 of God before the foundation of the world. The 
 blessed One had not to pause in order to devise 
 some plan to remedy the terrible evil which the 
 enemy had introduced into His fair creation. No ; 
 He had only to bring forth, from the unexplored 
 treasury of His precious counsels, the truth con- 
 cerning the spotless Lamb, who was foreordained 
 from everlasting, and to be "manifest in these last 
 times for us." 
 
 There was no need for the blood of the Lamb in 
 creation as it came fresh from the hand of the 
 Creator, exhibiting, in every stage and every depart- 
 ment of it, the beauteous impress of His hand "the 
 infallible proofs" of "His eternal power and God- 
 head" (Eom. i.); but when, "by one man," sin 
 was introduced into the world, then came out the 
 
136 EXODUS. 
 
 higher, richer, fuller, deeper thought of redemption 
 by the blood of the Lamb. This glorious truth first 
 broke through the thick clouds which surrounded 
 our first parents, as they retreated from the garden 
 of Eden ; its glimmerings appear in the types and 
 shadows of the Mosaic economy ; it burst upon the 
 world in full brightness when "the dayspring from 
 on high" appeared in the Person of "God manifest 
 in the flesh;" and its rich and rare results will be 
 realized when the white- robed, palm-bearing multi- 
 tude shall cluster round the throne of God and the 
 Lamb, and the whole creation shall rest beneath the 
 peaceful sceptre of the Son of David. 
 
 Now, the lamb taken on the tenth day, and kept 
 up until the fourteenth day, shows us Christ fore- 
 ordained of God from eternit}^, but manifest for us 
 in time. God's eternal purpose in Christ becomes 
 the foundation of the believer's peace. Nothing 
 short of this would do. We are carried back far 
 beyond creation, beyond the bounds of time, beyond 
 the entrance in of sin and eveiything that could 
 possibly affect the ground-work of our peace. The 
 expression, "foreordained before the foundation of 
 the world," conducts us back into the unfathomed 
 depths of eternity, and shows us God forming His 
 own counsels of redeeming love, and basing them 
 all upon the atoning blood of His own precious, 
 spotless Lamb. Christ was ever the primary thought 
 in the divine mind ; and hence, the moment He be- 
 gan to speak or act, He took occasion to shadow 
 forth that One who occupied the highest place in His 
 
CHAPTER XII. 137 
 
 counsels and affections ; and, as we pass along the 
 current of inspiration, we find that every ceremony, 
 every rite, every ordinance, and every sacrifice 
 pointed forward to "the Lamb of God that taketh 
 away the sin of the world," and not one more strik- 
 ingly than the passover. The paschal lamb, with all 
 the attendant circumstances, forms one of the most 
 profoundly interesting and deeply instructive types 
 of Scripture. 
 
 In the interpretation of Exodus xii, we have to do 
 with one assembly and one sacrifice. "The whole 
 assembly of the congregation of- Israel shall kill it 
 in the evening." (Ver. G.) It is not so much a 
 number of families with several lambs a thing quite 
 true in itself as one assembly and one lamb. Each 
 house was but the local expression of the whole 
 assembly gathered round the lamb. The antitype 
 of this we have in the whole Church of God, gath- 
 ered by the Holy Ghost, in the name of Jesus, of 
 which each separate assembly, wherever convened, 
 should be the local expression. 
 
 " And they shall take of the blood, and strike it 
 on the two side-posts and on the upper door-post of 
 the houses, wherein they shall eat it. And they shall 
 cat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and un- 
 leavened bread ; and with bitter herbs they shall eat 
 it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, 
 but roast with fire ; his head with his legs, and with 
 the purtenance thereof." (Ver. 7-0.) We have to 
 contemplate the paschal lamb in two aspects, namely, 
 as the ground of peace, and the centre of unity. 
 
138 EXODUS. 
 
 The blood on the lintel secured Israel's peace. 
 4 'When I see the blood, I will pass over you." 
 (Ver. 13.) There was nothing more required in 
 order to enjoy settled peace, in reference to the 
 destroying angel, than the application of the blood 
 of sprinkling. Death had to do its work in every 
 house throughout the land of Egypt. "It is ap- 
 pointed unto men once to die." But God, in His 
 great mercy, found an unblemished substitute for 
 Israel, on which the sentence of death was executed. 
 Thus God's claims and Israel's need were met by 
 one and the same thing, namely, the blood of the 
 lamb. That blood outside proved that all was 
 perfectly, because divinely, settled; and therefore 
 perfect peace reigned within. A shade of doubt in 
 the bosom of an Israelite would have been a dishonor 
 offered to the divinely appointed ground of peace 
 the blood of atonement. 
 
 True it is that each one within the blood-sprinkled 
 door would necessarily feel that 'were he to receive 
 his due reward, the sword of the destroyer should 
 most assuredly find its object in him ; but then the 
 lamb was treated in his stead. This was the solid 
 foundation of his peace. The judgment that was 
 due to him fell upon a divinely appointed victim ; 
 and believing this, he could feed in peace within. A 
 single doubt would have made Jehovah a liar ; for 
 He had said, "When /see the blood, I will pass over 
 you." This was enough. It was no question of 
 personal worthiness. Self had nothing whatever to 
 do in the matter. All under the cover of the blood 
 
CHAPTER XII. 139 
 
 were safe. They were not merely in a salvable state ; 
 they were saved. They were not hoping or praying 
 to be saved ; they knew it as an assured fact, on the 
 authority of that Word which shall endure through- 
 out all generations. Moreover, they were not partly 
 saved and partly exposed .to judgment; they were 
 wholly saved. The blood of the lamb and the word 
 of the Lord formed the foundation of Israel's peace 
 on that terrible night in which Egypt's first-born 
 were, laid low. If a hair of an Israelite's head could 
 be touched, it would have proved Jehovah's word 
 void, and the blood of the lamb valueless. 
 
 It is most needful to be simple and clear as to 
 what constitutes the ground of a sinner's peace in 
 the presence of God. So many things are mixed 
 up with the finished work of Christ, that souls are 
 plunged into darkness and uncertainty as to their 
 acceptance. They do not see the absolutely settled 
 character of redemption through the blood of Christ, 
 in its application to themselves. They seem not to 
 be aware that full forgiveness of sin rests upon the 
 simple fact that a full atonement has been offered, 
 a fact attested, in the view of all created intelligence, 
 by the resurrection of the sinner's Surety from the 
 dead. They know that there is no other way of 
 being saved but by the blood of the cross (but the 
 devils know this, yet it avails them naught). What 
 is so much needed is to know that we are saved. The 
 Israelite not merely knew that there was safety in 
 the blood ; he knew that he was safe. And why safe ? 
 Was it because of anything that he had done, or felt, 
 
140 EXODUS. 
 
 or thought ? By no means ; but because God had 
 said, u When I see the blood, I will pass over you." 
 He rested upon God's testimony: he believed what 
 God said, because God said it: "he set to his seal 
 that God was true." 
 
 And, observe, my reader, it w r as not by his own 
 thoughts, feelings, or experiences, respecting the 
 blood, that the Israelite rested. This would have 
 been a poor, sandy foundation to rest upon. His 
 thoughts and feelings might be deep or they might be 
 shallow ; but, deep or shallow, they had nothing to 
 do with. the ground of his peace. It was not said, 
 When you see the blood, and value it as you ought, 
 I will pass over you. This would have been suffi- 
 cient to plunge him in dark despair about himself, 
 inasmuch as it was quite impossible that the human 
 mind could ever sufficiently appreciate the precious 
 blood of the lamb. What gave peace was the fact 
 that Jehovah's eye rested upon the blood, and that 
 He knew its worth. This tranquilized the heart. 
 The blood was outside, and the Israelite inside, so 
 that he could not possibly see it ; but God saw it, 
 and that was quite enough. 
 
 The application of this to the question of a sinner's 
 peace is very plain. The Lord Jesus Christ having 
 shed His' precious blood, as a perfect atonement for 
 sin, has taken it into the presence of God, and 
 sprinkled it there ; and God's testimony assures the 
 believing sinner that everything is settled on his 
 behalf settled not by his estimate of the blood, but 
 by the blood itself, which God estimates so highly, 
 
CHAPTER XII. 141 
 
 that because of it, without a single jot or tittle added 
 thereto, He can righteously forgive all sin, and accept 
 the sinner as perfectly righteous in Christ. How 
 can any one ever enjoy settled peace if his peace 
 depends upon his estimate of the blood ? Impos- 
 sible ! The loftiest estimate which the human mind 
 can form of the blood must fall infinitely short of its 
 divine preciousness ; and therefore, if our peace 
 were to depend upon our valuing it as we ought, we 
 could no more enjoy settled peace than if we were 
 seeking it by "works of law." There must either 
 be a sufficient ground of peace in the blood alone, 
 or we can never have peace. To mix up our estimate 
 with it, is to upset the entire fabric of Christianity, 
 just as effectually as if we were to conduct the sinner 
 to the foot of mount Sinai, and put him under a 
 covenant of works. Either Christ's atoning sacrifice 
 is sufficient or it is not. If it is sufficient, why those 
 doubts and fears ? The words of our lips profess 
 that the work i3 finished ; but the doubts and fears 
 of the heart declare that it is not. Every one who 
 doubts his full and everlasting forgiveness, denies, 
 so far as he is concerned, the completeness of the 
 sacrifice of Christ. 
 
 But there are very many who would shrink from 
 the idea of deliberately and avowedly calling in 
 question the efficacy of the blood of Christ, who, 
 nevertheless, have not settled peace. Such persons 
 profess to be quite assured of the sufficiency of the 
 blood, ?/ only they were sure of an interest therein 
 if only they had the right kind of faith. There are 
 
142 EXODUS. 
 
 many precious souls in this unhappy condition. 
 They are occupied with their interest and their faith, 
 instead of with Christ's blood and God's w'ord. In 
 other words, they are looking in at self, instead of 
 out at Christ. This is not faith ; and, as a conse- 
 quence, they have not peace. An Israelite within 
 the blood-stained lintel could teach such souls a 
 most seasonable lesson. He was not saved by his 
 interest in, or his thoughts about, the blood, but 
 simply by the blood. No doubt lie had a blessed 
 interest in it, and he would have his thoughts like- 
 wise ; but then God did not say, When I see your 
 interest in the blood, I will pass over you. Oh, no! 
 THE BLOOD, in all its solitary dignity and divine 
 efficacy, was set before Israel ; and had they at- 
 tempted to place even a morsel of unleavened bread 
 beside the blood, as a ground of security, they would 
 have made Jehovah a liar, and denied the sufficiency 
 of His remedy. 
 
 We are ever prone to look at something in or 
 connected with ourselves as ne'cessary, in order to 
 make up, with the blood of Christ, the ground-work 
 of our peace. There is a sad lack of clearness and 
 soundness on this vital point, as is evident from 
 the doubts and fears with which so many of the 
 people of God are afflicted. We are apt to regard 
 the fruits of the Spirit in us, rather than the work of 
 Christ for us, as the foundation of peace. We shall 
 see, presently, the place which the work of the Holy 
 Spirit occupies in Christianity ; but it is never set 
 forth in Scripture as being that on which our peace 
 
CHAPTER XII. 143 
 
 reposes. The Holy Ghost did not make peace, but 
 Christ did. The Holy Ghost is not said to be our 
 peace, but Christ is. God did not send preaching 
 peace by the Holy Ghost, but by Jesus Christ. 
 (Comp. Acts x. 36 ; Eph. ii. 14, 17 ; Col, i. 20.) My 
 reader cannot be too simple in his apprehension of 
 this important distinction. It is the blood of Christ 
 which gives peace, imparts perfect justification 
 divine righteousness, purges the conscience, brings 
 us into the holiest of all; justifies God in receiving 
 the believing sinner, and constitutes our title to all 
 the joys, the dignities, and the glories of heaven. 
 (See Rom. iii. 24-26; v. 9; Eph. ii. 13-18; Col. i. 
 20-22; Heb. ix. 14; x. 19 ; 1 Peter i. 19; ii. 24; 
 1 Johni. 7; Rev. vii. 14-17.) 
 
 It will not, I fondly hope, be supposed that, in 
 seeking to put "the precious blood of Christ" in 
 its divinely appointed place, I would w r rite a single 
 line which might N seem to detract from the value 
 of the Spirit's operations. God forbid. The Holy 
 Ghost reveals Christ ; makes us to know, enjoy, and 
 feed upon Christ ; He bears witness to Christ ; He 
 takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto 
 us. He is the power of communion, the seal, the 
 witness, the earnest, the unction. In short, His 
 blessed operations are absolutely essential. Without 
 Him, we can neither see, hear, know, feel, experience, 
 enjoy, nor exhibit aught of Christ. This is plain. 
 The doctrine of the Spirit's operations is clearly laid 
 down in the Word, and is understood and admitted 
 by every true and rightly-instructed Christian. 
 
144 EXODUS. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding all this, the work of the 
 Spirit is not the ground of peace ; for, if it were, we 
 could not have settled peace until Christ's coming, 
 inasmuch as the work of the Spirit, in the Church, 
 will not, properly speaking, be complete till then. 
 He still carries on His work in the believer. "He" 
 maketh intercession with groanings which cannot be 
 uttered." (Rom. viii.) He labors to bring us up to 
 the predestinated standard, namely, perfect con- 
 formity, in all things, to the image of "the Son." 
 He is the sole Author of every right desire, every 
 holy aspiration, every pure affection, every divine 
 experience, every sound conviction ; but, clearly, 
 His work in us will not be complete until we have 
 left this present scene and taken our place with 
 Christ in the gloiy. Just as, in the case of Abra- 
 ham's servant, his work was not complete, in the 
 matter of Rebecca, until he had presented her to 
 Isaac. 
 
 Not so the work of Christ for us. That is abso- 
 lutely and eternally complete. He could say, "I 
 have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to 
 do." (John xvii. 4.) And, again, "It is finished." 
 (John xix. 30.) The Holy Ghost cannot yet say He 
 has finished His work. As the true Vicar of Christ 
 upon earth, He still labors amid" the varied hostile 
 influences which surround the sphere of His opera- 
 tions. He works in the hearts of the people of God 
 to bring them up, practically and experimentally, 
 to the divinely appointed standard ; but He never 
 teaches a soul to lean on His work for peace in the 
 
CHAPTER XII. 145 
 
 presence of God. His office is to speak of Jesus. 
 He does not speak of Himself. u He," says Christ, 
 "shall receive of Mine and shall show it unto you." 
 (John xvi. 13, 14.) If, then, it is only by the Spirit's 
 teaching that any one can understand the true ground 
 of peace, and if the Spirit never speaks of Himself, 
 it is obvious that He can only present Christ's work 
 as the foundation on which the soul must rest for- 
 ever ; yea, it is in virtue of that work that He takes 
 up His abode and carries on His marvelous operations 
 in the believer. He is not our title, though He reveals 
 that title and enables us to understand and enjoy it. 
 Hence, therefore, the paschal lamb, as the ground 
 of Israel's peace, is a marked and beautiful type of 
 Christ as the ground of the believer's peace. There 
 was nothing to be added to the blood on the lintel ; 
 neither is there anything to be added to the blood 
 on 'the mercy-seat. The "unleavened bread" and 
 "bitter herbs" were necessary, but not as forming, 
 either in whole or in part, the ground of peace. They 
 were for the inside of the house, and formed the 
 characteristics of the communion there ; but THE 
 BLOOD OF 'THE LAMB WAS THE FOUNDA- 
 TION OF EVERYTHING. It saved them from 
 death, and introduced them into a scene of life, > 
 light, and peace. It formed the link between God 
 and His redeemed people. As a people linked with 
 God, on the ground of accomplished redemption, it 
 was their high privilege to meet certain responsibili- 
 ties ; but these responsibilities did not form the link, 
 but merely flowed out of it. 
 
146 EXODUS. 
 
 And I would farther remind my reader that the 
 obedient life of Christ is not set forth in Scripture as 
 the procuring cause of our forgiveness. It was His 
 death upon the cross that opened those everlasting 
 floodgates of love which else should have remained 
 pent up forever. If He had remained to this very 
 hour, going through the cities of Israel, "doing 
 good/' the vail of the temple would continue tmrent, 
 to bar the worshiper's approach to God. It was His 
 death that rent that mysterious curtain "from top to 
 bottom." It is "by His stripes," not by His obedi- 
 ent life, that "we are healed ; " and those "stripes" 
 He endured on the cross, and no where else. His 
 own words, during the progress of His blessed life, 
 are quite sufficient to settle this point. "I have a 
 baptism to be baptized with; and how am I strait- 
 ened till it be accomplished." (Luke xii. 50.) To 
 what does this refer but to His death upon the cross, 
 which was the accomplishment of His baptism and 
 the opening up of a righteous vent through which 
 His love might freely flow out to the guilty sons of 
 Adam ? Again, He says, "Except a corn cf wheat 
 fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone." 
 (John xii. 24.) He was that precious "corn of 
 wheat ; " and He should have remained forever 
 "alone," even though incarnate, had He not, by 
 His death upon the accursed tree, removed out of 
 the way everything that could have hindered the 
 union of His people with Him in resurrection. "If 
 it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." 
 
 My reader cannot too carefully ponder this subject. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 117 
 
 It is one of immense weight and importance. He has 
 to remember two points in reference to this entire 
 question, namely, that there could be no union with 
 Christ, save in resurrection ; and that Christ only 
 suffered for sins on the cross. We are not to suppose 
 that incarnation was, by any .means, Christ taking 
 us into union with Himself. This could not be. How 
 could sinful flesh be thus united ? The body of sin 
 had to be destroyed by death. Sin had to be put 
 away according to the divine requirement ; all the 
 power of the enemy had to be abolished. How was 
 all this to be done ? Only by the precious, spotless 
 Lamb of God submitting to the death of the cross. 
 "It became Him, for whom are all things, and by 
 whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto 
 glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect 
 through sufferings." (Heb. ii. 10.) " Behold, least 
 out devils, and I do cures to-day and to-morrow, 
 and the third day I shall be perfected. ' ' (Luke xiii. 32. ) 
 The expressions "perfect" and "perfected" in the 
 above passages, do not refer to Christ in His own 
 Person abstractedly, for He was perfect from all eter- 
 nity, as Son of God ; and as to His humanity, He 
 was absolutely perfect likewise. Bwt then, as "the 
 Captain of salvation" as "bringing many sons unto 
 glory" as "bringing forth much fruit" as asso- 
 ciating a redeemed people with Himself, He had to 
 reach "the third day" in order to be "perfected." 
 He went down alone into the ' ' horrible pit, and miry 
 clay ; " but directly He plants His "foot on the rock" 
 of resurrection, He associates with Himself the 
 
148 EXODUS. 
 
 c c many sons. ' ' (Psalm xl. 1-3. ) He fought the fight 
 alone ; but, as the mighty Conqueror, He scatters 
 around Him, in rich profusion, the spoils of victory, 
 that we might gather them up and enjoy them forever. 
 
 Moreover, we are not to regard the cross of Christ 
 as a mere circumstance in a life of sin-bearing. It 
 was the grand and only scene of sin-bearing. "His 
 own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." 
 (1 Peter ii. 24.) He did not bear them any where 
 else. He did not bear them in the manger, nor in 
 the wilderness, nor in the garden ; but ONLY "ON 
 THE TREE." He never had aught to say to sin, 
 save on the cross ; and there He bowed His head, 
 and yielded up His precious life, under the accumu- 
 lated weight of His people's sins. Neither did He 
 ever suffer at the hand of God, save on the cross ; 
 and there Jehovah hid His face from Him because 
 He was "made sin." (2 Cor. v.) 
 
 The above train of thought, and the various pas- 
 sages of Scripture referred to, may perhaps enable 
 my reader to enter more fully into the divine power 
 of the words, " When I see the Uood, I will pass over 
 you." The lamb needed to be without blemish, no 
 doubt, for what else could meet the holy eye of 
 Jehovah ? But had the blood not been shed, there 
 could have been no passing over, for "without shed- 
 ding of blood is no remission." (Heb. ix. 22.) This 
 subject will, the Lord permitting, come more fully 
 and appropriately before us in the t}^pes of Leviticus. 
 It demands the prayerful attention of every one who 
 loves our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 149 
 
 We shall now consider the second aspect of the 
 passover, as the centre round which the assembly was 
 gathered, in peaceful, holy, happy fellowship. Israel 
 saved by the blood was one thing, and Israel feeding 
 on the lamb was quite another. They were saved 
 only by the blood ; but the object round which they 
 were gathered was, manifestly, the roasted lamb. 
 This is not, by any means, a distinction without a 
 difference. The blood of the lamb forms the foun- 
 dation both of our connection with God, and our 
 connection with one another. It is as those who are 
 washed in that blood, that we are introduced to God 
 and to one another. Apart from the perfect atone- 
 ment of Christ, there could obviously be no fellowship 
 either with God or His assembly. Still we must 
 remember that it is to a living Christ in heaven that 
 believers are gathered by the Holy Ghost. It is with 
 a living Head we are connected to "a living stone" 
 we have come. He is our centre. Having found 
 peace through His blood, we own Him as our grand 
 gathering-point and connecting link. "Where two 
 or three are gathered together in My name, there am 
 I in the midst of them. ' ' (Matt, xviii. 20. ) The Holy 
 Ghost is the only Gatherer ; Christ Himself is the 
 only object to which we are gathered ; and our as- 
 sembly, when thus convened, is to be characterized 
 by holiness, so that the Lord our God may dwell 
 among us. The Holy Ghost can only gather to 
 Christ. He cannot gather to a system, a name, a 
 doctrine, or an ordinance. He gathers to a Person, 
 and that Person is a glorified Christ in heaven. This 
 11 
 
150 EXODUS. 
 
 must stamp a peculiar character on God's assembly. 
 Men may associate on any ground, round any centre, 
 or for any object they please ; but when the Holy 
 Ghost associates, it is on the ground of accomplished 
 redemption, around the Person of Christ, in order 
 to form a holy dwelling-place for God.(l Cor. iii. 16. 
 17 ; vi. 19 ; Eph. ii. 21, 22 ; 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.) 
 
 We shall now look in detail at the principles 
 brought before us in the paschal feast. The assem- 
 bly, of Israel, as under the cover of the blood, was 
 to be ordered by Jehovah in a manner worthy of 
 Himself. In the matter of safety from judgment, 
 as we have already seen, nothing was needed but 
 the blood ; but in the fellowship which flowed out of 
 this safety, other things were needed which could 
 not be neglected with impunity. 
 
 And first, then, we read, "They shall eat the flesh 
 in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bre.ad ; 
 and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of 
 it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with 
 fire ; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance 
 thereof." (Yer. 8, 9.)' The lamb round which the 
 congregation was assembled, and on which it feasted, 
 was a roasted lamb a lamb which had undergone 
 the action of fire. In this we see "Christ our pass- 
 over" presenting Himself to the action of the fire 
 of divine holiness and judgment which found in Him 
 a perfect material. He could say, "Thou hast 
 proved mine heart ; tliDu hast visited me in the 
 flight ;. thou hast tried me and shalt find nothing : I 
 am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 151 
 
 (Psalm xvii. 3.) All in Him was perfect. The fire 
 tried Him, and there was no dross. u His head with 
 his legs and with the purtenance thereof." That is 
 to say, the seat of His understanding, His outward 
 walk, with all that pertained thereto all was sub- 
 mitted to the action of the fire, and all was entirely 
 perfect. The process of roasting was therefore deeply 
 significant, as is every circumstance in the ordinances 
 of God. Nothing should be passed over, because all 
 is pregnant with meaning. 
 
 "Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water." 
 Had it been eaten thus, there would have been no 
 expression of the great truth which it was the divine 
 purpose to shadow forth ; namely, that our paschal 
 Lamb was to endure, on the cross, the fire of Jeho- 
 vah's righteous wrath, a truth of infinite precious- 
 ness to the soul. We are not merely under the shelter 
 of the blood of the Lamb, but we feed, by faith, 
 upon the Person of the Lamb. Many, of us ceme 
 short here. We are apt to rest satisfied with being 
 saved by what Christ has done for us, without culti- 
 vating holy communion with Himself. His loving 
 heart could never be satisfied with this. He has 
 brought us nigh to Himself, that we might enjoy Him, 
 that we might feed on Him, and delight in Him. He 
 presents Himself to us as the One who has endured, 
 to the uttermost, the intense fire of the wrath of God, 
 that He may, in this wondrous character, be the food 
 of our ransomed souls. 
 
 But how was this lamb to be eaten? "With 
 unleavened bread and bitter herbs." Leaven is in- 
 
152 EXODUS. 
 
 variably used, throughout Scripture, as emblematical 
 of evil. Neither in the Old nor in the New Testament 
 is it ever used to set forth anything pure, holy, or 
 good. Thus, in this chapter, c 'the feast of unleavened 
 bread ' ' is the type of that practical separation from 
 evil which is the proper result of being washed from 
 our sins in the blood of the Lamb, and the proper 
 accompaniment of communion with His sufferings. 
 Naught but unleavened bread could at all comport 
 with a roasted lamb. A single particle of that which 
 was the marked type of evil, would have destroyed 
 the moral character of the entire ordinance. How 
 could w^e connect any species of evil with our fellow- 
 ship with a suffering Christ? Impossible. All who 
 enter, by the power of the Holy Ghost, into the 
 meaning of the cross will assuredly, by the same 
 power, put away leaven from all their borders. c ' For 
 even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us : there- 
 fore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither 
 with the leaven of malice and wickedness ; but with 
 the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. "(1 Cor. 
 v. 7, 8.) The feast spoken of in this passage is that 
 which, in the life and conduct of the Church, corre- 
 sponds with the feast of unleavened bread. This 
 latter lasted "seven days ; " and the Church collect- 
 ively, and the believer individually, are called to walk 
 in practical holiness, during the seven days, or entire 
 period, of their course here below ; and this, more- 
 over, as the direct result of being washed in the blood, 
 and having communion with the sufferings of Christ. 
 The Israelite did not put away leaven in order to 
 
CHAPTER XII. 153 
 
 be saved, but because he was saved ; and if lie failed 
 to put away leaven, it did not raise the question of 
 security through the blood, but simply of fellowship 
 with the assembly. "Seven days shall there be no 
 leaven found in your houses : for whosoever eateth 
 that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off 
 from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a 
 stranger, or born in the land." (Ver. 19.) The 
 cutting off of an Israelite from the congregation 
 answers precisely to the suspension of a Christian's 
 fellowship, if he be indulging in that which is contrary 
 to the holiness of the divine presence. God cannot 
 tolerate evil. A single unholy thought will interrupt 
 the soul's communion ; and until the soil contracted 
 by any such thought is got rid of by confession, 
 founded on the advocacy of Christ, the communion 
 cannot possibly be restored. (See 1 John i. 5-10.) 
 The true-hearted Christian rejoices in this. He can 
 ever "give thanks at the remembrance of God's 
 holiness." He would not, if he could, lower the 
 standard a single hair's breadth. It is his exceeding 
 joy to walk in company with One who wall not go on, 
 for a moment, with a single jot or tittle of "leaven." 
 Blessed be Gocl, we know that nothing can ever 
 snap asunder the link which binds the true believer 
 to Him. \Ve are "saved in the Lord/' not with a 
 temporary or conditional, but "with an everlasting 
 salvation." But then salvation and communion are 
 not the same thing. Many are saved who do not 
 know it ; and many, also, who do not enjoy it. It 
 is quite impossible that I can enjoy a blood-stained 
 
154 EXODUS. 
 
 lintel if I have leavened borders. This is an axiom 
 in the divine life. May it be written on our hearts ! 
 Practical holiness, though not the basis of our salva- 
 tion, is intimately connected with our enjoyment 
 thereof. An Israelite was not saved by unleavened 
 bread, but by the blood ; and yet leaven would have 
 cut him off from communion. And as to the Chris- 
 tian, he is not saved by his practical holiness, but 
 by the blood ; but if he indulges in evil, in thought, 
 word, or deed, he will have no true enjoyment of 
 salvation, and no true communion with the Person 
 of the Lamb. 
 
 This, I cannot doubt, is the secret of much of the 
 spiritual barrenness and lack of settled peace which 
 one finds amongst the children of God. They are 
 not cultivating holiness ; they are not keeping "the 
 feast of unleavened bread." The blood is on the 
 lintel, but the leaven within their borders keeps 
 them from enjoying the security which the blood 
 provides. The allowance of evil destroys our fellow- 
 ship, though it does not break the link which binds 
 our souls eternally to God. Those who belong to 
 God's assembly must be holy. They have not only 
 been delivered from the guilt and consequences of 
 sin, but also from the practice of it, the power of it, 
 and the love of it. The very fact of being delivered 
 by the blood of the paschal lamb, rendered Israel 
 responsible to put away leaven from all their quarters. 
 They could not say, in the frightful language of the 
 antinomian, Now that we are delivered, we may 
 conduct ourselves as we please. By no means. If 
 
CHAPTER XII. 155 
 
 they were saved by grace, they were saved to holiness. 
 The soul that can take occasion, from the freedom 
 of divine grace and the completeness of the redemp- 
 tion which is in Christ Jesus, to "continue in sin," 
 proves very distinctly that he understands neither 
 the one nor the other. 
 
 Grace not only saves the soul with an everlasting 
 salvation, but also imparts a nature which delights 
 in everything that belongs to God, because it is 
 divine. We are made partakers of the divine nature, 
 which cannot sin, because it is born of God. To 
 walk in the energy of this nature is, in reality, to 
 " keep " the feast of unleavened bread. There is no 
 "old leaven" nor "leaven of malice and wickedness" 
 in the new nature, because it is of God, and God is 
 holy, and "God is love." Hence it is evident that 
 we do not put away evil from us in order to better 
 our old nature, which is irremediable ; nor yet to 
 obtain the new nature, but because we have it. We 
 have life, and, in the power of that life, we put away 
 evil. It is only when w r e are delivered from the 
 guilt of sin that we can understand or exhibit the 
 true power of holiness. . To attempt it in any other 
 way is hopeless labor. The feast of unleavened 
 bread can only be kept beneath the perfect shelter 
 of the blood. 
 
 We may perceive equal significancy and moral 
 propriety in that which was to accompany the un- 
 leavened bread, namely, the "bitter herbs." We 
 cannot enjoy communion with the sufferings of 
 Christ without remembering what it was which 
 
156 EXODUS. 
 
 rendered those sufferings needful, and this remem- 
 brance must necessarily produce a chastened and 
 subdued tone of spirit, which is aptly expressed by 
 the bitter herbs in the paschal feast. If the roasted 
 lamb expressed Christ's endurance of the wrath of 
 God in His own Person, on the cross, the bitter 
 herbs express the believer's recognition of the truth 
 that He " suffered for us. " "The chastisement of 
 our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes we 
 are healed." (Isaiah liii. 5.) It is well, owing to 
 the excessive levity of our hearts, to understand the 
 deep meaning of the bitter herbs. Who can read 
 such psalms as the sixth, twenty-second, thirty- 
 eighth, sixty-ninth, eighty-eighth, and one hundred 
 and ninth, and not enter, in some measure, into the 
 meaning of the unleavened bread with bitter herbs ? 
 Practical holiness of life, with deep subduedness of 
 soul, must flow from real communion with Christ's 
 sufferings ; for it is quite impossible that moral evil 
 and levity of spirit can exist in view of those 
 Bufferings. 
 
 But, it may be asked, is there not a deep joy for 
 the soul in the consciousness that Christ has borne 
 our sins ; that He has fully drained, on our behalf, 
 the cup of God's righteous wrath? Unquestionably. 
 This is the solid foundation of all our joy. But can 
 we ever forget that it was for ' 'our sins" He suffered ? 
 Can we ever lose sight of the soul-subduing truth 
 that the blessed Lamb of God bowed His head be- 
 neath the weight of our transgressions ? Surely riot. 
 We must eat our lamb with bitter herbs, which, be 
 
CHAPTER XII. 157 
 
 it remembered, do not set forth the tears of a worth- 
 less and shallow sentimentality, but the deep and 
 real experiences of a soul that enters, with spiritual 
 intelligence and power, into the meaning and into 
 the practical effect of the cross. 
 
 In contemplating the cross, we find in it that which 
 cancels all our guilt. This imparts sweet peace and 
 joy. But we find in it also the complete setting 
 aside of nature the crucifixion of u the flesh" the 
 death of "the old man." (See Eom. vi. 6 ; Gal. ii. 
 20; vi. 14; Col. ii. 11.) This, in its practical re- 
 sults, will involve much that is "bitter" to nature. 
 It will call for self-denial the mortification of our 
 members which are on the earth (Col. iii. 5.) the 
 reckoning of self to be dead indeed unto sin (Rom. 
 vi.). All these things may seem terrible to look at ; 
 but when one gets inside the blood-stained door-post, 
 he thinks quite differently. The very herbs which 
 to an Egyptian's taste would no doubt have seemed 
 so bitter, formed an integral part of Israel's redemp- 
 tion feast. Those who are redeemed by the blood 
 of the Lamb, who know the joy of fellowship with 
 Him, esteem it a "feast" to put away evil and to 
 keep nature in the place of death. 
 
 "And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the 
 morning ; and that which remaineth of it until the 
 morning ye shall burn with fire." (Yer. 10. ) In this 
 command, we are taught that the communion of the 
 congregation was in no wise to be separated from 
 the sacrifice on which that communion was founded. 
 The heart must ever cherish the vivid remembrance 
 
158 EXODUS. 
 
 that all true fellowship is inseparably connected 
 with accomplished redemption. To think of having 
 communion with God on any other ground is to 
 imagine that He could have fellowship with our evil, 
 and to think of fellowship with man on any other 
 ground is but to form an unholy club, from which 
 nothing could issue but confusion and iniquity. In 
 a word, all must be founded upon, and inseparably 
 linked with, the blood. This is the simple meaning 
 of eating the paschal lamb the same night on which 
 the blood was shed. The fellowship must not be 
 separated from its foundation. 
 
 What a beauteous picture, then, we have in the 
 blood-sheltered assembly of Israel, feeding peace- 
 fully on the roasted lamb, with unleavened bread and 
 bitter herbs ! No fear of judgment, no fear of the 
 wrath of Jehovah, no fear of the terrible hurricane 
 of righteous vengeance which was sweeping vehe- 
 mently over the land of Egypt, at the midnight hour. 
 All was profound peace within the blood-stained 
 lintel. They had no need to fear anything from 
 without; and nothing within could trouble them, 
 save leaven, which would have proved a death-blow 
 to all their peace and blessedness. What a picture 
 for the Church ! What a picture for the Christian ! 
 May we gaze upon it with an enlightened eye and a 
 teachable spirit ! 
 
 However, we are not yet done with this most 
 instructive ordinance. We have been looking at 
 Israel's position, and Israel's food, let us now look 
 at Israel's habit. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 159 
 
 "And thus shall ye cat it : with your loins girded, 
 your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your 
 hand; and ye shall cat it in haste; it is. the Lord's 
 passover. ' ' ( Ver. 11.) They were to eat it as a people 
 prepared to leave behind them the land of death and 
 darkness, wrath and judgment, to move onward 
 toward the land of promise their destined inherit- 
 ance. The blood which had preserved -them from 
 the fate of Egypt's first-born was also the foundation 
 of their deliverance from Egypt's bondage ; and 
 they were now to set out and walk with God toward 
 the land that flowed with milk and honey. True, 
 they had not yet crossed the Red Sea, they had not 
 yet gone the "three days' journey ; " still they were, 
 in principle, a redeemed people, a separated people, 
 a pilgrim people, an expectant people, a dependent 
 people ; and their entire habit was to be in keeping 
 with their present position and future destiny. The 
 girded loins bespoke intense separation from all 
 around them, together with a readiness to serve. 
 
 ' O 
 
 The shod feet declared their preparedness to leave 
 that scene ; ivhilc the staff was the expressive emblem 
 of a pilgrim people, in the attitude of leaning on 
 something outside themselves. Precious character- 
 istics ! Would that they were more exhibited by 
 every member of God's redeemed famity. 
 
 Beloved Christian reader, let us "meditate on 
 these things." We have tasted, through grace, the 
 cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus ; as such, it 
 is our privilege to feed upon His adorable Person 
 and delight ourselves in His "unsearchable riches ;" 
 
1GO EXODUS. 
 
 to have fellowship in His sufferings, and be made 
 conformable to His death. Oh ! let us, therefore, 
 be seen with the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, 
 the girded loins, the shoes and staff. In a word, let 
 us be marked as a holy people, a crucified people, a 
 watchful and diligent people, a people manifestly 
 ' 'on our way to God' ' on our way to glory ' 'bound 
 for the kingdom/' May God grant us to enter into 
 the depth and power of all these things, so that they 
 may not be mere theories in our intellects mere 
 principles of scriptural knowledge and interpretation, 
 but living, divine realities, known by experience, and 
 exhibited in the life, to the glory of God. 
 
 We shall close this section by glancing, for a mo- 
 ment, at verses 43-49. Here we are taught that 
 
 ' - O 
 
 while it was the place and privilege of every true 
 Israelite to eat the passover, yet no uncircumcised 
 stranger should participate therein. "There shall 
 no stranger eat thereof all the congrega- 
 tion of Israel shall keep it." Circumcision was 
 necessary ere the passover could be eaten. In other 
 words, the sentence of death must be written upon 
 nature ere we can intelligently feed upon Christ, 
 either as the ground of peace or the centre of unhVv. 
 Circumcision has its antitype in the cross. The male 
 alone was circumcised ; the female was represented 
 in the male. So, in the cross, Christ represented 
 His Church, and hence the Church is crucified with 
 Christ ; nevertheless she lives by the life of Christ, 
 known and exhibited on earth, through the power of 
 the Holy Ghost. ' 'And when a stranger shall sojourn 
 
CHAPTER XII. 161 
 
 with thee, and will keep the passover unto the Lord, 
 let all his males be circumcised, and then let him 
 come near and keep it ; and he shall be as one that 
 is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person 
 shall eat thereof. " ; ' They that are in the flesh can- 
 not please God." (Rom. viii. 8.) 
 
 The ordinance of circumcision formed the grand 
 boundary' line between the Israel of God and all the 
 nations that were upon the face of the earth ; and the 
 cross of the Lord Jesus Christ forms the boundary 
 between the Church and the world. It matters not, 
 in the smallest degree, what advantages of person or 
 position a man possessed, he could have no part 
 with Israel until he submitted to that flesh-cutting 
 operation. A circumcised beggar was nearer to God 
 than an uncircumcised king. So, also, now, there can 
 be no participation in the joys of God's redeemed, 
 save by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and that 
 cross sweeps away all pretensions, levels all distinc- 
 tions, and unites all in one holy congregation of 
 blood- washed worshipers. The cross forms a bound- 
 ary so lofty, and a defense so impenetrable, that 
 not a single atom of earth or of nature can cross 
 over or pass through to mingle itself with ' ' the new 
 creation." "All things arc of God, who hath 
 reconciled us to Himself." (2 Cor. v. 18.) 
 
 But not only was Israel's separation from all 
 strangers strictly maintained, in the institution of the 
 passover ; Israel's unity was also as clearly enforced. 
 "In one house shall it be eaten : thou shalt not carry 
 forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house : 
 
162 EXODUS. 
 
 neither shall ye break a bone thereof." (Yer. 4G.) 
 Here is as fair and beauteous a type as we could have 
 of the c ' one body and one Spirit. ' ' The Church of 
 God is one. God sees it as such, maintains it as such, 
 and will manifest it as such, in the view of angels, 
 men, and devils, notwithstanding all that has been 
 done to interfere with that hallowed unity. Blessed 
 be God, the unity of His Church is as much in His 
 keeping as is her justification, acceptance, and eter- 
 nal security. "He keepeth all his bones; not one 
 of them is broken." (Ps. xxxiv. 20.) And again, 
 "A bone of Him shall not be broken." (John 
 xix. 36. ) Despite the rudeness and hard-heartedness 
 of Rome's soldiery, and despite all the hostile influ- 
 ences which have been set to work, from a^e to age, 
 
 t O O ' 
 
 the body of Christ is one and its divine unity can 
 never be broken. "THERE IS ONE BODY AND 
 ONE SPIRIT ; " and that, moreover, down here on 
 this very earth. Happy are they who have got faith 
 to recognize this precious truth, and faithfulness to 
 carry it out, in these last days, notwithstanding the 
 almost insuperable difficulties which attend upon 
 their profession and their practice. I believe God 
 will own and honor such. 
 
 The Lord deliver us from that spirit of unbelief 
 which would lead us to judge by the sight of our 
 eyes, instead of by the light of His changeless 
 Word. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 In the opening verses of this chapter we are taught,^ 
 clearly and distinctly, that personal devotedness and 
 personal holiness are fruits which redeeming love 
 produces in those who are the happy subjects thereof. 
 The dedication of the first-born and the feast of un- 
 leavened bread are here set forth in their immediate 
 connection with the deliverance of the people out 
 of the land of Egypt. " 'Sanctify unto Me all the 
 first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the 
 children of Israel, both of man and of beast : it is 
 Mine.' And Moses said unto the people, 'Remem- 
 ber this day, in which ye came out from Eg} 7 pt, out 
 of the house of bondage ; for by strength of hand 
 the Lord brought you out from this place : there 
 shall no leavened bread be eaten/ ' And again, 
 "Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and 
 in the seventh day shall be a feast unto the Lord. 
 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days ; and 
 there shall no leavened bread be seen with thee ; 
 neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all" 
 thy quarters." 
 
 Then we have the reason of both these significant 
 observances laid down. "And thou shalt show thy 
 son in that day, saying, This is done because of that 
 which the Lord did unto me when I came forth out 
 of Egypt." And again, "It shall be, when thy son 
 asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this ? 
 
164 EXODUS. 
 
 that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand 
 the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house 
 of bondage. And it came to pass, when Pharaoh 
 would hardly let us go, that the Lord slew all the 
 first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born 
 of man and the first-born of beast ; therefore I sac- 
 rifice to the Lord all that openeth the matrix, being 
 males ; but all the first-born of my children I 
 redeem." 
 
 The more fully we enter, by the power of the 
 Spirit of God, into the redemption which is in Christ 
 Jesus, the more decided will be our separation, and 
 the more whole-hearted will be our devotedness. The 
 effort to produce either the one or the other, until 
 redemption is known, will prove the most hopeless 
 labor possible. All our doings must be "because of 
 that which the Lord hath done," and not in order to 
 get anything from Him. Efforts after life and peace 
 prove that we are, as yet, strangers to the power of 
 the blood ; whereas the pure fruits of an experienced 
 redemption are to the praise of Him who has re- 
 deemed us. "For by grace are ye saved through 
 faith ; and that not of jmirselves : it is the gift of 
 God : not of works, lest any man should boast. For 
 we arc His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus 
 unto good works, which God hath before prepared 
 that we should walk in them." (Eph. ii. 8-10.) God 
 has already prepared a path of good works for us to 
 walk in ; and He, by grace, prepares us to walk 
 therein. It is only as saved that w r e can walk in 
 such a path. Were it otherwise, we might boast; 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 165 
 
 but seeing that we ourselves are as much God's 
 workmanship as the path in which we walk, there is 
 no room whatever for boasting. 
 
 True Christianity is but the manifestation of the 
 life of Christ, implanted in us by the operation of 
 the Holy Ghost, in pursuance of God's eternal 
 counsels of sovereign grace ; and all our doings 
 previous to the implantation of this life are but 
 "dead works," from which we need to have our 
 consciences purged just as much as from " wicked 
 works." (Heb. ix. 14.) The term "dead works" 
 comprehends all works which men do with the direct 
 object of getting life. If a man is seeking for life, 
 it is very evident that he has not yet gotten it. He 
 may be very sincere in seeking it, but his very sin- 
 cerity only makes it the more obvious that, as yet, 
 he has not consciously reached it. Hence, therefore, 
 everything done in order to get life is a dead work, 
 inasmuch as it is done without life the life of 
 Christ, the only true life, the only source from 
 whence good works can flow. And, observe, it is 
 not a question of "wicked works;" no one would 
 think of getting life by such. No ; you will find, on 
 the contrary, that persons continually have recourse 
 to "dead works," in order to ease their consciences, 
 under the sense of "wicked works," whereas divine 
 revelation teaches us that the conscience needs to be 
 purged from the one as well as the other. 
 
 Again, as to righteousness, we read that "all our 
 righteousnesses are as filthy rags." It is not said 
 that all our wickednesses, merely, are as filthy rags. 
 12 
 
16G EXODUS. 
 
 This would at once be admitted. Bat the fact is, 
 that the very best fruit which we can produce, in the 
 shape of religiousness and righteousness, is repre- 
 sented, on the page of eternal truth, as "dead 
 works," and "filthy rags." Our very efforts after 
 life do but prove us to be dead, and our very efforts 
 after righteousness do but prove us to be enwrapped 
 in filthy rags. It is only as the actual possessors of 
 eternal life and divine righteousness that we can 
 walk in the divinely prepared path of good works. 
 Dead works and filthy rags could never be suffered 
 to appear in such a path. None but "the redeemed 
 of the Lord ' ' can walk therein. It was as a redeemed 
 people that Israel kept the feast of unleavened bread, 
 and dedicated their first-born to Jehovah. The for- 
 mer of these observances we have already considered ; 
 as to the latter, it contains a rich mine of instruction. 
 The destroying angel passed through the land of 
 Egypt to destroy all the first-born ; but Israel's 
 first-born escaped through the death of a divinely 
 provided substitute. Accordingly, these latter ap- 
 pear before us, in this chapter, as a living people, 
 dedicated to God. Saved by the blood of the lamb, 
 they are privileged to consecrate their ransomed life 
 to Him who had ransomed it. Thus it was only as 
 redeemed that they possessed life. The grace of 
 God alone had made them to differ, and had given 
 them the place of living men in His presence. In 
 their case, assuredly, there was no room for boast- 
 ing ; for, as to any personal merit or worthiness, we 
 learn from this chapter that they were put on a level 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 167 
 
 with an unclean and worthless thing. "Every first- 
 ling of an ass thou slialt redeem with a lamb ; and 
 if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his 
 neck ; and all the first-born of man among thy chil- 
 dren shalt thou redeem." (Ver. 13.) There were 
 two classes the clean and the unclean, and man 
 was classed with the latter. The lamb was to answer 
 for the unclean ; and if the ass were not redeemed, 
 his neck was to be broken ; so that an unredeemed 
 man was put upon a level with an unclean animal, 
 and that, moreover, in a condition than which no- 
 thing could be more worthless and unsightly. What 
 a humiliating picture of man in his natural condition ! 
 O, that our poor proud hearts could enter more into 
 it ! Then should we rejoice more unfcignedly in the 
 happy privilege of being washed from our guilt in 
 the blood of the Lamb, and having all our personal 
 vileness left behind forever, in the tomb where our 
 Surety lay buried. 
 
 Christ was the Lamb the clean, the spotless 
 Lamb : we were unclean ; but (forever adored be 
 His matchless name!) He took our position, and, 
 o?i the cross, was made sUi, and treated as such. 
 That which we should have endured throughout the 
 countless ages of eternity, He endured for us on the 
 tree. He bore all that was due to us, there and 
 then, in order that we might enjoy what is due to 
 Him, forever. He got our deserts that we might 
 get His. The clean took, for a time, the place of 
 the unclean, in order that the unclean might take 
 forever the place of the clean. Thus, whereas by 
 
168 EXODUS. 
 
 nature we are represented by the loathsome figure 
 of an ass with his neck broken, by grace we are 
 represented by a risen and glorified Christ in heaven. 
 Amazing contrast ! It lays man's glory in the dust, 
 and magnifies the riches of redeeming love. It 
 silences man's empty boastings, and puts into his 
 mouth a hymn of praise to God and the Lamb, which 
 shall swell throughout the courts of heaven during 
 the everlasting ages.* 
 
 How forcibly is one here reminded of the apostle's 
 memorable and weighty words to the Romans, "Now 
 if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall 
 also live with Him : knowing that Christ being raised 
 from the dead dieth no more ; death hath no more 
 dominion over Him. For in that He died, He died 
 unto sin once ; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto 
 God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead 
 indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in 
 your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the 
 
 *It is interesting to see that by nature we are ranked with an 
 unclean animal; by grace we are associated with Christ the 
 spotless Lamb. There can be ^othing lower than the place which 
 belongs to us by nature : nothing higher than that which belongs 
 to us by grace. Look, for example, at an ass with his neck broken ; 
 there is what an unredeemed man is worth. Look at " the precious 
 blood of Christ;" there is what a redeemed man is worth. "Unto 
 you that believe is the preciousness." That is, all who arc washed 
 in the blood partake of Christ's preciousness. As He is "a living 
 stone," they are " living stones ; " as He is " a precious stone," they 
 are "precious stones." They get life and preciousness all from 
 Him and in Him. They are as He is. Every stone in the edifice 
 is precious, because purchased at no less a price than "the blood 
 of the Lamb." May the people of God know more fully their place 
 and privileges in Christ ! 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 169 
 
 lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as 
 instruments of unrighteousness unto sin ; but } T ield 
 yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from 
 the dead, and your members as instruments of 
 righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have 
 dominion over you ; for ye are not under the law, 
 but under grace." (Rom. vi. 8-14.) We arc not 
 only ransomed from the power of death and the 
 grave, but also united to Him who has ransomed us 
 at the heavy cost of His own precious life, that we 
 might, in the energy of the Holy Ghost, dedicate 
 our new life, with all its powers, to His service, so 
 that His worthy name may be glorified in us accord- 
 ing to the will of God and our Father. 
 
 We are furnished, in the last few verses of Exodus 
 xiii, with a touching and beautiful example of the 
 Lord's tender consideration of His people's need. 
 4 ' He knoweth our frame ; He remembereth that we 
 are dust." (Psalm ciii. 14.) When He redeemed 
 Israel and took them into relationship with Himself, 
 He, in His unfathomed and infinite grace, charged 
 Himself with all their need and weakness. It mat- 
 tered not what they were or what they needed when 
 I AM was with them, in all the exhaustless treasures 
 of that name. He had to conduct them from Egypt 
 to Canaan, and we here find Him occupying Himself 
 in selecting a suitable path for them. "And it came 
 to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that 
 God led them not through the way of the land of the 
 Philistines, although that was near; for God said, 
 4 Lest perad venture the people repent when they see 
 
170 EXODUS. 
 
 war, and they return to Egypt;' but God led the 
 people about through the way of the wilderness of 
 the Eed Sea." (Ver. 17, 18.) 
 
 The Lord, in His condescending grace, so orders 
 for His people that they do not, at their first setting 
 out, encounter heavy trials, which might have the 
 effect of discouraging their hearts and driving them 
 back. "The way of the wilderness" was a much 
 more protracted route ; but God had deep and varied 
 lessons to teach His people, which could only be 
 learnt in the desert. They were afterwards reminded 
 of this fact, in the following passage: "And thou 
 shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God 
 led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to 
 humble thee, and to. prove thee, to know what was 
 in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His com- 
 mandments or no. And He humbled thee, and 
 suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, 
 which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers 
 know ; that He might make thee know that man doth 
 not live by bread only, but by every word that 
 proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man 
 live. Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither 
 did thy foot swell, these forty years." (Deut. viii. 
 2-4.) Such precious lessons as these could never 
 have been learnt in "the way of the land of the 
 Philistines." In that way, they might have learnt 
 what ivar was, at an early stage of their career ; but 
 "in the way of the wilderness," they learnt what 
 flesh was, in all its crookedness, unbelief, and rebel- 
 lion. But I AM was there, in all His patient grace, 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 171 
 
 unerring wisdom, and infinite power. None but 
 Himself could have met the demand ; none but He 
 could endure the opening up of the depths of a 
 human heart. To have my heart unlocked any 
 where, save in the presence of infinite grace, would 
 plunge me in hopeless despair. The heart of man 
 is but a little hell. What boundless mercy, then, to 
 be delivered 'from its terrible depths ! 
 
 U 0h, to grace liow great a debtor 
 
 Daily I'm constrained to be ! 
 Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter, 
 Bind my wandering heart to Thee !" 
 
 "And they took their journey from Succoth, and 
 encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. 
 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar 
 of a cloud, to lead them the way ; and by night in a 
 pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day and 
 night : He took not away the pillar of the cloud by 
 day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the 
 people." Jehovah not only selected a path for His 
 people, but He also came down to walk with them 
 therein, and make Himself known to them according 
 to their, need. He not only conducted them safely 
 outside the bounds of Egypt, but He also came 
 down, as it were, in His traveling chariot, to be their 
 Companion through all the vicissitudes of their wil- 
 derness journey. This was divine grace. They 
 were not merely delivered out of the furnace of 
 Egypt and then allowed to make the best of their 
 way to Canaan such was not God's manner toward 
 them. He knew that they had a toilsome and per- 
 
172 EXODUS. 
 
 ilous journey before them, through serpents and 
 scorpions, snares and difficulties, drought and bar- 
 renness ; and He, blessed be His name forever, 
 would not suffer them to go alone. He would be 
 the Companion of all their toils and dangers ; yea, 
 "He went before them." He was "a guide, a 
 glory, a defense, to save from every fear." Alas ! 
 that they should ever have grieved that blessed One 
 by their hardness of heart. Had they only walked 
 humbly, contentedly, and confidingly with Him, 
 their march would have been a triumphant one from 
 first to last. With Jehovah in their forefront, no 
 power could have interrupted their onward progress 
 from Egypt to Canaan. He would have carried them 
 through and planted them in the mountain of His 
 inheritance, according to His promise, and by the 
 power of His right hand ; nor should as much as a 
 single Canaanite have been allowed to remain therein 
 to be a thorn in their side. Thus will it be by and 
 by, when Jehovah shall set His hand a second time 
 to deliver His people from under the power of all 
 their oppressors. May the Lord hasten the time ! 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 M nHHEY that go down to the sea in ships, that do 
 business in great waters ; these see the works 
 of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." (Psalm 
 cvii. 23, 24. ) How true is this ! and yet our coward 
 hearts do so shrink from those " great waters." We 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 173 
 
 prefer carrying on our traffic in the shallows, and, 
 as a result, we fail to see "the works" and "won- 
 ders' 7 of our God ; for these can only be seen and 
 known u in the, deep." 
 
 It is in the day of trial and difficulty that the soul 
 experiences something of the deep and untold bless- 
 edness of being able to count on God. Were all to 
 go on smoothly, this would not be so. It is not in 
 gliding along the surface of a tranquil lake that the 
 reality of the Master's presence is felt ; but actually 
 when the tempest roars, and the waves roll over the 
 ship. The Lord does not hold out to us the prospect 
 of exemption from trial and tribulation ; quite the 
 opposite : He tells us we shall have to meet both the 
 one and the other ; but He promises to be with us in 
 them, and this is infinitely better. God's presence 
 in the trial is much better than exemption from the 
 trial. The sympathy of His heart ivith us is sweeter 
 far than the power of His hand for us. The Master's 
 presence with His faithful servants while passing 
 through the furnace was better far than the display 
 of His power to keep them out of it. (Dan. iii.) 
 We would frequently desire to be allowed to pass on 
 our way without trial, but this would involve serious 
 loss. The Lord's presence is never so sweet as in 
 moments of appalling difficulty. 
 
 Thus it was in Israel's case, as recorded in this 
 chapter. They are brought into an overwhelming 
 difficulty: they are called to "do business in great 
 waters: " "they are at their wit's end." Pharaoh, 
 repenting himself of having let them go out of his 
 
174 EXODUS. 
 
 land, determines to make one desperate effort to 
 recover them. "And he made ready his chariot, 
 and took his people with him ; and he took six 
 hundred chosen chariots, and all tbe chariots of 
 Egypt, and captains over every one of them. . . . 
 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel 
 lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians 
 marched after them ; and they were sore afraid : 
 and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord." 
 Here was a deeply trying scene one in which 
 human effort could avail nothing. As well might 
 they have attempted to put back with a straw the 
 ocean's mighty tide, as seek to extricate themselves 
 by aught that they could do. The sea was before 
 them, Pharaoh's hosts behind them, and the mount- 
 ains around them. And all this, be it observed, 
 permitted and ordered of God. He had marked out 
 their position before " Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol 
 and the sea, over against Baal-zephon." Moreover, 
 He permitted Pharaoh to come upon them. And 
 why? Just to display Himself in the salvation of 
 His people, and the total overthrow of their enemies. 
 "To Him that divided the Eed Sea into parts: for 
 His mercy endureth forever: and made Israel to 
 pass through the midst of it : for His mercy endur- 
 eth forever : but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in 
 the Red Sea: for His mercy' endureth forever." 
 (Ps. cxxxvi.) 
 
 There is not so much as a single position in all the 
 desert-wanderings of God's redeemed, the bound- 
 aries of which are not marked off, with studious ac- 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 175 
 
 curacy, by the hand of unerring wisdom and infinite 
 love. The special bearings and peculiar influences 
 of each position are carefully arranged. The Pi- 
 hahiroths and the Migdols are all ordered with im- 
 mediate reference to the moral condition of those 
 whom God is conducting through the windings and 
 
 O c? O 
 
 labyrinths of the wilderness, and also to the display 
 of His own character. Unbelief may ofttimes sug- 
 gest the inquiry, Why is it thus ? God knows why ; 
 and He will, without doubt, reveal the why whenever 
 the revelation would promote His glory and His 
 people's good. How often do we feel disposed to 
 question as to the why and the wherefore of our 
 being placed in such and such circumstances ! How 
 often do we perplex ourselves as to the reason of 
 our being exposed to such and such trials ! How 
 much better to bow our heads in meek subjection, 
 and say, "It is well," and "it shall be well"! 
 When God fixes our position for us, we may rest 
 assured it is a wise and salutary one ; and even 
 when we foolishly and willfully choose a position for 
 ourselves, He most graciously overrules pur folly, 
 and causes the influences of our self-chosen circum- 
 stances to work for our spiritual benefit. 
 
 It is when the people of God are brought into the 
 greatest straits and difficulties, that' they are favored 
 with the finest displays of God's character and act- 
 ings ; and for this reason He ofttimes leads them 
 into a trying position, in order that He may the 
 more markedly show Himself. He could have con- 
 ducted Israel through the Red Sea, and far beyond 
 
176 EXODUS. 
 
 the reach of Pharaoh's hosts, before ever the latter 
 had started from Eg} T pt; but that would not have 
 so fully glorified His own name, or so entirely con- 
 founded the enemy, upon whom He designed to 
 "get Him honor." We too frequently lose sight of 
 this great truth, and the consequence is that our 
 hearts give way in the time of trial. If we could 
 only look upon a difficult crisis as an occasion of 
 bringing out, on our behalf, the sufficiency of divine 
 grace, it would enable us to preserve the balance of 
 our souls, and to glorify God, even in the deepest 
 waters. 
 
 We feel disposed, it ma}^ be, to marvel at Israel's 
 language on the occasion now before us. We may 
 feel at a loss to account for it ; but the more we 
 know of our own evil hearts of unbelief, the more 
 we shall see how marvelously like them we are. 
 They would seem to have forgotten the recent dis- 
 play of divine power on their behalf. They had 
 seen the gods of Eg} T pt judged, and the power of 
 Egypt laid prostrate beneath the stroke of Jehovah's 
 omnipotent hand ; they had seen the iron chain of 
 Egyptian bondage riven, and the furnace quenched 
 by th6 same hand ; all these things they had seen, 
 and yet the moment a dark cloud appeared upon 
 their horizon, their confidence gave way, their hearts 
 failed, and they gave utterance to their unbelieving 
 murmurings in the following language: "Because 
 there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us 
 away to die in the wilderness ? Wherefore hast thou 
 dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt ! 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 177 
 
 It had been better for us to serve the 
 
 Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." 
 (Ver. 11, 12.) Thus is "blind unbelief" ever "sure 
 to err, and scan God's ways in vain." This unbelief 
 is the same in all ages. It led David, in an evil hour, 
 to say, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul ; 
 there is nothing better for me than that I should 
 speedily escape into the land of the Philistines." 
 (1 Sam. xxvii. 1.) And how did it turn out ? Saul 
 fell on Mount Gilboa, and David's throne was estab- 
 lished forever. Again, it led Elijah the Tishbite, in 
 a moment of deep' depression, to flee for his life 
 from the wrathful threatenings of Jezebel. How 
 did it turn out ? Jezebel was dashed to pieces on 
 the pavement, an<* Elijah was taken in a chariot of 
 fire to heaven. 
 
 So it was with Israel in their very first moment of 
 trial. They really thought that the Lord had taken 
 such pains to deliver them out of Egypt merely to 
 let them die in the wilderness. They imagined that 
 they had been preserved by the blood of the paschal 
 lamb in order that they might be buried in the wil- 
 derness. Thus it is that unbelief ever reasons. It 
 leads us to interpret God in the presence of the 
 difficulty, instead of interpreting the difficulty in the 
 presence of God. Faith gets behind the difficulty, 
 and there finds God, in all His faithfulness, love, 
 and power. It is the believer's privilege ever to be 
 in the presence of God. He has been introduced 
 thither by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 nothing should be suffered to take him thence. The 
 
178 EXODUS. 
 
 place itself he never can lose, inasmuch as his Head 
 and Representative, Christ, occupies it on his behalf. 
 But although he cannot lose the thing itself, he can 
 very easily lose the enjoyment of it the experience 
 and power of it. Whenever his difficulties come 
 between his heart and the Lord, he is evidently not 
 enjoying the Lord's presence, but suffering in the 
 presence of his difficulties. Just as when a cloud 
 comes between us and the sun, it robs us, for the 
 time, of the enjoyment of his beams. It does not 
 prevent him from shining, it 'merely hinders our 
 enjoyment of him. Exactly so is it when we allow 
 trials and sorrows, difficulties and perplexities, to 
 hide from our souls the bright beams of our Father's 
 countenance, which ever shine, wkh changeless lus- 
 tre, in the face of Jesus Christ. There is no difficulty 
 too great for our God ; yea, the greater the difficult}', 
 the more room there is for Him to act in His proper 
 character, as the God of all power and grace. No 
 doubt Israel's position, in the opening of our chap- 
 ter, was a deeply trying one, to flesh and blood, 
 perfectly overwhelming ; but then the Maker of 
 heaven and earth was there, and they had but to 
 use Him. 
 
 Yet, alas ! my reader, how speedily we fail when 
 trial arises ! These sentiments sound very nicely 
 on the ear, and look very well upon paper (and, 
 blessed be God, they are divinely true) ; but then 
 the thing is to practice them when opportunity offers. 
 It is in the practice of them that their power and 
 blessedness are really proved. "If any man will do 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 179 
 
 His will, lie shall know of the doctrine, whether it 
 be of God." (John vii. 17.) 
 
 "And Moses said unto the people, 'Fear ye not, 
 stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which 
 He will show to you to-day ; for the Eg}' ptians whom 
 ye have "seen to-day ye shall see them again no more 
 forever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall 
 hold your peace.' " (Ver. 13, 14.) Here is the first 
 attitude which faith takes in the presence of a trial. 
 ' c Stand still. ' ' This is impossible to flesh and blood. 
 All who know*, in any measure, the restlessness of the 
 human heart under anticipated trial and difficulty, 
 will be able to form some conception of what is 
 involved in standing still. Nature must be doing 
 something. It will rush hither and thither. It would ' 
 fain have some hand in the matter. And although it 
 may attempt to justify and sanctify its worthless 
 doings, by bestowing upon them the imposing and 
 popular title of u a legitimate use of means," yet 
 are they the plain and positive fruits of unbelief, 
 which always shuts out God, and sees naught save 
 the dark cloud of its own creation. Unbelief creates 
 or magnifies difficulties, and then sets us about re- 
 moving them by our own bustling and fruitless act- 
 ivities, which, in reality, do but raise a dust around 
 us which prevents our seeing God's salvation. 
 
 Faith, on the contrary, raises the soul above the 
 difficulty, straight to God Himself, and enables one 
 to "stand still." We gain nothing by our restless 
 and anxious efforts. "We cannot make one hair 
 white or black," nor "add one cubit to our stature." 
 
180 EXODUS. 
 
 What could Israel do at the Red Sea ? Could they 
 dry it up ? Could they level the mountains ? Could 
 they annihilate the hosts of Eg}~pt ? Impossible ! 
 There they were, inclosed within an impenetrable 
 wall of difficulties, in view of which nature could but 
 tremble and feel its own perfect impotency. But 
 this was just the time for God to act. When unbelief 
 is driven from the scene, then God can enter; and, 
 in order to get a proper view of His actings, we must 
 "stand still." Every movement of nature is, so far 
 as it goes, a positive hindrance to our ^rception and 
 enjoyment of divine interference on our behalf. 
 
 This is true of us in every single stage of our his- 
 tory. It is true of us as sinners when, tinder the 
 uneasy sense of sin upon the conscience, we are 
 tempted to resort to our own doings in order to ob- 
 tain relief. Then, truly, we must "stand still" in 
 order to u see the salvation of God." For what 
 could we do in the matter of making an atonement 
 for sin ? Could we have stood with the Son of God 
 upon the cross ? Could we have accompanied Him 
 down into the "horrible pit and the miry clay"? 
 Could we have forced our passage upward to that 
 eternal rock on which, in resurrection, He has taken 
 His stand ? Every right mind will at once pronounce 
 the thought to be a daring blasphemy. God is alone 
 in redemption ; and as for us, we have but to "stand 
 still, and see the salvation of God." The very fact 
 of. its being God's salvation proves that man has 
 naught to do in it. 
 
 The same is true of us, from the moment we have 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 181 
 
 entered upon our Christian career. In every fresh 
 difficulty, be it great or small, our wisdom is to stand 
 still to cease from our own works, and find our 
 sweet repose in God's salvation. Nor can we make 
 any distinction as to difficulties. We cannot say 
 that there are some trifling difficulties which we 
 ourselves can compass, while there are others in 
 which naught save the hand of God can avail. No ; 
 all are alike beyond us. We are as little able to 
 change the color of a hair as to remove a mountain, 
 to form a blade of grass as to create a world. All 
 are alike to us, and all arc alike to God. We have 
 only, therefore, in confiding faith, to cast ourselves 
 on Him who "humbleth Himself [alike] to behold the 
 things that are in heaven and on earth." We some- 
 times find ourselves carried triumphantly through 
 the heaviest trials, while at other times we quail, 
 falter, and break clown under the most ordinary dis- 
 pensations. Why is this ? Because, in the former, 
 we are constrained to roll our burden over on the 
 Lord ; whereas,, in the latter, we foolishly attempt 
 to carry it ourselves. The Christian is, in himself, 
 if he only realized it, like an exhausted receiver, in 
 which a guinea and a feather have equal momenta. 
 
 "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold 
 your peace." Precious assurance! How eminently 
 calculated to tranquilize the spirit in view of the 
 most appalling difficulties and dangers ! The Lord 
 not only places Himself between us and our sins, 
 but also between us and our circumstances. By 
 doing the former, He gives us peace of conscience ; 
 13 
 
182 EXODUS. 
 
 by doing the latter, He gives us peace of heart. 
 That the two things are perfectly distinct, every 
 experienced Christian knows. Very many have 
 peace of conscience, who have not peace of heart. 
 They have, through grace and by faith, found Christ, 
 in the divine efficacy of His blood, between them 
 and all their sins ; but they are net able, in the same 
 simple way, to realize Him as standing, in His divine 
 wisdom, love, and power, between them and their 
 circumstances. This makes a material difference in 
 the practical condition of the soul, as well as in the 
 character of one's testimony. Nothing tends more 
 to glorify the name of Jesus than that quiet repose 
 of spirit which results from having Him between us 
 and everything that could be a matter of anxiety to 
 our hearts. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace 
 whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he trusteth 
 in Thee." 
 
 But some feel disposed to ask the question, " Are 
 we not to do anything ?" This may be answered by 
 asking another, namely, What can *ve do ? All who 
 really know themselves must answer, Nothing. If, 
 therefore, we can do nothing, had we not better 
 "stand still" ? If the Lord is acting for us, had we 
 not better stand back ? Shall we run before Him ? 
 Shall we busily intrude ourselves upon His sphere 
 of action ? Shall we come in His way ? There can 
 be no possible use in two acting, when one is so 
 perfectly competent to do all. No one would think 
 of bringing a lighted candle to add brightness to the 
 sun at midday : and yet the man who would do so 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 183 
 
 might well be accounted wise, in comparison with 
 him who attempts to assist God by his bustling 
 officiotisness. 
 
 However, when God, in His great mercy, opens the 
 way, faith can walk therein. It only ceases from 
 man's way in order to walk in God's. "And the 
 Lord said unto Moses, ' Wherefore criest thou unto 
 Me ? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go 
 forward. " ' It is only when we have learnt to 4 ' stand 
 still" that we are able effectually to go forward. To 
 attempt the latter until we have learnt the former 
 is sure to issue in the exposure of our folly and 
 weakness. It is therefore true wisdom, in all times 
 of difficulty and perplexity, to "stand still" to 
 wait only upon God, and He will assuredly open a 
 way for us ; and then we can peacefully and happily 
 "go forward." There is no uncertainty when God 
 makes a way for us ; but every self-devised path 
 must prove a path of doubt and hesitation. The un- 
 regenerate man may move along with great apparent 
 firmness and decision in his own ways ; but one of 
 the most distinct elements in the new creation is 
 self-distrust, and the element which answers thereto 
 is confidence in God. It is when our eyes have seen 
 God's salvation that we can walk therein ; but this 
 can never be distinctly seen until we have been 
 brought to the end of -our own poor doings. 
 
 There is peculiar force and beauty in the expres- 
 sion, "See the salvation of God." The very fact of 
 our being called to "see" God's salvation, proves 
 that the salvation is a complete one. It teaches that 
 
184 EXODUS. 
 
 salvation is a thing wrought out and revealed by 
 God, to be seen and enjoyed by us. It is not a 
 thing made up partly of God's doing and partly of 
 man's. Were it so, it could not be called God's 
 salvation. In order to be His, it must be wholly 
 divested of everything pertaining to man. The only 
 possible effect of human efforts is to raise a dust 
 which obscures the view of God's salvation. 
 
 "Speak to the children of Israel that they go for- 
 ward." Moses himself seems to have been brought 
 to a stand, as it appears from the Lord's question 
 ' ' Wherefore criest thou to Me ? ' ' Moses could tell 
 the people to u stand still, and see the salvation of 
 God," while his own spirit was giving forth its 
 exercises in an earnest cry to God. However, there 
 is no use in crying when we ought to be acting ; just 
 as there is no use in acting when we ought to be 
 waiting. Yet such is ever our way. We attempt to 
 move forward when we ought to stand still, and we 
 stand 'still when we ought to move forward. In 
 Israel's case, the question might spring up in the 
 heart, Whither are we to go? To all appearance, 
 there lay an insurmountable barrier in the way of 
 any movement forward. How were they to go 
 through the sea? This was the point. Nature could 
 never solve this question. But we may rest assured 
 that God never gives a command without, at the same 
 time, communicating the power to obey. The real 
 condition of the heart may be tested by the com- 
 mand ; but the soul that is, by grace, disposed to 
 obey, receives power .from above to do so. When 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 185 
 
 Christ commanded the man with the withered hand 
 to stretch it forth, the man might naturally have said, 
 How can I stretch* forth an arm which hangs dead 
 by my side ? But he did not raise any question 
 whatever, for with the command, and from the same 
 source, came the power to obey. 
 
 Thus, too, in Israel's case, we see that with the 
 command to go forward came the provision of grace. 
 4 'But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand 
 over the sea, and divide it; and the children of 
 Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of 
 the sea." Here was the path of faith. The hand 
 of God opens the way for us to take the first step, 
 and this is all that faith ever asks. God never gives 
 guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one 
 step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps 
 the heart in abiding dependence upon God. "By 
 faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry 
 land." It is evident that the sea was not divided 
 throughout at once. Had it been so, it would have 
 been u sight" and not u faith." It does not require 
 faith to begin a journey when I can see all the way 
 through ; but to begin when I can merely see the 
 first step, this is faith. The sea opened as Israel 
 moved forward, so that for every fresh step they 
 needed to be cast upon God. Such was the path 
 along which the redeemed of the Lord moved, under 
 His own conducting hand. They passed through 
 the dark waters of death, and found these very 
 waters to be u a wall unto them, on their right hand 
 and on their left." 
 
186 EXODUS. 
 
 The Egyptians could not move in such a path as 
 this. They moved on because they saw the way 
 open before them : with them it was sight, and not 
 faith, " Which the Eg}^ptians assaying to do were 
 drowned." When people assay to do what faith 
 alone can accomplish, they only encounter defeat 
 and confusion. The path along which God calls 
 His people to walk is one which nature can never 
 tread. " Flesh and blood cannot inherit the king- 
 dom of God" (1 Cor. xv. 50.), neither can it walk 
 in the ways of God. Faith is the great character- 
 istic principle of God's kingdom, and faith alone 
 can enable us to walk in God's ways. "Without 
 faith it is impossible to please God." (Heb. xi.) It 
 glorifies God exceedingly when we move on with 
 Him, as it were, blindfold. It proves that we have 
 more confidence in His eyesight than in our own. 
 If I know that God is looking out for me, I may 
 well close my eyes, and move on in holy calmness 
 and stability. In human affairs, we know that when 
 there is a sentinel or watchman at his post, others 
 can sleep quietly. How much more may we rest in 
 perfect security when we know that He who neither 
 slumbers nor sleeps has His eye upon us, and His 
 everlasting arms around us ! 
 
 "And the angel of God which went before the 
 camp of Israel, removed and went behind them ; 
 and the pillar of the cloud went from before their 
 face, and stood behind them. And it came between 
 the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; 
 and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 187 
 
 light by night to these ; so that the one came not 
 near the other all the night." (Ver. 19, 20.) Jeho- 
 vah placed Himself right between Israel and the 
 enemy : this was protection indeed. Before ever 
 Pharaoh could touch a hair of Israel's head, he 
 should make his way through the very pavilion of 
 the Almighty yea, through the Almighty Himself. 
 Thus it is that God ever places Himself between His 
 people and every enemy, so that c ' no weapon formed 
 against them can prosper." He has placed Himself 
 between us and our sins ; and it is our happy priv- 
 ilege to find Him between us and every one and 
 every thing that could be against us. This is the 
 true way in which to find both peace of heart and 
 peace of conscience. The believer may institute a 
 diligent and anxious search for his sins, but lit) can- 
 not find them. Why ? Because God is between 
 him and them. He has cast all our sins behind His 
 back, while, at the same time, He sheds forth upon 
 us the light of His reconciled countenance. 
 
 In the same manner, the believer may look for his 
 difficulties, and not find them, because God is be- 
 tween him and them. If, therefore, the eye, instead 
 of resting on our sins and sorrows, could rest only 
 upon Christ, it would sweeten many a bitter cup, 
 and enlighten many a gloomy hour. But one finds 
 constantly that nine-tenths of our trials and sorrows 
 are made up of anticipated or imaginary evils, which 
 only exist in our own disordered, because unbeliev- 
 ing, minds. May my reader know the solid peace, 
 both of heart and conscience, which results from 
 
188 EXODUS. 
 
 having Christ, in all His fullness, between him and 
 all his sins and all his sorrows. 
 
 It is at once most solemn and interesting to note 
 the double aspect of the "pillar" in this chapter. 
 "It was a cloud and darkness" to the Egj^ptians, 
 but "it gave light by night" to Israel. How like 
 the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ! Truly, that 
 cross has a double aspect likewise. It forms the 
 foundation of the believer's peace, and, at the same 
 time, seals the condemnation of a guilty world. The 
 self-same blood which purges the believer's con- 
 science and gives him perfect peace, stains this earth 
 and consummates its guilt. The very mission of the 
 Son of God which strips the world of its cloak, and 
 leaves it wholly without excuse, clothes the Church 
 with & fair mantle of righteousness, and fills her 
 mouth with ceaseless praise. The very same Lamb 
 who will terrify, by His unmitigated wrath, all tribes 
 and classes of earth, will lead, by His gentle hand, 
 His blood-bought flock through the green pastures 
 and beside the still waters forever. (Compare Rev. 
 vi. 15-17 with vii. 13-17.) 
 
 The close of our chapter shows us Israel triumph- 
 ant on the shore of the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's hosts 
 submerged beneath its waves. The fears of the 
 former and the boastings of the latter had both alike 
 been proved utterly groundless : Jehovah's glorious 
 work had annihilated both the one and the other. 
 The same waters which formed a wall for God's re- 
 deemed, formed a grave for Pharaoh. Thus it is 
 ever: those who walk by faith find a path to walk 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 189 
 
 in, while all who assay to do so find a grave. This 
 is a solemn truth, which is not in any wise weakened 
 by the fact that Pharaoh was acting in avowed and 
 positive hostility to God when he c c assayed ' ' to pass 
 through the Red Sea. It will ever be found true 
 that all who attempt to imitate faith's actings will 
 be confounded. Happy are they who are enabled, 
 however feebly, to walk by faith. They are moving 
 along a path of unspeakable blessedness, a path 
 which, though it may be marked by failure and in- 
 firmity, is nevertheless "begun, continued, and 
 ended in God." O, that we may all enter more 
 fully into the divine reality, the calm elevation, and 
 the holy independence of this path ! 
 
 We ought not to turn from this fruitful section of 
 our book without a reference to 1 Cor. x, in which 
 we have an allusion to "the cloud and the sea." 
 "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should 
 be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the 
 cloud, and all passed through the sea; and were all 
 baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." 
 (Ver. 1, 2.) There is much deep and precious 
 instruction for the Christian in this passage. The 
 apostle goes on to say, "Now these things were our 
 types," thus furnishing us with a divine warrant for 
 interpreting Israel's baptism "in the cloud and in 
 the sea" in a typical way; and, assuredly, nothing 
 could be more deeply significant or practical. It 
 was as a people thus baptized that they entered 
 upon their wilderness journey, for which provision 
 was made in "the spiritual meat" and "spiritual 
 
190 EXODUS. 
 
 drink" provided by the hand of love. In other 
 words, they were typically a people dead to Egypt 
 and all pertaining thereto. The cloud and the sea 
 were to them what the cross and grave of Christ ai e 
 to us. The cloud secured them from their enemies ; 
 the sea separated them from Egypt: the cross, in 
 like manner, shields us from all that could be against 
 us, and we stand at heaven's side of the empty tomb 
 of Jesus. Here we commence our wilderness jour- 
 ney, here we begin to taste the heavenly Manna, 
 and to drink of the streams which emanate from 
 "that spiritual Rock," while, as a pilgrim people, 
 we make our way onward to that land of rest of the 
 which God has spoken to us. 
 
 I would further add here, that my reader should 
 seek to understand the difference between the Red 
 Sea and Jordan. They both have their antitype in 
 the death of Christ ; but in the former we see sepa- 
 ration from Eg} T pt ; in the latter, introduction into 
 the land of Canaan. The believer is not merely 
 separated from this present evil world by the cross 
 of Christ, but he is quickened out of the grave of 
 Christ, raised up together, and made to sit together 
 in Christ, in the heavenlies. (Eph. ii. 5, 6.) Hence, 
 though surrounded by the things of Egypt, he is, as 
 to his actual experience, in the wilderness ; while, 
 at the same time, he is borne upward, by the energy 
 of faith, to that place where Jesus sits, at the right 
 hand of God. Thus, the believer is not merely 
 "forgiven all trespasses," but actually associated 
 with a risen Christ in heaven ; he is not merely 
 
CHAPTER XV . 191 
 
 saved by Christ, but linked with Him forever. No- 
 thing short of this could either satisfy God's affections 
 or actualize His purposes in reference to the Church. 
 Reader, do we understand these things ? do we 
 believe them ? are we realizing them ? do we mani- 
 fest the power of them ? Blessed be the grace that 
 has made them unalterably true with respect to 
 every member of the body of Christ, whether it be 
 an eye or an eye-lash, a hand or a foot. Their truth, 
 therefore, does not depend upon our manifestation, 
 our realization, or our understanding, but upon 
 "THE PRECIOUS BLOOD OF CHRIST," which 
 has canceled all our guilt and laid the foundation of 
 all God's counsels respecting us. Here is true rest 
 for every broken heart and every burdened con- 
 science. 
 
 CHAPTER X.V. 
 
 THIS chapter opens with Israel's magnificent song 
 of triumph on the shore of the Red Sea, when 
 they had seen "that great work which the Lord did 
 upon the Egyptians." They had seen God's salva- 
 tion, and they therefore sing His praise and recount 
 His mighty acts. "Then sang Moses and the chil- 
 dren of Israel this song unto the Lord." Up to 
 this moment, we have not heard so much as a single 
 note of praise. We have heard their cry of deep 
 sorrow as they toiled amid the brick-kilns of Egypt, 
 we have hearkened to their cry of unbelief when 
 
192 EXODUS. 
 
 surrounded by what they deemed insuperable diffi- 
 culties, but, until now, we have heard no song of 
 praise. It was not until, as a saved people, they 
 found themselves surrounded by the fruits of God's 
 salvation, that the triumphal hymn burst forth from 
 the whole redeemed assembly. It was when they 
 emerged from their significant baptism "in the cloud 
 and in the sea," and were able to gaze upon the rich 
 spoils of victory which lay scattered around them, 
 that six hundred thousand voices were heard chant- 
 ing the song of victor} 7 . The waters of the Eed Sea 
 rolled between them and Egypt, and they stood on 
 the shore as a fully delivered people, and therefore 
 they were able to praise Jehovah. 
 
 In this, as in everything else, they were our types. 
 We, too, must know ourselves as saved, in the power 
 of death and resurrection, before ever we can pre- 
 sent clear and intelligent worship. There will alwaj^s 
 be reserve and hesitancy in the soul, proceeding, no 
 doubt, from positive inability to enter into the ac- 
 complished redemption which is in Christ Jesus. 
 There may be the acknowledgment of the fact that 
 there is salvation in Christ, and in none other ; but 
 this is a very different thing from apprehending, by 
 faith, the true character and ground of that salvation, 
 and realizing it as ours. The Spirit of God reveals, 
 with unmistakable clearness, in the Word, that the 
 Church is united to Christ in death and resurrection ; 
 and, moreover, that a risen Christ, at God's right 
 hand, is the measure and pledge of the ChurcB's 
 acceptance. When this is believed, it conducts the 
 
CHAPTER XV. 193 
 
 soul entirely beyond the region of doubt and uncer- 
 tainty. How can the Christian doubt when he knows 
 that he is continually represented before the throne 
 of God by an Advocate, even u Jesus Christ the 
 righteous " ? It is the privilege of the very feeblest 
 member of the Church of God to know that lie was 
 represented by Christ on the cross, that all his sins 
 were confessed, borne, judged, and atoned for there. 
 This is a divine reality, and, when laid hold of by 
 faith, must give peace ; but nothing short of it ever 
 can give peace. There may be earnest, anxious, 
 and most sincere desires after God, there may be 
 the most pious and devout attendance upon all the 
 ordinances, offices, and forms of religion ; but there 
 is no other possible way in which to get the sense of 
 sin entirely removed from the conscience, but seeing 
 it judged in the Person of Christ, as a sin-offering, 
 on the cursed tree. If it was judged there once for 
 all, it is now by the believer to be regarded as a 
 divinely, and therefore eternally, settled question ; 
 and that it was so judged is proved by the resurrec- 
 tion of the Surety. "I know that whatsoever God 
 doeth it shall be forever : nothing can be put to it 
 nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it that 
 men should fear before Him." (Ecc. iii. 14.) 
 
 However, wliile it is generally admitted that all 
 this is true in reference to the Church collectively, 
 many find considerable difficulty in making a per- 
 sonal application thereof. They are ready to say, 
 with the Psalmist, "Truly, God is good to Israel, 
 even to such as are of a clean heart. But as for 
 
194 EXODUS. 
 
 we," etc. (Ps. Ixxiii. 1, 2.) They arc looking at 
 themselves instead of at Christ in death and Christ 
 in resurrection ; they are occupied rather with their 
 appropriation of Christ than with Christ Himself; 
 they are thinking of their capacity rather than their 
 title. Thus they are kept in a state of the most 
 distressing uncertainty, and, as a consequence, they 
 are never able to take the place of happy, intelligent 
 worshipers. They are praying for salvation instead 
 of rejoicing in the conscious possession of it; they 
 are looking at their imperfect fruits instead of 
 Christ's perfect atonement. 
 
 Now in looking through the various notes of this 
 song in Exodus xv, we do not find a single note 
 about se//, its doings, its sayings, its feelings, or its 
 fruits ; it is all about Jehovah, from beginning to 
 end. It begins with, "I will sing unto the Lord, for 
 He hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his 
 rider hath He thrown into the Sea." This is a spec- 
 imen of the entire song. It is a simple record of 
 the attributes and actings of Jehovah. In chapter 
 xiv, the hearts of the people had, as it were, been 
 pent up by the excessive pressure of their circum- 
 stances ; but in chapter xv, the pressure is removed, 
 and their hearts find full vent in a sweet song of 
 praise. Self is forgotten ; circumstances are lost 
 sight of; one object, and but one, fills their vision, 
 and that object is the Lord Himself, in His character 
 and ways. They were able to say, "Thou, Lord, 
 hast made me glad through Thy work ; I will triumph 
 in the works of Thy hands." (Ps. xcii. 4.) This is 
 
CHAPTER XV. 195 
 
 true worship. It is when poor, worthless self, with 
 all its belongings, is lost sight of, and Christ alone 
 fills the heart, that we present proper worship. 
 There is no need for the efforts of a fleshly pietism 
 to awaken in the sonl feelings of devotion ; nor is 
 there any demand whatever for the adventitious ap- 
 pliances of religion, so called, to kindle in the soul 
 the flame of acceptable worship. Oh, no ! Let but 
 the heart be occupied with the Person of Christ, and 
 "songs of praise" will be the natural result. It is 
 impossible for the eye to rest on Him and the spirit 
 not be bowed in holy worship. If we contemplate 
 the worship of the hosts which surround the throne 
 of God and the Lamb, we shall find that it is ever 
 evoked by the presentation of some special feature 
 of divine excellence or divine acting. Thus should 
 it be with the Church on earth ; and when it is not 
 so, it is because we allow things to intrude upon us 
 which have no place in the regions of unclouded 
 light and unalktyed blessedness. In all true worship, 
 God Himself is at once the object of worship, the 
 subject of worship, and the power of worship. 
 
 Hence Exodus xv. is a fine specimen of a song of 
 praise. It is the language of a redeemed people 
 celebrating the worthy praise of Him who had 
 redeemed them. "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. The Lord is a 
 
 man of war: the Lord is His name Thy 
 
 right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: 
 
196 EXODUS. 
 
 Thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the 
 enemy. .... Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, 
 among the gods ? who is like Thee, glorious in holi- 
 ness, fearful in praises, doing wonders ? . . . Thou 
 in Thy mercy hast led forth the people which Thou 
 hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in Thy 
 strength unto Thy holy habitation. .... The 
 Lord shall reign forever and ever." How compre- 
 hensive is the range of this sons; ! It begins with 
 
 O O O 
 
 redemption and ends with the glory. It begins with 
 the cross and ends with the kingdom. It is like a 
 beauteous rainbow, of which one end dips in l c the 
 sufferings," and the other in "the glory that should 
 follow." It is all about Jehovah. It is an outpour- 
 ing of soul produced by a view of God and His 
 gracious and glorious actings. 
 
 Moreover, it does not stop short of the actual 
 accomplishment of the divine purpose, as we read, 
 "Thou hast guided them in Thy strength unto Thy 
 holy habitation." The people were able to say this, 
 though they had but just planted their foot on the 
 margin of the desert. It was not the expression of 
 a vague hope, it was not feeding upon poor, blind 
 chance. Oh, no ! When the soul is wholly occupied 
 with God, it is enabled to launch out into all the full- 
 ness of His grace, to bask in the sunshine of His 
 countenance, and delight itself in the rich abundance 
 of His mercy and loving-kindness. There is not a 
 cloud upon the prospect when the believing soul, 
 taking its stand upon the eternal rock on which 
 redeeming love has set it in association with a risen 
 
CHAPTER XV. 197 
 
 Christ, looks up into the spacious vault of God's 
 infinite plans and purposes, and dwells upon the 
 effulgence of that glory which God has prepared for 
 all those who have washed their robes and made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 This will account for the peculiarly brilliant, ele- 
 vated, and unqualified character of all those bursts 
 of praise which we find throughout sacred Scripture. 
 The creature is set aside : God is the object. He 
 fills the entire sphere of the soul's vision. There is 
 nothing of man, his feelings, or his experiences, and 
 therefore the stream of praise flows copiously and 
 uninterruptedly forth. How different is this from 
 some of the hymns we so often hear sung in Chris- 
 tian assemblies, so fall of our failings, our feebleness, 
 our shortcomings. The fact is, we can never sing 
 with real, spiritual intelligence and power when we 
 are looking at ourselves. We shall ever be discover- 
 ing something within which will act as a drawback 
 to our worship. Indeed, with many, it seems to be 
 accounted a Christian grace to be in n continual state 
 of doubt and hesitation ; and, as a consequence, 
 their hymns are quite in character with their condi- 
 tion. Such persons, however sincere and pious, have 
 never }^et, in the actual experience of their souls, 
 entered upon the proper ground of worship. They 
 have not 3~et got done with themselves, they have 
 not passed through the sea, and, as a spiritually 
 baptized people, taken their stand on the shore, in 
 the power of resurrection. They are still, in some 
 way or another, occupied with celf : they do not re- 
 14 
 
198 EXODUS. 
 
 gard self as a crucified thing, with which God is 
 forever clone. 
 
 May the Holy Ghost lead all God's people into 
 fuller, clearer, and worthier apprehensions of their 
 place and privilege as those who, being washed from 
 their sins in the blood of Christ, are presented before 
 God in all that infinite and unclouded acceptance 
 in which He stands, as the risen and glorified Head 
 of His Church. Doubts and fears do not become 
 them, for their divine Surety has not left a shadow 
 of a foundation on which to build a doubt or a fear. 
 Their place is within the vail. They "have boldness 
 to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus." 
 (Heb. x. 19.) Are there any doubts or fears in the 
 holiest? Is it not evident that a doubting spirit 
 virtually calls in question the perfectness of Christ's 
 work a work which has been attested, in the view 
 of all created intelligence, by the resurrection of 
 Christ from the dead ? That blessed One could not 
 have left the tomb unless all ground of doubting 
 and fearing had been perfectly removed on behalf 
 of His people. Wherefore it is the Christian's sweet 
 privilege ever to triumph in a full salvation. The 
 Lord Himself has become his salvation ; and he 
 has only to enjoy the fruits of that which God has 
 wrought for him, and to walk to His praise while 
 waiting for that. time when "Jehovah shall reign 
 forever and ever." 
 
 But there is one note in this song to which I shall 
 just invite my reader's attention. "He is my God, 
 and I will prepare Him a habitation." It is worthy 
 
CHAPTER XV. 199 
 
 of note that when the heart was full to overflowing 
 with the joy of redemption, it gives expression to 
 its devoted purpose in reference to u a habitation for 
 God." Let the Christian reader ponder this. God 
 dwelling with man is a grand thought pervading 
 Scripture from Exodus xv. to Revelation. Hearken 
 to the following utterance of a devoted heart : 
 4 'Surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my 
 house, nor go up into my bed ; I will not give sleep 
 to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, until I 
 find out a place for the Lord, a habitation for the 
 mighty God of Jacob." (Ps. cxxxii. 3-5.) Again, 
 "For the zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up." 
 (Ps. Ixix. 9 ; John ii. 17. ) I do not attempt to pursue 
 this subject here ; but I would fain awaken such an 
 interest concerning it in the breast of my reader as 
 shall lead him to pursue it, prayerfully, for himself, 
 from the very earliest notice of it in the Word until 
 
 he arrives at that soul-stirrino; announcement, "Be- 
 
 ~ i 
 
 hold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will 
 dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and 
 God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. 
 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." 
 (Rev. xxi. 3, 4.) 
 
 " So Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea ; and 
 they went out into the wilderness of Shur : and they 
 went three days into the wilderness and found no 
 water." (Yer. 22.) It is when we get into wilder- 
 ness experience that we are put to the test as to the 
 real measure of our acquaintance with God and with 
 our own hearts. There is a freshness and an exu- 
 
200 EXODUS. 
 
 berarice of joy connected with the opening of our 
 Christian career, which very soon receives a check 
 from the keen blast of the desert ; and then, unless 
 there is n deep sense of what God is to us, above 
 and beyond everything else, we are apt to break 
 clown, and, "in our hearts, turn back again into 
 Eg} r pt." The discipline of the wilderness is need- 
 ful, not to furnish us with a title to Canaan, but to 
 make us acquainted with God and with our own 
 hearts ; to enable us to enter into the power of our 
 relationship, and to enlarge our capacity for the 
 enjoyment of Canaan when we actually get there. 
 (See Dent, viii. 2-5.) 
 
 The greenness, freshness, and luxuriance of spring- 
 have peculiar charms, which all pass away before the 
 scorching heat of summer; but then, with proper 
 care, that very heat which removes the fair traces of 
 spring, produces the mellowed and matured fruits 
 of autumn. Thus it is also in the Christian life ; 
 for there is, as we know, a striking and deeply 
 instructive analogy between the principles which 
 obtain in the kingdom of nature and those which 
 characterize the kingdom of grace, seeing it is the 
 same God whose handiwork meets our view in both. 
 
 There are three distinct positions in which we may 
 contemplate Israel, namely, in Egypt, in the wilder- 
 ness, and in the land of Canaan. In all these, they 
 are "our types ;" but we are in all three together. 
 This may seem paradoxical, but it is true. As a 
 matter of actual fact, we are in Egypt, surrounded 
 by natural things, which are entirely adapted to 
 
CHAPTER XV. 201 
 
 the natural heart. But, inasmuch as we have been 
 called by God's grace into fellowship with His Son 
 Jesus Christ, we, according to the affections and 
 desires of the new nature, necessarily find our place 
 outside of all that which belongs to Egypt* {i.e.. 
 
 "There is a wide moral difference between Egypt and Babylon, 
 which it is important to understand. Egypt was that out of which 
 Israel came; Babylon was that into which they were afterwards 
 carried. (Comp. Amos v. 25-27 with Acts yii. 42, 43.) Egypt ex- 
 presses what man has made of the world; Babylon expresses what 
 Satan has made, is making, or will make, of the professing church. 
 Hence, we are not only surrounded with the circumstances of 
 Egypt, but also by the moral principles of Babylon. 
 
 This renders our "days" what the Holy Ghost has termed 
 " perilous " (}[a.A.7toi "difficult")-. It demands a special energy 
 of the Spirit of God, and complete subjection to the authority of 
 the Word, to enable one to meet the combined influence of the 
 realities of Egypt and the spirit and principles of Babylon. The 
 former meet the natural desires of the heart; while the latter con- 
 nect themselves with, and address themselves to, the religiousness 
 of nature, which gives them a peculiar hold upon the heart. Man 
 is a religious being, and peculiarly susceptible of the influences 
 which arise from music, sculpture, painting, and pompous rites and 
 ceremonies. When these things stand connected with the full 
 supply of all his natural wants yea, with all the ease and luxury 
 of life, nothing but the mighty power of God's Word and Spirit can 
 keep one true to Christ. 
 
 We should also remark that there is a vast difference between 
 the destinies of Egypt and those of Babylon. The nineteenth of 
 Isaiah sets before us the blessings that are in store for Egypt. It 
 concludes thus : "And the Lord shall smite Egypt; He shall smite 
 and heal it; and they shall return even to the Lord, and He shall 
 
 be entreated of them, ancj shall heal them In that day 
 
 shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a bless- 
 ing in the midst of the land ; whom the Lord of Hosts shall bless, 
 saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My 
 hands, and Israel Mine inheritance." (Ver. 22-25.) 
 
 Very different is the close of Babylon's history, whether viewed 
 as a literal city or a spiritual system. "I will also make it a pos- 
 session for the bittern, and pools of water; and I will sweep it with 
 the besom of destruction, saith the Lord of Hosts." (Isaiah xiv. 23.) 
 "It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from gen- 
 
202 EXODUS. 
 
 the world in its natural state), and this causes us to* 
 taste of wilderness experience, or, in other words, 
 it places us, as a matter of experience, in the wil- 
 derness. The divine nature earnestly breathes after 
 a different order of things after a purer atmosphere 
 than that with which we find ourselves surrounded, 
 and thus it causes us to feel Egypt to be a moral 
 desert. 
 
 But then, inasmuch as we are, in God's view, 
 eternally associated with Him who has passed right 
 through into the heavenlies, and taken His seat there 
 in triumph and majesty, it is our happy privilege 
 to know ourselves, by faith, as "sitting together in 
 Him" there. (Eph. ii.) So that although we are, 
 as to our bodies, in Egypt, we are, as to our expe- 
 
 eration to generation." (Isaiah xiii. 20.) So much for Babylon 
 literally; and looking at it from a mystic or spiritual point of view, 
 we read its destiny in Rev. xviii. The entire chapter is a descrip- 
 tion of Babylon, and it concludes thus : "A strong angel took up a 
 stone, like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, ' Thus, 
 with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and 
 shall be found no more at all.' " (Ver. 21.) 
 
 With what immense solemnity should those words fall upon the 
 ears of all who are in any wise connected with Babylon that is to 
 say, with the false, professing church, "Come out of her, My 
 people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that yc receive 
 not of her plagues"! (Rev. xviii. 5.) The "power" of the Holy 
 Ghost will necessarily produce, or express itself in, a certain 
 "form," and the enemy's aim has ever been to rob the professing 
 church of the power, while he leads her to cling to and perpetuate 
 the form to stereotype the form when all the spirit and life has 
 passed away. Thus he builds the spiritual Babylon. The stones 
 of which this city is built are lifeless professors ; and the slime or 
 mortar which binds these stones together is "a form of godliness 
 without the power." 
 
 Oh ! my beloved reader, let us see to it that we fully, clearly, and 
 iniluentially understand these things. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 203 
 
 rience, in the wilderness, while, at the same time, 
 faith conducts us, in spirit, into Canaan, and enables 
 us to feed upon "the old corn of the land," i.e., 
 upon Christ, not as One come down to earth 
 merely, but as One gone back to heaven and seated 
 there in gloiy. 
 
 The concluding verses of this fifteenth chapter 
 show us Israel in the wilderness. Up to this point, 
 it seemed to them to be all fair sailing. Heavy 
 j udgments poured upon Egypt, but Israel perfectly 
 exempt, the army of Egypt dead upon the sea 
 shore, but Israel in triumph. All this was well 
 enough ; but, alas ! the aspect of things speedily 
 changed. The notes of praise were soon exchanged 
 for the accents of discontent. "When they came 
 to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of 
 Marah, for they were bitter ; therefore the name of 
 it was called Marah. And the people murmured 
 against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?'." 
 Again, "The whole congregation of the children of 
 Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the 
 wilderness ; and the children cf Israel said unto 
 them, 'Would to God we had died by the hand of 
 the Lord in the land cf Egypt, when we sat by the 
 flesh-pots, and when we did eat bread to the full ! 
 for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to 
 kill this whole assembly with hunger.' ' 
 
 Here were the trials of the wilderness. "What 
 shall we eat?" and "What shall we drink?" The 
 waters of Marah tested the heart of Israel and 
 developed their murmuring spirit ; but the Lord 
 
204 EXODUS. 
 
 showed them that there was no bitterness which He 
 could not sweeten with the provision of His own 
 grace. "And the Lord showed him a tree, which 
 when he had cast into the waters, the waters were 
 made sweet ; there lie made for them a statute and 
 an ordinance, and there lie proved them." Beau- 
 teous figure this of Him who was, in infinite grace, 
 cast into the bitter waters of death, in order that 
 those waters might yield naught but sweetness to us 
 forever! We can truly say, u The bitterness of 
 death is past," and nothing remains for us but the 
 eternal sweets of resurrection. 
 
 Verse 2G sets before us the momentous character 
 of this first stage of God's redeemed in the wilder- 
 ness. We are in great danger, at this point, of 
 falling into a fretful, impatient, murmuring spirit. 
 The only remedy for this is to keep the eye steadily 
 fixed on Jesus c ' looking unto Jesus. ' ' He, blessed 
 be. His name, ever unfolds Himself according to the 
 need of His people ; and they, instead of complain- 
 ing of their circumstances, should only make their 
 circumstances an occasion of drawing afresh upon 
 Him. Thus it is that the wilderness ministers to our 
 experience of what God is. It is a school, in which 
 we learn His patient grace and ample resources. 
 "Forty years suffered He their manners in the wil- 
 derness." (Acts xiii. 18.) The spiritual mind will 
 ever own that it is worth having bitter waters for 
 God to sweeten. "We glory in tribulations also: 
 knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and pa- 
 tience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope 
 
CHAPTER XV. 205 
 
 make th not ashamed ; because the love of God is 
 shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which 
 is given unto us." (Rom. v. 3-5.) 
 
 However, the wilderness has its Elims as well as 
 its Marahs, its wells and palm trees, as well as its 
 bitter waters. "And they came to Elim, where were 
 twelve w r ells of water, and threescore and ten palm 
 trees; and they encamped there by the waters." 
 (Ver. 27.) The Lord graciously and tenderly pro- 
 vides green spots in the desert for His journeying 
 people ; and though they are, at best, but oases, yet 
 are they refreshing to the spirit and encouraging to 
 the heart. The sojourn at Elim was eminently cal- 
 culated to soothe the hearts of the people, and hush 
 their murmurings. The grateful shade of its palm 
 trees, and the refreshing of its wells, came in sweetly 
 and seasonably after the trial of Marah, and signifi- 
 cantly set forth, in our view, the precious virtues 
 of that spiritual ministry which God provides for 
 His people down here. "The twelve" and "the 
 seventy" are numbers intimately associated with 
 ministry. 
 
 But Elim was not Canaan. Its wells and palm 
 trees were but foretastes of that happy land which 
 lay beyond the bounds of the sterile desert on which 
 the redeemed had j ust entered. It furnished refresh- 
 ment, no doubt, but it was wilderness refreshment. 
 It was but for a passing moment, designed, in grace, 
 to encourage their depressed spirits, and nerve them 
 for their onward march to Canaan. Thus it is, as 
 we know, with ministry in the Church. It is a gra- 
 
206 EXODUS. 
 
 cious provision for our need, designed to refresh, 
 strengthen, and encourage our hearts, u until we all 
 come to the fullness of the measure of the stature of 
 Christ." (Eph. iv.) 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ^ 4 ND they took their journey from Elim, and all 
 "- the congregation of the children of Israel came 
 unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and 
 Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after 
 their departure out of the land of Egypt." (Chap, 
 xvi. 1.) Here we find Israel in a very marked and 
 interesting position. It is still the wilderness, no 
 doubt, but it is a most important and significant 
 stage thereof, namely, "between Elim and Sinai." 
 The former was the place where they had so recently 
 experienced the refreshing springs of divine ministry ; 
 the latter was the place where they entirely got off 
 'the ground of free and sovereign grace, and placed 
 themselves under a covenant of works. These facts 
 render "the wilderness of Sin a singularly interest- 
 ing portion of Israel's journey. Its features and 
 influences are as strongly marked as those of any 
 point in their whole career. They are here seen as 
 the subjects of the same grace which had brought 
 them up out of the land of Egypt, and therefore all 
 their murmurings are instantly met by divine sup- 
 plies. When God acts in the display of Plis grace, 
 there is no hindrance. The streams of blessing 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 207 
 
 which emanate from Him, flow onward without in- 
 terruption. It is only when man puts himself under 
 law that he forfeits everything ; for then God must 
 allow him to prove how much he can claim on the 
 ground of his own works. 
 
 When God visited and redeemed His people, and 
 brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, it 
 assuredly was not for the purpose of suffering them 
 to die of hunger and thirst in the wilderness. They 
 should have known this. They ought to have trusted 
 Him, and walked in the confidence of that love which 
 had so gloriously delivered them from the horrors of 
 Egyptian bondage. They should have remembered 
 that it was infinitely better to be in the desert with 
 God than in the brick-kilns with Pharaoh. But no ; 
 the human heart finds it immensely difficult to give 
 God credit for pure and perfect love. It has far 
 more confidence in Satan than God. Look, for a 
 moment, at all the sorrow and suffering, the misery 
 and degradation, which man has endured by reason 
 of his having hearkened to the voice of Satan ; and 
 yet he never gives utterance to a word of complaint 
 of his service, or of desire to escape from under his 
 hand. He is not discontented with Satan, or weary 
 of serving him. Again and again he reaps bitter 
 fruits in those fields which Satan has thrown open to 
 him, and yet again and again he may be seen sowing 
 the self-same seed, and undergoing the self-same 
 labors. 
 
 How different it is in reference to God ! When 
 we have set out to walk in His ways, we are ready, 
 
208 EXODUS. 
 
 at the earliest appearance of pressure or trial, to 
 murmur and. rebel. Indeed, there is nothing in 
 which we so signally fail as in the cultivation of a 
 confiding and thankful spirit. Ten thousand mercies 
 are forgotten in the presence of a single trifling pri- 
 vation. We have been frankly forgiven all our sins, 
 " accepted in the Beloved/' made heirs of God and 
 joint-heirs with Christ, the expectants of eternal 
 glory, and, in addition to all, our path through the 
 desert is strewed with coivhtless mercies ; and yet ' 
 let but a cloud the size of a man's hand appear on 
 the horizon, and we at once forget the rich mercies 
 of the past in view of this single cloud, which, after 
 all, may only "break in blessings on our head." 
 The thought of this should humble us deeply in the 
 presence of God. How unlike we are in this, as 
 in every other respect, to our blessed Exemplar! 
 Look at Him the true Israel in the wilderness 
 surrounded by wild beasts, and fasting forty days. 
 How did He carry Himself? Did He murmur ? did 
 He complain of His lot ? did He wish Himself in 
 other circumstances ? Ah, no. God was the por- 
 tion of His cup and the lot of His inheritance (Ps. 
 xvi.) ; and, therefore, when the tempter approached 
 and offered Him the necessaries, the glories, the 
 distinctions, and the honors of this life, He refused 
 them all, and tenaciously held fast the position of 
 absolute dependence upon God and implicit obedi- 
 ence to His word. He would only take bread from 
 God, and glory from Him likewise. 
 
 Very different was it with Israel after the flesh ! 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 209 
 
 No sooner did they feel the pressure of hunger than 
 "they murmured against Moses and Aaron in the 
 wilderness." .They seemed to have actually lost the 
 sense of having been delivered by the hand of Jeho- 
 vah, for they said, " Ye have brought us forth into 
 this wilderness." And again, in chapter xvii, "the 
 people murmured against Moses, and said, 'Where- 
 fore is this that thou hast brought us up out of 
 Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with 
 thirst?' ' ' Thus did they, on every occasion, evince 
 a fretful, murmuring spirit, and prove how little they 
 realized the presence and the hand of their almighty 
 and infinitely gracious Deliverer. 
 
 Now, nothing is more dishonoring to God than the 
 manifestation of a complaining spirit on the part of 
 those that belong to Him. The apostle gives it as a 
 special mark of Gentile corruption that, "when they 
 knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither 
 were thankful." Then follows the practical result of 
 this unthankful spirit, "They became vain in their 
 imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened." 
 (Rom. i. 21.) The heart that ceases to retain a 
 thankful sense of God's goodness will speedily be- 
 come "dark." Thus Israel lost the sense of being 
 in God's hands ; and this led, as might be expected, 
 to still thicker darkness, for we find them, further on 
 in their history, saying, ' ' Wherefore hath the Lord 
 brought us into this land, to fall ~by the sword, that 
 our wives and our children shall be a prey?" (Numb, 
 xiv. 3.) Such is the line alon^ which a soul out of 
 
 / o 
 
 communion will travel. It first loses the sense of 
 
210 EXODUS. 
 
 being in God's hands for good, and finally begins 
 to deem itself in His hands for evil. Melancholy 
 progress this ! 
 
 However, the people, being so far the subjects of 
 grace, are provided for ; and our chapter furnishes 
 the marvelous account of this provision, " Then 
 said the Lord unto Moses, 'Behold, I will rain bread 
 from heaven for you.' ' They, when enveloped in 
 the chilling cloud of their unbelief, had said, "Would 
 to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the 
 land of Eg3 r pt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, and 
 when we did eat bread to the full." But now the 
 word is, "Bread from heaven." Blessed contrast ! 
 How amazing the difference between the flesh pots, 
 the leeks, onions, and garlic of Egypt, and this heav- 
 enly manna c ' angels' food ' ' ! The former belonged 
 to earth, the latter to heaven. 
 
 But then this heavenly food was, of necessity, a 
 test of Israel's condition, as we read, "That I may 
 prove them, whether they will walk in My law or no. " 
 It needed a heart weaned from Eg}-pt's influences, 
 to be satisfied with or enjoy "bread from heaven." 
 In point of fact, we know that the people were not 
 satisfied with it, but despised it, pronounced it "light 
 food, ' ' and lusted for flesh. Thus they proved how lit- 
 tle their hearts were delivered from Eg}^pt, or disposed 
 to \valk in God's law. "In their hearts they turned 
 back again into Egypt." (Acts vii. 39. ) But instead 
 of getting back thither, they were ultimately carried 
 away beyond Babylon. (Acts vii. 43. ) This is a solemn 
 and salutary lesson for Christians. If those who are 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 211 
 
 redeemed from this present evil world do not walk 
 with God in thankfulness of heart, satisfied with His 
 provision for the redeemed in the wilderness, they 
 are in danger of falling into the snare of Babylonish 
 influences. This is a serious consideration. It de- 
 mands a heavenly taste to feed on bread from heaven. 
 Nature cannot relish such food ; it will ever yearn 
 after Egypt, and therefore it must be kept down. It 
 is our privilege, as those who have been baptized 
 unto Christ's death, and "risen again through the 
 faith of the operation of God," to feed upon Christ 
 as u the bread of life which came down from heaven." 
 This is our wilderness food Christ as ministered by 
 the Holy Ghost, through the written Word ; while, 
 for our spiritual refreshment, the Holy Ghost has 
 come down as the precious fruit of the smitten 
 Rock Christ, as smitten for us. Such is our rare 
 portion in this desert world. 
 
 Now, it is obvious that, in order to. enjoy such a 
 portion as this, our hearts must be weaned from 
 everything in this present evil world from all that 
 would address itself to us as natural men as men 
 alive in the flesh. A worldly heart a carnal mind, 
 would neither find Christ in the Word, nor enjoy Him 
 if found. The manna was so pure and delicate that 
 it could not bear contact with earth. It fell upon 
 the dew (see Numb. xi. 9.), and had to be gathered 
 ere the sun was up. Each one, therefore, had to 
 rise early and seek his daily portion. So it is 
 with the people of God now. The heavenly Manna 
 must be gathered fresh every morning. Yesterday's 
 
212 EXODUS. 
 
 Manna will not do for to-da}~, nor to-day's for to- 
 morrow. We must feed upon Christ every day, with 
 fresh energy of the Spirit, else we shall cease to 
 grow. Moreover, we must make Christ our primary 
 object. We must seek Him "early," before "other 
 things " have had time to take possession of our pool- 
 susceptible hearts. Many of us, alas ! fail in this. 
 We give Christ a secondary place, and the conse- 
 quence is, we are left feeble and barren. The enemy, 
 ever watchful, takes advantage of our excessive spir- 
 iritual indolence to rob us of the blessedness and 
 strength which flow from feeding upon Christ. The 
 new life in the believer can only be nourished and 
 sustained by Christ. "As the living Father hath 
 sent Me, and I live by the Father ; so he that eateth 
 Me, even he shall live by Me." (John vi. 57.) 
 
 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the One 
 who came down from heaven to be His people's 
 food, is ineffably precious to the renewed soul ; but, 
 in order to enjoy Him thus, we need to realize our- 
 selves as in the wilderness, separated to God in the 
 power of accomplished redemption. If I am walk- 
 ing with God through the desert, I shall be satisfied 
 with the food which He provides, and that is, Christ 
 as come down from heaven. "The old corn of the 
 land of Canaan" has its antitype in Christ ascended 
 up on high, and seated in the glory. As such, He is 
 the proper food of those who, by faith, know them- 
 selves as raised up together, and seated together 
 in Him in the heavenlies. But the Manna, that is, 
 Christ as come down from heaven, is for the people 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 213 
 
 of God in their wilderness life and experience. As a 
 people journeying down here, we need a Christ who 
 also journeyed down here ; as a people seated in 
 spirit up there, we have a Christ who is seated 
 up there. This may help to explain the difference 
 between the manna and the old corn of the land. It 
 is not a question of redemption ; that we have in the 
 blood of the cross, and there alone. It is simply the 
 provision which God has made for His people, ac- 
 cording to their varied attitudes, whether as actually 
 toiling in the desert, or in spirit taking possession of 
 the heavenly inheritance. 
 
 What a striking picture is presented by Israel in 
 the wilderness ! Egj-pt was behind them, Canaan 
 before them, and the sand of the desert around 
 them ; while they themselves were called to look up 
 to heaven for their daily supply. The wilderness 
 afforded not one blade of grass nor one drop of 
 water for the Israel of God. In Jehovah alone was 
 their portion. Most touching illustration of God's 
 pilgrim people in this wilderness world ! They have 
 nothing here. Their life, being heavenly, can only 
 be sustained by heavenly things. Though in the 
 world, they are not of it, for Christ lias chosen 
 them out of it. As a heaven-born people, they are 
 on their way to their birth-place, and sustained by 
 food sent from thence. Theirs is an upward and 
 onward course. The glory leads only thus. It is 
 utterly vain to cast the eye backward in the direction 
 of Egypt ; not a ray of the glory can there be dis- 
 cerned. "They looked toward the ivilderness, and 
 
 15 
 
214 EXODUS. 
 
 behold the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud." 
 4 'Jehovah's chariot was in the wilderness, and all 
 who desired companionship with Him should be there 
 likewise ; and if there, the heavenly manna should 
 be their food, and that alone. 
 
 True, this manna was strange sustenance, such as 
 an Egyptian could never understand, appreciate, or 
 live upon ; but those who had been c ' baptized in the 
 cloud and in the sea" could, if walking in consist- 
 ency with that significant baptism, enjoy and be 
 nourished by it. Thus is it now in the case of the 
 true believer. The worldling cannot understand how 
 he lives. Both his life and that which sustains it 
 lie entirely beyond the range of nature's keenest 
 vision. Christ is his life, and on Christ he lives. 
 He feeds, by faith, upon the powerful attractions of 
 One who, though being "God over all, blessed for- 
 ever," u took upon Him the form of a servant, and 
 was made in the likeness of men." (Phil. ii. 7.) 
 He traces Him from the bosom of the Father to the 
 cross, and from the cross to the throne, and finds 
 Him, in every stage of His journey, and in every 
 attitude of His life, to be most precious food for his 
 new man. All around, though, in fact, Egypt, is 
 morally a waste howling wilderness, affording no- 
 thing for the renewed mind ; and just in proportion 
 as the Christian finds any material to feed upon 
 must his spiritual man be hindered in his progress. 
 The only provision which God has made is the 
 heavenly Manna, and on this the true believer 
 should ever feed. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 215 
 
 It is truly deplorable to find Christians seeking 
 after the things of this world. It proves, very 
 distinctly, that they arc "loathing" the heavenly 
 Manna, and esteeming it "light food;" they are 
 ministering to that which they ought to mortify. 
 The activities of the new life will ever show them- 
 selves in connection with the subjugation of u the 
 old man with his deeds;" and the more that is 
 accomplished, the more will we desire to feed upon 
 the "Bread which strengthens man's heart." As 
 in nature, the more we exercise, the better the 
 appetite, so in grace ; the more our renewed faculties 
 arc called into play, the more we feel the need of 
 feeding, each day, upon Christ. It is one thing to 
 know that we have life in Christ, together with full 
 forgiveness and acceptance before God, and it is 
 quite another to be in habitual communion with 
 Him feeding upon Him by faith making Him the 
 exclusive food of our souls. Very many profess to 
 have found pardon and peace in Jesus, who, in 
 reality, are feeding upon a variety of things which 
 have no connection with Him. They feed their 
 minds with the newspapers and the varied frivolous 
 and vapid literature of the day. Will they find 
 Christ there ? Is it by such instrumentality that the 
 Holy Ghost ministers Christ to the soul ? Are these 
 the pure dew-drops on which the heavenly Manna 
 descends for the sustenance of God's redeemed in 
 the desert ? Alas ! no ; they are the gross materials 
 in which the carnal mind delights. How, then, can 
 a true Christian live upon such ? We know, by the 
 
216 EXODUS. 
 
 teaching of God's Word, that he carries about with 
 him two natures ; and it may be asked, Which of 
 the two is it that feeds upon the world's news and 
 the world's literature ? Is it the old, or the new ? 
 There can be but one reply. Well, then, which of 
 the. two arn I desirous of cherishing ? Assuredly 
 my conduct will afford the truest answer to this 
 inquiry. If I sincerely desire to grow in the divine 
 life if my one grand object is to be assimilated 
 and devoted to Christ if I am earnestly breathing 
 after an extension of God's kingdom within, I shall, 
 without doubt, seek continually that character of 
 nourishment which is designed of God to promote 
 my spiritual growth. This is plain. A man's acts 
 are always the truest index of his desires and pur- 
 poses. Hence, if I find a professing Christian neg- 
 lecting his Bible, yet finding abundance of time 
 yea, some of his choicest hours for the newspaper, 
 I can be at no loss to decide as to the true condition 
 of his soul. I am sure he cannot be spiritual 
 cannot be feeding upon, living for, or witnessing to, 
 Christ. 
 
 If an Israelite neglected to gather, in the fresh- 
 ness of the morning hour, his daily portion of the 
 divinely appointed food, he would speedily have 
 become lacking in strength for his journey. Thus is 
 it with us. We must make Christ the paramount 
 object of our soul's pursuit, else our spiritual life 
 will inevitably decline. We cannot even feed upon 
 feelings and experiences connected with Christ, for 
 they, inasmuch as they are fluctuating, cannot form 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 217 
 
 our spiritual nourishment. It was Christ yesterday, 
 and it must be Christ to-day, and Christ forever. 
 Moreover, it will not do to feed partly on Christ and 
 partly on other things. As in the matter of life it 
 is Christ alone, so in the matter of living it must be 
 Christ alone. As we cannot mingle any thing with 
 that which imparts life, so neither can we mingle 
 any thing with that which sustains it. 
 
 It is quite true that, in spirit, and by faith, we 
 can even now feed upon a risen and glorified Christ, 
 ascended up to heaven in virtue of accomplished 
 redemption, as prefigured by "the old corn of the 
 land." (See Joshua v.) And not only so, but we 
 know that when God's redeemed shall have entered 
 upon those fields of glory, rest, and immortality 
 which lie beyond the Jordan, they shall, in actual 
 fact, be done with wilderness food ; but they will 
 not be done with Christ, nor with the remembrance 
 of that which constitutes the specific nourishment 
 of their desert, life. 
 
 Israel were never to forget, amid the milk and 
 honey of the land of Canaan, that which had sus- 
 tained them during their forty years' sojourn in the 
 wilderness. "This is the thing which the Lord 
 commandeth: 'Fill an omer of it to be kept for 
 your generations ; that they may see the bread 
 wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I 
 brought you forth from the land of Egypt.' .... 
 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up 
 before the testimony, to be kept." (Ver. 32-34.) 
 Most precious memorial of the faithfulness of God ! 
 
218 EXODUS. 
 
 He did not suffer them to die of hunger, as their 
 foolish hearts had unbelievingly anticipated. He 
 rained bread from heaven for them, fed them with 
 angels' food, watched over them with all the tender- 
 ness of a nurse, bore with them, carried them on 
 eagles' wings, and, had they only continued on the 
 proper ground of grace, He would have put them in 
 eternal possession of all the promises made to their 
 fathers. The pot of manna, therefore, containing, 
 as it did, a man's daily portion, and laid up before 
 the Lord, furnishes a volume of truth. There was 
 no worm therein, nor aught of taint. It was the 
 record of Jehovah's faithfulness in providing for 
 those whom He had redeemed out of the hand of 
 the cnem3 r . 
 
 Not so, however, when man hoarded it up for 
 himself. Then the symptoms of corruptibility soon 
 made their appearance. We cannot, if entering into 
 the truth and reality of our position, hoard up. It 
 is our privilege, day by day, to enter into the prc- 
 ciousness of Christ, as the One who came down from 
 heaven to give life unto the world. But if any, in 
 forgetfulness of this, should be found hoarding up 
 for to-morrow, that is, laying up truth beyond his 
 present need, instead of turning it to profit in the 
 way of renewing strength, it will surely become 
 corrupt. This is a salutary lesson for us. It is a 
 deeply solemn thing to learn truth ; for there is not 
 a principle which we profess to have learnt which we 
 shall not have to prove practically. God will not 
 have us theorists. One often trembles to hear per- 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 219 
 
 sons make high professions and use expressions of 
 intense devotedness, whether in prayer or otherwise, 
 lest, when the hour of trial comes, there may not 
 be the needed spiritual power to carry out what the 
 lips have uttered. 
 
 There is a great danger of the intellect's outstrip- 
 ping the conscience and the affections. Hence it is 
 that so many seem, at first, to make such rapid 
 progress up to a certain point ; but there they stop 
 short and appear -to retrograde. Like an Israelite 
 gathering up more manna than he required for one 
 day's food. He might appear to be accumulating 
 the heavenly food far more diligently than others ; 
 yet every particle beyond the day's supply was not 
 only useless, but far worse than useless, inasmuch as 
 it c ' bred worms. ' ' Thus is it with the Christian. He 
 must use what he gets, he must feed upon Christ 
 as a matter of actual need, and the need is brought 
 out in actual service. The character and ways of 
 God, the preciousness and beauty of Christ, and the 
 living depths of the Word, are only unfolded to faith 
 and need. It is as we use what we receive that more 
 will be given. The path of the believer is to be a 
 practical one ; and here it is that so many of us come 
 short. It will often be found that those who get on 
 most rapidly in theory are the slowest in the practi- 
 cal and experimental elements, because it is more a 
 work of intellect than of heart and conscience. We 
 should ever remember that Christianity is not a set 
 of opinions, a system of dogmas, or a number of 
 views ; it is pre-eminently a living reality, a per- 
 
220 EXODUS. 
 
 sonal, practical, powerful thing, telling itself out in 
 all the scenes and circumstances of daily life, shed- 
 ding its hallowed influence over the entire character 
 and course, and imparting its heavenly tone to every 
 relationship which one may be called of God to fill. 
 In a word, it is that which flows from being associa- 
 ted and occupied with Christ. This is Christianity. 
 There may be clear views, correct notions, sound 
 principles, without any fellowship with Jesus ; but 
 an orthodox creed without Christ will prove a cold, 
 barren, dead thing. 
 
 Christian reader, see carefully to it that you are 
 not only saved by Christ, but also living on Him. 
 Make Him the daily portion of 3^011 r soul. Seek 
 Him "early," seek him "-only." When any thing- 
 solicits your attention, ask the question, Will this 
 bring Christ to my heart ? Will it unfold Him to 
 my affections, or draw me near to His Person ? If 
 not, reject it at once : } T es, reject it, though it present 
 itself under the most specious appearance and with 
 the most commanding authority. If your honest 
 purpose be to get on in the divine life, to progress 
 in spirituality, to cultivate personal acquaintance 
 with Christ, then challenge your heart solemnly and 
 faithfully as to this. Halve Christ your habitual 
 food. Go, gather the Manna that falls on the dew- 
 drops, and feed upon it with an appetite sharpened 
 by a diligent walk with God through the desert. 
 May the rich grace of God the Holy Ghost abund- 
 antly strengthen you in all this ! * 
 
 *My reader will find it profitable to turn to the sixth of John, and 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 221 
 
 There is one point more in our chapter which we 
 shall notice, namely, the institution of the Sabbath, 
 in its connection with the manna and Israel's posi- 
 tion as here set forth. From the second chapter of 
 Genesis down to the chapter now before us, we find 
 no mention made of this institution. This is re- 
 markable. Abel's sacrifice, Enoch's walk with God, 
 Noah's preaching, Abraham's call, together with the 
 detailed history of Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, are all 
 presented ; but there is no allusion to the Sabbath 
 until we find Israel recognized as a people in rela- 
 tionship and consequent responsibility to Jehovah. 
 The Sabbath was interrupted in Eden ; and here we 
 find it again instituted for Israel in the wilderness. 
 But, alas! man has no heart for God's rest. And 
 it came to pass that "there went out some of the 
 people on the seventh day for to gather, and they 
 found none. And the Lord said unto Moses, 'How 
 long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My 
 laws ? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sab- 
 bath, therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the 
 bread of two days : abide ye every man in his place ; 
 
 prayerfully meditate upon it, in connection with the subject of the 
 manna. The passover being near, Jesus feeds the multitude, and 
 then takes His departure to a mountain, there to be alone. From 
 thence He comes to the relief of His distressed people tossed upon 
 the troubled waters. After this, Ho unfolds the doctrine of His 
 Terson and work, and declares how Ho was to give His flesh for 
 the life of the world, and that none could have life sava by eating 
 His flesh and drinking His blood. Finally, He speaks of Himself 
 as ascending up where He was before and of the quickening power 
 of the Holy Ghost. It is, indeed, a rich and copious chapter, in 
 which the spiritual reader will flnd a vast fund of truth for the 
 comfort and edification of his soul. 
 
222 EXODUS. 
 
 let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.' ' 
 (Ver. 27-29.) God would have His people enjoying 
 sweet repose with Himself. He would give them 
 rest, food, and refreshment, even in the wilderness. 
 But man's heart is not disposed to rest with God. 
 The people could remember and speak of the time 
 when they "sat by the flesh pots" in Egypt, but 
 they could not appreciate the blessedness of sitting 
 in their tents, enjoying with God "the rest of the 
 holy Sabbath," feeding upon the heavenly manna. 
 
 And, be it remarked, that the Sabbath is here 
 presented as a matter of gift. ' ' The Lord hath given 
 you the Sabbath. Further on in this book we shall 
 find it put in the form of a law, with a curse and a 
 judgment attached to it in the case of disobedience. 
 But whether fallen man gets a privilege or a law, a 
 blessing or a curse, it is all alike. His nature is bad. 
 He can neither rest with nor work for God. If God 
 works and makes a rest for him, he will not keep it ; 
 and if God tells him to work, he will not do it. Such 
 is man. He has no heart for God. He can make 
 use of the name of the Sabbath as a something to 
 exalt himself, or as the badge of his own religious- 
 ness ; but when we turn to Exodus xvi, we find that 
 he cannot prize God's Sabbath as a gift, and when 
 we turn to Numbers xv. 32-36, we find he cannot 
 keep it as a law. 
 
 Now, 'we know that the Sabbath, as well as the 
 manna, was a type. In itself, it was a real blessing 
 a sweet mercy from the hand of a loving and 
 gracious God, who would relieve the toil and travail 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 223 
 
 of a sin-stricken earth by the refreshment of one day 
 of rest out of the seven. Whatever way we look at 
 the institution of the Sabbath, we must see it to be 
 pregnant with richest mercy, whether we view it 
 in reference to man or to the animal creation. And, 
 albeit, that Christians observe the first day of the 
 week the Lord's day and attach to it its proper 
 principles, yet is the gracious providence equally 
 observable, nor would any mind at all governed by 
 right feelings, seek, for a moment, to interfere with 
 such a signal mercy. "The Sabbath was made 
 for man ; " and although man never lias kept it, ac- 
 cording to the divine thought about it, that does not 
 detract from the grace which shines in the appoint- 
 ment of it, nor divest it of its deep significancy as a 
 type of that eternal rest which remains for the people 
 of God, or as a shadow of that substance which faith 
 now enjoys in the Person and work of a risen Christ. 
 Let not the reader therefore suppose that in any 
 thing which has been or may be stated in these pages 
 the object is to touch, in the slightest degree, the 
 merciful provision of one day's rest for man and the 
 animal creation, much less to interfere with the dis- 
 tinct place which the Lord's day occupies in the New 
 Testament. Nothing is further from the writer's 
 thoughts. As a man he values the former, and as 
 a Christian he rejoices in the latter, far too deeply 
 to admit of his penning or uttering a single syllable 
 which would interfere with either the one or the 
 other. He would only ask the reader to weigh, 
 with a dispassionate mind, in the balance of Holy 
 
224 EXODUS. 
 
 Scripture, every line and every statement, and not 
 form any harsh judgment beforehand. 
 
 This subject will come before us again, in our 
 further meditations, if the Lord will. May we learn 
 to value more the rest which our God has provided 
 for us in Christ, and while enjoying Him as our rest, 
 may we feed upon Him as the u hidden Manna," 
 laid up, in the power of resurrection, in the inner 
 sanctuary, the record of what God has accom- 
 plished, on our behalf, by coming down into this 
 world, in His infinite grace, in order that we might 
 be before Him according to the perfectness of Christ, 
 and feed on His unsearchable riches forever. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ^ A ND all the congregation of the children of 
 fj- Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, 
 after their journeys, according to the commandment 
 of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim :, and there 
 was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore 
 the people did chide with Moses, and said, 'Give us 
 water that we may drink.' And Moses said unto 
 them, 'Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye 
 tempt the Lord?' " (Chap. xvii. 1, 2.) Did we not 
 know something of the humiliating evil of our own 
 hearts, we should be quite at a loss to account for 
 Israel's marvelous insensibility to all the Lord's 
 goodness, faithfulness, and mighty acts. They had 
 just seen bread descending from heaven to feed six 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 225 
 
 hundred thousand people in the wilderness ; and 
 now they are "ready to stone" Moses for bringing 
 them out into the wilderness to kill them with thirst. 
 Nothing can exceed the desperate unbelief and wick- 
 edness of the human heart save the superabouncling 
 grace of God. In that grace alone can any one find 
 relief under the growing sense of his evil nature 
 which circumstances tend to make manifest. Had 
 Israel been transported directly from Egypt to Ca- 
 naan, they would not have made such sad exhibitions 
 of what the human heart is, and, as a consequence, 
 they would not have proved such admirable ensam- 
 ples or types for us ; but their forty years' wander- 
 ing in the desert furnishes us with a volume of 
 warning, admonition, and instruction, fruitful be- 
 yond conception. From it we learn, amongst many 
 other things, the unvarying tendency of the heart 
 to distrust God. Any thing, in short, for it but 
 God. It would rather lean upon a cobweb of human 
 resources than upon the arm of an omnipotent, all- 
 wise, and infinitely gracious God ; and the smallest 
 cloud is more than sufficient to hide from its view 
 the light of His blessed countenance. Well, there- 
 fore, may it be termed "an evil heart of unbelief," 
 which will ever show itself ready to "depart from 
 the living God." 
 
 It is interesting to note the two great questions 
 raised by unbelief in this and the preceding chapter. 
 They are precisely similar to those which spring up 
 within and around us every day, namely, ^What 
 shall we eat ? and What shall we drink ? We do 
 
226 EXODUS. 
 
 not find the people raising the third question in the 
 category "Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" 
 But here are the questions of the wilderness 
 "What?" "Where?" "How?" Faith has a brief 
 but comprehensive answer to all the three, namely, 
 GOD ! Precious, perfect answer ! O that the 
 writer and the reader were more thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with its force and fullness ! We assuredly 
 need to remember, when placed in a position of 
 trial, that "there hath no temptation taken us but 
 such as is common to man : but God is faithful, 
 who will not suffer 3^011 to be tempted above that ye 
 are able ; but will with the temptation also make a 
 way to escape, [or, an "issue" cx/ladir,'] that ye 
 may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. x. 13.) Whenever 
 we get into trial, we may feel confident that with 
 the trial there is an issue, and all we need is a 
 broken will and a single eye to see it. 
 
 "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, where with 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." 
 (Ver. 4-6.) Thus all is met by the most perfect 
 grace. Every murmur brings out a fresh display: 
 Here we have the refreshing stream gushing from 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 227 
 
 the smitten rock beauteous type of the Spirit given 
 as the fruit of Christ's accomplished sacrifice. In 
 chapter xvi, we have a type of Christ coming down 
 from heaven to give life to the world. In chapter 
 xvii, we have a type of the Holy Ghost, "shed 
 forth" in virtue of Christ's finished work. "They 
 drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, 
 and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. x. 4.) But 
 who could drink till the Rock was smitten ? Israel 
 might have gazed on that rock and died of thirst 
 while gazing ; but until smitten by the rod of God, 
 it could yield no refreshment. This is plain enough. 
 The Lord Jesus Christ was the centre and foundation 
 of all God's counsels of love and mercy. Through 
 Him all blessing was to flow to man. The streams 
 of grace were designed to gush forth from "the 
 Lamb of God;" but then it was needful that the 
 Lamb should be slain that the work of the cross 
 should be an accomplished fact ere any of these 
 things could be actualized. It was when the Rock 
 of Ages was cleft by the hand of Jehovah that the 
 flood-gates of eternal love were thrown wide open, 
 and perishing sinners invited, by the testimony of the 
 Holy Ghost, to "drink abundantly," drink deeply, 
 drink freely. "The gift of the Holy Ghost" is the 
 result of the Son's accomplished work upon the cross. 
 "The promise of the Father" could not be fulfilled 
 until Christ had taken His seat at the right hand of 
 the Majesty in the heavens, having wrought out 
 perfect righteousness, answered all the claims of 
 holiness, magnified the law and made it honorable, 
 
228 EXODUS. 
 
 borne the unmitigated wrath, of God against sin, 
 exhausted the power of death, and deprived the 
 grave of its victory. He, having done all this, 
 "ascended tip on high, led captivity captive, and 
 gave gifts unto men. Now that lie ascended, what 
 is it but that He also descended first into the lower 
 parts of the earth ? He that descended is the same 
 also that ascended up far above all heavens, that 
 He might fill all things." (Eph. iv. 8-10.) 
 
 This is the true foundation of the Church's peace, 
 blessedness, and glory forever. Until the rock was 
 smitten, the stream was pent up, and man could do 
 nothing. What human hand could bring forth water 
 from a flinty rock ? And so we may ask, What 
 human righteousness could afford a warrant for 
 opening the flood-gates of divine love ? This is the 
 true way in which to test jnan's competency. He 
 could not, by his doings, his sayings, or his feelings, 
 furnish a ground for the mission of the Holy Ghost. 
 Let him be or do what he may, he could not do this. 
 But thank God, it is done ; Christ has finished -the 
 work; the true Rock has been smitten, and the 
 refreshing stream has issued forth, so that thirsty 
 souls may drink. "The water that I shall give 
 him," says Christ, "shall be in him a well of water, 
 springing up into everlasting life." (John iv. 14.) 
 Again : "In the last cla}^, that great day of the feast, 
 Jesus stood and cried, saying, 'If any man thirst, 
 let him come unto Me and drink. He that believeth 
 on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly 
 shall flow rivers of living water.' (But this spake 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 229 
 
 He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him 
 should receive ; for the Holy Ghost was not yet 
 given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" 
 (John vii. 37-39 ; compare, also, Acts xix. 2.) 
 
 Thus, as in the manna we have a type of Christ, 
 so in the stream gushing from the rock we have a 
 type of the Holy Ghost. "If thou knewest the gift 
 of God [&'.<?., Christ], .... thou wouldest have 
 asked of Him, and He would have given thee living 
 water [i.e. the Spirit]." 
 
 Such, then, is the teaching conveyed to the spirit- 
 ual mind by the smitten rock ; but the name of the 
 place in which this significant type was presented is 
 a standing memorial of man's unbelief. "He called 
 the name of the place Massah [i.e., Temptation], 
 and Meribah [7.e., Chiding], because of the chiding 
 of the children of Israel, and because they tempted 
 the Lord, saying, 'Is the Lord among us, or not?' ' 
 (Ver. 7.) After such repeated assurances and evi- 
 dences of Jehovah's presence,* to raise such an in- 
 quiry proves the deep-seated unbelief of the human 
 heart. It was, in point of fact, tempting Him. 
 Thus did the Jews, in the day of Christ's presence 
 amongst them, seek of Him a sign from heaven, 
 tempting Him. Faith never acts thus ; it believes 
 in and enjo} T s the divine presence, not by a sign, 
 but by the knowledge of Himself. It knows He is> 
 there to be enjoyed, and it enjoys Him. Lord, 
 grant us a more artless spirit of confidence ! 
 
 The next point suggested by our chapter is one of 
 special interest to us. "Then came Amalek and 
 16 
 
230 EXODUS. 
 
 fought with Israel in Rephiclim. And Moses said 
 unto .Joshua, 'Choose us out men, and go out, fight 
 with Amalek : to-morrow I will stand on the top of 
 the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.' " (Ver. 
 8, 9.) The gift of the Holy Ghost leads to conflict. 
 The light rebukes and conflicts with the darkness. 
 Where all is dark there is no struggle ; but the very 
 feeblest struggle bespeaks the presence of light. 
 "The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit 
 against the flesh ; and these are contrary the one to 
 the other, so that ye should not do the things that yc 
 would." (Gal. v. 17.) Thus it is in the chapter 
 before us ; we have the rock smitten and the water 
 flowing forth, and immediately we read, "Then came 
 Amalek and fought with Israel." 
 
 This is the first time that Israel are seen in conflict 
 with an external foe. Up to this point, the Lord had 
 f tfugkt for them, as we read in chapter xiv, "The 
 Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your 
 peace." But now the word is, "Choose us out 
 men. 19 True, God must now fight in Israel, as, 
 before, He had fought for them. This marks the 
 difference, as to the type ; and as to the antitype, 
 we know that there is an immense difference between 
 Christ's battles for us, and the Holy Ghost's battles 
 in us. The former, blessed be God, are all over, 
 the victory gained, and a glorious and an everlasting 
 peace secured : the latter, on the contrary, are still 
 going on. 
 
 Pharaoh and Amalek represent two different pow- 
 ers or influences. Pharaoh represents the hindrance 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 231 
 
 to Israel's deliverance from Eg}^pt: Am alek repre- 
 sents the hindrance to their walk with God through 
 the wilderness. Pharaoh used the things of Egypt 
 to keep Israel from serving the Lord ; he therefore 
 prefigures Satan, who uses "this present evil world" 
 against the people of God: Amalek, on the other 
 hand, stands before us as the type of the flesh. He 
 was the grandson of Esau, who preferred a mess of 
 pottage to the birthright. (See Gen. xxxvi. 12.) He 
 was the first who opposed Israel after their baptism 
 ' ' in the cloud and in the sea. ' ' These facts serve to 
 fix his character with great distinctness ; and, in 
 addition to these, we know that Saul was set aside 
 from the kingdom of Israel in consequence of his 
 failing to destroy Amalek. (1 Sam. xv.) And 
 further, we find that Haman is the last of the Ama- 
 lekites of whom we find any notice in Scripture. 
 He was hanged on a gallows in consequence of his 
 wicked attempt against the seed of Israel. (See 
 Esther.) No Amalekite could obtain entrance into 
 the congregation of the Lord. And finally, in the 
 chapter now before us, the Lord declares perpetual 
 war with Amalek. 
 
 All these circumstances may be regarded as fur- 
 nishing conclusive evidence of the fact that Amalek 
 is a type of the flesh. The connection between his 
 conflict with Israel and the water flowing out of the 
 rock is most marked and instructive, and in full 
 keeping with the believer's conflict with his evil 
 nature, which conflict is, as we know, consequent 
 upon his having the new nature, and the Holy Ghost 
 
232 EXODUS. 
 
 dwelling therein. Israel's conflict began when they 
 stood in the full power of redemption, and had 
 tasted "that spiritual meat, and drunk of that 
 spiritual Rock." Until they met Amalek, they had 
 nothing to do. They did not cope with Pharaoh ; 
 ' they did not break the power of Egypt, nor snap 
 asunder the chains of its thraldom ; they did not 
 divide the sea, nor submerge Pharaoh's hosts be- 
 neath its waves ; they did not bring down bread 
 from heaven, nor draw forth water out of the flinty 
 rock ; they neither had done, nor could they do, 
 any of these things ; but now they are called to 
 fight with Amalek. All the previous conflict had 
 been between Jehovah and the enemy. They had 
 but to "stand still" and gaze upon the mighty 
 triumphs of Jehovah's outstretched arm, and enjoy 
 the fruits of victory. The Lord had fought for 
 them ; but now He fights in or % them. 
 
 Thus is it also with the Church of God. The 
 victories on which her eternal peace and blessedness 
 are founded were gained, single-handed, by Christ 
 for her. He was alone on the cross, alone in the 
 tomb. The Church had to stand aside, for how 
 could she be there? how could she vanquish Satar, 
 endure the wrath of God, or rob death of its sting? 
 Impossible. These things lay far beyond the reach 
 of sinners, but not beyond the reach of Him who 
 came to save them, and who alone was able to bear 
 upon His shoulder the ponderous weight of all their 
 sins, and roll the burden away forever, by His in- 
 finite sacrifice, so that God the Holy Ghost, pro- 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 233 
 
 ceeding from God the Father, in virtue of the 
 perfect atonement of God the Son, can take up 
 His abode in the Church collectively, and in each 
 member thereof individually. 
 
 Now it is when the Holy Ghost thus takes up His 
 abode in us, consequent upon Christ's death and 
 resurrection, that our conflict begins. Christ has 
 fought for us ; the Holy Ghost fights in us. The 
 very fact of our enjoying this first rich spoil of 
 victory, puts us into direct conflict with the foe; 
 but the comfort is that we are victors ere we enter 
 upon the field of conflict at all. The believer ap- 
 proaches to the battle singing, "Thanks be to God 
 which give th us the victory through our Lord Jesus 
 Christ." (1 Cor. xv. 57.) We do not, therefore, 
 fight uncertainly, or as those that beat the air, while 
 we seek to keep under the body and bring it into 
 subjection. (1 Cor. ix. 26, 27.) "We are more 
 than conquerors through Him that loved us." (Rom. 
 viii. 37.) The grace in which we stand renders the 
 flesh utterly void of power to lord it over us. (See 
 Rom. vi, passim.) If the law is "the strength of 
 Gin," grace is the weakness thereof. The former 
 gives sin power over us ; the latter gives us power 
 over sin. 
 
 "And Moses said unto Joshua, 'Choose us out 
 men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I 
 will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God 
 in mine hand.' So Joshua did as Moses had said 
 unto him, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, 
 Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And 
 
234 EXODUS. 
 
 it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that 
 Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, 
 Amalek prevailed. Bat Moses' hands were heavy ; 
 and they took a stone and put it under him, and 
 he sat thereon ; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his 
 hands, the one on the one side and the other on the 
 other side ; and his hands were steady until the 
 going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited 
 Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." 
 (Verses 9-13.) 
 
 We have here two distinct things, namely, conflict 
 and intercession. Christ is on high for us, while the 
 Holy Ghost carries on the, mighty struggle in us. 
 The two things go together. It is as we enter by 
 faith into the prevalency of Christ's intercession on 
 our "behalf that we make head against our evil nature. 
 
 Some there arc who seek to overlook the fact of 
 the Christian's conflict with the flesh. They look 
 upon regeneration as a total change or renewal of 
 the old nature. Upon this principle it would neces- 
 sarily follow that the believer has nothing to strug- 
 gle with. If my nature is renewed, what have I to 
 contend with ? Nothing. There is nothing within, 
 inasmuch as my old nature is made new ; and no- 
 thing without can affect me, inasmuch as there is no 
 response from within. The world lias no charms 
 for one whose flesh is entirely changed, and Satan 
 has nothing by or on which to act. To all who 
 maintain such a theoiy, it may be said that they 
 seem to forget the place which Amalek occupies in 
 the history of the people of God. Had Israel con- 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 235 
 
 ceived the idea that when Pharaoh's hosts were 
 gone their conflict was at an end, they would have 
 been sadly put about when Amalek came upon them. 
 The fact is, theirs only then began. Thus it is with 
 the believer, for "all these things happened unto 
 Israel for ensamples, and they are written for our 
 admonition." (1 Cor. x. 11.) But there could be 
 no "type," no "ensample," no "admonition," in 
 "these things" for one whose old nature is made 
 new. Indeed, such an one can have but little need 
 of any of those gracious provisions which God has 
 made in His kingdom for those who are the subjects 
 thereof. 
 
 We are distinctly taught in the Word that the 
 believer carries about with him that which answers 
 to Amalek, that is, "the flesh" "the old man" 
 "the carnal mind." (Rom. vi. G ; viii. 7 ; Gal. v. 17.) 
 Now, if the Christian, upon perceiving the stirrings 
 of his evil nature, begins to doubt his being a Chris- 
 tian, he will not only render himself exceedingly 
 unhappy, but also deprive himself of his vantage- 
 ground against the enemy. The flesh exists in the 
 believer and will be there to the end of the chapter. 
 The Ploly Ghost fully recognizes it as existing, as 
 we may easily see, from various parts of the New 
 Testament. In Romars vi. we read, "Let not sin 
 therefore reign in your mortal bodies." Such a 
 precept would be entirely uncalled for if the flesh 
 were not existing in the believer. It would be out 
 of character to tell us not to let sin reign, if it were 
 not actually dwelling in us. There is a great differ- 
 
236 EXODUS. 
 
 ence between dwelling and reigning. It dwells in a 
 believer, but it reigns in an unbeliever. 
 
 However, though it dwells in us, we have, thank 
 God, a principle of power over it. "Sin shall not 
 have dominion over you ; for ye are not under the 
 law, but under grace." The grace which, by the 
 blood of the cross, has put .away sin, insures us the 
 victoiy, and gives us present power over its indwell- 
 ing principle. 
 
 We have died to sin, and hence it has no claim 
 over us. "He that has died is justified from sin." 
 "Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified 
 with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, 
 that henceforth we should not serve sin." (Rom. 
 vi. G.) "And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his 
 people with the edge of the sword." All was 
 victory; and Jehovah's banner floated over the 
 triumphant host, bearing the sweet and heart-sus- 
 taining inscription, " Jehovah-nissi" (the Lord my 
 banner). The assurance of' victory should be as 
 complete as the sense of forgiveness, seeing both 
 alike are founded upon the great fact that Jesus 
 died and rose again. It h in the power of this that 
 the believer enjoys a purged conscience and sub- 
 dues indwelling sin. The death of Christ having 
 answered all the claims of God in reference to our 
 sins, His resurrection becomes the spring of- power 
 in all the details of conflict afterwards. He died/or 
 us, and now He lives in us. The former gives us 
 peace, the latter gives us power. 
 
 It is edifying to remark the contrast between 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 237 
 
 Moses on the hill and Christ on the throne. The 
 hands of our great Intercessor can never hang down. 
 His intercession never fluctuates. u He ever liveth 
 to make intercession for us." (Heb. vii.) His in- 
 tercession is never-ceasing and all-prevailing. Hav- 
 ing taken His place on high, in the power of divine 
 righteousness, He acts for us according to what He 
 is, and according to the infinite perfectness of what 
 He has done. His hands can never hang down, nor 
 can He need any one to hold them up. His perfect 
 advocacy is founded upon His perfect sacrifice. He 
 presents us before God, clothed in His own perfec- 
 tions, so that though we may ever have to keep our 
 faces in the dust, in the sense of what we are, yet 
 the Spirit can only testify to^us of what He is before 
 God for us, and of what we are in Him. "We are 
 not in the flesh, but in the Spirit." (Rom. viii. ) We 
 are in the body, as to the fact of our condition ; but 
 we are not in the flesli, as to the principle of our 
 standing. Moreover, the flesh is in us, though we 
 are dead to it ; but we are not in the flesh, because 
 we are alive with Christ. 
 
 We may further remark, on this chapter, that 
 Moses had the rod of God w r ith him on the hill the 
 rod with which he had smitten the rock. This rod 
 was the expression or symbol of the power of God, 
 which is seen alike in atonement and intercession. 
 When the work of atonement was accomplished, 
 Christ took His seat in heaven, and sent down the 
 Holy Ghost to take up His abode in the Church ; so 
 that there is an inseparable connection between the 
 
238 EXODUS. 
 
 work of Christ and the work of the Spirit. There 
 is the application of the power of God in each. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 WE here arrive at the close of a very marked 
 division of the book of Exodus. We have 
 seen God, in the exercise of His perfect grace, 
 visiting and redeeming His people, bringing them 
 forth out of the land of Eg} T pt, delivering them first 
 from the hand of Pharaoh and then from the hand 
 of Amalek. Furthermore, we have seen, in the 
 manna, a type of Christ come down from heaven ; 
 in the rock, a type of Christ smitten for His people ; 
 and in the gushing stream, a type of the Spirit given. 
 Then follows, in striking and beautiful order, a pic- 
 ture of the future glory, divided into its three grand 
 departments, namely, "the Jew, the Gentile, and 
 the Church of God." 
 
 During the period of Moses' rejection by his 
 brethren, he was taken apart and presented with a 
 bride the companion of his rejection. We were 
 led to see, at the opening of this book, the charac- 
 ter of Moses' relationship with this bride. He was 
 "a husband by blood" to her. This is precisely 
 what Christ is to the Church. Her connection with 
 Him is founded upon death and resurrection ; and 
 she is called to fellowship with His sufferings. It 
 is, as we know, during the period of Israel's un- 
 belief and of Christ's rejection that the Church is 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 239 
 
 called out ; and when the Church is complete, 
 according to the divine counsels when the "full- 
 ness of the Gentiles is come in" Israel shall again 
 be brought into notice. 
 
 Thus it was with Zipporah and Israel of old. 
 Moses had sent her back during the period of his 
 mission to Israel ; and when the latter were brought 
 forth as a fully delivered people, we read thaf'Jeth- 
 ro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, 
 after he had sent her back, 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 ; ' and 
 the name of the other was Eliezer ; ' For the God of 
 my fathers,' said he, 'was mine help, and delivered 
 me from the sword of Pharaoh.' 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. And he said unto Moses, 'I, 
 thy father-in-law, Jethro, am come unto thee, and 
 thy wife and her two sons with her.' And Moses 
 went out to meet his father-in-law, and did obei- 
 sance, and kissed him ; and they asked each other 
 of their welfare ; and they came into the tent. 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. And 
 Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord 
 had done to Israel, whom He had delivered from 
 the hand of the Egyptians. And Jethro said, 
 'Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out 
 
240 EXODUS. 
 
 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. Now I know 
 that the Lord is greater than all gods ; for in the 
 thing wherein they dealt proudly He was above 
 them.' And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took a 
 burnt-offering and sacrifices for God ; and Aaron 
 came, and all the elders of Israel, to eat bread 
 with Moses' father-in-law before God." (Chap.xviii. 
 2-12.) 
 
 This is a deeply interesting scene. The whole 
 congregation assembled in triumph before the Lord, 
 the Gentile presenting sacrifice, and in addition, 
 to complete the picture, the bride of the deliverer, 
 together with the children whom God had given 
 him, are all introduced. It is, in short, a singularly 
 striking foreshadowing of the coming kingdom. 
 u The Lord will give grace and gloiy." We have 
 already seen, in what we have traveled over of this 
 book, very much of the actings of "grace;" and 
 here we have, from the pencil of the Holy Ghost, a 
 beauteous picture of "glory," a picture which 
 must be regarded as peculiarly important, as ex- 
 hibiting the varied fields in which that glory shall 
 be manifested. 
 
 "The Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God" 
 are scriptural distinctions which can never be over- 
 looked without marring that perfect range of truth 
 which God has revealed in His holy Word. They 
 have existed ever since the mystery of the Church 
 was fully developed by the ministry of the apostle 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 241 
 
 Paul, and they shall exist throughout the millennial 
 age. Hence, every spiritual student of Scripture 
 will give them their due place in his mind. 
 
 The apostle expressly teaches us, in his epistle to 
 the Ephesians, that the mystery of the Church had 
 not been made known, in other ages, to the sons of 
 men, as it was revealed to him. But though not 
 directly revealed, it had been shadowed forth in one 
 way or another ; as, for example, in Joseph's mar- 
 riage with an Egyptian, and in Moses' marriage 
 with an Ethiopian. The type or shadow of a truth 
 is a very different thing from a direct and positive 
 revelation of it. The great mystery of the Church 
 was not revealed until Christ, in heavenly glory, 
 revealed it to Saul of Tarsus. Hence, all who look 
 for the full unfolding of this mystery in the law, 
 the prophets, or the psalms, will find themselves 
 engaged in unintelligent labor. When, however, 
 they find it distinctly revealed in the epistle to 
 the Ephesians, they will be able, with interest and 
 profit, to trace its foreshadowing in Old Testament 
 Scripture. 
 
 Thus we have, in the opening of our chapter, a 
 millennial scene. All the fields of glory lie open in 
 vision before us. "The Jew" stands forth as the 
 great earthly witness of Jehovah's faithfulness, His 
 mercy, and His power. This is what the Jew has 
 been in bygone ages, it is what he is now, and what 
 he will be, world without end. ' ' The Gentile ' ' reads, 
 in the book of God's dealings with the Jew, his 
 deepest lessons. He traces the marvelous history 
 
242 EXODUS. 
 
 of that peculiar and elect people "a people terrible 
 from their beginning hitherto ; " he sees thrones and 
 empires overturned, nations shaken to their centre, 
 every one and every thing compelled to give waj r , in 
 order to establish the supremacy of that people on 
 whom Jehovah has set His love. "Now I know," 
 he says, "that the Lord is greater than all gods ; for 
 in the thing wherein they dealt proudly He was 
 above them." (Ver. 11.) Such is the confession of 
 "the Gentile" when the wondrous page of Jewish 
 history lies open before him. 
 
 Lastly, "the Church of God" collectively, as pre- 
 figured by Zipporah, and the members thereof indi- 
 vidually, as seen in Zipporah' s sons, are presented 
 as occupying the most intimate relationship with 
 the deliverer. All this is perfect in its "way. We 
 may be asked for our proofs. The answer is, "I 
 speak as unto wise men: judge ye what I say." 
 We can never build a doctrine upon a type ; but 
 when a doctrine is revealed, a type thereof may be 
 discerned with accuracy and studied with profit. In 
 every case, a spiritual mind is essentially necessary, 
 either to understand the doctrine or discern the type. 
 "The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
 Spirit of God ; for they arc foolishness unto him ; 
 neither can he know them, because they are spirit- 
 ually discerned."(l Cor. ii. 14.) 
 
 From verse 13 to the end cf our chapter, we have 
 the appointment of rulers, who were to assist Moses 
 in the management of the affairs of the congregation. 
 This was the suggestion of Jethro, who feared that 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 243 
 
 Moses would "wear away" in consequence of his 
 labors. In connection with this, it may "be profitable 
 to look at the appointment of the seventy elders in 
 Numbers xi. Here we find the spirit of Moses 
 crushed beneath the ponderous responsibility which 
 devolved upon him, and he gives utterance to the 
 anguish of his heart in the following accents : "And 
 Moses said unto the Lord, 'Wherefore hast Thou 
 afflicted Thy servant ? And wherefore have I not 
 found favor in Thy sight, that Thou layest the bur- 
 den of all this people upon me ? Have I conceived 
 all this people? have I begotten them, that Thou 
 shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as 
 a nursing father beareth the suckling child, unto the 
 land which Thou swarest unto their fathers ? . . . 
 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because 
 it is too heavy for me. And if Thou deal thus with 
 me, kill me, I pray Thee, out of hand, if I have 
 found favor in Thy sight ; and let me not see my 
 wretchedness." (Numb. xi. 11-15.) 
 
 In all this we see Moses evidently retiring from a 
 post of honor. If God were pleased to make him 
 the sole instrument in managing the assembly, it 
 was only so much the more dignity and privilege 
 conferred upon him. True, the responsibility was 
 immense ; but faith would own that God was amply 
 sufficient for that. Here, however, the heart of 
 Moses failed him (blessed servant as he was), and 
 he says, "I am not able to bear this people alone, 
 because it is to heavy for me." But he was not 
 asked to bear them alone, for God was with him. 
 
244 EXODUS. 
 
 They were not too heavy for God. It was He that 
 was bearing them ; Moses was but the instrument. 
 He might just as well have spoken of his rod as 
 bearing the people ; for what was he but a mere in- 
 strument in God's hand, as the rod was in his ? It 
 is here the servants of Christ constantly fail ; and 
 the failure is all the more dangerous because it wears 
 the appearance of humility. It seems like distrust 
 of one's self, and deep lowliness of spirit, to shrink 
 frcim heavy responsibility ; but all we need to inquire 
 is, Has God imposed that responsibility? If so, He 
 will assuredly be with me in sustaining it ; and 
 having Him with me, I can sustain any thing. With 
 Him, the weight of a mountain is nothing; without 
 Him, the weight of a feather is overwhelming. It 
 is a totally different thing if a man, in the vanity of 
 his mind, thrust himself forward and take a burden 
 upon his shoulder which God never intended him to 
 bear, and therefore never fitted him to bear it ; we 
 may then surely expect to see him crushed beneath 
 the weight : but if God lays it upon him, Pie will 
 qualify and strengthen him to carry it. 
 
 It is never the fruit of humility to depart from a 
 divinely-appointed post. On the contrary, the deep- 
 est humility will express itself by remaining there in 
 simple dependence upon God. It is a sure evidence 
 of being occupied about self when we shrink from 
 service on the ground of inability. God does not 
 call us unto service on the ground of our ability, 
 but of His own ; hence, unless I am filled with 
 thoughts about myself, or with positive distrust of 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 245 
 
 Him, I need not relinquish any position of service 
 or testimony because of the heavy responsibilities 
 attaching thereto. All power belongs to God, and 
 it is quite the same whether that power acts through 
 one agent or through seventy the power is still the 
 same ; but if one agent refuse the dignity, it is only 
 so much the worse for him. God will not force 
 people to abide in a place of honor if they cannot 
 trust Him to sustain them there. The way lies 
 always open to them to step down from their dig- 
 nity, and sink into the place where base unbelief is 
 sure to put us. 
 
 Thus it was with Moses. He complained of the 
 burden, and the burden was speedily removed ; but 
 with it the high honor of being allowed to carry 
 it. "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Gather unto 
 Me seventy men of the elders of Israel whom thou 
 knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers 
 over them ; and bring them unto the tabernacle of 
 the congregation, that they may stand there with 
 thee. And -I will come down and talk with thee 
 there : and I will take of the spirit which is upon 
 thee, and will put it upon them ; and they shall bear 
 the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear 
 it not thyself alone." (Numb. xi. 16, 17.) There 
 was no fresh power introduced. It was the same 
 spirit, whether in one or in seventy. There was no 
 more value or virtue in the flesh of seventy men 
 than in the flesh of one man. "It is the spirit that 
 quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing." (John vi. 
 63. ) There was nothing in the way of power gained, 
 17 
 
24 G EXODUS. 
 
 but a great deal in the way of dignity lost, by this 
 movement on the part of Moses. 
 
 In the after-part of Numbers xi, we find Moses 
 giving utterance to accents of unbelief, which called 
 
 O vD 7 
 
 forth from the Lord a sharp rebuke. "Is the Lord's 
 hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether My 
 word shall come to pass unto thee, or not." If my 
 reader will compare verses 11-15 with verses 21, 22, 
 he will sec a marked and solemn connection. The 
 man who shrinks from responsibility, on the ground 
 of his own feebleness, is in great danger of calling 
 in question the fullness and sufficiency of God's 
 resources. This entire scene teaches a most valua- 
 ble lesson to every servant of Christ who may be 
 tempted to feel himself alone or overburdened in 
 his work. Let such an one bear in mind that, where 
 the Holy Ghost is working, one instrument is as 
 good and as efficient as seventy ; and where He is 
 not working, seventy arc of no more value than one. 
 It all depends upon the energy of the Holy Ghost. 
 With Him, one man can do all, endure all, sustain 
 all ; without Him, seventy men can do nothing. 
 Let the lonely servant remember, for the comfort 
 and encouragement of his sinking heart, that, pro- 
 vided he has the presence and power of the Holy 
 Ghost with him, he need not complain of his burden 
 nor sigh for a division of labor. If God honor a 
 man by giving him a great deal of work to do, let 
 him rejoice therein and not murmur ; for if he mur- 
 mur, he can very speedily lose his honor. God is 
 at no loss for instruments. He could from the 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 247 
 
 stones raise up children unto Abraham, and He 
 can raise up from the same the needed agents to 
 carry on His glorious work. 
 
 O for a heart to serve Him! a patient, humble, 
 self-emptied, devoted heart, a heart ready to serve 
 in company, ready to serve alone, a heart so filled 
 with love to Christ that it will find its joy, its chief 
 joy, in serving Him, let the sphere or character of 
 service be what it may! This assuredly is the spe- 
 cial need of the day in which our lot is cast. May 
 the Holy Ghost stir up our hearts to a deeper sense 
 of the exceeding preciousness of. the name of Jesus, 
 and enable us to yield a fuller, clearer, more un- 
 equivocal response to the changeless love of His 
 heart ! 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WE have now arrived at a most momentous point 
 in Israel's history. We are called to behold 
 them standing at the foot of "the mount that might 
 be touched, and that burned with fire." The fair 
 millennial scene which opened before us in the pre- 
 ceding chapter has passed away. It was but a brief 
 moment of sunshine in which a very vivid picture of 
 the kingdom was afforded ; but the sunshine was 
 speedily followed by the heavy clouds which gathered 
 around that "palpable mount/' where Israel, in a 
 spirit of dark and senseless legalit} r , abandoned 
 Jehovah's covenant of pure grace for man's cove- 
 nant of works. Disastrous movement ! A movement 
 
248 
 
 fraught with the most dismal results. Hitherto, as 
 we have seen, no enemy could stand before Israel, 
 no obstacle was suffered to interrupt their onward 
 and victorious march. Pharaoh's hosts were over- 
 thrown, Amalek and his people were discomfited 
 with the edge of the sword : all was victory, because 
 God was acting on behalf of His people, in pur- 
 suance of His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and 
 Jacob. 
 
 In the opening verses of the chapter now before 
 us, the Lord recapitulates His actings toward Israel 
 in the following touching and beautiful language : 
 "Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and 
 tell the children of Israel: Ye have seen what I 
 did unto the Egyptians, and how I- bare you on 
 eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now, 
 therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep 
 My covenant, then } r e shall be a peculiar treasure 
 unto Me above all people ; for all the earth is Mine. 
 And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and 
 a holy nation." (Ver. 3-6.) Observe," it is "My 
 voice ' ' and ' ' My covenant. ' ' What was the utterance 
 of that "voice"? and what did that "covenant" 
 involve ? Had Jehovah's voice made itself heard 
 for the purpose of laying down the rules and regu- 
 lations of a severe and unbending lawgiver ? By 
 no means. It had spoken to demand freedom for 
 the captive, to provide a refuge from the sword of 
 the destroyer, to make a way for the ransomed to 
 pass over, to bring down bread from heaven, to 
 draw forth water out of the flinty rock ; such had 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 249 
 
 been the gracious and intelligible utterances of Je- 
 hovah's "voice" up to the moment at which "Israel 
 camped before the mount." 
 
 And as to His "covenant," it was one of un- 
 mingled grace. It proposed no condition, it made 
 no demands, it put no } T oke on the ne.ck, no burden 
 on the shoulder. When ' ' the God of glory appeared 
 unto Abraham," in Ur of the Chaldees, He certainly 
 did not address him* in such words as, Thou shalt 
 do this, and Thou shalt not do that. Ah, no ; such 
 language was not according to the heart of God. It 
 suits Him far better to place u a fair mitre" upon a 
 sinner's head than to "put a yoke upon his neck." 
 His word to Abraham was, "I WILL GIVE." The 
 land of Canaan was not to be purchased by man's 
 doings, but to be given by God's grace. Thus it 
 stood ; and in the opening of the book of Exodus, 
 we see God coming down in grace to make good 
 His promise to Abraham's seed. The condition in 
 which He found that seed made no difference, inas- 
 much as the blood of the lamb furnished Him with 
 a perfectly righteous ground on which to make good 
 His promise. He evidently had not promised the 
 land of Canaan to Abraham's seed on the ground 
 of aught that He foresaw in them, for this would 
 have totally destroyed the real nature of a promise, 
 it would have made it a compact and not a prom- 
 ise ; "but God gave it to Abraham by promise," 
 and not by compact. (Read Gal. iii.) 
 
 Hence, in the opening of this nineteenth chapter, 
 the people are reminded of the grace in which Jeho- 
 
250 EXODUS. 
 
 vah had hitherto dealt with them ; and they are also 
 assured of what they should yet be, provided they 
 continued to hearken to Mercy's heavenly "voice," 
 and to abide in the "covenant "of free and absolute 
 grace. "Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me 
 above all people." How could they be this ? Was 
 it by stumbling up the ladder of self-righteousness 
 and legalism ? Would they be " a peculiar treasure" 
 when blasted by the curses of a broken law a law 
 which they had broken before ever they received 
 it ? Surely not. How, then, were they to be this 
 "peculiar treasure" ? By standing in that position 
 in which Jehovah surveyed them when he compelled 
 the covetous prophet to exclaim, "How goodly are 
 thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel ! 
 As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by 
 the river's side, as the trees of lign aloes which the 
 Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the 
 waters. He shall pour the water out of his buckets, 
 and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king 
 shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall 
 be exalted. God brought him forth out of Egypt ; 
 he hath, as it were, the strength of an unicorn." 
 (Numb. xxiv. 5-8.) 
 
 However, Israel was not disposed to occupy this 
 blessed position. Instead of rejoicing in God's 
 "holy promise," they undertook to make the most 
 presumptuous vow that moral lips could utter. "All 
 the people answered together, and said, ''All that the 
 Lord hath spoken, .we will do.'" (Chap. xix. 8.) 
 This was bold language. They did not even say, We 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 251 
 
 hope to do, or We will endeavor to do. This would 
 have expressed a measure of self-distrust. But 110 ; 
 they took the most absolute ground. "We will do." 
 Nor was this the language of a few vain self-confident 
 spirits who presumed to single themselves out from 
 the whole congregation. No; "aZZ the people an- 
 swered together. 1 " They were unanimous in the 
 abandonment of the "holy promise" the "holy 
 covenant. ' ' 
 
 And now, observe the result. The moment Israel 
 uttered their "singular vow," the moment they un- 
 dertook to "do," there was a total alteration in the 
 aspect of things. "And the Lord said unto Moses, 
 'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud. . . . And 
 thou shalt set bounds unto the people, round about, 
 Baying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up 
 into the mount, or touch the border of it : whosoever 
 toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death/ ' 
 This was a very marked change. The One who had 
 just said, "I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought 
 you unto Myself," now envelopes Himself "in a 
 thick cloud," and says, "Set bounds unto the people, 
 round about." The sweet accents of grace and 
 mercy are exchanged for the "thunderings and light- 
 nings" of the fiery mount. Man had presumed to 
 talk of his miserable doings in the presence of God's 
 magnificent grace. Israel had said, "We will do," 
 and they must be put at a distance in order that it 
 may be fully seen what they are able to do. God 
 takes the place of moral distance ; and the people are 
 but too well disposed to have it so, for they are filled 
 
252 EXODUS. 
 
 with fear and trembling ; and no marvel, for the sight 
 was "terrible," "so terrible, that Moses said, 'I 
 exceedingly fear and quake.' ' Who could endure 
 the sight of that "devouring fire," which was the 
 apt expression of divine holiness ? ' ' The Lord came 
 from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them ; He 
 shined forth from Paran, and He came with ten 
 thousand of His saints ; from His right hand went 
 a fiery law for them." (Deut. xxxiii. 2.) The term 
 "fiery," as applied to the law, is expressive of its 
 holiness, "Our God is a consuming fire" per- 
 fectly intolerant of evil, in thought, word, and 
 deed. 
 
 Thus, then, Israel made a fatal mistake in saying, 
 "We will do." It was taking upon themselves a 
 vow which they were not able, even were they will- 
 ing, to pay ; and we know who has said, "Better that 
 thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest 
 vow and not pay. " It is of the very essence of a 
 vow that it assumes the competency to fulfill ; and 
 where is man's competency? As well might a bank- 
 rupt draw a check on the bank, as a helpless sinner 
 make a vow. A man who makes a vow denies the 
 truth as to his nature and condition. He is ruined, 
 what can he do? He is utterly without strength, 
 and can neither will nor do any thing good. Did 
 Israel keep their vow ? Did they do ' ' all that the 
 Lord commanded?" Witness the golden calf, the 
 broken tables, the desecrated Sabbath, the despised 
 and neglected ordinances, the stoned messengers, 
 the rejected and crucified Christ, the resisted Spirit. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 253 
 
 Such are the overwhelming evidences of man's dis- 
 honored vows. Thus must it ever be when fallen 
 humanity undertakes to vow. 
 
 Christian reader, do }'ou not rejoice in the fact 
 that your eternal salvation, rests not on your poor 
 shadowy vows and resolutions, but on "the one 
 offering of Jesus Christ once"? Oh, yes, "this is 
 our joy, which ne'er can fail." Christ has taken all 
 our vows upon Himself, and gloriously discharged 
 them forever. His resurrection-life flows through 
 His members and produces in them results which 
 legal vow r s and leo;al claims never could effect. He 
 
 o ~ 
 
 is our life, and He is our righteousness. May His 
 name be precious to our hearts. May His cause 
 ever command our energies. May it be our meat 
 and our drink to spend and be spent in His dear 
 service. 
 
 I cannot close this chapter without noticing, in 
 connection, a passage in the book of Deuteronomy 
 which may present a difficulty to some minds. It 
 has direct reference to the subject on which we have 
 been dwelling. "And the Lord heard the voice of 
 your words, when ye spake unto me ; and the Lord 
 said unto me, ' I have heard the voice of the words 
 of this people, which they have spoken unto thee : 
 they have well said all that they have spoken. 1 " (Deut. 
 v. 28.) From this passage it might seem as though 
 the Lord approved of their making a vow ; but if 
 my reader will take the trouble of reading the entire 
 context, from verse twenty-four to twenty-seven, he 
 will see at once that it has nothing whatever to say 
 
254 EXODUS. 
 
 to the vow, but that it contains the expression of 
 their terror at the consequences of their vow. They 
 were notable to endure that which was commanded. 
 "If" said they, "we hear the voice of the Lord our 
 God any more, then we shall die. For who is there 
 of all flesh that hath heard the voice of the living 
 God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we 
 have, and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that 
 the Lord our God shall say ; and speak thou unto 
 us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, 
 and we will hear it and do it." It was the confes- 
 sion of their own inability to encounter Jehovah in 
 that awful aspect which their proud legality had led 
 Him to assume. It is impossible that the Lord could 
 ever commend an abandonment of free and change- 
 less grace for a sandy foundation of " works of law." 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 IT is of the utmost importance to understand the 
 true character and object of the moral law, as 
 set forth in this chapter. There is a tendency in. 
 the mind to confound the principles of law and 
 grace, so that neither the one nor the other can 
 be rightly understood. Law is shorn of its stern 
 and unbending majesty, and grace is robbed of all 
 its divine attractions. God's holy claims remain 
 unanswered, and the sinner's deep and manifold 
 necessities remain unreached, by the anomalous sys- 
 tem framed by those who attempt to mingle law and 
 
CHAPTER XX. 255 
 
 grace. In point of fact, they can never be made to 
 coalesce, for they are as distinct as any two things 
 can be. Law sets forth what man ought to be, 
 grace exhibits what God is. How can these ever be 
 wrought up into one system ? How can the sinner 
 ever be saved by a system made up of half law, half 
 grace ? Impossible. It must be either the one or 
 the other. 
 
 TheJaw has sometimes been termed "the transcript 
 of the mind of God." This definition is entirely 
 defective. Were we to term it a transcript of the 
 mind of God as to what man ought to be, we should 
 be nearer the truth. If I am to regard the ten com- 
 mandments as the transcript of the mind of God, 
 then, I ask, is there nothing in the mind of God 
 save " Thou shalt " and " Thou shalt not " ? Is there 
 no grace ? no mercy ? no loving-kindness ? Is God 
 not to manifest what He is ? Is He not to tell out 
 the deep secrets of that love which dwells in His 
 bosom ? Is there naught in the divine character but 
 stern requirement and prohibition ? Were this so, 
 we should have to say, God is law, instead of u God 
 is love." But, blessed be His name, there is more 
 in His heart than could ever be wrapped up in the 
 * ' ten wof ds ' ' uttered on the fiery mount. If I want to 
 see what God is, I must look at Christ ; "for in Him 
 dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily." 
 (Col. ii. 9.) "The law was given by Moses, but 
 grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (Johni. 17.) 
 Assuredly there was a measure of truth in the law ; 
 it contained the truth as to what man ought to be. 
 
25 G EXODUS. 
 
 Like everything else emanating from God, it was 
 perfect so far as it went perfect for the object for 
 which it was administered ; but that object was not, 
 by any means, to unfold, in the view of guilty sin- 
 ners, the nature and character of God. There was 
 no grace, no mercy. "He that despised Moses' law 
 died without mercy." (Heb. x. 28.) "The man that 
 cloeth these things shall live by them." (Lev. xviii. 
 5 ; Rom. x. 5.) "Cursed is every one that contin- 
 neth not in all things that are written in the book of 
 the law to do them." (Dent, xxvii. 26 ; Gal. iii. 10.) 
 This was not grace. Indeed, Mount Sinai was not 
 the place to look for any such thing. There Jeho- 
 vah revealed Himself in awful majesty, amid black- 
 ness, darkness, tempest, thunderings, and lightnings. 
 These were not the attendant circumstances of an 
 economy of grace and mercy ; but they were well 
 suited to one of truth and righteousness, and the 
 law was that and nothing else. 
 
 In the law, God sets forth what a man ought to 
 
 ' O 
 
 be, and pronounces a curse upon him if he is not 
 that. But then a man finds, when he looks at him- 
 self in the light of the law, that he actually is the 
 very thing which the law condemns. How then is 
 he to get life by it? It proposes life and righteous- 
 ness as the ends to be attained by keeping it ; but it 
 proves, at the very outset, that we are in a state 
 of death and unrighteousness. We want the very 
 things at the beginning which the law proposed to 
 be gained at the end. How, therefore, are we to 
 gain them ? In order to do what the law requires, 
 
CHAPTETR XX. 257 
 
 I must have life ; and in order to be what the law 
 requires, I must have righteousness ; and if I have 
 not both the one and the other, I am "cursed." 
 But the fact is, I have neither. What am I to do? 
 This is the question. Let those who "desire to be 
 teachers of the law" furnish an answer. Let them 
 furnish a satisfactory reply to an upright conscience, 
 bowed down under the double sense of the spirit- 
 uality and inflexibility of the law and its own hope- 
 less carnality. 
 
 The truth is, as the apostle teaches us, "the law 
 entered that the offense might abound." (Rom. v. 
 20.) This shows us very distinctly the real object 
 of the law. It came in by the way in order to set 
 forth the exceeding sinfulness of sin. (Rom.vii. 13.) 
 It was, in a certain sense, like a perfect mirror let 
 down from heaven to reveal to man his moral de- 
 rangement. If I present myself with deranged 
 habit before a mirror, it shows me the derangement, 
 but does not set it right. If I measure a crooked 
 wall with a perfect plumb-line, it reveals the crook- 
 edness, but does not remove it. If I take out a 
 lamp on a dark night, it reveals to me all the hin- 
 drances and disagreeables in the way, but it does 
 not remove them. Moreover, the mirror, the plumb- 
 line, and the lamp do not create the evils which they 
 severally point out ; they neither create nor remove, 
 but simply reveal. Thus it is with the law ; it does 
 not create the evil in man's heart, neither does it 
 remove it ; but, with unerring accuracy, it reveals it. 
 
 ' ' What shall we say then ? Is the law sin ? God 
 
258 EXODUS. 
 
 forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law ; 
 for I had not known lust, except the law had said, 
 'Thou shalt not covet.'" (Rom. vii. 7.) He does 
 not say that he would not have had "lust." No; 
 but merely that he "had not known" it. The 
 "lust" was there ; but he was in the dark about it 
 until the law, as "the candle of the Almighty," 
 shone in upon the dark chambers of his heart and 
 revealed the evil that was there. Like a man in a 
 dark room, who may be surrounded with dust and 
 confusion, but he cannot see aught thereof by rea- 
 son of the darkness. Let the beams of the sun dart 
 in upon him, and he quickly perceives all. Do the 
 sunbeams create the dust ? Surely not. The dust 
 is there, and they only detect and reveal it. This is 
 a simple illustration of the effect of the law. It 
 judges man's character and condition; it proves 
 . him to be a sinner, and shuts him up under the 
 curse ; it comes to judge what he is, and curses him 
 if he is not what it tells him he ought to be. 
 
 It is therefore a manifest impossibility that any 
 one can get life and righteousness by that which can 
 only curse him ; and unless the condition of the 
 sinner, and the character of the law are totally 
 changed, it can do naught else but curse him. It 
 makes no allowance for infirmities, and knows no- 
 thing of sincere, though imperfect, obedience. Were 
 it to do so, it would not be what it is :"holy, just, 
 arid good." It is just because the law is what it is 
 that the sinner cannot get life by it. If he could get 
 life by it, it would not be perfect, or else he would 
 
CHAPTER XX. 259 
 
 not be a sinner. It is impossible that a sinner can 
 get life by a perfect law, for inasmuch as it is per- 
 fect, it must needs condemn him. Its absolute 
 perfectness makes manifest and seals man's abso- 
 lute ruin and condemnation. "Therefore, by deeds 
 of law shall no flesh living be justified in His sight ; 
 for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Rom. iii. 
 20.) He does not say, By the law is sin, but only 
 "the knowledge of sin." "For until the law, sin 
 was in the world ; but sin is not imputed when there 
 is no law." (Rom. v. 13.) Sin was there, and it 
 only needed law to develop it in the form of c ' trans- 
 gression." It is as if I say to my child, You must 
 not touch that knife. My very prohibition reveals 
 the tendency in his heart to do his own will. It 
 does not create the tendency, but only reveals it. 
 
 The apostle John says that "sin is lawlessness." 
 (1 John iii. 4.) The word "transgression" does 
 not develop the true idea of the Spirit in this pas- 
 sage. In order to have "transgression," I must 
 have a definite rule or line laid down. Transgres- 
 sion means a passing across a prohibited line ; such 
 a line I have in the law. I take any one of its 
 prohibitions, such as, "Thou shalt not kill," "Thou 
 shalt not commit adultery," "Thou shalt not steal." 
 Here I have a rule or line set before me ; but I find 
 I have within me the very principles against which 
 these prohibitions are expressly directed. Yea, the 
 very fact of my being told not to commit murder 
 shows that I have murder in my nature. There 
 would be no necessity to tell me not to do a thing 
 
260 EXODUS. 
 
 which I had no tendency to do ; but the exhibition 
 of God's will as to what I ought to be makes mani- 
 fest the tendency of my will to be what I ought not. 
 This is plain enough, and is in full keeping with the 
 whole of the apostolic reasoning on the point. 
 
 Many % however, will admit that we cannot get life 
 by the law ; but they maintain, at the same time, 
 that the law is our rule of life. Now, the apostle 
 declares that u as many as are of works of law are 
 under the curse." (Gal. iii. 10.) It matters not 
 who they are, if they occupy the ground of law, 
 they are, of necessity, under the curse. A man 
 may say, I am regenerate, and therefore not exposed 
 to the curse. This will not do. If regeneration 
 does not take one off the ground of law, it cannot 
 take him beyond the range of the curse of the law. 
 If the Christian be under the former, he is, of 
 necessity, exposed to the latter. But what has the 
 law to do with regeneration ? where do we find any 
 thing about it in Exodus xx ? The law has but one 
 question to put to a man, a brief, solemn, pointed 
 question, namely, Are you what you ought to be ? 
 If he answer in the negative, it can but hurl its 
 terrible anathema at him and slay him. And who 
 will so readily and emphatically admit that, in him- 
 self, he is any thing but what he ought to be, as the 
 really regenerate man ? Wherefore, if he is under 
 the law, he must inevitably be under the curse. 
 The law cannot possibly lower its standard, nor yet 
 amalgamate with grace. Men do constantly seek to 
 lower its standard ; they feel that they cannot get 
 
CHAPTER XX. 261 
 
 up to it, and they therefore seek to bring it down to 
 them ; but the effort is in vain : it stands forth in 
 all its purity, majesty, and stern inflexibility, and 
 will not accept a single hair's breadth short of per- 
 fect obedience ; and where as the man, regenerate 
 or unregerierate, that can undertake to produce 
 that ? It will be said, We have perfection in Christ. 
 True ; but that is not by the law, but by grace ; and 
 we cannot possibly confound the two economies. 
 Scripture largely and distinctly teaches that we are 
 not justified by the law ; nor is the law our rule of 
 life.. That which can only curse can never justify, 
 and that which can only kill can never be a rule of 
 life. As well might a man attempt to make a for- 
 tune by a deed of bankruptcy filed against him. 
 
 If my reader will turn to the fifteenth of Acts, he 
 will see how the attempt to put Gentile believers 
 under the law as a rule of life was met by the Holy 
 Ghost. "There rose up certain of the sect of the 
 Pharisees which believed, saying, that it was needful 
 to circumcise them, and to command them to keep 
 the law of Moses." This was nothing else than the 
 hiss of the old serpent, making itself heard in the 
 dark and depressing suggestion of those early legal- 
 ists. But let us see how it was met by the mighty 
 energy of the Holy Ghost, and the unanimous voice 
 of the tw r elve apostles and the whole Church. "And 
 when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, 
 and said unto them, 'Men and brethren, ye know 
 how that a good while ago God made choice among 
 us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear' " 
 18 
 
262 EXODUS. 
 
 what ? Was it the requirements and the curses of 
 the law of Moses ? No. Blessed be God, these are 
 not what He would. have falling on the ears of help- 
 less sinners. Hear what, then ? "SHOULD HEAR 
 THE WORD OF THE GOSPEL, AND BE- 
 LIEVE." This was what suited the nature and 
 character of God. He never would have troubled 
 men with the dismal accents of requirement and 
 prohibition. These Pharisees were not His messen- 
 gers ; far -from it. They were not the bearers of 
 glad tidings, nor the publishers of peace, and there- 
 fore their "feet" were aught but "beautiful" in the 
 ej^es of One who only delights in mercy. 
 
 "Now, therefore," continues the apostle, "why 
 tempt }-e God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the 
 disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able 
 to bear?" This was strong, earnest language. 
 God did not want "to put a yoke upon the neck" 
 of those whose hearts had been set free by the 
 gospel of peace. He would rather exhort them to 
 stand fast in the liberty of Christ, and not be "en- 
 tangled again with the }'oke of bondage." He would 
 not send those whom He had received to His bosom 
 of love to be terrified by the "blackness and dark- 
 ness and tempest" of "the mount that might be 
 touched." How could we ever admit the thought 
 that those, whom God had received in grace He 
 would rule by law ? Impossible. "We believe," 
 says Peter, "that through the GRACE OF THE 
 LORD JESUS CHRIST we shall be saved, even as 
 they." Both the Jews, who had received the law, 
 
CHAPTER XX. 263 
 
 and the Gentiles, who never had, were now to be 
 "saved through grace." And not only were they to 
 be "saved" by grace, but they were to "stand" in 
 grace (Rom. v. 2.) and to "grow in grace" (2 Pet. 
 iii. 18.). To teach any thing else was to "tempt 
 God." Those Pharisees were subverting the very 
 foundations of the Christian faith ; and so are all 
 those who seek to put believers under the law. 
 There is no evil or error more abominable in the 
 sight of the Lord than legalism. Hearken to the 
 strong language the accents of righteous indigna- 
 tion which fell from the Holy Ghost in reference 
 to those teachers of the law, "I would they were 
 even cut off which trouble you." (Gal. v. 12.) 
 
 And, let me ask, are the thoughts of the Holy 
 Ghost changed in reference to this question ? Has 
 it ceased to be a tempting of God to place the yoke 
 of legality upon a sinner's neck ? Is ifc now in ac- 
 cordance with His gracious will that the law should 
 be read out in the ears of sinners ? Let my reader 
 reply to these inquiries in the light of the fifteenth 
 of Acts and the epistle to the Galatians. These 
 scriptures, were there no other, are amply sufficient 
 to prove that God never intended that the c c Gentiles 
 should hear the word ' ' of the law. Had He so in- 
 tended, He would assuredly have "made choice" of 
 some one to proclaim it in their ears. But no ; when 
 He sent forth His ' ' fiery law, ' ' He spoke only in one 
 tongue; but when He proclaimed the glad tidings 
 of salvation through the blood of the Lamb, He 
 spoke in the language "of every nation under heav- 
 
264 . EXODUS. 
 
 en." He spoke in such a way as that "every man 
 in his own tongue, wherein he ivas born,' 9 might hear 
 the sweet story of grace. (Acts ii. 1-11.) 
 
 Farther, when He was giving forth, from Mount 
 Sinai, the stern requirements of the covenant of 
 works, He addressed Himself exclusively to one 
 people. His voice was only heard within the narrow 
 inclosures of the Jewish nation ; but when, on the 
 plains of Bethlehem, u the angel of the Lord" de- 
 clared "good tidings of great joy," He added those 
 characteristic words, "which shall be to all people.' 9 
 And again, when the risen Christ was sending forth 
 His heralds of salvation, His commission ran thus: 
 u Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
 every creature.' 9 (Mark xvi. 15; Luke ii. 10.) The 
 mighty tide of grace, which had its source in the 
 bosom of God, and its channel in the blood of the 
 Lamb, was designed to rise, in the resistless energy 
 of the Holy Ghost, far above the narrow inclosures 
 of Israel, and roll through the length and breadth 
 of a sin-stained world. "Every creature" mast 
 hear, "in his own tongue," the message of peace 
 the word of the gospel the record of salvation 
 through the blood of the cross. 
 
 Finally, that nothing might be lacking to prove 
 to our poor legal hearts that Mount Sinai was not, 
 by any means, the spot where the deep secrets of 
 the bosom of God were told out, the Holy Ghost has 
 said, both by the mouth of a prophet and an apostle, 
 "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the 
 gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good 
 
CHAPTER XX. 265 
 
 things!" (Isa. iii. 7; Rom. x. 15.) But of those 
 who sought to be teachers of the law, the same 
 Holy Ghost has said, "I would they were even cut 
 off which trouble 3^011." 
 
 Thus, then, it is obvious that the law is neither 
 the ground of life to the sinner nor the rule of life 
 to the Christian: Christ is both the one and the 
 other, He is our life and He is our rule of life. 
 The law can only curse and slay. Christ is our life 
 and righteousness. He became a curse for us by 
 hanging on a tree. He went down into the place 
 where the sinner lay into the place of death and 
 judgment; and having, by His death, entirely dis- 
 charged all that was or could be against us, He 
 became, in resurrection, the source of life and the 
 ground of righteousness to all who believe in His 
 name. Having thus life and righteousness in Him, 
 we are called to walk not merely as the law directs, 
 but to "walk even as He walked.' 7 It will hardly 
 be deemed needful to assert that it is directly con- 
 trary to Christian ethics to kill, commit adultery, or 
 steal. But were a Christian to shape his way ac- 
 cording to these commands, or according to the 
 entire decalogue, would he yield the rare and deli- 
 cate fruits which the epistle to the Ephesians sets 
 forth ? Would the ten commandments ever cause a 
 thief to give up stealing, and go to work that he 
 might have to give ? would they ever transform a 
 thief into a laborious and liberal man ? Assuredly 
 not. The law says, "Thou shalt not steal;" but 
 does it say, Go and give to him that needeth, Go, 
 
266 EXODUS. 
 
 feed, clothe, and bless your enemy, Go, gladden 
 by your benevolent feelings and your beneficent acts 
 the heart of him who only and always seeks your 
 hurt? By no means; and yet, were I under the 
 law, as a rule, it could only curse me and slay me. 
 How is this, when the standard in the New Testa- 
 ment is so much higher? Because I am weak, and 
 the law gives me no strength and shows me no 
 mercy. The law demands strength from one. that- 
 has none, and curses him if he cannot display it. 
 The gospel gives strength to one that has none, and 
 blesses him in the exhibition of it. The law proposes 
 life as the end of obedience, the gospel gives life as 
 the only proper ground of obedience. 
 
 But that I may not weary the reader with argu- 
 ments, let me ask, If the law be indeed the rule of 
 a believer's life, where are we to find it so presented 
 in the New Testament? The inspired apostle evi- 
 dently had no thought of its being the rule when he 
 penned the following words : "For in Christ Jesus 
 neither circumcision availeth any thing nor imcir- 
 cumcision, but a new creation. And as many as 
 walk according to this rule, peace be on 1 them, and 
 mercy, and oil the Israel of God." (Gal.vi. 15, 16.) 
 What "rule" ? The law? No ; but the "new crea- 
 tion." Where shall we find this in Exodus xx ? It 
 speaks not a word about "new creation." On the 
 contrary, it addresses itself to man as he is in his 
 natural or old-creation state and puts him to the 
 test as to what he is really able to do. Now if the 
 law were the rule by which believers are to walk, 
 
CHAPTER XX. 267 
 
 why does the apostle pronounce his benediction on 
 those who walk by another rule altogether? Why 
 does he not say, As many as walk according to the 
 rule of the ten commandments ? Is it not evident, 
 from this one passage, that the Church of God has 
 a higher rule by which to walk ? Unquestionably. 
 The ten commandments, though forming, as all true 
 Christians admit, a part of the canon of inspiration, 
 could never be the rule of life to one who has, 
 through infinite grace, been introduced into the 
 new creation one who has received new life in 
 Christ. 
 
 But some may ask, Is not the law perfect ? and 
 if perfect, what more would you have ? The law is 
 divinely perfect. Yea, it is the very perfection of 
 the law which causes it to curse and slay those who 
 are not perfect if they attempt to stand before it. 
 "The law is spiritual, but I am carnal." It is 
 utterly impossible to form an adequate idea of the 
 infinite perfectness and spirituality of the law. But 
 then this perfect law coming in contact with fallen 
 humanity this spiritual law coming in contact with 
 "the carnal mind," could only "work wrath" and 
 "enmity." (Rom. iv. 15; viii. 7.) Why? Is it 
 because the law is not perfect ? No, but because it 
 is, and man is a sinner. If man were perfect, he 
 would carry out the law in all its spiritual perfect- 
 ness ; and even in the case of true believers, though 
 they still carry about with them an evil nature, the 
 apostle teaches us "that the righteousness of the 
 law is fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, 
 
268 EXODUS. 
 
 but after the Spirit/' (Rom. viii. 4.) "He that 
 
 loveth another hath fulfilled the law Love 
 
 worketh no ill to his neighbor ; therefore love is the 
 fulfilling of the law." (Rom. xiii. 8-10.) If I love 
 a man, I shall not steal his property nay, I shall 
 seek to do him all the good I can. All this is plain, 
 and easily understood .by the spiritual mind ; but it 
 leaves entirely untouched the question of the law, 
 whether as the ground of life to a sinner or the rule 
 of life to the believer. 
 
 If we look at the law, in its two grand divisions, 
 it tells a man to love God with all his heart, and 
 .with all his soul, and with all his mind ; and to love 
 his neighbor as himself. This is the sum of the 
 law: this, and not a tittle less, is what the law 
 demands. But where has this demand ever been 
 responded to by any member of Adam's fallen 
 posterity ? Where is the man who could say he 
 loves God after such a fashion ? "The carnal mind 
 [i.e., the mind which we have by nature] is enmity 
 against God." Man hates God and His ways. God 
 came, in the Person of Christ, and showed Himself 
 to man showed Himself, not in the overwhelming 
 brightness of His majesty, but in all the charm 
 and sweetness of perfect grace and condescension. 
 What was the result? Man hated God. "Now 
 have they both seen and hated both Me and My 
 Father." (John xv. 24.) But, it may be said, man 
 ought to love God. No doubt, and he deserves 
 death and eternal perdition if he does no't ; but 
 can the law produce this love in man's heart ? was 
 
CHAPTER XX. 269 
 
 that its design? By no means, "for the law worketh 
 wrath." The law finds man in a state of enmity 
 against God ; and without ever altering that state 
 (for that was not its province), it commands him to 
 love God with all his heart, and curses him if he 
 does not. It was not the province of the law to 
 alter or improve man's nature ; nor yet could it 
 impart any power to carry out its righteous de- 
 mands. It said, "This do, and thou shalt live." 
 It commanded man to love God. It did not reveal 
 what God was to man, even in his guilt and ruin ; 
 but it told man what he ought to be toward God. 
 This was dismal work. It was not the unfolding of 
 the powerful attractions of the divine character, 
 producing in man true repentance toward God, 
 melting his icy heart, and elevating his soul in 
 genuine affection and worship. No: it was an in- 
 flexible command to love God ; and, instead of pro- 
 ducing love, it "worked wrath;" not because God 
 ought not to be loved, but because man was a sinner. 
 Again, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 Can "the natural man" do this ? Does he love his 
 neighbor as himself? Is this the principle which 
 obtains in the chambers of commerce, the exchanges} 
 the banks, the marts, the fairs, and the. markets of 
 this world ? Alas ! no. Man does not love his 
 neighbor as he loves himself. No doubt he ought ; 
 and if he were right, he would ; but then he is 
 all wrong totally wrong and unless he is "born 
 again" of the Word and the Spirit of God, he can- 
 not "see nor enter the kingdom of God." The law 
 
270 EXODUS. 
 
 cannot produce this new birth. It kills "the old 
 man," but dees not, and cannot, create "the new." 
 As an actual fact, we know that the Lord Jesus 
 Christ embodied, in His glorious Person, both God 
 and our neighbor, inasmuch as He was, according 
 to the foundation-truth of the Christian religion, 
 "God manifest in the flesh." How did man treat 
 Him ? Did he love Him with all his heart, or as 
 himself? The very reverse. He crucified Him 
 between two thieves, having previously' preferred a 
 murderer and a robber to that blessed One who had 
 gone about doing good who had come forth from 
 the eternal dwelling-place cf light and love Him- 
 self the very living personification of that light and 
 love whose bosom had ever heaved with purest 
 sympathy with human need whose hand had ever 
 been ready to dry the sinner's tears and alleviate his 
 sorrows. Thus we stand and gaze upon the cross 
 of Christ, and behold in it an unanswerable demon- 
 stration of the fact that it is not within the range of 
 man's nature or capacity to keep the law.* 
 
 It is peculiarly interesting to the spiritual mind, 
 after all that has passed before us, to observe the 
 relative position of God and the sinner at the close 
 of this memorable chapter. "And the Lord said 
 unto Moses, 'Thus thou shalt say unto the children 
 of Israel . * . . An altar of earth thou shalt make 
 unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offer- 
 
 * For further exposition of the law, and also of the doctrine of 
 the Sabbath, the reader is referred to a tract entitled "A Scriptural 
 Inquiry into the True Nature of the Sabbath, the Law, and the 
 Christian Ministry." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 271 
 
 ings and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep and thine 
 oxen : in all places where I record My name I WILL 
 
 COME UNTO THEE, AND I WILL BLESS THEE. And if 
 
 thou wilt make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not 
 build it of hewn stone ; for if thou lift up thy tool 
 upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou 
 go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness 
 be not discovered thereon.' " (Yer. 22-26.) 
 
 Here we find man not in the position of a doer, 
 but of a worshiper; and this, too, at the close of 
 Exodus xx. How plainly this teaches us that the 
 atmosphere of Mount Sinai is not that which God 
 would have the sinner breathing, that it is not the 
 proper meeting-place between God and man ! "In 
 all places where I recor$ My name I will come unto 
 tliee, and I will bless thee." How unlike the terrors 
 of the fiery mount is that spot where Jehovah records 
 His name, whither He "comes" to "bless" His 
 worshiping people ! 
 
 But further, God will meet the sinner at an altar 
 without a hewn stone or a step a place of worship 
 which requires no human workmanship to erect, or 
 human effort to approach. The former could only 
 pollute, and the latter could only display human 
 ' ' nakedness. ' ' Admirable type of the meeting-place 
 where God meets the sinner now, even the Person 
 and work of His Son, Jesus Christ, where all the 
 claims of law, of justice, and of conscience are 
 perfectly answered ! Man has, in every age and in 
 every clime, been prone, in one way or another, to 
 "lift up his tool" in the erection of his altar, or to 
 
272 EXODUS. 
 
 approach thereto by steps of his own making ; but 
 the issue of all such attempts has been "pollution" 
 and "nakedness." "We all do fade as a leaf, and 
 all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags." Who 
 will presume to approach God clad in a garment of 
 "filthy rags"? or who w r ill stand to worship with a 
 revealed "nakedness" ? What can be more prepos- 
 terous than to think of approaching God in a way 
 which necessarily involves either pollution or naked- 
 ness ? And 3'et thus it is in every case in which 
 human effort is put forth to open the sinner's way 
 to God. Not only is there no need of such effort, 
 but defilement and nakedness are stamped upon it. 
 God has come down so very near to the sinner, even 
 in the very depths of his ruin, that there is no need 
 for his lifting up the tool of legality, or ascending 
 the steps of self-righteousness, yea, to do so, is 
 but to expose his uncleanness and his nakedness. 
 
 Such are the principles with which the I-Ioly Ghost 
 closes this most remarkable section of inspiration. 
 May they be indelibly written upon our hearts, that 
 so we may more clearly and fully understand the 
 essential difference between LAW and GRACE. 
 
 CHAPTEKS XXI XXIII. 
 
 THE study of this section of our book is eminently 
 calculated to impress the heart with a sense of 
 God's unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness. 
 It enables one to form some idea of the character 
 
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 273 
 
 of a kingdom governed by laws of divine appoint- 
 ment. Here, too, we may see the amazing con- 
 descension of Him who, though He is the great God 
 of heaven and earth, can, nevertheless, stoop to 
 adjudicate between man and man in reference to 
 the death of an ox, the loan of a garment, or the 
 loss of a servant's tooth. "Who is like unto the 
 Lord our God, who humble th Himself to behold the 
 things that are in heaven and on earth?" He gov- 
 erns the universe, and yet He can occupy Himself 
 with the provision of a covering for one of His 
 creatures, lie guides the angel's flight and takes 
 notice of a crawling worm. He humbles Himself to 
 regulate the movements of those countless orbs that 
 roll through infinite space, and to record the fall of 
 a sparrow. 
 
 As to the character of the judgment set forth in 
 the chapter before us, we may learn a double lesson. 
 These judgments and ordinances bear a twofold 
 witness : they convey to the ear a twofold message, 
 and present to the eye two sides of a picture. They 
 tell of God and they tell of man. 
 
 In the first place, on God's part, we find Him 
 enacting laws which exhibit strict, even-handed, 
 perfect justice. "Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, 
 hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, 
 wound for wound, stripe for stripe." Such was the 
 character of the laws, the statutes, and the judg- 
 ments by which God governed His earthly kingdom 
 of Israel. Everything was provided for, every in- 
 terest w r as maintained, and every claim was met. 
 
274 EXODUS. 
 
 There was no partiality no distinction made be- 
 tween the rich and the poor. The balance in which 
 each man's claim was weighed was adjusted with 
 divine accuracy, so that no one could justly com- 
 plain of a decision. The pure robe of justice was 
 not to be tarnished with the foul stains of bribery, 
 corruption, and partiality. The eye and the hand of 
 a divine Legislator provided for everything, and a 
 divine Executive inflexibly dealt with every defaulter. 
 The stroke of justice fell only on the head of the 
 guilty, while every obedient soul was protected in 
 the enjoyment of all his rights and privileges. 
 
 Then, as regards man, it is impossible to read 
 over these laws and not be struck with the disclosure 
 which they indirectly, but really, make of his des- 
 perate depravity. The fact of Jehovah's having to 
 enact laws against certain crimes, proves the capa- 
 bility on man's part of committing those crimes. 
 Were the capability and the tendency not there, 
 there would be no need of the enactments. Now 
 there are many who, if the gross abominations for- 
 biddefi in these chapters were named to them, might 
 feel disposed to adopt the language of Hazael, and 
 say, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this 
 thing?" Such persons have not yet traveled down 
 into the deep abyss of their own hearts. For albeit 
 there are crimes here forbidden which would seem 
 to place man, as regards his habits and tendencies, 
 below the level of a "dog," yet do those very stat- 
 utes prove, beyond all question, that the most refined 
 and cultivated member of the human family carries 
 
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 275 
 
 about in his bosom the seeds of the very darkest 
 and most horrifying abominations. For whom were 
 those statutes enacted ? For man. Were they need- 
 ful? Unquestionably. But they would have been 
 quite superfluous if man were incapable of commit- 
 ting the sins referred to. But man is capable ; and 
 hence we see that man is sunk to the very lowest 
 possible level that his nature is wholly corrupt 
 that from the crown of his head to the sole of his 
 foot there is not so much as a speck of moral 
 soundness. 
 
 How can such a being ever stand, without an 
 emotion of fear, in the full blaze of the throne of 
 God ? how can lie stand within the holiest ? how 
 can he stand on the sea of glass ? how can he enter 
 in by the pearly gates and tread the golden streets ? 
 The reply to these inquiries unfolds the amazing 
 depths of redeeming love and the eternal efficacy of 
 the blood of the Lamb. Deep as is man's ruin, the 
 love of God is deeper still : black as is his guilt, the 
 blood of Jesus can wash it all away: wide as is 
 the chasm separating man from God, the cross has 
 bridged it. God has come down to the very 'lowest 
 point of the sinner's condition, in order that He 
 might lift him up into a position of infinite favor, in 
 eternal association with His own Son. Well may we 
 exclaim, "Behold, what manner of love the Father 
 hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the 
 sons of God. " ( 1 John iii. 1. ) Nothing could fathom 
 man's ruin but God's love, and nothing could equal 
 man's guilt but the blood of Christ. But now the 
 
276 EXODUS. 
 
 very depth of the ruin only magnifies the love that 
 has fathomed it, and the intensity of the guilt only 
 celebrates the efficacy of the blood that can cleanse 
 it. The very vilest sinner who believes in Jesus can 
 rejoice in the assurance that God sees him and pro- 
 nounces him "clean every whit." 
 
 Such, then, is the double character of instruction 
 to be gleaned from the laws and ordinances in this 
 section, looked at as a whole ; and the more mi- 
 nutely we look at them in detail, the more impressed 
 we shall be with a sense of their fullness and beauty. 
 Take, for instance, the very first ordinance that pre- 
 sents itself, namely, that of the Hebrew servant. 
 
 4 'Now these are the judgments which thou shalt 
 set before them : If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six 
 years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go 
 out free for nothing. If he came in by himself, he 
 shall go out by himself: if he were married, then 
 his wife shall go out with him. If his master have 
 given him a wife, and she have borne him sons or 
 daughters, the wife and her children shall be her 
 master's, and he shall go out by himself. And if 
 the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my 
 wife, and my children ; I will n6t go out free ; then 
 his master shall bring him unto the judges : he shall 
 also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post ; 
 and his master shall bore his ear through with an 
 awl; and he shall serve him forever." (Chap. xxi. 
 1-6.) The servant was perfectly free to go out, so 
 far as he was personally concerned. He had clis- 
 discharged every claim, and could therefore walk 
 
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 277 
 
 abroad in unquestioned freedom ; but because of 
 his love to his master, his wife, and his children, he 
 voluntarily bound himself to perpetual servitude ; 
 and not only so, but he was also willing to bear, in 
 his own person, the marks of that servitude. 
 
 The application of this to the Lord Jesus Christ 
 will be obvious to the intelligent reader. In Him 
 we behold the One who dwelt in the bosom of the 
 Father before all worlds the object of His eternal 
 delight who might have occupied, throughout eter- 
 nity, this His personal and entirely peculiar place, 
 inasmuch as there lay upon Him no obligation (save 
 that which ineffable love created and ineffable love 
 incurred) to abandon that place. Such, however, 
 was His love to the Father, whose counsels were 
 involved, and for the Church collectively and each 
 individual member thereof, whose salvation was in- 
 volved, that He voluntarily came down to earth, 
 emptied Himself, and made Himself of no reputa- 
 tion, took upon Him the form of a servant and the 
 marks of perpetual service. To these marks we 
 probably have a striking allusion in the Psalms. 
 "Mine ears hast Thou digged." (Ps. xl. G, marg.) 
 This psalm is the expression cf Christ's devotedness 
 to God. "Then said I, 'Lo, I come : in the volume 
 of the book it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy 
 will, O My God ; yea, Thy law is within My heart. ' ' 
 He came to do the will of God, whatever that will 
 might be. He never once did His own will, not even 
 in. the reception and salvation of sinners, though 
 surely His loving heart, with all its affections, was 
 19 
 
278 EXODUS. 
 
 most fully in that glorious work. Still He receives 
 and saves only as the servant of the Father's coun- 
 sels. "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to 
 Me ; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise 
 cast out. For I came down from heaven, not to do 
 Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. 
 And this is the Father's will which hath sent Me, 
 that of all which He hath given Me I should lose 
 nothing, but should raise it up again at the last 
 day." (John vi. 37-39.) 
 
 Here we have a most interesting view of the 
 servant- character of the Lord Jesus Christ. He, in 
 perfect grace, holds Himself responsible to receive 
 all who come within the range of the divine coun- 
 sels ; and not only to receive them, but to preserve 
 them through all the difficulties and trials of their 
 devious path down here, yea, in the article of death 
 itself, should it come, and to raise them all up in the 
 last day. Oh, how secure is the -very feeblest mem- 
 ber of the Church of God ! He is the subject of 
 God's eternal counsels, which counsels the Lord 
 Jesus Christ is pledged to carry' out. Jesus loves 
 the Father, and in proportion to the intensity of 
 that love is the security of each member of the re- 
 deemed family. The salvation of the sinner who 
 believes on the name of the Son of God is, in, one 
 aspect of it, but the expression of Christ's love to 
 the Father. If one such could perish, through any 
 cause whatsoever, it would argue that the Lord 
 Jesus Christ was unable to carry out the will of 
 God, which were nothing short of positive blasphemy 
 
CHAPTERS XXI-XXIII. 279 
 
 against His sacred name, to whom be all honor and 
 majesty throughout the everlasting ages. 
 
 Thus we have, in the Hebrew servant, a type of 
 Christ in His pure devotedness to the Father. But 
 there is more than this. U I love my wife and my 
 children." "Christ loved the Church, and gave 
 Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse 
 it with the washing of water by the Word, that He 
 might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not 
 having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing ; but that 
 it should be holy and without blemish." (Eph. v. 
 25-27.) There are various other passages of Scrip- 
 ture presenting Christ as the antitype of the Hebrew 
 servant, both in His love for the Church as a body, 
 and for all believers personally. In Matthew xiii, 
 John x and xiii, and Hebrews ii, my reader will find 
 special teaching on the point. 
 
 The apprehension of this love of the heart of 
 Jesus cannot fail to produce a spirit of fervent 
 devotedness to the One who could exhibit such 
 pure, such perfect, such disinterested love. How 
 could the wife and children of the Hebrew servant 
 fail to love one who had voluntarily surrendered his 
 liberty in order that he and they might be together? 
 And what is the love presented in the type, when 
 compared with that which shines in the antitype ? 
 It is as nothing. "The love of Christ passeth 
 knowledge." It led Him to think of us before all 
 worlds to visit us in the fullness of time to walk 
 deliberately to the door-post to suffer for us on the 
 cross, in order that He might raise us to companion- 
 
280 EXODUS. 
 
 ship with Himself in His everlasting kingdom and 
 glory. 
 
 Were I to enter into a full exposition of the re- 
 maining statutes and judgments of this portion of 
 the book of Exodus, it would cany me much further 
 than I feel, at present, led to go.* I will merely 
 observe, in conclusion, that it is impossible to read 
 the section and not have the heart drawn out in 
 adoration of the profound wisdom, well-balanced 
 justice, and yet tender considerateness which breathe 
 throughout the whole. We rise up from the study of 
 it with this conviction deeply wrought into the soul, 
 that the One who speaks here is "the only true," 
 "the only wise," and the infinitely gracious God. 
 
 May all our meditations on His eternal Word 
 have the effect of prostrating our souls in worship 
 before Him whose perfect waj^s and glorious attri- 
 butes shine there, in all their blessedness and bright- 
 ness, for the refreshment, the delight, and the edifi- 
 cation of His blood-bought people. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 HMHIS chapter opens with an expression remark- 
 J- ably characteristic of the entire Mosaic econ- 
 omy. "And He said unto Moses, 'Come up unto 
 
 *I Avould here observe, once for all, that the feasts referred to 
 in chapter xxiii. 14-19, and the offerings in chapter xxix, being 
 brought out, in all their fullness and detail, in the book of Le- 
 viticus, I shall reserve them until we come to dwell, upon the 
 contents of that singularly rich and interesting book. 
 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 281 
 
 the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abitm, and 
 seventy of the elders of Israel ; and worship 'ye afar 
 off. .... they shall not come ni(jh, neither shall 
 the people go up with him." We may search from 
 end to end of the legal ritual, and not find those two 
 precious words, "draw nigh. 19 Ah, no ; such words 
 could never be heard from the top cf Sinai, nor 
 from amid the shadows of the law. They could 
 only be uttered at heaven's side of the empty tomb 
 of Jesus, where the blood of the cross has opened a 
 perfectly cloudless prospect to the vision of faith. 
 The words, "afar off," are as characteristic of the 
 law as "draw nigh" are of the gospel. Under the 
 law, the work was never done which could entitle 
 a sinner to draw nigh. Man had not fulfilled his 
 promised obedience; and the "blood of calves and 
 goats" could not atone for the failure, or give his 
 guilty conscience peace. Hence, therefore, he had 
 to stand "afar off." Man's vows were broken and 
 his sin unpurged ; how, then, could he draw nigh? 
 The blood of ten thousand bullocks could not wipe 
 away one stain from the conscience, or give the 
 peaceful sense of nearness as being reconciled to 
 God. 
 
 However, the "first covenant" is here dedicated 
 with blood. An altar is erected at the foot of the 
 hill, with "twelve pillars, according to the twelve 
 tribes of Israel." "And he sent young men of the 
 children of Israel, which offered burnt-offerings, and 
 sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the Lord. 
 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in 
 
282 EXODUS. 
 
 basins ; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the 
 
 altar And Moses took the blood, and 
 
 sprinkled it on the people, and said, 'Behold the 
 blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made 
 with you concerning all these words.' ' Although, 
 as the apostle teaches us, it was "impossible that 
 the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin," 
 yet did it "sanctify to the purifying of the flesh," 
 and, as "a shadow of good things to come," it 
 availed to maintain the people in relationship with 
 Jehovah. 
 
 "Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and 
 Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel ; and 
 they saw the God of Israel : and there was under 
 His feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, 
 and as it were the body of heaven. in clearness. 
 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel He 
 laid not His hand : also they saw God and did eat 
 and drink." This was the manifestation of "the 
 God of Israel," in light and purity, majesty and 
 holiness. It was not the unfolding of the affections 
 of a Father's bosom, or the sweet accents of a 
 Father's voice, breathing peace and inspiring confi- 
 dence into the heart. No; the "paved work of a 
 sapphire stone" told out that unapproachable purity 
 and light which could only tell a sinner to keep off. 
 Still, "they saw God and did eat and drink." 
 Touching proof of divine forbearance and mercy, 
 as also of the power of the blood ! 
 
 Looking at this entire scene as a mere illustration, 
 there is much to interest the heart. There is the de- 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 283 
 
 filed camp below and the sapphire pavement above; 
 but the altar, at the foot of the hill, tells us of that 
 way by which the sinner can make his escape from 
 the defilement of his own condition, and mount up 
 to the presence of God, there to feast and worship 
 in perfect peace. The blood which flowed around 
 the altar furnished man's only title to stand in the 
 presence of that glory which "was like a devouring 
 fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the 
 children of Israel." 
 
 "And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, 
 and gat him up into the mount ; and Moses was in 
 the mount forty days and forty nights." This was 
 truly a high and holy position for Moses. He was 
 called away from earth and earthly things. Ab- 
 stracted from natural influences, he is shut in with 
 God, to hear from His mouth the deep mysteries of 
 the Person and work of Christ ; for such, in point 
 of fact, we have unfolded in the tabernacle and all 
 its significant furniture "the patterns of things in 
 the heavens." The blessed One knew full well what 
 was about to be the end of man's covenant of 
 works ; but He unfolds to Moses, in types and 
 shadows, His own precious thoughts of love and 
 counsels of grace, manifested in, and secured by, 
 Christ. 
 
 Blessed for evermore be the grace which has not 
 left us under a covenant of works. Blessed be He 
 who has "hushed the law's loud thunders and 
 quenched mount Sinai's flame" by "the blood of 
 the everlasting covenant," and given us a peace 
 
284 EXODUS. 
 
 which no power of earth or hell can shake. "Unto 
 Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in 
 His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests 
 unto God and His Father ; to Him be glory and 
 dominion forever and ever. Amen." 
 
 CHAPTER XXY. 
 
 THIS chapter forms the commencement of one of 
 the richest veins in Inspiration's exhaustless 
 mine a vein in which every stroke of the mattock 
 brings to light untold wealth. "We know the mattock 
 with which alone we can work in such a mine, 
 namely, the distinct ministry of the Holy Ghost. 
 Nature can do nothing here. Reason is blind, im- 
 agination utterly vain ; the most gigantic intellect, 
 instead of being able to interpret the sacred sym- 
 bols, appears like a bat in the sunshine, blindly 
 dashing itself against the objects which it is utterly 
 unable to discern. We must compel reason and 
 imagination to stand without, while, with a chas- 
 tened heart, a single eye, and a spiritual mind, we 
 enter the hallowed precincts and gaze upon the 
 deeply significant furniture. God the Holy Ghost 
 is the only One who can conduct us through the 
 courts of the Lord's house, and expound to our 
 souls the true meaning of all that there meets our 
 view. To attempt the exposition by the aid of 
 intellect's unsanctified powers, would be infinitely 
 more absurd than to set about the repairs of a watch 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 285 
 
 with a blacksmith's tongs and hammer. "The pat- 
 tern of things in the heavens " cannot be interpreted 
 by the natural mind, in its most cultivated form. 
 They must all be read in the light of heaven : earth 
 has no light which could at all develop their beauties. 
 The One who furnished the patterns can alone ex- 
 plain what the patterns mean, the One who fur- 
 nished the beauteous symbols can alone interpret 
 them. 
 
 To the human eye there would seem to be a des- 
 ultoriness in the mode in which the Holy Ghost has 
 presented the furniture of the tabernacle; but. in 
 reality, as might be expected, there is the most 
 perfect order, the most remarkable precision, the 
 most studious accuracy. From chapter xxv. to 
 chapter xxx. inclusive, we have a distinct section of 
 the book of Exodus. This section is divided into 
 two parts, the first terminating at chapter xxvii. 19, 
 and the second at the close of chapter xxx. The 
 former begins with the ark of the covenant, inside 
 the vail, and ends with the brazen altar and the 
 court in which that altar stood. That is, it gives us, 
 in the first place, Jehovah's throne of judgment, 
 whereon He sat as Lord of all the earth; and it 
 conducts us to that place where He met the sinner, 
 in the credit and virtue of accomplished atonement. 
 Then, in the latter, we have the mode of man's 
 approach to God the privileges, dignities, and re- 
 sponsibilities of those who, as priests, were permitted 
 to draw nigh to the Divine Presence and enjoy wor- 
 ship and communion there. Thus the arrangement 
 
286 EXODUS. 
 
 is perfect and beautiful. How could it be otherwise, 
 seeing that it is divine ? The ark and the brazen 
 altar present, as it were, two extremes. The former 
 was the throne of God established in ''justice and 
 judgment" (Ps. Ixxxix. 14.); the latter was the 
 place of approach for the sinner where "mercy and 
 truth" went before Jehovah's face. Man, in him- 
 self, dared not to approach the ark to meet God, for 
 ' ' the way into the holiest of all was not yet made 
 manifest" (Heb. ix. 8.); but God could approach 
 the altar of brass, to meet man as a sinner. "Justice 
 and judgment" could not admit the sinner in r but 
 ' ' mercy and truth ' ' could bring God out ; not, in- 
 deed, in that overwhelming brightness and majesty 
 in which He was wont to shine forth from between 
 those mystic supporters of His throne "the cheru- 
 bim of glory," but in that gracious ministry which 
 is symbolically presented to us in the furniture and 
 ordinances of the tabernacle. 
 
 All this may well remind us of the path trodden 
 by that blessed One who is the antitype of all these 
 types the substance of all these shadows. He 
 traveled from the eternal throne of God in heaven, 
 down to the depth's of Calvary's cross. He came 
 from all the glory of the former, down into all tne 
 shame of the latter, in order that He might conduct 
 His redeemed, forgiven, and accepted people back 
 with Himself, and present them faultless before that 
 very throne which He had left on their account. 
 The Lord Jesus fills up, in His own Person and 
 work, every point between the throne of God and 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 287 
 
 the dust of death, and every point between the dust 
 of death and the throne of God. In Him, God has 
 come down, in perfect grace, to the sinner ; in Him, 
 the sinner is brought up, in perfect righteousness, to 
 God. All the way from the ark to the brazen altar 
 was marked with the footprints of love, and all the 
 way from the brazen altar to the ark of God was 
 sprinkled with the blood of atonement ; and as the 
 ransomed worshiper passes along that wondrous 
 path, he beholds the name of Jesus stamped on all 
 that meets his view. May that name be dearer to 
 our hearts ! Let us now proceed to examine the 
 chapters consecutively. 
 
 It is most interesting to note here that the first 
 thing which the Lord communicates to Moses is His 
 gracious purpose to have a sanctuary, or holy dwell- 
 ing-place, in the midst of His people a sanctuary 
 composed of materials which directly point to Christ*, 
 His Person, His work, and the precious fruit of that 
 work, as seen in the light, the power, and the varied 
 graces of the Holy Ghost. Moreover, these mate- 
 rials were the fragrant fruit of the grace of God 
 the voluntary offerings of devoted hearts. Jehovah, 
 whose majesty "the heaven, of heavens could not 
 contain," was graciously pleased to dwell in a 
 boarded and curtained tent erected for Him by 
 those who cherished the fond desire to hail His 
 presence amongst them. This tabernacle may be 
 viewed in two ways: first, as furnishing "a pattern 
 of things in the heavens," and secondly, as present- 
 ing a deeply significant type of the body of Christ. 
 
288 EXODUS. 
 
 The various materials of which the tabernacle was 
 composed will come before us as we pass along ; we 
 shall therefore consider the three comprehensive 
 subjects put before us in. this chapter, namely, the 
 ark, the table, and the candlestick. 
 
 The ark of the covenant occupies the leading place 
 in the divine communications to Moses. Its posi- 
 tion, too, in the tabernacle was most marked. Shut 
 in within the vail, in the holiest of all, it formed the 
 base of Jehovah's throne. Its very name conveys 
 to the mind its import. An ark, so far as the Word 
 instructs us, is designed to preserve intact whatever 
 is put therein. An ark carried Noah and his family, 
 together with all the orders of creation, in safety 
 over the billows of judgment which covered the 
 earth: an ark, at the opening of this book, was 
 faith's vessel for preserving "a proper child" from 
 the waters of death. When, therefore, we read of 
 "the ark of the covenant," we are led to believe 
 that it was designed of God to preserve His cove- 
 nant unbroken in the midst of an erring people. 
 In it, as we know, the second set of tables were 
 deposited. As to the first set, they were broken 
 in pieces beneath the mount, showing that man's 
 covenant was wholly abolished that his work could 
 never, by any possibility, form the basis of Jeho- 
 vah's throne of government. "Justice and judg- 
 ment are the habitation of that throne," whether in 
 its earthly or heavenly aspect. The ark could not 
 contain within its hallowed inclosure broken" tables. 
 Man might fail to fulfill his self-chosen vow, but 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 289 
 
 God's la^- must be preserved in its divine integrity 
 and perfectness. If God was to set up His throne 
 in the midst of His people, He could only d*o so in 
 a way worthy of Himself. His standard of judg- 
 ment and government must be perfect. 
 
 "And thou shalt make staves of shittim wood, 
 and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put 
 the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, 
 that the ark may be borne with them." The ark of 
 the covenant was to accompany the people in all 
 their wanderings. It never rested while they were 
 a traveling or a conflicting host; it moved from 
 place to place in the wilderness ; it went before them 
 into the midst of Jordan ; it was their grand rally- 
 ing-point in all the wars of Canaan ; it was the sure 
 and certain earnest of power wherever it went. 
 No power of the enemy could stand before that 
 which was the well-known expression of the divine 
 presence and power. The ark was to be Israel's 
 companion-in- travel in the desert, and "the staves" 
 and "the rings" were the apt expression of its 
 traveling character. 
 
 However, it was not always to be a traveler. 
 "The afflictions of David," as well as the wars of 
 Israel, were to have an end. The prayer was yet to 
 be breathed and answered, "Arise, O Lord, into 
 Thy rest: Thou and the ark of Thy strength." (Ps. 
 cxxxii. 8.) This most sublime petition had its par- 
 tial accomplishment in the palmy days of Solomon, 
 when c ' the priests brought in the ark of the covenant 
 of the Lord .unto his place, into the oracle of the 
 
290 EXODUS. 
 
 house, to the most holy place, even under the wings 
 of the cherubim. For the cherubim spread forth 
 their two wings over the place of the ark, and the 
 cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof 
 above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends 
 of the staves were seen out in the holy place before 
 the oracle, and they were not seen without: and 
 there they are unto this day." (1 Kings viii. 6-8.) 
 The sand of the desert was to be exchanged for the 
 golden floor of the temple. (1 Kings vi. 30.) The 
 wanderings of the ark were to have an end : there 
 was "neither enemy nor evil occurrent," and there- 
 fore "the staves were drawn out." 
 
 Nor was this the only difference between the ark 
 in the tabernacle and in the temple. The apostle, 
 speaking of the ark in its wilderness habitation, 
 describes it as "the ark of the covenant, overlaid 
 round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot 
 that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and 
 the tables of the covenant." (Heb. ix. 4.) Such 
 were the contents of the ark in its wilderness jour- 
 neyings the pot of manna, the record of Jehovah's 
 faithfulness in providing for His redeemed in the 
 desert, and Aaron's rod, "a token against the 
 rebels," to "take away their murmurings." (Com- 
 pare Exod. xvi. 32-34, and Numb. xvii. 10.) But 
 when the moment arrived in which "the staves" 
 were to be "drawn out," when the wanderings and 
 wars of Israel were over, when the ' ' exceeding mag- 
 nificial" house was completed, when the sun of Is- 
 rael's glory had reached, in type, its meridian, as 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 291 
 
 marked by the wealth and splendor of Solomon's 
 reign, then the records of wilderness need and wil- 
 
 O 7 
 
 derness failure were unnoticed, and nothing remained 
 save that which constituted the eternal foundation of 
 the throne of the God of Israel, and of all the earth. ' 
 " There ivas nothing in the ark save the two tables of 
 stone, which Moses put there at Horeb." (1 Kings 
 viii. 9.) 
 
 But all this brightness was soon to be overcast by 
 the heavy clouds of human failure and divine dis- 
 pleasure. The rude foot of the uncircumcised was 
 yet to walk across the ruins of that beautiful house, 
 and its faded light and departed glory was yet to 
 elicit the contemptuous "hiss" of the stranger. 
 This would not- be the place to follow out these 
 things in detail ; I shall only refer my reader to the 
 last notice which the Word of God affords us of 
 "the ark of the covenant," a notice which carries 
 us forward to a time when human folly and sin shall 
 no more disturb the resting-place of that ark, and 
 when neither a curtained tent nor yet a temple made 
 with hands shall contain it. "And the seventh angel 
 sounded ; and there were great voices in heaven, say- 
 ing, 'The kingdoms of this world are become the 
 kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ ; and He 
 shall reign forever and ever.' And the four and 
 twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, 
 fell upon their faces, and worshiped God, saying, 
 ' We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which 
 art, and wast, and art to come ; because Thou hast 
 taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned. 
 
292 EXODUS. 
 
 And the nations were angry, arid Thy wrath is come, 
 and the time of t-he dead, that they should be j udged, 
 and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy serv- 
 ants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that 
 fear Thy name, small and great ; and shouldest de- 
 stroy them which destroy the earth.' And the tem- 
 ple of God was open in heaven, and there was seen 
 in His temple the ark of His covenant : and there 
 were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and 
 an earthquake, and great hail." (Rev. xi. 15-19.) 
 
 The mercy-seat comes next in order. "And thou 
 shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold ; two cubits 
 and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit 
 and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt 
 make two cherubim of gold, of beaten work shalt 
 thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. 
 And make one cherub on the one end, and the other 
 cherub on the other end ; even of the mercy-seat 
 shall ye make the cherubim on the two ends thereof. 
 And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on 
 high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings, and 
 their faces shall look one to another ; toward the 
 mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. And 
 thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark ; 
 and in the ark shalt thou put the testimony that I 
 shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee', 
 and I will commune with thee from above the mercy- 
 seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon 
 the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will 
 give thee in commandment unto the children cf 
 Israel. ' ' 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 293 
 
 Here Jehovah gives utterance to His gracious 
 intention of coming down from the fiery mount to 
 take. His place upon the mercy-seat. This He could 
 do, inasmuch as the tables of testimony were pre- 
 served unbroken beneath, and the symbols of His 
 power, whether in creation or providence, rose on 
 the right hand and on the left the inseparable ad- 
 juncts of that throne on which Jehovah had seated 
 Himself a throne of grace founded upon divine 
 righteousness and supported by justice and judg- 
 ment. Here the glory of the God of Israel shone 
 forth. From hence He issued His commands, soft- 
 ened and sweetened by the gracious source from 
 whence they emanated, and the medium through 
 which they came like the beams of the mid-day 
 sun, passing through a cloud, we can enjoy their 
 genial and enlivening influence without being daz- 
 zled by their brightness. "His commandments are 
 not grievous," when received from off the mercy- 
 seat, because they come in connection with grace, 
 which gives the ears to hear and the power to obe} 7 . 
 
 Looking at the ark and mercy-seat together, we 
 may see in them a striking figure of Christ in His 
 Person and work. He having, in His life, magnified 
 the law and made it honorable, became, through 
 death, a propitiation (or mercy-seat) for every one 
 that believeth. God's mercy could only repose on 
 a pedestal of perfect righteousness'. "Grace reigns 
 through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus 
 Christ our Lord." (Rom. v. 21.) The only proper 
 meeting-place between God and man is the point 
 20 
 
294 EXODUS. 
 
 where grace and righteousness meet and perfectly 
 harmonize. Nothing but perfect righteousness could 
 suit God, and nothing but perfect grace could suit 
 the sinner. But where could these attributes meet 
 in one point? Only in the cross. There it is that 
 "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness 
 and peace have kissed each other/' (Ps. Ixxxv. 10.) 
 Thus it is that the soul of the believing sinner finds 
 peace. He sees that God's righteousness and his 
 justification rest upon precisely the same basis, 
 namely, Christ's accomplished work. When man, 
 under the powerful action of the truth of God, takes 
 his place as a sinner, God can, in the exercise of 
 grace, take His place as a Saviour, and then every 
 question is settled, for the cross having answered all 
 the claims of divine justice, mercy's copious streams 
 can flow unhindered. When a righteous God and a 
 ruined sinner meet on a blood-sprinkled platform, 
 all is settled forever settled in such a way as per- 
 fectly glorifies God, and eternally saves the sinner. 
 God must be true, though every man be proved a 
 liar ; and when man is so thoroughly brought down 
 to the lowest point of his own moral condition before 
 God as to be willing to take the place which God's 
 truth assigns him, he then learns that God has re- 
 vealed Himself as the righteous Justifier of such an 
 one. This must give settled peace to the conscience ; 
 and not only so, but impart a capacity to commune 
 with God, and hearken to His holy precepts, in the 
 intelligence of that relationship into which divine 
 grace has introduced us. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 295 
 
 Hence, therefore, u the holiest of all" unfolds a 
 truly wondrous scene. The ark, the mercy-seat, 
 the cherubim, the glory ! What a sight for the 
 high-priest of Israel to behold as, once a year, he 
 went in within the vail ! May the Spirit of God 
 open the eyes of our understanding, that we may 
 understand more fully the deep meaning of those 
 precious types. 
 
 Moses is next instructed about "the table of 
 show-bread," or bread of presentation. On this 
 table stood the food of the priests of God. For 
 seven days those twelve loaves of "fine flour with 
 frankincense" were presented before the Lord, after 
 which, being replaced by others, they became the 
 food of ttie. priests, who fed upon them in the holy 
 place. (See Lev. xxiv. 5-9.) It is needless to say 
 that those twelve loaves typify "the Man Christ 
 Jesus." The "fine flour," of which they were 
 composed, marks His perfect manhood, while the 
 "frankincense" points out the entire devotion of 
 that manhood to God. If God has His priests 
 ministering in the holy place, He will assuredly have 
 a table for them, and a well-furnished table too. 
 Christ is the table, and Christ is the bread thereon. 
 The pure table and the twelve loaves shadow forth 
 Christ as presented before God unceasingly in all 
 the excellency of His spotless humanity, and ad- 
 ministered as food to the priestly family. The 
 "seven days" set forth the perfection of the divine 
 enjoyment of Christ, and the "twelve loaves" the 
 administration of that enjoyment in and by man. 
 
296 EXODUS. 
 
 There is also, I should venture to suggest, the idea 
 of Christ's connection with the twelve tribes of 
 Israel, and the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 
 
 The candlestick of pure gold comes next in order, 
 for God's priests need light as well as food; and 
 they have both the one and the other in Christ. In 
 this candlestick there is no mention of any thing 
 but pure gold. "All of it shall be one beaten work 
 of pure gold." "The seven lamps" which "gave 
 light over against the candlestick "express the per- 
 fection of the light and energy of the Spirit, founded 
 upon and connected with the perfect efficacy of the 
 work of Christ. The work of the Holy Ghost can 
 never be separated from the work of Christ. This 
 is set forth in a double way in this beautiful figure 
 of the golden" candlestick. "The seven lamps" be- 
 ing connected with "the shaft" of "beaten gold," 
 points us to Christ's finished work as the sole basis 
 of the manifestation of the Spirit in the Church. 
 The Holy Ghost was not given until Jesus was 
 glorified. (Comp. John vii. 39 with Acts xix. 2-6.) 
 In the third chapter of Revelation, Christ is pre- 
 sented to the Church in Sardis as "having the seven 
 Spirits." It was as "exalted to the right hand of 
 God" that the Lord Jesus "shed forth" the Holy 
 Ghost upon His Church, in order that she might 
 shine, according to the power and perfection of her 
 position, in the holy place, her proper sphere of 
 being, of action, and of worship. 
 
 Then, again, we find it was one of Aaron's specific 
 functions to light and trim those seven lamps. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. S 2\)7 
 
 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 'Com- 
 mand the children of Israel that they bring unto 
 thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the 
 lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the 
 testimon}', in the tabernacle of the congregation, 
 shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the 
 morning before the Lord continually : it shall be a 
 statute forever in your generations. He shall order 
 the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the Lord 
 continually." (Lev. xxiv. 1-4.) Thus we may see 
 how the work of the Holy Ghost in the Church is 
 linked with Christ's work on earth and His work in 
 heaven. "The seven lamps" were there, no doubt ; 
 but priestly energy and diligence were needed in 
 order to keep them trimmed and lighted. The priest 
 would continually need "the tongs and snuff-dishes" 
 for the purpose of removing aught that would not 
 be a fit vehicle for the "pure beaten oil." Those 
 tongs and snuff-dishes were of "beaten gold" like- 
 wise, for the whole matter was the direct result of 
 divine operation. If the Church shine, it is only by 
 the energy of the Spirit, and that energy is founded 
 upon Christ, who, in pursuance of God's eternal 
 counsel, became, in His sacrifice and priesthood, 
 the spring and power of every thing to His Church. 
 All is of God. Whether we look within that mys- 
 terious vail, and behold the ark with its cover, and 
 the two significant figures attached thereto ; or if 
 we gaze on that which lay without the vail the pure 
 table and the pure candlestick, with their distinctive 
 vessels and instruments all speak to us of God, 
 
298 EXODUS. 
 
 whether as revealed to us in connection with the 
 Son or the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Christian reader, your high calling places 3*011 in 
 the very midst of all these precious realities. Yow 
 place is not merely amid "the patterns of things in 
 the heavens," but amid "the heavenly things them- 
 selves." You have "boldness to enter into the 
 holiest by the blood of Jesus;" you are a priest 
 unto God ; "the showbread" is yours ; your place 
 is at "the pure table," to feed on the priestly food, 
 in the light of the Holy Ghost. Nothing can ever 
 deprive you of those divine privileges, they are 
 yours forever. Let it be your care to watch against 
 every thing that might rob 3^011 of the enjoyment of 
 them. Beware of all unhallowed tempers, lusts, 
 feelings, and imaginations. Keep nature down; 
 keep the world out ; keep Satan off. May the Holy 
 Ghost fill your whole soul with Christ. Then you 
 will be practically holy and abidingly happy, you 
 will bear fruit, and the Father will be glorified, and 
 your joy shall be full. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE section of our book which now opens before 
 us contains the instructive description of the 
 curtains and coverings of the tabernacle, wherein 
 the spiritual eye discerns the shadows of the various 
 features and phases of Christ's manifested character. 
 ' ; Moreover, thou shalt make the tabernacle with ten 
 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 299 
 
 curtains of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, 
 and scarlet: with cherubim of cunning work shalt 
 thou make them." Here we have the different as- 
 pects of ' c the Man Christ Jesus. ' ' The c ' fine twined 
 linen" prefigures the spotless purity of His walk 
 and character; while the "blue, the purple, and the 
 scarlet" present Him to us as "the Lord from 
 heaven," who is to reign according to the divine 
 counsels, but whose royalty is to be the result of 
 His sufferings. Thus we have a spotless Man, a 
 heavenly Man, a royal Man, a suffering Man. These 
 materials were not confined to the " curtains" of the 
 tabernacle, but were also used in making " the vail" 
 (ver. 31), "the hanging for the door of the tent" 
 (ver. 3G), "the hanging for the gate of the court" 
 (chap, xxvii. 16), "the cloths of service and the 
 holy garments of Aaron" (chap, xxxix. 1).. In a 
 word, it was Christ everywhere, Christ in all, Christ 
 alone.* 
 
 The "fine twined linen," as expressive of Christ's 
 spotless manhood, opens a most precious and copious 
 spring of thought to the spiritual mind ; it furnishes 
 a theme on which we' cannot meditate too profoundly. 
 The truth respecting Christ's humanity must be re- 
 ceived with scriptural accuracy > held with spiritual 
 energy, guarded with holy jealousy, and confessed 
 with heavenly power. If we are wrong as to this, 
 we cannot be right as to any thing. It is a grand, 
 
 *The expression, "white and clean," gives peculiar force and 
 beauty to the type which the Holy Ghost has presented in the 
 " lino twined linen." Indeed, there could not be a more appro- 
 priate emblem of spotless manhood. 
 
300 EXODUS. 
 
 vital, fundamental truth ; and if it be not received, 
 held, guarded, and confessed as God has revealed it 
 in His holy Word, the entire superstructure must be 
 unsound. Nothing can be more deplorable than the 
 looseness of thought and expression which seems to 
 prevail in reference to this all-important doctrine. 
 Were there more reverence for the Word of God, 
 there would be more accurate acquaintance with it ; 
 and, in this way, we should happily avoid all those 
 erroneous and unguarded statements which surely 
 must grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whose province 
 it is to testify of Jesus. 
 
 When the angel had announced to Mary the glad 
 tidings of the Saviour's birth, she said to him, 
 "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" 
 Her feeble mind was utterly incompetent to enter 
 into, much less to fathom, the stupendous mystery 
 of u God manifest in the flesh." But mark carefully 
 the angelic reply a reply, not to a sceptic mind, 
 but to a pious, though ignorant, heart. "The Holy 
 Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
 Highest shall overshadow thee ; wherefore, also, that 
 holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called 
 the Son of God." (Luke i. 34, 35.) Mary, doubt- 
 less, imagined that this birth was to be according to 
 the principles of ordinary generation ; but the angel 
 corrects her mistake, and, in correcting it, enun- 
 ciates one of the grandest truths of revelation. He 
 declares to her that divine power was about to form 
 A KEAL MAN "the second Man the Lord from 
 heaven" One whose nature was divinely pure, ut- 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 301 
 
 terly incapable of receiving or communicating any 
 taint. This holy One was made ' fc in the likeness of 
 sinful flesh," without sin in the flesh. He partook 
 of real bona fide flesh and blood without a particle 
 or shadow of the evil thereto attaching. 
 
 This is a cardinal truth which cannot be too ac- 
 curately laid hold of or too tenaciously held. The 
 incarnation of the Son, the second Person in the 
 eternal Trinity His mysterious entrance into pure 
 and spotless flesh, formed, by the power of the 
 Highest, in the virgin's womb, is the foundation of 
 the "great mystery of godliness," of which the top- 
 stone is a glorified God-man in heaven, the Head, 
 Representative, and Model of the redeemed Church 
 of God. The essential purity of His manhood per- 
 fectly met the claims of God ; the reality thereof 
 met the necessities of man. He was a Man, for 
 none else would do to meet man's ruin. But He 
 was such a Man as could satisfy all the claims of the 
 throne of God. He was a spotless, real Man, in 
 whom God could perfectly delight, and on whom 
 man could unreservedly lean. 
 
 I need not remind the enlightened reader that all 
 this, if taken apart from death and resurrection, is 
 perfectly unavailable to us. We need not only an 
 incarnate, but a crucified and risen, Christ. True, 
 He should be incarnate to be crucified ; but it is 
 death and resurrection which render incarnation 
 available to us. It is nothing short of a deadly 
 error to suppose that in incarnation Christ was tak- 
 ing man into union with Himself. This could not 
 
302 EXODUS. 
 
 be. He Himself expressly teaches the contrary. 
 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of 
 wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; 
 but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 
 xii. 24. ) There could be no union between sinful 
 and holy flesh, pure and impure, corruptible and 
 incorruptible, mortal and immortal. Accomplished 
 death is the only base of a unity between Christ and 
 His elect members. It is in beautiful connection 
 with the words, "Eise, let us go hence," that He 
 says, "I am the vine, ye are the branches." "We 
 have been planted together in the likeness of His 
 death." "Our old man is crucified with Him, that 
 the body of sin might be destroyed." "In whom 
 also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made 
 without hands, in putting oif the body of the sins 
 of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried 
 with Him in baptism, wherein also }-e are risen with 
 Him through the faith of the operation of God, who 
 hath raised Him from the dead." I would refer my 
 reader to Romans vi. and Colossians ii. as a full and 
 comprehensive statement of the truth on this im- 
 portant subject. It was only as dead and risen that 
 Christ and His people could become one. The true 
 corn of wheat had to fall into the ground and die 
 ere a full ear could spring up and be gathered into 
 the heavenly garner. 
 
 But while this is a plainly revealed truth of Scrip- 
 ture, it is equally plain that incarnation formed, as 
 it were, the first layer of the glorious superstructure ; 
 and the curtains of ' c fine twined linen ' ' prefigure the 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 303 
 
 moral purity of "the Man Christ Jesus." We have 
 already seen the manner of His conception ; and, as 
 we pass along the current of His life here below, we 
 meet with instance after instance of the same spot- 
 less purity. He was forty days in the wilderness, 
 tempted of the devil, but there was no response in 
 His pure nature to the tempters foul suggestions. 
 He could touch the leper and receive no taint ; He 
 could touch the bier and not contract the smell of 
 death ; He could pass unscathed through the most 
 polluted atmosphere. He was, as to His manhood, 
 like a sunbeam emanating from the fountain of light, 
 which can pass without a soil through the most de- 
 filing medium. He was perfectly unique in nature, 
 constitution, and character. None but He could 
 say, "Thou wilt not suffer Thine holy One to see 
 corruption." This was in reference to His human- 
 ity, which, as being perfectly holy and perfectly 
 pure, was capable of being a sin-bearer. "His own 
 self bare our sins in His own body on the tree." 
 Not to the tree, as some would teach us; but "on 
 the tree." It was on the cross that Christ was our 
 sin-bearer, and only there. "He hath made Him to 
 be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be 
 made the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 
 v. 21.) 
 
 "Blue" is the ethereal color, and marks the heav- 
 enly character of Christ, who, though He had come 
 down into all the circumstances of actual and true 
 humanity (sin excepted), yet was He "the Lord 
 from heaven." Though He was "very man," yet 
 
304 EXODUS. 
 
 He ever walked in the uninterrupted consciousness 
 of His proper dignity, as a heavenly stranger. He 
 never once forgot whence He had come, where He 
 was, or whither He was going. The spring of all His 
 joys was on high. Earth could neither make Him 
 richer nor poorer. He found this world to be "a 
 dry and thirsty land, where no water is," and hence 
 His spirit could only find its refreshment above. It 
 was entirely heavenly. "No man hath ascended up 
 to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even 
 the Son of Man wlio is in heaven. 79 (John iii. 13.) 
 
 " Purple" denotes royalty, and points us to Him 
 who "was born King of the Jews;" who offered 
 Himself as such to the Jewish nation, and was re- 
 jected ; who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good 
 confession, avowing Himself a king, when, to mortal 
 vision, there was not so much as a single trace of 
 royalty. "Thou sayest that I am a king." And 
 "hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at 
 the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds 
 of heaven." And, finally, the inscription upon His 
 cross, ' ' in letters of Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin ' ' 
 the language of religion, of science, and of gov- 
 ernment declared Him, to the whole known world, 
 to be "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." 
 Earth disowned His claims (so much the worse for 
 it), but not so heaven; there His claim was fully 
 recognized. He was received as a conqueror into 
 the eternal mansions of light, crowned with glory 
 and honor, and seated, amid the acclamations of 
 angelic hosts, on the throne of the Majesty in the 
 
CHAPTEK XXVI. 305 
 
 heavens, there to wait until His enemies be made 
 His footstool. "Why do the heathen rage, and the 
 people imagine a vain thing ? The kings of the 
 earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel 
 together, against the Lord, and against His anointed, 
 saying, 'Let us break their bands asunder, and cast 
 away their cords from us.' He that sitteth in the 
 heavens shall laugh ; the Lord shall have them in 
 derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His 
 wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet 
 have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion. I 
 will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto 
 Me, 'Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten 
 Thee. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen 
 for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the 
 earth for Thy possession. Thou shalt break them 
 with a rod of iron ; Thou shalt clash them in pieces 
 like a potter's vessel.' Be wise now therefore, O 
 ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. 
 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. 
 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish from 
 the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. 
 BLESSED ARE ALL THEY THAT PUT THEIR 
 TRUST IN HIM." (Ps. ii.) 
 
 " Scarlet," when genuine, is produced by death ; 
 and this makes its application to a suffering Christ 
 safe and appropriate. "Christ hath suffered for us 
 in the flesh." Without deuth, all would have been 
 unavailing. We can admire " the blue" and "the 
 purple," but without "the scarlet" the tabernacle 
 would have lacked an all-important feature. It was 
 
306 EXODUS. 
 
 by death that Christ destroyed him that had the 
 power of death. The Holy Ghost, in setting before 
 us a striking figure of Christ the true tabernacle 
 could not possibly omit that phase of His character 
 which constitutes the ground- work of His connection 
 with His body the Church, of His claim to the throne 
 of David, and the headship of all creation. In a 
 word, He not only unfolds the Lord Jesus to our 
 view, in. these significant curtains, as .a spotless 
 Man, a royal Man, but also a suffering Man, One 
 who, by death, should make good His claims to all 
 that to which, as man, He was entitled, in the 
 divine counsels. 
 
 But we have much more in the curtains of the 
 tabernacle than the varied and perfect phases of the 
 character of Christ, we have also the unity and 
 consistency of that character. Each phase is dis- 
 played in its own proper perfectness ; and one never 
 interferes with, or mars the exquisite beauty of, 
 another. All was in perfect harmony beneath the 
 eye of God, and was so displayed in "the pattern 
 which was showed to Moses on the mount," and in 
 the copy which was exhibited below. ' ' Every one 
 of the curtains shall have one measure. The five 
 curtains shall be coupled together one to another ; 
 and other five curtains shall be coupled one to 
 another." Such was the fair proportion and con- 
 sistency in all the ways of Christ, as a perfect Man, 
 walking on the earth, in whatever aspect or relation- 
 ship we vtew Him. When acting in one character, 
 we never find aught that is, in the very least degree, 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 307 
 
 inconsistent with the divine integrity of another. 
 He was, at all times, in all places, under all circum- 
 stances, the perfect Man. There was nothing out 
 of that fair and lovely proportion which belonged 
 to Him, in all His ways. "Every one of the cur- 
 tains shall have one measure." 
 
 The two sets of live curtains each may symbolize 
 the two grand aspects of Christ's character, as act- 
 ing toward God and toward man. We have the 
 s'ame two aspects in the law, namely, what was due 
 to God, and what was due to man ; so that as to 
 Christ, if we look in, we find "Thy law is within My 
 heart ; " and if we look at His outward character and 
 walk, we see those two elements adjusted with per- 
 fect accuracy, and not only adjusted, but inseparably 
 linked together by the heavenly grace and divine 
 energy which dwelt in His most glorious Person. 
 
 "And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the edge 
 of the one curtain, from the selvedge in the coupling ; 
 and likewise shalt thou make in the uttermost ecl^c 
 
 o 
 
 of another curtain, in the coupling of the second 
 .... And thou shalt make fifty taches of gold, 
 and couple the curtains together with the taches ; 
 and it shall be one tabernacle. ' ' We have here dis- 
 played to us, in the "loops of blue," and "taches 
 of gold," that heavenly grace and divine energy in 
 Christ which enabled Him to combine and perfectly 
 adjust the claims of God and man; so that in re- 
 sponding to both the one and the other, He never, 
 for a moment, marred the unity of His character. 
 When crafty and hypocritical men tempted Him 
 
308 EXODUS. 
 
 with the inquiry, u ls it lawful to give tribute to 
 Caesar, or not?" His wise reply was, "Render to 
 Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the 
 things that are God's." 
 
 Nor was it merely Caesar, but man in every rela- 
 tion that had all his claims perfectly met in Christ. 
 As He united in His perfect Person the nature of 
 God and man, so He met in His perfect ways the 
 claims of God and man. Most interesting would it 
 be to trace, through the gospel narrative, the exem- 
 plification of the principle suggested by the "loops 
 of blue," and "taches of gold ; " but I must leave 
 my reader to pursue this study under the immediate 
 guidance of the Holy Ghost, who delights to expa- 
 tiate upon every feature and every phase of that 
 perfect One whom it is His unvarying purpose and 
 undivided object to exalt. 
 
 The curtains on which we have been dwelling were 
 covered with other "curtains of goats' hair." (Ver*. 
 7-14. ) Their beauty was hidden from those without 
 by that which bespoke roughness and severity. This 
 latter did not meet the view of those within. To all 
 who were privileged to enter the hallowed inclosure, 
 nothing was visible save "the blue, the purple, the 
 scarlet, and fine twined linen," the varied yet com- 
 bined exhibition of the virtues and excellencies of 
 that divine- Tabernacle in which God dwelt within 
 the vail that is, of Christ, through whose flesh, the 
 antitype of all these, the beams of the divine nature 
 shone so delicately that the sinner could behold with- 
 out being overwhelmed by their dazzling brightness. 
 

 CHAPTER XXVI. 309 
 
 As the Lord Jesus passed along this earth, how 
 few really knew Him ! How few had eyes anointed 
 with heavenly cj^e-salve to penetrate and appreciate 
 the deep mystery of His character ! How few saw 
 "the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and fine twined 
 linen" ! It was only when faith brought man into 
 His presence that He ever allowed the brightness of 
 what He was to shine forth ever allowed the glory 
 to break through the cloud. To nature's eye there 
 would seem to have been a reserve and a severity 
 about Him which were aptly prefigured by the "cov- 
 ering of goats' hair." All this was the result of His 
 profound separation and estrangement, not from 
 sinners personally, but from the thoughts and max- 
 ims of men. He had nothing in common with man 
 as such, nor was it within the compass of mere 
 nature to comprehend or enjoy Him. "No man," 
 said He, "can come to Me, except the Father which 
 hath sent Me draw him;" and when one of those 
 "drawn" ones confessed His name, Pie declared 
 that "flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 
 but My Father which is in heaven." (Comp. John 
 vi. 44; Matt. xvi. 17.) He was "a root out of a 
 dry ground," having neither "form nor comeliness" 
 to attract the eye or gratify the heart of man. The 
 popular current could never flow in the direction of 
 of One who, as He passed rapidly across the stage 
 of this vain world, wrapped Himself up in a "cov- 
 ering of goats' hair." Jesus was not popular. The 
 multitude might follow Him for a moment, because 
 His ministry stood connected, in their judgment, 
 21 
 
310 EXODUS. 
 
 with "the loaves and fishes" which met their need ; 
 but they were just as ready to cry, "Away with 
 Him ! " as u Hosanna to the Son of David ! " Oh, 
 let Christians remember this ! Let the servants of 
 Christ remember it ! Let all preachers of the gospel 
 remember it ! Let one and all of us ever seek to 
 bear in mind the "covering of goats 9 hair" ! 
 
 But if the goats' skins expressed the severity of 
 Christ's separation from earth, "the rams' skins 
 dyed red" exhibit His intense consecration and de- 
 votedness to God, which was carried out even unto 
 death. He was the only perfect Servant that ever 
 stood in God's vineyard. He had one object, which 
 He pursued with an undeviating course from the 
 manger to the cross, and that was, to glorify the 
 Father, and finish His work. "Wist ye not that I 
 must be about My Father's business?" was the 
 language of His youth, and the accomplishment of 
 that "business" was the design of His life. "His 
 meat was to do the will of Him that sent Him, and 
 to finish His work." "The rams' skins dyed red" 
 formed as distinct a part of His ordinary habit as 
 the "goats' hair." His perfect devotion to God 
 separated Him from the habits of men. 
 
 ' ' The badgers' skins ' ' may exhibit to us the holy 
 vigilance with which the Lord Jesus guarded against 
 the approach of every thing hostile to the purpose 
 which engrossed His whole soul. He took up His 
 position for God, and held it with a tenacity which 
 no influence of men or devils, earth or hell, could 
 overcome. The covering of badger's skins was 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 311 
 
 "above" (ver. 14), teaching us that the most 
 prominent feature in the character of "the Man 
 Christ Jesus" was an invincible determination to 
 stand as a witness for God on the earth. He was 
 the true Naboth, who gave up His life rather than 
 surrender the truth of God, or give up that for 
 which He had taken His place in this world. 
 
 The goat, the ram, and the- badger must be re- 
 garded as exhibiting certain natural features, and 
 also as symbolizing certain moral qualities ; and we 
 must take both into account in our application of 
 these figures to the character of Christ. The human 
 eye could only discern the former. It could see 
 none of the moral grace, beauty, and dignity which 
 lay beneath the outward form of the despised and 
 humble Jesus of Nazareth. When the treasures of 
 heavenly wisdom flowed from His lips, the inquiry 
 was, "Is not this the carpenter?" or, "How know- 
 eth this Man letters, having never learned?" When 
 He asserted His eternal Sonship and Godhead, the 
 word was, "Thou art not yet fifty years old," or, 
 "They took up stones to cast at Him." In short, 
 the acknowledgment of the Pharisees in John ix. 
 was true in reference to men in general. "As for 
 this fellow, we know not from whence He is." 
 
 It would be utterly impossible, in the compass of 
 a volume like this, to trace the unfoldings of those 
 precious features of Christ's character through the 
 gospel narratives. Sufficient has been said to open 
 up springs of spiritual thought to my reader, and to 
 furnish some faint idea of the rich treasures which 
 
312 EXODUS. 
 
 are wrapped up in the curtains and coverings of the 
 tabernacle. Christ's hidden being, secret springs, 
 and inherent excellencies His outward and unat- 
 tractive form what He was in Himself, what He 
 was Godward, and what He was manward what He 
 was in the judgment of faith, and what in the judg- 
 ment of nature all is sweetly and impressively told 
 but, to the circumcised ear, in the " curtains of 
 blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen," and 
 the "coverings of skins." 
 
 "The boards for the tabernacle" were friade of 
 the same wood as was used in constructing "the 
 ark of the covenant." Moreover, they were upheld 
 by the sockets of silver formed out of the atone- 
 ment ; their hooks and chapiters being of the same. 
 (Compare attentively chap. xxx. 11-16, with chap, 
 xxxviii. 25-28.) The whole frame- work of the tent 
 of the tabernacle was based on that which spoke of 
 atonement or ransom, while the "hooks and chap- 
 iters" at the top set forth the same. The sockets 
 were buried in the sand, and the hooks and chapiters 
 were above. It matters not how deep you penetrate, 
 or how high you rise, that glorious and eternal truth 
 is emblazoned before you, "I HAVE FOUND A 
 RANSOM." Blessed be God, "we are not re- 
 deemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, 
 .... but with the precious blood of Christ, as 
 of a lamb without blemish and without spot. ' ' 
 
 The tabernacle was divided into three distinct 
 parts, namely, "the holy of holies," "the holy 
 place," and "the court of the tabernacle." The 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 313 
 
 entrance into each of these was of the same mate- 
 rials "blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen." 
 (Compare chapter xxvi. 31, 36; xxvii. 16.) The 
 interpretation of which is simply this :* Christ forms 
 the only doorway into the varied fields of glory which 
 are yet to be displayed, whether on earth, in heaven, 
 or in the heaven of heavens. " Every family, in 
 heaven and earth," will be ranged under His head- 
 ship, as all will be brought into everlasting felicity 
 and glory on the ground of His accomplished atone- 
 ment. This is plain enough, and needs no stretch 
 of the imagination to grasp it. We know it to be 
 true ; and when we know the truth which is shadowed 
 forth, the shadow is easily understood. If only our 
 hearts be filled with Christ, we shall not go far astray 
 in our interpretations of the tabernacle and its fur- 
 niture. It is not a head full of learned criticism 
 that will avail us much here, but a heart full of affec- 
 tion for Jesus, and a conscience at rest in the blood 
 of His cross. 
 
 May the Spirit of God enable us to study these 
 things with more interest and intelligence. May 
 He "open our eyes that we may behold wondrous 
 things out of His law." 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 llfE have now arrived at the brazen altar, which 
 
 T stood at the door of the tabernacle; and I 
 
 would call my. reader's most particular attention to 
 
 the order of the Holy Ghost in this portion of our 
 
314 EXODUS. 
 
 book. We have already remarked that from chapter 
 xxv. to the nineteenth verse of chapter xxvii. forms 
 a distinct division, in which we are furnished with a 
 description of the ark and mercy-seat, the table and 
 candlestick, the curtains and the vail ; and, lastly, 
 the brazen altar and the court in which that altar 
 stood. If my reader will turn to chapter xxxv. 15, 
 chapter xxxvii. 25, and chapter xl. 26, he will re- 
 mark that the golden altar of incense is noticed, in 
 each of the three instances, between the candlestick 
 and the brazen altar ; whereas, when Jehovah is 
 giving directions to Moses, the brazen altar is in- 
 troduced immediately after the candlestick and the 
 curtains of the tabernacle. Now, inasmuch as there 
 must be a divine reason for this difference, it is the 
 privilege of every diligent and intelligent student of 
 the Word to inquire what that reason is. 
 
 Why, then, does the Lord, when giving directions 
 about the furniture of the "holy place," omit the 
 altar of incense, and pass *out to -the brazen altar 
 which stood at the door of the tabernacle ? The 
 reason, I believe, is simply this: He first describes 
 the mode in which He would manifest Himself to 
 man, and then He describes the mode of man's 
 approach to Him. He took His seat upon the 
 throne, as "the Lord of all the earth." The beams 
 of His glory were hidden behind the vail type 
 of Christ's flesh (Heb. x. 20.); but there was the 
 manifestation of Himself in connection with man, 
 as in "the pure table," and by the light and power 
 of the Holy Ghost, as in the candlestick. Then we 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 315 
 
 have the manifested character of Christ as a man 
 down here on this earth, as seen in the curtains and 
 coverings of the tabernacle. And, finally, we have 
 the brazen altar as the grand exhibition of the meet- 
 ing-place between a holy God and a sinner. This 
 conducts us, as it were, to the extreme point, from 
 which we return, in company with Aaron and his 
 sons, back to the holy place, the ordinary priestly 
 position, where stood the golden altar of incense. 
 Thus the order is strikingly beautiful. The golden 
 altar is not spoken of until there is a priest to burn 
 incense thereon, for Jehovah showed Moses the 
 patterns of things in the heavens according to the 
 order in which these things are to be apprehended 
 by faith. On the other hand, when. Moses gives 
 directions to the congregation (chap. xxxv. ), when 
 he records the labors of -"Bezaleel and Aholiab" 
 (chap, xxxvii. and xxxviii.), and when he sets up 
 the tabernacle (chap, xl.), he follows the simple 
 order in which the furniture w r as placed. 
 
 The prayerful investigation of this interesting 
 subject, and a comparison of the passages above 
 referred to, will amply repay my reader. We shall 
 now examine the brazen altar. 
 
 This altar was the place where the sinner ap- 
 proached God, in the power and efficacy of the 
 blood of atonement. It stood ' ' at the door of the 
 tabernacle of the tent of the congregation," and on 
 it all the blood was shed. It was composed of 
 u shittim wood and brass." The wood was the 
 same as that of the golden altar of incense ; but 
 
316 EXODUS. 
 
 the metal was different, arid the reason of this dif- 
 ference is obvious. The altar of brass was the 
 place where sin was dealt with according to the 
 divine judgment concerning it. The altar of gold 
 was the place from whence the precious fragrance 
 of Christ's acceptableness ascended to the throne 
 of God. The "shittim wood," as the figure of 
 Christ's humanity, must be the same in each case ; 
 but in the brazen altar we see Christ meeting the 
 fire of divine justice ; in the golden altar we behold 
 Him feeding the divine affections. At the former, 
 the fire of divine wrath was quenched ; at the latter, 
 the fire of priestly worship is kindled. The soul 
 delights to find Christ in both; but the altar of 
 brass is what meets the need of a guilty conscience, 
 it is the very first thing for a poor, helpless, needy, 
 convicted sinner. There cannot be settled peace, 
 in reference to the question of sin, until the eye of 
 faith rests on Christ as the antitype of the brazen 
 altar. I must see my sin reduced to ashes in the 
 pan of that altar ere I can enjoy rest of conscience 
 in the presence of God. It is when I know, by 
 faith in the record of God, that He Himself has 
 dealt with my sin in the Person of Christ, at the 
 brazen altar that He has satisfied all His own 
 righteous claims that He has put away my sin out 
 of His holy presence, so that it can never come 
 back again it is then, but not until then, that I 
 can enjoy divine and everlasting peace. 
 
 I would here offer a remark as to the real meaning 
 of the "gold" and "brass" in the furniture of the 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 317 
 
 tabernacle. "Gold" is the symbol of divine right- 
 eousness, or the divine nature in "the Man Christ 
 Jesus." "Brass "is the symbol of righteousness, 
 demanding judgment of sin, as in the brazen altar; 
 or the judgment of uneleanness, as in the brazen 
 laver. This will account for the fact that inside the 
 tent of the tabernacle all was gold, the ark, the 
 mercy-seat, the table, the candlestick, the altar of 
 incense. All these were the symbols of the divine 
 nature the inherent personal excellejif the 
 Lord Jesus Christ. On the othej; 
 tent of the tabernacle all wa 
 altar and its vessels, the laver ; 
 
 The claims of righteousness^ 
 cleanness, must be divinely met N 
 any enjoyment of the precious mysteriE 
 Person, as unfolded in the inner sanctuary of God. 
 It is when I see all sin and all uneleanness perfectly 
 judged and washed away that I can, as a priest, 
 draw nigh and worship in the holy place, and enjoy 
 the full display of all the beauty and excellency of 
 the God-man, Christ Jesus. 
 
 The reader can, with much profit, follow out the 
 application of this thought in detail, n6t merely in 
 the* study of the tabernacle and the temple, but also 
 in various passages of the Word ; for example, in 
 the first chapter of Revelation, Christ is seen "girt 
 about the paps with a golden girdle," and having 
 "His feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in 
 a furnace." The "golden girdle" is the symbol of % 
 His intrinsic righteousness. The "feet like unto 
 
318 EXODUS. . 
 
 fine brass" express the unmitigated judgment of 
 evil (lie cannot tolerate evil, but must crush it 
 beneath His feet). 
 
 Such is the Christ with whom we have to do. He 
 judges sin, but He saves the sinner. Faith sees sin 
 reduced to ashes at the brazen altar ; it sees all 
 uncleanness washed away at the brazen laver ; and, 
 finally, it enjoys Christ as He is unfolded, in the 
 secret of the divine presence, by the light and 
 power of the Holy Ghost. It finds Him at the 
 golden altar, in all the value of His intercession ; 
 it feeds on Him at the pure table ; it recognizes 
 Him in the ark and mercy-seat, as the One who 
 answers all the claims of justice, and, at the same 
 time, meets all human need ; it beholds Him in the 
 vail, with all its mystic figures ; it reads His pre- 
 cious name on every thing. O, for a heart to prize 
 and praise this matchless, glorious Christ ! 
 
 Nothing can be of more vital importance than a 
 clear understanding of the doctrine of the brazen 
 altar ; that is to say, of the doctrine taught there. 
 It is from the want of clearness as to this that so 
 many souls go mourning all their days. They have 
 never had a clean, thorough settlement of the whole 
 matter of their guilt at the brazen altar ; they have 
 never really beheld, by faith, God Himself settling, 
 on the cross, the entire question of their sins ; they 
 are seeking peace for their uneasy consciences in 
 regeneration and its evidences, the fruits of the 
 Spirit, frames, feelings, experiences, things quite 
 right and most valuable in themselves, but they are 
 
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 319 
 
 not the ground of peace. What fills the soul with 
 perfect peace is the knowledge of what God hath 
 wrought at the brazen altar. The ashes in yonder 
 pan tell me the peace-giving story that ALL IS 
 DONE. The believer's sins were all put away by 
 God's own hand of redeeming love. u He hath 
 made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that 
 we might be made the righteousness of God in 
 Him." (2 Cor. v.) All sin must be judged: but 
 the believer's sins have been already judged in the 
 cross; hence, he is perfectly justified. To suppose 
 that there could be any thing against the very 
 feeblest believer, is to deny the entire work of the 
 cross. His sins and iniquities have been all put 
 away by God Himself, and therefore they must 
 needs be perfectly put away. They all went with 
 the outpoured life of the Lamb of God. 
 
 Dear Christian reader, see that 3-0111- heart is 
 thoroughly established in the peace which Jesus has 
 made "by the blood of His cross." 
 
 CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 
 
 THESE chapters unfold to us the priesthood, in 
 all its value and efficacy. They are full of 
 deep interest. The very word "priesthood" awak- 
 ens in the heart feelings of the most profound 
 thankfulness for the ^race which has not only pro- 
 vided a way for us to get into the divine presence, 
 but also the means of keeping us there, according 
 
320 EXODUS. 
 
 to the character and claims of that high and hoi}' 
 position. 
 
 The Aaronic priesthood was God's provision for a 
 people who were, in themselves, at a distance, and 
 needed one to appear for them in His presence 
 continually. We are taught in Hebrews vii. that 
 this order of priesthood belonged to the law that 
 it was made c ' after the law of a carnal command- 
 ment" that it "could not continue by reason of 
 death" that the priests belonging to it had infirm- 
 ity. It could not, therefore, impart perfection, and 
 hence we have to bless God that it was instituted 
 "without an oath." The oath of God could only 
 stand connected with that which was to endure 
 forever, even the perfect, immortal, untransferable 
 priesthood of our great and glorious Melchisedek, 
 who imparts both to His sacrifice and His priest- 
 hood all the value, the dignity, and the glory of His 
 own peerless Person. The thought of having such a 
 Sacrifice and such a Priest as He causes the bosom 
 to heave with emotions of the liveliest gratitude. 
 
 But we must proceed to the examination of the 
 chapters which lie before us. 
 
 In chapter xxviii. we have the robes, and in 
 chapter xxix. we have the sacrifices. The former 
 have more especial reference to the need of the 
 people ; the latter, on the other hand, to the claims 
 of God. The robes express the varied functions and 
 qualities of the priestly office. u The ephod" was 
 the great priestly robe. It was inseparably con- 
 nected with the shoulder-pieces and the breastplate, 
 
CHAPTP:RS xxvin. & xxix. 321 
 
 teaching us, very distinctly, that the strength of the 
 priest's shoulder, and the affection of the priest's 
 heart, were wholly devoted to the interests of those 
 whom he represented, and on whose behalf he wore 
 the ephod that special priestly robe. This, which 
 was typified in Aaron, is actualized in Christ. His 
 omnipotent strength and infinite love are ours 
 ours eternally ours unquestionably. The shoulder 
 which sustains the universe upholds the feeblest and 
 most obscure member of the blood-bought congre- 
 gation. The heart of Jesus beats with an undying 
 affection with an everlasting and an all-enduring 
 love for the most neglected member of the redeemed 
 assembly. 
 
 The names of the twelve tribes, engraven on pre- 
 cious stones, were borne both on the shoulders and 
 on the breast of the high-priest. (See verses 9-12, 
 15-29.) The peculiar excellence of a precious 
 stone is seen in this, that the more intense the light 
 which is brought to bear upon it, the more brightly 
 it shines. Light can never make a precious stone 
 look dim ; it only increases and develops its lustre. 
 The twelve tribes one as well as another, the 
 smallest as well as the greatest were borne contin- 
 ually upon the breast and shoulders of Aaron before 
 the Lord. They were each and every one main- 
 tained in the divine presence in all that undimmed 
 lustre and unalterable beauty which belonged to the 
 position in which the perfect grace of the God of 
 Israel had set them. The people were represented 
 before God by the high-priest. Whatever might be 
 
322 EXODUS. 
 
 their infirmities, their errors, or their failures, yet 
 their names glittered on the breastplate with unfad- 
 ing brilliancy. Jehovah had set them there, and 
 who could pluck them thence ? Jehovah had put 
 them thus, and who could put them otherwise ? 
 Who could penetrate into the holy place to snatch 
 from Aaron's breast the name of one of Israel's 
 tribes ? Who could sully the lustre which gathered 
 round those names, in the position which Jehovah 
 had placed them ? Not one. They lay beyond 
 the reach of every enemy beyond the influence of 
 every evil. 
 
 How encouraging and consolatory it is for the 
 tried, tempted, buffeted, and self-abased children of 
 God to remember that God only sees them on the 
 heart of Jesus ! In His view, they ever shine in all 
 the effulgence of Christ they are arrayed in divine 
 comeliness. The world cannot see them thus ; but 
 God does, and this makes all the difference. Men, 
 in looking at the people of God, see only their blots 
 and blemishes. They have no ability whatever to 
 see further, and as a consequence, their judgment 
 is always wrong always one-sided. They cannot 
 see the sparkling jewels, bearing the names of God's 
 redeemed, engraven by the hand of changeless love. 
 True it is that Christians should be most careful not 
 to furnish the men of the world with any just occa- 
 sion to speak reproachfully. They should seek, "by 
 patient continuance in well-doing, to put to silence 
 the ignorance of foolish men." If only they en- 
 tered, by the power of the Holy Ghost, into the 
 
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 323 
 
 comeliness in which they ever shine, in God's vision, 
 it would assuredly lead to a walk of practical holi- 
 ness, moral purit}^ and elevation before the eyes of 
 men. The more clearly we enter, by faith, into 
 objective truth, or what is true of us in Christ, the 
 deeper, more experimental and practical will be the . 
 subjective work in us, and the more complete will 
 be the exhibition of the moral effect in our life and 
 character. 
 
 But, thank God, our judgment is not with men, 
 but with Himself; and He graciously shows us our 
 great Hi^h-Priest, u bearing our judgment on His 
 
 o *> o 
 
 heart before the Lord continually." This imparts 
 deep and settled peace a peace which nothing can 
 shake. We may have to confess and mourn over 
 our constant failures and short-comings, the eye 
 ma}f, at times, be so dimmed with the tears of a 
 genuine contrition as to be but little able to .catch 
 the lustre of the precious stones on which our names 
 are engraven, yet there they are all the while. God 
 sees them, and that is enough. He is glorified by 
 their brightness a brightness not of our attaining, 
 but of His imparting. We had naught save dark- 
 ness, dullness, and deformit} T . He has imparted 
 brightness, lustre, and beauty. To Him be all the 
 praise throughout the everlasting ages ! 
 
 4i The girdle" is the well-known symbol of serv- 
 ice ; and Christ is the perfect Servant the Servant 
 of the divine counsels and affections, and of the 
 deep and manifold need of His people. With an 
 earnest spirit of devotedness, which nothing could 
 
324 EXODUS. 
 
 damp, He girded Himself for His work ; and when 
 faith sees the Son of God thus girded, it judges, as- 
 suredly, that no occasion can be too great for Him. 
 We find, from the type before us, that all the virtues, 
 the dignities, and the glories of Christ, in His divine 
 and human nature, enter fully into His servant- 
 character. "The curious girdle of the ephod, which 
 is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the 
 work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, 
 and scarlet, and fine twined linen." (Verse 8.) The 
 faith of this must meet every necessity of the soul, 
 and satisfy the most ardent longings of the heart. 
 We not only see Christ as the slain Victim at the 
 brazen altar, but also as the girded High-Priest over 
 the house of God. Well, therefore, may the inspired 
 apostle say, "Let us draw near," "Let us hold 
 fast," "Let its consider one another." (Heb. x. 
 19-24.) 
 
 "And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judg- 
 ment the Urim and the Thummim ["lights and 
 perfections"] ; and they shall be upon Aaron's 
 heart, when he goeth in before the Lord : and 
 Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of 
 Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. ' ' 
 We learn, from various passages of the Word, that 
 the "Urim" stood connected with the communica- 
 tion of the mind of God in reference to the various 
 questions which arose in the details of Israel's 
 history. Thus, for example, in the appointment of 
 Joshua, we read, "And he shall stand before Elea- 
 zar the priest, who shall ask counsel for him, after 
 
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 325 
 
 the judgment of Urim before the Lord." (Numb, 
 xxvii. 21.) " And of Levi he said, 'Let thy Thum- 
 mim and thy Urim [thy perfections and thy lights] 
 
 be with thy holy one They shall teach 
 
 Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law.' " (Deut. 
 xxxiii. 8-10.) "And when Saul inquired of the 
 Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, 
 nor by Urim, nor by prophets." (1 Sam. xxviii. 6.) 
 "And Tirshatha said unto them that they should 
 not eat of the most holy things till there stood up <ti 
 priest with Urim and with Thummim." (Ezra ii. G3. ) 
 Thus we learn that the high-priest not only bore the 
 judgment of the congregation before the Lord, but 
 also communicated the judgment of the Lord to the 
 congregation. Solemn, weighty, and most precious 
 functions ! All this we have, in divine perfectness, 
 in our "great High-Priest, who has passed into the 
 heavens." He bears the judgment of His people 
 on His heart continually ; and He, by the Holy 
 Ghost, communicates to us the counsel of God, in 
 reference to the most minute circumstances of our 
 daily course. We do not want dreams or visions ; 
 if only we walk in the Spirit, we -shall enjoy all the 
 certainty which the perfect "Urim," on the breast 
 of our High-Priest, can afford. 
 
 "And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all 
 
 of blue And beneath, upon the hem of 
 
 it, thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of 
 purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; 
 and bells of gold between them round about: a 
 golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and 
 22 
 
326 EXODUS. 
 
 a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round 
 about. And it shall be upon Aaron to minister ; 
 and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto 
 the holy place before the Lord, and when he eometh 
 out, that he die not." (Ver. 31-35.) The blue robe 
 of the ephod is expressive of the entirely heavenly 
 character of our High-Priest. He is gone into 
 heaven, He is beyond the range of mortal vision ; 
 but, by the power of the Holy Ghost, there is divine 
 testimony to the truth of His being alive, in the 
 presence of God ; and not only testimony, but fruit 
 likewise. U A golden bell and a pomegranate, a 
 golden bell and a pomegranate," such is the beau- 
 teous order. True testimony to the great truth that 
 Jesus ever liveth to make intercession for us will 
 be inseparably connected with fruitfulness in His 
 service. O, for a deeper understanding of these 
 precious and holy mysteries ! * 
 
 u And tliou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and 
 grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, 
 HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And thou shall put 
 it on a bine lace, that it may be upon the mitre, 
 upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be. And it 
 shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may 
 bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the 
 children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts ; 
 and it shall be always upon Ms forehead, that they 
 
 *It is needless to remark that there is divine appropriateness, 
 as well as eigniflcancy, in all the figures presented to us in the 
 Word. Thus, the "pomegranate," when opened, is found to con- 
 sist of a number of seeds, contained in a red fluid. Surely this 
 has a voice. Let spirituality, not imagination, judge. 
 
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 327 
 
 may be accepted before the Lord." (Yer. 36-38.) 
 Here is a weighty truth for the soul. The golden 
 plate on Aaron's forehead was the type of the 
 essential holiness of the Lord Jesus Christ. "It 
 shall be ALWAYS upon HIS forehead, that THEY 
 may be accepted before the Lord." What rest for 
 the heart amid all the fluctuations of one's experi- 
 ence ! Our High-Priest is "always" in the presence 
 of God for us. We are represented by, and accepted 
 in, Him. His holiness is ours. The more deeply 
 we become acquainted with our own personal vile- 
 ness and infirmity, the more we enter into the 
 humiliating truth that in us dwelleth no good thing, 
 the more fervently shall we bless the God of all 
 grace for the soul-sustaining truth contained in 
 these words, "It shall be always upon Ms forehead, 
 that they may be accepted before the Lord." 
 
 If my reader should happen to be one who is 
 frequently tempted and harassed with doubts and 
 fears, tips and downs in his spiritual condition, with 
 a constant tendency to look inward upon his poor, 
 cold, wandering, wayward heart, if he be tried 
 with an excessive vagueness and want of holy re- 
 ality, oh, let him stay his whole soul upon the pre- 
 cious truth that this great High-Priest represents 
 him before the throne of God. Let him fix his eye 
 upon the golden plate, and read in the inscription 
 thereon the measure of his eternal acceptance with 
 God. May the Holy Ghost enable him to taste the 
 peculiar sweetness and sustaining power of this 
 divine and heavenly doctrine. 
 
328 EXODUS. 
 
 "And for Aaron's sons thou slialt make coats, 
 and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets 
 shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. 
 . . . . And thou shalt make them linen breeches 
 to cover their nakedness ; . . . . and they shall 
 be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come 
 in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when 
 they come near unto the altar to minister in the 
 holy place ; that they bear not iniquity and die." 
 Here we have Aaron and his sons, typifying Christ 
 and the Church, standing in the power of one divine 
 and everlasting righteousness. Aaron's priestly 
 robes express those inherent, essential, personal, 
 and eternal qualities in Christ; while the "coats" 
 and "bonnets" of Aaron's sons represent those 
 graces with which the Church is endowed, in virtue 
 of its association with the great Head of the 
 priestly family. 
 
 Thus, in all that has passed before us in this 
 chapter, we may see with what gracious care Jeho- 
 vah made provision for the need of His people, in 
 that He allowed them to see the one who was about 
 to act on their behalf, and to represent them in His 
 presence, clothed with all those robes which directly 
 met their actual condition, as known to Him. No- 
 thing was left out which the heart could possibly 
 need or desire. They might survey him from head 
 to foot and see that all was complete. From the 
 holy mitre that wreathed his brow, to the bells and 
 pomegranates on the hem of his garment, all was as 
 it should be, because all w.as according to the pat- 
 
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 329 
 
 tern shown in the mount all was according to 
 Jehovah's estimate of the people's need and of 
 His own requirements. 
 
 But there is yet one point connected with Aaron's 
 robes which demands the reader's special attention, 
 and that is the mode in which the gold was intro- 
 duced in the making of them. This is presented 
 to us in chapter xxxix, but the interpretation comes 
 in suitably enough in this place. "And they did 
 beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, 
 to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the 
 scarlet, and in the line linen, with cunning work." 
 (Ver. 3.) We have already remarked that "the 
 blue, the purple, the scarlet, and fine twined linen" 
 exhibit the various phases of Christ's manhood, and 
 the gold represents his divine nature. The wire of 
 gold was curiously insinuated into all the other 
 materials, so as to be inseparably connected with, 
 and yet perfectly distinct from, them. 
 
 The application of this striking figure to the 
 character of the Lord Jesus is full of interest. In 
 various scenes throughout the gospel narrative, we 
 can easily discern this rare and beauteous union of 
 manhood and Godhead, and, at the same time, 
 their mysterious distinctness. 
 
 Look, for example, at Christ on the sea of Gali- 
 lee. In the midst of the storm "He was asleep on 
 a pillow" (precious exhibition of His perfect man- 
 hood ! ) ; but in a moment He rises from the attitude 
 of real humanity into all the dignity and majesty 
 of Godhead, and, as the supreme Governor of the 
 
330 EXODUS. 
 
 universe, He hushes the storm and calms the sea. 
 There is no effort, no haste, no girding Himself up 
 for an occasion. With perfect ease, He rises from 
 the condition of positive humanity into the sphere 
 of essential deity. The repose of the former is not 
 more natural than the activity of the latter. He is 
 as perfectly at home in the one as in the other. 
 
 Again, see Him in the case of the collectors of 
 tribute, at the close of Matthew xvii. As the "Most 
 High God, possessor of heaven and earth," He lays 
 His hand upon the treasures of the ocean, and says, 
 - "They are Mine ; " and, having declared that "the 
 sea is His, and He made It," He turns round and, 
 in the exhibition of perfect humanity, He links 
 Himself with His poor servant by those touching 
 words, "That take, and give unto them for Me and 
 thee." Gracious words ! peculiarly gracious, when 
 taken in connection with the miracle so entirely 
 expressive of the Godhead of the One who was thus 
 linking Himself, in infinite condescension, with a 
 poor, feeble worm. 
 
 Once more, see Him at the grave of Lazarus. 
 (John xi.) He groans and weeps, and those groans 
 and tears issue from the profound depths of a per- 
 fect manhood from that perfect human heart which 
 felt, as no other heart could feel, what it was to 
 stand in the midst of a scene in which sin had pro- 
 duced such terrible fruits. But then, as the Resur- 
 rection and the Life, as the One who held in His 
 omnipotent grasp "the keys of hell and of death," 
 He cries, "Lazarus, come forth!" and death and 
 
CHAPTERS XXVIII. & XXIX. 331 
 
 the grave, responsive to His authoritative voice, throw 
 open their massy doors and let go their captive. 
 
 My reader's mind will easily recur to other scenes, 
 in the gospels, illustrative of the beautiful combina- 
 tion of the wire of gold with "the blue, the purple, 
 the scarlet, and the fine-twined linen;" that is to 
 say, the union of the Godhead with the manhood, 
 in the mysterious Person of the Son of God There 
 is nothing new in the thought ; it has often been 
 noticed by those who have studied, with any amount 
 of care, the Scriptures of the Old Testament. 
 
 It is, however, always edifying to, have the blessed 
 Lord Jesus introduced to our thoughts as "very 
 God and very man." The Holy Ghost has, with 
 "cunning workmanship," wrought the two together 
 and presented them to the renewed mind of the 
 believer to be enjoyed and admired. May we have 
 hearts to appreciate such teaching ! 
 
 Let us now, ere we close this section, look for a 
 moment at chapter xxix. 
 
 It has been already remarked that Aaron and his 
 sons represent Christ and the Church, but in the 
 opening verses of this chapter Aaron gets the pre- 
 cedency. "And Aaron and his sons thoti shalt 
 bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congre- 
 gation, and shalt wash them with water." The 
 washing of water rendered Aaron t} T pically what 
 Christ is intrinsically holy. The Church is holy in 
 virtue of her being linked with Christ in resurrection 
 life. He is the perfect definition of what she is 
 before God. The ceremonial act of washing with 
 
332 EXODUS. 
 
 water expresses the action of the Word of God. 
 (SeeEph. v. 26.) 
 
 "Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and 
 pour it upon his head, and anoint him." (Ver. 7.) 
 Here we have the Spirit ; but let it be noted that 
 Aaron was anointed before the blood was shed, be- 
 cause he stands before us as the type of Christ, who, 
 in virtue of what He was in His own Person, was 
 anointed with the- Holy Ghost, long before the work 
 of the cross was accomplished. The sons of Aaron, 
 on the other hand, were not anointed until after the 
 blood was shed. "Then shalt thou kill the ram, 
 and take of his blood, and put it upon the tip of 
 the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right 
 ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right 
 hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and 
 sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.* 
 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the 
 altar, and of the anointing o*7, and sprinkle it upon 
 Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, 
 and upon the garments of his sons with him." (Ver. 
 20, 21.) As regards the Church, the blood of the 
 cross lies at the foundation of every thing. She 
 could not be anointed with the Holy Ghost until 
 her risen Head had gone into heaven, and laid upon 
 the throne of the divine Majesty the record of His 
 accomplished sacrifice. 4 4 This Jesus hath God raised 
 up, whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being 
 
 * The ear, the hand, and the foot, are all consecrated to God in 
 the power of accomplished atonement, and by the energy of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
CHAPTERS XXVIII, & XXIX. 333 
 
 by the right hand of God exalted, and having re- 
 ceived of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, 
 He hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear." 
 (Acts ii. 32, 33. Comp. also John vii. 39 ; Acts xix. 
 1-6.) From the days of Abel downward, souls 
 had been regenerated, influenced, 'acted upon, and 
 qualified for office by the Holy Ghost; but the 
 Church could not be anointed with the Holy Ghost 
 until her victorious Lord had entered heaven and 
 received, on her behalf, the promise of the Father. 
 The truth of this doctrine is taught, in the most 
 direct and absolute manner, throughout the New 
 Testament; and its strict integrity is maintained, 
 in the type before us, by the obvious fact that 
 though Aaron was anointed before the blood was 
 shed (ver. 7.), } T et his sons were not, and could not 
 be, anointed till after (ver. 21.). 
 
 But we learn more from the order of anointing 
 in our chapter than the important truth with respect 
 to the work of the Spirit and the position of the 
 Church ; we have also set before us the personal 
 pre-eminence of the Son. "Thou hast loved right- 
 eousness, and hated iniquity ; therefore God, even 
 Tlry God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of glad- 
 ness above Thy fellows." (Ps. xlv. 7; Heb. i. 9.) 
 This must ever be held fast in the convictions and 
 experience of the people of God. True, the infi- 
 nite grace of God is set forth in the marvelous fact 
 that guilty, hell-deserving sinners should ever be 
 spoken of in such terms should ever be styled the 
 '''"fellows" of the Son of God; but let us never for 
 
334 EXODUS. 
 
 a moment forget the word "above." No matter 
 how close the union (and it is as close as God's 
 eternal counsels of redeeming love could make it), 
 yet " in all things" Christ must "have the pre-emi- 
 nence." It could not be otherwise. He is Head 
 over all, Head 'of the Church, Head of creation, 
 Head of angels, Lord of the universe. There is 
 not a single orb that rolls alon^ the heavens that 
 
 ~ . 3 
 
 does not belong to Him, and move under His con- 
 trol ; there is not a single worm that crawls along 
 the earth which is not under His sleepless eye. He 
 is "high over all," "the first-begotten from the 
 dead," and "of all creation," "the beginning of 
 the creation of God." "Every family in heaven 
 and earth" must range itself, in the divine cate- 
 gory, under Christ. All this will ever be thankfully 
 owned by every spiritual mind ; yea, the very enun- 
 ciation of it sends a thrill through the Christian's 
 heart. All who are led of the Spirit will rejoice in 
 every unfolding of the personal glories of the Son ; 
 nor can they tolerate, for a single instant, any thing 
 derogatory thereto. Let the Church be raised to 
 the loftiest heights of glory, it will be her joy to 
 bow at the feet of Him who stooped to raise her, by 
 virtue of His completed sacrifice, into union with 
 Himself; who, having satisfied, in the fullest wa} T , 
 all the claims of divine justice, can gratify all the 
 divine affections by making her inseparably one with 
 Himself, in all His infinite acceptableness with the 
 Father, and in His eternal glory. "He is not 
 ashamed to call them brethren." 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 335 
 
 NOTE. I purposely forbear entering upon the subject of the 
 offerings in chapter xxix, inasmuch as we shall have the various 
 classes of offerings, in all their minute detail, fully before us in. 
 the beok of Leviticus, if the Lord will. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THE priesthood being instituted, as in the two 
 preceding chapters, we are here introduced to 
 the position of true priestly worship and commun- 
 ion. The order is marked and instructive, and, 
 moreover, precisely corresponds with the order of 
 the believer's experience. At the brazen altar, he 
 sees the ashes of his sins ; he then sees himself 
 linked with One who, though personally pure and 
 spotless, so that He could be anointed without 
 blood, has, nevertheless, associated us with Him- 
 self in life, righteousness, and favor ; and, finally, 
 he beholds, in the golden altar, the preciousness 
 of Christ, as the material on which the divine affec- 
 tions feed. 
 
 Thus it is ever ; there must be a brazen altar and 
 a priest before there can be a golden altar and in- 
 cense. Very many of the children of God have 
 never passed the brazen altar ; they have never yet, 
 in spirit, entered into the power and reality of true 
 priestly worship. They do not rejoice in a full, clear, 
 divine sense of pardon and righteousness, they 
 have never reached the golden altar. They hope to 
 reach it when they die ; but it is their privilege to 
 be at it now. The work of the cross has removed 
 
336 EXODUS. 
 
 out of the way every thing which would act as a 
 barrier to their free and intelligent worship. The 
 present position of all true believers is at the golden 
 altar of incense. 
 
 This altar typifies a position of wondrous blessed- 
 ness. There we enjoy the reality and efficacy of 
 Christ's intercession. Forever done with self and 
 all pertaining thereto, so far as any expectation of 
 good is concerned, we are to be occupied with what 
 He is before God. We shall find nothing in self 
 but defilement. Every exhibition of it is defiling ; 
 it has been condemned and set aside in the judg- 
 ment of God, and not a shred or particle thereof is 
 to be found in the pure incense and pure fire, on the 
 altar of pure gold : it could not be. We have been 
 introduced, "by the blood of Jesus," into the sanc- 
 tuary a sanctuary of priestly service and worship, 
 in which there is not so much as a trace of sin. 
 We see the pure table, the pure candlestick, and 
 the pure altar ; but there is nothing to remind us of 
 self and its wretchedness. Were it possible for 
 aught of that to meet our view, it could but prove 
 the death- knell of our worship, mar our priestly 
 food, and dim our light. Nature can have no place 
 in the sanctuary of God. It, together with all its 
 belongings, has been consumed to ashes ; and we 
 are now to have before our souls the fragrant odor 
 of Christ, ascending in grateful incense to God: 
 this is what God delights in. Every thing that pre- 
 sents Christ in His own proper excellence is sweet 
 and acceptable to God. Even the feeblest expres- 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 337 
 
 sion or exhibition of Him, in the life or worship of 
 a saint, is an odor of a sweet smell in which God is 
 well pleased. 
 
 Too often, alas ! we have to be occupied with our 
 failures and infirmities. If ever the workings of in- 
 dwelling sin be suffered to rise to the surface, we 
 must deal with our God about them, for He cannot 
 go on with sin. He can forgive it, and cleanse us 
 from it ; He can restore our souls by the gracious 
 ministry of our great High-Priest ; but He cannot 
 go on in company with a single sinful thought. A 
 light or foolish thought, as well as an unclean or 
 covetous one, is amply sufficient to mar a Christian's 
 communion, and interrupt his worship. Should any 
 such thought spring up, it must be judged and con- 
 fessed, ere the elevated joys of the sanctuary can be 
 known afresh. A heart in which lust is working is 
 not enjoying the proper occupations of the sanctu- 
 aiy. When we are in our proper priestly condition, 
 nature is as though it had no existence ; then we 
 can feed upon Christ : we can taste the divine lux- 
 ury of being wholly at leisure from ourselves, and 
 wholly engrossed with Christ. 
 
 All this can only be produced by the power of 
 the Spirit. There is no need of seeking to work up 
 nature's devotional feelings, by the various appli- 
 ances of systematic religion ; there must be pure 
 fire as well as pure incense. (Comp. Lev. x. 1, with 
 xvi. 12.) All' efforts at worshiping God by the un- 
 hallowed powers of nature come under the head of 
 " strange fire." God is the object of worship; 
 
338 EXODUS. 
 
 Christ the ground and the material of worship ; 
 the Holy Ghost the power of worship. 
 
 Properly speaking, then, as in the brazen altar 
 we have Christ in the value of His sacrifice, so in 
 the golden altar we have Christ in the value of His 
 intercession. This will furnish my reader with a 
 still clearer sense of the reason 'why the priestly 
 office is introduced between the two altars. There 
 is, as might be expected, an intimate connection 
 between the two, for Christ's intercession is founded 
 upon His sacrifice. "And Aaron shall make an 
 atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with 
 the blood of the sin-offering of atonements: once 
 in the year shall he make atonement upon it through- 
 out your generations: it is most holy unto the 
 Lord." AH rests upon the immovable foundation 
 of SHED BLOOD. "Almost all things are by the 
 law purged with blood ; and without shedding of 
 blood is no remission. It was therefore necessary 
 that the patterns of things in the heavens should be 
 purified with these ; but the heavenly things them- 
 selves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ 
 is not entered into the holy places made w T ith hands, 
 which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven 
 itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." 
 (Heb. ix. 22-24.) 
 
 From verse 11-16 we have the atonement money 
 for the congregation. All were to pay alike. 
 "The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall 
 not give less, than half a shekel, when they give 
 an offering unto the Lord, to make an atonement 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 33 i) 
 
 for your souls." In the matter of atonement, all 
 must stand on one common platform. There may 
 be a vast difference in knowledge, in experience, 
 in capacity, in attainment, in zeal, in devotedness, 
 but the ground of atonement is alike to all. The 
 great apostle of the Gentiles and the feeblest lamb 
 in all the flock of Christ stand on the same level as 
 regards atonement. This is a very simple and a 
 very blessed truth. All may not be alike devoted 
 and fruitful; but "the precious blood of Christ," 
 and not devotedness or fruitfulness, is the solid 
 and everlasting ground of the believer's rest. The 
 more we enter into the truth and power of this, the 
 more fruitful shall we be. 
 
 In the last chapter of Leviticus we find another 
 kind of valuation. When any one made " a singular 
 vow," Moses valued him according to his age. In 
 other words, when any one ventured to assume the 
 ground of capacity, Moses, as the representative of 
 the claims of God, estimated him u after the shekel 
 of the sanctuary. ' ' If he were ' c poorer ' ' than Moses* 
 estimation, then he was to "present himself before 
 the priest," the representative of the grace of God, 
 who was to value him "according to his ability that 
 vowed." 
 
 Blessed be God, we know that all His claims have 
 been answered, and all our vows discharged, by One 
 who was at once the Representative of His claims 
 and the Exponent of His grace, who finished the 
 work of atonement upon the cross, and is now at 
 the right hand of God. Here is sweet rest for the 
 
340 EXODUS. 
 
 heart and conscience. Atonement is the first thing 
 to get hold of, and we shall never lose sight of it. 
 Let our range of intelligence be ever so wide, our 
 fund of experience ever so rich, our tone of devo- 
 tion ever so elevated, we shall always have to fall 
 back upon the one simple, divine, unalterable, soul- 
 sustaining doctrine of THE BLOOD. Thus it 
 has ever been in the history of God's people, thus 
 it is, and thus it ever will be. The most deeply- 
 taught and gifted servants of Christ have always 
 rejoiced to come back to "that one well-spring of 
 delight," at which their thirsty spirits drank when 
 first they knew the Lord ; and the eternal song of 
 the Church in glory will be, "Unto Him that loved 
 us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." 
 The courts of heaven will ever resound with the 
 glorious doctrine of the blood. 
 
 From verse 17-21 we are presented with "the 
 brazen laver and its foot" the vessel of washing 
 and the basis thereof. These two are always pre- 
 sented together. (See chap. xxx. 28 ; xxxviii. 8 ; xl. 
 11.) In this laver the priests washed their hands 
 and feet, and thus maintained that purity which 
 was essential to the proper discharge of their 
 priestly functions It was not, by any means, a 
 question of a fresh presentation of blood ; but sim- 
 ply that action by which they were preserved 
 in fitness for priestly service and worship. "When 
 they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, 
 they shall wash with water, that they die not ; or 
 when they come near to the altar to minister, to 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 341 
 
 burn offering made by fire unto the Lord : so they 
 shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die 
 not." 
 
 There can be no true communion with God, save 
 as personal holiness is diligently maintained. "If 
 we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk 
 in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth." (1 John 
 i. 6.) This personal holiness can only flow from 
 the action of the Word of God on our works and 
 ways. "By the words of Thy lips I have kept me 
 from the paths of the destroyer." Our constant 
 failure in priestly ministry may be accounted for by 
 our neglecting the due use of the laver. If our 
 ways are not submitted to the purgative action of 
 the Word if we continue in the pursuit or practice 
 of that which, according to the testimony of our 
 own consciences, the Word distinctly condemns, 
 the energy of our priestly character will assuredly 
 be lacking. Deliberate continuance in evil and true 
 priestly worship are wholly incompatible. ' c Sanctify 
 them through Thy truth : Thy Word is truth. ' ' If we 
 have any uncleanness upon us, we cannot enjoy the 
 presence of God. The effect of His presence would 
 then be to convict us by its holy light. But when 
 we are enabled, through grace, to cleanse our wa}-, 
 by taking heed thereto according to God's Word, 
 we are then morally capacitated for the enjoyment 
 of His presence. 
 
 My reader will at once perceive what a vast field 
 of practical truth is here laid open to him, and also 
 how largely the doctrine of the brazen laver is 
 
 23 
 
342 EXODUS. 
 
 brought out in the New Testament. Oh that all 
 those who are privileged to tread the courts of the 
 sanctuary, in priestly robes, and to approach the 
 altar of God, in priestly worship, may keep their 
 hands and feet clean by the use of the true laver. 
 
 It may be interesting to note that the laver, with 
 its foot, was made "of the looking-glasses of the 
 women assembling, which assembled at the door of 
 the tabernacle of the congregation." (See chap, 
 xsxviii. 8. ) This fact is full of meaning. We are 
 ever prone to be " like a man beholding his natural 
 face in a glass ; for he beholdeth himself and goeth 
 away, and straightway forgetteth what manner of 
 man he was." Nature's looking-glass can never 
 furnish a clear and permanent view of our true con- 
 dition. "But whoso looketh into the perfect law 
 of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a 
 forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man 
 shall be blessed in his deed." ( James i. 23-25.) 
 The man who has constant recourse to the Word of 
 God, and who allows that Word to tell upon his 
 heart and conscience, will be maintained in the holy 
 activities of the divine life. 
 
 Intimately connected with the searching and 
 cleansing action of the Word is the efficacy of the 
 priestly ministry of Christ. "For the Word of God 
 is quick and powerful p.e., living and energetic], 
 and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing 
 even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and 
 of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the 
 thoughts and intents of the heart ; neither is there 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 343 
 
 any creature that is not manifest in His sight ; but 
 all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of 
 Him with whom we have to do." Then the inspired 
 apostle immediately adds, "Seeing then that we 
 have a great High-Priest, that is passed into the 
 heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our 
 profession. For we have not a high-priest which 
 cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities ; 
 but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet 
 without sin.* Let us therefore come boldly unto the 
 throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find 
 grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv. 12-16,) 
 
 The more keenly we feel the edge of the Word, 
 the more we shall prize the merciful and gracious 
 ministry of our High-Priest. The two things go 
 together. They are the inseparable companions of 
 the Christian's path. Hence, it is only as I am 
 making use of the laver that I can approach the 
 altar. Worship must ever be presented in the 
 power of holiness. We must lose sight of nature, 
 as reflected in a looking-glass, and be wholly occu- 
 pied with Christ, as presented in the Word. In this 
 way only shall the "hands and feet" the works 
 and ways be cleansed, according to the purification 
 of the sanctuary. 
 
 From verse 22-33 we have the "holy anointing 
 oil," with which the priests, together with all the 
 furniture of the tabernacle, were anointed. In 
 
 * Literally, "sin excepted" (x&)pi$ d/mapTia^; i.e., He was 
 tempted tested and tried in every way from without, sin ex- 
 cepted, for sin was not in Him. 
 
344 EXODUS. 
 
 this we discern a type of the varied graces of the 
 Holy Ghost, which were found, in all their divine 
 fullness, in Christ. "All thy garments smell of 
 myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory 
 palaces, whereby they have made thee glad." (Ps. 
 xlv. 8.) "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with 
 the Holy Ghost and with power." (Acts x. 38.) 
 All the graces of the Spirit, in their perfect fra- 
 grance, centred in Christ ; and it is from Him 
 alone they can flow. He, as to His humanity, 
 was conceived of the Holy Ghost; and, ere He 
 entered upon His public ministry, He was anointed 
 with the Holy Ghost; and finally, when He had 
 taken His seat on high, in token of an accomplished 
 redemption, He shed forth upon His body, the 
 Church, the precious gifts of the Holy Ghost. (See 
 Matt. i. 20; iii. 16, 17; Luke iv. 18, 19; Acts ii. 
 33 ; x. 45, 46 ; Eph. iv. 8-13.) 
 
 It is as those who are associated with this ever- 
 blessed and highly- exalted Christ that believers are 
 partakers of the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost ; 
 and, moreover, it is as they walk in habitual near- 
 ness to Him that they either enjoy or emit the 
 fragrance thereof. The unrenewed man knows no- 
 thing of this. "Upon man's flesh it shall not be 
 poured." The graces of the Spirit can never be 
 connected with man's flesh, for the Holy Ghost can- 
 not own nature. Not one of the fruits of the Spirit 
 was ever yet produced "in nature's barren soil." 
 We "must be born again." It is only as connected 
 with the new man, as being part of "the new 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 345 
 
 creation," that we can know any thing of the fruits 
 of the Holy Ghost. It is of no possible value to 
 seek to imitate those fruits and graces. The fairest 
 fruits that ever grew in nature's fields, in their high- 
 est state of cultivation the most amiable traits 
 which nature can exhibit must be utterly disowned 
 in the sanctuary of God. "Upon man's flesh shall 
 it not be poured ; neither shall ye make any other 
 like it, after the composition of it : it is holy, and 
 it shall be holy unto you. Whosoever compoundeth 
 any like it, or whosoever putteth any of it upon a 
 stranger, shall even be cut off from his people." 
 There must be no counterfeit of the Spirit's work ; 
 all must be of the Spirit wholly, really of the Spirit. 
 Moreover, that which is of the Spirit must not be 
 attributed to man. "The natural man receiveth not 
 the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are fool- 
 ishness unto him: neither can he know them, be- 
 cause they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. ii. 14.) 
 There is a very beautiful allusion to this c ' holy 
 anointing oil" in one of the "songs of degrees." 
 "Behold," sa} T s the Psalmist, "how good and how 
 pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity ! 
 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that 
 ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard ; that 
 went down to the skirts of his garments." (Psalms 
 cxxxiii. 1, 2.) The head of the priestly house being 
 anointed with the holy oil, the very "skirts of his 
 garments" must exhibit the precious effects. May 
 my reader experience the power of this anointing ! 
 May he know the value of having "an unction from 
 
346 EXODUS. 
 
 the Holy One," arid of being " sealed with that 
 Holy Spirit of promise " ! Nothing is of any value 
 in the divine estimation save that which connects 
 itself immediately with Christ, and whatever is so 
 connected can receive the holy anointing. 
 
 In the concluding paragraph of this most com- 
 prehensive chapter, we have the "sweet spices 
 tempered together, pure and holy." This surpass- 
 ingly precious perfume presents to us the unmeas- 
 ured and immeasurable perfections of Christ. There 
 was no special quantity of each ingredient prescribed, 
 because the graces that dwell in Christ, the beauties 
 and excellencies that are concentrated in His ador- 
 able Person, are without limit. Naught save the 
 infinite mind of Deity could scan the infinite per- 
 fections of Him in whom all the fullness of Deity 
 dwelleth ; and as eternity rolls along its course of 
 everlasting ages, those glorious perfections will ever 
 be unfolding themselves in the view of worshiping 
 saints and angels. Ever and anon, as some fresh 
 beams of light shall burst forth from that central 
 Sun of divine glory, the courts of heaven above, 
 and the wide fields of creation beneath, shall resound 
 with thrilling Alleluiahs to Him who was, who is, 
 and who ever shall be the object of praise to all 
 the ranks of created intelligence. 
 
 But not only was there no prescribed quantity of 
 the ingredients ; we also read, "Of each there shall 
 be a like weight." Every feature of moral excel- 
 lence found its due place and proper proportions in 
 Christ. No one quality ever displaced or interfered 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 347 
 
 with another ; all was "tempered together, pure and 
 holy," and emitted an odor so fragrant that none 
 but God could appreciate it. 
 
 "And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and 
 put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the 
 congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall 
 be unto you most holy." There is uncommon depth 
 and power in the expression "very small." It 
 teaches us that every little movement in the life of 
 Christ, every minute circumstance, every act, every 
 word, every look, every feature, every trait, every 
 lineament, emits an odor produced by an equal pro- 
 portion "a like weight" of all the divine graces 
 that compose His character. The smaller the per- 
 fume was beaten, the more its rare and exquisite 
 temper was manifested. 
 
 "And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, 
 ye shall not make to yourselves according to the 
 composition thereof; it shall be unto thee holy for 
 the Lord. Whosoever shall make like unto that, to 
 smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people." 
 This fragrant perfume was designed exclusively for 
 Jehovah. Its place was "before the testimony." 
 There is that in Jesus which only God could appre- 
 ciate. True, every believing heart can draw nigh 
 to His matchless Person, and more than satisfy its 
 deepest and most intense longings ; still, after all 
 God's redeemed have drunk to the utmost of their 
 capacity, after angels have gazed on the peerless 
 glories of the Man Christ Jesus as earnestly as 
 their vision is capable of, after all, there will be 
 
348 EXODUS. 
 
 that in Him which God alone can fathom and enjoy. 
 No human or angelic eye could duly trace the ex- 
 quisitely minute parts of that holy perfume "beaten 
 very small," nor could earth afford a proper sphere 
 in which to emit its divine and heavenly odor. 
 
 Thus, then, we have, in our rapid sketch, reached 
 the close of a clearly marked division of our book. 
 We began at " the ark of the covenant," and trav- 
 eled out to "the altar of brass ; " we returned from 
 "the altar of brass," and have come to the "holy 
 perfume ; " and, oh, what a journey is this, if only 
 it be traveled, not in company with the false and 
 flickering light of human imagination, but by the 
 infallible lamp of the Holy Ghost ! What a journey, 
 if only it be traveled, not amid the shadows of a " 
 by-gone dispensation, but amid the personal glories 
 and powerful attractions of the Son which are there 
 portrayed ! If my reader has so traveled it, he will 
 find his affections more drawn to Christ than ever ; 
 he will have a loftier conception of His glory, His 
 beauty, His preciousness, His excellency, His ability 
 to heal a wounded conscience and satisfy a longing 
 heart ; he will have his eyes more thoroughly closed 
 to all earth's attractions, and his ears closed to all 
 earth's pretensions and promises ; in one word, he 
 will be prepared to utter a deeper and more fervent 
 Amen to the words of the inspired apostle when he 
 says, "IF ANY MAN LOVE NOT THE LORD 
 JESUS CHRIST, LET HIM BE ANATHEMA 
 MARAN-ATHA."* (1 Cor. xvi. 22.) 
 
 *It is interesting to note the position of this most solemn and 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 rilHE opening of this brief chapter records the 
 JL divine call and the divine qualification of 
 "Bezaleel and Aholiab" to do the work of the 
 tabernacle of the congregation. "And the Lord 
 spake unto Moses, saying, 'See, / have called by 
 name Bezalcel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of 
 the tribe of Judah ; and I have filled him with the 
 spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, 
 and in knowledge, and in all manner of workman- 
 ship .... Audi, behold, I have given with him 
 Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan ; 
 and in the hearts of all that are wise-hearted I have 
 put wisdom, that they may make all that / have 
 commanded.'' 1 Whether for "the work of the tab- 
 ernacle" of old, or "the work of the ministry" 
 now, there should be the divine selection, the divine 
 call, the divine qualification, the divine appoint- 
 
 startling denunciation. It occurs at the close of a long epistle in 
 the progress of which the apostle had to rebuke some of the gross- 
 est practical evils and doctrinal errors. How solemn, therefore, 
 how full of meaning the fact, that when he comes to pronounce 
 his anathema, it is not hurled at those w r ho had introduced those 
 errors and evils, but at the man who loves not the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ! Why is this ? Is it because the Spirit of God makes little 
 of errors and evils ? Surely not : the entire epistle unfolds His 
 thoughts as to these. But the truth is, when the heart is tilled 
 with love to the Lord Jesus Christ, there is an effectual safeguard 
 against all manner of false doctrine and evil practice. If a man 
 does not love Christ, there is no accounting for the notions he may 
 adopt, or the course he may pursue. Hence the form and the 
 position of the apostolic anathema. 
 
350 EXODUS. 
 
 ment, and all must be done according to the divine 
 commandment. Man could not select, call, qualify, 
 or appoint to do the work of the tabernacle ; neither 
 can he to do the work of the ministry. Further- 
 more, no man could presume to appoint himself to 
 do the work of the tabernacle ; neither can he to do 
 the work of the ministry. It was, it is, it must be, 
 wholly and absolutely divine. Men may run as sent 
 of their fellow, or men may run of themselves ; but 
 let it be remembered that all who run without being 
 sent of God shall one day or other be covered with 
 shame and confusion of face. Such is the plain and 
 wholesome doctrine suggested by the words, "I 
 have called," "I have filled," "I have given," "I 
 have put," "I have commanded." The words of 
 the Baptist must ever hold good -" A man can re- 
 ceive nothing except it be given him from heaven." 
 (John iii. 27.) He can therefore have but little 
 room to boast of himself, and just as little to be 
 jealous of his fellow. 
 
 There is a profitable lesson to be learnt from a 
 comparison of this chapter with Genesis iv. "Tu- 
 bal-cain was an instructor of every artificer in brass 
 and iron." The descendants of Cain were endowed 
 with unhallowed skill to make a cursed and groan- 
 ing earth a delectable spot, without the presence of 
 God: u Bezaleel and Aholiab," on the contrary, 
 were endowed with divine skill to beautify a sanc- 
 tuary which was to.be hallowed and blessed by the 
 presence and glory of the God of Israel. 
 
 Reader, let me ask you just to pause and put this 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 351 
 
 solemn question to your conscience, Whether am 
 I devoting whatever of skill or energy I possess to 
 the interests of the Church which is God's dwelling- 
 place, or to beautify an ungodly, Christless world ? 
 Say not in thine heart, I am not divinely called or 
 divinely qualified for the work of the ministry. 
 Remember that though all Israel were not Bezaleels 
 or Aholiabs, yet all could serve the interests of the 
 sanctuary. There was an open door for all to com- 
 municate. Thus it is now. Each one has a place 
 to occupy, a ministry to fulfill, a responsibility to 
 discharge ; and you and I are at this moment either 
 promoting the interests of the house of God the 
 body of Christ the Church, or helping on the God- 
 less schemes of a world yet stained with the blood 
 of Christ and the blood of all His martyred saints. 
 Oh, let us deeply ponder this, as in the presence of 
 the great Searcher of hearts, whom none can de^ 
 ceive to whom all are known. 
 
 Our chapter closes with a special reference to the 
 institution of the Sabbath. It was referred to in 
 chapter xvi, in connection with the manna ; it was 
 distinctly enjoined in chapter xx, when the people 
 were formally put under law ; and here we have it 
 again, in connection with the setting up of the tab- 
 ernacle. Whenever the nation of Israel is presented 
 in some special position, or recognized as a people 
 in special responsibility, then the Sabbath is intro- 
 duced. And let my reader carefully note both the 
 day and the mode in which it was to be observed, 
 and also the object for which it was instituted in 
 
352 EXODUS. 
 
 Israel. u Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for 
 it is holy unto }'ou: every one that defileth it shall 
 surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any 
 work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among 
 his people. Six days may work be done ; but in 
 the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord : 
 whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he 
 shall surely be put to death." This is as explicit and 
 absolute as any thing can be. It fixes "the seventh 
 day" and none other; and it positively forbids, on 
 pain of death, all manner of work. There can be 
 no avoiding the plain sense of this. And be it 
 remembered that there is not so much as a single 
 line of Scripture to prove that the Sabbath has been 
 changed, or the strict principles of its observance 
 in the smallest degree relaxed. If there be any 
 Scripture proof, let my reader look it out for his 
 own satisfaction. 
 
 Now, let us inquire if indeed professing Christians 
 do keep God's Sabbath on the day and after the 
 manner which He commanded. It were idle to lose 
 time in proving that they do not. Well, what are 
 the consequences of a single breach of the Sabbath? 
 "Cut off" "put to death." 
 
 But, it will be said, we "are not under law, but 
 under grace." Blessed be God for the sweet as- 
 surance ! Were we under law, there is not one 
 throughout the wide range of Christendom who 
 should not Ion & since have fallen beneath the stone 
 
 o 
 
 of judgment, even upon the one solitary point of the 
 Sabbath. But, if we are under grace, what is the 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 853 
 
 day which belongs to us ? Assuredly, ' ' the first day 
 of the week" "the Lord's day." This is the 
 Church's day the resurrection day of Jesus, who, 
 having spent the Sabbath in the tomb, rose triumph- 
 ant over all the powers of darkness ; thus leading ' 
 His people out of the old .creation, and all that 
 pertains thereto, into the new creation, of which He 
 is the Head, and of which the first day of the week 
 is the apt expression. 
 
 This distinction is worthy of the serious attention 
 of the reader. Let him examine it prayerfully in 
 the light of Scripture. There may be nothing and 
 there may be a great deal in a mere name. In the 
 present instance, there is a great deal more involved 
 in the distinction between "the Sabbath" and "the 
 Lord's day" than many Christians seem to be aware 
 of. It is very evident that the first day of the week 
 gets a place in the Word of God which no other day 
 gets. No other- day is ever called by that majestic 
 and elevated title, "The Lord's da}'." Some, I am 
 aware, deny that Rev. i. 10 refers to the first day of 
 the week ; but I feel most fully assured that sound 
 criticism and sound exegesis do both warrant yea, 
 demand the application of that passage, not to the 
 day of Christ's advent in glory, but to the day of 
 His resurrection from the dead. 
 
 But, most assuredly, the Lord's day is never once 
 called the Sabbath. So far from this, the two days 
 are again and again spoken of in their proper dis- 
 tinctness. Hence, therefore, my reader will have to 
 keep clear of two extremes. In the first place, he 
 
354 EXODUS. 
 
 will have to avoid the legalism which one finds so 
 much linked with the term " Sabbath ;" and, in the 
 second place, he will need to bear a very decided 
 testimony against every attempt to dishonor the 
 Lord's day, or lower it to the level of an ordinary 
 day. The believer is. delivered, most completely, 
 from the observance of "days, and months, and 
 times, and years." Association with a risen Christ 
 has taken him clean out of all such superstitious 
 observances. But, while this is most blessedly true, 
 we see that "the first day of the week" has a place 
 assigned to it in the New Testament which no other 
 has. Let the Christian give it that place. It is a 
 sweet and happy privilege, not a grievous yoke. 
 
 Space forbids my further entrance upon this in- 
 teresting subject. It has been gone into elsewhere, 
 as already intimated, in the earlier pages of this 
 volume. I shall close these remarks by pointing 
 out, in one or two particulars, the contrast between 
 "the Sabbath" and "the Lord's day." 
 
 1. The Sabbath was the seventh day; the Lord's 
 day is the first. 
 
 2. The Sabbath was a test of Israel's condition ; 
 the Lord's clay is the proof of the Church's accept- 
 ance, on wholly unconditional grounds. 
 
 3. The Sabbath belonged to the old creation ; the 
 Lord's clay belongs to the new. 
 
 4. The Sabbath was a day of bodily rest for the 
 Jew; the Lord's day is a day of spiritual rest for 
 the Christian. 
 
 5. If .the Jew worked on the Sabbath, he was to 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 355 
 
 be put to death : if the Christian does not work on 
 the Lord's day, he gives little proof of life; that is 
 to say, if he does not work for the benefit of the 
 souls of men, the extension of Christ's glory, and 
 the spread of His truth. In point of fact, the 
 devoted Christian who possesses any gift is gen- * 
 erally more fatigued on the evening of the Lord's 
 day than on any other in the week, for how can he 
 rest while souls are perishing around him ? 
 
 6. The Jew was commanded by the law to abide 
 in his tent ; the Christian is led by the spirit of the 
 gospel to go forth, whether it be to attend the public 
 assembly or to minister to the souls of perishing 
 sinners. 
 
 The Lord enable us, beloved reader, to rest more 
 artlessly in, and labor more vigorously /or, the name 
 of the Lord Jesus Christ ! We should rest in the 
 spirit of a child, and labor with the energy of a man. 
 
 CHAPTEK XXXII. 
 
 WE have now to contemplate something very 
 different from that which has hitherto en- 
 gaged our attention. "The patterns of things in 
 the heavens" has been before us Christ in His 
 glorious Person, gracious offices, and perfect work, 
 as set forth in the tabernacle and all its mystic fur- 
 niture. We have been, in spirit, on the mount, 
 hearkening to God's own words the sweet utter- 
 ances of Heaven's thoughts, affections, and counsels, 
 
356 EXODUS. 
 
 of which Jesus is "the Alpha and Omega the be- 
 ginning and the ending the first and the last." 
 
 Now, however, we are called down to earth, to 
 behold the melancholy wreck which man makes of 
 every thing to which he puts his hand. "And when 
 the people saw that Moses delayed to come down 
 out of the mount, the people gathered themselves 
 together unto Aaron, and said unto him, 'Up, make 
 us gods, which shall go before us ; for as for this 
 Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land 
 of Eg} T pt, we wot not what is become of him.'' 
 What degradation is here ! Make us gods ! They 
 were abandoning Jehovah, and placing themsehes 
 under the conduct of manufactured gods gods of 
 man's making. Dark clouds and heavy mists had 
 gathered round the mount. They grew weary of 
 waiting for the absent one, and of hanging on an 
 unseen but real arm. They imagined that a god 
 formed by ' 'graving tool" was better than Jehovah, 
 that a calf which they could see was better than the 
 invisible, yet every- where-present, God, a visible 
 counterfeit, than an invisible reality. 
 
 Alas ! alas ! it has ever been thus in man's his- 
 tory. The human heart loves something that can be 
 seen ; it loves that which meets and gratifies the 
 senses. It is only faith that can "endure as seeing 
 Him who is invisible." Hence, in every age, men 
 have been forward to set up and lean upon human 
 imitations of divine realities. Thus it is we see the 
 counterfeits of corrupt religion multiplied before 
 our eyes. Those things which we know, upon the 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 357 
 
 authority of God's Word, to be divine and heavenly 
 realities, the professing Church has transformed into 
 human and earthly imitations. Having become 
 weary of hanging upon an invisible arm, of trusting 
 in an invisible sacrifice, of having recourse to an 
 invisible Priest, of committing herself to the guid- 
 ance of an invisible Head, she has set about "mak- 
 ing" these things; and thus, from age to age, she 
 has been busily at work, with "graving tool" in 
 hand, graving and fashioning one thing after an- 
 other, until we can at length recognize as little 
 similarity between much that we see around us and 
 what we read in the Word, as between "a molten 
 calf" and the God of Israel. 
 
 "Make us gods!" What a thought! Man called 
 upon to make gods, and people willing to put their 
 trust in such! My reader, let us look within, and 
 look around, and see if we cannot detect something 
 of all this. We read, in 1 Cor. x., in reference to 
 Israel's history, that "all these things happened 
 unto them for ensamples [or types] ; and they are 
 written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of 
 the world are come" (ver. 11.). Let us, then, 
 seek to profit by the "admonition." Let us remem- 
 ber that although we may not just form and bow 
 down before "a molten calf," yet that Israel's sin 
 is a "type" of something into which we are in dan- 
 ger of falling. Whenever we turn away in heart 
 from leaning exclusively upon God Himself, whether 
 in the matter of salvation or the necessities of the 
 path, we are, in principle, saying, "Up, make us 
 24 
 
358 EXODUS. 
 
 gods." It is needless to say we are not, in our- 
 selves, a whit better than Aaron or the children of 
 Israel ; and if they acknowledge a calf instead of 
 Jehovah, we are in danger of acting on the same 
 principle, and manifesting the same spirit. Our 
 only safeguard is to be much in the presence of God. 
 Moses knew that the "molten calf " was not Jeho- 
 vah, and therefore he did not acknowledge it. But 
 when we get out of the divine presence, there is no 
 accounting for the gross errors and evils into which 
 we may be betrayed. 
 
 We are called to live by faith ; we can see nothing 
 with the eye of sense. Jesus is gone up on high, 
 and we are told to wait patiently for His appearing. 
 God's word, carried home to the heart in the energy 
 of the Holy Ghost, is the ground of confidence in 
 all things temporal and spiritual, present and fu- 
 ture. He tells us of Christ's completed sacrifice ; 
 we, by grace, believe, and commit our souls to the 
 efficacy thereof, and know we shall never be con- 
 founded. He tells us of a great High-Priest, passed 
 into the heavens Jesus, the Son of God, whose in- 
 tercession is all-prevailin*g ; we, by grace, believe, 
 and confidingly lean upon His ability, and know we 
 shall be saved to the uttermost. He tells us of the 
 living Head to whom we are linked, in the power of 
 resurrection life," and from whom we can never be 
 severed by any influence, angelic, human, or diabol- 
 ical ; we, by grace, believe, and cling to that blessed 
 Head in simple faith, and know we shall never per- 
 ish. He tells us of the glorious appearing of the 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 359 
 
 Son from heaven ; we, through grace, believe, and 
 seek to prove the purifying and elevating power of 
 "that blessed hope," and know *ve shall not be 
 disappointed. He tells us of "an inheritance, in- 
 corruptible, undefined, and that fadeth not away, 
 reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the 
 power of God," for entrance thereinto in due time ; 
 we, through grace, believe, and know we shall never 
 be confounded. He tells us the hairs of our head 
 are all numbered, and that we shall never want any 
 good thing ; we, through grace, believe, and enjoy 
 a sweetly tranquilized heart. 
 
 Thus it is, or, at least, thus our God would have 
 it. But' then the enemy is ever active in seeking to 
 make us cast away these divine realities, take up the 
 "graving tool" of unbelief, and "make gods" for 
 ourselves. Let us watch against him, pray against 
 him, believe against him, testify against him, act 
 against him : thus he shall be confounded, God glo- 
 rified, and we ourselves abundantly blessed. 
 
 As to Israel, in the chapter before us, their rejec- 
 tion of God was most complete. ' ' And Aaron said 
 unto them, 'Break off the golden earrings, which 
 are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of 
 your daughters, and bring them unto me/ .... 
 And he received them at their hand, and fashioned 
 it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten 
 calf; and they said, 4 These be thy gods, O Israel, 
 which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt/ 
 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before 
 it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, 'To- 
 
360 EXODUS. 
 
 morrow is a feast unto the Lord. ' ' This was en- 
 tirely setting aside God, and putting a calf in His 
 stead. When they could say that a calf had brought 
 them up out of Egypt, they had evidently aban- 
 doned all idea of the presence and character of the 
 true God. How "quickly" they must "have turned 
 aside out of the way," to have made such a gross 
 and terrible mistake ! And Aaron, the brother and 
 yoke-fellow of Moses, led them on in this ; and, with 
 a calf before him, he could say, "To-morrow is a 
 feast unto Jehovah" ! How sad ! How deeply hum- 
 bling! God was displaced by an idol. A thing 
 "graven by art and man's device" was set in the 
 place of "the Lord of all the earth." 
 
 All this involved, on Israel's part, a deliberate 
 abandonment of their connection with Jehovah. 
 They had given Him up ; and, accordingly, we find 
 Him, as it were, taking them on their own ground. 
 "And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Go, get thee 
 down ; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of 
 the land of Egypt, 'have corrupted themselves : they 
 have turned aside quickly out of the way which I 
 commanded them. ... I have seen this people, 
 it is a stiff-necked people: now therefore let Me 
 alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, 
 and that I may consume them : and I will make of 
 thee a great nation." Here was an open door for 
 Moses ; and here he displays uncommon grace, and 
 similarity of spirit to that Prophet whom the Lord 
 was to raise up like unto him. He refuses to be or 
 to have any thing without the people. He pleads 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 361 
 
 with God on the ground of. His own glory, and puts 
 the people back upon Him in these touching words, 
 "Lord, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy 
 people, which Thou hast brought up out of the land 
 of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand ? 
 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, 
 For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them 
 in the mountains, and to consume them from the 
 face of the earth? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and 
 repent of this evil against Thy people. Remember 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants, to whom 
 Thou swarest by Thine own self, and saiclst unto 
 them, 4 I will multiply your seed as the stars of 
 heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will 
 I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for- 
 ever.'' This was powerful pleading. The glory 
 of God, the vindication of His holy name, the ac- 
 complishment of His oath, these are the grounds 
 on which Moses entreats the Lord to turn from His 
 fierce wrath. He could not find in Israel's conduct 
 or character any plea or ground to go upon ; he 
 found it all in God Himself. 
 
 The Lord hath said unto Moses, "Thy people 
 which thou broughtest up;" but Moses replies to 
 the Lord, "Thy people which Thou hast brought 
 up." They were the Lord's people notwithstand- 
 ing all ; and His name, His glory, His oath, were 
 all involved in their destiny. The moment the Lord 
 links Himself with a people, His character is in- 
 volved, and faith will ever look at Him upon this 
 solid ground. Moses loses sight of himself entirely. 
 
362 EXODUS. 
 
 His whole soul is engrossed with thoughts of the 
 Lord's glory and the Lord's people. Blessed serv- 
 ant ! How few like him ! And yet when we con- 
 template him in all this scene, we perceive how 
 infinitely he is below the blessed Master. He came 
 down from the mount, and when he saw the calf 
 and the dancing, his "anger waxed hot, and he cast 
 the tables out of his hands, and break them beneath 
 the mount." The covenant was broken, and the 
 memorials thereof shattered to pieces ; and then, 
 having executed judgment in righteous indignation, 
 he "said unto the people, 'Ye have sinned a great 
 sin : and now I will go up unto the Lord ; perad- 
 venture I shall make an atonement for your sin." 
 
 How different is this from what we see in Christ ! 
 He came down from the bosom of the Father, not 
 with the tables in His hands, but with the law in His 
 heart. He came down, not to be made acquainted 
 with the condition of the people, but with a perfect 
 knowledge of what that condition was. Moreover, 
 instead of destroying the memorials of the covenant 
 and executing judgment, He magnified the law and 
 made it honorable, and bore the- judgment of His 
 people, in His own blessed Person, on the cross ; 
 and, having done all, He went back to heaven, riot 
 with a "per adventure I shall make an atonement for 
 your sin," but to lay upon the throne of the Majesty 
 in the highest the imperishable memorials of an 
 atonement already accomplished. This makes a vast 
 and truly glorious difference. Thank God, we need 
 not anxiously gaze after our Mediator, to know if 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 363 
 
 haply He shall accomplish redemption for us, and 
 reconcile offended Justice. No ; He has done it all. 
 His presence on high declares that the whole work is 
 finished. He could stand upon the confines of this 
 world, ready to take His departure, and, in all the 
 calmness of a conscious Victor (though He had yet 
 to encounter the darkest scene of all), say, U I have 
 glorified Thee on the earth : I have finished the work 
 which Thou gavest Me to do. " (John xvii. ) Blessed 
 Saviour ! we may well adore Thee, and well exult 
 in the place of dignity and glory in which eternal 
 justice has set Thee. The highest place in heaven 
 belongs to Thee ; and Thy saints only wait for the 
 time when "every knee shall bow, and every tongue 
 confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of 
 God the Father." May that time speedily arrive ! 
 
 At the close of this chapter, Jehovah asserts His 
 rights, in moral government, in the following words : 
 "Whosoever hath sinned against Me, him will I blot 
 out of My book. Therefore now go, lead the peo- 
 ple unto the place of which I have spoken unto 
 thee : behold, Mine Angel shall go before thee : 
 nevertheless, in the day wnen I visit I will visit 
 their sin upon them." This is God in government, 
 not God in the gospel. Here He speaks of blotting 
 out the sinner; in the gospel He is seen blotting out 
 sin. A wide difference ! 
 
 The people are to be sent forward, under the 
 mediatorship of Moses, by the hand of an angel. 
 This was very unlike the condition of things which 
 obtained from Egypt to Sinai. They had forfeited 
 
364 EXODUS. 
 
 all claim on the ground of law, and hence it only 
 remained for God to fall back upon His own sover- 
 eignty and say, "I will be gracious to whom I will 
 be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will 
 show mercy." 
 
 CHAPTERS XXXIII. & XXXIV. 
 
 TEHOVAH refuses to accompany. Israel to the 
 *J land of promise. "I will not go up in the 
 midst of thee, (for thou art a stiff-necked people^) 
 lest I consume thee in the way." At the opening 
 of this book, when the people were in the furnace 
 of Egypt, the Lord could say, ' ; I have surely seen 
 the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and 
 have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters ; 
 for I know their sorrows." But now He has to say, 
 "I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff- 
 necked people." An afflicted people is an object 
 of grace ; but a stiff-necked people must be humbled. 
 The cry of oppressed Israel had been answered by 
 the exhibition of grace ; but the song of idolatrous 
 Israel must be answered by the voice of stern rebuke. 
 u Ye are a stiff-necked people: I will come up 
 into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume 
 thee : therefore now put off thy ornaments from 
 thee, that I may know what to do unto thee." It 
 is only when we are really stripped of all nature's 
 ornaments that God can deal with us. A naked 
 sinner can be clothed ; but a sinner decked with 
 ornaments must be stripped. This is alwa} T s true. 
 
CHAPTERS XXXIII. & XXXIV.' 365 
 
 We must be stripped of all that pertains to self ere 
 we can be clothed with that which pertains to God. 
 
 "And the children of Israel stripped themselves 
 of their ornaments by the mount Horeb." There 
 they stood, beneath that memorable mount, their 
 feasting and singing changed into bitter lamenta- 
 tions, their ornaments gone, the tables of testimony 
 in fragments. Such was their condition, and Moses 
 at once proceeds to act according to it. He could 
 no longer own the people in their corporate charac- 
 ter. The assembly had become entirely defiled, 
 having set up an idol of their own making in the 
 place of God a calf instead of Jehovah. "And 
 Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without 
 the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it 'The 
 tabernacle of the congregation.' ' Thus the camp 
 was disowned as the place of the divine presence. 
 God was not, could not, be there. He had been 
 displaced by a human invention. A new gathering- 
 point was therefore set up. "And it came to pass, 
 that every one which sought the Lord went out 
 unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was 
 without the camp." 
 
 There is here a fine principle of truth, which the 
 spiritual mind will readily apprehend. The place 
 which Christ now occupies is "without the camp," 
 and we are called upon to "go forth unto Him." 
 It demands much subjection to the Word to be 
 able, with accuracy, to know what "the camp" 
 really is, and much spiritual power to be able to go 
 forth from it; and still more to be able, while "far 
 
366 EXODUS. 
 
 off from it," to act towards those in it in the 
 combined power of holiness and grace ; holiness, 
 which separates from the defilement of the camp ; 
 grace, which enables us to act toward those who are 
 involved therein. 
 
 4 'And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, 
 as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned 
 again into the camp ; but his servant Joshua, the 
 son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the 
 tabernacle." Moses exhibits a higher degree of 
 spiritual energy than his servant Joshua. It is much 
 easier to assume a position of separation from the 
 camp than to act aright towards those within. 
 
 "And Moses said unto the Lord, 'See, Thou 
 sayest unto me, Bring up this people ; and Thou 
 hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me ; 
 yet Thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou 
 hast also found grace in My sight.' " Moses en- 
 treats the accompanying presence of Jehovah, as a 
 proof of their having found grace in His sight. 
 Were it a question of mere justice, He could only 
 consume them by coming in their midst, because 
 they were " a stiff-necked people ; " but directly He 
 speaks of grace, in connection with the mediator, 
 the very stiff-neckedness of the people is made a 
 plea for demanding His presence. "If now I have 
 found grace in Thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I 
 pray Thee, go among us ; for it is a stiff-necked 
 people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and 
 take us for Thine inheritance." This is touchingly 
 beautiful. A "stiff-necked people" demanded the 
 
CHAPTERS XXXIII. & XXXIV. 367 
 
 boundless grace and exhaustless patience of God. 
 None but He could bear with them. 
 
 4 'And He said, 'My presence shall go with thee, 
 and I will give thee rest.' ' Precious portion ! 
 Precious hope ! The presence of God with us, all 
 the desert through, and everlasting rest at the end ! 
 Grace to meet our present need, and glory as our 
 future portion ! Well may our satisfied hearts ex- 
 claim, "It is enough, my precious Lord." 
 
 In chapter xxxiv. the second set of tables is given, 
 not to be broken, like the first, but to be hidden in 
 the ark, above which, as already noticed, Jehovah 
 was to take His place, as Lord of all the earth, in 
 moral government. "And he hewed two tables of 
 stone like unto the first ; and Moses rose up early in 
 the morning, and went up unto Mount Sinai, as the 
 Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand 
 the two tables of stone. And the Lord descended 
 in the cloud, and stood with him there, and pro- 
 claimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord 
 passed by before him, and proclaimed, 'The Lord, 
 The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffer- 
 ing, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping 
 mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and trans- 
 gression and sin, and that will by no means clear 
 the guilty ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
 the children, and upon the children's children, unto 
 the third and to the fourth generation.' " This, be 
 it remembered, is God as seen in His moral govern- 
 ment of the world, and not as He is seen in the 
 cross not as He shines in the face of Jesus Christ 
 
368 EXODUS. 
 
 not as He is proclaimed in the gospel of His 
 grace. The following is an exhibition of God in the 
 gospel: "And all things are of God, who hath rec- 
 onciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given 
 to us the ministry of reconciliation ; to wit, that God 
 was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, 
 NOT IMPUTING their trespasses unto them ; and 
 hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.' 91 
 (2 Cor. v. 18, 19.) "Not clearing" and "not im- 
 puting" present two totally different ideas of God. 
 "Visiting iniquities" and canceling them are not 
 the same thing. The former is God in government, 
 the latter is God in the gospel. In 2 Cor. iii. the 
 apostle contrasts the "ministration" recorded in 
 Exodus xxxiv. with "the ministration" of the 
 gospel. My reader would do well to study that 
 chapter with care. From it he will learn that any 
 one who regards the view of God's character given 
 to Moses on Mount Horeb as unfolding the gospel, 
 must have a very defective apprehension indeed of 
 what the gospel is. Neither in creation nor yet in 
 moral government do I or can I read the deep 
 secrets of the Father's bosom. Could the prodigal 
 have found his place in the arms of the One revealed 
 on Mount Sinai ? Could John have leaned his head 
 on the bosom of that One ? Surely not. But God 
 has revealed Himself in the face of Jesus Christ. 
 He has told out, in divine harmony, all His attri- 
 butes in the work of the cross. There "Mercy and 
 Truth have met together, Righteousness and Peace 
 have kissed each other." Sin is perfectly put away, 
 

 CHAPTERS XXXV. -XL. 369 
 
 and the believing sinner perfectly justified, "BY 
 THE BLOOD OF THE CROSS." When we get 
 a view of God as thus unfolded, we have only, like 
 Moses, to "bow our head, toward the earth and 
 worship;" suited attitude for a pardoned and ac- 
 cepted sinner in the presence of God ! 
 
 CHAPTEKS XXXV. XL. 
 
 THESE chapters contain a recapitulation of the 
 various parts of the tabernacle and its furniture ; 
 and inasmuch as I have already given what I believe 
 to be the import of the more prominent parts, I 
 will not add more. There are, however, two things 
 in this section from which we may deduce most 
 profitable instruction, and these are, (first) the 
 voluntary devotedncss and (secondly) the implicit obe- 
 dience of the people with respect to the work of the 
 tabernacle of the congregation. 
 
 And first, as to their voluntary devotedness, we 
 read, "And all the congregation of the children of 
 Israel departed from the presence of Moses. And 
 they came, every one ivhose heart stirred him up, and 
 every one whom his spirit made willing, and they 
 brought the Lord's offering to the work of the tab- 
 ernacle of the congregation, and for all His service, 
 and for the holy garments. And they came, both 
 men and women, as many as were willing -hearted, 
 and brought bracelets, and earrings, and rings, and 
 tablets, all jewels of gold: and every man that 
 offered offered an offering of gold unto the Lord. 
 
370 EXODUS. 
 
 And every man with whom was found blue, and pur- 
 ple, and scarlet, and fine linen, and goats' hair, and 
 red skins of rams, and badgers' skins, brought 
 them. Every one that did offer an offering of silver 
 and brass, brought the Lord's offering: and every 
 man with whom was found shittim wood, for any 
 work of the service, brought it. And all the women 
 that were wise-hearted did spin with their hands, 
 and brought that which they had spun, both of blue, 
 and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine linen. 
 And all the women whose heart stirred them up in 
 wisdom spun goats' hair. And the rulers brought 
 onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and 
 for the breastplate ; and spice, and oil for the light, 
 and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense. 
 The children of Israel brought a willing offering unto 
 the Lord, every man and woman, whose heart made 
 them ivilling to bring, for all manner of work which 
 the Lord had commanded to be made by the hand 
 of Moses." (Chap. xxxv. 20-29.) And, again, we 
 read, "And all the wise men that wrought all the 
 work of the sanctuary, came every man from his 
 work which they made ; and they spake unto Moses, 
 saying, 'The people bring much more than enough 
 for the service of the work, which the Lord com- 
 manded to make.' .... For the stuff they had 
 was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too 
 much." (Yer. 4-7.) 
 
 A lovely picture this of devotedness to the work 
 of the sanctuary ! It needed no effort to move the 
 hearts of the people to give, no earnest appeals, no 
 
CHAPTERS XXXV.-XL. 371 
 
 impressive arguments. Oh, no ! their ' ' hearts stirred 
 them up." This was the true way. The streams 01 
 voluntary devotedness flowed from within. "Rul- 
 ers," "men," "women," all felt it to be their 
 sweet privilege to give to the Lord, not with a narrow 
 heart or niggard hand, but after such a princely 
 fashion that they had "enough, and too much." 
 
 Then, as to their implicit obedience, we read, "Ac- 
 cording to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so the 
 children of Israel made all the work. And Moses 
 did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had 
 done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they 
 done it : and Moses blessed them." (Chap, xxxix.42, 
 43.) The Lord had given the most minute instruc- 
 tions concerning the entire work of the tabernacle. 
 Every pin, every socket, every loop, every tach, was 
 accurately set forth. There was no room left for 
 man's expediency, his reason, or his common sense. 
 Jehovah did not give a great outline and leave man 
 to fill it up. He left no margin whatever in which man 
 might enter his regulations. By no means. " 'See/ 
 saith He, 'that thou make all things according to the 
 pattern showed to thee in the mount. 9 " (Exod. xxv. 
 40 ; xxvi. 30 ; Heb. viii. 5.) This left no room for 
 human device. If man had been allowed to make 
 a single pin, that pin would most assuredly have 
 been out of place in the judgment of God. We can 
 see what man's "graving tool" produces in chapter 
 xxxii. Thank God, it had no place in the taber- 
 nacle. They did, in this matter, just what they 
 were told nothing more, nothing less. Salutary 
 
372 EXODUS. 
 
 lesson this for the professing church ! There are 
 many things in the history of Israel which we should 
 earnestly seek to avoid, their impatient murmur- 
 ings, their legal vows, and their idolatry ; but in 
 those two things may we imitate them. May our 
 devotedness be more whole-hearted, and our obedi- 
 ence more implicit ! We may safely assert that if 
 all had not been done "according to the pattern 
 showed in the mount,'* we should' not have to read, 
 "then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, 
 and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And 
 Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the 
 congregation, because the cloud abocle thereon, and 
 the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." (Chap, 
 xl. 34, 35.) The tabernacle was in all respects ac- 
 cording to the divine pattern, and therefore it could 
 be filled with the divine glory. 
 
 There is a volume of instruction in this. We are 
 too prone to regard the Word of God as insufficient 
 for the most minute details connected with His wor- 
 ship and service. This is a great mistake a mistake 
 which has proved the fruitful source of evils and 
 errors in the professing church. The Word of God 
 is amply sufficient for every thing, whether as re- 
 gards personal salvation and walk, or the order and 
 rule of the assembly. "All scripture is given by 
 inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for 
 reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
 ness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly 
 furnished unto all good works." (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17.) 
 This settles the question. If the Word of God fur- 
 
CHAPTERS XXXV. -XL. 373 
 
 nislies a man thoroughly unto "all good works," it 
 follows, as a necessary consequence, that whatever 
 I find not in its pages cannot possibly be a good 
 work. And, further, be it remembered, that the 
 divine glory cannot connect itself with aught that is 
 not according to the divine pattern. 
 
 Beloved reader, we have now traveled together 
 through this most precious book. We have, I 
 fondly hope, reaped some profit from our study. I 
 trust we have gathered up some refreshing thoughts 
 of Jesus and His sacrifice as we passed along. Fee- 
 ble, indeed, must be our most vigorous thoughts, 
 and ^shallow our deepest apprehensions, as to the 
 mind of God in all that this book contains. It is 
 happy to remember that, through grace, we are on 
 our way to that glory where we shall know even as we 
 are known, and where we shall bask in the sunshine 
 of His countenance who is the beginning and ending 
 of the ways of God, whether in creation, in provi- 
 dence, or redemption. To Him I do most affection- 
 ately commend you, in body, soul, and spirit. May 
 you know the deep blessedness of having your por- 
 tion in Christ, and be kept in patient waiting for 
 His glorious advent. Amen. 
 
 a. n. M. 
 

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