arose from it, as the smoke of a furnace; and an earthquake shook it from top to base; the trumpet continued to sound, and the blasts grew longer, and louder and louder. Then JEHOVAH, the sovereign Lawgiver, came down upon the mount, and called Moses to ascend to the top, where, previously to His delivering this law, He gave him directions concerning the sanctification of the people. See Exod. xix. 16, &c. From the awful manner in which the law was introduced, it is no wonder that at first view it was deemed the ministration of terror and death. 2 Cor. iii. 7. Appearing rather to drive men from God, than to bring them nigh to Him. And, indeed, from this solemn fact, we may learn, that an approach to God would have been for ever impracticable, had not Infinite Mercy found out the gospel scheme of salvation. By this, and this alone, we draw nigh to God: for we have an entrance unto the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Heb. x. 19. Even the Apostle of the Gentiles was deeply struck with this terrific display of God's majesty, though contemplating it in the mild light of the glorious gospel. "For," says he, "ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire; nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest; and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice, they that heard, entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: for so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake :—but ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and church of the first-born, which are written in heaven; and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect; and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to the Blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." Heb. xii. 18-24.

The obligation of the people to hear and to obey, is founded on ver. 2. I am Jehovah thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. As Jehovah, He is the Fountain and Cause of all being: there was nothing before Him, for He had no beginning: there can be nothing after Him, for He is eternal, and can have no end. And as He is the cause of all being; the creator of heaven and earth, as He had already manifested Him,

self to this people; so He is the preserver of all that He has made. Of all that is good and excellent, He is the cause: without Him nothing is good, nothing holy, nothing strong. He has, from His nature and being, absolute right over all that He has made: and is, necessarily, the Lord and Governor of all things, animate and inanimate, spiritual and material. He alone has authority and power to save and to destroy :to bring into being, or annihilate that which He has already created. He is the First, and He is the Last: He is the Beginning and the End: the Uncreated, Self-sufficient, Omniscient, Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Creator of all things, and Father of the spirits of all flesh. For His pleasure they are and were created. As they were brought into being by His omnipotent will, so they continue to exist during His pleasure. Under such a Sovereign, man is not left to a state of indifference, whether he will obey or disobey; as if these were indifferent things. He must obey and shew his allegiance, if he regard his own welfare: he may disobey, and shew thereby his spirit of rebellion: and thus, the postherd of the earth enters the lists with the Almighty. In subjection and obedience, all good is secured: in disaffection and rebellion, all good is forfeited. Man may CHUSE life or death,—a blessing or a curse: and, according to his choice, for God compels nothing on this head, will be his state in time and eternity; a state of misery or a state of happiness; and both ineffable. A just consideration of this subject is imperious on man: and why? God made him. He is Jehovah, and governs all things and obedience to His will is the highest interest of

man.

But, in addition to His right over them, as Creator and Sovereign, He says, I am THY God;- Eloheyca. There is something in the term □ Elohim, that is pe

culiarly interesting to man. It is allowed by wise and learned men, to signify, God in covenant with man :-God having undertaken to raise man from his fall, and restore him from sin, degradation, and misery, to that state of glory, holiness, and excellence, from which he had fallen. And, indeed, all this is implied in the bare idea of God;—the Good One;-the best of Beings;-He who is as benevolent as He is just;—as beneficent as He is powerful;-He who is the su preme and satisfying Good of all intelligent beings;-whe

though He be infinitely just, delighteth not in the death of a sinner; and who, though infinitely perfect and happy, and therefore needing nothing that He hath made, delighteth in the salvation of man.

He to whom God says, I am thy God, in this peculiar sense, has reason for eternal exultation. And that He had shewn himself to be God, the good Being, to Israel, he adds : which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. I need not here enter into the ancient history of the Israelites, and of their 430 years servitude in Egypt, where they were at all times ill used, and towards the latter part of their sojourning there, most cruelly oppressed; these things are well known. From that land, in which the

true God was not acknowledged-where they had no means of grace, and no spiritual or intellectual advantage of any kind;-out of this place of slavery, this house of bond-men, God, by a strong and mighty arm, redeemed them; and was now actually guiding them to a land where they were to eat bread without scarceness; where God alone should be their King;-where they were to have the essence of civil liberty ; —and, with all other good things, the means of grace, and the hope of glory. All these were obligations of the highest kind, and reasons why they should receive His laws immediately from Himself; and take them for the regulators of their heart, and the rule of their conduct.

There are two points of view under which this Law of God appears both singular and important.

1. It is the most ancient code or system of law ever given

to man.

2. It was written in alphabetical characters, invented by God himself; as it is most probable that, previously to this, no such characters had been known in the world.

1. It is the most ancient code or system of law ever given to man. All the nations of the earth have been unanimous in the opinion that the first code of law must have come from heaven and so necessary was a Divine origin for those laws, to which all were to render obedience, that the great legislators of antiquity were obliged to pretend that from some god or goddess they received, by inspiration, the laws they pro posed to the people, to whatever form of government they

VOL. II.

2

chose to apply them. The intercourse which Moses had with Jehovah, was soon known among all the nations of the East; -and from them the Greeks and Romans received the information. Hence the pretensions of Numitor among the ancient Romans ;—Lycurgus and Solon among the Greeks; --Zeratusht or Zoroaster, and Menu, among the Persians; --and Mohammed among the Arabians. But no laws have been proved to be divine and rightly attributed to God, but those given by Moses to the Jews, and by Jesus to the Gen'tiles. The oldest record in the world is the Pentateuch. It is the simplest, the purest, and the most comprehensive of all that has ever been delivered to men. Christ's Sermon on

the Mount is the Comment on the Mosaic code.

2. These laws were written in alphabetical characters, invented by God himself; as it is most probable, that before the giving of the two tables of stone written by the finger of Jehovah, there were no alphabetical characters of any kind known to man.

In the early ages of the world, letters would have been of little use. Men living then to a great age, and nigh to each other, transmitted instructions down to posterity by word of mouth. This is what is called tradition-i. e. transmitting from hand to hand the facts necessary to be remembered: but when the age of man became shortened, when kingdoms and commerce were established, and the inhabitants of the earth were greatly multiplied, and consequently scattered over the face of the earth, then the use of alphabetical writing became necessary. And seasonably, as Dr. A. Bayley observes, in supply of this want, we are told, that God, at Mount Sinai, gave unto a chosen people, laws inscribed with His own hand. "No time seems so proper, from which to date the introduction of letters among the Hebrews as this: for, after this period, we find continual mention of letters, reading, and writing, in the now proper sense of those words: And it shall be when he (the king) sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall WRITE him a copy of this law, IN A -and it shall be with him, and he shall READ therein all the days of his life. Deut. xvii. 18, 19. And Moses wrote this Law, and delivered it to the Priests, the sons of Levi. Deut. xxxi. 9. The first time we meet with any mention of writing, is in Exod. xvii. 14.; And the Lord said to Moses,

BOOK

WRITE this for a memorial in a Book. But it is evident, that either this passage is introduced here, instead of Deut. xxv. 17. by way of anticipation, or that by the words Da 11731 nni 3ro kethob zoth zikkaron ba-sephar-" Write this for a memorial in a book," was intended only a monumental declaration of the defeat of Amalek, by Joshua, by some action or symbolical representation: for, it is immediately subjoined, And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it D YEHOVAH-NISSI―The Lord is my banner. Moses, it is said, ETαidevon, was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptiansin all the learning of which they were possessed; but it is manifest he had not learned of them any method of alphabetical writing, otherwise there had been no occasion for God's act and assistance, in writing the two tables of the Law; no need of a miraculous writing: had Moses known this art, the Lord might have said to him, as he often does afterwards, Write thou these words. Exod. xxxiv. 27. Write on the stones the words of this law. Deut. xxvii. 3. song for you. Deut. xxxi. 19.

Possibly it

Write ye this

might not be

going too far to say, that neither letters nor language were a natural discovery; and that it was impossible for man to have invented either: for, 1. Reason may shew us how near to an impossibility it was that a just and proper number of convenient characters for the sounds in language, should be naturally hit on by any man; for whom it was easy to imitate and improve, but not to invent. 2. From the evidence of the Mosaic History, it appears that the introduction of writing among the Hebrews was not from man but God. 3. There are no vestiges of letters subsisting in other nations, before the delivery of the Law on Mount Sinai; nor then among them, till long after. See Dr. A. Bayley's Four Dissertations; Diss. I. p. 33.

..

That God actually wrote the ten Commandments on the two tables of stone, seems evident, beyond doubt, from the following texts:—

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be thou there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments WHICH I HAVE WRITTEN, that thou mayest teach them." Exod. xxiv. 12.

"And He gave unto Moses upon Mount Sinai, two tables