this fo horrid an impiety to the GOD of their fathers, their fecret drift, if we may believe St. Stephen, was this; they wanted to get back into Egypt; and while the CALF, fo much adored in that country, went before them, they could return with an atonement and reconciliation in their hands. And doubtless their worthy Mediator, being made all of facred, Egyptian metal, would have been confecrated in one of their temples, under the title of OSIRIS REDVCTOR. But Mofes's fudden appearance broke all their measures; and the ringleaders of the defign were punished as they deferved.

At length, after numberlefs follies and perverfities, they are brought, through God's patience and long-fuffering, to the end of all their travels, to the promised place of reft, which is just opening to receive them; When, on the report of the cowardly explorers of the Land, they relapse again into their old delirium, Wherefore bath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the fword, that our wives and our children fhould be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. This fo provoked the Almighty, that he condemned that Generation to be worn away in the Wilderness. How they spent their time there, the prophet Amos will inform us, Have ye offered unto me (fays GOD) any facrifices and offerings in the Wilderness, forty years, O boufe of Ifrael & ?

"To whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust him "from them, and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt, faying unto Aaron, Make us Gods to go before us," &c. ACTS vii. 39, 40.

f NUMB. xiv. 3, 4.

8 AM. v. 25.

In a word, this unwillingness to leave Egypt, and this impatience to return thither, are convinc-. ing proofs of their fondness for its cuftoms and fuperftitions. When I confider this, I feem more inclined than the generality even of fober Critics to excuse the false accounts of the Pagan writers concerning the Exodus; who concur in representing the Jews as expelled or forcibly driven out of Egypt; For fo indeed they were. The mistake was only about their driver. The Pagans fuppofed him to be the King of Egypt; when indeed it was the God of Ifrael himself, by the ministry of Mofes.

Let us view them next, in poffeffion of the PROMISED LAND. A land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands. One would expect now their longing after Egypt fhould have entirely ceased. And fo without doubt it would, had it arose only from the flesh-pots; but it had a deeper root; it was the spiritual luxury of Egypt, their fuperftitions, with which the Ifraelites were fo debauched. And therefore no wonder they should still continue flaves to their appetite. Thus the prophet Ezekiel, Neither LEFT be her whoredoms brought from Egypt". So that after all God's mercies conferred upon them in putting them in poffeffion of the land of Canaan, Joshua is, at laft, forced to leave them with this fruitlefs admonition: Now therefore fear the Lord, and ferve him in fincerity and in truth, and PUT AWAY the Gods which your fathers ferved on the other fide of the flood and in EGYPT. It is true, we are told that the people ferved the Lord all the days of Fofbua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had feen all the great works of the Lord

EZEK. xxiii. 8.

Jos. xxiv. 14.

that

that he did for Ifrael. But, out of fight out of mind. It is then added-And there arofe another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Ifrael-And they forfook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other Gods, of the Gods of the people that were round about them'. And in this ftate they continued throughout the whole administration of their JUDGES; except, when, from time to time, they were awakened into repentance by the feverity of GOD'S judgments; which yet were no fooner pafs'd, than they fell back again into their old lethargy, a forgetfulness of his mercies.

Nor did their fondnefs for Egypt at all abate when they came under the iron rod of their KINGS; the Magiftrate they had fo rebelliously demanded; and who, as they pretended, was to fet all things tight. On the contrary, this folly grew ftill more inflamed; and instead of one CALF they would have TWO. Which Ezekiel hints at, where he fays; Yet he MULTIPLIED her whoredoms in calling to remembrance the days of her youth wherein he had played the harlot in Egypt ". And fo favourite a fuperftition were the CALVES of Dan and Beth-el, that they still kept their ground against all those general Reformations which divers of their better fort of Kings had made, to purge the land of Ifrael from idolatries. It is true, their extreme fondness for Egyptian fuperftition was not the only cause of this inveterate adherence to their CALVES. There were two others:

They flattered themselves that this specific idolatry was not altogether fo grofs an affront to the k * JUDGES ii. 7. 1 JUDGES . 10-12,

m EZEK. xxiii. 19. GOD

God of their fathers as many of the reft. Other of their idolatries confifted in worshiping Strange Gods in conjunction with the GOD of Ifrael; this of the CALVES, only in worshiping the GoD of Ifrael in an idolatrous manner: as appears from the history of their erection. And Jeroboam" Said in his heart, Now fshall the kingdom return to the house of David: if this people go up to do facrifice in the boufe of the Lord at Jerufalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Reboboam King of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam King of Judah. Whereupon the King took counfel, and made two CALVES of gold, and faid unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerufalem, Behold thy Gods, O Ifrael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And be fet the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan°. It is too much for you (fays he) to go up to Jerufalem. Who were the men difpofed to go up? None furely but the worshipers of the GOD of Ifrael. Confequently the CALVES, here offered to fave them a journey, muft needs be given as the reprefentatives of that God. And if these were fo, then certainly the CALF in Horeb: fince, at their feveral confecrations, the very fame proclamation was made of all three: Behold thy GODS, O Ifrael, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

The other cause of the perpetual adherence of the Kingdom of Ifrael to their GOLDEN CALVES Was their being erected for a prevention of reunion with the Kingdom of Judah. If this people (fays

n' It is to be obferved of this Jeroboam, that he had fojourn ed in Egypt, as a refugee, during the latter part of the reign of Solomon, 1 KINGS Xi. 40.

• 1 KINGS xii, 26. & feq.

the

the politic contriver) go up to do facrifice in the boufe of the Lord at Jerufalem, then fhall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Reboboam king of Judah. The fucceeding kings, therefore, we may be fure, were as careful in preferving them, as He was in putting them up. So that, good or bad, the character common to them all was, that he departed not from the fins of Jeroboam. the son of Nebat, who made Ifrael to fin; namely in worshiping the Calves in Dan and Beth-el. And thofe of them who appeared moft zealous for the Law of GOD, and utterly exterminated the idolatry of Baal, yet connived at least, at this political worship of the CALVES.-Thus Jebu destroyed Baal. out of Ifrael. Howbeit from the fins of Jeroboam the fon of Nebat who made Ifrael to fin, Jehu departed not, to wit, the golden CALVES that were in Beth-el, and that were in Dan P.

But the Ifraelites had now contracted all the fashionable habits of Egypt. We are affured that it has been long peculiar to the Egyptian fuperftition for every city of that empire to have its own · tutelary God, befides those which were worshiped in common: But now Jeremiah tells us the people of Judah bore a part with them in this extravagance: Where are thy Gods that thou haft made thee? Let them arife, if they can fave thee in the time of thy trouble :

FOR ACCORDING TO THE NUMBER OF THY CITIES, ARE THY GODS, O JUDAH 9.

And by the time that the fins of this wretched People were ripe for the punishment of their approaching Captivity, they had polluted themselves with all kind of Egyptian abominations: as appears

2 KINGS X, 28, & feq.

Chap. ii. ver. 28.

from