addition to the great mass of it already in existence, of the powerful and satisfactory confirmation of the truth of the Scripture narrative, from the lights of history and of geography, both ancient and modern; the observations of travellers; the customs and manners of Eastern nations; and the laws of the natural world.

But we are more concerned with the religious instruction to be derived from the exhibition of the power and character of God, in what befel his chosen people and their enemies at the Red Sea, than with any other part of this wonderful subject.

While deliverance was afforded the Israelites in the hour of their greatest extremity, overwhelming and utter destruction overtook the Egyptians, when they least expected it. Why did it overtake them? Because they were the enemies of God. In addition to all their other sins, (among which the oppression and cruelty with which they treated the Israelites were conspicuous,) Pharaoh and his people persisted in refusing to comply with the express injunction of Jehovah. It was their continued opposition to his will which drew down his vengeance upon them.

And it will draw down his vengeance upon all who are like the Egyptians in this respect. None will escape. The truth and justice of God cannot remit their condemnation. The day of his wrath must come with more terrible and awful majesty than was displayed in the horrors of that hour

Moses.

14

which witnessed the overthrow of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea!

My young friend, are you living in opposition to the will of God? One part of his will is, that you should repent, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. He calls on you as loudly, and as imperatively, to do this, as he did on Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go. Have you complied with the demand? Answer, in the light of conscience answer; and oh! forget not the fearful consequences of being found, at last, opposing the will of God!

CHAPTER XXIV.

The song of Moses. Miriam. The Israelites suffer from the want of water.

A devout transport of joy filled the breast of Moses, at the signal deliverance which the arm of the Almighty had afforded him and his countrymen. Under the influence of a divine inspiration, he composed a religious song, to be sung by the Israelites as an anthem of praise and thanksgiving to God for his great goodness. It is the oldest poem

which the records of antiquity furnish us, and is alike remarkable for its touching pathos and moral grandeur of conception. A beautiful simplicity pervades it; and yet no one can read it, who enters into its true spirit, without having the emotion of awe-inspiring sublimity take possession of his soul.

Think of more than two millions of people assembled to unite in this grateful and solemn act of worship, and of the circumstances of the occasion. But just recovered from the amazement with which their triumph was mingled, at such a miraculous escape from the Egyptians, and arranged by their leaders for the purpose, thousands of voices pour forth the strains of this national hymn in one general burst of joy. While the air resounds with the music, and every bosom beats high with exultation; what must be the feelings of Moses; his ardent gratitude to God, and unshaken confidence in his protection; his recollections of the eventful past, and anticipations of the opening future; as the scene lies spread before him, and he unites with his countrymen in this, his own impassioned song:

I will sing unto the Lord,

For he hath triumphed gloriously;

The horse and the rider hath he thrown

Into the depths of the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song,

He is become my salvation.

He is my God, and I will praise him;
My father's God, and I will exalt him.

Jehovah is a man of war,

Jehovah is his name.

Pharaoh's chariots and his host
Hath he cast into the sea:
The choicest of his captains

Are sunk into the reedy sea.

The floods have covered them,

They sank into the depths

Like a stone.

Thy right hand, O Jehovah,

Hath shown itself glorious in majesty;

Thy right hand, O Jehovah,

Hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

By thine exalted power

Thou dashest those that rise against thee.
Thou sentest forth thy wrath,

It consumed them like stubble.
At the blast of thy nostrils

The waters were gathered together,
The swelling flood stood up like heaps,
The waves were congealed

In the depths of the sea.

The enemy said, I will pursue,
Will seize, will divide the spoil;
My soul shall glut itself with them,

My sword will I draw out,

And utterly destroy them.

Then breathed thy wind;

The sea covered them,

They sank as lead

In the mighty waters.

Who is like to thee, O Lord!

Who among the gods!

Who is like thee, glorious in holiness,

Fearful in praises, doing wonders.

Thou stretchedst out thy hand,

The earth swallowed them up.

With gentle hand thou leddest forth
The people which thou hadst redeemed.
Thou guidest them with strength

Unto thy holy habitation.

The nations hear thereof and tremble,
Grief seizes on the dwellers in Philistia,
The princes of Edom are amazed,
The heroes of Moab are seized with dread,
The dwellers in Canaan are melting away.
Let fear and dread fall upon them,

The terrors of death from thy mighty arm.
Let them be motionless as a stone,

Till thy people, O Lord, pass over,

Till thy people pass, whom thou hast redeemed.

Bring them in, O Lord,

Plant thy people

Upon the mount of thine inheritance,

The place of thy habitation,

Which thou hast made ready for thyself,

The sanctuary which thy hands have made.
Jehovah reigns for ever and ever.

Forth marched the horse of Pharaoh and his
chariots,

He went with his horsemen down into the sea.
Then brought Jehovah upon them

The returning waves of the sea.
The tribes of Israel passed dry
Through the midst of the sea.*

Miriam, the sister of Moses, and the prophetess as she is termed, took a conspicuous part in this

*This translation of the Song of Moses at the Red Sea, is taken from "The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, by J. G. Her der, translated from the German, by James Marsh."