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, Exod. xxxii. 9, 10. These were words of terrible import; but Moses, so often the mediator between God and his people, was now their intercessor, and his prayer deserves to be studied, not only as an example of entire forgetfulness of self, and of generous earnestness in behalf of an offending people, but as an example of the force of argument in prayer with God. It is short, as all the public prayers of the Bible are--but it is comprehensive, and earnest as became one who thought not of himself but of the glory of God, and of the good of men. Moses besought the Lord his God, and with arguments he sought to avert his fierce indignation. Why should he now suffer his wrath to wax hot against his people? Were they not his own people, and though offending, would he not pardon them? Had he not done great things for them already; and would he now put it out of his power to do more for them? Nay, if he now destroyed them, would he not, so to speak, lose all he had already done for them? Besides, this would give the Egyptians and other enemies of God and his people ground for triumph, and of slander. Would they not say, that all the promises of God were merely intended to lure the people on to destruction, and that God had not power to accomplish what he had promised? Wherefore should the Egyptians have occasion to say, that for mischief God had brought the Israelites out, that he might slay them in the mountains, and consume them in the desert? But above all, he pleaded the promises and the covenant of God. Had he not sworn by his ownself, with an immutable oath, to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, that the Israelites should be his people forever? What though one or many generations should rebel, was not the covenant sure? did it not have respect to Christ? and would the faithful Jehovah now make his own promises of none effect?

It was a prayer full of wisdom, and of faith, and the Lord was graciously pleased to hear it, and to repent of the evil he had thought to do unto his people. He remembered for them, the covenant he had made with their fathers, and repented according to the multitude of his mercies, Ps. cvi. 45. Let it not be thought when God is said to repent, that he is subject to change of purposes, and fluctuations of counsels, as men are when they repent. He changes not. His purposes remain ever the same, for the Strength of Israel is not a man that he should repent. In con

descension to our limited capacities, the sacred writers sometimes speak of him as if he were actuated by passions like our own; but this is only to express the more strongly the depth of his abhorrence of sin, and the multitude of his mercies to men. Thus he is said to be angry-and to repent-but no passion ever clouds his mind-no change ever crosses his counsels. It was well said by Augustine, "Oh Lord, who is like thee? Thou lovest, but art not inflamed with passion; thou repentest, but dost not grieve; thou art angry, but tranquil withal, thou changest thy works, but changest not thy counsels. Woe unto those that are silent concerning thee, when even the loquacious cannot express all thy wonders!"

Moses came down from the mount to the camp of Israel, but how different the scenes he saw from those he had just left! It was truly a descent from heaven to the lower regions; from intimate communion with a holy God, to the orgies of men who debased themselves to the level of the brutes. Meek as Moses was above all the men on the face of the earth, the spectacle he now beheld was more than he could, and more than he ought to bear. As soon as he came nigh unto the camp, he saw the calf and the danc ing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hand, and brake them beneath the mount, Exod. xxxii. 19. This breaking of the tables on which the ten commandments had been written with God's own finger, was not a hasty burst of passion. It was an intended symbolical action. Israel, by their making and worshipping the golden calf, had broken the solemn covenant; and the breaking of the tables was intended to show them, that on God's part also, the covenant was no longer binding, and that they must look for judgments and wrath from him, who, had they continued faithful, would have showered upon them unmingled blessings. The punishments speedily began to fall upon them. The calf which they made and worshipped with applause, was taken by Moses and treated with every mark of indignity. and contempt, while they were compelled to assist in its destruction. He took their sin, the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, even until it was as small as dust, and strewed it upon the water of the brook that descended from the mount, and made the children of Israel to drink it, Deut. ix. 21. Exod. xxxii. 20. Then after a severe reproof to Aaron, he called for all those who were on the Lord's side, to come unto him. The children of Levi, who, it would seem, had

not gone with the rest of the nation in their transgression, joined themselves to him, and at his command, they took their swords, and passing through the camp from gate to gate, slew three thousand of the people. It is most probable that these three thousand had been foremost in the offence, and undoubtedly Moses acted by divine command in ordering their execution. It was a terrible thing to see the armed messengers proceeding on their deadly work, and slaying their companions and their neighbors, their sons and their brothers; but so manifest was the sin of the people, and so evident the power of God accompanying these avengers of his insulted majesty, that no resistance was made, and no murmurs were heard. It would have been easy for the many thousands of Israel to have resisted the single tribe of Levi, but guilt had weakened their arm, and made them naked.

The hearts of Israel were sad that night. Like Adam, when he had eaten the forbidden fruit, they felt, that for a momentary trifling gratification, they had sinned a great sin, and laid themselves open to the greatest sufferings, without the slightest advantage. They had broken God's laws, and their own promises; they had cast themselves out of the covenant, and angered Moses, their best friend; they had seen their leaders in crime laid in the dust; and they knew not but that in a short time they should themselves suffer the same penalty. The day had commenced with feasting and revelry, but it closed with fearful forebodings. They were in the desert; what if God should leave them there! It was impossible for that multitude ever to extricate themselves from those defiles. Perhaps the manna might cease to fall, and if no sudden judgment should take them away, yet want would speedily cause them to perish. Could we have looked into the camp of Israel, we should have seen darkness and sorrow, even the light darkened in the heavens thereof. So it always is with sin-sweet at first, but bitter in the end.

The words of Moses on the morrow were not such as to increase their hopes. When he prayed to God in the mount, he had had no conception of the greatness of their sin, but now his mind was overwhelmed with its magnitude; and even with the assurance he had, that God would pardon them, he scarce dared to hope for it. On the morrow he said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin, and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin, Exod. xxxii. 30. He went up again to the mountain, and again appeared before the Lord, as an

intercessor. But what could he say? The sin of the people could not be concealed. It was written with a pen of iron, and the point of a diamond. With what words should he plead for their forgiveness? It would seem that an excess of emotion choked his utterance, and his broken expressions show more clearly than any eloquence of speech, the earnestness of his heart. And Moses said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sinhere he paused. The sentence is incomplete, for words do not always express all the feelings of the heart-if thou wilt forgive their sin. Most earnestly did he desire their forgiveness, but he feared that such a sin could not be passed over. Yet the alternative was too dreadful for him to contemplate, and rather than see the people whom he loved cut off, he would prefer to die :-if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. Exod. xxxii. 31, 32. It was simply a prayer that he might die. To be blotted out of God's book of eternal life, is a prayer that neither Moses, nor any other child of God could offer. The answer of God was one calculated to awaken the anxieties of Moses, and to fill the minds of Israel with fearful forebodings. He intimated, that though for the pres ent he should not punish them, yet their sin should not be forgotten by him, and they themselves should have abundant cause to remember it. They had basely turned their backs upon him, and if sorrows came upon them afterwards, let them remember what brought them down. Go now, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine angel shall go before thee: nevertheless, in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them. And the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf, which Aaron made, Exod. xxxii. 34, 35. The Jews have a proverb, which says, that "no affliction has ever visited the people of Israel, in which there was not some particle of the dust of the golden calf."

The remarks already made, render it unnecessary to add any lengthened practical application. A few remarks in conclusion. shall suffice.

1. It is easy to see that no professions, and mere external privileges and ceremonies are sufficient, in the service of God, when the heart is not engaged. All these will not keep us from open and disgraceful sin. Fear is but a poor ingredient in worship. Who feared the Lord so much as Israel, when the flame

and smoke of Sinai ascended, and the trumpet's voice sounded in their ears?

2. How desperate is the wickedness of the human heart. I know of no reason to suppose that the hearts of the men of Israel were any worse than ours; or that we should not, in the same circumstances, act precisely as did they. Who maketh us to dif fer? or what have we that we do not receive from God? Let the restraints of his grace be withdrawn, and where shall we stop in our downward career?

3. This history furnishes a terrible example of God's hatred of sin, and of his determination to punish it. No greatness of power, no fear of the numbers of men shall keep him from inflicting on those who sin all that their sin deserves. What though a nation sins against him, he can in a moment arm the avengers of his justice; he can turn a man's sword against his own brother, he can commission the invisible powers of the air, all nature at his command shall arise and pursue the transgressors. He doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, what doest thou? Dan. iv. 35. And none shall be

safe when he maketh inquisition, Amos ix. 2-4.

4. The conduct of Moses in all this affair is peculiarly worthy of remark. Without dwelling on it in all its particulars, observe the arguments with which he enforces his prayer. He refers specially to the covenant made with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. But what was that covenant? To whom had it special reference? It was a covenant that looked directly to the Lord Jesus Christ as its great Mediator. The covenant, says Paul, was confirmed of God in Christ, Gal. iii. 17. He was its centre-he was its hope-and a prayer that pleaded that covenant was really a prayer in the name and for the sake of Christ. This was therefore the main argument with which all the ancient patriarchs strengthened their prayers; and this is our only hope. Whatever we plead for-be it the forgiveness of sin, or the bestowment of favor, we have no other name save that of Christ, and him crucified. It is our only, and our all-sufficient hope.

MACAO, March 9, 1844.