was destined to travel as one immense family, with their wives, children, flocks and herds. Their herds would supply them with milk and flesh, and the skins of the slaughtered beasts would afford a partial covering. Of grain and pulse, the supply must have been occasional, and in small quantities. They were to cross an arm of the Red Sea, without being accommodated with vessels of any kind, or with any natural means of making the passage; the road they were to travel in the wilderness was intricate; and the supplies of water very precarious; as certainly therefore as they were the chosen People of God, destined to inhabit the land of Canaan at a future period, so certainly did supernatural aid become occasionally necessary, or the most important ends could not have been accomplished.

The first miraculous interposition of high importance was, to guide their paths through the intricacies of a wilderness. This was accomplished by a cloud which preceded their course in the day, and by a fire that illuminated their path by night.

But a still greater miracle was requisite for their immediate preservation from the most imminent danger. When Pharaoh discovered that the Israelites had escaped from bondage, he

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was enraged; probably at the apparent deception on the part of Moses, and certainly at his being robbed of so large a population of slaves; and he resolved to pursue them with a powerful force, to compel them to return, or to destroy them in the wilderness. The Israelites were sore afraid: "They cried unto the Lord for help,” and upbraided Moses for bringing them into so perilous a state. The confidence of Moses in that Being, by whose command he had acted, was unshaken; and he said unto the people, "fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will show to you to day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for and you, shall hold your peace." The event was as he had predicted. A path was made for them through. the Red Sea, by the means of a powerful east wind; while Pharaoh and his hosts attempting to make the same passage, the waters returned upon their disabled chariots, and completely overwhelmed them. A powerful, though a transient impression, was made on the minds of the people: for, "when Israel saw that great work which God did upon the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses."

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The deficiency of pulse and grain, was sup plied by their being miraculously fed with manna; which was distributed to them in such portions as to inspire them with a conviction of their immediate dependence upon Jehovah. In the first months of their emigration, and while they were upon the march, it being im practicable to slay their cattle in such an abun dance as to feed so large a number, they were miraculously fed with Quails. When they be came stationary, this provision ceased; obviously because they enjoyed the opportunity of slaughtering their cattle for food. But we are. told that the supply of manna continued during the forty years of their abode in the wilderness. When they were again in motion, as they were passing through the desert of Sin, subjected to the impracticability of providing animal food from their own herds, they again had a supply of Quails. Because they had manifested a discontent at the provision of manna as a substitute for bread, they were punished by a superábundance of Quails: For subsisting upon animal food alone, without the usual corrective, they' were afflicted with a pestilential disease.

That they did not enter upon the possession of Canaan at an early period, is ascribed to their cowardice and unbelief, as the moral and prohibi

tory cause. But the Being who can and does produce very extensive good, from partial evil, rendered this delay productive of important advantages to the succeeding generation. As the increasing luxuries, and more dissolute manners of the inhabitants of the country, were rendering them the riper for destruction, thus the increasing multitudes of the Israelites, and the various hardships they suffered in the wilderness, to which the succeeding race were inured from the birth, produced physical effects most favourable. to their warlike enterprizes, and rendered the enemies whom they were destined to encounter, more easy victims to their conquering arms.

SECT. III.

ON THE CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS REGULATIONS INSTITUTED IN THE WILDERNESS.

DURING their sojournment in the neigbourhood of mount Sinai, they possessed leisure to arrange and organize their moral and civil constitution; many particulars of which were enumerated in the former chapter. Their time and attention were also occupied in erecting, furnishing, and adorning the tabernacle, which was to serve as

an itinerary Temple. This seemed to be a popular employment; for they contributed so largely to the work, that Moses found it necessary to check their liberality. Every circumstance relative to the establishment of the Priesthood, the appointment of sacrifices and oblations, and the religious ceremonies to be observed, occupied their peculiar attention. Moses also, by the advice of his father-in-law Jethro, made such arrangements as alleviated his own burden, and facilitated the administration of justice. He "chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons; the hard cases they brought unto Moses, but every smaller matter they judged themselves." It is obvious, that ordinances and regulations so extensive and minute, demanded tranquillity and leisure. They could not have taken place amidst the tumults of war. The numerous rites and ceremonies in which these people were perpetually engaged, afforded a beneficial occupation to those whose situations entirely precluded agricultural employ ments, and confined those of manufactories and barter within very narrow limits. They had also a natural tendency to direct their attention to the grand object, the service of the one God;