[In this Moses greatly excelled: he was willing and desirous even to " be blotted out of God's book " himself, if that, by means of it, he might obtain mercy for his offending nation. See to it, Brethren, that your religion operate thus on you. Behold the state of those around you; how many thousands there are dying in their sins ! And will you not interest your- selves in their behalf, and labour to obtain for them the mercy that has been vouchsafed to you? Will you suffer your very friends and relatives to perish, without any serious effort in their behalf? Oh! pity them, and pray for them; and "give unto God no rest," till you have obtained some evidence that you have not laboured altogether in vain.]
ex.
god's presence with his church.
Exod. xxxiii. 14. And he said, My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.
IT is not in the power of words to express, or of any finite imagination to conceive, the extent and riches of divine grace. The instances in which it was mani- fested to the Israelites of old, inasmuch as they were obvious to the eye of sense, are more calculated to excite our admiration ; but the church at this time, and every believer in it, experiences equal tokens of God's kindness, if we can but view them with the eye of faith. It was under circumstances, wherein the Israelites had justly incurred God's heavy displeasure, that the promise in the text was made to them: and to us, if we do but use the proper means of attaining an interest in it, is the same promise given, notwith- standing our heinous backslidings, and innumerable provocations.
That we may be stirred up to improve it, we shall point out,
I. The blessings here promised —
Though the promise was given immediately to Moses, yet it was not literally fulfilled either to him or to the people of that generation ; since both he, and they, died in the wilderness. This circumstance alone would lead us to look for some mystical accom- plishment, which it should receive ; and while the