e.nd he went inn. path where he was called a gluttonous man arrd a winebibber a friend of publicans and sinners. If he was sneered at on the very Cross, it is babyi;h on our part to complain because the world sneers at us in the comparatively easy paths we have to tread. Our strength, our joy, and our serenity must not depend on the world's opinion. Moses was getting a. hint even tJ:ms early that he must not expect considera- tion from his brethren, with respect to his :feelings and difficulties. The joys of Mose~ were to be got from quite another direction, even from the assiduous tenderness of Jehovah himself. VI. CULTIVATE A HADIT OF PITIFUL CONSIDERATION TOWARDS THE MEN OF SAR- CABTIO SPEECH. Remember that they a.re not happy men. How can a man be happy whose eye is for ever lighting on the blots and loathsome ulcers of human nature; who seems to have a. morbid acuteness of vision with respect to them, but to become purblind when noble and Divinely-produced elements of character appear? Such a man is to be pitied with Christ's own gentle pity. Do not meet his sarcasm with sarcasm, but here emphatically return good for evil. Force him to see that there is a great deal more in the world, if only he will look for it, than duplicity, selfishness, and stupidity. Show him how to discern, even in the jostling and wranglino-0 crowd, men who have in them the mind which was in Christ.-Y. The passage of the Red Sea.-" Fear ye not, stand still (firm), and see the salvation of God" (Ex. xiv. 13). Mark, by way of introduction, the critical character of this event, the greatest in Old Testament history. (For valuable suggestions on this point, see Stanley's "Sinai and Palestine," p. 33, and Ewald's "History of Israel," vol. ii. p. 70, Eng. ed. Ewald even is constrained to speak of "this event, whose historical cer- tainty is well established.") Lay solid foundations for sermonic treatment by describing first the scene, expounding the history, and then evolving the truths in the history. I. THE SCENE. In the Gospels, the spiritual significance is almost independent of topography. Only two or three scenes (e.g., Jacob's well: the ridge whence Jesus saw from Olivet the city and wept over it), can be absolutely and certainly identified. But here sermon and story are inextricably blended with sea and shore. Note! twice change of direction: (1) not by way of Philistia: (2) not by caravan road, round by the mouth of the western arm of the Red -Sea; but brought into a position of extreme danger, with the sea roaring between Israel and the freedom of the desert. The writer of this section of the commentary believes, that Israel encamped on what is now known as the plain of Suez, the sea reaching then much further north than now. (See maps and interesting article," Une Splendeur de la Foi," by L'Abbe Moigno, 1 in "Les Mandes" for Aug. 28, 1879.) Any detailed map will show-that there Israel would have the sea. on the east, hills to north and south, an open valley to the west, along which the Egyptian forces would charge. Deepen the impression, that these two millions of people, some indeed armed, but not yet organised, with women, children, and the aged, were in a position utterly hopeless. It was a situation of despair-but that which is impossible with man is possible with God. II. THE HISTORY. One of the objects should be to vivify and make very real to the hearers, the histories of the Old Testament, which sometimes seem so very far away from modern thought and life. With this intent, bring out clearly, by aid of exposition else- where, points like these :-probably seven days elapsed between the Passover and the song on the eastern shore of the sea, occupied thus :-1. By Israel. On the 15th, to Succoth, fifteen miles; on the 16th, to Etham, fifteen miles; on the 17th, to the dangerous position by the sea; on the 18th, 19th, and 20th, encamped there, completing arrangements for the pilgrimage to Sinai and Palestine. 2. By Egypt. Every movement watched by the government ; night of 15th, report from Succoth; of the 16th, from Etham; morning of the 17th, courier could carry in a few hours, over the thirty miles, intelligence that Israel had taken the wrong(?) road. Sudden determination of the king. Had three days to overtake. Called together six hundred picked chariots, other chariots, infantry, and led in person. On· the afternoon of the 20th, the pickets of Israel saw far away the force coming over the sand ridges. Horror of the two millions. The
• 1 In this o.rticle the Abbe proposes to raise £12,000 to search in the sand for the debris uf Pharaoh 's army. See Is. xi. 15. 834 THE BOOK OF EXODU& rcn, XIV, 15-18.