HOMILETICS. ,·{'n;. 30-M.-No.,es cis thefom-unner qf <Jhritit. •• A prophet eball the Lord your n,al rni~c up unto you like 1mto me," eaid the great lawgiver, ere be lei\ the earth ( l lcut. x,•ii. 16, 18) ; and the parallelism between Christ and M09es ie in many respects mn,t ~t.riking. 1. Both were of obecure birth-" the eon of a carpenter "-the son of "a nurn of the house of Levi." 2. Both were in great peril in infancy-their life eought by thl' ci\'il ruler-Herod-Phal'IIOh. 3. Both passed their youth and mrly manhood in nb.'!Curity-Chriet for thirty, MOl!86 for forty years. 4. Both felt they had a mission, but on coming forward were rejected by their brethren. " He came unto his own, and his own received him not" (John i. 11). "He supposed his brethren would have under- titood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not" (Acts vii. 25). 6. Hoth showed " signs and wonders," such as have rarely been seen upon oarth, and thus made it manifest that their missions were from God. 6. Both were law-givers-promulgators of a new moral code-Moses of an imperfect, Christ of a per- fect law-(" the perfect law of love"). 7. Both were founders of a new community- Moses of the Hebrew state, Christ of the Christian Church. 8. Doth were great deli,•eren; aud great taachel"B-'M0886 delivered his people from Egypt and Pharaoh, and lod them through the wilderness· to C1LI1aan; Christ delivers his from sin and Satan, and loads them through the wilderness of this life to heaven. 9. Both willed to be a i;acrificc for their brethren-God could not accept the one sacrifice (vcr. 33), but could and did accept the other.
HOMILIES BY V A.RIOUS AUTHORS. Ven.. 31, 32.-The anifeasion and infm'cession of Moses. Notice here-- I. THE All(l'LlTUDE OF 'l'HIB CONFESSION. It is very necessary to contrast the words of Moses in vers. 31 and 32 with his previous words in vere. 11-13. What a difference there is in the ground, elements, and tone of the two appeals I and this difference is fully explained by the experience through which ho had been in the interval. It was a bitter and humiliating experience-we may al.most say an unexpected one. For, although, before he had gone down from the mount, Jehovah had given him a clear forewarning of what awaited him, somehow he seems not to have taken in the full drift of Jebovab's words. It is not till he gets down into the camp and sees the golden image, and the revelry and riot, and the implication of his own brother in a broken covenant, that be discerns the full ex:tent of the ca.lam.ity, and the difficulty, almost the impossibility of bringing t.ogether again. Jehovah and his revolted people. Vain is it to seek for any- thing like sure conclusions in the det.a.ils of Moses' conduct on this occasion. The things he did were almost as the expressions of a heart beside itself with holy grief. There is a good deal of obscurity in this portion of the narrative; and our wisest course is to turn to what is clear and certain and most instructive, namely, the great result which came out of this experience. It was truly a result, beyond all estimation, to have been led to the conclusion-" This people have sinned 11. great sin." That was just the light in which Jehovah looked upon their conduct; and though Moses could not see all that Jehovah saw, we may well believe that he saw all that a brother man could see, uuc whuse own heart's vision was not yet perfectly clear. Blessed is that man who, for i1im,;elf and for others, can see the reality and magnitude of the human heart's departure 1r,,w God. It would not, indeed. be hard, from a certain point of view, to frame a very I,lausiblc story on behalf of these Israelites; but it is far better to bear in mind that just at this particular juncture this very Moses who at first had expostulated with Jehovah, lllJl.king not the slightest reference to the people's sin, is Bow found on account of that sin Lend.ina him.self in the utmost submission before God. Aaron came to Moses with ,,,, u,cuse (vers. 22-24); he spoke in the spirit of A.dam, laying the blame elsewhere. J,,1, Mo:;es atiewpts neither excuse nor extenuation. Nor was any enlargement needed. 'fi,c brief sentence he spoke, standing in all its naked severity, was quite enough. II. How UNCl!IITAlll MosF.S IS IN HIS EXPECTATIONS. The confession is as full and e11q,b:iti,· as it can Le, but the llcurt is of necessity very doubtful as to what may come .,uL u1 the cuulc-ssw,1. The wur<k .,f Moses here are very consistent with the quick OH, XXXII, 30-36,] TUI~ llOOK OF EXODUS. 345