by any human energy, but by causes beyond our own control. Such, in Christian history, are the raising of the siege of Leyden and the overthrow of the Armada, and such, above all, was the Passage of the Red Sea.

Whatever were the means employed by the Almighty-whatever the path which He made for Himself in the great waters, it was to Him, and not to themselves, that the Israelites were compelled to look as the source of their escape. "Stand still1 and see "the salvation of Jehovah," was their only duty. "Jehovah hath triumphed gloriously," was their only song of victory. It was a victory into which no feeling of pride or self-exaltation could enter. It was a fit opening of a history and of a character, which was to be specially distinguished from that of other races by its constant and direct dependence on the Supreme Judge and Ruler of the world. Greece and Rome could look back with triumph to the glorious days when they had repulsed their invaders, had risen on their tyrants, or driven out their kings. But the birthday of Israel,-the birthday of the religion, of the liberty, of the nation, of Israel,- -was the Passage of the Red Sea;-the likeness in this, as in so many other respects, of the yet greater events in the beginnings of the Christian Church, of which it has been long considered the anticipation and the emblem." It was the commemoration, not of what man has wrought for God, but of what God has wrought for man. No baser thoughts, no disturbing influences, could mar the overwhelming sense of thankfulness with which, as if after a hard-won battle, the nation found 2 Ewald, ii. 94.

See the celebrated sermon of Dr. Pusey on that text, Nov. 5, 1837.

its voice in the first Hebrew melody, in the first burst of national poetry, when Moses and the children of Israel met on the Arabian shore, met "Miriam the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron," the third member, the eldest born, of that noble family, whose name now first appears in the history of the Church, afterwards to become so renowned through its Grecian and European form of Maria and Mary. She came forth, as was the wont of Hebrew women after some great victory, to meet the triumphant host, with her Egyptian timbrels, and with dances of her countrywomen, Miriam, who had watched her infant brother by the riverside, and now greeted him as the deliverer of her people, or rather, if we may with reverence say so, greeted the Divine Deliverer, by the new and awful Name, now first clearly proclaimed to her family and her nation:

"Sing unto JEHOVAH, for He is 'lifted up on high, on high.'

The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.

My strength and song is JAH, and He is become my salvation.

He is my GOD, and I will praise Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

JEHOVAH is a man of war, JEHOVAH is His name.

Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea.

His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.

The depths covered them, they sank to the bottom as a stone.

Thy right hand, JEHOVAH, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, JEHOVAH, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

And in the greatness of Thy height Thou hast overthrown them that rose up against Thee.

Thou sentest forth Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble:

And with the blast of Thy nostrils the waters were gathered together: The floods stood upright as a heap; the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea:

The enemy said I will pursue, I will devastate, I will divide the spoil: my desire shall be satisfied upon them: I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

1 Compare Maurice's History of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, 11

Thou didst blow with Thy blast; the sea covered them: they sank like lead

in the mighty waters.

Who is like unto Thee, JEHOVAH, amongst the gods?

Who is like unto

Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

JEHOVAH shall reign for ever and ever.”

LECTURE VI.

THE WILDERNESS.

FROM the Exodus begins the great period of the life of Moses. On that night, he is described

The companions of

Moses.

as first taking the decisive lead. Up to that point he and Aaron and Miriam' appear almost on an equality. But after that, Moses is usually mentioned alone. Aaron still held the second place, but the character of interpreter to Moses which he had borne in speaking to Pharaoh is withdrawn, and it would seem as if Moses henceforth became altogether, what hitherto he had only been in part, the Prophet of the people. Miriam, too, though always holding the independent position to which her age entitled her, no more appears as lending her voice and song to enforce her brother's prophetic power. Another who occupies a place nearly equal to Aaron, though we know but little of him, is Hur, of the tribe of Judah, husband of Miriam, and grandfather of the artist Bezaleel. The guide in regard to the route through the wilderness was, as we shall see, Jethro : the servant, occupying the same relation as Elisha afterwards to Elijah, or Gehazi to Elisha, was the youthful Hoshea, afterwards Joshua.

But Moses is incontestably the chief personage of

1 I sent before thee Moses and Aaron and Miriam (Micah vi. 4).

the whole history. In the narrative, the phrase is constantly recurring, "The Lord spake unto Importance "Moses," "Moses spake unto the children of of Moses. "Israel." In the traditions of the desert, whether late or early, his name predominates over that of every one else: "The Wells of Moses" on the shores of the Red Sea, "The Mountain of Moses" (Jebel Mûsa) near the convent of S. Catherine, "The Ravine of Moses" (Shuk Mûsa) at Mount S. Catherine, "The Valley of Moses" (Wady Mûsa) at Petra. "The Books of Moses" are so called (as afterwards the Books of Samuel), in all probability, from his being the chief subject of them. The very word "Mosaic" has been in later times applied, in a sense not used of any other saint of the Old Testament, to the whole religion of which he was the expounder.1

It has sometimes been attempted to reduce this great character into a mere passive instrument of the Divine Will, as though he had himself borne no conscious part in the actions in which he figures, or the messages which he delivers. This, however, is as incompatible with the general tenor of the Scriptural account, as it is with the common language in which he has been described by the Church in all ages. The frequent addresses of the Divinity to him no more contravene his personal activity and intelligence, than in the case of Elijah, Isaiah, or S. Paul. In the New Testament the legislation of the Jews is expressly ascribed to him. "Moses gave you circumcision." "

1 Even as applied to tessellated pavement ("mosaic," musivum, μovoɛìov, povoaïkòv), there is some probability that the expression is derived from the variegated pavement of the 'ater Temple, which had then become

the representative of the religion of Moses (see an Essay of Redslob, Zeitschrift der Deutsch. Morgenl. Gesells. xiv. 663).

2 John vii. 22.

2