also given for the future celebration of this festival, upon their arrival in Canaan.

What was the moral import of the Passover, and what great fact relative to the history of the Israelites is established by the period of its institution?

There cannot be a stronger proof of the truth of the assertion, that the whole history of the Jews is to be viewed in its subsidiary connexion with the Mediation of Christ, than the institution of such a festival at such a time. No man can peruse the Sacred Volume with a conviction of its inspiration, without perceiving that although the immediate object of the institution of the Passover, was to commemorate the deliverance of the Israelites from their bondage, yet its ultimate and its principal intention was to typify the oblation of "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." Apostolic language is so clear and so decisive upon this subject, that there can be no dispute about the signification of the institution. "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." The terms which were employed, the ceremonies of the festival, the deliverance which was involved in the blood thrown upon the exterior of their houses, so impressive an allusion to the blood of sprinkling, the blood of the Son of God, all combine to conduct to the conclusion we have stated, and to show the propriety of considering the dispensations of God to the Jews in their ultimate subordination to the kingdom and offices of the Messiah. The promise that the destroying angel should pass by the houses upon which the blood was sprinkled, was a beautiful representation of the efficacy and influence of that atoning sacrifice, which was afterwards offered upon Calvary.

What was the last plague inflicted upon the Egyptians?

While the Israelites were engaged in the celebration of the Passover, the Egyptians were involved in horror and despair. Amidst the darkness of midnight, in every house in the land, from the magnificent palace of the monarch, down to the dwelling of the meanest peasant, were heard the shrieks of lamentation, mourning, and woe. By the expiring groans of their first

born children, the unhappy people were aroused from their slumbers; and by the red lightning, flashing through their casements, they beheld the countenances of the dearest objects of their affection, ghastly in the convulsions of death. Unhappy people! thus doomed to suffer the awful inflictions of the retributive justice of God, and to bear the dreadful punishment of their oppression and cruelty! Unhappy monarch! who while gazing upon the lifeless form of the heir of his empire and his throne, had to accuse his own impiety as the cause of his misery, and to charge himself with being the infatuated murderer of his child!

By what was the calamity of the Egyptians aggravated?

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The calamity of the Egyptians was aggravated by contrast with the security of the Hebrews. "When the glory of the Lord," says the Targum of Jonathan, was revealed in Egypt on the night of the Passover, and when he slew all the first-born of the Egyptians, he rode upon lightning, he surveyed the inmost recesses of our habitations, he stopped behind the wall of our houses, his eyes observed the posts of our doors. He perceived the blood of circumcision, and the blood of the paschal Lamb sprinkled upon us. He viewed his people from the heights of heaven, and saw them eating the Passover roasted with fire; he saw and had compassion upon us; he spared and suffered not the destroying angel to hurt us.'

What was the conduct of Pharaoh on this awful occasion?

Alarmed and confounded by this awful visitation, Pharaoh sent at dawn of day to Moses and Aaron, desiring them to depart from the country; and the Egyptians, appalled by such repeated and tremendous calamities, and apprehending that a longer delay would involve them in irretrievable destruction, added their urgent intreaties to their sovereign's command. The Israelites gladly acceded to the request; and under the guidance of providence, they A. C. 1491. commenced their march to the promised land.

Give a statement of the numbers of the Israelites on their departure from Egypt?

By the inspired historian we are informed, that during the space of rather more than four centuries, the diminutive tribe of seventy persons of the family of Abraham, had increased to a powerful and formidable nation, containing six hundred thousand men capable of bearing arms. Reckoning the usually corresponding number of females, of children, and of the aged, there must have been at least three millions of individuals who mustered at Succoth. The numbers of the Israelites must have multiplied nearly three times in every twenty years. Even in the most favourable circumstances, and in the most rapid state of population, it is extraordinary for a people to double in the same space of time. This prodigious increase will appear the more amazing, when it is recollected that it took place in a state of the most oppressive and disheartening slavery, involving the most exorbitant exactions, and the most painful labours-it took place among a dominant people, whose interest it was to discourage such an increase to the utmost of their power -and it took place, notwithstanding the constant operation of a diabolical edict, which doomed all the male children of the Hebrews to death. This wonderful accumulation of people may appear to be incredible. The agency of God however is not to be overlooked; and as the mightiest purposes were to be accomplished by the national increase, the national emancipation, and ultimately by the national establishment of the Hebrews, it is contrary neither to reason nor to religion to suppose, that in this, as well as in innumerable other instances in the history of the Jews, there was the direct interposition and the overruling Providence of God.

How long were the Israelites in Egypt?

The duration of the residence of the Israelites in Egypt, has been the subject of considerable controversy. The words of Moses upon this subject are very remarkable. "It came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the self-same it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the

land of Egypt." The question is, from what time are the four hundred and thirty years to be reckoned? The inquiry is satisfactorily answered by St. Paul. That inspired writer declares "And this I say, that the covenant which was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul." Four hundred and thirty years after what? The impartation of the promise to Abraham, when he first set out to go into the land of Canaan. (Gen. xii. 3.) The four hundred and thirty years then, mentioned by the inspired historian, must include the patriarchal residence in Canaan, as well as the bondage in Egypt. The authors of the Septuagint translation, had the very same idea of the subject. For they say, "The sojourning of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan and the land of Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years." Archbishop Usher has verified this calculation. Abraham was twentyfive years in Canaan before Isaac was born. When Isaac was sixty years old, Jacob was born. When Jacob stood before Pharaoh in Egypt, he informed that monarch, that he was one hundred and thirty years old. These periods amount to two hundred and fifteen years. Two hundred and fifteen years more, Jacob and his posterity continued in Egypt. The four hundred and thirty years then mentioned by the inspired writers, are thus accurately ascertained.

What ordinance was enjoined upon the Israelites on their departure from Egypt?

When the Israelites were on the eve of departing from Egypt, an ordinance was given to them in connexion with their deliverance. The first-born of the men and of the cattle were to be set apart for sacred purposes. This law was subsequently modified; and instead of the first-born of every family, one tribe was selected from the twelve to conduct the worship of God. This ordinance also imparted a form of words for the use of parents in the instruction of their children in the nature and design of the Passover, to be continued to the latest posterity.

Moses mentions a mixed multitude accompanying the Israelites in their march. These persons might consist, either of marriages between the Israelites and

the Egyptians, or of those, who under the influence either of attachment, or interest, or curiosity, or fear, followed the camp of the sacred host.

SECTION V.

THE PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA.

A. C. 1491.

WHO was the supreme legislator of the Jews? IN commencing the history of the journey of the Israelites to Canaan, it is requisite to observe, that whatever might have been the influence, the authority, and the office of Moses, God was their supreme legislator and director; that all their proceedings were regulated by Him; and that he alone is to be contemplated, in all their national transactions, as their Ruler and their King. The authority of Moses was only executive, delegated. and dependant; that of God, was sovereign and supreme. There is something both striking and affecting in the recognition of the divine agency by Moses, in the narrative which he has given of the beginning of the march of his brethren to the promised land. "It came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that Gon led them. He seems to have inculcated upon the Israelites, that he was merely an instrument in the hands of God, and that his jurisdiction was limited to an agency, of which Jehovah was the efficiency and the origin. To impress this continually upon the recollection of the people, to show them their constant dependance upon the divine care, and the obedience which they ought to render to the divine authority, God was pleased to exhibit a preternatural manifestation of his presence by day and by night, calculated to affect their minds with every emotion of gratitude, reverence, confidence, and fore. “The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night he took not away the pillar of the

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