behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed."

Thus the bush was a lively emblem of the church of Christ through all ages, and especially the Jewish nation: for, notwithstanding Satan has raised up his emissaries in every stage of the church, to harrass, perplex, and destroy her, yet is she not consumed for God is in the midst of her. And the Jewish church and nation, who, for their wickedness, have been partially cast off by God, and dispersed into all the nations of the earth, have, by the mighty power of God, notwithstanding all the Satanic rage of her enemies, been preserved still as a nation; and yet not (according to prophecy) counted with the nations, but remains a separate and peculiar people—a special example to all the nations of the earth, of the righteousness, justice, holiness, long-suffering, and mercy of God; who saw it requisite, in order to make his glorious name known to all the earth, to have a peculiar people, not numbered with the nations, elect vessels of honour, to enlighten the world; but whom God caused first to go into bondage, that, when they came to possess the promised land, they might be humbled, when they thought of that state of degradation which God had, with a mighty hand, brought them out of, and have pity upon the stranger who should desire to join himself to them. And as, when their bondage became too grievous to be borne, and they cried unto the Lord, and he delivered them, with mighty judgments, so every believer in Christ, who feels the bondage of sin, hates it, and cries to be delivered from it, may thereby be encouraged to believe that they shall surely be

delivered from their spiritual bondage; and, as when the Jews were about to be suddenly thrust out of Egyptian bondage, God gave them favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them whatsoever they desired, so may the church of Christ in all ages be cheered with the thought, that God can make even their enemies to serve them, even as he caused the ravens to feed Elijah. And, whether the opponents of scripture like to reject the historical account of the miraculous judgments by which God delivered the Jews from their Egyptian bondage, or believe it, it matters very little, as far as respects the confirmation of the fact, seeing that the Jews now are a living miracle to confirm the truth of holy writ, which all the sophistry of infidels cannot overthrow. Therefore, the true believer taking a view of the history of the Jews, whether in their state of Egyptian bondage, their journey through the wilderness, their possession of Canaan, their various captivities, or their final and utter dispersion-he can therefrom learn the mind of God concerning himself, under whatever condition, spiritual or temporal, he may be placed; for, as sure as the Jews were visited with certain judgments for special sins, so may every man know for a certainty, that if he be in the same condition, most assuredly the same punishment will follow him; so that every man may there read his own doom, and every man know his own state. Therefore God has caused the infirmities of his people to be recorded, as well as their virtues, that thereby men may know what the exceeding sinfulness of sin is that the man of God may learn, that if he, like David, transgress, he shall,

like him, be restored again, with many and bitter stripes that sin brings long seasons of darkness and despair, and the hidings of God's countenance that if a man backslide from God, he has no power to restore himself to repentance, but must, like David, go mourning without the sun, until God please of his mercy to restore him again; and when such melting seasons arrive, they are to the poor returning backslider the most joyful seasons of his life. Tears of repentance are not tears of sorrow but of joy; for, although the poor sinner, at such seasons, feels exceeding compunction for, and hatred to his sins, yet such brokenness of heart makes Christ so precious to his soul, that the sense of reconciliation through his blood administers such joy to him, that he has not power to express; and frequently, when darkness is gathering around him, the calling to mind those precious seasons, afford him such refreshings that he would not barter away for the treasures of the whole world. For what is the world, when compared to the love of God in the soul the knowledge of Christ, and the power of his resurrection?

Such is the use the true christian makes of the word of God, whilst infidels, with all their sophistry, are tempest-tossed, amidst the moral darkness of this world, and "are like the troubled sea," continually casting up mire and dirt; and, in order to disannul the word of God, they ridicule the idea of miracles, and endeavour to bring into contempt whatever in that word they find, apparently, contrary to the laws of nature, until at last they become such fools as to deny the existence of the God of nature.

Having made these few general remarks concerning the lesson which the state of the Jews, under their bondage in Egypt, and their journey through the wilderness, &c. conveys to the spiri tual reader, who makes the word of God a lamp unto his feet, and a light unto his path, I now enter upon the subject of miracles.

JOSHUA COMMANDING THE SUN AND MOON TO STAND STILL.

Joshua x. 12. "And he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies." "So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it, or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man.

I am well aware that the opponents of the scriptures often produce the above passage, as a proof that the philosophy of the Bible is at variance with indisputable philosophical facts, according to the Newtonian system. They assert, that, as it is an established fact, beyond all doubt, that the sun is the centre around which all the other planets of its system revolve, the circumstance of Joshua commanding the sun to stand still, proves the scriptures to be anti-philosophical, inasmuch as from the passage we must conclude the Bible teaches, that the earth stands still while the sun runs round it. But if the original text be carefully examined, we shall soon discover that their premises are unscriptural. I have in the former

part of this work shown that there are three terms which are applicable to the sun, the first is Dncheres, the solar orb; the second, chammah, its heat or flame; and the third, www shamesh, the rays of the sun in action; all which terms our translators have confounded together, to express the same thing.

Now, in handling this passage, I am not trying to do away with the miracle, because I believe that a miracle was performed; but the question I wish to decide is, that the philosophical objection which some persons raise against the text is erroneous; the word in the text translated sun, is VDU shamesh, a term denoting the action of the rays or particles of light upon the densities of the atmosphere, as they shoot from cheres, the solar orb, at mid-day. So that Joshua did not command the solar orb itself to stand still, but the daylight, caused by the confliction of the sun's rays with the densities of the atmosphere; for, as I have stated before, we cannot have light without motion; and, as a further proof that Joshua's command could not have had reference to the solar orb, but to the rays of light proceeding therefrom, it is evident, from the circumstance of his commanding it to "stand still on the valley of Gibeon." Now, it was not the solar orb o cheres which was thus stationed upon the valley, but its light; therefore the text might have been more correctly rendered, "Solar light, be thou still on the valley of Gibeon." But, let it be which way it would, still it was a miraculous interposition of God, by which the general laws of nature were, for a time, apparently set asideI say apparently, because we know not but that