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sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left."

22. Such is the miraculous interposition by which the sacred history accounts for the escape of Israel, and the destruction of the Egyptian host. In confirmation of its truth all the individuals of the two millions of Israelites who were present on the occasion most firmly believed in the miraculous character of their deliverance. For they are all represented as uniting with Moses in celebrating this wonderful work, and saying: "The horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea." There is here the recorded testimony of two millions of persons, to the reality of a work truly miraculous, performed for their salvation from impending ruin, as well as for the destruction of their enemies. There was no possibility of deception. Every individual of this immense host must have known perfectly whether he had, or had not, crossed the channel of the sea. Each individual, according to the statement of the record, declares he did pass in safety in the manner described.

23. That the people of Israel did pass by some means is very certain; "for otherwise the Israelites must have been destroyed by the incensed Egyptians, and could never have escaped into the wilderness of Horeb. How then is the difficulty to be solved if we deny the miracle? Admit only the miracle, and every thing is easy and consistent. The very form of the ground had thrown the Israelites into a long line. When they faced therefore to the left, and when the sea opened for the whole extent of their company; by marching in rank, they would require no very great space of time to cross it: whereas, if they had marched in file through a narrow aperture of the sea, an

armament of two millions, with their baggage and cattle, must have needed many days for their transit.-But the wonder is, how the Egyptians could have been so mad as to follow them. They seem, for a time at least, not to have been conscious whither they were going. The transit was accomplished in the night; and while the miraculous pillar of fire gave light to the Israelites, the cloud which accompanied it, spreading as a curtain over the rear of the fugitives, tenfold increased the horrors of darkness to the Egyptians. As the morning began to break, they found at length where they were, even upon the slimy bottom of the deep; and they forthwith sought to effect their retreat; but it was now too late; the rod of Moses was again extended over the channel from the eastern shore; and they were instantly overwhelmed by the returning waters.”*

24. After this miraculous interposition, the Israelitish host directed their course through the wilderness of Horeb; in which they continued to sojourn during a period of forty years. The admission of this undeniable fact requires the admission of a miraculous interposition during the whole of that time. How, otherwise, amid surrounding barrenness and desolation, could so great a multitude be supported? Food must have been provided for their sustenance; and how was this food procured? Could it possibly be obtained but by a supernatural agency? The people were sufficiently disposed to complain of the hardship to which they were necessarily liable in the inhospitable regions which they traversed; and can we imagine that they would have quietly submitted to a deception in regard to their daily bread? There were those in the camp who envied Moses, who were jealous of his authority, and who wanted neither inclination nor power to have detected and exposed such imposture, had it been possible. When the Israelites took up stones to kill Moses, because

* Faber's Horæ Mosaicæ, vol. i. p. 378.

they had not water to drink, could they have allowed themselves to believe that their thirst was allayed by water from the rock, unless this had actually been the case? Would they have given their silent acquiescence to the statement, of their having eaten food from heaven, if no such food had existed? But this reasoning is superfluous; since the fact, that the Israelitish host, consisting of two millions of souls, did pass through the wilderness, necessarily includes the additional fact, that they were provided in their journey by a supernatural agency.

25. I shall not make any lengthened remarks on the miracles which accompanied the giving of the law from Mount Sinai. The circumstances which accompanied that event, as described in the Pentateuch, must have really occurred; and it is not less certain that their occurrence must have been occasioned by the immediate and miraculous agency of God. Three days before they happened, Moses told the children of Israel that they should take place; and commanded them to be ready against the predicted period to view with reverence the extraordinary manifestation of the presence of the Deity. "It came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, and the top of the mount.-And the people said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear but let not God speak with us, lest we die." 26. Thus does it appear, that the Mosaic economy was

founded by miracles; and that the history of the establishment of that dispensation is so interwoven with these supernatural interpositions, that they stand or fall together. It is not more certain that the Pentateuch was written in the age of Moses, than it is clear that the miracles recorded in that history were wrought by that legislator. The evidence also by which they are proved to have been miraculous interpositions, rises in strength to moral certainty. But as no man can perform those wonderful works unless God be with him, it follows that Moses received his commission from God, and, consequently, that the whole system which he was authorized to reveal is of divine authority.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE CREDIBILITY OF THE WITNESSES, AND THE NATURE

OF THE TESTIMONY ADDUCED IN ATTESTATION OF THE MIRACLES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.

1. HAVING considered the genuineness of the miracles which were wrought to prove the divine authority of Moses and of the Mosaic institutions, the question here occurs, is the testimony by which they are authenticated, both as viewed in itself and as transmitted to us, such as to warrant our belief in their having really occurred? The question is general; and is proposed with as much propriety in reference to the miracles recorded in the New Testament, as to those which are reported in the Old. Though we admit that in both cases the eyewitnesses of those wonderful works justly considered them as a sufficient attestation of a divine commission, it may be proper for us to inquire, whether we are entitled, from the nature

of the testimony by which they are conveyed to us, to come to the same conclusion.

2. We are thus led to a consideration of the credibility of the testimony borne to the miracles wrought in attestation of the divine authority of the Jewish revelation.

3. It has been already shown that the miracles which were performed by Moses had all the marks characteristic of miraculous interpositions. In order to authenticate a miracle by testimony, it is required that the witnesses should have the fullest opportunities of ascertaining by the evidence of their external senses the reality of the extraordinary facts which it is their object to attest. Their circumstances must be such as to render their being deceived a moral impossibility. It is required that the miracles which they certify should have been wrought in situations which attracted the notice of the uncandid and prejudiced in situations where, if those who are specially authorized to bear testimony are deceived, every individual of the multitude present, however anxious to detect and expose imposture, must be completely under the influence of the same deception: and this too after they have strictly examined the facts submitted to their investigation.

4. It is further requisite that the circumstances be such as to exclude every motive to imposture. It must appear that neither the desire of fame, of honour, or of riches, influenced the witnesses in their testimony;-that they were actuated by a full conviction of the truth, and not of the truth only, but of the notoriety of the events which they relate; that it was impossible for them to obtain credit in the first instance, except on the admission of their veracity; that they gave such proofs of their veracity as clearly showed that they acted, in bearing their testimony, under the supernatural direction of the God of truth ;-and that the truth of their testimony involved consequences of the deepest importance to the interests of the human race.

5. The credibility of the testimony is greatly strengthened when the witnesses are numerous; and when ad

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