be against you, if conscience tells you, as it tells me, that you are not ready; that you have yet need of time and preparation for the coming of the Holy One, oh, let me urge upon you, in that case, the necessity of immediate diligence, and immediate watchfulness. Neglect not the warn

ing of the present season.

Awake to the call

which it makes upon you, to cast off the works of darkness," and to "put on the armour of light." Use it as a time for closing with the gracious offers of your merciful Redeemer. Use it in seeking forgiveness of what is past, and grace henceforth to walk in a better way. Use it as a season for redoubled prayer; for deeper study of the Bible; for renewed efforts after a Christian life. Use it, ye who have yet kept back from that holy ordinance, in preparing to come to the Lord's table. In a word, live this Advent, as though it were to

be your last; the latest period of your trial; the third watch of the night; with your loins girded, and your lamps burning; "And ye yourselves like men who wait for their Lord; that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open to Him immediately."

SERMON XIII.

THE MESSAGE OF THE NEW YEAR.

Exon. xiv. 15.

'Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward."

THE circumstances under which these words were spoken are told us in full in the fourteenth chapter of the book of Exodus. In that chapter we have the account of the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea, and the overthrow of the proud host of the Egyptians in their attempt to follow them. It is a part of Scripture with which, no doubt, you are all well acquainted; for, besides that it is recorded by Moses in the book of Exodus, it is referred to continually in other portions of Holy Writ. The Psalms are full of allusions to this famous deliverance (see Psalms lxvi., lxxvii., lxxviii., cvi.); and in the New Testament St. Paul twice makes use of it for the sake of illustrating some point in his teaching (1st Cor. x. 1, Heb. xi. 29).

Nor need we wonder at this.

So striking an event, so manifest an interference of the Almighty on behalf of his people, could not fail to take a strong hold on the minds of the inspired writers-could not fail to be a favourite topic with them in their exhortations. For, just think, my brethren, what was the condition of the Israelites the day when God came to their succour by the shore of the Red Sea. They had come out of the house of bondage, but not till Pharoah and his people had been terribly punished for detaining them—not till Egypt and its fruits, and its cattle-yea, and the first-born of all the nation, had been destroyed: "From the first-born of Pharoah that sat on his throne, unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle." They had come out with all their families, and all that they possessed; they even carried with them the jewels of silver and gold, and the raiment, of their taskmasters-offerings made, no doubt, as a bribe to hasten their departure out of the land.

Loaded with this spoil, bearing also with them the bones of the venerated Joseph, a mixed multitude as they are described, with flocks and herds, and very much cattle, they had hastened on their march, and were now clear of the borders of Egypt, and had come to Ethan by the edge of the wilderness, at the limit of the cultivated land. By this time the

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joy felt on their first release was considerably abated. They were free, it is true, of their oppressors; they had left Egypt at some distance behind them; but what were they to do for subsistence? How were they to be sustained in the stony desert in which they now found themselves? The provision they had brought with them was well nigh spent, and they had no prospect of supplies from any other quarter.

Nor was this all. Already had Pharoah repented having let them go; already had he and his people rallied from the blow which the death of their first-born had inflicted; and now, mad with rage, and thirsting for vengeance, they were hastening with rapid steps in pursuit of the fugitives.

Such was the condition of the Israelites by the shore of the Red Sea. "And when Pharoah drew nigh they lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord." They cried to the Lord, but it was the cry, not of hope or confidence, but of terror and despair. Witness their complaint to Moses: "Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness ? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone that we may serve

the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness." How entirely, as these words show, was their spirit fallen! They would rather have grown old and died in that Egyptian bondage -they would rather have never seen Mosesnever have had their hearts moved by the promises that he brought to them from God, than be exposed to the peril in which they are now placed!

And truly it is no common peril. In front are the waves of the Red Sea; on either side a ridge of craggy mountains; and close in their rear Pharoah with his chariots of war. If they wait till the foe come up, what can they expect but instant death, or a return to a slavery even more painful and degrading than before? If they rush forward, what but death in another shape awaits them ? And yet this is the thing commanded them. To the intercession of Moses, pleading with God on their behalf, no other answer but this is returned: 66 Wherefore crieth thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward."

Yes, brethren, and forward they went, and yet came to no harm; for on the lifting of Moses' rod, God sent a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were