run his measure over, and bring down the curse of his Maker upon him. It is impossible to say when God will shut up his bowels of compassion with regard to any sinner. Though he bear long he will not bear with them always. He is holy and true as well as good, The day must come when his threatenings will be fulfilled as well as his promises. And to sinners who refuse to desert the standard of revolt, that will be a tremendous day. But, since they will not be persuaded, they must go on and provoke divine goodness till the curse lights upon their heads. I add no more, I hope I am free from the blood of my readers to-day. It will be found in their own skirts.

SERMON XV1.

THE BURNING BUSH.

Exodus iii. 3.

'And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned."

MOSES was keeping the flocks of his father-in-law in Midian, and having occasion to drive them to the desert to the borders of mount Horeb, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush. He perceived that though the bush burned with fire it was not consumed. "And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned." He expected, no doubt, to see the bush consumed; but while he looked upon it, and perceived that every branch and every leaf remained entire amid the flames, it naturally awakened his amazement, and led him to turn aside and view the wonder with attention. As he approached the bush, a voice issued from the midst of the flames, which bid him pull his shoes from his feet, as the ground on which he trod was holy. God now assured him that he was the God of his fathers, and gave him his commission to go and redeem his brethren from bondage. The burning bush, with God in the midst of it uninjured by the flames, represented the church, living undiminished in the midst of afflictions and persecutions. Probably Moses had suspected that the rigors of the Egyptian persecution would untimately annihilate the church. To remove this gloomy apprehension, and encourage him to accept a commission for their emancipation, he was favoured with this vision. In using

this scrap of history for our present edification, it is my purpose to make several distinct observations.

I. The church of Christ has always been exposed to afflictions and persecutions, has often seemed in imminent danger, but has lived unhurt through every period of its long and bloody conflict. There has been a church ever since the conversion of Abel. During the period from the fall to the deluge it was very feeble, and very small, and often persecuted. In the death of Abel was fulfilled the prediction, "It shall bruise thy heel." Mention is made of but two or three eminent saints during this period, of which Enoch was one of the most distinguished. God so loved him that he took him to heaven without seeing death. He was a prophet and plainly predicted the terrors of the deluge, and of the last judgment. There seems to have been during this period several times of revival, but during the whole the church must have been comparatively small. Finally it was confined to the family of Noah, and seemed about to become extinct. It was now surrounded by a host of enemies, and must have perished without some extraordinary divine interpositions of its chief Shepherd. Jehovah granted his people the help they needed, and swept the whole of that ungodly world to perdition. The wondrous means by which he rescued his people from the general ruin, must have taught, it would seem, all future generations that destruction awaits the enemies of the church. We are amazed that Noah could live and be a preacher of righteousness one hundred and twenty years, when the church was so small, and when the earth was filled with violence, and the Spirit of God striving with them during all that period in vain,

But the covenant promise of God preserved his people unhurt like the bush which was embosomed in the flame but not consumed. In the family of Noah God continued to have a seed to serve him. But the church was soon brought very low, and at the time of the calling of Abraham was almost extinct. We see during this period the strong features of depravity, and although the history of the church is scanty and general, there can be no doubt but that it had to struggle with afflictions and persecutions. To promote the prosperity of the church God resolved to confine it principally to one family. Accordingly Abraham must leave his country, and become a stranger in a strange land, that his descendants might be preserved from idolatry, and true religion live in his family till the coming of Christ. During much of this period we find them an afflicted and persecuted people, and are often led to wonder at their preservation. How wonderful was the escape of Lot, first from captivity and afterwards from the tempest of fire that consumed the cities of the plain. How often, and how narrowly did Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with their respective families escape, being swallowed up by idolatry, or destroyed by their enemies. But they were a holy seed, from whom, according to the flesh, Christ should come, and among whom, till then, God would preserve his church. Their history is a constant scene of miracles, and their very existence, like the bush that burned but was not consumed, is a living monument of God's covenant faithfulness. When the patriarchal family had settled themselves in Egypt, and Joseph was dead, and they had become Pharaoh's bondmen. Their ruin seemed inevitable. Especially, when the Egyptians, jealous of their increase, and fearful of their resentment, made a decree to destroy them, we look upon

them with awful apprehensions. But this very decree contrary to its design saved the church. It became the means of raising up Moses, and of furnishing him a princely education, that he might become the lawgiver, and the prince of that injured family. From his birth till he had the vision of God in Horeb, the Jewish family were indeed like the bush that burned with fire, but was not consumed. It is matter of the truest amazement that the Egyptians did not utterly destroy them, when they were so completely enslaved, and entirely within the power of their masters. But God had otherwise decreed. Their enemies dealt violently, but their violent dealing came down upon their own pate. Their infamous conduct awaked the wrath of Heaven, and issued in their own ruin. Still their stuggle was long and desperate. Many a time there seemed but a step between the church and destruction. On the banks of the Red Sea nothing but a miracle could save the children of the covenant. But the miracle was wrought, the sea divided, Israel escaped, and their enemies were all overthrown. When we read the history of their passage through the desert, the dangers they encountered, the sins they committed, the judgments they felt, and the enemies that lined their path, we wonder that they ever reached the promised land. But God was in the midst of them. Time could not wear out their garments, the rock watered them, and the clouds fed them, and the very fowls of heaven flew to their camp to become their meat. And when they entered Canaan we are amazed that a single month did not furnish them all a grave. That land was thickly peopled, the people at home, and prepared for war. That Israel should be able to march through that land and tread down its