The Festive Time

'Then said he, I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory.' — Ex. xxxiii. 18.

'As the hart panteth after the water-brooks, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God.'¹ Thousands of years have now gone by since these words first were heard; and they may possibly have been employed hundreds of times by your lips and mine. But whence is it that they never fail to find a deep response within the inmost sanctuary of a longing soul, — yea, that not only in our own esteem, but that of others too, among the Psalms, that of the panting hart forms the great ornament and crown of all? To such a simple question there is but one answer possible: the want, for which the sacred writer found expression so felicitous, is the deepest need, not only of the Hebrew, or the Christian, but, when we carefully consider it, of every human heart. A Christian philosopher² has well said: 'It is not only fear or terror, bearing us along as on the wings of wind, or in the rattling of the thunderstorm, which has shown man that there is a God; nor has he first read God's great name inscribed among the stars. Deep, strong as the instinctive influence through which the new-born babe longs for the mother's breast, which it has not yet known; loud as the cry raised by young ravens for the food, whose taste they never yet have felt; strong, and yet silent, as the attraction for the light, not yet perceived, felt by the scarce developed plant, and the, as yet, unopened eye, — the inward thirsting for the everlasting Source of all that breathes and lives makes itself deeply felt within us all.' Were we to take the wings of dawn, that we might fly unto the utmost bounds of space; did we descend into the depths where every trace of life and joy quite disappear, — even there we should discover that we were alone with God. Nowhere, in all this world which we behold, is there a spot where heart and soul can find a lasting resting-place: 'Lord, Thou hast made us for Thyself; therefore our heart is ill at ease in us, until we find our rest in Thee! 'The sinner, certainly, well understands the fatal secret how to stifle conscience when it speaks; but the secret of becoming truly happy without God, thanks be to Him, no son of Adam ever has found out. 'Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 'such is the sentence constantly repeated at the last, as well as at the first, draught taken from the cup of sensual delight; and even when we have enjoyed the Lord's best gifts unto the full, the heart continues poor and empty still, so long as it does not come into personal communion with the Lord Himself, who gives. Nay, more; the man who never felt a strong thirst after God is, most emphatically, dead in soul; and only when he can, with his whole heart, repeat the Psalmist's words, 'I stretch forth my hands unto Thee; my soul thirsteth after Thee, as a thirsty land,'³ then only has a spark of spiritual life been kindled in his heart. We need not be astonished that no one can understand the psalm of the panting hart more fully than the Christian, who has been first conducted by the Lord unto living fountains of waters. He is not satisfied when he has but begun to know the Lord; he seeks to make advance, in that new path, from light to light, from strength to strength, from one stage to another in true blessedness. The more he knows about the Infinite, the more he seeks to know; the more he has enjoyed, at first, of fellowship with Him, the more he longs to taste of it; the more God condescends to him, the higher does he seek to rise to God. And though, amidst life's toils and pains, this feeling is too frequently asleep, yet he knows, if not days, at least hours and moments, when his confession too was that made by the Psalmist in the words, 'My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God!'⁴

Do you know what it is to long in soul for personal communion with the Lord? The question is at all times a momentous one; and yet, perhaps, it never is of such great moment as just in connection with the subject now presented to your minds. Even when you have some understanding of the nature of that want, the page from Moses' history, before us now, has its own dark, mysterious side; but if that disposition of the soul be something wholly strange, unknown to you, we must despair of leading you to feel, and to appreciate aright, its excellence; for here, too, as in other instances, the words of the apostle hold quite true, 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.'⁵ It is no easy thing to speak, in some degree as we would need, about the revelation made to Moses by the Lord; but who could hear with profit, had he not an eye to look on Moses' heart, or had he not himself a heart by which he could appreciate, at least in some degree, the honour and the great good fortune Moses had? But if that eye and heart are not things strange to you, you may now hear the words once heard upon Mount Tabor sounding in your ears, when you are, in the spirit, building tabernacles on Mount Sinai, — 'Lord, it is good for us to be here.' The festive time in Moses' life is what you shall this day behold, and celebrate with him.

Does it not sound most strange and enigmatical, to hear about the festive season of the man to whose prayer, made for others, you have only recently been listening? I grant that few have felt more fully by experience than he, the truth of his own words, — that grief and toil abound on earth. Were we allowed to name no more than one of all the human race, to whom, after the Son of man, we could especially apply the words, 'a man of sorrows,' we should not hesitate in writing them beneath the statue of Moses. But yet, God is not so unjust, or so unfaithful, as to permit His servant to be tried beyond what he is able to endure, or work incessantly without a rest. Rest and refreshing even Moses now and then enjoyed, not merely for the body, when his daily task was done, or when the Sabbath sun had set, — not only for the soul, as when, with Jethro, he sat down to eat the sacrificial meal, — not merely for the spirit, as when God so often gave him light upon his path, bestowed His comfort, heard him as He did no other man; but also, and especially, in that ever memorable hour, when, in the fullest meaning of the word, he felt on earth a foretaste of the joys of heaven. Even were it but for Moses' sake alone, we should rejoice over the revelation, the account of which is given at the end of this, and the beginning of the chapter following. But how shall we, besides, make you sufficiently alive to the importance of this revelation for all later times, — yea, for each one of our own selves? One of the grandest pages in the history of the Old Covenant lies open now before our eyes, and we scarce know to which point first, and specially, we shall direct your thoughts. If we look back in thought, we here perceive a dim past lighted up by rays of heavenly light. If we look round about, we feel ourselves, in many ways, as highly privileged as Moses was, — nay, even more highly privileged. If we look forward, even the dark future is visibly illumined by the brightness of the light that streams from Sinai's height. If we descend into our hearts, we there hear sounds and voices which repeat, confirm, and send forth their replies to God's words from the cloud. But we must stop; for you have long been wishing yet once more, in thought, to place yourself upon the lonely mountain-top, and see the Lord pass by before our eyes. May we but be permitted, with a Moses' heart, to tarry there. Come, and behold in this communication, asked for and obtained by Moses, (1) the crown of the Old Covenant, (2) the 7nirror of the New, (3) the promise and prediction that God's glory, in its fulness, would in future be revealed.

Lord! our soul cleaveth unto the dust; quicken us according to Thy word! Lord! our eye is blinded by reason of sin; open it by Thy grace, that we may behold Thy glory!

1.

The festive shouts, that Israel raised in honour of the idol they first made, are silent now; and the avenging sword, at Moses' prayer, is now averted from the nation's head. Only three thousand sinners have endured the righteous punishment deserved by many more, — by nearly all. But how has there been brought about a re-establishment of the relation which obtained between Jehovah and His people, broken through so recklessly by Israel? He has, indeed, engaged to send His angel to conduct them to Canaan; but what is even the guardianship of angels for Moses' heart, that will be satisfied with nothing short of God Himself? It was, we know, the special and peculiar privilege bestowed on Israel, above all other nations, that the one true God Himself should dwell with them; and the fairest crown had fallen from their head when the tables of the law had been destroyed. Well may that nation sit in sackcloth and in ashes; yea, and Moses well may pitch the tabernacle of the congregation outside the camp: still, there remains the widest difference between a Judge who does not punish men according to their merits, and a Father who forgives with all his heart! Thus hours and days, and possibly even weeks and months, pass slowly on in sad uncertainty, and yet no outward change is brought about in the condition of affairs. But Moses feels himself, at last, no longer able to restrain his wish for further light: He prays the Lord to show whom He will send, and what He means to do with a nation that is still His own. And when Jehovah gives a distant glimmer of the possibility that his most earnest wish shall be fulfilled; when Moses further states, most positively, that he would prefer to go no farther, than remain without the guidance of the Lord Himself; then, filled with joy and with astonishment, the man of God essays to take one further step, and gives expression to his heart's wish in the prayer, 'Show me now Thy glory.'

Who shall determine what it was that Moses understood, and felt, and wished, when he employed these words? We know, of course, that ere this time he had seen much more of God's glory than all other men. The bush that burned, and yet was not consumed; the Red Sea moved out from its bed; the manna rained down from above; the arid rock changed to a source of living streams! Alone, upon the top of Sinai, and amidst most dreadful signs, he had received the law of God; moreover, with the elders of the Israelites, he had beheld the pavement which the King of Israel laid for the palace where He sits enthroned, — what seemed transparent sapphire-stone.⁶ What more is it that this insatiable, this high-minded servant of the Lord desires? The Lord Himself gives answer to the question, when He (ver. 20) in so many words declares, 'My face cannot be seen.' That is to say, Moses has hitherto but heard the voice of Him that spake out of the cloud; now, he beseeches that the veil of mystery shall be removed, and that he may be shown the face of God, beaming with heavenly light. Say not that this request comes from a narrow mind; above all, do not say that it is unbecoming and irreverent. Even Moses, as this prayer of his sufficiently makes plain, had not yet got beyond all sense-conceptions of the Supreme Being; and if the question unintentionally indicates the limitation of his views, we must especially remember that he pleads out of the fulness of a warm and loving heart. I know full well from whose hearts such a prayer could never possibly arise; but I question whether they would find so much of grace as Moses in the sight of God. It was the very multitude of promises which he had just received that gave him all the greater boldness to ask more, and to express a bold desire that long had slumbered in his pious soul. When, through a lengthened period, we have received a multitude of loving tokens from a friend residing in a distant land, many kind letters, many kindly gifts, we can no longer curb the strong desire to see and speak with him. Even so this Moses asks the Lord, who had already shown him so much of His ways and works, that He would now at last reveal to him His proper nature in its full magnificence. Up till this time the angels had been called to mediate between him and the Lord; but now he would approach the Lord directly and immediately. One aspect of that nature Moses has already looked upon, when he received the law; but he thinks there are still other aspects, hitherto concealed from him, and his spirit cannot rest till he has also looked on these. Do you not think, too, that the man of God would be quite startled at the boldness of his own request, immediately on having uttered it?

Nevertheless, the Holy One of Israel is not wroth, when the child of dust puts forth his hand presumptuously to draw aside the curtain of His dwelling-place. He rather seeks to show (as we must understand the second half of ver. 19) that He is truly gracious unto those to whom He will be gracious, while towards the man to whom He will show mercy He will be truly merciful. It certainly may be impossible to gratify the wish of Moses to the full. What mortal would be able to behold the face of God, and yet not be immediately consumed by the intensity of glory there revealed? Nevertheless, as far as possible, at least the spirit of this pious prayer shall be observed, though Moses shall not find it literally fulfilled. With the full revelation of His kindness (a lovely word, which we would not exchange for any other one), the Lord shall cause His glory to pass by, proclaiming to the listening ear of Moses His all-glorious name. Near Him, upon the holy mount (ver. 21), there is a spot whither the man of God is to betake himself ere morning dawn. When the decisive moment comes, Jehovah, as it were, shall shield the man against Himself, and lay His hand upon His servant's face to cover it. Then, when He has passed by, the hand shall be removed from off his eyes; and what he shall behold will be, not the Invisible Himself, but only the last portion of His royal robe, the mere extremity of His celestial dress: such is what Moses shall behold.

How grand these promises! Can it be possible to find a statement anything more excellent than this, — that God is a Spirit, dwelling in light that cannot be approached, and whom no human eye hath seen, neither can see? Not God's face in itself, but only the last fold seen in His royal mantle, — such is the most, the only thing that He can show to any creature upon whom He will confer the highest privilege! Thus there is pointed out once more, not merely the unlawfulness, but also the absurdity of the idolatry of which the Israelites had just been guilty. But the command to bring with him two new stone tables, upon which a heavenly finger shall once more inscribe the words of the law, reveals, besides, the most delightful prospect. The Lord Himself, by His free grace, seeks to restore the broken covenant, and to reveal Himself towards the mediator of the Old Covenant not merely as the Great Invisible, but as a God in whom compassion flows.

Imagine the emotion of the man of God, and how he must have watched throughout the sleepless night for the expected hour! Must there not have been heard a voice, speaking within his heart, and saying, in the words which he himself addressed to the rebellious Israelites the day before the manna came, 'To-morrow thou shalt see the glory of the Lord '? And let us further picture to ourselves Moses, prepared to meet the Lord his God, before the sun has yet arisen. How different was the ascent from that upon the morning when the law was given! There are no thunders now, no shout of trumpets, nor is there even Joshua to lead; alone, he makes his way up the ascent, while nothing but the sound of his own footsteps, and the beating of his heart, quite audible, breaks in upon the stillness of the scene. At last, with thankful heart, he gains the summit of the mountain he had left, but a few weeks before, with prayers and sighs; the cleft made in the rock has now been reached; nothing here intervenes between him and his God but just the body, — that light covering of dust. Earth has now sunk beneath his feet; heaven shall disclose itself before his eyes; he shall behold the glory of the Lord. And now, while he stands there, trembling with sacred awe, and waits and worships, he beholds the cloud of testimony coming from afar; and there breaks in upon his life a moment, in describing which the pen falls from the hand of every one except Moses himself. Suddenly he feels an unseen hand laid on his dazzled eyes; and, lovely as the sound of angel-harps, he hears these words proclaimed, amidst the stillness all around, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and to the fourth generation.'⁷ And when the heavenly voice has ceased in silence, there is granted him a moment's view; and a stream of light that flows towards him from the cloud as it slowly passes by — . . . But nay, we must not think of giving a description here, when Moses scarcely ventured even to cast a single look. With head inclined, he casts himself upon his glowing face, and Horeb becomes, for him who is the confidant of God, a Bethel, a true gate of heaven.

We have refrained from all attempts to give a natural explanation of what here occurred; but he who takes offence at the miraculous in sacred history will here find plenty of material. Perhaps he may feel most inclined to think of some great striking natural phenomenon, — a purple morning-cloud, for instance, or some other sight, whereon a voice from God proclaimed in Moses' heart, i.e. whereon Moses said to himself, that the Lord is the merciful and gracious One. How utterly opposed such an explanation is, both to the letter and the spirit of this narrative, you certainly need not be told. Why should it have been far too wonderful and great that the living God should make an audible voice proceed from heaven to Moses' ear and heart? In our opinion, all this revelation, both in form and contents, bears indubitable marks of true sublimity, while it is also worthy of our God. Jehovah mostly showed Himself to Israel and to Moses, more especially in later times, simply in the light of His offended justice; here, on the other hand, it is proclaimed that holy love is the grand aim and the centre of the divine nature. On Sinai, at the bush, Moses was taught to view Jehovah as the Infinite; at the giving of the law, as the God of spotless holiness; but here, moreover, as the God of everlasting mercy. This revelation forms the bond by which God joins Himself once more to Israel; and unto Moses, as a compensation for the fact that his most earnest prayer has not been answered to the letter, there is promised the fulfilment of his earlier request, — that the Lord Himself will go with the nation. And let it carefully be noted, that the revelation of the glory of God's nature is, for Moses, here connected with a statement which, although he is a prophet, highly gifted and enlightened, he must but accept in humble faith, even as a little child. Moses desires to see; but God desires, above all things, to make him hear and follow Him. But what he now hears is the grandest revelation ever made by God under the Old Economy; the only scene we can compare with that before us now, viz. the revelation granted to Elijah on this very Horeb, only showed that man of God, in sacred symbols, the same truths here audibly proclaimed to Moses by the voice of God. Truly, there is no wonder, then, that Moses tarries other forty days upon the mountain-top in heavenly ecstasy; and that his countenance beams forth with heavenly glory, when, bearing in his hands two tables made of stone, the pledge of the renewal of God's promises, he leaves the consecrated ground. Even Aaron scarce durst look on him, for, at first sight, he seems less an inhabitant of earth than heaven. But we, who have accompanied him all along in spirit, cannot help exclaiming, when we call to mind the story of the festive hour of all his life, 'Happy Moses, unto whom, at least on one occasion, it was granted, even on this side of the grave, to contemplate to such a large extent the glory of the Lord!'

2.

'Happy Moses:' are these words found on your lips too? Then surely you will joy when you remember that the privilege, accorded in those days to him, is equally attainable by every Christian now. Come, give us your attention still, while, in the revelation, viewed already as the crown and glory of the Old Economy, we also let you see the mirror of the blessings of the New. The glory of the Lord is shown us in another way, but with no less of clearness than before. Is this too strong a statement? Only look to the person of the Redeemer, the work of redemption, the guidance of the redeemed; and then see whether you have any ground for feeling envy towards Moses in his privilege.

'Show me Thy glory! 'It was more than a mere personal want to which Moses gave expression in this prayer. It was the wish that lived, consciously or unconsciously, within the heart of multitudes, in whose eyes this whole earth, with all its glory, was too poor and small to satisfy the deepest wish felt by the longing heart. Men felt that God — yes, God Himself — must needs appear on earth, if earth were to become a gate of heaven. 'Oh that Thou wouldst rend the heavens, that Thou wouldst come down, that the mountains might flow at Thy presence!' — such was the strong expression of the feeling in the prophet's heart.⁸ And lo! the heavens did open when the fulness of the time had come: 'The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father.'⁹ Is it not as if the fulfilment of Moses' wish, now made, had only been deferred, in order that it might be fully gratified when fifteen centuries had passed? 'Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.'¹⁰ He who is very God was manifested in our human flesh: but what is here shown to Moses, viz. that God is a Spirit, God is Light, God is Love, — how plainly may we read this in the gospel, as if written there in heavenly characters, when we look to the revelation of God's glory in the Son of His love! Ye who, like Philip, will not take instruction that is offered you, why do ye any longer ask, 'Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us'?¹¹ Assuredly, he that hath seen Him hath seen the Father; and to the Christian there is given, in the beloved person of his Saviour, a far grander revelation of God's glory than the works of nature and of providence present. For us also the words still hold, 'No man shall see me and live.'12 'God is a Spirit; 'the secret here announced to Moses is uttered by our Lord, in three words, to a woman of Samaria. Nevertheless, what may be known concerning God has been made manifest in Christ; and every comparison between the Old and the New Covenants draws John's words from our lips: 'No man hath seen God at any time: the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.'¹³ How God's unspotted holiness beams towards you, in Him who well can ask at friend and foe, 'Which of you convinceth me of sin?'¹⁴ who always sees the Father, just because He ever does what is well-pleasing in His eyes; who prays without ceasing, but in no case for the forgiveness of His own sins; and who awaits His being glorified, not as a favour, but an undisputed right! And the love of God: — but where shall I find words with which I may describe the love of Christ, divine in origin and splendour, but a splendour which is tempered by its covering, — a lowly, human form? Behold Him as He traverses the land, comforting the sorrowful, raising the fallen, strengthening the weak, healing the brokenhearted ones, enduring even the worst because of His great love, while not a single murmur of complaint escapes His lips; and now, behold that love, which died not when He died, which He has carried with Him to the throne from which He rules the universe, that He might intercede for sinners there! Well might He ask, as He did once, before performing one of His most splendid miracles, 'Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?'¹⁵ But that glory does not shine forth from His works alone, nor does it merely manifest itself in what He says; it beams upon us from the splendour seen in His whole mien. And that appearance, too, exhibits as calm majesty as God does when He shows Himself to Moses here: He docs not cry, nor raise His voice, nor cause it to be heard in the streets; but when we look on Him, we feel like Moses when the cloud passed by before his eyes; surely we see in Him more than the hinder portion of the royal train — we see God's greatness in the face of Him who was God of God and Light of Light, whereunto no man can approach, but who has yet come near and lived in humble servant-guise. If here the revelation given by God is made to Moses only, it is now, in Christ, bestowed upon the poorest whom the Holy Ghost has taught to see the Father in the Son. If here, through Moses, God reveals His nature to one single people, now the light arises over all the nations that but sat in darkness heretofore; for here, 'there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all.'¹⁶ Oh, hadst thou seen Him, Moses, highly honoured and exalted as thou wert in Israel, how wouldst thou have made haste to bow profoundly at His feet! For us, who are permitted to behold what kings and prophets have not seen, God's special revelation is complete in the appearance of the Christ; and the voice out of the cloud receives its explanation in the gospel of God's Son.

And how much more impressively that voice sounds when we venture on a second step, and meditate on God's redeeming work! What is the sin which, in God's eyes, polluted Israel, compared with the abominable sins which stand against a whole lost world, — against you and me, — before the God of unspotted holiness? We all deserved that God should turn away His friendly countenance from us, as from that people; and that He should not guide us by an angel, but, instead, give us the portion of the fallen ones. But have ye not known, have ye not heard, hath it not been told you from the beginning, 'God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life'.-'¹⁷ 'God so loved:' — in order to appreciate these words aright, one must have stood first on a height like that of Sinai, then looked down into a depth like that of our own misery. Here is a God so glorious and high that the greatest of the prophets can hear something, but can scarce see anything of Him, because His majesty fills heaven and earth; a God who is so holy that He visits sin, not merely on the sinner who himself has sinned, but also on his son and his son's son; and who must needs Himself employ extraordinary means to spare His chosen creatures, whom He may even once admit to His immediate presence. If even a Moses cannot look on Him, then how shall Israel dwell in the presence of this devouring fire? If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! — a God like this is well-disposed towards such sinners! He, the Holy One, loves sinners, loves them specially, loves them so well that He gives up His Son for them. The Supreme, the Absolute, the ever-blessed One, has thoughts of life and peace towards a little dust and ashes, of whose praise He has no need, and who are in revolt against His government; in Christ He gives them, not another law, as He gave the two stones to Moses, but full pardon, grace, salvation. Nay, do not fancy that you now have seen the highest revelation of God's glory upon Sinai; to behold it in full splendour, you must tarry on a mountain wholly different, — the bloody Golgotha, — but with the spirit of the publican. When you behold that cross, encompassed with thick clouds during the three hours' darkness, then examine Horeb as it now peers through the gloom; and when you have, to some extent, attained an understanding of those grand words, 'who loved me and gave Himself for me,'¹⁸ can you help being overwhelmed by multitudes of thoughts.^ are not your eyes suffused with tears? must not the lips of the most eloquent be seized with stammering? 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord:' nay, even Sinai's thunders do not proclaim that truth so loudly as the cry that comes from the expiring Son, who feels Himself forsaken by His Father, when, laden with the curse of Horeb, He was made sin for us sinful men. And yet, what is even the assurance of God's pity and His grace that Moses learned, when we compare it with the matchless fact that the Beloved of the Father dies for His worst enemies, and that God in Him not merely shows us heaven opened, but unlocks to us the heaven we forfeited? It is just here especially that we, no less than Moses, fail in finding words with which we can express our thoughts; but this we feel, that, louder far than anywhere besides on earth, the voice out of the cloud is found re-echoed from the cross.

Now let us take one other look at the guidance of the redeemed, who, like Moses, found favour in the sight of God. Does it need much to show that, in this too, the glory of the Lord is seen almost at every step.'''Merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness: 'the experience of even the most debased among us bears strong witness to these words of God; for what would have become of you if the Lord had ever dealt with you according to your sins.? But ye who are the Lord's redeemed have an experience that speaks more strongly still; for not merely do ye live by His longsuffering, but ye continue in His favour and in fellowship with Him; and ye learn by experience, like Moses, that He never puts to shame or pours contempt upon the humble prayer of faith. And surely you, too, know full many a spot, as Moses did the crevice in the rock, where you sit gladly down, there to review the way by which the Lord, in His eternal faithfulness, has thus far been conducting you? I hear you say already that the sum of your inquiries is comprised in this: the voice out of the cloud has been the voice addressed to me through all my life on earth! God's way, indeed, was often dark and deep; and to a creature, in his nothingness, it is as little given to understand God's plan of guidance as to see His face. God's ways were often otherwise; but how frequently, besides, have they seemed higher than our ways; and how often could we afterwards find ground for thankfulness in what, at first, seemed but material for deep and just complaint! And we have found, too, that God's holiness is certainly a thing not to be mocked; it testifies that there are thorns set for our feet, growing beside the roses of sin; wounds in our conscience, too, which our own hands have made! Nevertheless, that love of God, proclaimed so loudly now from heaven: — oh, even though every other voice were hushed, surely each follower of Christ must sing aloud, repeating from the bottom of his heart the words, 'Merciful, gracious, long-suffering!' How well has God dealt with each one of us, — ineffably beyond what we can ask or think! There is no heart without its bitter sore, but neither is there any sore without its heavenly cure. There is no life without its doubts and its unanswered questionings, but neither is there any doubt that does not sometime yield to grateful astonishment. Like Moses, we must often work and strive, but at each turn the Lord surprises us with proofs that He is not forgetting us, but still bears us in mind. And when, as in this case. He gives no answer even to earnest prayers that we have uttered in our thoughtless haste. He frequently bestows, instead, what is far better, — yes, and always just what we can bear, and what we specially require. The God of everlasting mercy ever finds out ways of showing His compassion for us men. The God of boundless patience bears with imperfection in His servants, who are often little better than rebellious enemies at heart. And God's beneficence: — ye stones of Horeb, even though ye were raised up as altars for thank-offerings, ye would be all too few to mark the spots where we should feel constrained to kneel and cry, 'Ebenezer; hitherto hath the Lord helped us!'¹⁹ Of how great moment does this frail existence show itself; how clear becomes the dark life-path, when, with a Moses' eye, we everywhere behold the rays fall from the revelation of God's glory, and, with a Moses' ear, hear from each dark, impenetrable cloud above our path the voice from heaven repeated constantly, 'Merciful, gracious, abundant in goodness!' And yet this is the privilege, not of a single individual, but of millions of redeemed ones; the sum and substance of your history is that of countless generations who preceded you, and multitudes who yet shall live: this revelation of God's holy love is destined to be ever going on, ever becoming clearer, and never adequately praised. What matters it, my fellow Christian, although you do not in the body stand next Moses on Mount Sinai? Is not the voice out of the cloud sealed by the voice from your heart?

3.

Like Moses on that morn, we have ascended higher by degrees, but still we have not reached the highest point. No wonder, for we also ever tarry here below. But would it not be possible, looking into a mirror such as this, to see there something higher than the earth? Our thoughts speed on, away beyond the past and present, to discover something different and much more beautiful; and the festive time of Moses' life becomes, lastly, to us a prophecy of the future revelation of God's eternal glory. When you, like Moses, must depart, you should not fail in making the acknowledgment that you have seen, at least in some degree, the glory of the Lord. But that something, though we had the power to multiply it even a thousand fold, what is it when compared with the far greater, the entire amount of what believing hearts desire? Our deepest need, our highest blessedness, is, not to hear the voice of God, but to behold the Lord Himself; but that is just the very wish denied us here on earth,, even as in Moses' case. Nay, more; we do not even stand, like Moses, on the top; we dwell, like Israel, scattered in tents at the foot of the mount of God's glory. 'We walk by faith, not by sight:' such is the motto of the New as well as of the Old Economy; and it is well for us that this grand principle is never modified. How should we ever be prepared for heaven, if, in this life, the school of faith were now already closed? And what surprise of pleasure could the future bring us, if this day or yesterday beheld each enigma sufficiently explained? 'How very little after all is it that I have seen!' must Moses frequently have said when he looked back upon that morning. And, that almost nothing has been reached must be acknowledged, not by those alone who make a hasty search, but also those who have even specially devoted a long life to the investigation of God's character and things divine. Sit down, ye pensive Christians, in solitude, like the prophet in the quiet cleft of the rock; by the hearing of your ears you hear the voice of God, but 'now mine eye seeth Thee' — nay, these words we can never utter here below without great limitation. We hope for the salvation of the Lord, but how wide the difference between the living hope and the desired enjoyment! We watch for the morning of the future, but it ever glimmers far off in the Orient; the full-orbed sun still hides itself beneath the far horizon of our view. Is our experience not often that of Moses? We have moments of presentiment, of spiritual intercourse, of (I might almost say) immediate contact between the Eternal Spirit and our own; and at such times a voice comes whispering, 'Thus shalt thou see hereafter.' Yet something always intervenes between this heart of ours and God; He lays a covering hand upon the eyes of His most faithful worshippers, that they may not yet fully see the truth; nevertheless, they make their own conjectures with regard to it, they constantly draw nearer it, and almost seem to grasp it with their hands while they engage in prayer. So is it here; so must it be on earth; but so it will not always be. With God's hand laid upon our eyes, we grope along for days or years in deepest gloom until we reach death's vale, . . . then the Lord passes by before us, while the chilly breath of him who is the King of Terrors blows upon our face. 'Show me now Thy glory: 'thus faith entreats with almost faltering lips; and never, God be thanked, did Heaven continue silent at the last prayer breathed on earth. The Lord, as it were, makes all His goodness pass once more before His dying friends, since 'He-is truly gracious towards those to whom He is gracious.' He leads them through the gloom as if by His own hand; He plants their feet, like those of Moses, on a stable rock; and draws near as a friend, clothed in the light of an eternal morn. Now He reveals Himself once more, but far more clearly and far better than He here appears, not on an earthly Sinai, but within the heavenly Sion. More closely than at any time before does He approach, while He proclaims His name before us, . . . then He lifts His covering hand from off our eyes, and lo, we see! It is no longer but another view presented in a mirror, through dark speech; it is a sight from face to face; there is not now seen but the hinder portion of the royal train, but the full riches of paternal love; it is not now a sight for moments merely, as when Moses looked, but for undying ages, for eternity. How shall the words then sound out from the clouds of heaven into the hearts of the redeemed from angel-harps, 'The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth!' Oh, how shall it be then, when every cloud is swept away, and that which was believed in, though in spite of many doubts, shall be made plain in noon-day light: God, only light, — God, everlasting love! Christians! if Moses longed impatiently for the appearance of that morn on Horeb, tell me, does not your soul, too, long vehemently in prayer for that morn when God shall make the full and final revelation of His glory, and — of all His sons?

'And all His children!' These words at once conduct us back from heaven's heights down to the depths of our own heart. Why should the eye, that has so long been pointed upwards, not be now turned inwards with redoubled earnestness? Come, follow me a little longer, while, in closing, we address three questions to your heart and conscience.

The first question is, have you, too, ever yet desired what Moses sought so eagerly? 'How could I do that?' some one perhaps will silently reply. 'Does not this history itself give evidence that this desire was prompted by narrow ideas of the Supreme Being, and that, from the nature of the case, it was of no avail?' Narrow conceptions. Oh, how I could wish, for many of you here, something of those contracted notions, — if, that is, the frame of mind, which is the great consideration here, could not be otherwise attained! We do not ask, of course, whether you have already given as clear expression to those very words, 'Show me Thy glory;' but whether there be really within your heart the want which forms the ground of the desire, — whether you curb that sense of want instead of letting it have unrestrained expression, — whether, specially, you have already sought and found that way through which the satisfaction of this want may be attained by every one of us. Must I ask other questions still, to raise the blush of shame on many a face? Ah! if each one of you were plainly asked, What is your chief desire? how many, nay, how few, Lord, could lay their hand upon their heart and say, I desire nothing more earnestly than living, personal communion with God! Perhaps, indeed, an evanescent wish for something higher, better, may not be unknown to many here, especially when earthly things bring disappointment, and the future is concealed from sight. Nevertheless, that deep, that dominant, that earnest longing after God which does not rest content till it has found Himself, and in Him perfect peace and spiritual life, — are we unjust in fearing that the string here touched upon is out of tune in many a heart, if not indeed quite broken now? But how many eyes there are which have a longing to see everything, except God and the Lord; how many hearts that take delight in this world's glory, but feel not the glory of the gospel; and how many lips that long to drink the stupefying cup of sensual enjoyment, but thirst not for the living streams! Among the ancient Romans, there was often heard the cry raised by the common people, 'Bread and plays!' and with these they were satisfied. But are there no professing Christians quite as content if only earthly bread is gained, and the play of earthly joys is played? And when sometimes — although, of course, we are unwilling to believe this true of every one of you — the soul's necessities assert themselves, and that soul has begun to cry for God, oh, what a constant tendency there is to seek peace where it cannot possibly be found; how every kind of artifice is tried to smother heart and conscience when they cry; how frequently, like Israel at the foot of Sinai, we sit down smitten, chastised, and stripped of all that formerly adorned us, but without true penitence, without true longing after God! Poor man, thus to be ever going through the same old dreary round of useless efforts, cares, and sins (who knows how long all this has been?), and still not to be wearied with each new beginning! When shall your eye at last be turned towards that heaven where you now behold but sky and clouds? And when shall Asaph's testimony ever issue from your lips, — 'Whom have I in heaven but Thee; and there is none upon the earth that I desire besides Thee'?²⁰ Oh that this day's consideration of the majesty, but specially the love of God, may kindle in your soul that sense of need which has so long been slumbering! What more has the world for you than the desert had for Israel, so long as you remain as far removed from God as they, and feel that you are not a sharer in His friendship? Even here, as you have heard, the Lord by no means looks upon the guilty as if he were innocent; what shall it be when once this world, with its attractiveness, has passed away, and you shall be obliged to look on and accept, as Judge, that God whom you have failed to honour as a Father in this present life? Nay, verily. His love, to which the voice that issued from the cloud gave witness, and which even now still calls on you, is no unholy weakness. Even the glory seen by Moses here is nothing when compared with the fierce ardour which, when God appears, shall cause the heart of the impenitent to quake. Then shall the Lord pass by before you, but not to return once more, making a revelation of His grace; and if a voice be heard at all, it shall be that of threatening and despair: 'It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.'²¹ 'Pass by you:' — not yet has the Lord passed by for ever from before you, ye apostate children! The compassionate, long-suffering One still cries to you, 'Return unto me, and I will heal your backsliding.' Do not despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance; say from the bottom of your hearts, 'Lo, we are here; we come to Thee, for Thou art the Lord our God!' Go where you found Moses, into the still solitude, there to engage in strict examination of your heart, and pray that the ineffable compassion of the Lord may also be displayed to you. Rest not content until you know that the God upon whose grace you may not only calmly hope, but reckon with most perfect certainty, has now become your God and Father. And inasmuch as we may come unto the Father only through the Son, accept the testimony God has given of His Son; believe in Christ the Lord, that, ere you come to die, you may behold the glory of the Lord!

This brings me to the second question: have you, too, already seen what Moses saw? There is no doubt of that, if you have really, by faith, beheld the Christ of God; but, on the other hand, how many are there here at whom the Lord can ask, as once at Philip, 'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? 'Or are there not those who are carried off by a most fatal spirit of the times, and who will not believe what they do not first understand.^ And yet, a single glance at such a picture as is here presented us is quite enough to show how pitiable is the pride that seeks to penetrate into the hidden things of God, and to apply the measure of our finite understanding to the Infinite. Ye fools, who still display so proud a spirit, when a Moses, feeling giddy, bowed his head, conscious that, even while he was looking on, he had seen almost nothing thoroughly! Are there no others who go constantly astray, finding their compass for life's voyage in their feelings, which are changeable and overstrained, when they should let themselves be guided in the path of simple faith? Yet here the Lord has plainly pointed out to Moses that his faith must not be founded on impression, contemplation, or experience, but, above all, on His own word. — And do we merely meet with individuals so wholly steeped in earthly things that, as it were, they have no organ whatsoever for perceiving higher and eternal things? But wherefore should we wonder any longer that there are so few, comparatively, over whose dust, if they should die to-day, the testimony could be borne, 'They have seen the glory of the Lord'? If you indeed desire that such a witness shall apply at least to you, do not forget that you, like Moses, must especially concern yourself with these three things, — a clear eye, a pure heart, and constant prayer. The eye of faith is the organ of the soul, by which we see the glory of the Lord in Christ; and He Himself must open that for us. But even though that eye has been already opened, there are evils that beset it, as some others do the eye of flesh, and against these you cannot watch and guard yourself too carefully. One little speck of dust may cause such floods of tears as to conceal the sun from you; the dust of earth but hurts the eye that would behold the glory of the Lord! Then give good heed lest you be drawn aside and carried off by worldly matters in all their attractiveness; and when abundance of this earth's good things has been bestowed on you, watch the more carefully, lest you should set your heart on them. Stand still, that you may clearly and distinctly see how God in Christ is glorified in your salvation also, through the riches of His grace and faithfulness; and seek the communion of the Holy Ghost, who gives you the desire and strength through which you may destroy the works of the flesh! Wherefore was Moses much more capable than Israel of seeing the glory of the Lord? Because his heart, even from the first, had been more purged from sin than theirs: 'Blessed are the pure in heart; they, they alone, shall see God! 'The impure can and will not see Him as He is in His own nature, ways, and works; the godly man beholds God's glory everywhere, — in nature, in the realm of grace, and in that God who is his faithful Father in Christ Oh, how much of the carnal still remains in us to be destroyed, in order that the spirit may be truly fit for even the least amount of living fellowship with God! Pray without ceasing; if the eye of faith is to see much, the body's eye must frequently be closed. Think not that such a life of prayer is dull and cheerless: who toiled more and felt more joy than Moses, — but who, too, prayed more than he? Be ever making ready, even as he, to meet your God; and let all your prayers more and more resolve themselves into this one prayer of the text. Ye who are much concerned about your sins, pray, 'Show me Thy glory! 'until the Lord shall make you also understand that everything is finished that concerns your good. Ye who are feeble in the fight of faith, repeat each day the prayer, 'Show me Thy glory! 'that ye may be strengthened with all power after the inner man. Ye who are bent beneath the weight of this life's cross, let all your various desires rise more and more, to culminate in this as the supreme, — general, yet not indefinite, — that God may show His glory unto you, whether by the removal of the burden which you bear, or its continuance, or, if it must be so, by even increasing it. Along that path of secret prayer, you, too, as long as you remain on this side of the grave, will look upon the hours as days, when you have been as near unto the Lord, as closely joined with Him, as Moses was; and you will feel as much resigned unto His holy will as Moses was upon that hallowed morn. Have you this day — this day, perhaps, as never hitherto — beheld the glory of the Lord; and has He also met you with His peace? Like Moses, keep that festive season of your inner life in constant memory; and if heaven hears your thanksgiving, let earth enjoy its fruits!

We have still another question as a final one: have you already done what Moses did? The sequel of the history informs you of the earlier, but also of the later influence of what was now revealed. Bowing in deepest reverence, and well assured that he has found grace in the sight of God, the mediator of the Old Covenant repeats the prayer, 'Let the Lord, I beseech thee, go among us, for this is a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Thine inheritance.'²² Oh, what a glorious, but also blessed calling, to be like the man of God in this point too! Does it not strike you how, in pleading here for Israel, he does not speak of their sins, but of ours, and puts himself upon a level with those rebels.^ When we look at such a revelation of God's holiness and love, even the best and greatest feels his vileness, his unworthiness, his insignificance. If we, like Moses, have indeed beheld the glory of the Lord, we too shall feel that it is not a duty merely, but a deep requirement also of the heart, to walk clothed with the garments of humility. We pray, then, even as he, not merely for ourselves, but also (and do not hesitate to take it as a proof of the reality and strength of your life of faith) for those who still are unacquainted with the glory of the Lord as seen in Christ, because, alas! the god of this world has blinded their minds. We, then, commit the future unreservedly to Him who has reserved unto Himself the right to choose, but who requires of us that we should follow Him; and finally, we have but this desire, — to be most truly His, and so remain for evermore! But this desire, as we have seen, is not poured out in vain before the face of Him who is eternally the faithful One, even though we have anew proved faithless towards Him. The Covenant, broken by Israel, God, of His own free grace, once more establishes; the guidance which had been disdained by Israel, God mercifully promises now to renew. Why, then, are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith? Faith's pathway may become more steep, our times of blessed contemplation may for us remain as brief and interrupted as before: — how many joyless years was Moses forced to spend under the glimmering, though friendly light shed by this hour! But the Lord has twice proclaimed the selfsame thing: 'Merciful, gracious, long-suffering,' — such is His name and glory still! Even barren deserts and bare mountains, such as Sinai, He turns into scenes for the display of His eternal love; and ye who feel quite solitary, surely you must confess that such a solitude as this of Moses, far from the world, but near to God, is one that well may be endured. Here there remains for us, even as for him, the termination of all sight and knowledge, — faith; the life on earth stands in the same relation to the heavenly life as the Old Testament does to the New. It is a preparation, a foreshadowing, a prophecy of doubtful interpretation; nevertheless, praise be to God, we, even as Moses, have our mountain-heights to which we may ascend, that we may have a wider view; yea, even this very day we might climb one of these! Now, it is true, we must, like him, descend the mount and enter the dark vale; but what is it that we can need, if but we have the Lord with us, and our whole nature, like His shining face, gives evidence of our close, friendly intercourse with God? Even as He veiled that strange, mysterious lustre from the eyes of Israel, we too must often hide, from an unholy world, the blessed mystery of our own inner life; but when we go into the solitude, and there approach God's throne of grace, how priceless is this privilege, that we believers may, like Moses, cast off every covering, and then find our refreshing in His kindly light! 'We all, with open face, beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.' The blaze of light on Moses' face was destined soon to disappear; see that the change which you experience be one that ever makes increase. Your true life still is hid with Christ in God, and it has not yet been revealed what God's redeemed children shall be. But, as I need scarcely say, you know your Saviour's prayer, 'The glory which Thou gavest me, I have given them.' And already do I hear a voice, like that which came to Moses, nearer, clearer every day, 'Be ready against the morrow! '

'Arise,' my soul, 'and shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee! '

Amen.

1) Ps. xlii. 1.

2) Schubert.

3) Ps. cxliii. 6.

4) Ps. lxxxiv. 2,

5) I Cor. ii. 14.

6) Ex. xxiv, 9, 10,

7) Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7.

8) Isa. lxiv. 1.

9) John i. 14.

10) I Tim. iii. 16.

11) John xiv. 8.

12) Ex. xxxiii. 20.

13) John i. 18.

14) John viii. 46.

15) John xi. 40.

16) Col. iii. 11.

17) John iii. 16.

18) Gal. ii. 20.

19) I Sam. vii. 12.

20) Ps. lxxiii. 25.

21) Heb. x. 31.

22) Ex. xxxiv. 9.