name of their great Deity, the Sun, whom they regarded as the source of light and life, and whom they called YAKHVEH, 'He Lives' or (as some explain it) He gives-life,' just as the name of Israel's God was YAHVEH, HE IS,' or (as some explain it) 'He gives-being.' The two names, you will see, differ only in sound by an aspiration in the middle; and accordingly, as I have mentioned, Greek writers represent them both by the very same Greek

letters.

In this way, as it seems to me, we may best account for the fact that this ancient writer dates the first acquaintance of the Hebrews with this name from the time of the Exodus. They really, as I suppose, came first into contact with it, when they entered the land of Canaan immediately after the Exodus. At first, most probably, their notions of the Deity were rude and unworthy. We learn distinctly from the Book of Judges that they forsook JEHOVAH, or else defiled the worship of JEHOVAH with all manner of idolatrous practices,-that again and again they

'followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and served them,'that Gideon's father had an altar of the BAAL, that is, 'Lord,' of the tribes of Canaan,-in other words, the Sun, -and Jephthah 'offered up his only daughter as a burntsacrifice unto JEHOVAH. But, by degrees, more just ideas of the true character of the Divine Being, and of that worship which he requires of us, 'in spirit and in truth,' began to prevail in Israel,-not indeed among the people generally, but among the higher, nobler minds among them, such as Samuel and David, and the great prophets of that and of later ages. The common people still,-nay, most of the kings, priests, and prophets,-down even to the time of the Captivity, seem to have practised habitually the grossest idolatry, and to have introduced the vilest abominations into the very worship of JEHOVAH. As I have shown you more fully on a former occasion, by quotations from the prophet Jeremiah, it is certain that human sacrifices were offered habitually in Israel,-that, as Jeremiah tells us,

'they had built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire';

and the frequent repetition of the formula,—

'which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart'— seems to imply that they professed to have a Divine command for these practices,-that they sacrificed their children in the name of JEHOVAH. And so the prophet speaks elsewhere of the Temple itself—

"They have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents'; and so says Ezekiel, xxiii.39,

'When they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into my Sanctuary to profane it, and lo, thus have they done in the midst of my House.'

It would seem, therefore, that after sacrificing their children in the valley of Hinnom, outside the walls of Jerusalem, they went up at once into the Temple, to join in the worship of JEHOVAH, reeking, as it were, with the blood of these innocents.' And many other passages very plainly show that the grossest impurities also were practised, as sacred rites, in the Temple itself, or at least within its precincts,—that foul obscene images were there set up, and vices indulged which cannot be named, D.xxiii.18,1K.xiv. 24,xv.12,2K.xxiii.7, such as Jeremiah indicates by saying,

vii.30,

"They have set their abominations in the House which is called by my name to pollute it.'

Still, all along,-from the time of Moses downwards, as many think,—at all events from the time of Samuel,— there were raised up in Israel men of higher mind and purer principles, taught by God's Spirit, enlightened by Divine Light, who strove to correct these enormous evils, and struggled manfully in God's Strength against them. The Elohistic story, as I believe, was one of the first results of the attempt, on the part of these Divinely-taught men, to improve the religious condition of the people; and the later additions were made in different ages by fellowworkers in the same great work. Thus we have before us in the text the thoughts of a brother-man of those days, or one who lived, perhaps, three thousand years ago, and who was taught and enlightened by the same Divine Spirit, who is teaching now the hearts, and enlightening the eyes, of the children of men. Without receiving his words as an actual statement of historical fact, we can yet draw from them important lessons for our comfort and guidance. We see, first, as I have just observed, that in that

primeval age, as well as now, the Divine Being was revealing Himself to men's hearts,-the Living Word was the Life and Light of men, in those days, as He is now. Mere statements of historical facts by these ancient writers would not convince us of this: while, on the other hand, their numerous inaccuracies in respect of matters of Science and History do not at all interfere with this conviction. If they had been so inspired, as to be supernaturally informed of things which had happened ages before they were born, and supernaturally protected from all possible error in what they wrote, that would be miraculous, indeed, something for us to wonder at, something to excite our astonishment. But it would not satisfy us that the Great Creator of the Universe, the Moral Governor of all intelligent beings, had been revealing Himself to his creature man, had been dealing with his child on earth with Fatherly concern and love, had been enabling him. to understand more and more of His moral perfections. It is because we find in these ancient writings, not merely matters of Science and History, but Moral and Religious Truth-Divine, Eternal Truth-set forth to us, that we recognize the teaching of the Spirit of God. If besides these Divine Lessons, which come home to our hearts at once, bringing messages from God to the soul, it had pleased God to convey to us by the hands of these our fellow-men, infallibly accurate accounts of the Creation and the Deluge, of the lives of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of the Exodus from Egypt and the March through the Wilderness, this would certainly have been very wonderful: we should have humbly and devoutly received these communications, and concluded that they were necessary for our life and happiness in this world and the next, and were therefore made a part of the Divine Revelation. But since, by using the powers of reason which God has given us, we find that these historical accounts, these scientific statements, are by no means accurate,—that they are not infallibly true, that, on the contrary, they are demonstrably in very many respects contradicted by the facts of Science, at variance with each other, unhistorical, impossible, we conclude that such miraculous communications as these were not necessary to be revealed, for our happiness here or our welfare hereafter,-that God has meant to

leave these things to be searched out by the labours of men, by the exercise of those powers with which He has gifted them, that the Divine Revelations, contained in the Scriptures-'the things which the Holy Ghost teacheth' -have nothing to do with such matters as these,-that in the words of Bishop Thirlwall-—

The numbers, migrations, wars, battles, conquests, and reverses, of Israel, have nothing in common with the teaching of Christ, with the way of salvation, with the fruits of the Spirit.

I repeat, then, 'in the Moral and Religious Truth contained in the Bible, and in that alone,' as Dean Milman says, we recognize the Word of God.' But then, in recognizing this, we have the comfort of knowing that it is our Father's Voice that we hear in the Bible,—our Father's Voice which taught our fellow-men of former days, and through them is now teaching us. It is a comfort also to feel that we have this sign of the Existence—the Living Presence of a Moral Governor of the Universe, in the likeness of whom we have all been made,-that all along He has been breathing by His Spirit on the hearts of men, inspiring holy thoughts, kindling divine desires, awakening eternal hopes and fears. It is a comfort thus to realize that we are all brethren of one great Family,-that, whether physically sprung from one pair of ancestors or more, we are all spiritually children of God, having the sign of our divine parentage in that seed of spiritual life, which the Spirit of God has quickened within us. It is a comfort to know that even in the ages long ago this truth was realized, that our Father is JEHOVAH, the Living God, -who was and is and is to be,' 'the same yesterday, today, and for ever,'-who, whether known to them or not by that name, had been of old the God of their fathers,' as He was then their God, and who would be their children's, who sends in all ages His prophets unto men, and ministers to all, as He sees good, the Word of Eternal Life.

'This is His Name for ever, and this is His Memorial unto all generations.'

VI.

'JEHOVAH THE LIVING GOD'-(continued).

PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST PETER'S, MARITZBURG, ON SUNDAY EVENING, MARCH 18, 1866.

EXODUS III. 15.

AND GOD SAID MOREOVER UNTO MOSES, THUS SHALT THOU SAY UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF YOUR FATHERS, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB, HATH SENT ME UNTO YOU THIS IS MY NAME FOR EVER, AND THIS IS MY MEMORIAL UNTO ALL GENERATIONS.'

THESE words, as I explained more fully this morning, are put into the mouth of the Almighty by one of the ancient writers of the Pentateuch, as part of the solemn address to Moses out of the Burning Bush. I drew attention to the fact, that by restoring the true translation of the passage, JEHOVAH, the God of your fathers,' instead of 'the LORD God of your fathers,' as it stands in the English Version, the real meaning of the original is brought out into the light more distinctly, whereas it is otherwise quite obscured. JEHOVAH, the Self-Existing Being '—for that is the interpretation of the name-JEHOVAH, the Living God '-He had been the 'God of their fathers,' and He will now be their God, as He will be their children's the same faithful and gracious Being-‘the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever."

6

This whole section about the Burning Bush' is, as I observed, a later addition to the original story of the Pentateuch; as is indicated by the fact that in this verse, and in other verses of the section, the name 'JEHOVAH' is used, though it is not expressed at all in the English Version, but is represented by the word LORD, in capital letters,which name the oldest writer of the Pentateuch never employs in his narrative, until he has announced in the sixth