way by which none ever went before. Christ also went before us in the road of sufferings, leaving us an example, that we should follow his steps, 1 Pet. ii. 21. 4. Moses with the rod, with which he divided the waters, that the Israelites might pass through, got the waters to return and drown the Egyptians. The same cross of Christ, which unto them which are called is the power of God, is unto the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, 1 Cor. i. 23, 24. to these the savour of death unto death; but to those the savour of life unto life, 2 Cor. ii. 19. XVII. The WATERS of the Red sea signify afflictions, and even death itself; so likewise do the waters of baptism, the fellowship in the sufferings, death, and burial of Christ, Rom. vi. 3, 4. But as the Israelites marched to their deliverance through the midst of the waters, as through the midst of death; so, in like manner, the sufferings which we undergo for Christ, work for us a far more exceeding weight of glory, 2 Cor. iv. 17. and death itself is the passage to eternal life, John v. 24. The waters which saved Israel, destroyed the Egyptians. The death of our body, which presents our souls pure before God, as a flock of sheep newly shorn, which come up from the washing, Cant. iv. 2. entirely destroys in us all the remains of the devil and of sin, insomuch that our eyes shall never more behold those enemies, to whose troublesome and malicious assaults we have been exposed even to the very last. XVIII. That strong EAST WIND, which by its violence drove the waters before it, for the benefit of the Israelites, was an emblem of the Spirit of Christ, John iii. 8. of Christ, I say, who is the dawning, day-spring *The word ANATOLE, which our translators render day spring, is the same which the Septuagint use, Jer. xxiii. 5. Zech. iii. 8. and vi. 8. where the Messiah is spoken of under the name of the branch, from on high, Luke i. 78. and applies to us, by the efficacy of his Spirit, the virtue of his merits, by removing all hindrances, nay directing them to the salvation of his people: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts, Zech. iv. 6. By the same Spirit of his mouth he will hereafter consume that wicked one, who opposes his kingdom, 2 Thess. ii. 8. XIX. The Israelites, when just come out of Egypt, are a figure of believers, who, having no sooner renounced the devil, and by the power of Christ recovered their liberty, are immediately exposed to the persecution of Satan and the world, who endeavour to bring them back again to bondage. And though they have now happily surmounted the first danger, yet they have still a wide sea to cross, lofty tops of mountains to pass over, and in fine, an unpassable wilderness to go through, before they obtain that full salvation, which is the mark they aim at and desire. When every thing seemed to be given up for lost, and no way of escape appeared, then God came to Israel's help, and opened a way through the midst of the sea. So, in an especial manner, he comes by his grace to the relief of his church, when she is destitute of all human assistance, and nothing but the most certain destruction seems to hang over her, Is. xliii. 2. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. This deliverance happened to Israel, when they did nothing at all towards it, Exod. xiv. 14. Jehovah shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace; but only believed, and beheld the mighty hand of God, Heb. xi. 29. By faith they passed through the Red sea. 'Tis thus also, that God works out eternal salvation for us; for us, I say, not working, but believing in him that justifieth the ungodly, Rom. iv. 5. The Israelites, after their passage through the sea, and the destruction of their enemies, sung a joyful song of triumph to the praise of God their Deliverer; thus also John, Rev. xv. 2, 3. saw the saints, who, having got over the sea of glass, which was mixed with fire, of Moses the servant of God, and the sung the Red sea. And thus far of the passage through XX. We are next to speak of the MANNA, where we are to consider, 1. The name. 2. The thing itself. 3. Its origin. 4. Its adjuncts. 5. The duties of the Israelites concerning it. 6. Their sin. 7. The 7. The mys tery of it. XXI. The surprise of the Israelites gave rise to the name. When they first saw it, they said to one another, Exod. xvi. 15. MAN HU, it is manna; for they wist not, MA HU, what it was, and ver. 31. And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna. We can on no account assent to those, who render MAN HU, what is this? For MAN, never signifies in Hebrew what, and here it is very expressly distinguished from MAH nay, it is not very common in Chaldee taken in that sense, as they usually say MAN, of a person, not of a thing. I will not however conceal it, that they speak with greater freedom than they ought, who absolutely deny, that MAN in Chaldee is applied to a thing. Drusius ad Joh. vi. 31. hath given some examples to the contrary. But the Israelites spoke then in Hebrew, not in Chaldee. I know not, whether they are in the right, who affirm, that MAN is an Egyptian word, and is equivalent to an interrogative pronoun; but though they are, yet it does not seem probable, that the Israelites would express a thing so sacred by a term borrowed from a nation so odious, not only in that first surprise, but also ever after. And then, it is altogether trifling to say, that the food which God gave to the Is raelites, was always called what; only because, when at first they did not know it, they asked, what is this? XXII. It is much more agreeable to derive the word from MINNAH, he prepared, appointed, determined : and hence the name manna, portion, even of the food, allotted for any person, 1 Sam. i. 4, 5. Neh. viii. 10, 12. and generally elsewhere. But from manna 'tis easy to form man by an *Apocope, especially in the excla→ mation of persons under a surprise, and when he is the next letter that begins the following word. And this is the more probable, as such an Apocope is often to be met with in the word manna: once in the imperative, CHASED VEEMETH MAN, Prepare (or appoint) mercy and truth, Psal. Ixi. 7. and again in the † pretcritė, Jon. i. 17. VAMAN, And Jehovah prepared a great fish; and what comes nearest to the point in hand is, when an allotment of food is spoken of as in Dan. i. 5. VAMAN, And the king appointed them a daily provision. As therefore both the form of the term agrees to it, and the signification is very suitable; what remains but that we say, with the most learned of the Jews, that man signifies the food appointed, prepared for, and given to Israel as their portion? Such a name became this miraculous food. And what is added is no objection, namely, that the Israelites knew not what it was. For, in general, they knew from the prediction of Moses, that they were to be satisfied with bread, ver. 12. from which they conjectured, that what they saw, was the portion which was intended for them from heaven; and this they expressed by the name, man. But they did not distinctly know, what it would be, nor had they * A figure which takes away the last syllable or letter of a word. The author's words are indeed, iterumque in futuro, and in the future; but I imagine, there is a mistake, as the words quoted are rendered in the preterite tense. any peculiar name by which to express it. To this the author of the book of Wisdom seems to have alluded, when, chap. xvi. 20. he calls manna bread prepared from heaven. And therefore this name has so far vailed, that it has remained unvaried in all languages, and is even given also to things which have any similitude with that food of the Israelites. pre XXIII. As to the thing itself, naturalists well know, there are three things reckoned among watery meteors; namely, dew, honey, and manna. But the learned are not agreed about the original of manna. Christophorus Vega apud Jonstonum de admirandis meteororum, c. 10. is of opinion, that the manna of the shops is the work of certain small bees, like thick-bodied gnats, from which, as they sit in clusters on trees, something flows down in drops, like a kind of sweat. Vossius, Physiolog. Christane lib. v. c. 21. says, it is the sap of the larch-tree, or of the ash, and that Matthias Lobelius was the very first who said so. The more common opinion is, that it is a kind of aerial honey sprinkled with dew, which, in the summer-months, during the scorching heat of the sun in the day-time, runs together by the nocturnal cold into clusters, and is rounded into grains, from the flowing down of the dewy humor, and from the moisture of the air; and generally settles on trees, herbs, and stones; as Lemnius de herbis Biblicis, c. 3. describes it. But it has a kind of medicinal virtue, by which it loosens, and gently purges. XXIV. Now the question is, whether the manna of the Israelites was of the same species and nature with the common? It is sufficiently agreed on, that some miraculous circumstances attended the manna of the Hebrews; but there is no solid reason to conclude from this, that the thing itself was altogether new, and was |