early on the morrow, and offered burnt-offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play."

The hearer will be careful to keep in mind this account of the making of the calf; for we shall find that Aaron gave a very different representation to Moses afterwards, when he found that Moses' wrath was hot against him for this wickedness. The Lord informed Moses in the mount, of the idolatry of the people; and sent him down immediately. "And Moses said unto Aaron, what did this people unto thee, that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them? And Aaron said, let not the anger of my lord wax hot; thou knowest the people, that they are set on mischief. For they said unto me, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And I said unto them, whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off. So they gave it me: then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf." You perceive here, that Aaron gives no intimation that he had any hand in forming this image; but endeavours, with all craftiness, to exonerate himself from any blame. In the first place, he referred Moses to what he himself knew of the people; that they were set on mischief. This answered as an excuse for his complying with their demand. This is the way that priestcraft excuses itself in our day. If preachers are asked why they preach such absurdities, such nonsense, doctrines not taught in the scriptures, doctrines which are dishonourable to both God and man-they refer to the wickedness of the people; and say that nothing else will suit them or their circumstances. The real fact is,

they are afraid if they do not continue in the traditions in which they have been educated, they will be discontinued in their professional labours. Aaron, no doubt, was afraid of losing his office, if he did not please the people: he therefore made

it his study to do it. He furthermore said to Moses, "then I cast it into the fire, and there came out this calf." Here was an evident design to deceive Moses, and make him think that a miracle had been wrought to produce this image; for how could it happen that gold ear-rings cast into the fire, should come out in the shape of a calf, if some invisible power had not given it form? And surely if a miracle had produced this image, the people might be justified in paying it divine honours; and Aaron was by no means censurable for what an invisible power had effected.

By referring to history, we may be satisfied respecting the way in which this image of a calf became the idol of these Israelites. Diodorus Siculus mentions Remphis, a king of Egypt, about the time that Jacob went down there; and says of him, that he gathered an infinite mass of wealth; and left behind him at his death, four million talents; which makes it probable that he was the prince, which in the famine, by the advice of Joseph, got all the wealth of Egypt, and of the neighbouring countries into his hands. This person was afterwards worshipped as a god, for having saved his country in time of famine; and was accordingly placed among the stars. This star, it seems, was Saturn; for in an old Egyptian alphabet, Saturn is called Reephan. St. Stephen, in the 7th of Acts, assists us in this inquiry. He says, alluding to this image "And they made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice unto the idol; and rejoiced in the works of their own hands. Ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan; figures which ye made to worship them." Concerning this Prince of Egypt, there is a tradition in Suidas, (which the author whom I consult says is) very intelligible. This tradition says of Apis, the Egyptian god, that he was a certain rich man, to whom, at his death, they erected a temple; in which an ox was fed, as being the hieroglyphic of an husbandman. By which, it appears,

that this was the calf or bullock worshipped by the Israelites. Saturn being among the gentiles president of husbandry; and therefore, sometimes worshipped in the shape of that animal, under the name of Apis. There is reference to this ox in the 106th Psalm, as follows: "They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass.'

By these references to history, both sacred and profane, we are led to suppose, that this image was worshipped in Egypt for nearly four hundred years before the Israelites went out of that country. These Israelites had, no doubt, imbibed many superstitions which were incorporated into the Egyptian worship; and a veneration for this idol among the rest.

When, therefore, the people demanded of Aaron to make them gods to go before them, he well knew the form of the image which would best suit their superstition, and accordingly shaped the similitude of an ox.

Our text informs us, that "the Lord plagued the people because they made the calf which Aaron made." We are not to suppose that the divine ruler of the universe becomes inimical towards his creatures, because of their foolish idolatry; but it is the established law of nature, that consequences must follow their causes. If people worship a Deity, who is able to protect them, who is, of his own accord, willing to do all for them which they need, they have then no trouble, are at no expense to do for their Deity; but they have rest and confidence. But if they worship a god of their own imaginations, one formed according to superstition, they must stand in awe and fear of him, according to the attributes which they give him. They must do for him, for he cannot do for them. The true God takes care of, and provides for his people; but the people must take care of, and provide for a false god. In this way, all false

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worship, and all false doctrines and religions, tend to plague their votaries, and bring them into torment. In this way likewise, all manner of wickedness operates to the disadvantage of transgressors, naturally tending to render them unblessed and miserable.

We shall now proceed to apply the subject of our text to represent the false religion of our own times; and the craft of a priesthood by which the people are led into error. As the children of Israel were brought up and educated in Egypt, and as they had in their youth imbibed many superstitions, they were prepared to be imposed upon, even by their own inventions. So, my friends, it is with the people in our day; they are educated in their youth, according to many vain superstitions. These vanities in process of time, became incorporated into their religion, and are venerated as divine principles.

The clergy so contrive as to have the grossest errors and most unreasonable superstitions taught to children, and impressed on their tender minds. with all possible solemnity. What are called Sunday schools are particularly improved for such purposes. The child is informed, in the first place, that its nature is altogether bad, that it is an entirely depraved being; that its very nature is such as it is at enmity against God; and that it hates God: also that God is a being who possesses infinite indignation and wrath towards all such; and that he has prepared a burning lake of brimstone, into which they who are thus sinners, are exposed to fall every moment. The child is informed that it deserves to be sent to hell for ever; and that it is suspended over the burning lake by the brittle thread of life, and that the divine wrath, like an all-devouring flame, is extending itself to consume this thread, and to precipitate its victim into remediless woe.

The child, who is thus taught, surely would never have thought of these things, if it had not

been told him. It feels no hatred towards God until a god of a hateful character is erroneously held up to its mind. It would know nothing of this natural depravity, if its instructors had not imposed such an idea on it. Nothing in nature would ever have suggested to the child, that it deserved to go to hell for ever after death. Nothing in the economy of divine providence would ever have suggested to his mind, that the divine. ruler was possessed of an unmerciful vengeance and wrath towards him. All these are unnatural, unreasonable ideas; they are the work of erroneous imaginations, fostered by superstition and priestcraft.

Agreeably to this erroneous beginning, priestcraft goes on with its labours, and endeavours to establish a religion consisting of attributes of a similar description. And the religion, the duty, and the whole scheme of what passes for divinity with our schools of error, correspond as perfectly with those errors taught to children, as the Horeb calf did with the Apis of Egypt. The preachers of antichristian doctrines endeavour, to the utmost of their abilities, using all their learning, all their arts, and all the powers of eloquence, to operate on the fears of their hearers. From pulpits people are in the habit of hearing laboured representations of the torments of a future state, under the dispensation of the divine vengeance; and he is called the best preacher who can succeed in the most horrible representation of the divine character, and of the miseries of the future world. Such preaching, being assisted with other corresponding means, frequently produces what are called awakenings, excitements, revivals, and reformations. Some, one or two, are exercised with great distress of mind; fears of hell are worked up in their apprehensions, and they are said to be convicted of sin. Now is the time for Aaron the priest to exert his skill. He goes to these unhappy wretches, and putting on all the gloom of counte