manifestation, does, nevertheless, express many noble and worthy sentiments.

130. The appeals of Moses to the people, all through the wilderness, and in the plains of the Jordan, urging them to obedience, are such as imply in the people, a sense of justice, benevolence, patriotism, and indeed all the natural qualities essential to a perfect character.

And even the surrounding nations were not wholly void of goodness. Many of their customs were such as we could not now approve, or look upon with any allowance, still there are mixed up with them many excellent and noble qualities. There was the same generous hospitality in Midian that we found among the patriarchs in the land of Canaan. And though the Hebrews were denied a passage through the land of Edom and of Moab, we must not ascribe this denial to an unwillingness to be hospitable and generous, but rather to the better motive of domestic concord and self-preservation. These nations looked to their own safety; and they were not required to expose great national interests to the exercise of a hospitality that might be attended with serious public calamities.

131. In harmony with this idea is the universal prevalence of religious worship among the nations of the earth. It shows a sentiment in the human soul that has the sanction and the impress of the Deity. It is capable of great abuses-it has been greatly abused but in itself it is divine.

These views are farther sustained by the language of Moses respecting the Canaanites. He tells the Hebrews that when they shall come into Canaan, if they shall live up to the commands of God, and observe all his statutes and requirements, they will command the admiration of the surrounding nations. These nations are represented as saying, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' Deut. iv. 6. The laws of the Hebrews, and their religious institutions, were not such as the nations of the earth could have found out themselves; but they were such as all men

could approve, when once made known and established. The fact is a full and sufficient vindication of human nature from the charge of inherent depravity. Man is a compound being. He has strong earthly passions that belong to his physical organism; and his soul has not always been strong enough to resist their demands when directed to evil. But the soul, though weak, is itself pure. It has all the attributes of Deity in a limited degree. It was made in the divine image. And it is destined yet to arise above all impediments and advance to the high position for which it was designed at the morning of creation.

CHAPTER V.

GEOGRAPHY.

CONTENTS.-Localities in Egypt; From Succoth to Sinai; From Sınai to Kadesh; From Kadesh to the Jordan; Places in Moab; Promiscuous References.

132. The geography of Egypt and the Wilderness, will be most intelligible, perhaps, if we observe the order indicated by the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan. We will take the journey, as laid down in the record, and notice places as they occur, and describe their relative location, according to the best light we have. By this process we hope to give the reader as clear an idea as possible of the localities alluded to in this part of the Bible.

SECTION I.-LOCALITIES IN EGYPT.

EXODUS, CHAP. XII.

37. T And the children of Israel

NUMBERS, CHAP. XXXIII.

5. And the children of Israel re

journeyed from Rameses to Suc-moved from Rameses, and pitched coth, about six hundred thousand in Succoth.

on foot that were men, besides chil

dren.

133. It appears from a passage in Genesis, that Ra

66

meses was the same as Goshen, which was that part of Egypt occupied by the children of Israel. Where this was, is sufficiently indicated by the circumstances attending the settlement of the Israelites there, when they first came to that country, in the time of Joseph. It was that part of Egypt that lay nearest to Canaan, that is, the north-east part, extending from the Nile on the west to Arabia on the east. The name Succoth means booths; and it is not an unreasonable supposition that the name was given to the place on account of a temporary stay there, while the people were brought together from all parts of the country, during which time they may have constructed temporary booths for their accommodation. It probably lay on the confines of the country; and when it is said that they journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, the meaning may be, that they journeyed from all parts of Rameses or Canaan to Succoth. There is another view, however, that is, perhaps, more probably correct. There was a city Rameses (or Ramses which is only a different spelling, the Hebrew being the same in both cases,) which was one of the treasure cities of Egypt. Pithom was another. If we suppose that the first of these lay on the confines of Egypt west, the meaning may be, that the Israelites came to Succoth from Ramses, or the extremity of the country in that direction, to Succoth on the borders, in the other direction. That Ramses lay in that direction may be inferred from a fact derived from the hieroglyphics. It is there associated with Migdol as one of Pharaoh's treasure cities; and as the latter lay on the east border of the country, as we shall soon see, the other, it is reasonable to presume, lay in the opposite direction, as the object of these cities was not so much to contain the treasures of the king, as the defences of the country, and would most naturally be placed on the borders of the land in different directions.

134. All we learn here concerning Etham, the first place on this list, is, that it was in the edge of the wilderness. It was plainly farther along than Succoth and it appears to be in the same general direction, which, we may presume was on the most direct route toward Canaan, for we are not aware that the people had yet been informed that their route was not to be direct to that country. The distance of Etham to Succoth is not given, nor the time occupied in going thither. From Etham the people "turned" from the course they were pursuing-evidently they turned south, and passed a little distance down the Red Sea on the side toward Egypt.

135. From Etham they were to go and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon. The name Pi-hahiroth may here be the name of a place, or it may mean the "mouth of the gullet," as it literally signifies; or it may be the name of a place derived from its location at the "mouth of the gullet," that is, a narrow passage to the sea between two mountains, which was so denominated. So Migdol means a tower, and might have been so ren