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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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jjtfiicb of hunger and thirst , the vio leBce of popular passions , the sadden faicies ana fears , jealousies and suspicion ^ to which their situation would jgpder them subject , or the notions aol prejudices , strange perhaps to us , ^ hi ch the y brought with them from PVvnt . Whatever strong emotions
of awe and terror , or of admiration and grateful reverence , might be impressed on tlieir rude minds , by such miracles : yet from the moment the event was passed , the impression would become gradually weaker , their passions revive , and their habitual propensities regain their strength . Miracles themselves by continuance
or frequent repetition would become familiar ; and like the wonderful phenomena of nature , which appear daily , lose all striking power and « ffeet upon the temper and passions of men . We mav fafely assert , that the
narration is Dot less but more natural and credible , by discovering such an intermixture of human passions and frailties , and of Hebrew prejudices , along with the superior and prevailing influence of the miracles , by which they were delivered , preserved , and
conducted through . so various difticulties and dangers ; and created or formed into a new body of people , under a new government and religion . Their discontents and murmurs began
usually among the mixed multitude , who were probably Egyptians , who tad the least veneration for Moses , tod were the most stupid and ungovernable . Among many instances of fte most entire submission to his
authority , there are but two in which 4 e general body of the people dared to dispute it . The first happened at the return of the twelve spies from the countries which they were then Preparing for the first time to invade , ^ of whom brought them such discouraging accounts of the barrenness
° » the land , the number , stature , and valour of its inhabitants , and the toght of their fortifications , as threw jtem immediately into a fit of convernation and despair ,, notwithstand-$ ic most
- •« encouraging assurances *> « ie contrary given them by Caleb « W Joshua , the other two spies * In " * height of their passion they ex-F * * against Most * and Aavon , for ^ "HPng them into such a dreary ^ try and desperate condition ; jnl «* of the plentiful and delightful
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land promised to them . They said Egypt was the land flowing with milk and hmtey 9 compared to their present situation j and that it was better to have died there , or to return thither , though into their former slavery , than
to perish by famine , or die by the sword , in attacking a warlike and unconquerable people . But when Moses reproached them in the name of the Lord , for their servile and impious cowardice , their want of confidence in him , and of faith in their
God , they fell as suddenly into the opposite extreme . They determined , with a rash and presumptuous courage to make an attack the very n&rt day , against his advice and without his presence ,, and consequently were
shamefully defeated . He saw clearly into their weakness of spirit and precipitance of temper , and found himself reduced to a necessity of deferring all military enterprises till the next generation should rise to the use of
arms , with a superior capacity and courage for engaging in war * In the second instance , the disaffection and sedition took rise among a considerable number of the princes or chiefs , together with a party of Levites , who were envious of Moses and . his brother Aaron y and aspire *!
to a share with them in the supreme foveru ment and direction of affairs , iyil ai ^ d religious . They gained the unstable multitude to their side by such popular and flattering pretences as these : That they were all the ford ' s people , and therefore had all a right to be consulted in public affairs , but that Moses and his brother
arrogated so much to themselves as to exclude even them , the chiefs and Levites , from ajl direction and management , and scorned to admit any of them into their councils ! By such language , diffused among the people ,
they were seized and inflamed on a sudden with a spirit of revolt ; and though they might be informed , in the close of the evening , or in the night , that the earth had opened itself and swallowed the seditious
Levites , and that the fire from heaven had consumed the chiefs ; rather than give any credit to such unheard of , and new invented facts , or wait in their passion to , examine tjie truth of them , they fell intq a violent suspicion , that Moses and Aaron had caused those men to be massacred , and
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niutftation voncerHiiig the Power and Authority by which Moses acted . 275
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 275, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/11/
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