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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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had propagated such stories to disguise the bloody transaction . This seems a very probable account , from their language the . next morning " , when tliey assembled in arms , appeared before Moses and Aaron , and exclaimed to them , Ye have killed the
Lords ' people . For this expression denotes not the least awe or thought of them being destroyed by a divine judgment , but a strong resentment of a supposed act of tyranny and vengeance . They seem not conscious of any impiety in those proceedings ,
but to have confounded liberty with power ; and enjoying the protection of government with having a share in that government . A-ruinous mistake j—yet not uncommon in free nations , where a few artful and ambitious leaders know how to work upon
the ignorance , and kindle the jealousies and passions of the people : this violent sedition was soon quelled by the plague breaking out , after which Moses met with no opposition though the people continued to enjoy as perfect liberty as good government can admit .
5 . " That the deliverance of the Hebrews from Egypt , their tedious migration into another country , through many hardships and dangers , their final conquest of it , and settlement in it 5 under the conduct and command of one or two able leaders is not an
enterprise wholly unparalleled in later history : at least , migrations of people in vast numbers ' , from one country to another , far distant , similar in - many respects to that of the Hebrews have happened , in none of which any miraculous power or
assistance was ever believed or pretended , and the intervention of any superior being ought never to be allowed , as worthy of the least credit , when human skill and power may be adequate to the main design and effect . Nee Ueus intersit nisi dignus vindice nodus incideritS *
But what will the objector say to the many material circumstances in which the Hebrew migration totally differs from all others ? Those related in profane history are aft of a free ,
armed and warlike people , issuing from barren or uncultivated regions under the command of some experienced general , to invade a rich and cultivated country , and to attack a people weak and defenceless , or not
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in a condition to repel the invacW That of the Hebrews was in an «| respects the reverse . They we * weak and timid people , held in sla * very by a powerful monarch , desti tuteofartns and military command inhabiting a cultivated and plentiful country ; yet they all at once relin quish their habitations , tran ^ r *
themselves , families and effects out of the kingdom , by a most difficult and dangerous passage , and pursue their course where they must immediately be reduced to the dreadful
dilemma , either of attacking warlike nations and fortified cities , or of wandering with extreme fatigue through desarts , with almost continual hazard of perishing by hunger or thirst . In their state of slavery they might indeed be disposed to catch with
eagerness at any prospect or hope of a deliverance ; but what hope could they conceive from the utmost efforts of a person destitute of all visible power and means to accomplish the design ? How could they be persuaded to place so unbounded a confidence in Moses as to- trust wholly
to him both for present deliverance and for future safety and support > With what treasures could he hribe the court of Egypt to connive attheir departure ? or what force could he use at the head of an unarmed ,
dispirited multitude of slaves ? or , by what power of persuasion or authority of command did he inspire the passive Hebrews with such active resolution and vigour ? or , which is more and greater , held them in an almost uninterrupted submission and obedience , for such a length of time , though their
sufferings extorted from them , as was natural , some exclamations and tyisnes that they had died in Egypt ? Or , by what means could he deter them from those alluring modes and customs of superstition to which they were fondly addirrprL rnnvprt them to a religio "
to which they were disaffected * and impose upon them a multip licity or duties and services , many of vrmcu were both strange and burdensome or , how could he . secure or restore their veneration and deference , wjie n he moik strenuously opposed tlieir favourite prejudices and passions j as 1
for instance , when he seizea » M \» V . en calf which they had set up i » absence and worshiped as their £ g } r tian idol , ground it to powder *
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276 Dissertation concerning the Power and Authority by which Moses cctei
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), May 2, 1815, page 276, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1760/page/12/
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