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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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seems to fall ftom the clouds ; whose name they have never once heard ; who already , for long- centuries , has been an unconcerned spectator of the ill treatment they have been compelled to endure from their oppressors ? Will they not rather esteem as more
mighty the god of their more fortunate foe ? This was the next thought that must have arisen in the soul of the new prophet . But how does he now remove this difficulty ? He makes his Jao the god of their fathers , incorporates him with their old traditions ,
and metamorphoses him into a native , ancient and well-known deity . But in order to prove that he means by this the real and only God , to guard by anticipation against confusion with any creature of superstition , to leave room for no possible
misunderstanding , he gives the sacred name which in fact appears in the mysteries , " I am that I am" " Thus shalt thou say to the people of Israel , ( are the words which Moses puts into the mouth of God , ) / am hath sent me unto you . "
la the mysteries , God really bore this name—one , however , utterly unintelligible to the stupid Hebrew people . They could by possibility attach no meaning to it , and Moses might have been much more successful with
another denomination ; but he would rather face this evil than give up a thought on which all was set , and this was to make the Israelites really acquainted with the God who was taught in the mysteries of Isis , A 3 it is
tolerably clear that the Egyptian mysteries had flourished long before Jehovah appeared to Moses in the thorn-bush , so it is truly remarkable that he should give himself the very name he had -hitherto borne in the mysteries of Isis .
But ; it was not yet enough that Jehovah should announce himself as a familiar God , as the God of their fathers j he must prove himself a mighty Being if he is to inspire courage in slaves : and this was so much the more
necessary as their lot in Egypt could give them no high opinion of their Protector . As he would lead them on only by means of a third , he must confer power on the individual , and enable him , by extraordinary proceedings , to vindicate both his own mission and the might and majesty of him by wliom he was sent .
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If Moses would accredit his mission , it must fae supported by wonders . That hfc in fact worked these wonders , there is perhaps no doubt . How he achieved them , and how , above all , they are to be understood , is left to the consideration of each individual .
Finally , the allegory in which Moses relates las mission has all the necessary conditions for obtaining credit from the Hebrews , and this was all that was required—with us it is no longer needful that it should have this effect . We now know , for instance , that it must be indifferent to the
Creator of the world ( should he ever reveal himself ) whether he appear in the fire or in the wind , or whether his worshipers be bare-footed or not barefooted . Moses , however , makes Jeliovah command that " the shoes
should be put from off the feet , " for he knew right well that he must aid the Hebrew ideas of divine sanctity by sensible signs , and a similar one he had borrowed from the initiatory
cerem . In like manner , doubtless , he thought that his slow speech would be prejudicial to him ; he therefore anticipated this untoward occurrence , and ,
alleging in his narrative the objections he had to fear , leaves to Jehovah himself the task of refuting them . He undertakes the mission only after long opposition ; the more weight then must be attached to the divine command
which rendered it compulsory . Above all , he paints in his story , in the most detailed and precise manner , those particulars which to the Israelites , as to us , must be the most difficult to believe , and there is no doubt that he had good grounds for so doing .
What then , on a brief review of the preceding facts , was the peculiar plan laid down by Moses in the Arabian desert ? He wished to conduct the Israelitish nation out of Egypt , and to assist them in the acquisition of independence and of a political constitution in
a country of their own . But because he well knew the obstacles to this enterprise ; because he knew that it was impossible to reckon on the power of this people until they were inspired with self-confidence , zeal , hope and animation ; because he foresaw that Iris eloquence would avail nothing with the abject slavish soul of the Hebrews ,
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The Mosaic Mission . 203
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1825, page 203, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2535/page/11/
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