demption of men's souls. But it may be observed that if any appeared to oppose God's work in those great temporal deliverances; or if there were any of his professing people, that on such occasions lay still, and stood at a distance, and did not arise and acknowledge God in his work, and appear to promote it; it was what in a remarkable manner incensed God's anger, and brought his curse upon such persons.

So when God wrought that great work of bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt (which was a type of God's delivering his church out of the spiritual Egypt, at the time of the fall of Antichrist, as as evident by Rev. xi. 8., and xv. 3.), how highly did God resent it, when the Amalekites appeared as opposers in that affair! And how dreadfully did he curse them for it! Exod. xvii. 14, 15, 16. "And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua'; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it JehovahNissi; for he said, because the Lord will have war with Amalek, from generation to generation." And accordingly we find that God remembered it a long time after, 1 Sam. xv. 3. And how highly did God resent it in the Moabites and Ammonites, that they did not lend a helping hand, and encourage and promote the affair! Deut. xxiii. 3, 4. An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord; even to their tenth generation, shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord forever; because they met you not with bread and with water, in the way when ye came forth out of Egypt." And how were the children of Reuben, and the children of Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, threatened, if they did not go and help their brethren in their wars against the Canaanites, Deut. xxxii. 20, 21, 22, 23., "And Moses said unto them, if ye will do this thing, if ye will go armed before the Lord to war, and will go all of you armed over Jordan, before the Lord, until he hath driven out his enemies from before him,

and the land be subdued before the Lord, then afterward ye shall return and be guiltless before the Lord, and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the Lord ; but if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out.”

That was a glorious work of God that he wrought for Israel, when he delivered them from the Canaanites, by the hand of Deborah and Barak: almost every thing about it showed a remarkable hand of God. It was a prophetess, one immediately inspired by God, that called the people to the battle, and conducted them in the whole affair. The people seem to have been miraculously animated and encouraged in the matter, when they willingly offered themselves, and gathered together to the battle; they jeoparded their lives in the high places of the field, without being pressed or hired; when one would have thought they should have but little courage for such an undertaking; for what could a number of poor, weak, defenseless slaves do, without a shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand of them, to go against a great prince, with his mighty host, and nine hundred chariots of iron. And the success did wonderfully show the hand of God; which makes Deborah exultingly to say, Judg. v. 21. "O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength!" Christ with his heavenly host was engaged in that battle; and therefore it is said, v. 20, "They fought from heaven, the stars in their courses fought against Sisera." The work of God, therefore, in this victory and deliverance that Christ and his host wrought for Israel, was a type of that victory and deliverance which he will accomplish for his church in that great battle, that last conflict that the church shall have with her open enemies, that shall introduce the church's latter day glory; as appears by Rev. xvi. 16, (speaking of that great battle)" And he gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon,” i. e. the mountain of Megiddo; alluding, as is supposed by expositors, to the place where the battle was fought with the host of Si

sera, Judg. v. 19. "The kings came and fought, the kings of Canaan, in Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo." Which can signify nothing else, than that this battle, which Christ and his church shall have with their enemies, is the antitype of the battle that was fought there. But what a dreadful curse from Christ, did some of God's professing people Israel, bring upon themselves, by lying still at that time, and not putting to a helping hand? Judg. v. 23. "Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the Lord, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty." The Angel of the Lord was the Captain of the host; he that had led Israel and fought for them in that battle, who is very often called the Angel of the Lord, in scripture; the same that appeared to Joshua with a sword drawn in his hand, and told him that he was come as the Captain of the host of the Lord; and the same glorious Captain that we have an account of, as leading forth his hosts to that battle, of which this was the type, Rev. xix. 11, &c. It seems the inhabitants of Meroz were unbelieving concerning this great work, nor would they hearken to Deborah's pretenses, nor did it enter into them that such a poor defenseless company should ever prevail against those that were so mighty; they did not acknowledge the hand of God, and therefore stood at a distance, and did nothing to promote the work: but what a bitter curse from God, did they bring upon themselves by it!

It is very probable that one great reason why the inhabitants of Meroz were so unbelieving concerning this work, was that they argued à priori; they did not like the beginning of it, it being a woman that first led the way, and had the chief conduct in the affair; nor could they believe that such despicable instruments, as a company of unarmed slaves, were ever like to effect so great a thing; and pride and unbelief wrought together, in not being willing to follow Deborah to the battle.

It was another glorious work of God that he wrought for Israel, in the victory that was obtained by Gideon over the Midianites and Amalekites, and the children of the east, when they came up against Israel like grasshoppers, a multitude that could not be numbered. This also was a remarkable type of the victory of Christ and his church over his enemies, by the pouring out of the Spirit with the preached gospel, as is evident by the manner of it, which Gideon was immediately directed to of God; which was not by human sword or bow, but only by blowing of trumpets, and by lights in earthen vessels. We read on this occasion, Gideon called the people together to help in this great affair ; and that accordingly, great numbers resorted to him, and came to the help of the Lord, Judg. vii. 23, 24. But there were some also at that time, that were unbelieving, and would not acknowledge the hand of God in that work, though it was so great and wonderful, nor would they join to promote it; and they were the inhabitants of Succoth and Penuel: Gideon desired their help, when he was pursuing after Zeba and Zalmuna; but they despised his pretenses, and his confidence of the Lord's being on his side, to deliver those two great princes into the hands of such a despicable company, as he and his three hundred men, and would not own the work of God, nor afford Gideon any assistance: God proceeded in this work in a way that was exceeding cross to their pride. And they also refused to own the work, because they argued à priori; they could not believe that God would do such great things by such a despicable instrument; one of such a poor mean family in Manasseh, and he the least in his father's house; and the company that was with him appeared very wretched, being but three hundred men, and they weak and faint but we see how they suffered for their folly, in not acknowledging, and appearing to promote this work of God. Gideon when he returned from the victory, took them, and taught them with the briers and thorns of the wilderness, and beat down the tower of Penuel,

(he brought down their pride, and their false confidence) and slew the men of the city, Judg. viii. This, in all probability, Gideon did, as moved and directed by the Angel of the Lord, that is, Christ, that first called him, and sent him forth in this battle, and instructed and directed him in the whole affair.

The return of the ark of God to dwell in Zion, in the midst of the land of Israel, after it had been long absent, first in the land of the Philistines, and then in Kirjath-jearim, in the utmost borders of the land, did livelily represent the return of God to a professing people, in the spiritual tokens of his presence, after long absence from them; as well as the ark's ascending up into a mountain typified Christ's ascension into heaven. It is evident by the psalms that were penned on that occasion, especially the sixty-eighth psalm, that the exceeding rejoicings of Israel, on that occasion, represented the joy of the church of Christ, on his returning to it, after it has been in a low and dark state, to revive his work, bringing his people back, as it were, from Bashan, and from the depth of the sea, scattering their spiritual enemies, and causing that though they had lien among the pots, yet they should be as the wings of a dove, covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold; and giving the blessed tokens of his presence in his house, that his people may see the goings of God their King in his sanctuary; and that the gifts which David, with such royal bounty, distributed amongst the people on that occasion, (2 Sam. vi. 18, 19, and 1 Chron. xvi. 2, 3.) represent spiritual blessings, that Christ liberally sends down on his church, by the outpourings of his Spirit. See Psalm lxviii. 1, 8, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24. And we have an account how that all the people, from Shihor, of Egypt, even unto the entering in of Hemath, gathered together, and appeared to join and assist in that great affair; and that all Israel "brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets,