and give thy rewards to another—­I desire none of them for myself or mine—­If Israel die in the wilderness, let me die with them”—­From angry Jonah such a reply to the kind offers of a gracious God might not surprize us; but it was not to have been expected from the meekest of mankind.  DOCT.  HUNTER, in his biographical lectures, explodes this idea of Moses’ asking to be damned for the salvation of Israel, and shews the absurdity of that construction of the text, but understands him as praying to die himself, before sentence should be executed on his people, if they were not pardoned.  And in the declaration, whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book, he discovers an intimation, that that offending people should die short of the promised land!  A discovery without a clew.  This sin of Israel was pardoned.  Sentence of death in the wilderness was occasioned by a subsequent act of rebellion, as will be shewn in the sequel.*

* Vid.  Hunter’s Lect.  Vol. iv.  Lect. iv

Mr. Fismin considers Moses as here praying to be blotted out of the page of history, if Israel were not pardoned; so that no record of his name, or the part which he had acted in the station assigned him, should he handed down to posterity.  An exposition differing from the plain language of sacred history—­Blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book, which thou hast written.  The page of history is written by man.

Such are the constructions which have been put on this scripture.  The considerations which have been suggested, oblige us to reject them all, as founded in mistake.  Our sense of the passage, and the reasons, which in our apprehension, support it, will be the subject of another discourse.

* * * * * *

SERMON VIII.

Moses’ Prayer to be blotted out of God’s Book.

Exodus xxxii. 31, 32.

“And Moses returned unto the Lord and said.  Oh! this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.  Yet now, if thou—­wilt, forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray they, out of thy book which than hast written.”

In the preceding discourse we endeavored to show that the idea of being willing to be damned for the glory of God is not found in the text—­that the sentiment is erroneous and absurd—­then adduced the constructions which have been put on the text by sundry expositors, and offered reasons which oblige us to reject them as misconstructions.

It remains, to give our sense of the passage—­the grounds on which it rests—­and some reflections by way of improvement.

As to our sense of the passage—­We conceive these puzzling words of Moses to be no other than a prayer for himself—­that his sins which might stand charged against him in the book of God, might be blotted out, however God might deal with Israel.  “SINS are compared to debts, which are written in the creditor’s book, and crossed, or blotted out, when paid.* Man’s sins are written in the book of God’s remembrance, or accounts; out of which all men shall be judged hereafter.+ And when sin is pardoned it is laid to be blotted out.++ And not to be found any more, though sought for.” +++