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The pledge was redeemed; Moses passed through all the 
danger and difficulty of his intercourse with Pharaoh, not 
only without harm, but with such improvement in courage, 
knowledge, and political conduct as fitted him to lead the 
children of Israel to freedom and independence. 
But the personal revelation to Moses was only the prelude 
to such public and general manifestations of divine power, 
as proved that the Sender of Moses was none other than the 
Creator and Upholder of all things. Only he who possesses, 
and can use as he pleases, the matter, the force, and the life 
of the universe,-could have inflicted the plagues on the 
Egyptian king and nation. That they really occurred as 
recorded is evident from the deliverance of Israel from 
Egyptian bondage, and from the profound place this wonderful 
deliverance occupied in the sacred and national literature of 
Israel. But these displays of the divine presence and 
authority were but the beginning of that wonderful and 
diverse fatherly goodness of God to Israel, which was intended 
as a pattern and a pledge to the whole world of like fatherly 
care and love. See their immediate direction by the pillar 
of cloud and of fire, so that they stirred not but as the Lord 
led them; their daily food not failing, but neither sown, 
reaped, ground, nor kneaded by themselves ; and, finally, at 
the time declared, their entrance on and possession of 
Canaan. These were all palpable facts, which it was im- 
possible surreptitiously to foist. The memorials of them were 
preserved in the Feast of the Passover, of Tabernacles, and in 
the rod of Aaron and the pot of manna, which were preserved 
in the Tabernacle and the Temple, till the destruction of the 
latter by Nebuchadnezzar. 
To the whole community, the infant nation, thus prepared, 
the Law was proclaimed. But, as might be expected for so 
important a transaction, special and imposing preliminaries 
and accessories were appointed. Moses was called to the 
divine presence, and thence sent back to the people to 
say : “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how 
I bare you on eagles’ wings and brought you unto Myself. 
Now, therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My 
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above 
all people : for all the earth is Mine; and ye shall be unto Me 
a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ To this appeal 
“all the people answered together, and said, All that the 
Lord hath spoken we will do.” When Moses carried this 
reply, he was sent back to sanctify them by the appropriate 
sacrifices and cleansing’; their clothes also were washed, and 
on the third day the whole congregation, in a state of physical 
