The ark, indeed, and the tabernacle which containea it, were not yet built. But it was after their construction, that the history containing this command was written, and, probably, the command itself made. It is inserted in the narrative of what took place previous to that period, for the sake of connecting so interesting a fact, with the others respecting the manna, and thus rendering the account of it complete.

From the wilderness of Sin, obeying the direction of the Lord, as expressed by the movement of the cloudy pillar, the Israelites still continued their journey towards mount Sinai. Making two stages, the one at Dophkah, and the other at Alush, (the location of which places cannot, at the present day, be ascertained,) they pitched their tents in Rephidim. On this route, they probably passed through the valleys El Sheikh and Feiran, the latter of which is spoken of by Burckhardt, as the finest of the whole peninsula. There they must have found a supply of water, nor did they suffer for the want of it till they came to Rephidim, which place is supposed to be high up among the mountains, and near the northern base of Horeb.

Here their ungrateful murmurings were again heard. No water could be found. Forgetting the lessons which had just been taught them, by the miraculous supply of quails and manna, and neglecting to lift up their supplications to God in their extremity, they began again to reproach Moses as the author of their sufferings. "Give us water," said they to him, "that we may drink."

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Why chide ye with me?" was his reply, 'wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?" why do ye refuse to put confidence in the providential care of God over you? Why do ye act as if you wished to try him, and see whether he will be provoked to come out in some severe judgment against you?

Their thirst became excessive; for God let them endure it for a season, that they might feel more sensibly their dependance on him. Again they complained to Moses. "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, and our children, and our cattle with thirst?" Prayer was his resort. He cried unto the Lord, "What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me."

The reply was well adapted to try the faith and resolution of Moses, while the multitude were yet full of rage, and venting their reproaches against him. "Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;" (the divine presence being manifested by the moving forward, and standing of the cloudy pillar at that place;) "and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink."

The pillar of the cloud was soon in motion. It stood over a barren rock. Moses and the elders followed. The divine command was obeyed. The rock was smitten: and immediately, in the sight of the wondering assembly around it, copious streams of water gushed forth, and rushing towards the camp, furnished an abundant supply for the whole multitude.

It was an astonishing miracle, of which the elders were eye-witnesses, and gave an account to the Israelites. It showed the power and goodness of God, in thus instantly relieving the sufferings of more than two millions of people. It was a still more signal exhibition of this power and goodness, that the once-smitten rock continued, as it were, to follow the Israelites in their subsequent journeyings in its neighborhood; and thus, probably for more than a year, to send after them its rivulets of refreshing waters, pouring through the ravines, and round the hills of that mountainous region.

It was a striking emblem of Christ, the only fountain of living water to the thirsty and perishing soul. The apostle Paul so speaks of it in the memorable passage of his first epistle to the Corinthians; some difficulty in which, the account of the continued supply of water from Horeb, serves to remove. ferring to the Israelites, he says; "they did all drink

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the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual rock," (that rock emblematical of the great fountain of all spiritual blessings,) "that followed them, and that rock was Christ."

To commemorate the sinful and ungrateful conduct of his countrymen at Rephidim, Moses called the name of the place Massah, or temptation, and Meribah, chiding or strife; "because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not."

Dr. Shaw tells us that a rock, said to be the one smitten by Moses, is still pointed out to travellers, in the plain or wilderness of Rephidim. He entered this plain, after descending with no small difficulty the western side of mount Sinai. The rock, which he saw, he describes as being granite, and of a purple or reddish color. It is about six yards square, lying tottering as it were, and loose, near the middle of the valley, and seems to have been formerly a part or cliff of Mount Sinai, which hangs in a variety of precipices all over this plain. There is across one corner of this rock, a channel about two inches deep, and twenty wide, all over incrustated like the inside of a tea-kettle that has been long used; and over this channel are a great number of holes, some of them four or five inches deep, and one or two in diameter; as if here, at some previous time, an immense quantity of water, in continued streams, had been pouring forth.

How far the traditionary evidence, in this and similar cases, is to be relied upon, it is exceedingly difficult, and often impossible, to decide.

The rock of Horeb followed the Israelites with its copious and refreshing streams; and we can hardly conceive what an invaluable blessing it proved to more than two millions of souls, in a hot and thirsty region where the want of water is attended with such intense suffering!

Christ, the fountain of spiritual blessedness, follows, through the whole course of their earthly pilgrimage, all who put their trust in him. He is a well-spring of life and peace in the very soul itself. The refreshment which he imparts, is what the world, with all its honors, and riches, and pleasures, can never give. Cares and trials, afflictions and bereavements, disappointment and loss, pain and sickness, suffering and death, may come. But where there is faith in his promises, and obedience to his will, such as Moses had, the soul shall not thirst, and pine away in a dreary wretchedness. The truths of his word, and the influences of his Spirit, shall revive, and comfort and strengthen it. He shall be to it a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Is Christ, my young friend, the fountain of refreshment for your soul? Or do you seek it elsewhere, in the vain amusements or bustling business of the world; in the pursuits of literature and