l and glad
reiteration, "the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of
the sea, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and
on their left" (ver. 29, cf. 22).

_ON THE SHORE._

xiv. 30, 31.

After the haste and agitation of their marvellous deliverance the
children of Israel seem to have halted for awhile at the only spot in
the neighbourhood where there is water, known as the Ayoun Musa or
springs of Moses to this day. There they doubtless brought into some
permanent shape their rudimentary organisation. There, too, their
impressions were given time to deepen. They "saw the Egyptians dead on
the sea-shore," and realised that their oppression was indeed at an end,
their chains broken, themselves introduced into a new life,--"baptized
unto Moses." They reflected upon the difference between all other
deities and the God of their fathers, Who, in that deadly crisis, had
looked upon them and their tyrants out of the fiery pillar. "They feared
Jehovah, and they believed in Jehovah and in His servant Moses."

"They believed in Jehovah." This expression is noteworthy, because they
had all believed in Him already. "By faith 'they' forsook Egypt. By
faith 'they' kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood. By faith
'they' passed through the Red Sea." But their former trust was poor and
wavering compared with that which filled their bosoms now. So the
disciples followed Jesus because they believed on Him; yet when His
first miracle manifested forth His glory, "His disciples believed on Him
there." And again they said, "By this we believe that Thou camest forth
from God." And after the resurrection He said, "Because thou hast seen
Me thou hast believed" (John ii. 11, xvi. 30, xx. 29). Faith needs to be
edified by successive experiences, as the enthusiasm of a recruit is
converted into the disciplined valour of the veteran. From each new
crisis of the spiritual life the soul should obtain new powers. And that
is a shallow and unstable religion which is content with the level of
its initial act of faith (however genuine and however important), and
seeks not to go from strength to strength.

FOOTNOTES:

[25] The Sea of Zuph, or reeds, the word being used of the reeds in
which Moses was laid by his mother and found by Pharaoh's daughter (ii.
3, 5), rendered "flags" in the Revised Version.

[26] But his assurance is, "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall
hold your peace." When Wellhause