ulse which
ruined them. But what gave the impulse such violent and dreadful force
that it overwhelmed them before they could reflect? The explosion in the
coal-mine is not caused by the sudden spark, without the accumulation of
dangerous gases, and the absence of such wholesome ventilation as would
carry them away. It is so in the breast where evil desires or tempers
are harboured, unsubdued by grace, until any accident puts them beyond
control. Thank God that such sudden movements do not belong to evil
only! A high soul is surprised into heroism, as often perhaps as a mean
one into theft or falsehood. In the case of Moses there was nothing
unworthy, but much that was unwarranted and presumptuous. The decision
it involved was on the right side, but the act was self-willed and
unwarranted, and it carried heavy penalties. "The trespass originated
not in inveterate cruelty," says St. Augustine, "but in a hasty zeal
which admitted of correction ... resentment against injury was
accompanied by love for a brother.... Here was evil to be rooted out,
but the heart with such capabilities, like good soil, needed only
cultivation to make it fruitful in virtue."

Stephen tells us, what is very natural, that Moses expected the people
to accept him as their heaven-born deliverer. From which it appears that
he cherished high expectations for himself, from Israel if not from
Egypt. When he interfered next day between two Hebrews, his question as
given in Exodus is somewhat magisterial: "Wherefore smitest thou thy
fellow?" In Stephen's version it dictates less, but it lectures a good
deal: "Sirs, ye are brethren, why do ye wrong one to another?" And it
was natural enough that they should dispute his pretensions, for God had
not yet given him the rank he claimed. He still needed a discipline
almost as sharp as that of Joseph, who, by talking too boastfully of his
dreams, postponed their fulfilment until he was chastened by slavery and
a dungeon. Even Saul of Tarsus, when converted, needed three years of
close seclusion for the transformation of his fiery ardour into divine
zeal, as iron to be tempered must be chilled as well as heated. The
precipitate and violent zeal of Moses entailed upon him forty years of
exile.

And yet his was a noble patriotism. There is a false love of country,
born of pride, which blinds one to her faults; and there is a loftier
passion which will brave estrangement and denunciation to correct them.
Such was t