em, and they were thus prepared to receive a knowledge of the
attributes of that Divine essence.

They had been brought to contemplate God as their protector and Saviour.
Appeals the most affecting and thrilling had been addressed to their
affections; and they were thus attached to God as their Almighty
temporal Saviour, by the ties of gratitude and love for the favor which
he had manifested to them.

When they had arrived on the further shore of the Red Sea, thus prepared
to obey God and worship him with the heart, they were without laws
either civil or moral. As yet, they had never possessed any national or
social organization. They were therefore prepared to receive, without
predilection or prejudice, that system of moral instruction and civil
polity which God might reveal, as best adapted to promote the moral
interests of the nation.

From these conclusions we may extend our vision forward into the system
of revelation. This series of preparations would certainly lead the mind
to the expectation that what was still wanting, and what they had been
thus miraculously prepared to receive, would be granted: which was a
knowledge of the moral character of God, and a moral law prescribing
their duty to God and to men. Without this, the plan that had been
maturing for generations, and had been carried forward thus far by
wonderful exhibitions of Divine wisdom and power, would be left
unfinished, just at the point where the finishing process was necessary.

But besides the strong probability which the previous preparation would
produce, that there would be a revelation of moral law, there are
distinct and conclusive reasons, evincing its necessities.

The whole experience of the world has confirmed the fact, beyond the
possibility of scepticism, that men cannot discover and establish a
perfect rule of human duty. Whatever may be said of the many excellent
maxims expressed by different individuals in different ages and nations,
yet it is true that no system of duty to God and man, in any wise
consistent with enlightened reason, has ever been established by human
wisdom, and sustained by human sanctions; and for many reasons, such a
fact never can occur.

But, it may be supposed that each man has, within himself, sufficient
light from reason, and sufficient admonition from conscience, to guide
himself, as an individual, in the path of truth and happiness. A single
fact will correct such a supposition. Conscience, the gre