THE HISTORICAL CATECHISM.. e89-. 38. Q. Whither did the children of Israel go then ? A. They went through the wilderness wheresoever God guided them, by a pillar of cloud in the day-time, and a pillar of fire- in the night; Exod. xiii. 18, 21. Numb. ix. 15-23. 30. Q.. How long was it before they came to the land of Canaan which God promised ? A. They wandered flirty years in the wilderness for their sins ; Numb. xiv 32, 33. 40. Q. What did theyeat all that time? A. God fed them with manna or bread that came down every night from heaven ; Ex. xvi. 4, 15, 35. 41. Q, What did they drink in the wilderness? A. Moses smote the rock with his rod, and waters gushed out in a river that followed them ; Exod. xvii. 5, 6. 1 Cor. x. 4. Ps. cv. 41. 42. Q. What did they do for clothes during these forty years ? A. Their garments waxed not old, nor did their shoes wear out.; Deut. xxix. 5. 43. Q. What were the laws which God gave the Israelites when he chose them for bis own people ? A. Some general laws that related to their behaviouras men, some special rules relating to their religion as a church, and others about their government as a nation*. 44. Q. What were the general laws which related to their behaviour as men ? A. Those laws which are commonly called moral, and which belong to all mankind ; these are chiefly con- tained in the ten commandments; Ex. xx. 1 -17. 45, Q. In what manner was this moral law or ten com- mandments given them ? A. God first spoke it them frommount Sinai with thunder and lightning, and then wrote it for them in two tables of stone ; Ex. xix. 16-18, andxx. 1 -18, and xxiv. 12. Deut. x. 1 -5. 46. Q. What were the special laws which God gave them relating to their religion as a church ? A. Many rules about their worship of God, their priests and sacrificest, about sprink- ling of blood and washing with water, about holy times and holy places. 47. Q. What was the chief design of these ceremonies? * The laws of the Jews which relate to their behaviouras men, to their reli- gion as a church, and to their government as a nation, areall intermingled in such a manner, that it is hard to say under which head some of them must be ranked;, even in the ten commands, which are usually called the moral law, there is somethint ceremonial and peculiar to the Jews; and indeed they are all properly but one body of lows given to that people whom God chose for his own. Yet for distinction sake they may be distributed into three kinds, as in this Catechism. i The doctrine of the priesthood and sacrifices bad a I.rger room in this Catechism, but I was constrained tocut this matter short, as well as many others, lest it should be thought tedious to children. See some few more hints about them in the Large Catalogues of Nimes, Sect. iii. viii, 'and atii. See abo the Short View ut Scripture History, chap. v.
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