a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and although the bush burned with fire, yet it was not consumed. It was this most remarkable phenomenon that led Moses to say, "I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."
The spiritual instruction involved in this appearance is so strikingly beautiful, that we are lost in wonder as we contemplate it. There was a reason for the Lord appearing in this manner to Moses: from the midst of this burning bush the Lord called him to be the deliverer of the Israelites from Egyptian bondage; and from this it was that he received his first instruction as to how he was to proceed in effecting their liberation.
Reflect, O man! and know that we are all, more or less, by nature, in the state denoted by Egyptian bondage. We cling with too much fondness to the things of time and sense; in this way the body enslaves the soul, and the flesh makes a captive of the spirit. The Word of God is the appointed medium through which the Lord speaks to us; he calls us to come out of the bondage of falsehood and iniquity, and to enter into the freedom of truth. Now the bush with its burning flame is a beautiful emblem of the Word of God in its literal sense, out of which the Lord speaks in love and mercy to all. The bush here named is literally a bramble-bush, and signifies truth in its lowest degree, in its letter: it is divine truth terminating in the lowest kind of knowledge or science. The fire in the bush, is, according to the universal language of correspondence the divine love within the Word, and shining through it. The divine love is a fire that glows with everlasting freshness, and burns without consuming. It pervades every part of the Word
