A SERMON,

&c.

JOSHUA 1. 2. Moses my servant is dead.

THIS is a text, that can be appropriate only to a very distinguished man, both in his public character, and in his Christian endowments. To apply it to a good man, moving altogether in a private sphere, were injudicious, if not mockery: to employ it relative to any one not pre-eminent for godliness, would be flattery the most inexcusable. The original direction of the passage to Moses a man unrivalled in genius, renowned for his attainments, elevated to the highest rank, of the most heroic courage, still more illustrious for disinterestedness, and devotedness to God—marks the line which should be drawn in all its future applications. As the possessor of extraordinary original powers:-as a scholar enriched with the collective wealth of general knowledge, of which Egypt was the treasury-and 'he was learned in

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all the wisdom of the Egyptians:'-as the presumptive heir to the throne, adopted by the princess of the empire, and educated for a crown:-as the magnanimous resigner of these splendid distinctions, his devotion to God overpowering all the pleadings of human interest; he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt:'-as the courageous leader of the enslaved tribes of Israel to liberty, through an inhospitable, uninhabited, and desert country; surrounded by adversaries, and having but the choice to fight his way through hostile nations, or to brave the horrors of the trackless wilderness, both requiring miraculous interposition, and his faith being equal to every alternative:-there must be features in the character and life of this great man, which cannot apply literally to our departed friend. But to his public spirit, united with his meekness; to great energies and uncommon powers, blended with modesty and humility even superior to those powers; to a life consecrated to religion-most useful to the church of Christ-most holy and devotional-the text is unquestionably appropriate and these are the qualities which at last distinguished Moses, and which he shared in common with

every sincere follower of Jesus Christ. The fitness of the selection is given by the public station and the unblemished character of our friend :-either, existing separately, would have rendered it inapplicable.

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The text places us upon a summit, whence, as from another Pisgah, we look back upon a wilderness through which we have passed, and forward to that promised land into which those have already entered, who trod the desert before us, or who were for a time the companions of our way, but earlier called to cross the narrow stream of death,' which rolls, like Jordan, its dark, cold wave, between us and our inheritance. It is, indeed, an overpowering view-commanding all the past, in displaying the ravages of mortality; and all the future, in anticipating the glory that shall be revealed.' 'Moses is dead :'—and who shall be spared, if the penalty was exacted from him? Who shall escape the final conflict, if he was called to gird himself for battle with the last enemy?' His name awakens a thousand recollections associated with our most devotional feelings; and we are transported to those scenes of purity and simplicity which distinguished the patriarchal ages, when the shepherd's charge trained the future monarch for the paternal cares of royalty, and rank acknowledged the splendours of religion, as shedding lustre upon its possessor, far

superior to the glitter of the diadem, and the brilliancy of all the gems of the East. Patriarchs, prophets, princes, statesmen-all have disappeared. Our fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? St. Paul was affected by this review; although he took into his calculation only a part of the great whole. In speaking of the eternal priesthood of Christ, he was led to contrast it with the mutability of that attaching to the descendants of Aaron, as passing from father to son; and when he contemplated the long succession of individuals who had for a season exercised the sacred functions, and then resigned their robes and their offices to others, he was struck with the rapidity and extent of these changes; and in a tone of feeling characteristic of himself, he observed, They truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.' This pa thetic remark carries our imagination back to Mount Hor, the place of Aaron's death. Three ascended the high-priest himself, his son who was to be his successor, and his illustrious brother; two only descended-Moses, and Eleazar wearing the garments of his father, who had expired in their sight. Such a scene could not fail deeply to impress the spectators. But we look round for the succession itself-and it is extinct;. we look back upon ages and generations passed:

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