thoughts of dissolution, and to impress on the soul the sentiment of the wise man concerning the world, "I hate it, I would not live always." Long life, however, is not the less to be considered as a blessing. The love of it is a constitutional law of our nature; and the promise of it is annexed to the sanctions of the written law, as a motive to obedience: "Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee," and it is here bestowed as a reward on the faithful. Premature death, in like manner, is an object of natural horror, is threatened in anger, and inflicted as a punishment. "The wicked shall not live half his days, and his memory shall rot." In general, a wise and merciful God hides from the eyes of men the era of their departure out of the world. The br terness of death consists in the foretaste, and the forerunners of that great enemy. That bitterness, in its full proportion, was wrung out, and mingled in the cup of Moses. The death of every Israelite was a deathwarning to him. He had lately ascended mount Hor with Aaron his brother, stripped him of his garments, closed his eyes to his last long sleep, and descended without him; and mount Hor is only a few steps distant from mount Abarim, and his own summons comes at length. He is respited, not pardoned, and a reprieve of forty years is now expired. It is in that awful, trying hour, we are at this time to trace the character and mark the behaviour of the man of God. God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon."* At another time, he seems quietly to give up the cause as lost, and patiently prepares to meet his fate, and meekly resigns himself to the will of the Most High, which he was unable to alter. In a word, we see him at once the man and the believer, and a pattern well worthy of imitation in both respects. It is impossible to observe the conflict of Moses's soul, when this cup of trembling was put into his hands, without thinking of the bitter agony in the garden, of the travail of the Redeemer's soul, of that passionate address, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me"-of "sweat like great drops of blood falling down to the ground,"t-of the triumph of resignation, "nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done"-of "humiliation to death, the death of the cross." Thus it "behoved him to fulfil all righteousness." Thus he taught men to obey the law of God, to use all lawful endeavours to preserve life; and thus he inculcated submission to that sovereign will which it is unprofitable and impious to resist. "Get thee up," said God to Moses, "into this mount Abarim, and see the land which J have given unto the children of Israel;" and this is all that the law can do for the guilty; it conducts to an adjoining eminence, it spreads a distant prospect of Canaan, it can display its beauty and fertility, it can inspire the desire of possession: but it cannot divide Jordan, it cannot lead to victory over the last enemy, it cannot make "the comer thereunto perfect," nor establish the soul in everlasting rest. Neither Moses, the giver of the law, nor Aaron, the high priest, under the law, could "continue by reason of death." But the Apostle and High Priest of our profession is "entered into the holiest of all," has opened a passage through the gates of death, to life and immortality; lifted up, first upon the cross, and then to his throne in the heavens, he is drawing all men unto him. From the moment he fell under the divine displeasure which shortened the date of his life, we observe it lying with an oppressive weight upon his mind. The love of life manifests itself, and we behold, in the prophet, the man of like passions with ourselves. There is no incident of his life on which he dwells so much, and with such earnestness of interest as this. The history of his offence is again and again repeated, not in the view of extenuating the guilt of it, but to vindicate the righteous judgment of God. The excellence of this part of his narrative, is its departing from the direct line of narration. He hastens forward to bring it early into view; Together with the honest, though fond athe returns again upon his footsteps, and pre- tachment to life, which characterizes the sents it a second time to view. Is he re- man, and the pious resignation which marks minding Israel of their rebellion and diso-the child of God, Moses discovers, on this bedience? his own transgression, and the punishment of it, arise and stare him in the face. Is he encouraging them in their progress towards the promised land? he sighs to think that he himself shall never enter into it. At one time, he flatters himself with the hope that justice might perhaps relent, and presumes to expostulate and entreat, in terms earnest and pathetic, such as these; "O Lord * Exod. xx. 12. occasion, that excellent spirit which sinks and loses the individual in the public. He cheerfully gives up his personal suit, and the cause of Israel henceforth engrosses him wholly. "And Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which * Deut. iii. 24, 25. ↑ Luke xxii. 42-44. Lev. xvii. 12, 13, may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may bring them in; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep which have no shepherd."* Let modern patriots think of this, and blush at their pride and selfishness. But they are lost to all sense of decency, they keep each other in countenance by their multitude and confidence, and "glory in their shame." This noble conduct of the Jewish legislator was not the affectation of virtue and public spirit, the ostentatious boasting of a man who had no prospect, or a distant one of being put to the trial; but the native greatness and superiority of a mind occupied with two grand objects, the glory of God and the good of his country; a mind that could rejoice in the advancement of an inferior, and decrease with inward satisfaction while the other increased. Ordinary men look with an evil eye upon their successors. A prince and his heir, though that heir be his own son, generally live upon indifferent terms; but Moses sees his dignity departing from himself in his life time, departing from his family, given to his servant, without a murmur, without a sigh. It was enough to him that God had been pleased to adopt Joshua, for the purpose of finishing his work, of introducing Israel into their inheritance. It is no sooner intimated to him, than Joshua becomes his son, his brother, his friend: and he proceeds to his installation with as much alacrity, as he invested Aaron with the pontifical robes. furnished for his great undertaking, God was pleased to command a solemn and public declaration of his choice, and that the object of it should, before the eyes of the people, be set apart by the imposition of the hands of Moses to the office assigned him. Forms are necessary, because men are not spiritual; forms are interposed, that the understanding, the heart, and the conscience, may be approached through the channels of sense. And of all forms, recommended by divine authority, and its own significant simplicity, that of the laying on of hands is one of the most ancient, most frequently in use, and most striking. By this solemn rite, the devoted victim was set apart for death, and the guilt of the offerer transferred, as it were, and laid upon the head of the oblation: and thus were the minister of the sanctuary, the general, the statesman, dedicated to the duties of their respective stations; thus new and extraordinary powers were conferred upon Joshua: thus Jesus took leave of his disciples, and left a blessing behind him, more precious than the mantle of Elijah. “He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands and blessed them." By laying on of the apostles' hands, miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost were communicated; and by laying on of the hands of the presbytery, Timothy was solemnly set apart for exercising the office of a bishop; and thus a great part of the christian world continues to install its ministers in the pastoral Moses was farther commanded, "to cause Joshua to stand before Eleazer the priest," who was probably to offer up sacrifice in behalf of the commander elect, and by this additional solemnity to impress both upon his own mind and upon those of the spectators, the weight and importance of the sacred charge committed unto him. It is added, verse 20th," And thou shalt put some of thine honour upon him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient." This solemn ceremony consisted of a vari-office. ety of circumstances, which are well worthy of our attention; from their being of divine appointment, from their great antiquity, from their inexplicable mysteriousness, or their obvious significancy. Joshua was already anointed with the unction of the Spirit: he was a person of singular piety, undaunted resolution, and unshaken fidelity: he had long attended upon Moses as his minister, had accompanied him into the mount, when he ascended to meet God, had traversed the land of Canaan as one of the spies, had brought up its good report, and stood firm with Caleb in resisting the timid and discouraging representations of his colleagues. He possessed all the qualities natural, acquired, and miraculously dispensed, which were requisite to the discharge of the duties of that high and important station to which Providence was now calling him. By the spirit which is said to have been in Joshua, some understand the spirit of prophecy, or supernatural powers of foreseeing and providing for future events. By taking in every circumstance, it seems rather to denote those rare gifts with which nature had so liberally endowed him; wisdom, and courage, and strength, and which Providence was now calling forth for the general benefit. But though thus amply Numb. xxvii. 15-17. This is interpreted by some commentators, of those rays of glory, which are supposed to have surrounded the head of Moses, ever since his descent from God in the mount, and which so dazzled the eyes of the beholder, that in speaking to the people he was under the necessity of putting a veil over his face. By the imposition of his hands upon the head of Joshua, according to the commandment, this external, sensible honour, is understood to have been communicated from the one to the other, and that, in consequence of it, Joshua henceforth wore a visible token of the choice of Heaven. Conjecture and fancy blend too much in this exposition, to procure for it a very high degree of respect. Juster and more sober criticism explain the passage as implying, Luke xxiv. 50. upon the Urim in the breastplate, the answer of God was seen in characters of reflected light, from the excellent glory, and which the high priest audibly repeated in the ears of the party concerned.-"Go;" or, "Thou shalt not go.' that Moses should immediately associate | fore the Lord and on looking downwards Joshua with himself in the executive powers of government, devolve upon him a share both of the respect and the care which pertained to the supreme command; that he might enjoy the satisfaction, while he yet lived, and which he so much desired, of beholding a wise and a good man conducting the Israelitish affairs, in church and state, with discretion, and carrying on the plan of Providence to its consummation. There is another article in the injunction laid upon Moses, respecting the appointment of his successor, which has greatly exercised and puzzled the critics. "And he shall stand before Eleazer the priest, who shall ask counsel for him, after the judgment of Urim, before the Lord; at his word shall they go ou, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the children of Israel with him, even all the congregation."* The difficulty is, what was the Urim, and the judgment of Urim, of which Eleazer was to ask counsel in behalf of Joshua, and wherein Moses differed from Joshua as to this? Urim, is, in general, in scripture, found in connexion with Thummim. The words import light and perfection; and they appear to have been some part or appendage of the breastplate, that essential article of the high priest's dress. They were not, it is alleged, the production of human skill, like the other particulars of the sacred clothing, for there is no account of their fabrication by the hands of man; but when the breastplate was finished, Moses, we are told, "put into it the Urim and the Thummim," whatever they were, immediately from God. The method of consultation has also furnished ample matter of dispute. The most approved tradition is this, for scripture gives but few, and those very general hints, upon the subject, the person who desired to consult the oracle, (and none but public persons, and on great public occasions, were admitted to that privilege,) intimated his intention to the high priest; who, at the hour of incense, arrayed in his pontifical vestments, entered the holy place, accompanied at a little distance by the magistrate or general, who made the inquiry. The high priest placed himself with his face towards the entrance of the most holy place. The veil which separated the holy place from the holy of holies, was drawn up for the occasion, so that he stood directly fronting the ark of the covenant, overshadowed by the cherubim, where the Schechinah, or visible glory, resided. The inquirer then standing behind, pronounced the question, or consultation, in a few plain words; such, for example, as these: "Shall I go up against the Philistines, or shall I not go up?" This question was again repeated solemnly and distinctly by the high priest be * Num. xxvii. 21. When the oracle refused to give any response, as in the case of Saul, it was considered as a mark of high displeasure. God would not answer that wicked prince "by the judgment of Urim," but because he had wilfully forsaken God, an offended God, in just displeasure, gave him up to ask counsel of hell, and to follow it to his own destruction. "We have also," Christians, "a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed; as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." Joshua being referred to this mode of consultation, compared with the history of Moses, points out the difference between these two leaders of Israel. "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face."+ God manifested himself immediately unto Moses; conversed with him as a man with his friend. Joshua was kept at a greater distance, and enjoyed communion with God through the intervention of appointed means, Just as before Moses was admitted to the very summit of the mount, received within the veil of thick darkness, which at once concealed and revealed the divine glory; while Joshua was confined to a lower region, kept in the place and on the duty of a servant. But we must conclude. The whole scene that has now passed in review, speaks directly to the heart and conscience. It presents a striking and instructive instance of the goodness and severity of God. The faults and infirmities of his dearest children he neither overlooks, nor forgets to punish. For one offence, and seemingly a slight one, Moses is excluded from Canaan. No humiliation, penitence, or entreaty can, of themselves, remove the guilt nor prevent the chastisement of sin. The neglect or insult offered by a child, a brother, a friend, strikes deeper than the most violent outrage from a stranger, or an avowed enemy. The transgression of Moses at the waters of strife was thus aggravated, and he must die for it. O my God, enter not into judgment with me, whose crimes are heightened by every circumstance of aggravation-deliberation, presumption, filial ingratitude, in the face of solemn and repeated engagements. If Moses died the death, for once speaking unadvisedly with his lips, in the moment of passion; “if thou, Lord, art strict to mark iniquity, where shall I stand?" how shall I escape? But is death a punishment to a good man † Deut. xxxiv. 10. * 2 Peter i. 19. No. As in the death of Moses, therefore, | where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy we behold the justice and severity of God, so victory? Thanks be to God, who giveth us in its consequences, we behold his goodness the victory, through Jesus Christ our Lord." and loving kindness. The evil is slight and "The saying that is written is come to pass, temporary; the good is unspeakably great, death is swallowed up of victory; mortality and eternally permanent; exclusion from is swallowed up of life.” 66 'Life and immorCanaan is admission into the kingdom of tality are brought to light by the gospel.' heaven; "to be absent from the body is to be We "know whom we have believed:" we present with the Lord." "Faith, indeed, believe in him who hath said, "I am the reredeems not from the power of the grave, surrection and the life; he that believeth in but it dissipates all the horror of the tomb: me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. transforms it into a resting-place for the And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, weary pilgrim; and converts the king of shall never die."* terrors into a minister of joy. “O death, * John xi. 25, 26. HISTORY OF MOSES. LECTURE LXXV. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered unto thy people.-NUMBERS xxxi. 1, 2. THE interest which every reader of taste | hausted as I am, is there no one respect in and sensibility takes in the life and actions which I can yet glorify God, or be useful to of Moses is never permitted to flag, much my fellow creatures? And to the last, the less totally to sink and expire. His infant great Supporter of life, the Ruler of the cries, from the very first moment, awaken world, has some command to give, some our sympathy; and his departing words, at labour to be performed, some exercise of the the age of a hundred and twenty years, con- | hand, the head, or the heart to enjoin, some tinue to excite our esteem and admiration. purpose of justice or of love to accomplish. Whether employed as a minister of vengeance or of mercy, he inspires affection or commands respect. And Moses has received warning to depart, but the hour of release is not yet come. though his offence at the waters of Meribah The love of life is not only natural and in- must be punished with death, the tranquillity nocent, but important, and necessary. We of his mind is not thereby discomposed, nor are instructed to guard, to preserve, to pro- his intercourse with Heaven interrupted, nor long it, at once by the constitution and frame his zeal in performing the duties of his staof our nature, and by manifold examples of tion abated. The God whom he had so long the highest authority. And while Providence and faithfully served, continues to converse permits the farther extension of it, the rea- with him as a man with his friend, commusons and end of that extension are obviously nicates to him his designs, and employs him manifest. Not a single hour is added to the in the execution. Our lives too are forfeited; life of any one, merely to make up such a the sentence of death is upon us; under a quantity of time. No, every moment is des- respite of unknown, uncertain duration, our tined to its peculiar purpose, passes to ac- days are passing away. Improved ever so count, calls to its proper use and employment. well, they cannot indeed redeem from the To dream of premature retirement from the grave, nor alter the immutable decree; but exercise of our faculties and functions, of their improvement may alleviate the bittermere existence without employment, is an ness of death and pluck out the sting. The attempt to defeat the intention of the Creator inevitable course of nature, and the righteous in sending us into the world; is a degradation decisions of a holy law, destroy not the sacred and perversion of the powers of the human communications which subsist between a mind; is to be dead while we live. The merciful God and a gracious spirit. To reinquiry of a well regulated spirit, to the last, ceive a command from an offended father, is, "Lord, what wouldst thou have me do?" after judgment has been pronounced, parWhile any of my powers remain, however takes of the nature of a pardon; and it is no blunted, however impaired, to whom shall I slender consolation, even under the stroke of dedicate the poor remains? Enfeebled, ex-justice, to reflect that paternal affection was pleased to regard and accept future obedience and submission, if not as an atonement for offence, at least as a mark of contrition for having transgressed. As if, therefore, we could wipe out the memory of the past; as if persevering labours of gratitude and love could purchase our release; as if death were to be prevented, disarmed, or destroyed, by the efforts of the passing moment, let us awake and arise to the knowledge, the study, and the practice of our heavenly Father's will. The service prescribed to Moses on this occasion was the execution of justice on a nation of offenders. The nature of the offence has been hinted at in a former Lecture; and we may form a judgment of its enormity, from the vengeance which pursued it. The state of Midian, at the period in question, exhibits the last stage of moral depravity-a corrupted people carrying on a temporary political design, by means the most scandalous and dishonourable-the dearest and most delicate interests of human nature vilely sacrificed to its worst and most disgraceful propensities-husbands countenancing the prostitution of their wives, and parents that of their daughters, in order to gratify ambition, avarice, or revenge. A nation of such a character is necessarily hastening to utter destruction, without fire from heaven, or the sword of a foreign enemy. But what vice was accelerating by its own native energy, Providence hastens to an issue by a special interposition, and "the Lord makes himself known by the judgment which he executes." nument, how certainly, however slowly, eternal justice overtakes the sinner! The immense booty which this easy victory transferred to the Israelites, is a farther demonstration of the feebleness and dissolution of their unwarlike enemy. They had wealth without being rich, luxury without enjoyment, policy without wisdom, kingly power without government, and zeal for religion without an object of worship. Conquered the moment they are attacked, having no resource in public or private virtue; men lost to a sense of what constitutes true female dignity, women precipitating that corruption of which they were the miserable victims-they hold up to mankind a fearful but instructive example of the native, necessary, inevitable consequences of vice. Up to similar causes the downfall of still greater states may be traced; and if sin be the ruin of any kingdom, what individual offender shall dare to flatter himself with the hope of escaping the righteous judgment of God? The severity with which judgment was executed on the Midianites, helps farther to unfold their character. An effeminate, luxurious people, generally excites contempt at most; but here a holy and just indignation is kindled. Heaven itself is up in arms against a degenerate race; and Moses, the meekest of men, accuses the exterminators of the whole race of Midian of weak and excessive lenity. How is this to be accounted for? It will be found on inquiry, that in a very dissolute state of society, vices of the most odious and atrocious kind are necessaThe force which it was thought proper to rily blended with others less offensive. The employ for the extermination of this de- love of pleasure is the predominant characbauched race, is indication sufficient how ter; but in order to feed and support that low its character was rated. Immersed in passion, arts the most criminal and detestsensuality, enervated by luxury, a handful able must be employed. Injustice, violence, of men was deemed enough to destroy them. perjury, and murder follow in the train of A thousand out of every tribe of Israel, twelve lust. The moral principle is destroyed: all thousand men in all, Moses considers as fully sense of shame is lost. The general depracompetent to the execution of this enter-vity keeps every individual transgressor in prize; and the event fully justified the estimate he had made. It is likewise remarkable, that he neither commands in this expedition, in person, nor commits the conduct of it to Joshua, or any other of military profession; but to "Phinehas, the son of Eleazer the priest," furnished "with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow, in his hand." We have here, therefore, the idea of a solemn public execution, rather than of regular war. No resistance is made, no blood but that of the criminals is shed; they dare not meet in the field those whom in the secret chambers they could ensnare. In vain their hoary adviser Balaam, urges them to feats of arms, and sets them an example of courage; supported by five kings and their armies, he falls together with them, by the sword of Israel, an awful mo countenance. Appearances are no longer attended to or kept up. Men glory in their shame. The very offices of religion are perverted into instruments of debauchery. Such, apparently, was the state of Midian at the period under review; such was that of Israel during the government and priesthood of Eli; and such was that of the Assyrian and Roman empires immediately previous to their subversion. And in such a state, is it any wonder to see heaven and earth combined to root out and overthrow-a holy and righteous God employing the ministration of the gentlest of mankind to cut off the name and memory of such a people from the earth? When punishment so signal is inflicted, we may safely infer, that the guilt which provoked it from such hands was enormous On reviewing the little army of Israe |