with us, would have doubled our own enjoyment, are no more; those to whom they would have given perhaps a holier and a purer pleasure than to ourselves, are removed beyond their reach; and we become proportionably indifferent to that, of which there are now so few to share with us. Happy, if as life thus fades, eternity brightens; blessed, if as we are loosening our hold on everything here below, on all that is seen and is temporal, we are clinging with a stronger faith, and a more enduring hope, and an increasing love, to those " things which are not seen and are eternal." EXPOSITION XXVII. NUMBERS xxi. 1—6. 1. And when king Arad the Canaanite, which dwelt in the south, heard tell that Israel came by the way of the spies; then he fought against Israel, and took some of them prisoners. 2. And Israel vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. 3. And the Lord hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah. When we are here told that Israel went up "by the way of the spies," we can hardly believe that it was the road taken by the spies to Eshcol eight and thirty years before, for that would have led them due south, through the country of the Amalekites, and they were now turning round Edom to the south-east. To avoid this contradiction, therefore, it is better to render it, as the septuagint translates it, as the name of a place, that they went " by the way of Atharim." Here they were at once involved in war; the Edomites had been content churlishly to refuse a passage, but the king of Arad appears to have resolved upon acting far more violently, and to have made an unprovoked attack upon the Israelites, which for the moment was successful. Israel, however, having committed its cause to the Most High, immediately triumphed over its enemies, and utterly destroyed them; or, at any rate, commenced that series of unexampled successes, and judicial exterminations, which, it appears from a future chapter, was afterwards carried to its completion, under the arms of Joshua. 4. And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. 5. And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt, to die in the wilderness: for there is no bread, neither is there any water, and our soul loatheth this light bread. 6. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died. We cannot be surprised that after eight and thirty years of wandering, and just as the promised land appeared within their reach, the Israelites should feel a deep and trying discouragement at having to retrace a portion of their road again, and to encompass the whole land of Edom, instead of passing at once and directly through it. But we must feel astonished, that after all their experience of the goodness, the power, and the mercy of God, discouragement should lead them to repine, instead of bringing them nearer in filial faith and dependence to the source of all their blessings. We doubt not that there will be seasons, even in the happiest Christian pilgrimage, when the soul will be discouraged, and even "much discouraged, because of the way." When difficulties, which we had thought had passed over, will re-appear-when temptations, which we had hoped had been for ever vanquished, will again rise up against us — when sins, which we trusted we had forsaken, will once more mar our path; and these things will lead us to feel a deep sensation of despondency, well if it be not amounting almost to despair; we shall be tempted to think that God cannot pardon delinquencies so frequent and unprovoked, and that we shall certainly perish on the journey, and never arrive at that journey's blissful end. Let us be careful that such feelings lead us not into temptation, that they do not close our eyes and our hearts against the infinity of God's mercy in Christ Jesus; that they do not teach us to forget that, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin ;" yes, all," however deep, however heinous, however oft-repeated, if it be but faithfully and earnestly sought through the power of the Holy Ghost, and if, through the same promised aid, the sin be truly repented of, and steadily and perseveringly forsaken. Perhaps you may find it difficult to think so, but remember that your thoughts are, blessed be God, not the limits of his mercy, for has He not himself declared, that "He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think?" * Be not therefore “ discouraged because of the way," look to Him who was "the Author," to be also " the Finisher of your faith," * Ephes. iii. 20. and you shall yet, under his divine and blessed guidance, reach the haven where you would be. In speaking of the discouragement of the Israelites, we cannot but remark that there is something peculiarly aggravating in the language in which they expressed it, when they even presumed to scoff at the bread sent down from heaven: "Our soul loatheth this light bread." Man" did eat angels' food," and was not satisfied! Now, therefore, the anger of the Lord was again kindled, and He who had spared them when they asked for bread, and when they cried for water, because these were the reasonable and natural wants of man, destroyed them without pity, when they complained of the bread and water which God had given them. What a lesson to many among us, who are dissatisfied in the midst of plenty, and complaining though surrounded by abundance? well may we say in the language of the christian poet, "If half the breath thus idly spent, |