16. In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess

it.

17. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

18. I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

20. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

Life and death are here distinctly set before the Israelites as matter of free and independent choice. "I have set before thee life and death," good and evil," blessing and cursing, therefore choose life that both thou and thy seed may live." And yet this absolute freedom of choice is accompanied by the plainest declaration, that all

is of God. The Lord will circumcise thine heart to enable thee to love Him, and the Lord will make thee plenteous in every good work: and the Lord will himself bless thee for all that He has enabled thee to do. So truly did the prophet say, "Lord, thou hast wrought all our works in us." *

So plainly and clearly is all this pointed out by Moses, that he scruples not to say, that the meaning cannot be hidden from them, that it is "neither in heaven above, nor in the sea beneath," but nigh unto, yea, even in the mouth and in the heart of all who sincerely seek it. And, blessed be God, so is it also with the hopes and privileges of the Gospel, as they are offered to every one among us. The Apostle to the Romans, when speaking of the "righteousness which is of faith," hesitates not to quote these very verses, to mark how plain, how clear, how nigh, is this most blessed gift of God, to the heart of all who seek it, through Christ Jesus. He then adds these most gracious words, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Let not the most ignorant, or the most humble, then, shrink from the apparent incon+ Rom. x. 10.

* Isa. xxvi. 12.

sistency, or the real difficulty of the task. The saving truths of the Gospel may, indeed, be sometimes hidden from the wise and prudent, but God has revealed them unto babes, and will reveal them, with all their healing power, and saving efficacy, wherever there is one humble, believing soul, which, feeling its own unworthiness and impotency, is content to seek them in God's appointed way, and to receive them as a gift, through the one Divine and accepted Mediator.

EXPOSITION LXVI.

DEUTERONOMY XXXi. 1-13.

1. And Moses went and spake these words unto all Israel.

2. And he said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in also the Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

3. The Lord thy God he will go over before thee, and he will destroy these nations from before thee, and thou shalt possess them: and Joshua, he shall go over before thee, as the Lord hath said.

4. And the Lord shall do unto them as he did to

Sihon and to Og, kings of the Amorites, and unto the land of them, whom he destroyed.

5. And the Lord shall give them up before your face, that ye may do unto them according unto all the commandments which I have commanded you.

6. Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee: he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

7. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

8. And the Lord, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

What an affecting scene must not this have been to the whole congregation of Israel! The aged Moses, having concluded the recital of all the commandments, all the promises, all the blessings, and curses, and future mercies of God, distinctly declares to the people that the time of his departure was at hand. He hints slightly at his age, but he well knew that this was not the cause of his removal, for "his natural force was not abated." No, although an hundred and twenty years old, he might have long continued to have come in and gone out among them; but

his Divine Master had, as the deserved punishment of sin, willed it otherwise; "The Lord hath said unto me, Thou shalt not go over this Jordan." Moses does not attempt to conceal the humiliating fact, but plainly and openly declares it before the assembled multitudes. There cannot be a better proof of our real, heartfelt hatred of sin, and penitence for its committal, than our ready recognition of the chastening by which it is followed, and our willing acknowledgment that our punishment is entirely deserved.

But Moses had yet another difficult task to perform; to present his successor, the faithful Joshua, to the congregation of Israel. How blessed are the promises by which he endeavours to encourage and strengthen him. "The Lord, He it is that doth go before thee, He will be with thee, He will not fail thee, neither forsake thee; fear not, neither be dismayed." Yet, great as these promises are, they were in no degree confined to Joshua, or even to the congregation, committed to his charge. They address themselves as pointedly to pointedly to every individual, who is willing to engage in the Lord's warfare, to take up the cross and follow Christ. Yes, even to the weakest, we may say, Thou shalt be more than conqueror through Him that loved thee. "Be not dismayed," "stronger is He that