blessed, which meant, you know, that your Saviour should be born of one of his family. You of course remember that Abraham's great faith was shewn not only in leaving his own country by God's command, without knowing whither he was to be led, but also in offering up his son Isaac, as God ordered him to do. After proving his faith Isaac was restored to his happy parents and home.

I need not remind you of the interesting history of Joseph and his brethren, and the removal of them, and their families, and his father Jacob into Egypt. The character of Joseph is one of the finest upon record; perhaps the most perfect next to that of our Saviour. His piety towards God; his uprightness and integrity towards men ; his filial affection, (by which I mean his love and reverence towards his Father,) and his generous forgiveness of the wrongs he had received from brethren; are examples which all of you may follow in the common stations and daily occurrences of life. In Egypt, the Israelites became a numerous family; and after the death of Joseph and those who remembered their first coming, they were ill-treated by the Egyptians, and kept in bondage 400 years;-but God Almighty did not forget them; the book of Exodus contains the wonders wrought by Him in freeing them

from their Egyptian bondage, and destroying their enemies in the Red Sea. God Almighty afterwards. revealed His will to them from Mount Sinai. There assembled before the burning mountain, surrounded with "blackness and darkness and tempest," they heard the awful voice of God pronounce the eternal Law.

This law still remains for your guidance in the Ten Commandments.-The same God commands; the same laws are given to you, as to the Israelites in the wilderness, and equally claim your attention and reverence. Leviticus contains little else than the particulars of the Jewish ordinances, which were to cease upon the coming of our Saviour; and therefore afford no great instruction for us at the present day, nor do the first eight chapters in Numbers.-The remainder of Numbers is chiefly a continuation of the history of the Jews.

In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses repeats the foregoing history.-He promises the noblest temporal blessings or those belonging to the present life, to all who prove obedient. Our Saviour promises those that are eternal, and makes the good and evil of this life of no consequence, but as they prepare us for another

and better world, which is to last for ever. The book of Deuteronomy concludes with the song of Moses and an account of his death. Then follows Joshua; (whose name in the 7th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles is called Jesus.) It contains the history of the establishment of the Israelites in Canaan, the promised land, after many signal wonders performed by God in their favour. The book of Judges in which you will find the affecting stories of Sampson and Jepthah, carries on the history about 150 years from the death of Joshua. It then proceeds regularly through the two books of Samuel, and those of Kings.

Nothing can be more interesting and entertaining than the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, which you will find related in these books of Sacred History. After the death of Solomon, ten of the twelve tribes into which Moses had divided the people of Israel, revolted or became rebellious, and withdrew from Rehoboam the Son of Solomon. They became a separate kingdom, and established themselves at Samaria, and were called Israelites; whereas, the two tribes who remained at Jerusalem under Rehoboam and his descendants, were distinguished as belonging to the king of Judea ;-Jerusalem being the capital, or principal city of Judea. This separation of the

twelve tribes occasions some difficulty in understanding clearly the histories of the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which are constantly intermixed, aud by the likeness of the names and other particulars, require great attention to keep them distinct.

In general you will find that the kings of Judah were better men than the kings of Israel; for instance, Asa, Jehosaphat, Uzziah, or (as he is sometimes called) Azariah, Hezekiah, and Josiah. Asa began his reign with abolishing idolatry, and other good acts; and God blessed him greatly with success against the Ethiopians, and also against Baasha king of Israel; but in one instance he shewed a distrust of God's assistance; he sent the treasures that were left in the house of the Lord to bribe Baasha to leave off building Rama. He neither ought to have doubted God's help or to have used sacred things to procure any worldly advantage. He reigned 41 years. Jehosaphat shewed the same zeal in destroying idolatry; but by afterwards suffering his son Jehoram to marry Athaliah (the daughter of the wicked Ahab king of Israel) he brought destruction and unhappiness into his family.This shews how careful we ought to be, to form no connection whatever with wicked people. Jehosaphat reigned 21 years.

Uzziah or Azariah, was wise, good, and prosperous; It led him to pre

but success proved his misfortune.

sume to take upon himself the priest's office, and to burn incense in the house of God. He was immediately struck with leprosy, which never left him to the day of his death; and he dwelt apart according to the Jewish law. He reigned 51 years. His son Jotham exercised the office of king after this judgment fell upon his father. Jotham was also a good man. In the times of these two kings, the prophets, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Joel, and Micah, flourished, and the former was living in the reign of Hezekiah, another of the good kings of Judah. God blessed him greatly, and hearkened to his prayer in the time of sickness, and restored him to health; but he proved another instance of the dangers attending health and prosperity. When Berodach Baladan sent to congratulate Hezekiah upon his recovery, he gave way to pride and vanity in shewing the Babylonian messengers all his treasures; neither did he give the praise of his restored health sufficiently to God Almighty; and he ought to have been most particular in doing so to those idolaters, because they believed that their God, the Sun, had been the means of it. You may remember that the sign of Hezekiah's recovery, was shewn by Isaiah's crying unto the Lord, and bringing back the shadow of the Sun ten degrees. Hezekiah reigned 29 years.