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nations of Canaan, sent a deputation to Joshua, pretending they belonged to a distant country, and courting his alliance, and the treaty was confirmed, for Joshua had too sacred a regard to truth to violate a treaty that he had entered into, even though the conduct of the Gibeonites had been fraudulent. When the other Canaanitish nations heard of this alliance, they were provoked against the Gibeonites, and declared war against them. Joshua marched to the assistance of his new allies, and defeated their enemies. On this occasion a miracle occurred: As the people were engaged in the pursuit of the Amorites, Joshua said, "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves of their enemies." When the conquest of Canaan was accomplished, Joshua made a satisfactory division of it among the different tribės, reserving nothing for his own family. The people, however, bestowed upon him Timnath-serah for his portion, and there he fixed his residence.

1

but now I see

His day, in whom all nations shall be blest ;

Adored be that gracious providence that determined our existence to begin in that happy day which prophets and patriarchs desired to see, and in the distant view of which Abraham rejoiced. Let it be also our joy; for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; nor could the hearts of those holy men fully conceive those things which God had prepared for them

1.

that love him, and which he has now revealed unto us by his spirit. 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10..

Law can discover sin,

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but of the Spirit. Rom. viii. 4.

293 Some blood more precious must be paid for man;

Let that blood, which is our redemption, be our confidence. We know there was no real efficacy in that of bulls or of goats, or in the ashes of an heifer, sprinkling the unclean. All these things could do was to purify the flesh, and to restore man to an external communion with God, in the Jewish sanctuary. But the blood of Christ can purify the conscience, and restore its peace when troubled, when tortured with a sense of a guilt contracted by dead works, which render as unfit for, and incapable of, divine converse. To that blood, therefore, let us look: let the death of Christ be remembered as the great spotless sacrifice by which we draw nigh unto God; since it so expressly said, that the Holy Ghost signified in some degree the great and important doctrines of the gospel, by the constitution of the Jewish ritual; let us think of that ritual, whatever obscurity may attend it in part, with a hecoming esteem; and peruse it with a view to the great antitype, who is in every sense the end of the law for righteousnes to every one that believeth; to him who, by fulfilling it, hath given it a glory much brighter than that which was reflected upon

it from the face of Moses, or the most splendid magnificence of Solomon's temple. Heb.

which the law by ceremonies

Cannot appease,

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Rom. v. 1.

302 Up to a better covenant, disciplin'd

From shadowy types to truth,

He is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. viii. 6.

304 From imposition of strict laws to free

Heb.

With pleasure let us compare the dispensation of Jesus with that of Moses, and observe the excellency of its superior grace and of its brighter truth: but let us remember as a necessary consequence of this, that if the despisers of Moses law died without mercy, they shall be thought worthy of a much sorer punishment, and a more aggravated condemnation, who tread under foot the Son of God. Heb. x. 28, 29.

To filial,

from servile fear

Faith which worketh by love. Gal. v. 6. 310 But Joshua, whom the Gentiles Jesus call, His name and office bearing,

323

And the name of Joshua, or Jesus, signifies a Saviour. Joshua was in many things a type of Jesus.

that his regal throne

For ever shall endure;

And thine house, and thy kingdom shall be

established for ever before thee, thy throne shall be established for ever. 2 Sam. vii. 16.

Of David

that of the royal stock

The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Luke i. 32.

342 To that proud city, whose high wall thou sawest Left in confusion: Babylon thence call'd.

This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Jer. xxv. 11. 346and his covenant sworn To David 'stablish'd as the days of Heaven.

Thus saith Jehovah; If you can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant of the night, then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant. Jer. xxxiii. 20, 21.

the house of God

They first re-edify;

Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his own city. Ezra ii. 1. And some of the chief of the fathers, when they came to the house of the Lord which is at Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to set it up in his place. They gave after their ability unto the treasure of the work threescore and one thousand drams of gold, and five thousand pounds of silver,

360

But

and one hundred priests garments. And when
the builders laid the foundation of the temple of
the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel
with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of
Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after
the ordinance of David, king of Israel.
many of the priests and Levites and chief of the
fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the
first house, when the foundation of the house was
laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice;
and many shouted for joy. Ezra iii. 10, 11, 12.
yet at his birth a star,

Unseen before în Heaven,

For, behold, there were certain sages, that is, wise and learned men (who, on account of their applying themselves to the study of natural philosophy, were called magi) that had observed a bright and unusual luminary in the heavens, which they were taught to understand as an intimation that a very illustrious person was then born in Judea, who was destined by God to that universal empire, the fame and expectation of which had spread so far in those parts; they therefore came from the east country where they dwelt, to Jerusalem, the capital of the Jewish kingdom and there they began the enquiry which had occasioned them to undertake so long a journey, saying to those who they thought, might be most likely to inform them, saying, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. Matt. ii. 2.