fault in the Bible; how much more should children watch lest their spirit should be provoked, and they should speak unadvisedly and hastily with their lips?

I remark,

IV. Moses' earnest PRAYERS TO GOD.

The history of Moses is full of accounts of his earnest prayers. I will mention two or three instances.

First, When Joshua was fighting with the Amalekites in a place called Rephidim, Moses was on the top of the hill. And when he held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand through weariness, Amalek prevailed. Upon this, Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on one side and the other on the other; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun, and the Amalekites were beaten; and Moses built an altar, and called the name of it, Jehovah Nissi, The Lord is my banner. This was meant to show, amongst other things, the earnestness and efficacy of Moses' prayers.

Secondly, The second instance is when the people made the golden calf. Moses was on the mount Sinai receiving the law. The people were impatient, and bid Aaron make them gods

2 Exodus, xvii. 8-15.

to go before them. Aaron told them to break off their golden ear-rings, and from these he made a molten calf. Upon this base and wicked rebellion of the people, the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiffnecked people; now therefore let me alone that I may consume them, and I will make of thee a great nation. Upon this, Moses besought the Lord with earnest prayer for the people, and the Lord heard him. And afterwards, when Moses came down and actually saw the calf and the dancing, and cast the two tables of the law out of his hand, and brake them beneath the mount, he again prayed for the people, and God forgave them. Thus he stood before the Lord in the gap to turn away his wrathful indignation, lest he should destroy them.

Thirdly, The third case is, when Moses was the second time forty days and forty nights on the mount of Sinai in immediate prayer and communion with God; so that when he came down the skin of his face shone; and the people were afraid to come nigh him, and he put a veil over his face when he spake with them. Such indeed were the earnest prayers of Moses and his near approach to God, that the Bible says, there was no prophet like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.

My children, take Moses as your example as to prayer. I mean not as to the miraculous

part of his history-but as to his spirit of prayer to God and communion with him. A child may pray in his troubles, as Moses did in his. A child may overcome a wicked temper by prayer, as Moses did the Amalekites. A child may gain blessings for others, a child may turn away God's anger, a child may stand in the gap, a child may have fellowship and converse with God, though in a feeble way, as well as Moses of old had.

1

These bless-
But besides

If you ask me what a child should pray for, I will tell you. Pray to God to give you repentance and sorrow for your sins. Pray for faith to put your trust in the merits of Jesus Christ. Pray for a new heart and a right spirit and temper. Pray for love to God and man. Pray for grace to do your duty. ings you must always pray for. these, if you have been naughty at any time, pray that God would forgive that particular sin; if you feel any strong temptation to what is wrong, pray for strength to overcome it. If you have heard a sermon, put up a prayer like this: O Lord, bless the sermon I have been hearing to-day, and make me a better child by it. If your friends or yourself have been sick, pray that God would restore them to health. Thus, besides repeating the prayer you have been taught by your parents, make a little prayer out of your own heart. And whenever

you say your prayers, think of what you are about-remember God knows every thought of your heart-remember you are making your prayers, not to your parent who is with you whilst you say them, but to the great God of heaven and earth.

This is my fourth remark from the life of Moses: be earnest in your prayers to God. And the fourth DIRECTION I give, is, seek the grace of God's blessed Spirit to teach you to pray. You cannot pray without the help of the Holy Spirit. His influence is just as needful as the air you breathe.

I come now to remark,

V. Moses' FAITH IN THE PROMISED MESSIAH OR SAVIOUR. This is the last part of the sermon; and I shall not keep you much longer, in speaking about it.

As Moses lived a great many years before Christ was born, he did not know all the truths of his death and sufferings as we do; but still he had faith in Christ as the future Saviour. The Bible says, in the verses I have just read from the Epistle to the Hebrews, that by faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt.

All the good men of old had the same faith in the Messiah who was to be born into the

world. Abel and Enoch and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets rejoiced to see Christ's day, and saw it, and were glad3. There are two things in the life of Moses which I will mention, as showing his faith in the Saviour.

First, The one is, the many prophecies he delivered of Christ; particularly in Deuteronomy, xviii. 15. The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken. Indeed, our Lord, when upon earth, said expressly to the Jews, If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.

Secondly, The other is, the many types and figures of the death and sufferings of Christ which he set up. The paschal Lamb and the other sacrifices were all types of the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. But the brazen serpent is perhaps the most striking one. When the people spoke against God and against Moses, as they journeyed from Mount Hur by the way of the Red Sea, the Lord sent fiery serpents and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Moses was then commanded to make a serpent of brass and put it upon a pole; and it came to pass that