And Moses by command of the Lord put Aaron the Priest's Garments on Eleazar his son, on Mount Hor. And Aaron died there, on the top of the Mount. And all the Congregation mourned for Aaron thirty days.

And the Lord sent fiery Serpents among the People, and they bit the People, and much People of Israel died; and Moses by the Lord's Commandment made a Serpent of Brass, and put it on a Pole, and when any Man that had been bitten, looked on the Brazen Serpent he lived.

And Israel went on journeying in the Wilderness, and fought against Sihon King of the Amorites, and Og the King of Basan, and subdued them.

CHAPTER 37.

BALAK AND BALAAM.

AND the Children of Israel pitched in the Plains of Moab, on this side Jordan by Jericho.

And Balak the King of Moab saw what Israel had done to the Amorites, and was afraid. He sent Messengers therefore to Balaam the Prophet to say, Come and curse me this People.—And God said to Balaam, Thou shall not go, nor curse this People, for they are blessed.

And Balak sent again Princes, more honorable than the former, but Balaam said, If Balak would give me his house full of Silver and Gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord to do less or more.-And Balaam tempted God; for having still an evil desire to go to this great King, and accompany these Princes,-Ambition and covetousness are subtle tempters,-Balaam enquired again of the Lord, and God said unto Balaam, Go with the men, but the word which I shall say, that shalt thou speak.

And Balaam saddled his Ass, and went with the Princes of Moab ;-but God was angry because he went, and as he was riding upon his Ass, and his two Servants with him, an Angel stood in the way, with his sword drawn: and the Ass turned aside and went into the Field. And Balaam smote the Ass, but the Angel stood in a path with a wall on each side, and the Ass thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. And the Angel stood again in a narrow place, and the Ass fell down under Balaam; and the Lord opened the mouth of the Ass, and she pleaded unto Balaam, but Balaam said, I would now there were a sword in my hand, for then would I kill thee. Then Balaam saw the Angel, and bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. And the Angel said, I came up to withstand thee because thy way is perverse, -but the Angel said, Go on with the Men. And Balak came out to meet Balaam, and took him unto an high place, whence he might see the Children of Israel.

Then Balaam said-The King of Moab hath brought me from the East saying, Come curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel,-How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? For from the top of the Rocks I behold him.-Lo the People dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the Nations.-Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the Righteous and let my last end be like his.

And Balak brought Balaam to the Top of Pisgah, hoping that he would curse Israel from thence; but Balaam blessed Israel again.—And again Balak brought Balaam unto the Top of Peor, but Balaam again blessed Israel, and prophesied that Israel should destroy the Nations of that Country, and that his Kingdom should

be exalted;-There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the Children of Sheth. And Balaam gave counsel to Balak, that he should entice the Israelites to Idolatry, and that then he might destroy them;-For Balaam was a wicked Prophet, and he met with an untimely end.

CHAPTER 38.

THE NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE.

THEN Moses numbered the Children of Israel, in the Plains of Moab, for the Lord said unto Moses, that the Land should be divided among them according to the numbers of their Tribes. Now there was not a Man of them left whom Moses and Aaron had numbered in the beginning of their journey, in the Wilderness of Sinai, save only Caleb and Joshua, as the Lord before had said.

Then the Lord said unto Moses, Get thee up into this Mount Abarim, and see the Land which I have given unto the Children of Israel. And when thou has seen it, thou also shalt be gathered unto thy People, as Aaron thy Brother was,-for ye disobeyed my command at the Waters of Meribah.-God will be obeyed in every action, and every word; disobedience will be punished in the most righteous, and the most exalted.

And Moses said, Let the Lord set a Man over the Congregation, that they be not as Sheep which have no Shepherd. And the Lord said, Take thee Joshua the Son of Nun, and set him before Eleazar the Priest, and before all the Congregation. And Moses did so, and laid his hands upon him and gave him a charge as the Lord commanded.

Then the Children of Israel fought against the Midianites, and slew their five Kings; Balaam also their Prophet, they slew with the sword.--And the Tribes of Reuben and Gad, besought Moses to let them take for their possession the Country they had conquered, before they passed the River Jordan, and they promised that they would leave their wives and their little ones in that Land, and that they would go on with the rest of Israel to the yonder side of Jordan, until the promised Land was subdued. And Moses permitted them.

And the Lord commanded Moses, that when the Children of Israel had passed over Jordan into the Land of Canaan, they should drive out all the Inhabitants of that Land, and divide that Land by lot.-And Moses described and pointed out the boundaries of the Land, and the names of the persons, one Prince from every Tribe, with Eleazar and Joshua, that should divide the Land. And Moses gave many Commandnents unto the Children of Israel as the Lord commanded Moses.

Thus ends the Book of Numbers,-at the end of the forty years journeying of the Children of Israel in the Wilderness, that peculiar people, whom God chose out from among the Nations, to preserve his Name upon the Earth; and by whom alone, amidst all their repeated sins and provocations, the knowledge of the true God was preserved; until, in the fulness of time, God sent his only Son Jesus Christ to redeem all the World, and call every living soul through faith in him, to the assurance of everlasting happiness in Heaven.

F

CHAPTER 39.

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY.

MOSES wrote the first five Books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, which are called from their number the Pentateuch. We have gone through the first four of these Books, and are now come to the last of them, DEUTERONOMY.

"These be the words which Moses spake unto all "Israel in the Wilderness."-Thus begins the Book of Deuteronomy,—and in it, Moses called to the remembrance of the Israelites, the many instances in which they had experienced God's favour, the success and victories which had marked their progress, the murmurs by which they had provoked God, and the effects of God's anger.

Moses himself, God had declared should never enter the promised Land; but he earnestly exhorts the Israelites to obey all God's Laws and Commandments, when they should enter into Canaan,--that they might become a wise and understanding Nation, and choose life and good, rather than death and evil.

This Book was written in the fortieth year after the departure from Egypt, and in the year of the World 2552.

CHAPTER 40.

THE WORDS OF MOSES.

AND thus said Moses,-Hearken O Israel unto the Statutes and Judgments which I teach you for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the Land which the Lord God of your Fathers giveth you.-Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may