But the voice of God It is said that after the people had done sacrificing to their idol," they sat down to eat and drink, and then rose up to play." Let us leave the guilty multitude in the valley, and ascend the holy sanctuary on Mount Sinai" The Lord said unto Moses I have seen this people, and behold it is a stiff-necked people; Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation." Exod. xxxii. 9, 10. But Moses was above all selfish considerations, and his regard for Israel, notwithstanding the base ingratitude which he had experienced, was paternal. Again did Moses ascend the holy mountain, where he prayed, confessing the sins of the people, and with earnestness soliciting the Divine forgiveness. The mediation of Moses in behalf of his people was not only effectual for their pardon, but also the continuance of Jehovah's presence with them as their conductor; a favour which they had justly forfeited by their idolatry. Jesus Christ, who called Moses from the bush, and who conducted the people in the wilderness, when he came in the flesh to open the way to eternal life for us, endured not only the contradiction of sinners, but the treachery of friends, and when mocked by the infatuated multitude, his prayer was, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." As a punishment for their infidelity, the Israelites were obliged to remove from the border of the promised 240 land, and to return again into the Arabian Desert, towards the Red Sea. whose high office now Moses in figure bears Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Acts iii. 22. 249 By his prescript a sanctuary is fram'd 256 Of cedar, overlaid with gold: And they shall make an ark of shittim wood; two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. And thou shalt put in to the ark a testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy seat. And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. Exod. xxv. 10. over the tent a cloud Shall rest by day, And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the 1 tabernacle. And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud were not taken up, then they journeyed not until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout their journeys. Exod. xl. 35. 259 Conducted by his Angel, to the land Promis'd to Abraham and his seed: it. Now after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, that the Lord spoke unto Joshua, Moses's minister, saying, There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee. Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, Pass through the host, and command the people, in three days ye shall pass this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God giveth you to possess Though the Almighty ordained that his people should enter and possess Canaan, he would not allow them to gain it without great exertions. The first place that presented itself against them was Jericho, a city of great strength. Jericho was entirely destroyed, and Joshua pronounced a curse, in the spirit of prophecy, upon the man who should rebuild it. Another strict regard of Joshua for justice was in the case of the Gibeonites. : This people being greatly alarmed at the progress of Israel, and sensible that there was no chance of escaping the destruction about to fall upon the 276 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 tribes, reserving nothing for his own family. The people, however, bestowed upon him Timnath-serah for his portion, and there he fixed his residence. 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 289 that love him, and which he has now revealed unto us by his spirit. 1 Cor. ii. 9, 10. that when they see 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 us 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 |