the English, the Spanish, and others; but though they are still numerous, they live apart, scattered among all people; and there are some in Turkey, in Germany, in Russia, in France, in Spain, in England, in America and in many other countries; a wonderful thing, which has not happened to any other nation in the world. See how true God is to his word, and what a dreadful thing it is to continue obstinately to sin against his commands.

All these things, and many others of a like kind, Moses wrote, and he ordered these laws to be read to all the people at one of their solemn feasts, once in every seven years. None were to be without hearing them; for, said he, "Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and the stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law. And that their children which have not known anything, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live in the land, whither you go over Jordan to possess it."

THE

Moses warned of his Death.-Moses's Song.

DEUTERONOMY XXXI., XXXII.

HE Lord now told Moses that he soon must die, and he ordered him to write a song or history in verse, that might remind Israel of all that God had done for them, and warn them against the danger of forsaking him and turning to false gods; and this song would, by being often sung, be fixed in the people's memories, and hand down their wonderful history from father to son, and from generation to generation. This song is contained in the thirty-second chapter; a few parts you will, perhaps, want to be explained.

Moses begins by saying, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain: my speech shall distil as the dew." What he means by this is, that what he should say should be designed to do the people as much good as the rain and the dew bring to the barren earth when they descend upon it.

Then he says God is a rock; that is, God is strong as a rock is strong, and he is immovable as a rock is immovable; that they are safe, indeed, that put their trust in him.

He says also, that with a tender care, like that of an eagle towards her young ones, God had guarded Israel; he made him ride on high or proud places of the earth, as a conqueror on his charger; "he made him to suck

honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock," meaning that in Canaan he had given him to enjoy that abundance of honey which there was there, and which the bees sometimes made in the rocks, in the holes of which they formed their hives; and oil, also, which was got out of trees. found among the rocks.

But he also sings, "Jeshurun."-a name he gives to Israel-"Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked;" meaning that when Israel had abundance, then the nations grew proud or insolent, like an overfed beast, that would turn and kick the hand that had fed it.

And now God ordered Moses to go up into Mount Abarim, the highest part of which was Mount Nebo, and here he might see the land of Canaan; but because he had trespassed against God at the waters of Meribah, in the wilderness of Zin, he was never to enter into it.

MOSE

Death of Moses.-Joshua becomes Leader of Israel.

DEUTERONOMY XXXIII., XXXIV.

OSES, inspired from Heaven, now blesses Israel, and like Jacob foretells the future lot of the twelve tribes. It would keep us too long to explain all that is here said; you will, however, read, that he said of the tribe of Joseph, "His horns are like the horns of unicorns." Horns, in Scripture, when applied to people, mean power; and as the unicorn is a most powerful animal, Joseph's tribe are thus described as being very strong, so that they shall beat their enemies whenever they assail them.

Again, you will read about Zebulun, that "They shall suck of the abundance of the seas;" for that tribe were to have part of the sea-coast to live upon, and so to fish, and become merchants, by which they should live, as infants live by drawing milk from their mothers' breasts; and Issachar should get support by treasures hid in the sand, perhaps by pearls and corals, which are found there by the sea-side.

Further, Dan is called "a lion's whelp; " meaning that that tribe should be like a lion, springing suddenly and powerfully upon its enemies. Asher must "dip his foot in oil;" that is, the ground to be given to that tribe should be well planted with trees producing oil, so that it should be so abundant, that they might be said to tread in it; as we say sometimes of a rich man, that he rolls in riches, by which we do not mean that he lies down and turns himself over in his heaps of money, but that he has a very

large quantity. Moreover, it is foretold of this tribe, "Thy shoes shall be iron and brass;" not that they should have shoes made of iron and brass, for who could wear them on all occasions? but that they should tread upon ground, like our California, where mines of precious metal are in abundance under the feet.

So, further on, you read of God's riding "upon the heaven." This is very grand, and is meant to show us that God manages all the affairs of heaven, and that he directs even the clouds, and the tempests, and the winds, by his providence, with as much ease as a skilful rider manages a noble horse, or a skilful driver his chariot.

You will now, we hope, have a kind of key to unlock the meaning of some expressions of the above kind, which you could not before understand; and when any expression of a similar nature happens to puzzle you, and appear absurd and contradictory, and impossible, only think that it must mean something of what we have just told you, and then the difficulty will be overcome.

And now we come to the death of Moses, which you shall have in the words in which it is described in the Bible: "So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there, in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.

"And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.

"And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

"And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel."

Joshua now became the leader of Israel. "And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him," to pray to God to give him his spirit, "and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the Lord commanded Moses."

JOSHUA:

TAKES its name from the pious and brave leader, whoso great victories and acts it records, and who succeeded to Moses in the government of the Israelites. It was written by Joshua, and gives a history of about thirty years. In it is shown God's faithfulness, and it seems to be a valuable sequel to the Books of Moses, just as in the New Testament the Acts seem to be to the Gospels. The book is divided into twenty-four chapters.

Joshua passes Jordan.-Joshua meets an Angel.

JOSHUA J.-V.

FTER the death of Moses, God now commanded Joshua to take possession of the land which he promised that Israel should inherit; and he told him to be of good courage, and only to mind the holy law and obey it, and he should be sure to prosper.

Joshua then gave orders to the officers of the people to provide victuals for marching; and he desired the Reubenites and Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, who had already got their possessions, to join their brethren and assist in taking the land, which they honorably agreed to do, as they had before promised.

"And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even Jericho: and they went and came unto a harlot's house, named Rahab, and lodged there."

A harlot means a very wicked woman, and as persons who kept inns were not always the most moral, they all got this name. But it is reasonably thought, that Rahab was not so bad as the name means, but only an inn-keeper, where these spies went to lodge; for it does not seem likely that good men would, if they could help it, go to lodge with so vile a person as a harlot means, and much less can we suppose that Salmon, a Jewish prince, would afterwards have married such an one; but he did marry Rahab. (See Matt. i. 5.)

The king of Jericho soon learnt that there were spies entered into his