sustain the faith of Abraham by promises made under the star-lighted firma ment and under the glowing blushes of the dawn. Surely such communio was a rich compensation for the abandonment of Uz of the Chaldees, whe his heart burned within him as he listened to the accents of Deity floating on the midnight sky. But the "reward" was for ever unfolding its fulness. When Abraham was dead it still hovered as the cloud of glory over his descendants, and she an effulgent light upon their history. How transcendently has the promis Been fulfilled made to Abraham in sight of the glowing and spangled heave alive with constellations from one side to the other-"So shall thy se: be." Numerous as the stars they have been, and luminaries of all the ear have they been also. The chief lights of mankind have been and still a the sons of Abraham Legislators, historians, poets, prophets, apostlesthese stars of the Hebrew heaven still shine down upon this valley of th shadow of death the heralds of immortality. And, chief of all, flames in th forehead of the East that Morning Star, who has grown into a Sun Righteousness, and turned our night to day. The "reward" accompanied Abraham when he died into the world of spirit His spirit was at rest in a region far from Macpelah, but it was in a state s calm and so holy that " Abraham's bosom " became the name of the paradis of souls. Thither went the souls of the just, through all succeedin ages, until the hour when Jesus himseif "descended into Hade." And Abra ham" saw his day" and was "glad." Resting there in the bosom of h God, he awaited that resurrection from the dead, in the faith of which died, and through the faith of which he had been called to offer up Isaac willing sacrifice to Him "who only hath immortality." For "he looke for a city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." G had "prepared for him a city" in the sky, and hence was "not ashamed be called his God." Utterly inconceivable it would be that Abraham shou have travelled to Egypt, where thoughts of the life to come and of an eter blessedness filled all minds, and formed the theme of painters, sculpto musicians throughout the whole valley of the Nile, and have been dista guished there as the only man whose views were restricted to the visib horizon, the only man who had no hope beyond. And this man, forsoot the truest worshipper of the living God-of the Great Inhabitant of Eternity --so that, as some would have us believe, God, who inspired these dreams an endless future into the hearts of Egyptians and Hindoos, rear Abraham's faith by a steady refusal to grant him a glimpse of the invisi glories. Nay, verily, "He had respect to the recompense of the rewar The Inhabitant of Eternity would have been ashamed to have been called I GOD unless he had provided for him a home in heaven. A God who co not or would not give him that had no title to the name. But this Etern Being would have been degraded by owning himself the God of a sinful as shortlived creature such as man, if his hopes were limited by time. He the Maker of animals, but not their "God" We cannot even conceive the Holy and Everlas ing Being calling himself the "God" of insects and ear worms, of moles and bats, or of men who resemble them. A God mea ven more than a Father. And He would have been ashamed to be called te "God of Abraham" unless he had made a suitable and godlike provision for um in the realms of glory. It was towards this goal that Abraham looked, i it is towards this blessed hope that all things are moving. The very oyments of heaven are spoken of as having Abraham among the chief personages to share in them. "They shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God." How great those enjoyments will be, and through what an unsearchable eternity they will endure, no tongue can tell. The greatness of the Gospel rings, however, need not "stagger" us; since it is not so much our qications which are consulted in the bestowment as the Divine majesty. "Him are all things." God would be ashamed to be called their God s he wrought on a scale of wondrous mercy and power answerable to the infinity of the Nature whence redemption springs. If it were not that God took all the measures of redemption from Himself and not from us, it would seem to Him only like revealing Himself as the God of a world of faded leaves, r to a momentary vanishing swarm of fire-flies. But the greatness of the Divine mercy magnifies the objects of His grace, and the "seed of Abraham" is destined to inherit the glory of its God. He could well afford to be a stranger and a sojourner on earth, for whom was reserved so rich an appanage as Paradise itself. He could well endure dwell in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob" under the heats or rigours of the Syrian sky, who was destined to dwell with God Himself for ever der that starlighted canopy of the everlasting heavens, which He will stretch forth as a tent to dwell in," in the immeasurable journey down the And even so may we, who are of the same faith, and whose s are lifted up to the same grand realities that loom, vast and glorious, and this world of shadows, well afford to submit ourselves patiently to the changes and the chances of this mortal life, "knowing that if this earthly se of our tent be dissolved we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." ages to come. THE DEATH OF MOSES. BY THE EDITOR. "S Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Mob, over against Beth-peor : no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."-Deut. xxxiv. 5-6. Or all the grand heroic men who, aring six thousand years, have walked earth and taken part in its affairs, there are few who for greatness and goodness combined can be compared with MOSES. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant, just as Christ the Lord is the mediator of the New; and his whole life and character was in harmony with the dignity of his office-an office that was conferred upon him amidst the grandest manifestations by Jehovah himself. Referring to the way in which he is mentioned in the Bible, we find him ever spoken of by his successors in the service of God with profound affection and respect. In the passage quoted above, he is called, with an obviously special significance, "Moses the servant of God;" in other parts of the Old Testament he is honoured with the same or a similar designation; and if we turn to the New Testament writings, we find that it was he who, with Enoch and Elijah, was deputed to be present at the Transfiguration of the Lord; while in the Book of the Revelation we are told that, in heaven, those who "have gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over the number of his name, and who stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God, sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb." (Rev. xv. 3.) The incidents of Moses's life are of the most wonderful character. We all remember-how should we forget it?-the story of his birth. We remember how he grew up to be "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, mighty in words and deeds.' We remember how, "when he was come to years, he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Then we have his retirement into the mountains and into the desert. There the Lord appeared to him in the burning bush. There he was taught, as all great men must be, by the discipline of solitude. From the desert he returned to the Court of Pharaoh. His "mighty words and deeds" in the presence of Pharaoh are part of the story of our childhood. Next we see him by the shore of the Red Sea. We wonderingly watch him, and the people with him, pass through the Red Sea as it had been dry land. On the other side of the Red Sea, we find him at once the Leader, the Lawgiver, the Judge, the Prophet, the King of the People. There he talked with God. There God spake to him face to face. There for forty years he led the people by a way that they knew not to the land that the Lord their God had promised them. There at last, at the very entrance to that land he died. "Moses the servant of th Lord died there in the land of Moat according to the word of the Lord." It is not, however, with the incident of his life, but with his death, tha we have to do now. But, in order t understand the significance of his death we must go back somewhat. W begin, then, with the first month o the fortieth year from the Exodus. I that month we find the Israelites : Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zi which they had left thirty-seven year before. But how much had happened t them during that thirty-seven years How often and how grievously ha they sinned against God! How much had they suffered on account of the transgressions! It is probable that o the thousands who, thirty-seven year since, had walked that wilderness, but few were now left to visit it again! But the discipline of those weary years had not overcome their rebellious disposition. Again, as thirty-seven years before, they found themselves in want of water. Again, as thirty-seven year before, they "gathered themselve together against Moses and against Aaron." It was at this moment that Moses committed the one sin of hi life. The account of it will be found in the twentieth chapter of the Book of Numbers. (Read Numb. xx. 6-12 What was the precise nature of Moses' sin it is not easy to say. It would be useless to trouble ourselves with the many speculations on the subjec which have been made by learned and unlearned expositors. Evidently, his sin was a sin of unbelief. "Becaus believed me not." It was an omission to sanctify, or glorify, the Lord. "To st tify me in the eyes of the children of Israel." It found its expression, partly at least. in unadvised or angry speech. cause they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips." (Psalm evi. 33.) Probably the sin included the three elements, of unbelief, presumption, and impatience. Moses was one of the greatest heroes of faith, but for once his faith wavered: he was one of the humblest of men, but for once "Be presumed he was meek," very we are told, above all the men on the ce of the earth," but for once he was ry and impatient, and spoke and peted unworthily of his sacred office. Whatever was the nature of Moses's , it met with a speedy punishment. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to tify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." (Numb. xx. 12.) How terrible this punishment was it j easy to understand. If there was ne prospect that had sustained Moses during the wanderings of forty years, it was the prospect of bringing the people into that pleasant land," that and flowing with milk and honey.' There at last his weary feet would find rest. There he would be recognised as the hero-the conqueror. There the people who had so often doubted him would find that he had led them all along by a right way. To have died in the wilderness would scarcely have been hard. Often, when the people rebelled against his authority, his heart must have sunk within him, and he must have said, as so many bere and since have done, Let e die and not live!" But now, when he had brought the people thus far-now, when he had borne with them so long now, when the mountains of the Promised Land were rising before him-now, to diech, this must have been terrible to fish and blood! No wonder that he should have "besought the Lord at that time, I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon." (Deut. iv. 25.) It was just now that his heart was made sorer by the death of his sister Miriam. That sister who, as a young rl, had watched over his cradle, and had aided in his deliverance - that der who had shared in the sacred mission of her brothers sister who had sung that glorious song of triumph on the shore of the Red Sea that sister was now called away. Only a few weeks have passed, and Aaron also is removed. Amidst circumstances almost as singular as those attending the departure of Moses himself, Aaron, the high priest, was 'gathered unto his people.' And now the aged warrior, bereft thus of his beloved ones, pursued his own way to the grave. Not that even 66 now he neglected a single duty, or was in the smallest degree neglectful of the trust committed to his charge. Still he led the people as aforetime; still he fought their enemies for them; still he interceded with God successfully on their behalf. But henceforth his way was solitary. The friends of his youth were gone. The hopes of his life were disappointed. Brave, grand old man! As he marches on to that "valley in the land of Moab," does he not remind us of another Grand One, who, when long centuries had elapsed, "set himself steadfastly to go to Jerusalem"? Only a few months have now to pass, and the work of Moses is finished. The Israelites have made their last encampment on the eastern side of the Jordan. There, in the desert plains of Moab, the wanderings of the forty years were over; there, before their delighted vision, lay the mountains and the plains of the Promised Land; there, at last, the command came to Moses-" Get thee up into this mount, and die in the mount whither thou goest up." (Deut. xxxii. 48-50.) It is not difficult to follow Moses as he obeys the Divine command. He has sung his last songs-those songs that still ring through the centuries-and he has given the people his last warning and blessing. Now he ascends. As he ascends, he perhaps hears from below the chant of the Ninetieth Psalm." "Amidst the tears of the people, the The writer would like to venture very respectfully the suggestion, whether the Ninetieth Psalm was not written, not by Moses, but as a Funeral Hymn for Moses after his departure. This thought, if it be true, gives a new and beautiful significance to the Psalm. 66 66 women beating their breasts, and the children giving way to uncontrolled wailing," he at length disappears. Higher and yet higher now he pursues his solitary way. Not strange to his feet, though forty years unknown, the roughness of the bare mountain path, as he climbs from ledge to ledge of Abarim: not strange to his aged eyes the scattered clusters of the mountain herbage, and the broken shadows of the cliffs, indented far across the vilence of uninhabited ravines." * It was amidst scenes such as these that in his youth he had so often led his flocks. It was from scenes such as these that he had been torn to do his life-work. Now, amidst similar scenes, the weary hands that had been so long stayed up against the armies of Amalets, lean again upon the shepherd's staff, and fold themselves for the shepherd's prayer, the shepherd's slumber." As he ascends, the view opens before him. "The Lord," we are told, "showed him all the land." It was the peak dedicated to Nebo on which he stood. Beneath him lay the tents of Israel ready for the march; and over against them, distinctly visible in its grove of Palm-trees, the stately Jericho, key of the Land of Promise. The Dead Sea lay waveless before him; beyond it the whole range of the mountains of Palestine; the hazy recesses spoke of quiet valleys between the hills; and amidst the hills, seen distinctly in the dim distance, were Hermon, the mount of the Transfiguration, Bethlehem, on its narrow ridge, and the invincible fortress of Jebus. And this was the Promised Land! This was that "goodly land," that land flowing with milk and honey!" This was the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed! This was the land to which for five hundred years the Israelites had been looking forward, and towards which for forty years they had been struggling along their weary way! How beautiful the land must Josephus. have been in the eye of Moses,-mor beautiful because it was not to be t land! Beautiful it would be, whethe in its morning brightness, its meridian glory, or its sunset's glow! And how much Moses saw in that vision, beside that which was visible to the mor tal eye, we cannot tell. Perhap it was revealed to him, by th Lord who spoke to him, what event would hereafter happen at Bethlehem perhaps he was told how on Hermo: the mount of the Transfiguration, h would meet the Lord again; perhap he was told, even before that meeting of the Decease that should be ace plished one day at Jerusalem. Whe ther he saw all this or not, may be assured that he had anothe vision. As the sun set, and the dark ness fell, upon the Canaan he migh see but not go thither," another and a better Canaan burst upon his view. As the waters of the Jordan became lost in the twilight, he saw more clearly" the river of the water of lite which runs through the Paradise of God;" as the mountains hid their grim foreheads in the darkness, the mout of God rose before his enraptured gaze; as the chant of wailing and of sorrow ceased from the valley below him, his ears opened to the song of triumph of the ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands who are before the throre. "So Moses, the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord. AL he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor; but no man knoweth of his sepulchre this day." There are some reflections naturally suggested by this narrative, which are too important to be altogether omitted. 1. The first reflection is the very obvious one of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. I might indeed say that the first reflection is that of the universality of sin. I believe it is true that there + Ruskin. |