The use of all these rites and ceremonies was to remind the Israelites of their great Creator, for they were very apt to forget Him, and to fall into the idolatrous practices of the wicked nations around. them. Jehovah, therefore, gave them these rites, that He might keep them separate from other people, and that there might be one country of the earth in which the knowledge of Himself would be preserved.

But we must not suppose that these burdensome rites were intended for us. Christ has done away with the law of Moses, and has told us that the true way to please God is to love Him with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and our neighbour as ourself. He has told us also that God is a spirit, and that if we worship Him in spirit and in truth, He will hear us, and will accept our prayers, wherever it is that they are of fered to Him, Let us then be very thankful for this pure and holy religion

of Jesus Christ, and let us act always in such a manner that we may be accounted his true disciples, and admitted at last into his heavenly kingdom.

THE PROMISED LAND.

(Exodus iii. 8, xxxiii. 1-3; Numbers xiii. xiv.; Deut. xxxiv. 1—6.)

THE children of Israel wandered for forty years in the wilderness; and during all this time they were fed with food from heaven, and their clothes did not grow old, neither did their shoes wear off their feet.

But God had promised to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, that their descendants should possess a land flowing with milk and honey, that is, a very rich and fertile land, and that they should drive out the wicked nations which dwelt there. So when the Israelites arrived on the borders of Canaan, (the

country which had been promised them,) Moses chose twelve men, one from each of the tribes; and he sent them to examine the land, to see whether it was as good as they expected. He told them to observe what sort of people dwelt there whether they were strong or weak, few or many; and whether they dwelt in tents or in strong holds; and whether the land was rich or poor, woody or open. He told them also to bring some of the fruits which they found, for it was now the time of the first ripe grapes.

These men are generally called the Twelve Spies; they went and searched the land as they had been directed; and after forty days they returned, and brought back with them some pomegranates, and figs, and one bunch of grapes so large that two men were obliged to carry it on a pole between them. This was enough to prove that the land was fruitful; and Caleb, one of those who had

seen it, would have had them go up immediately and take possession of it. But ten out of the twelve spies endeavoured to discourage their countrymen by telling them that the people who dwelt there were strong, and that they lived in cities with high walls, and that some of them were giants-and they were sure that they could not overcome them: in short, they gave such a bad account of the land, that the people murmured against Moses and Aaron, and said that they wished they had died in Egypt, instead of coming up into that miserable desert. Joshua and Caleb tried to make them believe that the land was a good and fruitful land, in which it would be pleasant to live, and that they had no reason to fear those who dwelt there, for that the Lord would give them the victory; but they would not listen to these good advisers, and they took up stones that they might stone them to death.

Upon this God was so much displeased

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that he declared that none of those, who had provoked him so much, should ever enter into that beautiful country, which he had promised to the children of Israel. He declared that all those who were grown up men at the time when they came out of Egypt, should die in the wilderness, because they had murmured against Him, and had not hearkened to his voice, and that only their children should enter into Canaan. Yet Joshua and Caleb, he said, should enter, because they had behaved well, and had given a good and a true report.

And it came to pass as God had spoken. Not one of those who were men when they quitted Egypt, entered into the land of Canaan, save only Joshua and Caleb. Moses himself was not allowed to enter; for, though he had been in general a good man, yet he had once or twice offended against God, and had not given to him the glory and the praise which he ought to have done. Yet God