casion the same divine influence counteracted the diabolical intentions of the wicked enemies of the Israelites. Balaam beheld the people in their career of conquest; he saw the strength of the nations withering before them; and as he rose in the inspiration of prophecy, he foretold the advent of the King of Kings to accomplish the glorious purposes of his grace; "I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not nigh: 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."

Describe the detestable proceedings and the miserable fate of these unhappy men.

While Balaam was thus compelled to bless, where it was expected he would curse, and to predict triumph and happiness, instead of misery and defeat, he was neither the friend of the Israelites, nor the friend of God. He was a memorable demonstration, how divine Providence can render the worst of men instrumental in the accomplishment of its designs. With diabolical depravity, this man recommended Balak to destroy the Israelites by the seductions of licentiousness; the advice was followed; the design was accomplished; the most beautiful of the Moabitish women were employed to entice the Israelites to the feasts of Baal-Peor, where the most abominable impurities were practised, without restraint and without shame; the Midianites, among whom these detestable festivals were celebrated, united in the hateful plan; multitudes of the Israelites fell into the snare; and to such a pitch of corruption and audacity did they proceed, that one of them, undismayed by the ravages of a pestilence inflicted by the divine judgment, a man of high rank in the tribe of Simeon, brought one of these prostituted women to his tent in the sight of the whole congregation, who were weeping before the door of the Tabernacle. The unhappy wretches were transfixed, as they lay in each other's arms, by the same dart, by Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron; his sacred heroism arrested the plague, and a tremendous retaliation was inflicted upon the Midianites. Numbers of their people were put to the

sword; their cattle and their possessions became the plunder of the conquerors; their wives were ultimately slain; and the insidious and impious Balaam, fell in the indiscriminate slaughter of the nation.

Where were the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh permanently settled?

The children of Reuben and Gad, perceiving that the conquered territories were admirably adapted for the pasturage of their numerous cattle, represented to Moses and to the princes of the congregation, their wish to have the country allotted to them for their inheritance. When a promise had been obtained from them, that they would not withhold their assistance from their brethren in the subjugation of Canaan, which was the great object now immediately before them, their request was granted; the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, were permanently settled in the region to the east of Jordan; numerous fortified cities were soon reared for the security of the defenceless members of the tribes; while all the men who were capable of bearing arms, held themselves in readiness to pass with their brethren the intervening stream of Jordan, and to execute the divine threatenings in the extirpation of the impious and abominable inhabitants of the land.

SECTION III.

THE DEATH AND CHARACTER OF MOSES.

DESCRIBE the last days of Moses.

THE wanderings of the Israelites in the desert were now over; they had reached the banks of Jordan; the promised land was before them; they were to have a country they could call their own; they were to dwell in cities, instead of pitching their moveable tents in the wilderness; and they were to bring into active operation the principles of their law, as the permanent proprietors of one of the most luxuriantly fertile regions of the globe. The arduous work of Moses was done. He

had conducted the people through their trying pilgrimage of forty years; though his strength by divine support had continued unimpaired, though, notwithstanding his great age, his step was not feeble, neither his sight dim, yet the time had come when he must die. For his "rebellion in the wilderness of Sin, in the strife of the congregation," he was never to tread the soil of Canaan, yet before his dissolution he was to be permitted to see the land-the land which had borne upon its bosom Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob-the land which was to be the splendid scene of the grandeur of their posterity-the land in which the Redeemer was to be incarnate, in which the great mystery of God was to be developed, and a spiritual empire was to be founded, commensurate with the boundaries of the earth, and the ages of eternity. The signal was given, the mandate came; "Get thee up into this mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given unto the children of Israel." The Abarim were high mountains extending far into the country of the tribe of Reuben, and of the Moabites, on both sides of the river Arnon. The elevations of Nebo, Pisgah, and Peor, were parts of this range. But the tender and patriotic solicitude of Moses for the people, induced him to forget himself when he remembered them. Enrapturing as the promised prospect must have been to his very soul, he could not fix his attention upon his own happy dissolution, and upon the last pledge of the divine favour he was to receive upon earth, until he had ascertained how the people were to be governed, and to whose direction they were to be entrusted after his departure. His anxiety was soon alleviated. He was commanded to take Joshua, whose valour, fidelity, talents, and piety had been most conspicuously proved on the most trying occasions, solemnly to institute him in the office of leader and commander of the people, and to inform him that he was to receive through Eleazar, counsel after the judgment of the Urim and Thummim.

What was meant by the Urim and Thummim?

The Urim and Thummim involved the possession of an immediate intercourse with God, who, in a myste

rious manner condescended to make known his will. Without entering upon any discussion of this most mysterious subject, it is enough to say, that the person consulting God in this unknown manner, was the high-priest, in the Holy Place, before the veil which concealed the Holy of Holies; it was a custom adopted only upon occasions of the utmost importance, and then too upon affairs which related to the general concerns of the nation. How God gave his directions, whether by an audible voice, or in some other method, it is impossible now to ascertain.

What was the last charge of Moses to the Israelites?

Moses knowing that his last hour was approaching, that his prayers, his blessings, his judgments, the great business of his life, were finished, summoned the whole congregation to receive his last instructions. He recapitulated to the people the dispensations of God in the wilderness; he repeated the great maxims and fundamental principles of the divine law; he enforced upon them the necessity of faithfulness to the truth of God, and of unreserved allegiance to his sovereign authority, as their great Legislator and Lord; he pathetically predicted the tremendous consequences of apostacy; in the sublimest and most affecting manner, he called heaven and earth to witness against them, that he had fully discharged his own responsibility, and unfolded to them the way of obedience and peace; he animated Joshua to the most active exertion and to the most undaunted courage in the prosecution of the projected war with the Canaanites; he uttered that song of exultation, of instruction, and of praise, which will be admired by the latest generations of mankind; in the fulness of his heart, he pronounced a blessing upon each of the tribes by name; and his last words were, 66 Happy at thou, Ổ Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency; and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places."

How did Moses die?

Silently and alone, he ascended to the summit of the

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mountain, to bid his final farewell to the A. C. 1451. world of woe. The goodly prospect expanded before him; he beheld the course of Jordan; beyond its waters, he saw the verdant meadows, the waving corn-fields, the sunny hills, the fruitful plains, the populous cities, the beautiful valleys, the magnificent mountains of the promised land. This," said Jehovah, "is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." But a brighter and a more glorious scene opened beA. C. 1451. fore him; the loveliness of the earthly prospect faded away from his sight; his spirit was taken away to the celestial world; he ascended to the blessed society of his glorified ancestors, to the Angel of the Covenant whose voice he had heard from the midst of the burning bush, and who had never abandoned him through all the eventful scenes of his pilgrimage. The place of his sepulture is unknown, and no human foot has ever trod the hallowed precincts of his grave. The reason commonly assigned for concealing the place where Moses was buried, is to prevent the indulgence of the idolatrous propensities of the Israelites, who would no doubt have made some superstitious use of his tomb.

What was the precise situation which Moses occupied as the legislator of the Jews?

Moses was eminently and peculiarly an instrument in the hands of God. The attribution of the deliverance, the direction, and the legislation of the Israelites to his sagacity and energy, without the acknowledgment of the influence which impelled all his actions, and regulated all his views, merits the strongest possible reprobation. In the national institutions and permanent settlement of the Israelites in Canaan, God had designs essentially identified with his own glory, and of the last consequence to the human race. To affirm that Moses was the exclusive deliverer of the people, that to him they were indebted for their national independence and their national institutions, is both untrue and profane. GOD sent Moses and Aaron