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to the unbelieving Pharaoh, and enforced their demands by the awful manifestations of his power. GoD delivered his people, by opening for them a way through the waters of the Red Sea. GOD was the author of their institutions, in which all that was civil, was subordinate to what was religious. GoD protracted their march as the punishment of their rebellion, and both inflicted upon them the judgments by which they were chastised, and bestowed upon them the mercies by which they were sustained. And it was God who prescribed the time, the manner, and the means of their entrance into Canaan. In every thing, God was the author, and Moses was the instrument; the authority of God was sovereign and supreme, and that of Moses was executive and dependant. Let Moses receive all the admiration which is most justly his due, but let him not be elevated to the prejudice and dishonour of his God.

What was the character of Moses?

"Moses possessed a character to which no eloquence can rise, no detail do justice; in celebrating which, praise cannot degenerate into panegyric, nor the writer be suspected of adulation. The most ancient and authentic of historians; the most penetrating, dignified, and illuminated of prophets; the profoundest and sagest of legislators; the prince of orators and poets; the most excellent and amiable of men; the firmest and most faithful of believers." His magnanimity in rejecting the honours and treasures of Egypt-his fervour of devotion in communion with God-his zeal for the glory of his heavenly Sovereign-his ardent love for the people over whose interests he watchedhis courage in pleading the cause of the oppressed Israelites before the throne of Pharaoh-his perseverance in the way of duty, notwithstanding the painful and vexatious trials to which he was exposed by the murmuring ingratitude of the Israelites—his disinterestedness in forgetting the purposes of selfish ambitionand his humility in submitting without hesitation to all the commandments of God-all combine to elevate him to the unrivalled admiration of mankind, and to place him in the highest rank of human excellence. His faults, for what human being is destitute of them?

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are not concealed in his own narrative, and are sufficiently palpable when contrasted with his excellencies. He was, however, the greatest of men, and his existence has been productive of more momentous consequences to the human race, both for time and eternity, than that of any other mortal, who has ever exercised an influence upon the affairs and destinies of the world.

Into his typical character, as the representation of the great Prophet of the church, (Deut. xviii. 15, 18.) it is not the province of the historian to inquire.

CHAPTER V.

FROM THE DEATH OF MOSES TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE REGAL GOVERNMENT.

SECTION I.

THE INVASION OF CANAAN.

WHO were the Canaanites?

THE Canaanites were the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Canaan had a numerous progeny. His oldest son, Sidon, was the founder of the city of Sidon, and was the ancestor of the Sidonians and Phoenicians, so celebrated for the extent of their commerce, and the superiority of their navigation. His ten other sons were the origin of as many other Palestinian and Syrian tribes, the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgasites, the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. The Canaanites were extremely numerous, wealthy, and powerful. By their trade they acquired vast opulence; their colonies were established in almost all the islands of the Mediterranean, and beyond the Pillars of Hercules; and their warlike propensities being constantly cherished by their intestine commotions, they continued as formidable and dangerous, as they were comparatively rich and polished. An almost incredible profligacy prevailed among them—a profligacy nurtured by the abominations of their idolatry-a profligacy at war with all the dictates of nature and the feelings of natural affection-a profligacy whose criminality was aggravated by the tremendous judgments which had already been inflicted upon some of their guilty cities, which had disappeared amidst the preternatural fires of heaven,

How did Joshua commence the invasion of the Canaanites?

Against this corrupt, though still formidable people, the valiant successor of Moses led the host of the Israelites, according to the commandment and the promise of the Lord. Encouraged by an animating communication from his God, he made every requisite preparation for the successful accomplishment of his great enterprise. Spies were sent to ascertain the actual condition of the neighbouring city of Jericho ; their object was discovered; the emissaries of the king were sent to bring them before his throne; but they were successfully concealed, and enabled to escape, by the contrivance of a woman named Rahab; and they gratefully promised that in the universal massacre of the inhabitants, she and her family should be saved. Joshua and the Israelites then advanced to the brink of Jordan, then overflowing its banks according to custom at that time of the year, and rolling onward with a broad deep and rapid stream. Volney, speaking of this river, says, that its breadth in few places exceeds sixty or eighty feet, and its depth is ten or twelve. When swelled by the rains, it forms a sheet of water a quarter of a league broad. The priests carried the ark in the van of the march to the banks, and a stupendous miracle was performed, which A. C. 1451. most impressively proved to the Israelites, the presence of their God, and the certainty of their triumph. As soon as the feet of the priests who carried the ark touched the brim of the water, the stream which came from above was arrested in its course, and its billows were raised upon a heap, while the torrent below, continuing to run on, the whole army effected their wonderful passage on dry land, and triumphantly trod upon the soil of Canaan, Terror pervaded the nations when they heard of this astonishing event; and they trembled before a people, who were thus assisted by Omnipotence. Immediately after the passage of Jordan, Joshua commanded those to be circumcised, who, in consequence of the difficulties of the previous march, had not received that indispensable ordinance; the Passover was celebrated for the fortieth time from the period of its institution; and the miraculous manna

being no longer required in a land flowing with milk and honey, no more descended from heaven. Joshua also beheld a mysterious being who proclaimed himself the Captain of the Lord's Host, no doubt the Captain of salvation, who received the adoration of the general of the Israelites, and instructed him how to carry on the operations of the war.

Describe the fall of Jericho.

The numerous army of the Israelites was now arrayed around the walls of Jericho, and most extraordinary was the method of the siege. All common operations were entirely abandoned, and the work was accomplished by the Providence of God. Once a day, for six days, a solemn procession proceeded round the city. First went the soldiers completely armed for battle; then the priests, with the ark of the Lord, accompanying their progress with the incessant sound of rams' horns; and then the rear-guard closed the order of the march. On the seventh day, this ceremony was seven times performed; on the seventh, when the priests sounded these horns, a tremendous shout was raised by the whole army; all the fortifications of the city fell to the ground; the triumphant Israelites from every side rushed into the city; the whole population, except Rahab and her family, every thing that breathed were exterminated; the silver, the gold, the vessels of iron and brass, were placed in the treasury of the Lord; because an anathema had been pronounced upon the city, it was utterly destroyed; and a curse was pronounced upon the man who should attempt to restore it from its ruins. This curse was fulfilled upwards of five hundred years after its destruction. Hiel of Bethel then rebuilt it. (1 Kings xvi. 34.) He lost his eldest son Abiram when he laid its foundations, and his youngest Segub, when he hung up the gates. When any person or place among the Jews or their enemies was so cursed as to be cherem, a sentence of death and of utter destruction was inflicted. Jericho was cherem, and therefore destroyed.

After the fall of Jericho what was the next object of the attack of the Israelites?

The city of Ai near Bethel was the next object of

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