all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.

11 And it came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that the LORD gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant.

12 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, get thee down quickly from hence; for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.

13 Furthermore the LORD spake unto me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

14 Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under heaven:

LORD your God, and ye believed him not, nor hearkened to his voice.

24 Ye have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you.

25 Thus I fell down before the LORD forty days and forty nights, as I fell down at the first; because the LORD had said he would destroy you.

26 I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

27 Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:

28 Lest the land whence thou broughtest us out say, Because the LORD was not able to

and greater than they.

15 So I turned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

16 And I looked, and, behold, ye had sinned against the LORD your God, and had made you a molten calf: ye had turned aside quickly out of the way which the LORD had commanded you.

17 And I took the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and brake them before your eyes.

18 And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.

19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.

20 And the LORD was very angry with Aaron to have destroyed him: and I prayed for Aaron also the same time.

21 And I took your sin, the calf which ye had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, and ground it very small, eren until it was as small as dust: and I cast the dust thereof into the brook that descended out of the mount.

22 And at Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah, ye provoked the LORD to

wrath.

23 Likewise when the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then ye rebelled against the commandment of the

them, and because he hated them, he hath brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

29 Yet they are thy people and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty power and by thy stretched out arm.

EVERY truth of the gospel ought to be rightly enforced. It should stand in its proper place; it should be inculcated in a right spirit; it should be held forth for its assigned end. This more especially applies to the duty of Christian obedience. This duty you cannot dispense with; nor would you wish to do so, if you are a Christian indeed. At the same time it is not to be perverted, nor made to subserve a wrong end.

If you read this chapter with attention, and in connexion with the foregoing, you will perceive that Moses exercised a peculiar anxiety on this subject. Not only would he engage the people in devoted obedience to the Lord; but he would have that obedience carried on in a right spirit, and directed to a right end. They were to go over and possess the land; the Lord would enable them to do But they were to take care, after they were in possession, that they did not mistake the cause, nor the hand, that made them successful. Never for a moment were they to think, that the Lord brought them in for their righteousness. Never for a moment were they to forget, that the Lord did so that he might perform the word which the Lord sware unto

So.

their fathers. Had their possessing that land depended on their righteousness, or on the uprightness of their heart, they would never have seen it; they would have been cut off and destroyed, like the nations whom the Lord cast out before them. They had been a rebellious and stiffnecked people (v. 1—6).

Now, will not this truth apply with equal force to the Christian? Does it not serve to prove negatively, how he does not inherit his blessings; and positively, how he does? He is to love and serve the Lord, as the Israelites were to do. All his commandments he is to observe; all his ways he is to remember. Only in this way can he expect to prosper and succeed. But there is not the least merit in this obedience; he cannot purchase or procure a single blessing thereby. The Lord will not bestow on him any one mercy on earth, or in heaven, on account thereof. Nor was it ever intended that such should be the case. Salvation is a free gift; man's merit has nothing to do in the matter; it is of grace, not of debt. Obedience is the fruit of faith; it is the consequence, the effect of believing. But it is not the faith itself by which we are saved; much less can it be the Saviour in whom we believe, and from whom our salvation cometh. "Not of works," says the apostle, "lest any man should boast." (Eph. ii. 9.) "Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart," says Moses, to prevent the same proud feeling (v. 5, 6).

Now, this subject should be thoroughly understood. It is of the highest importance for the peace of your soul, and the glory of God, that you stumble not here. If you reason in this manner, The more works I do, or the more sincere I am, the more grace I shall merit on earth, and the more glory I shall attain in heaven; it would be evident, that you were greatly confused, or completely in the dark on the subject. It would be plain that you did not understand the matter. The glory of heaven, in all its fulness, is as much the gift of God, as grace, in all its freeness, is on earth. Your obedience can never reach any higher than an evidence of the grace you have received, and an earnest of the glory to which you will be raised. Christ is the Saviour from first to last. In respect of merit he alone is worthy. The salvation you re

ceive here, and the glory you will attain hereafter, is the reward of his obedience; not yours. To you, it is a gift; to him, it is his right; and the reward bestowed will be commensurate with the cause that procures it in every respect. It will be salvation in Jesus Christ with eternal glory. The inheritance will be, like the glory he gives to all the faithful followers of the Lamb, perfect and complete for evermore.

CHAPTER X.

1 God's mercy in restoring the two tables, 6 in continuing the priesthood, 8 in separating the tribe of Levi, 10 in hearkening unto Moses' suit for the people. 12 An exhortation unto obedience.

A

T that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

2 And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

3 And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten 'commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

5 And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

6 ¶ And the children of Israel took their

journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.

7 From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.

8 ¶ At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.

10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.

3

11 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also,

with all that therein is.

15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

(1) Heb. words. (2) Or, former days. (3) Heb. go in journey.

Not only is the giving of the law repeatedly recorded in the Sacred Scriptures, but its preservation also is as distinctly recorded. Twice did Moses receive from the hand of God, as the rule of the people's obedience to his will; twice, also, did he deposit the same at Sinai, and on the plains of Moab (v. 1; ch. xxxi. 24-26), in the place appointed for its reception, namely, the ark of the testimony. Its authority was, that it was written with the finger of God: its legibility was to be seen in the two tables of stone on which it was written. Both the tables so written, and the ark wherein those tables were deposited, indicated the care to be observed

in their preservation, and the obedience to be paid to their authority.

Was not this order of things typical, like every other part of that dispensation ? Is not Christ the true ark of salvation? Is not the law preserved in him? Was it not fulfilled by him? Is not care taken, by that very method, that they who are justified by that obedience, shall love and serve the Lord? Where, then, does 'he write the law of love? "Not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." (2 Cor. iii. 3.) The law given by Moses was broken; the command was broken; the tables were broken. Jesus secures its safety; he honours and perpetuates its observance. "I will put my laws into their hearts." (Heb. x. 16.) How appropriate is that prayer, "Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law." And again, "Lord, have mercy upon us, and write all these thy laws in our hearts, we beseech thee."

Nor must we omit the other circumstances recorded in this chapter. Here is not only the giving of the law, but the journeying of the people, the death of Aaron, the succession of Eleazar, and the separation of the Levites to the service of God. Are not these

things full of instruction? Are we not journeying on the course of life to the end of our days? If you are an unpardoned sinner, are If you not journeying on to the pit of ruin? you are a happy believer in Christ, are you not journeying on to your heavenly rest? Is not death a solemn thing? To die and to perish, how awful the thought! To die and be blessed, how joyful the prospect! Be assured all must die; none are exempt from that sentence; none can escape that stroke; the saint and the sinner must equally die; but not in the same state, nor with the same prospects, nor for the same end. The one is designed for heaven; the other is doomed to hell! But will not the Lord take care of his cause? If one die, shall not another be raised up in his room? If Aaron die, shall not Eleazar succeed to his place? Shall the gates of death, or hell, ever prevail against the church of Christ? If some fall, shall not others step into their room, fill up the broken ranks, and maintain the same cause even to the end? Yes; he that pro

mised, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," must have a people to be with, or how can the promise be verified? (Matt. xxviii. 20; 1 Cor. xv. 29.)

See, then, what all these things require. What did they require of the people addressed by Moses? "To fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul" (v. 12). What do these things require of us? Exactly the same. As a nation delivered and blessed, they were to love and serve him. As a people redeemed and saved, we are to love and serve him. Is not this for our good? Would not this spirit of holy and devoted obedience be a sweet token that the Lord has a delight in us; that he loves us; that he has chosen us above all people, as at this day? Is not he, then, our praise and our God, who hath done all these great and wonderful things for us? Should we not remember what poor "strangers' we were when the Lord delivered our soul from death? Do we not know, then, the "heart of a stranger ?" Should we not feel for all those who are what we once were? What multitudes of mercies have been bestowed upon us! Oh, love the Lord all ye his saints, and be telling of his salvation from day to day. "He is thy praise, and he is thy God" (v. 21).

CHAPTER XI.

1 An exhortation to obedience, 2 by their own experience of God's great works, 8 by promise of God's great blessings, 16 and by threatenings. 18 A careful study is required in God's words. 26 The blessing and curse is set before them.

HEREFORE thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

2 And know ye this day: for I speak not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,

3 And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;

4 And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you,

and how the LORD hath destroyed them unto this day;

5 And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;

6 And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the 'substance that was in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:

7 But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.

8 Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;

9 And that ye may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD Sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey.

10 ¶ For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it, is not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs:

11 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:

12 A land which the LORD thy God 'careth for the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

13 ¶ And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

14 That I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.

15 And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.

16 Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

17 And then the LORD's wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good land which the LORD giveth you.

18¶ Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.

19 And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

20 And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:

21 That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD Sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.

22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

23 Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.

24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be your's: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.

25 There shall no man be able to stand before you for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.

26 ¶ Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;

27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:

28 And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.

29 And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.

30 Are they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?

31 For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.

32 And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.

that may conduce to the end you desire to see accomplished. In short, you will feel and act somewhat in the manner of Moses, as recorded in the chapter before us; and when you can add the weight of experience to what you say, your exhortations will be given with peculiar propriety; and they will reach the heart with a commanding power.

events.

Two things give a special interest to the matter and scene before us. The two parties were on the brink of the most important The speaker was standing, as it were, on the confines of heaven. As soon as his exhortations were closed, Moses would finish his course, and enter the joy of his Lord. The people were about to realise the covenanted word of Jehovah; they were about to enter the earthly, as he the heavenly Canaan. Keep these things before you; you will never so think, speak, or pray, as when eternity is in your eye; and, the more you realise the hope of heaven in your soul, the greater will be the unction, and the sweeter the savour, evinced in your career.

Personal addresses are highly beneficial. I do not speak, says Moses, to those who have never seen nor heard of what the Lord hath done; but to you whose eyes have seen all that he hath brought to pass. So with us. When we speak on the great things which concern the life of the soul, we are not speaking of people at a distance, but to you; even to you who are all alive this day. We speak not to the dead; they are gone to give up their account to God. We do not speak to those who are yet unborn; they cannot have the power of attending to what we say. We do not speak to those at a distance, whether in our own land, or others, excepting as we may hope the word spoken may, by some means or other, reach them, and so work for their good. But we speak to you; to all who are present; to all whom our word can reach. And ought you not to hearken? (v. 2.)