THE ISRAELITES IN THE WILDERNESS.

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ance of sons. Hence, a thousand of each tribe were sent against Midian—the whole country was conquered, and Balaam was among the slain (Num. xxxi.). The combined territory of Midian and the Amorites was, at their request, assigned to Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Moses then having divided the land of Canaan to the different tribes, and having exhorted and blessed the people, went up to the top of Pisgah, on Abarim, where he died, and was buried in the valley over against Beth-peor (Deut. xxxiv. 6). With the death of Moses closed the wanderings of the Israelites; in a few days they crossed the Jordan, the waters of which miraculously "rose on a heap" to allow the people to go over "dry shod;" and, headed by Joshua, they advanced to the possession of the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to their seed for ever.

When contemplating the conduct of the Israelites in their pas sage through the desert, a species of sentimentalism has been indulged in by some writers, as if the trials to which they were exposed, offer an apology for their acts of disobedience; leaving, perhaps unintentionally, the impression upon the mind, that the judgments visited upon them were harsh and severe. "Since the world was created," says Mr. Carne, "there never were residences so fearful and wearying as those in which the Hebrews were doomed to dwell, month after month, and year after year, without any change, without the faintest vestige of the softness of nature. No streams, or shade, or green thing, ever came in their path, but endless and gleaming oceans of sand gathering eternally around them. Is it any wonder, amid this void of the senses, if people longed at times for an additional enjoyment, to vary the utter monotony of all things around? or if a repast of meat, or any former indulgence, were desired intensely? What solace or amusement existed for their several families, compelled to dwell and pant within the enclosure of their tents, or to go forth into the pitiless heat? . . . Is it any wonder that men's hearts at intervals forgot their fidelity, and broke into discontent and rebellion? . . . Amid the horrors of extreme thirst, was faith sufficient to conquer pain and despair? Was the sight of the hourly miracle of the pillar and flame of force to fill the soul, 'that was dried up within them,' with hope and confidence? It is not in human nature to achieve such triumphs; and the disorder and misery of soul that so often broke forth in the camps of Israel, would have been felt by any other nation who had been similarly tried.”*

Such observations little accord with that reverence wherewith JEHOVAH's dealings with his people ought ever to be regarded. It is very possible, "that the greater part of mankind, in the same situation, would have exhibited a similar conduct." We will even admit, that the whole race of man would have acted similarly, if left to the natural workings of unbelief. But where do we find

• Carne's Recollections of the East, pp. 273, 278.

in Scripture, either national or individual disobedience excused on account of its being natural? Man's natural state is enmity with GOD; and Israel could no more claim commiseration in her rebellion, because it was natural, than a son might excuse an act of disobedience against his earthly father, by the plea that he hated him. Besides, no just comparison can be drawn between the sin of the Israelites, and that involved in the repining of individuals under ordinary circumstances. For were they not in a peculiar and miraculous manner under the guidance of Jehovah ? Were they left to gather food from an herbless desert, and water from the thirsty sands? Did he not give them water from the flinty rock, and rain upon them angels' food? Did their garments wax old upon them? Had they not proof enough, that if they wanted "meat, or any former indulgence," they had to do with ONE who would withhold from them no manner of thing that was good? And what can be more idle than to talk of the want of "solace and amusement," when they had the source of all blessedness in the midst of them? Their sin was proportioned to the privileges they despised. Had they been less favored, they had been less severely punished. And if we would derive profit from their history, we ought to avoid, on the one hand, an ignorant and uncharitable reprobation of them for sins, the seeds of which are in our own breasts; and, on the other, a sentimental sympathy with their trials, inducing us to palliate what God has deemed worthy of the severest judgments. The great practical conclusion is presented by St. Paul, in Cor. x. 5-11; in which passage there is not a word of pity for their privations, or excuse for their sin, or deprecation of their punishment; but the solemn warning, that "all these things happened to them for our ensamples, and were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world

are come.

Scripture warrants a comparison between the external circumstances of the children of Israel up to this period, and the spiritual condition of CHRIST'S Church. Their state of hard and afflictive bondage in Egypt typifies the far heavier yoke of sin. Their deliverance "by a mighty hand and outstretched arm," with the overthrow of their enemies, represents in like manner the great act of redemption, whereby the spiritual Israel was delivered, and the power or head of the serpent bruised (Luke, i. 68–79). Their painful journey in the desert, and their repining and occasional acts of rebellion, form a picture of the Church's travail, infirmities, and sins, while in the waste howling wilderness of this world. The wonderful deliverances they experienced, the chastisements and acts of long-suffering which marked the conduct of JEHOVAH toward them, the manna by which they were fed, and the water

How constantly are the remarks of travellers upon such subjects referrible to a want of due acquaintance with Scripture! To Mr. Carne "it is inconceivable how the tender and delicate could have marched on foot through burning and yielding sands." With GoD all things are possible; and he so ordered it, that Moses could appeal to the whole multitude, at the close of their journey, that for forty years their foot did not swell! Deut. viii. 4.