the German Neologian, and the English Deist, "in the records of the so-called Divine writings, when the evidence of my senses testifies the general law by which all things continue in one unbroken, continuous, regular, uniform order? As the world is, so the world has been. As the world has been, so the world will be." No argument can be so unphilosophical, so absurd, or so totally contradicted by the evidence of the senses themselves. There is not a rounded pebble on the highway, nor a coal dug from the mine, nor a fossil insect imbedded in the crust of the earth, which does not at once declare, that as they could not make themselves, nor preserve themselves, nor place themselves where they were found, so the hand which framed the earth itself, both ruled that earth, and upheld that earth, by a system which is contrary to the present regular and uniform law. The argument by which the Infidel defends his rejection of the miraculous or non-uniform government of the world has been applied to the differences between the longevity of man at the present day, and the length of life attributed to him in the Scriptural records. The average length of human life at present varies from sixty to eighty years. The average length of life before the Deluge varied from eight hundred to nine hundred, or nearly a thousand years. Between the Deluge and the time of the Dispersion, that average length of life was diminished to a period of from two to three hundred years. Between the Dispersion and the time referred to in this Section, when the sentence was pronounced on the Israelites after their rebellion on the report of the spies, the average length of life varied from one hundred to two hundred years. The tradition amongst the Jews, which is received as true by Bishop Horsley, and by others of the best commentators, is, that the length of life was then reduced to its present average of sixty, seventy, or eighty years. I believe this to have been so. It has been the almost uniform belief of the Church; and it is certain, if we may believe the accounts of many who have attained to the most advanced age in later centuries, that there is no cause to be assigned for the longer or shorter average duration of life but the will of God. In His hands are our life and death. The Ninetieth Psalm is said to have been written by Moses on this occasion; and there seem to be so many allusions to the events here recorded, that we may safely believe the Jewish tradition which assigns to it this date. The Section begins with the declaration of the Divine leader of Israel, after the murmuring of the people on the report of the spies recorded in the last Section, that all the people who came out of Egypt should die in the wilderness except the Levites, and Joshua, and Caleb. Their wandering had now only continued two years. They were sentenced to wander thirty-eight years longer, that is, forty years altogether, till the whole existing generation died. They should perish, and their children should inherit the land (Numb. xiv. 26-33). The spies had surveyed the land through forty days. Their wanderings, they were assured, should continue forty years-a day for a year, according to the usual mode of calculation adopted in other parts of 2 Translation of the Psalms, vol. ii. pp. 71. 230, note. the Sacred records3. A most remarkable declaration is made at the conclusion of this denunciation, "Ye shall know," says the Divine Oracles, " my breach of promise." All God's promises are conditional. They are lost when God's commandments are broken, and the soul is not restored by faith and repentance to God's favour. The ten spies are destroyed. The people, feeling once more a desire to possess the Holy Land, after mourning at the sentence of their destruction in the wilderness, resolve to obtain by presumption the inheritance which they had forfeited by disobedience. They resolved, though without the Divine presence, to go up from the wilderness to attack the inhabitants of Canaan, and to possess the land of their fathers. But the lessons are afforded us,-that God must be honoured, and the soul be saved, in that way only which God has commanded, and not in that which man has invented; and that the judgments of God will be as certainly accomplished as His promises, in His own time, and according to His own decrees. They attack the people of Canaan. The cloud remains in the camp. Israel is defeated to Hormah, that is, defeated to "the place of the curse,' or defeated with the curse of God upon them, excommunicating them from His presence. He sware in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest; and they all perished in the wilderness. On this occasion the ninetieth Psalm is said, by Jewish tradition, to have been written. It abounds with apparent allusions to these transactions. It begins with acknowledging the mercy of God to their fathers, that He was their refuge and their home (ver. 1): it alludes to God's eternity as contrasted with man's mortality (ver. 2). The third verse again alludes to the sentence, "Thou turnest Thy people from the borders of Canaan to destruction in this barren wilderness ; but Thou wilt say to their children, "Return to possess the promised land."— And whereas in times of old the age of man was a thousand years, now they are but as the grass of the field. In the morning they flourish in the evening they are cut down, as the ten spies have been destroyed, as in a moment (Numb. xiv. 37). We are consumed as a people by Thine anger, and we deserve to be troubled by Thy wrath; for Thou hast set our iniquities and the secret sins, the secret conspiracies of our people, in the light of Thy countenance. And now all our days must be passed in the wilderness under Thy wrath. The sentence has been pronounced upon us, and threescore years and ten shall be the length of our lives, or the labour and the sorrow of fourscore years, and then we die in this wilderness away from the land of our fathers (ver. 9, 10). We thought not of Thy power thus to shorten life, and therefore we have not feared Thee as we ought (ver. 11). Teach us now to number our days give us true repentance: restore to us Thy favour (ver. 12). Protect us still (ver. 13). Bless us still, in spite of our sins, through the remainder of our days (ver. 14). Still make us glad at the end of our lives in the hope of a better Canaan, though Thou afflict us with the loss of the present inheritance. Make our children blessed, though their fathers perish. So let the favour of God establish His promises, and then our escape from Egypt, the building of our tabernacle, and 3 Dan. xii. 11; Rev. xi. 3; xii. 6. 66 all the work of our hands, though we have fallen and are punished, shall be accomplished to Thy people Israel, even though the present generation must perish (ver. 15-17). Such appears to be the meaning of this prayer of Moses: and we shall do well to remember that, as the Morning Services of our Church begin with reminding us of the sentence which elicited this prayer, that “ God sware in His wrath that His people should not enter into His rest;" and as this Psalm is read in our Burial Service to comfort the mourners who hope for a better land of promise, the true and heavenly Canaan; we ought to apply the warning, and offer the prayer; to tremble at God's word, lest we lose the “rest that remaineth for the people of God;" and to pray that God be our refuge in the wilderness through which we are passing, and our comfort and our strength in that hour when our days of labour and sorrow at the end of our "threescore years and ten, or of our fourscore years," be over; for happy is that man alone who can die in peace with the God of Israel after his wanderings in the wilderness of life. CHRIST 1490. NUMBERS XIV. 26-45. BEFORE 26 And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, e ver. 23. ch. 26. 65. & 32. 11. Deut. 1. 35. Hebr. 3. 17. BEFORE CHRIST 1420. 318 But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, s Deut. 1. 59. and they shall know the land which hye have de- Ps. 106. 24. spised. 27 a How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard 32 But as for you, your 1 Cor. 10. 5. the murmurings of the chil- carcases, they shall fall in dren of Israel, which they this wilderness. murmur against me. с k 33 And your children Hebr. 3. 17. ch. 32. 13. Or, feed. forty years, 107. 40. m bear your 4 See ver. 2. in mine ears, so will I do doms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilder 26. 64. to you: P. A See Deut. 2. 14. Ezek. 23. 25. 1490 29 Your carcases shall ness. fall in this wilderness; and 34 After the number ch. 13. 25. ch. 1. 45. & all that were numbered of of the days in which ye you, according to your searched the land, even whole number, from twenty forty days, each day for a Ps. 95. 10. years old and and upward, year, shall ye bear your which have murmured a- iniquities, even forty years, gainst me, Pand ye shall know my See 1 Kings 30 Doubtless ye shall breach of promise. not come into the land, 35 I the LORD have + Heb. lifted concerning which I †sware said, I will surely do it up my hand, to make you dwell therein, unto all this evil congrefsave Caleb the son of gation, that are gathered Jephunneh, and Joshua together against me: in ch. 26. 65. Deut. 1. 36, the son of Nun. this wilderness they shall Gen. 14. 22. f ver. 38. ch. 26 65. & 32. 12. 38. rver. 27, 29. 1 Cor. 10. 5. t BEFORE be consumed, and there the LORD hath promised: CHRIST 1490. ch. 13. 31, 32. 1 Cor. 10. 10. they shall die. for we have sinned. 41 And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye BEFORE CHRIST 1490. 2 Chron. 24. land, who returned, and transgress the command- ver. 25. bringing up a slander upon 37 Even those men that a 20. 42 Go not up, for the Deut. 1. 42. LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten did bring up the evil re- before your enemies. t port upon the land, died 43 For the Amalekites Hebr. 3. 17. by the plague before the and the Canaanites are Jude 5. ch. 26. 65. 10. there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: Josh. 14. 6, of Nun, and Caleb the son b because ye are turned 2 Chron. 15. still. с C 2. 44 But they presumed Deut. 1. 43. 39 And Moses told to go up unto the hill top: these sayings unto all the nevertheless the ark of the Exod. 33. 4. children of Israel: * and covenant of the LORD, and the people mourned great- Moses, departed not out of ly. the camp: d 40 And they rose up 45 'Then the Amalek- & ver. 43. early in the morning, and ites came down, and the gat them up into the top Canaanites which dwelt in of the mountain, saying, that hill, and smote them, > Deut. 1. 41. Lo, we be here, and will and discomfited them, even go up unto the place which unto e Hormah. I A Prayer, being a Psalm PSALM XC. A Prayer of Moses the man of God. as • ch. 21. 3. Judg. 1 17. 1 LORD, 'thou hast been in thy sight are but of Moses. our dwelling place † in all yesterday || when it is past, II Or, when he and as a watch in the them. 2 & Before the moun- night. neration and tains were brought forth, 5 Thou carriest them # Prov. 8. 25, or ever thou hadst formed away as with a flood; the earth and the world, they are as a sleep in even from everlasting to the morning everlasting, thou art God. grass which 3 Thou turnest man to 6 m In the morning it destruction; and sayest, flourisheth, i 2 Pet. 3. 8. 4 For a thousand years eth. ↳ Gen. 3. 19. h Return, ye children of up; in the Eccles. 12. 7. men. BEFORE CHRIST 1490. n Ps. 50. 21. Jer. 16. 17. . Ps. 19. 12. 7 For we are consumed † apply our hearts unto BEFORE CHRIST 1490. to come. 13 Return, O LORD, + Heb. cause 8 Thou hast set our how long? and let it ¶ re-, Deut. 32. iniquities before thee, our pent thee concerning thy secret sins in the light of servants. thy countenance. 9 For all our days are + Heb. turned passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years || as a tale that is told. away. || Or, as a meditation. + Heb. As for the days of 36. Ps. 135. 14. 149. 2. 14 O satisfy us early with thy mercy; that we Ps. 85.6. & may rejoice and be glad all our days. 15 Make us glad accord10 The days of our ing to the days wherein our years, in years are threescore years thou hast afflicted us, and and ten; and if by reason the years wherein we have of strength they be four-seen evil. them are seventy years. P Ps. 39. 4. score years, yet is their 16 Let thy work ap- Hab. S. 2. row; for it is soon cut off, and thy glory unto their 11 Who knoweth the power of thine anger? even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. 12 PSo teach us to number our days, that we may children. t 17 And let the beauty Ps. 27.4. of the LORD our God be upon us: and "establish * Isai. 26. 12. thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it. PRAYER. LET US PRAY, that we never err in our hearts, and lose the rest which remaineth for the people of God. That we seek to please God in the way that He hath Himself commanded, and not by our own inventions. That we remember the shortness of life, the nearness and the certainty of death, and the presence and all-seeing eye of God. That the years of our age be comforted with those consolations of religion, which are the beginning of the happiness of heaven. ALMIGHTY GOD, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity; so guide us by Thy counsel through the wilderness of this world, that we finally attain to the end of our hope, the salvation of our souls, the rest which remaineth for the people of God. Send forth the light and the grace, the knowledge and the power, of Thy Holy Spirit upon the reasonings of our understandings, and the affections of our souls, that we never err in our hearts. Suffer us not to lose that holy state beyond the grave where we shall never rest from the perpetual praises of God our Father, and of Jesus Christ our Lord, but where we shall rest for ever from the allurements of temptation, the dominion of evil, and the calamities and afflictions of this short life of sorrow and of trial. Keep us, we pray Thee, from the evil which banished Thy people in the days of old from their promised rest in the inheritance of their fathers. Preserve us from the despair of trampling all enemies under our feet. Put upon us the whole armour of God, that we fight the good fight of faith, and persevere with patience and watchfulness to the end of our days. And as we pray Thee to preserve us from the despair of over |