Amid such mourning as only the heart utterly overwhelmed can have, the Israelites took their way back from Kadesh, probably by the same Wady Jerâfeh by which they had descended from the wilderness of Paran; and now ascending once more to that wilderness, they began those wanderings which were to continue till nearly half of them would be laid in their graves. Very sadly indeed they went; in addition to the weight of their felt doom, the hearts of many of them were with the corpses now turning into corruption at the place of that fearful carnage. They felt that God's favor had left them, and that they were travelling about under the gloom of his displeasure. Confidence had given way before the mortification of this terrible defeat: instead of their pride in Jehovah's peculiar presence and favor were substituted shame and dejection and grief.

It would have been well for them if this tumult of feeling had resulted in true humiliation of soul, and in a meek asking of God for the return of his favor; but the end was of a contrary kind. They had begun to doubt, and to act on doubts; and these now grew and took possession of them; while spleen and jealousy and hatred came also, and had the rule. As the multitude now reduced but still immense, travelled along, their vexations, instead of causing them to look inwardly and reform, began to point to outward causes, and to lay the blame on others, of course on Moses and his chief coadjutor, Aaron. The situation of these two men was indeed the most difficult of all possible positions for men to hold. Moses was their leader and lawgiver, yet he had no army to sustain him; had not even that power which comes through appointment by the popular voice; had no authority except that which came from his own greatness of soul, and from the clear and repeated interventions of Jehovah through him. But greatness of soul, amid popular commotions, often makes a man only the more conspicuous mark for envy and malignity, and these Israel

ites now felt that they were turning away from God, and God from them. In their perverseness they argued, What had the leadership of Moses, and what had God's favor done for them? and their thoughts went to the rotting, unburied corpses of beloved friends on that hill-side, and to a comparison of this wandering in the wilderness with their stationary homes on the green plains of Egypt.

Then ambition came in with its own secret, subtle work, in order to complete the mischief. Aspiring men were plentiful in such a community; and these first whispered in secret, and then they openly said, that Moses and Aaron were assuming more than they were entitled to; were setting themselves too high above others, and ruling too much to the exclusion of others, and finally that all the misfortunes and sufferings had come from their maladministration. It was easy, in such a community, to insinuate such things, and to invent any malicious charges, and to give a false coloring to facts,-where it was all done without an opportunity allowed to explain or to counteract.

All at once mischief broke out into open form: and most formidable indeed it appeared. For the charge was a double one, and it was supported by a cousin of Moses, a Levitical attendant on the Sanctuary, and by two hundred and fifty "princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown."

To explain it, we must observe, that originally, priesthood was not confined to any family, but that the head of a family, as Noah, Abraham, Abimelech, Laban, etc., was its priest. In the laws promulgated at Sinai, while the tribe of Levi were all selected for the purposes of the Sanctuary, and were called holy, yet out of the descendants of the three sons of Levi, namely, Gershom, Kohath and Merari, the family of Kohath was particularly chosen : and from this family, by a yet more particular selection, the house of Aaron was taken for the priesthood. Aaron was to be the High Priest.

The present rebellion was headed by Korah, of the family of Kohath, a Levite, but not a priest, though of the family from which the priestly house of Aaron had been selecteda man whose near relationship to Moses gave him prominence. Korah was assisted in this case by Dathan and Abiram and On, descendants from Reuben. The last, however, appears soon to have withdrawn from the cabal. The others, Korah, Dathan and Abiram, followed by the two hundred and fifty princes, came forward in a parade of their numbers and position,-for it was now to be an open and a public rebellion, and all the people were, if possible, to be publicly committed, and were looking on. They came with a cry flattering to the community whose sentiments they wished to enlist in the insolence of their address made to Moses and Aaron : "Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord ?"

Only one answer could be given by Moses,-that of an humble appeal to God:-he fell on his face in this sorrowful and silent appeal. Then he rose and stood before them, very sorrowful yet, but now strong in heart.

"Even to-morrow," he said, "the Lord will show who are his, and who is holy; and will cause him to come near unto him; even him whom he hath chosen will he cause to come near unto him." And he then directed them to come on the morrow-for he wished to give them a day for reflection, each one with a censer in his hand and incense and fire in the censer. It was allowable, by the law, only to the priests to offer incense: they were to present themselves thus, in the eyes of the congregation, before God, and to see whether he would accept them as holy men and priests. He called Korah from amidst his supporters, and addressed to him a few words of reproval; and then he summoned also Dathan and Abiram, but these would not

come. Their reply from among their company-loud so that all might hear-was, "We will not come up: is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us? Moreover, thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up."

The morrow was to decide. What thoughts passed through the minds of these two hundred and fifty men, and their principals, it is impossible to say; for they did not shrink from the trial when it came, and they may have become so perverted in judgment by listening to insinuations and by letting their minds take false views of things, as to no longer discriminate between right and wrong. But the case was a most serious one; for the crisis for the whole congregation had come. If these men should prevail,indeed, if a most decisive and impressive public reproof were not given to such sentiments and such cabals,-the unity of the people would be destroyed; rulers in abundance would spring up and strive for mastery, and inevitable ruin to all would come.

The night was one of universal and great agitations; and at length the morning came. The two hundred and fifty princes with their three principals, presented themselves with their censers; fear and distrust in the minds of some, in some boldness; all spurred on by pride to meet the public challenge, and to brave the result. They were brought into the enclosed court surrounding the Tabernacle; and now in this latter "the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the congregation." The Divine communication directed Moses and Aaron to separate themselves from the rest, "that I may consume them in a moment:" but they fell on their faces in an appeal, "O God, the God of the spirits of

all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?" They were directed consequently to get the people outside away from the neighborhood of the homes of the three chief conspirators, who seem by their common bond of union to have pitched their tents together, and to have made there also a false tabernacle for Korah's use. And now, a chill feeling of fear began to spread through all the congregation,a sentiment of awe from the glory in the Tabernacle,—a dread of some coming retribution, of which this separation was the forerunner,-a horror of expectation; —this general sentiment probably, in spite of themselves, affecting in some degree the three conspirators, who, with their wives and children, stood in the doors of their tents. Alas! in how many instances, even in ordinary times before our own observation, have the wives and children, in God's providences, to suffer with the husband and father, the innocent with the guilty? Moses said, "Hereby, ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord." There was a parting of the ground, as sometimes in the shaking of an earthquake; the earth opened, and the tents and all in them were swallowed up; "and they perished from among the congregation." The horrified people fled from the vicinity; but a fire from God was swifter, and seizing on the two hundred and fifty guilty princes of the congregation consumed them. Eleazer was directed to gather up the censers which they had been using, and make with them a covering for the altar.

But even after this awful visitation, the evil of these