do you suppose they were commanded to kill all the beasts?"

"If they had been allowed to save them, it might have been said that the people were lured on by the hope of booty," Mrs. Conway answered; "whereas now it was clearly to be seen that they were the Lord's executioners on a guilty race."

"But don't you think some of the people must have repented?"

"I can't tell," said her mother. "I only know that Rahab's acknowledgment of God's power, and her befriending of His people, was not rejected. If others had taken the same course, it is natural therefore to suppose that exceptions would have been made."

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But the silver and gold were saved," Harry remarked. Yes; metals are indestructible substances, you see; but notice they were not saved for private uses. The command was to purify, and then consecrate them to the service of the Lord. The following chapters are all very terrible to read; it is slaughter upon slaughter; and if we allow ourselves for a moment to forget why it all came about, and that this was really punishment for sin, we must become bewildered.

"But remember they fought under a captain greater than Joshua. The angelic Being, whose appearance was that of a man with a drawn sword, of whom Joshua asked the question, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?' did not refuse his worship. Nay, He declared Himself the Captain of the Lord's host,' and added, 'Loose thy shoes from off thy feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.' The order therefore came direct from God; and only when there was some hidden sin did He fail them in the contest."

"The manna ceased as soon as they had crossed the Jordan, it says here," Harry said. "Somehow I never

thought of their eating manna except in the desert; but they must have done so a good while afterwards."

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Yes; this shews that it was truly bread from heaven, and no mere natural substance, as some persons have lately supposed," his mother replied. "Miracles always cease when they are not needed; and so the fiery and cloudy pillar seems to have also disappeared when the wanderings were over."

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CHAPTER X.

FIRST DAYS IN THE PROMISED LAND.

"And the Lord gave to Israel all the land which He sware unto their fathers."-JOSH. xxi. 43.

ELL, they gained the land at last; we have

WELL,

come to that point, haven't we? So that promise to Abraham came true," said Stewart.

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Yes," returned Mrs. Conway; they took the greater part of it after some years of fighting; and those seven nations, the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham, fell before the descendants of that old man Abraham, who had so long been a pilgrim and stranger in their country. The Israelites had to exert themselves, all through this period, though. These enemies were not destroyed as the Egyptian host had been, by a simple miracle which the chosen nation had but to stand and witness. Miracles there were, certainly, in the course of the war-the fall of the walls of Jericho-the staying of the sun's course; and palpable interpositions of God's power in that opportune and tremendous hailstorm, which killed so many of the five kings' armies-in the swarms of hornets that infested the land, going before the invaders; and in the terror which took possession of the surrounding nations; but with all this the people were in a position now in which they could act, and therefore they were made to understand that act they must, in dependence on the help of the Lord."

"And I suppose you would tell us that we should get a lesson from that, mother?" said Harry.

His mother smiled. 66 Certainly," she said. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.' There are people, you know, who consider the books of Joshua and Judges as rather unprofitable reading. Aye, and not unbelievers only, but some who are considered good Christian people, too, have I heard speak so, to my very great amazement. Well, never mind, we must believe God rather than man. Let us go on with our history."

"And with the lesson, I suppose," remarked Martin. "They failed in their faith, and got tired of the work when they came to some very difficult places; and so at last an angel was sent to them-it says so in the second chapter of Judges-he was sent to tell them that they had not kept the command to make no covenant with the people of the land, and that therefore now God would no more drive them out before them, but that they should remain to be as thorns and snares to them. In fact, I suppose that really was the cause of all their troubles under the Judges. And yet, do you know, I have been thinking how the people had improved since the days when their fathers had provoked God in the wilderness. Why, Joshua did not find half the difficulty Iwith them that Moses had done. We don't read of the same grumbling and murmuring under him; though one might have expected that there would have been plenty about the division of the land."

"Yes; I think it is remarkable that that great business was carried through so quietly," returned Mrs. Conway."Certainly it was done by lot; and Joshua, Eleazar the priest, and the elders of the tribes, all took part in the work. But there must have been a very

strong feeling that the distribution of the whole was in God's hand, or we may be sure that they never would have submitted quietly to take just what was given to them; and then it has often struck me as strange that the people were not in a greater hurry to rush into their new possessions. You will see this from the twelfth of Joshua. Judah, Ephraim, and the other half of Manasseh were settled first; and then the whole congregation assembled, and set up the tabernacle in Shiloh. The land was conquered by that time; and one might have thought that each man would be eager to get his share. But no; Joshua had to ask the remaining seven tribes why they were so slack to go and possess the land, which the Lord God of their fathers had given them,' and then to make them send men, three from each tribe, to survey the country, and bring back their description mapped out for him to inspect. They seemed in no hurry about it themselves; and yet armies generally are eager enough to divide the spoil after a war."

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"Yes, that is very strange," said Martin. "Certainly, as you say, this taking of Palestine was not like the taking of any other country; but I cannot think how they lived through all those first years; though I suppose the land was so rich and good, that they could subsist on what they found growing of its own accord."

"I suppose so; it was a wonderfully good land, no doubt, though not all of equal fertility; and within its borders grew everything required by a simple agricultural people; grain of all kinds, the wheat, yielding, as a rule, thirty-fold; vines, olives, almonds, dates, figs, oranges, pomegranates, and other fruits; quantities of honey too; while there were rich pastures for the flocks and herds. It had a good climate also, and regular seasons; the former rains in October after the vintage,