wards of the cities of king Arad, was called Hormah, that is, destruction.

The great inferences that we should draw from this melancholy history, are pointed out to us by Paul, who more than once refers to it, and declares, that "all these things happened unto them for ensamples, and are written for our admonition:" that they warn us "not to lust after evil things, as they also lusted; not to tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted; not to murmur, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed." (1 Cor. x. 6. 9, 10, 11.) Holding up to us this awful example, he cries, "They could not enter in because of unbelief. Take heed, therefore, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Harden not your hearts as in the provocation and the day of temptation in the wilderness." Let us, on the contrary, have, not a desponding, but a holy, reverential, circumspect, and animating "fear, lest a promise being made us of entering into his rest, any of us should seem to come short of it." (Heb. iii. 8. 12. 19. iv. 1.)

Yes, we are called to try, that is, a heavenly."

and powerful enemies in

enter into "a better coun

There are, it is true, many

There are,

our path to it: but let us only believe in the promises of God, and obey his precepts, and we can overcome them. Weak in ourselves, the shield of Omnipotence shall be thrown before us, and the power of the Most High offered for our assistance. Resting upon the unshaken truth and promises of the faithful and covenant-keeping God, we may safely pass through a sea and a wilderness, through perils and temptations, through fiery serpents and sons of Anak. Let us only, like Caleb, secure "another Spirit," the Spirit of God, and

"follow the Lord fully ;" and then we shall enjoy the heavenly Canaan, while "the fearful and unbelieving shall be without."

And suppose not, that after rebelling against God during your lives, you may secure heaven by a vigorous effort at your last moments. Tremble, lest the God whom you have abandoned, should then abandon you; should leave you to sink under the assaults of your enemies; and to be driven to that place which, with dreadful emphasis, may be termed Destruction!

SERMON XXVI.

LIFE OF MOSES.

No. X.

NUMBERS XVI. xvii. xx. xxi. 1-10. DEUTERONOMY xxxiii. xxxiv.

SOME of the most affecting parts of the scripture were written when the inspired penmen were either themselves suffering affliction, or contemplating the judgments of God upon others. The Psalms composed by David, under the pressure of sorrow, are peculiarly touching, and full of devotional feeling;

and the ninetieth Psalm, which was written by Moses, in consequence of the events we considered in our last lecture, is calculated deeply to affect the heart. The Israelites, for their rebellion, were condemned to die in the wilderness. Moses directs his prayer to Him who even in the desert can be the dwelling-place of his people, and supplicates him that the Israelites may seriously lay to heart the punishment that was inflicted on them, and wisely number their days.

But alas! notwithstanding the prayers of Moses, and the judgments of God, they soon rush to new crimes. Korah, of the tribe of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, of the tribe of Reuben, were at the head of a rebellion, which became so extensive as to include two hundred and fifty of the "princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown." They opposed the civil authority of Moses. Could they forget with what reluctance he had assumed it; with what difficulties and distresses it had been attended; how often he had wished to relinquish it; by what splendid miracles his divine commission had been confirmed? But they principally raged because the priesthood was confined to Aaron and his family; as though this were his own act, and not the appointment of God. Perverting the divine promises and declarations, that Israel should be holy, and a nation of priests, they endeavoured to support their rebellion by so interpreting these declarations as though they authorized all, whether regularly called or not, to exercise all ecclesiastical functions. Moses prayed for them, expostulated and reasoned with them; warned them that they were rebelling, not against him and his brother, but against the Lord, and referred the matter to the immediate decision of

God. On the next day, while the two hundred and fifty stood with their censers before the door of the tabernacle, performing the offices of that priesthood, to which they had not been called, fire from the Lord consumed them. Among them probably Korah perished. Moses and Aaron, who were with them, remained unhurt. The doom of the other rebellious leaders was no less dreadful. The opening earth swallowed up Dathan and Abiram, with their families and possessions, and many of the connexions of Korah, though his sons yielded to the exhortations of Moses, and escaped the destruction in which their parent was enveloped. This we are taught in Numbers xxvi. 11. We have also the genealogy of these descendants of Korah in 1 Chronicles, vi. 22. 37. They are afterwards mentioned among those who presided over the music of the temple; (2 Chron. xx. 19.) and we find their names in the title of several of the Psalms. (Psalms, xlii. xlv. xlvi. xlvii. xlviii. xlix, lxxxiii. lxxxv. lxxxvii. lxxxviii.)

The lot of Moses and Aaron, standing safe and unhurt in the midst of the fire which consumed the rebellious, was happy. But let us remember, my brethren, that there is another great assembly of which we must constitute a part, in which it will be still more desirable to have such a proof of the divine acceptance, such an exemption from the woes that shall light on rebels against God. At that great day, when the Lord will show "who are his and who are holy, and will cause them to come near unto him," when the devouring fire that goes before him, shall consume the earth, and melt down the heavens; when the flames that never shall be quenched, shall seize upon his enemies; then happy indeed shall be those who shall be openly accepted and acknowledged by him; who, uninjured by the awful conflagration, shall

rise to that world where they shall be kings and priests unto our God for ever.

The sons of Korah give an instructive lesson to the children of unholy parents. We pity such children; we tremble at their situation; for there is more probability, that like the offspring of Dathan and Abiram, they will perish with their parents, than that, like the sons of Korah, they should escape destruction. Yet consent not to be undone for ever, by imitating those who ought to set before you a holier example. If a thoughtless father, if a careless mother, will have no mercy on their own souls, oh! do not you consent to follow them to eternal wo. Imitate the example of good Hezekiah, the son of the wicked Ahaz. Imitate the example of these children of Korah; and happier than they, you may, perhaps, by your piety, be the means of softening the hearts of your parents; be the instruments of plucking them from eternal anguish.

Who would not have supposed that the disposition to rebellion would for ever have been destroyed among the Israelites, by these terrible judgments? On the very next day, when the shrieks of the perishing had scarcely ceased, when the yawning earth had scarcely closed, those who had escaped these judgments, charge Moses and Aaron with the death of those who had been destroyed. At such an instance of obduracy and guilt, the symbol of the divine presence again appears, and is the presage of a new and terrible chastisement. Moses and Aaron prayed for their enemies, for those who were reproaching them as murderers. But "wrath had gone out from the Lord," a desolating plague had commenced. Aaron, fearless of danger, took his censer with incense, which he lighted from the altar