dismayed, neither be ye afraid of them. The Lord our God will go before you, and will fight for you. The Lord will bear you up, as a man beareth his son. With such a friend on our side, we have nothing to fear from our enemies, even were they all giants." CHAPTER XXV. "Who place in Sion's God their trust, Like it, immovable be fix'd, JOSHUA and Caleb exhorted also the people to believe in the Lord, by which they would assuredly triumph over every difficulty. But the people would not believe. Where Truth is not received, the individual takes up arms against it, and rejects it with bitterness. When Truth appeared on earth, in person, it found no lodging, and its enemies nailed it to a cross. Thus was it received in the camp of the Israelites, and thus is it still received among us. The number of its adversaries is considerable. They speak loftily, they set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. The multitude All who And the side with them. But, my dear children, be not ye of the number, but seek to be of the number of those who believe the truths of the gospel. If we abide in Christ, and his words in us, we shall know the truth, and the truth shall make us free. have faith in Christ overcome the world. best way to overcome the world, is, to be regular and fervent in prayer. It is the nature of prayer, that it gives to needy and helpless man the privilege of free access to our heavenly parent. It is that singular duty in which every grace is exercised, every sin opposed, every blessing obtained. "The praying Christian is the strong Christian." By prayer we obtain peace of mind. This peace is a calm and entire resting upon God, for the supply of every necessary of body and soul. It is casting all our care on him, that careth for us. God has given us a soul capable of knowing, and of loving him; and he has given us a body with which we can serve and glorify him. He gives us also kind friends, bread to eat, clothes to wear, a house to dwell in, and a fire to warm us; all these ought to make us grateful, and call forth our warmest affection to that high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity; and who gives of his Holy Spirit to every one that asks him. The psalmist says, "In my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me. "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. "My help cometh from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. "The Lord is my keeper: the Lord is my shade upon my right hand. "The Lord shall preserve me from evil; he will preserve my soul for evermore.” That holy man was continually praying in his heart, "Lord, open thou my lips, and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise." A person who is in the constant habit of praying, is not likely to commit any great crime. He, therefore, who would keep himself unspotted from the world, must be constant in this sacred duty. Prayer is not the mere posture of the body. A person may kneel until the very flesh is worn off his knees; may throw himself on the earth, and lie in the dust; and yet never pray at all. A man may repeat a thousand times in a day, that affecting prayer which our Lord has taught us to use; and yet not offer up one single prayer unto God. "Prayer," as a learned author observes, "is the application of want to Him who only can relieve it; the voice of sin to Him who only can pardon it. It is not eloquence, but earnestness; not figures of speech, but compunction of soul. It is the cry of faith to the ear of mercy." CHAPTER XXVI. "Oh, on that day, that wrathful day, Though heaven and earth shall pass away." MOSES Supplicates forgiveness for the people. The Lord grants his petition, but swears that none of all those who had come up out of Egypt should enter the land of Cannan except Caleb and Joshua. They were all to die in the wilderness, and their children only arrive in the land of promise. The ten spies perished, and the remaining six hundred thousand gradually followed them. The cause of all their calamities was their unbelief. God had forgiven their murmuring against Moses; he had pardoned their wish of stoning Joshua and Caleb, for opposing the wishes of the people; he had forgiven also their worshipping the golden calf, but he could not pardon their unbelief. They were unbelievers, and, therefore, they could not enter into rest. Let us Christians, therefore, fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into rest, any of us should fall short of it by unbelief. Unbelief is the greatest of all sins, it is sinning against the Gospel. It is the sin against the Holy Ghost, which cannot be forgiven in this world, neither in the world to come. But a love of God, and faith in his Son Jesus Christ, will enable us to overcome all things, and will carry us to the promised land, and place us there in safety. Although we be surrounded by numerous temptations, yet God will not suffer those who trust in him to be tempted above what they are able to bear; for with the Lord, there is fullness of mercy, his tender ear is ever open to of his children. the cry The children of Israel present us with a warning example, which we ought to beware of. They did not believe they should be able to enter into the land of Canaan, although God had promised it them, and engaged to conduct them thither. The preaching of faith made no impression upon their minds. The inhabitants of Canaan seemed to them to be much too powerful, and they mistrusted the power of God and his promises. "They had no confidence in God," says the pious divine, who has written their wanderings, "save merely what was visible, and they easily comprehended what the ten spies said to them, because it harmonized with their natural mode of thinking." Unbelief despairs in the hour of distress, because it has no hold nor support from the invisible world. The want of confidence in God, was the sole reason why the Israelites did not enter into the promised land. We are placed on the same footing with the Israelites; faith is preached unto us, as well as it was unto |