thou goest." Oh precious word, "the Lord thy God"; Jehovah, the Eternal, the One in whom every attribute of perfection centred, and from whom all perfection flowed, He was Joshua's God; a God in covenant, a God whose love and grace were pledged. This God would be with him always and everywhere; with him to strengthen, with him to instruct in the truth, with him to keep, with him to grant prosperity, with him to aid in carrying out the charge now given, and to impart all the blessings which accompanied the charge. Why need he fear? He could look back to see what the Lord had done; he knew His truth and His power; he had experienced already manifold proofs of His constant care. Why should he fear, when God said: I will not fail thee nor forsake thee?"

Oh! beloved, this word is the pledge of victory, the standing-ground of faith, the enlivener of hope: "The Lord thy God is with thee." It sustained Jacob during his long exile from his family and home: it nerved Moses for the mighty work of bringing Israel out of Egypt; it bore Joshua on through the most marvellous career of victory which history has ever recorded; it sent Gideon, with his three hundred men, against the hosts of Midian; it cheered Paul for a year and six months amidst the opposition, the licentiousness and the idolatry of Corinth. It is the word which God has

spoken to His people, saying, "Fear thou not for I am with thee: be not dismayed for I am thy God," and which Jesus has passed to all His saints, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world."

Blessed are those who hear it coming to their hearts; who, in all the temptations of the world, the struggles of the Christian life, and the perplexities which daily arise, fall back on this. Blessed are those who have good grounds for saying, Jehovah is with us as our Father, our Saviour, our Sanctifier. They can rest for their support on the glowing words which close the eighth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, "If God be for us, who can be against us? No created thing shall separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?"

This charge of the Lord to Joshua speaks to us who are here this day; to you, to me. Our duty is here shown; our true prosperity is here described; our safeguard is here declared. Oh let me press these closing questions upon you. Who is performing this duty before God? Who measures prosperity by this standard? Who finds his security in the presence of God, assured by the covenant of grace in Christ Jesus?

II.

RAHAB.

"By faith the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace."-HEB. XI. 31.

II.

RAHAB.

MAN need never act independently of God. Indeed, the rule by which all our actions should be regulated is that of entire dependence on the guidance and direction of the Lord who orders all. And if we only felt the truth that He does order all things; that it is not only in great events, but in the most minute also, that His power and wisdom command and permit, we should live more in the spirit of the inspired precept, "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Prov. iii. 5—6.)

It is quite a mistake to suppose that this thorough dependence on God interferes with the use of all proper means towards the accomplishment of our end. To neglect the use of means is folly; to use them without seeking the guidance of God is presumption. It is the