THE MEMORY. DEUTERONOMY viii. 2. "And thou shalt remember all the way which the THE word Deuteronomy means, the law a second time; it contains a repetition, or rehearsal, of the main parts of the law, as contained in the preceding books of Scripture; and was solemnly uttered by Moses, in the hearing of all the people, just before they were about to take possession of the promised inheritance. It Again and again, by faithful diligence, does God, by His servants the prophets, seek to impress, on the minds of His people, the great lessons of wisdom. is line upon line, and precept upon precept; here a little and there a little; a repetition of love; a Deuteronomy of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus; thus the great and good teacher of men would impress our souls for our salvation. It is wonderful how little the generality of men profit by experience of the past; wonderful, how lit tle they profit by their own experience. We go on through the wilderness; we experience a strange variety of incidents; we hardly think in earnest of our latter end; until perhaps, all on a sudden, we find ourselves in front of the dark river of death, and are compelled to address ourselves to a speedy passage; our friends stand on the shore and watch us in; they lament our departure for a while, and then go on their way as if nothing had happened. I would try this morning, in humble dependence on the Holy Ghost; I would try and draw, from the words before us, and their natural context, a lesson of instruction for you, my beloved brethren; it will have mainly to do with the exercise of your memory— 'thou shalt remember;' not so much on worldly things, as on the dealings of God with your souls-' the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.' What a wonderful faculty is the memory; how marvellous its working; how strange its powers. Suppose we had no memory, what different creatures we should be living in the present moment we should be somewhat like the brute beasts that have no understanding, and probably, no memory, exercising themselves simply in the province of instinct. No regard for the past, no dread of the future, the beasts of the field might take for the motto of their existence, let us eat and drink.' But we, such is the wonderful power of memory, we can move backward through the strange and |