LESSON LIV.

[Moses had been informed that he was not to be permitted to pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, in consequence of his transgression at the waters of Meribah. When, therefore, he had arrived with the people near the eastern bank of the river, the intimation was given to him that he was to die there. He then requested that a successor to him might be appointed; and this being done, he assembled the people, and delivered to them his last instructions. These are contained in the book of Deuteronomy, from which some extracts have already been given. In that book he rehearses many of the events and laws given in the preceding books, with interesting and instructive additions, accompanied with many kind and solemn warnings and exhortations This and the following Lesson consist of a few additional extracts from this book of Deuteronomy, calculated to shew what effect the events recorded in the preceding books should have produced upon the Israelites; and also what effect the perusal of them ought to produce upon all men.]

FROM DEUTERONOMY IV.

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, to the sta tutes and to the judgments, which I teach you, to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye take away any thing from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command

you.

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did against Baal-peor: for all the men that went after Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed from among you. But ye that did cleave to the LORD your God are alive

every one of

E 2

you this day. Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that thus ye should do in the land whither ye are going to possess it. Keep them therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, that shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. For what nation is there so great, as that it hath God in the midst of it, as the LORD our God is in every thing for which we call upon him? And what nation so great, as that it hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I am setting before you this day? Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, (and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but make them known to thy sons, and thy sons' sons ;) the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, Gather me the people together, I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. And ye came near and stood at the foot of the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire into the midst of heaven, with obscurity, clouds, and thick darkness. And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no appearance; only ye heard a voice. And he declared to you his covenant, which he com manded you to perform, namely, ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye are going over to possess it. Take ye therefore good heed to yourselves; for ye saw no appearance on

the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: lest ye be corrupted, and make to you a graven thing, the carving of any image, the form of male or female, the form of any beast that is on the earth, the form of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, the form of any thing that creeps on the ground, the form of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth and lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath apportioned to all nations under the whole heaven. But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

Further the LORD was angry with me on your account, and swore that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: but I am to die in this land, I may not pass over Jordan: although ye shall pass over, and possess that good land. Take heed to yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee. For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the form of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger; I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land which ye are going over Jordan to possess; ye shall not

prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed. And the LORD shali scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left few in number among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of the hands of man, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him; if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. When thou art in distress, and all these things have found thee in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient to his voice, (for the LORD thy God is a merciful God,) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swore to them. For ask now of the ancient days which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one end of heaven to the other end of heaven, whether there hath been any thing like this great thing, or hath been heard like it? Did ever

people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? Or did God ever undertake to go and take to him a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Thou hast been made to see that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he made thee to see his great fire; and thou didst hear his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight, with his mighty

power, out of Egypt; that he might drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as at this day.

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God, in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath; there is none else. Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

LESSON LV.

FROM DEUTERONOMY VI. AND VIII.

HEAR, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: and thou shalt love the LORD thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole might.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart: and thou shalt impress them upon thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them as a sign upon thy hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the door-posts of thy house, and on thy gates.

And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he promised by oath to thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build, and houses full of all good things, which thou didst