And when the Lord left speaking, the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and Miriam was smitten with leprosy, and became white as snow. The sight of this fearful infliction, no less, perhaps, than the words of God, had an immediate effect on Aaron, as well as on the culprit who had experienced such heavy displeasure; and they cried to their brother, "Alas! we beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly. Let not thy sister be as one dead."

Moses therefore interceded with the Lord, and after undergoing a penance of seven days' exclusion from the camp and congregation, as a defiled person, she was restored to her health and family.

The Israelites then proceeded in their march towards Canaan; and soon arriving upon the borders of that promised land, twelve men, one from each tribe, except that of Levi, were sent forward as spies, to search and bring a report of the country, as to its fertility and productions, and whether the inhabitants were strong or weak, few or many. This was the time of the first ripe grapes.

The mission of the spies occupied forty days, during which the host of the Israelites remained at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran. The multitude indulged in the most delightful anticipations when they saw their twelve countrymen return to the camp, laden with pomegranates and figs, and a rich cluster

of grapes, so heavy that it required to be borne by two men upon a staff. The report of the emissaries, however, was less gratifying than had been hoped. 'We came," said they, "unto the land whither we were sent; and surely it is a fertile, pleasant land; and this is the fruit thereof. Nevertheless, the people that dwell in the land are powerful, and the cities are walled and large; and, moreover, we saw there the gigantic sons of Anak."

At these tidings the people were filled with terror and dismay. They had languished so long in slavery, that both mental and physical powers had degenerated; and the fear of encountering the warlike races, of whom they now heard,— and who were represented by some of the spies as men of such great stature, that the Israelites were but as grasshoppers in comparison with them,-banished all confidence in the Divine protection and assistance. The whole congregation, consequently, with one accord, exclaimed, "Would to God we had died in the land of Egypt, or in this wilderness! Wherefore hath the Lord brought us hither, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children may be a prey? Were it not better for us to return to Egypt?"

It was in vain that Caleb, a chief of the tribe of Judah, and Joshua, the son of Nun, endeavoured to dissipate the fears of the people, crying, "Nay, let us go up at once; for we are well able to overcome our enemies: the land is an exceedingly

good land, flowing with milk and honey; and the Lord our defence is with us, and will establish us therein."

The Israelites threatened to stone these distinguished persons, for their courage and honesty; and exclaimed, more loudly and furiously than ever, "Let us elect a captain, and return into Egypt."

While the contention was proceeding, the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle, before all the children of Israel; and the Lord, calling Moses to him, said that, because of the iniquity of the people and of their unbelief, notwithstanding all the signs He had shewn them, none of the generation then living, except Caleb and Joshua, should enter into the land of Canaan, to possess it. "Their carcasses," He said, 'shall fall in this wilderness, even all that were numbered of them which have murmured against me; but their little ones, which they said should become a prey, they shall know and inherit the land which their fathers have despised. Forty years shall they and their children wander in the wilderness, till their carcases are wasted. All this evil congregation shall be consumed and die. To-morrow turn ye, and get into the wilder

ness by way of the Red Sea."

Of the thirty-eight succeeding years, little of the history of the tribes of Israel is known, save that the word of God was literally fulfilled as to the wanderings of the congregation;