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sake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of his grace which he made with Abraham, and all his spiritual seed.

But remember, the voice of God to all sinners now is, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Repentance, in order to be sincere, must be accompanied with faith in Christ. For, of all other sins to be repented of, the most aggravated is, that the pride of the heart has so long rejected a crucified Redeemer, as the only source of justification before God, and of pardon and peace. Repentance, in order to be accepted, must be accompanied with faith in Christ. For, God has declared, that he can be just to his own authority, while he forgives the sinner, in no other way. In this way he can be just, and yet the justifier of all who believe in Jesus.

Will you, thus, turn unto God? Have you alobready done it? Is every idol banished from your heart, that Christ may reign in it, the supreme ject of your affection and service? Magnify the grace of God, if it is so; and pray continually, that you may have more of this grace, and love Christ more, and become more and more like him.

CHAPTER LXIII.

Further exhortations of Moses.

To enforce his appeal to the Israelites, in calling upon them to remain loyal and obedient to the God of their fathers, Moses reminded them of the wonderful prodigies that they had witnessed, and which were unknown to any other people; and of the divine power that had been so signally exercised in their behalf, especially in rescuing them, an entire nation, from the grasp of another nation which was holding them in bondage. And all this was done, he added, that they might know that the Lord he is God; and that there is none else beside him. shalt keep, therefore, his statutes, and his com mandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go 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."

"Thou

This seems to have ended the first exhortation of Moses to the people. We next find him specify. ing the three cities on the east side of the Jordan, which were to be the cities of refuge; and soon again assembling the people to hear still further his parting counsels.

He refers them to the covenant which God made with them in Horeb, when his voice was heard in the mount, out of the midst of the fire. He reminds them, how he stood between the Lord and them, at that time, to show them the word of the Lord; because they were afraid by reason of the fire. He proceeds to rehearse, in their hearing, the ten com mandments; to relate the affecting circumstances under which they were originally given; and to urge upon them the duty of implicit obedience.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."

He warns them not to let the great prosperity which would attend their taking possession of the promised land, and their dwelling in the midst of its abundance, lead them to forget the source of all their blessings, and to go astray from the true God after the false deities of the nations which would

be near them. And, again, such importance did Moses attach to parental instruction, he enjoins it upon them, to take great care that the children should be fully taught the peculiar dealings of God with the Israelites; the reason of them; and the nature and obligations of his commands.

He repeats, in the most explicit and solemn manner, the divine injunction to exterminate the Canaanites, and to leave no vestige of their idolatry; assigning as the reason of this, that they were a holy people, and that the Lord their God had chosen them, to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth" not on account of any superior goodness in themselves, but because he had loved them, and would keep the oath which he had sworn unto their fathers.

If obedient, Moses assures the Israelites that God will be faithful to all his promises, and bless them in the most striking manner. Their families, the fruits of the earth, their flocks and herds, shall increase abundantly. They shall be blessed above all people. No sickness shall prevail among them. They shall be strong to overcome all their enemies; for the Lord their God will be among them, a mighty God and terrible. He will, by degrees, put out the heathen nations before them, so that they shall eventually be destroyed with a mighty destruction.

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And once more-ah! how well he knew the character of his countrymen, the corrupt propensities of the human heart, and the ensnaring temptations to which they would be exposed-Moses charges them to burn with fire the graven images of all the false gods which they should find. "Thou "the silver or gold that shalt not desire," he adds, is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing."

Are we careful to banish from our houses, and from our hearts, what we know to be displeasing to God, lest by retaining it, we make greater and more rapid progress in sin, and, at length, draw down upon us his fearful and irremediable indignation?

As an additional motive to obedience, Moses the Israelites to remember all the way calls upon which the Lord their God had led them, during forty years, in the wilderness, to humble them, and to prove them, to know what was in their heart, whether they would keep his commandments or no. He had permitted them to suffer from hunger, that the interposition of his providence might be conspicuous in the miraculous supplies of manna with which they were furnished. In this way they were