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The laws and ordinances which were, at this time, made known to the children of Israel, for their perpetual observance, were accompanied with sanctions of deep import. If they were obedient, God promised them abundant blessings. The seasons should be fruitful. Internal peace should prevail, and complete security against all foreign invaders. Victory should crown all their conflicts with their enemies. Their numbers should increase greatly. God would establish his covenant with them; and dwell with them; and be their God, and they should be his people.

On the contrary, if they would not hearken unto him, and obey his statutes, but break the covenant which had been so solemnly formed between them, they must expect the most tremendous expressions of his displeasure. He would afflict them with terror, consumption, and the burning ague, that should consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart. They should sow their seed in vain, for their enemies would reap the harvest, and conquer them, and reign over them. And if all these judgments would not bring them back to obedience, those of seven times greater severity would be inflicted; and of greater and still greater severity, should they con tinue to hold out in their rebellion. The pride of their power should be broken. They should labor in vain, for the heaven would be as iron, yielding no rain; and the earth as brass, sterile and un

fruitful. Wild beasts should come among them, to rob them of their children, and destroy their cattle, and prey upon the men and women, making the whole land desolate.

To these horrors should be added still further destruction by the sword of their enemies, and the ravages of pestilence. Their bread should fail them, and their hunger become so uncontrollable, that they would eat the very flesh of their children. Their high places for idolatrous worship, and the images set up there, should be destroyed; and their carcasses should be cast upon the carcasses of the idols, and God would hold them in utter abhorrence. Their cities should be laid waste; their sanctuaries demolished; and the whole land brought into such a state of desolation, that even their enemies should be astonished at it. Those that were left should be carried into captivity, and scattered among the heathen.

"And upon them that are left alive of you," such were the denunciations of Jehovah, "I will send a faintness into their hearts in the land of their enemies: and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when no one pursueth. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity, in your enemies' lands; and also in

the iniquities of their fathers, shall they pine away

with them."

What an evil sin must be, vast beyond conception; and with what hatred God must regard it; and how inflexible must be his justice, to denounce punishments like these against those who should continue impenitent and disobedient! And yet terrible as these punishments are, they are light. when compared with the more awful ones which are must endure, if we are found, at last, among those who refuse submission to God, and reject the Saviour whom he has provided for us!

The judgments which we have been considering, were temporal and all to take place in this world. Those to which we are exposed, if we continue in our rebellion, are eternal; the banishment. of the soul, for ever, from God and the Saviour, and the communion of the holy and happy in hea ven, and its endless abode with lost spirits and fiends in the world of unutterable wickedness, anguish, and despair! Let sinners in Zion be afraid. Fearfulness shall surprise them. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

But the mercy of God is great, also, beyond conception. While denouncing such terrible judgments against the Israelites should they prove to be disobedient, he left a way open for their deliverance. If they would confess their sins before

God; and acknowledge that he was just in punishing them; and be humbled, and accept the punishment of their iniquity; he would remember his covenant with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and not cast them away from his favor, nor abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break his covenant with them, but continue to be their God. They would be restored again to the land of their fathers, returning to it from their captivity to dwell in the midst of it, and enjoy their former blessings.

The Lord is "a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to auger, and of great kindness." He is rich in mercy. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever be lieveth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

The threatenings of God, my young friend, and the offers of his mercy are before you. We have seen the exhibition of them in the case of the Israelites of old. It is left on record for our instruction. Standing round Mount Sinai, the scene of the most sublime displays of the majesty of God, they listened both to his denunciations and his promises. We are permitted to see him under milder and more attractive forms. He has been manifest

ed in the flesh. We behold him in the person of Jesus Christ, a Saviour full of compassion for sinHave you come to this Saviour? Have you obtained mercy through his atoning blood?

ners.

CHAPTER XLII.

The Israelites numbered.

Manner of encamping, and marching.

The time was now at hand for the observance of the passover; the first since the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. They were commanded to keep it, "according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof."

They did so; and under circumstances which called for deep and devout gratitude to God for his countless mercies. At the celebration of the first passover, they were in the midst of their tyrannical oppressors, and passing a night of fearful anxiety. Though on the point of their expected deliverance, they trembled at the prospect of the dangers and difficulties that might await them. A year had now elapsed, and they had thus far proceeded on their way in safety. The Lord had been their constant Guide and Protector, and had just taken up

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