. v,-> -.;.% .«:-v.:\v:>v-o-\::->.-:-\ . '■■.::■:.-. ..^viv.-:-:-.-. .»•:•. -.-.%»«._ ■.'.■iA.«i»'Sw!-j«. 1 f ^ ^iungiiaii£iii9fffliraii!srairaiQUB«!t MMHWMWHBW^"**'*****'— **—""" ■' ■■ (aa^a^'W^-MiBrfiagS *^m£ % Pearls from the East : STORIES AND INCIDENTS FROM BIBLE HISTORY. BY Rev. Richard Newton, D.D. 1 ' The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls. ' ' PHILADELPHIA : AMERICAN SUNDAY-SCHOOL UNION, 1122 Chestnut Street; 73 Randolph ST., Chicago} to Bible House, New York. [Copyright, i88t.] Thb American Sunday-School Union. 1$ PREFACE. WHAT a precious thing a pearl is! How round, how smooth, how bright, how beautiful it looks ! Our pearls come chiefly from the eastern part of the world. There they are found in shell-fish, which are gathered from the bottom of the sea. The divers go down, often with great danger, to collect and bring up the shell-fish which contain the pearls. And thus it is that we get our pearls. When Jesus, our blessed Saviour, was on earth, he compared himself to a pearl, the " pearl of great price " (Matt. xiii. 46). And every part of Bible truth, that tells of Jesus, may well be considered as a spiritual pearl. The portions of Scripture contained in this book refer to " his great salvation." And so we may well speak of it as containing " Pearls From the East." And if our young friends who read this book shall learn from it anything about Jesus, and shall be helped in trying to love and serve him, this will show that the name given to it is a good one. May God bless all who read this book, and help them to find Jesus, " the pearl of great price ! " Richard Newton. Philadelphia, October, 1881. (3) TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Illustration 8 The Eastern Maid 9 Illustration 11 The Prince in Midian 12 Poem : Hushed was the evening hymn 14 Illustration 15 The Destroying Angel 16 Illustration . . 18 Israel's First Battle . 19 Illustration 21 The Smitten Rock - 22 Illustration 24 The Wonderful Cure 25 Poem: O Lord, turn not Thy face from tts.. . 27 Illustration 28 Memorial Stones 29 Poem : Father, I /mow that all my life 31 Illustration . 32 The Secret Spoii ^3 Illustration 35 The Shepherd Lad 36 Poem : O holy Saviour, Friend unseen 38 Illustration 39 Returning Good for Evil 40 Illustration 42 God's Covenant with David 43 Illustration 45 What to Know, Do and Love 46 Poem : A charge to keep I have 48 Illustration 49 Wisdom, Wealth and Blessing 50 Poem : Jesus shall reign where'er the sun .... 52 Illustration 53 The Father's Care 54 Poem : Sometimes a light surprises 56 Illustration 57 PAGE Elijah and the False Prophets 58 Poem : Not in anything we do 60 Illustration 61 The Wonderful Jar of Oil. . 62 Illustration 64 Greed and its Gains 65 Poem : Object of my first desire 66 Illustration 67 The Unseen Army 68 Poem : In JViee I trust, on Thee I rest 70 Illustration 71 The Death of Elisha 72 Poem : Brief life is here our portion 73 Illustration 74 Repairing the House of God 75 Illustration 77 The Scriptures Found and Searched 78 Poem : The Spirit breathes upon the word . ... 79 Illustration 80 The Builders Interrupted 81 Illustration S3 The Reading of the Law 84 Illustration 86 The Star out of Jacob 87 Illustration 89 The Gentle Call : 90 Illustration 92 The Leper Healed 93 Illustration 95 Power over Death 96 Poem : Our beloved have departed 98 Illustration 99 The Feast in the Wilderness 100 Poem : O Bread of Life from heaven 102 Illustration 103 The Transfiguration 104 (5) TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Illustration 106 The Poor Child Blessed 107 Poem : Thine arm, O Lord, in days of old. ... 109 Illustration no The Vine and its Branches in I LLUSTRATION 1 1 3 The Traitor 114 Poem : O Christ, what burdens bowed Thy head 1 16 Illustration 117 The Denial 118 Poem: Weary of wandering from my God. . . 120 Illustration 121 The King of Kings 122 Illustration 124 Jesus and Mary 125 Illustration 127 After the Resurrection 128 I LLUSTRATION 1 30 A Wonderful Sermon 131 Illustration 133 Christian Fellowship 134 Illustration 136 The Few Before the Many 137 Illustration 139 PAGE The First Martyr 140 Illustration 142 Dorcas Restored to Life 143 Poem: Hark! a voice! it cries from heaven. 145 Illustration 146 The Prisoner set Free 147 Illustration 150 The Great Preacher 151 Poem : God is my strong salvation 153 Illustration , . . 154 Paul at Jerusalem 155 Illustration 157 Paul Before Agrippa 158 Illustration 161 Paui in Rome.. 162 Poem : How beauteous are their feet 164 Illustration 165 The Happy Home 166 Poem : Children of the Heavenly ICing 168 Illustration 1 69 Right Living 1 70 Poem : With love the Saviour 's heart over- flowed 172 Illustration 173 The Good Samaritan 174 PEARLS FROM THE EAST. THE EASTERN MAID. THERE is a great difference between the way in which people live in Eastern countries, and in our own country. It is to be seen in many things, but perhaps in nothing greater than the way in which the supply of water is obtained. With us, in our cities, we have a hydrant in our yard, and water running all through the house. We can draw water as we want it in most of the rooms. And even in country places we generally find a well near the door, and often a pump in the kitchen, from which water can be had without any trouble. But in Eastern countries it is very different. There we often find only one well for the supply of a whole village. This well is at some distance from the houses. And all the water that is needed for a family must be carried from it, which is generally done by the women. You remember that when our blessed Lord was sitting by Jacob's well, how " there came a woman of Samaria to draw water." The picture on the preceding page represents an Eastern woman at the well with her water-pitcher. It may well remind us of Rebekah, whose interest- ing story we have in the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis, though we cannot regard it as representing her, because of the little cross hanging round her neck ; and Rebekah certainly never wore such an ornament. But still, as we look at the picture, we may think of the story of Rebekah. She was the grand-daughter o r Xahor, who was the brother of the patriarch Abraham. Her grand-father, Nahor, was very rich. He was one of the chief men of the land — a prince among his people. And yet, although her family were so very well off, she was not ashamed to carry water from the well for their use. It was part of her daily duty to take a pitcher to the well, fill it with water there, and carry it home on her head. This she did a number of times each day. And it was in going to the well one day to fill her pitcher with water, that the most impor- tant event of her life happened, and she (9) IO THE EASTERN MAID. found a husband. How this occurred we shall see hereafter. Here we have a beautiful illustration of the way in which God guides his people. Rebekah was living with her father, Bethuel; and her grand-father, Nahor, in the land oi Chaldea. Abra- ham, her great-uncle, had gone out from that country at the command of God, and was living in the land of Canaan. He had a son, Isaac, who was old enough to be married. But he was not willing that he should marry one of the daughters of the Canaanites, because they were all heathen people. So Abraham sent one of his faithful servants on a visit to his brother Nahor, in Chaldea, to see if he could get one of the daughters or grand-daughters of that family to be the wife of his son. It was a long journey which this ser- vant had to take. It occupied him a long time. One evening he halted, with his camels and their attendants, by the side of a well. He felt that he had important business on hand. He was anxious about two things : one was to find out where Nahor, the brother of his master Abraham, lived; the other was to get the right person to be the wife of Isaac, his master's son. So he prayed that God would guide him in this business. He asked that when the women came to draw water, and he should request one of them to give him a drink, and to draw water for his camels to drink, that she who did this should be the one whom he intended to be the wife of Isaac. And God heard and answered that prayer. The first young woman that Abra- ham's servant spoke to, kindly gave him a drink, and then drew water for his camels to drink. And when he came to have some further conversation with her, he found that she belonged to the family of Nahor. She invited him to stay at their house, and she proved to be the very Rebekah whom God had chosen to be the wife of Isaac. What a beautiful illustration we have here of such promises as these: "The Lord shall guide thee continually " (Isa. lviii. u); "In all thy ways ac- knowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths " (Prov. iii. 6). Now see how God honors and blesses his people. It was a great honor and blessing to Rebekah when God chose her to be the wife of Isaac. That brought her to live in a family in which God was truly known and worshipped. It brought her into close connection with Christ, by becoming one of his ancestors. And the blessing of the world was in him. And to be con- nected with him is the greatest blessing and highest honor that any one can ever receive. All this came to Rebekah when she was quietly attending to her daily duties. THE PRINCE IN MIDIAN. THE previous picture illustrates a very interesting subject in the history of God's people — the Jews — the call of their deliverer, who was Moses. Let us tell you something about his life, which was divided into three parts, all of the same length, each being forty years long. The first portion of it was spent in Egypt. He was called "the son of Pharaoh's daughter." He lived in a palace then. Egypt was the rich- est kingdom in the world at that time. At the court of Pharaoh, he must have been surrounded with all the honors and pleasures that riches and power could give. There he had a first-rate education. Stephen, the first martyr, tells us that he " was learned in all the v/isdom of the Egyptians." Acts vii. 22. He says also that " he was mighty j in words and deeds." Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us that he was made a general, and led an Egyptian army to battle, and gained a great vic- tory. But when he had gained all the learning Egypt could give, there was something else for him to learn, before he would be prepared for the important work before him as the leader and law-giver of his people. It was necessary for him to know more about (12) himself and more about his God. Egypt was not the best school in which to gain this knowledge. It was neces- sary for him to be left alone, and to have a quiet time in which to study his own heart, and to become better ac- quainted with the character of God. For this purpose God sent him to school in the wilderness. He spent forty years in this school. A shep- herd's life was a very quiet one. And as he fed his flocks in the wilderness, Moses learned some lessons that were more useful to him than any he had learned in Egypt. Here he spent the second great period of his life. And here he learned the lesson of patience, and meekness, and forbearance, and trust in God, which were so necessary for him in the great and important work that he had afterwards to do. And when he had learned these lessons well, God came to him to tell him that he was to change his shepherd's life for another. That was the third division of his life. This, also, was forty years long. And this brings us to the won- derful sight he saw. " The angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush," Ex. iii. 2. The picture attempts to represent the angel's form THE PRINCE IN MIDIAN. 13 in the bush. Moses saw the bush burning. The flames were wrapping themselves round every branch and leaf, and yet the branches did not crackle, and the leaves did not shrivel up. How strange and wonderful this was ! We are not surprised that Moses should say, " I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt," v. 3. If you or I should hold the branch of a tree or bush in a blazing fire, it would be burnt up in a minute. If the fire should play around the leaves without consuming them, it would be a miracle. And we should be as much surprised as Moses was. This wonderful sight was shown to Moses to make him feel the great power of God, and to strengthen his trust in him. Moses was going to be called to do a very great work. He could only do that work by having great confidence in God ; and this wonderful sight was intended to increase this confidence. And then it was intended also to show him how easily God could take care of his countrymen, the children of Israel, although they were so much afflicted. Trouble or affliction is often compared to a fire. It wastes, or con- sumes people just as fire consumes a bush. And this wonderful sight of the bush burning, and not being consumed, was intended to show Moses that God would preserve the Israelites in the midst of all their troubles, and would keep them from being destroyed by them. But listen to the wonderful words that Moses heard. He was first told to put off his shoes or sandals from his feet, because the ground on which he stood was holy ground, v. 5. It was God's presence which made that ground holy. And this will make any place holy where God dwells. It is this which makes our churches holy. A church is God's house. God dwells there. We should remember this when we are in church. God is there as truly as he was in the bush at Sinai ; and though we cannot see him with our bodily eyes, as Moses did, yet he sees us, and he expects us to reverence his sanctuary. We should always try to behave there just as we would do if we could see God, as Moses saw him in the bush. Then God told Moses who he was. He said, v. 6, " I am . . . the God of Abra- ham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God." This was very natural. We would feel just the same if God would appear to us in such a wonderful way, and speak such solemn words to us. And then in the 7th and 8th verses, God tells Moses that he had seen the afflictions of his people Israel, in Egypt, and that now he was going to deliver them, and to lead them up into the good land which he had promised to their fathers. This must have made Moses very 14 THE PRINCE IN MIDIAN. glad. He had tried once to deliver the Israelites himself, forty years before ; but he failed then, because he was do- ing it in his own strength, and before God's time had come. He had been waiting all these years, and now the proper time had come. And hence the call of Moses. " Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayst bring forth my people, the chil- dren of Israel, out of Egypt." This was a very distinct call. Moses saw God with his own eyes, and heard him with his own ears. He could not be mistaken about it. We should have thought that he would have been ready to go at once, and do what God told him to do. But, to our surprise, this was not so. He tried to excuse him- self on various grounds. But God re- moved all his objections, and then, at last, he obeyed the call, and brought forth the children of Israel out of Egypt, with the most surprising wonders and miracles that ever were performed. Now, we see from this lesson, that when God has a work for any of his people to do, he first prepares them for it. Then he calls them to it. And then he gives them all the help and strength they need in doing it. God has something for each of us to do. Let us prepare for it by trying to know and love him. Let us listen when he calls us. It will come not in con- nection with a wonderful sight, like that which Moses or Paul saw ; not by an angel speaking to us ; but it will be by the " still, small voice " of the Holy Spirit, whispering to our hearts. It will be a call first to repent of our sins, and to give ourselves to the ser- vice of Jesus. And then, when we say with Paul, " Lord, what wilt thou have me to do ? " God will show us how we may serve and glorify him. O may we have it in our hearts to say, " Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." Hushed was the evening hymn, The temple courts were dark, The lamp was burning dim Before the sacred ark, When suddenly a voice divine Rang through the silence of the shrine. The old man, meek and mild, The priest of Israel, slept; His watch the temple child, The little Levite, kept ; And what from Eli's sense was sealed, The Lord to Hannah's son revealed. O give me Samuel's ear, The open ear, O Lord, Alive and quick to hear Each whisper of Thy word, Like him to answer at Thy call, And to obey Thee first of all. O give me Samuel's heart, lowly heart, that waits Where in Thy house Thou art, Or watches at Thy gates, — By day and night, a heart that still Moves at the breathing of Thy will. O give me Samuel's mind, A sweet unmurmuring faith, Obedient and resigned To Thee in life and death, That I may read with childlike eyes Truths that are hidden from the wise. THE DESTROYING ANGEL. THE picture on the preceding page is one of the most surprising things that ever took place. It occurred in Egypt, more than thirty- three hundred years ago. It is called " Jehovah's Passover," or, The Lord's Passover. We wish you to understand why it was so called. Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, was holding the children of Israel as his slaves. He put heavy burdens upon them, and treated them with great cru- elty. God had sent Moses to Pharaoh, to tell him to set the Israelites at liberty, and let them go out of Egypt. Pha- raoh refused to do this. So God sent a number of dreadful plagues upon the Egyptians, which brought them into great trouble and distress. But still Pharaoh refused to heed God's judgments, and let the children of Is- rael go. Then God said he would send one more plague on Pharaoh and his people, which would make them willing enough to let the Israelites go. God would send his angel at the sol- emn hour of midnight, who should pass over all the land of Egypt, and kill at once the oldest child in every family, and the oldest among the young of all the cattle. This was the danger then threatened. It was a dreadful (16) thing to think of. But this fearful evil was not to come upon the Israel- ites, because of the way of escape pro- vided for them. They were to take a lamb for every family. They were to kill it in the evening, and roast and eat it. This was called " The Feast of the Pass- over." We read about this in Ex. xii. 3-1 1. Then they were to take the blood of this lamb, and dip a bunch of hyssop in it, and strike the blood on the two side posts, and the upper door post of the houses in which the Israelites lived. If you look at the doors of the houses in the picture, you will see black marks in these places, which are intended to show where the blood was put on. And God said that this blood upon their doorposts should save the Israelites ; for when the angel saw the blood on their houses, he would pass over them, and not destroy the first-born of those who lived in these houses. This was the way of escape that God provided for the Israelites. But you will ask how this threatened danger came. The 29th verse tells how this hap- pened. The still, solemn hour of mid- night had come. The Egyptians were generally fast asleep when God sent THE DESTROYING ANGEL. 17 his angel forth to slay all their first- born. Our picture represents this an- gel in the act of passing over Egypt. Nobody saw him as he went out on his dreadful errand ; for angels are invisi- ble to us. Our eyes cannot see them when they come or when they go. If they could be seen at all, no doubt any person who had been on the watch in Egypt at that midnight hour would have seen some such sight as our pic- ture represents. I do not say that the angel had a fiery sword in his hand, as he is seen to have in the picture. And yet, when we think of an angel as go- ing forth to kill and to destroy, we often speak as if he must have such a sword in his hand. That angel passed over the land in silence. But he did the dreadful work assigned him. And he did it effectu- ally. As if by one stroke all the first- born in the land of Egypt, both of men and animals, were killed. No wonder that we read, " there was a great cry in Egypt ; for there was not a house where there zvas not one dead." How loud the wail must have been which rang through Egypt then ! The people per- haps feared that they were all going to die, and this must have added greatly to the alarm and dread which filled their minds, and made that night so terrible that they would never forget it. The death of the first-born took place in every house which was not sprinkled with the blood of the slain lamb. But every house which had the blood upon it had the most perfect pro- tection. Not one person died in any of the blood-sprinkled houses. So this passover lamb reminds us of Jesus, and hence Paul says, " Christ our passover is sacrificed for us!' 1 Cor. v. 7. The Jews found two great blessings in their passover lamb. They were protected by the blood of the lamb, and at the same time they were fed by its flesh. In Jesus we have both these blessings. His blood cleanses us from all sin, and saves us from the wrath of God. When we trust in Jesus we are safe. "There is no condemnation for us then." No sword can hurt us. And then our souls are to feed and feast on Jesus, just as the Israelites fed and feasted on the lamb of the passover. Jesus himself said, " Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eter- nal life ; ... for my flesh is meat in- deed, and my blood is drink indeed." John vi. 54, 55. Of course his flesh and blood mean the truths of the gos- pel, and by eating and drinking these, he means believing them. And so, when we learn to believe in Jesus, we find both protection and food for our souls in him. If we refuse to believe in Jesus we are like the Egyptians, who had no blood on their houses, and are exposed to the danger of being de- stroyed by our sins. ISRAEL'S FIRST BATTLE. HERE is a picture of an interesting event that happened to the chil- dren of Israel, not long after they had begun their journey through the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan. When they began their long journey through the desert, they expected to meet with hot suns, burning sands, and barren wastes. These they were prepared for. But they did not expect to meet with armed men, coming out to fight with them. And this they were not prepared for. Yet this was what they had to meet. In Ex. xvii. 8 we read, " Then came Amalek and fought with Israel." This was a nation called the Amalekites, who were the descendants of Amalek, who was the grandson of Esau, the brother of Jacob, from whom the Israelites were descended. So we see that the Amalekites were relations of the Israelites, being a sort of second cousins. On this account they ought to have been kind to the Israelites. They should have been ready rather to help them, than to hinder them in their journey. But the Amalekites had al- ways felt jealous of the Israelites, on account of the favor which God had been pleased to show to them. And this was the reason why they came out against them. They knew that the Israelites were on their way to the good land which God had promised them. They were angry to think of their cousins having a country that was so much better than theirs. And so they came to fight against them, and try to prevent them from getting to that good land. Thus the Israelites found an army in their way. They were not used to fighting. They were very unwilling to do it. But there was no helping it. So they got ready for their first battle. Moses directed Joshua what to do. This is the first time that Joshua's name is mentioned, though we hear much about him afterwards. He is told to take twelve thousand men, one thou- sand to represent each tribe, and go and fight against Amalek. Joshua did so. And while the fight was going on, on the plains below, Moses was on the top of one of the neighboring hills Watching how the battle went. But it was not idle curiosity which led him up there. No : he went there to pray for Israel's success. He stood there with the rod by which he had wrought so many wonders. With his hands raised up to- wards heaven, he prayed that God would bless the Israelites. And while he kept on praying, the Israelites pre- (i9) 20 ISRAEL'S FIRST BATTLE. vailed, but when he stopped praying the Amalekites prevailed. But Moses was now getting to be an old man. He was between eighty and ninety years of age. He found it tiresome to stand up with his hands stretched out. So his brother Aaron and his friend Hur, who were with him, took a great stone, and sat him on it. Then they stood, one on each side, and held up his hands, as we see in the picture. Thus Moses continued in prayer all day. And so, while Joshua and the soldiers were fighting, Moses and his friends were praying, and thus the vic- tory was gained. Two results followed ; one of these was the result to Amalek, whch is stated in v. 14, viz.: the destruction of the people. This is what is meant when God says he would "put out the remem- brance of Amalek from under heaven!' They were to be utterly destroyed. This was not done at once. The destruc- tion here threatened was brought upon the Amalekites partly by King Saul, as we read in 1 Samuel xv. 7, 8. This was about four hundred years after the battle here recorded. David finished the work of their destruction some years later. The other result of this battle referred to the Israelites themselves. In v. 15, we read that " Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah- nissi." This means " the Lord my ban- ner." " When Moses built this altar, and called the Lord by this name, he meant to teach the Israelites that the God of heaven was their banner, and that as he had given them victory over the Ama- lekites, so he would lead them on to victory over all their enemies. The result of the battle to the Israelites was that they learned a new lesson about the character of God. And lessons of this kind are the best lessons we can ever learn. There is one thing that we should always remember when we think about the defeat of Amalek. It shows us that we must do all we can to help ourselves if we want God to help us. God could easily have sent an angel to destroy the Amalekites. Or he might have made use of a pestilence, or an earthquake for this purpose. But he chose to make use of the army of Israel to do it. But, while the soldiers were fighting, it was necessary for Moses to be praying. The prayer of Moses would not have gained the victory un- less the soldiers had gone to fight. And the fighting of the soldiers would have done no good unless Moses had prayed. God had told them to fight as well as pray. Doing one of these things would never have gained them this victory. And so it is still. We must try to help ourselves, as well as ask God to help us. THE SMITTEN ROCK. THE Israelites had now been wan- dering up and down in the wil- derness about thirty-eight years since leaving Egypt. They were now very near the borders of the promised land. They had been there before, and if they had only minded what God said to them, they might have gone into that good land then. But as they disobeyed him, he sent them back into the wil- derness to wander about for forty years. Those long years were nearly over, and they were beginning to think of getting into Canaan. But where they now were, there were no wells. They were short of water, and to be in a hot, sandy desert without water was dreadful. So the people were distressed, and in their distress they forgot to ask God to give them what they needed. He was giving them, by a miracle, bread to eat every day, and they should have known that he could give them water just as easily as he gave them bread, and as he had done once before, as we read in Exod. xvii. 3-6. But most of the people who had seen that miracle had since died. And so, instead of going to God, they began to murmur and complain, and wish that they were dead. This made Moses and Aaron feel very badly. They went to God in prayer, and he told them what to do; and it was in doing this that they committed the sin spoken of in our story. Let us see what it was. In Num. xx. 8, we read that God told Moses to take in his hand the rod — the wonderful rod which had done such great things — and gather the people around him, and then speak to the rock, and the water would gush out, enough for all the people. Accordingly Moses took the rod and called the people to him. Thus far he did right. But then, instead of speaking to the rock, as God told him, Moses smote it with the rod. Instead of speaking to the rock, which God had told him, he spoke to the people, which God had not told him to do. And he spoke to them in anger, and when we do anything in anger we are pretty sure to do it wrong. He said, "Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?" v. 10. In this sin of Moses we see dis- obedience to God, anger, (David says, " He spake unadvisedly with his lips." Ps. cvi. 33), and unbelief. In v. 12, God declares it was want of faith in him which led Moses so to act, and because he had done this, he and Aaron should die in the wilderness, and should not go over Jordan with the Israelites. This THE SMITTEN ROCK. 23 was about the heaviest trial that Moses could have. There was nothing in this world that he had desired so much. He had been thinking of it all his life. The more he thought of it, the more he wanted to see it. And he had always expected that he should see it. What a bitter disappointment to him i In Deut. iii. 25-27, we see how earnestly he prayed that God would let him go over Jordan. But God would not hear him. He told him to stop praying about it, for he would not let him go. He said he might go up to the top of Pis- gah and see the land; but he should not go over Jordan. Such was the pun- ishment of Moses. In all this we learn hozc .danger- ous disobedience is ! This is the only time in all the years while Moses was in the wilderness when he failed to obey God. The apostle Paul says of him, that "he was faithful in all his house." Heb. iii. 2. He was dis- obedient only once ; yet that one act kept him out of the promised land. This is a solemn thought. Another thing we learn is How dif- ferently God looks at sin from what we do! It does not seem to us that the sin of Moses was a very great one. A good deal might be said to excuse him. The people were very unreasonable and very provoking. They made Moses angry. He appears to have been afraid that God would be displeased with them, and perhaps turn them back into the wilderness again. God knew all this better than we do. And yet he saw great sin in the conduct of Moses. Poor Moses ! he fell into sin, and brought upon himself the very evil which he was afraid the Israelites were in dancer of bringing on themselves ! We must judge of our sins, not as they appear to us, but to God. And then we learn thai the best men are not perfect in this world. Moses was one of the very best and holiest of men. Twice he spent forty days at a time with God on the mount. When he came down his face shone so brightly that the people could not bear to look at him, and he was obliged to vail his face. Exod. xxxiv. 29-33. It is said, "There arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." Deut. xxxiv. 10. And yet he was not perfect. He was remarkable for his gentleness. We say, "as meek as Moses," because he was said to be the meekest man in the world. And yet, on this occasion, his meekness failed him and he was angry. Jesus was the only perfect man who ever lived in our world. His example is the only one we can follow safely in all things, " without copying a blot." Let us pray that we may be made more like Jesus. I THE WONDERFUL CURE. w THAT an interesting scene we have in the picture ! The Israelites were now near to the land which God had promised. They had come to the borders of Edom, which lay directly south of Palestine. The Edomites, who lived there, were the children of Esau, the brother of Jacob, and so they were a sort of cousins of the Israelites. We read in Num. xx. 14-21, that the Israelites asked leave of the Edomites to travel through their country. But they would not let them do it. This was very unkind. It put the Israelites to a great deal of inconvenience. Instead of marching right on to the land they were going to, they had to turn back, and take a long journey down towards the Red Sea. It was a barren, burning desert over which they had to journey. They were tired and disappointed. They sinned by murmuring against Moses and against God. To punish them for this God sent serpents which were called " fiery serpents," either because they had a fiery look, or because the poison of their bites produced a fiery heat — a great inflammation. When they were suffering and dying from the bites, God told Moses to make a serpent of brass, and put it on a pole, and tell the people to look at it, and that all who looked should be healed and live. Moses did so, and thus the people were healed. There are two things we want you to notice, which apply to ourselves as well as to the Jews. Look at the evil from which they suffered, and the remedy to remove it. The evil ivas a common one. We are not told that every person among the Israelites was bitten by these serpents. But every one was liable to be bitten. They were in great numbers. They swarmed everywhere. In our picture we see them crawling and twining themselves around the people. And this truly represents sin, the evil that troubles us. It is a common evil. We are not only all liable to it, but we are all sitffering from it. We are all born in sin. Its dreadful power is upon us all. Again, it was a painful evil from which the Israelites were suffering. The bite of the serpents was followed by swelling and great heat. The blood ran through the veins like liquid fire, so that the fever and pain were dreadful. And so it is with sin. It leads to sighs and tears and pains and sorrows. All the suffering in the world comes from it. (25) 26 THE WONDERFUL CURE. And then it was an incurable evil which the Israelites were suffering. The doctors could do nothing with it. In Num. xxi. 6, we read: " Much people of Israel died." And all who were bitten were sure to die, sooner or later. And it is just so with sin, the serpent that has bitten our souls. It is an incur- able evil. God has said, " The soul that sinneth it shall die." Just as sure as God's word is true the death of the soul must follow sin, unless a remedy be found. And now let us see God's remedy. We have an account of this in vs. 8, g. A serpent of brass was made and put upon a pole, and all who looked to it were healed. Some might object and say it was a very unlikely remedy. If the wisest men among the Israel- ites and their best physicians had been asked to try and find a remedy for the bite of those fiery serpents, they might have searched a long time, and have tried a thousand things, but they never would have thought of this. And if any of them had thought of it, the rest would most likely have said, " Why that is only a piece of brass. What good can that do?" Very likely this is just what some of the people did say, or at least what they thought. And so God's remedy for sin seems a very unlikely one. Paul says, " the preaching of the cross was to the Greeks foolishness." The idea that men were to be saved by the death of Jesus on the cross, seemed to them so unlikely as to be regarded as foolish. It WAS A VERY SIMPLE REMEDY. The people had no disagreeable medicine to take ; no washing or anointing was to be done ; no plasters or poultices were to be applied ; no long and tedious course of treatment was to be employed. They had only to look and live. Many were so feeble and in such pain that they could do nothing to help them- selves or each other. If they had even been required to crawl up to the pole on which the serpent hung and touch it, many of them would have been unable to do it. But this was not neces- sary. High on a pole in the midst of their encampment, the serpent was lifted up. The poor suffering creatures had only to turn their eyes towards it, and directly they were healed. And so it is with the remedy for our souls provided in the gospel. We have nothing to do and nothing to pay. The command of God to every sinner is, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." And what looking to the serpent was to the bitten Israelites, believing on Jesus is to us. And hence Jesus says to us, and to poor sinners everywhere, " Look unto me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth ; for besides me there is no Saviour." What a simple remedy this is! It WAS A SUCCESSFUL REMEDY; SO successful that every one who simply looked at it was cured. THE WONDERFUL CURE. 27 " It came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the SERPENT OF BRASS HE LIVED " (v. 9). No matter how long the man had been bitten, or how much he had suffered; no matter if the poison had gone all through his frame and mingled with every drop of his blood, so that he was just about to die; yet if he only looked to that brazen serpent on the pole, the wound would be healed : the effect of the poison would be undone. He would be made well. This was certain. It never failed. And so it is with Jesus and his cross. He " is able to save unto the uttermost, all that come unto God through him." His blood " cleanseth from all sin." . No matter how many our sins may be, or how great, he can take them away. His sweet promise is, to all who go to him just as they are, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." Isaiah i. 18. All earthly physicians have some forms of disease brought before them which they cannot cure. But Jesus, the heavenly physician, never had such a case brought to him. He can cure all. He is willing to receive, and. he has power to help and save all who come to him. It was a great evil which came upon the Israelites in the wilder- ness ; but it was a great remedy which God provided to remove it. The dis- ease was common, painful, fatal; the remedy was very unlikely, very simple and very successful. God be merciful unto us and bless us ; and cause His face to shine upon us." " O Lord, turn not Thy face from us, Who lie in woful state, Lamenting sore our sinful life, Before Thy mercy's gate ; A gate which opens wide to those That truly mourn their sin : O, shut it not against us, Lord, But let us enter in. We need not to confess our life To Thee who best canst tell What we have been ; and what we are, O Lord, Thou knowest well; Wherefore to beg and to entreat, With tears we come to Thee, As children that have done amiss Fall at their father's knee. O Lord, we need not to repeat The blessing which we crave, When Thou dost know, before we ask, The thing that we would have. Mercy, O Lord, mercy we ask — This is our humble prayer ; For mercy, Lord, is all our suit; O, let Thy mercy spare. MEMORIAL STONES. IF we have been looking forward to a thing for a long time, we cannot help feeling a great interest, when, at last, it really comes to pass. Suppose you are away from home at school for six months. The months seem long, and you often think of the happy time you will have when vacation comes, and be at home again. And when that day arrives, what a happy time you have ! Before I went to visit the Holy Land, I had been thinking about it all my life. I often used to try and imagine how I should feel when I actually landed on its sacred shore, and began my journey through the land of the Bible. And I never shall forget the joy I felt on the first day spent in Palestine. But that was nothing to what the Israelites must have felt when they came to pass over Jordan, and to enter on land so long promised, and so filled with all that was good and delightful. We only went to visit that land, and travel through it for forty days. They en- tered it to have it as their own, and to live in it all their days. Their joy must have been greater than we can tell. Just as they entered, a miracle was wrought for them, of which we have an account in the third chapter of Joshua. At the time of the year when the Is- raelites reached the banks of the Jor- dan, the river was full, owing to the melting of the snow on the Lebanon mountains, among which the Jordan has its rise, and overflowed its banks. At other seasons of the year it is compar- atively low, and a good many feet be- low the banks between which it runs. As it flows through a level plain, when it overflowed, the water would spread out to a considerable distance on each side. This was its condition when the Israelites came to cross it. They saw it rolling on, a rapid flood, filling up its usual bed, and stretching out into the level plains on either side. There was no bridge. They had no boats. How were they to cross ? There was no way, and so God made one by miracle. The procession is formed for going over. It is a very long procession, made up of several millions of people. They begin to move, and march towards the river. The Ark, borne by the priests, leads the way. On they go in solemn silence, and as soon as their feet touch the edge of the waters, a wonderful thing takes place. At once the waters stop flowing, just as if a great, strong dam had been thrown in an instant across the river. There was (29) 3° MEMORIAL STONES. no dam made of wood or stone, no bar- rier that could be seen or felt. There was, however, an invisible hindrance. It was made out of the will of God. That made the waters stop. As the people stood looking west, with their faces towards the river, the waters that came down on the right-hand side from the mountains in the north ceased to flow beyond a certain line, and gradually rose and rose till they be- came a heap, like a wall of glass. On the left-hand side the waters rolled away towards the sea ; and the bed of the river was left dry for miles, right before the people. How wonderful this was ! How it must have encour- aged the hearts of the Israelites! Yes, and how it must have discouraged the hearts of all the people in the land of Canaan ! This was the miracle which opened the way for them to enter the land which God had given. As soon as the bed of the river was left dry, the priests carried the Ark into the middle of the river bed, and there let it remain till all the people of Israel had quite passed over. What a sight that must have been ! There was the wall of water rising up towards the ! sky. At the foot of the wall stood the j sacred golden Ark, with the cloud of ; God's presence standing over it. God ! was in that cloud, and it was the God | in the cloud that kept the waters back, j What a wonderful display of God's I power! and he wanted the people to remember it. And this was the reason why he gave them the command which we have in Josh. iv. 2, 3. He gave direc- tions that twelve men, one from each tribe, should go into the bed of the river, and each of them take up a great stone, as large as he could carry. These were to be taken from the bed of the river near where the Ark stood, and carried up out of the river, and built up into a sort of pillar, at Gilgal, where they had their first encampment after entering the land. In our picture we see the men carrying these stones, just as it is described in verses 5 and 8. In the 9th verse we have an account of another set of memorial stones built up. These were in the bed of the river, and were, no doubt, much larger than those that the men carried on their shoulders. This was a memorial pile built up on the spot where the ark halted. And, as the Jordan in its ordinary state was not a very deep river, such a pile as this would most likely be visible from the banks of the river. WHY DID GOD GIVE THIS COMMAND? It is easy enough to think of two reasons. One reason why God gave the com- mand about these memorial stones, no doubt was, for His own glory. In the second commandment of the law, God tells us that " He is a jealous God." This means that he is very careful MEMORIAL STONES. about his own honor. When he does anything for his people, it is right they should remember it and thank him for it. If we neglect to do this, we are keeping back from him what belongs to him; we are robbing God, and this is a dreadful tiling to do. When people rob churches we call it sacrilege ; and that is considered a very great sin; but to rob God is a still greater sin. You remember that the prophet Ssm- uel set up a stone on one occasion, and called it Ebenezer, saying, " Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." And if we are properly mindful of all that God has done for us, we shall have the way of our pilgrimage all lined with memor- ial stones or Ebenezers like those of Samuel. The other reason why God ordered these "memorial stones" to be set up was, no doubt, for the good of his people. Gratitude pays. To keep alive in our hearts the memory of God's goodness to us, and to thank him for it, is very profitable. But it does not come natu- ral. We find it easy to remember the injury that any one has done to us, but very hard to remember the kindnesses that have been received. When our Saviour healed the ten lepers, only one of them came back to thank him for it. When he saw this, he said, " Were there not ten cleansed ? but where are the nine? There are not found that re- turned to give glory to God, save this stranger?" And, if you notice, you will find in our churches, that out of ten or even twenty persons who ask to be prayed for, whe'n sick, or going to sea, hardly one will be found to thank God for making them- well again, or for bringing them safe home from sea. Let us try to be more thankful. MY TIMES ARE IN THY HAND. Father, I know that all my life Is portioned out for me ; And the changes that are sure to come I do not fear to see ; But I ask Thee for a present mind, Intent on pleasing Thee. I ask Thee for a thoughtful love, Through constant watching wise, To meet the glad with joyful smiles, And wipe the weeping eyes ; And a heart at leisure from itself To soothe and sympathize. I would not have the restless will That hurries to and fio, Seeking for some great thing to do, Or secret thing to know; I would be treated as a child, And guided where I go. Wherever in the world I am, In whatsoe'er estate, I have a fellowship with hearts To keep and cultivate ; And a work of lowly love to do For the Lord on whom I wait. So I ask Thee for the daily strength, To none that ask denied ; And a mind to blend with outward life, While keeping at Thy side; Content to fill a little space, If Thou be glorified. THE SECRET SPOIL. IF we saw a stream that was flowing on rapidly, stand still all at once ; or a stone that was falling from the sky suddenly arrested in the midst of its fall, we would infer that there must be some very special cause for so strange a thing. And so, if we had been watching the course of a large army like that of the Israelites, if we had seen a way opened for them by miracle across the Jordan, and a strong city like Jer- icho taken in a most wonderful way, and then had seen them defeated and driven back by a handful of men, we would have been very sure that there must be some particular thing that was the cause of it. This was just what Joshua felt when Israel was defeated, as we see from Josh. vii. 6-10. God told him what the cause was, and how it must be removed. It was a secret sin. In verses 20, 21, we have the sinner's own account of what he had done. But some may ask what was there so very wrong in Achan's taking a part of the spoil, seeing it is a common thing for soldiers to do so in the cities that they conquer? But the Israelites were God's soldiers and servants. They were not fighting for revenge. They were doing God's work. The people in that country were very wicked. God wanted to pun- ish them for their sins. He had a right to do this, and to do it in any way that he pleased. He might have made use of a famine, or a pestilence, or an earth- quake for this purpose. But he chose to make use of the Israelites as the means of punishing these people. And he told them as we read in Josh. vi. 18, 19, that none of them were to take anv of the gold and silver found in those cities. This was all to be given to the Lord. Such was God's law to the Israelites about this matter. All sin I consists in breaking some law of God. ! Achan's sin consisted in breaking the i law God gave to the Israelites, about ! this part of the spoil. It was a secret \ sin. I suppose he found himself alone in the house where these valuable things were, when Jericho was taken. He thought there was no one there to see, and that he might as well take them as not. He forgot: "Thou God sees I meT "The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good!' Achan thought he was alone \n\i