"Were there many of them, grandfather?" George asked.

Grandfather. A great many. The Lord had told Abraham that his descendants should be as the sand on the seashore-innumerable. At that time Abraham had no child; two hundred and fifteen years after, his descendants by Isaac, the son of the promise, were seventy souls; two hundred and fifteen years after that, four hundred and thirty years after the promise was given, they were six hundred thousand fighting men— in all nearly three millions of people. In the wilderness of Arabia, where they journeyed, there was neither food nor water. The Lord provided them with food by a miraculous supply of manna. When they felt the want of water the people murmured against Moses, saying that he had brought them up out of Egypt to kill them and their cattle with thirst. It was wicked in the people to do this; they ought to have prayed to God; he had provided them with food, and was as able to supply them with water. Moses cried to God, and God told him to smite a rock, and, to encourage him, said that He would be there before him, and that when the rock was smitit. Moses did this, and

ten, water would come out of the water gushed out. Some think that the stream which then flowed from the rock accompanied the Israelites on their journey all through the wilderness, and supplied them with water. Want of water is mentioned again, but not till very many years after that. Travellers who have seen the rock that Moses struck at this

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The

time, take notice of the channel made by the waters, and the number of holes seeming as if they were so many fountains; but no water runs from them now. apostle Paul, speaking of that rock, tells us that it followed them, and that it was a type of Christ. It was a good type, for He is firm as a rock to those that trust in him. All who build their hopes in Him are building on a sure foundation all who build on anything else are trying to make houses of sand. He is a fountain opened in the house of David for sin and for uncleanness. The fountains we hew out to ourselves are broken cisterns which can hold no water; whoever drinks of the water given by him shall never thirst.

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Immediately

But we must come to the battle now. after this, the Amalekites came against the Israelites. Moses told Joshua to choose men and go to fight against Amalek; as for himself, he said that he would go to the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand. So while Joshua fought, Moses prayed. It must have been a great encouragement to the Israelites in this their first battle to see Joshua in the field fighting for them, and Moses on the hill praying for them. When Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; when he let down his hands Amalek prevailed. When he grew tired, Aaron and Hur, who were both on the hill with him, took a stone and placed it for him to sit on, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side of him, which kept his hands steady. So Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the sword.

Then the Lord told Moses to

This is the first

The Amalekites have had a more Sometimes the

write this in a book, for that the remembrance of Amalek was to be put out from under heaven. mention we find of writing in the Bible. were descendants of Esau, and ought to kindly feeling to the children of Jacob. nearest of kin are the bitterest foes; so the sons of Esau were the first enemies whom the sons of Jacob encountered in the wilderness. Because Amalek was overcome when fighting against the Lord's chosen, we learn that all who may attempt to resist the will of God must be forced to yield to Him: because Moses, when he prayed, brought victory to his people, so if we look to God for strength, it will be given according as we need it.

Then grandfather ceased speaking, and told us that this was the end of the second battle in the Bible. We all asked him to tell us about another, so he went on. Grandfather. About a year and a half after this the Israelites had arrived at the borders of the promised land. They chose spies to send in before them to examine the country, and bring them a report of it. There were twelve spies-one from each tribe—and they were forty days in examining the land; they went through it from one end to the other.

Johnnie asked grandfather if the people did not wonder at so many men going about in their country.

Grandfather. We are not told what the natives thought, but we know that they did not do any harm to them, for the spies returned in safety. They brought pomegranates and figs, and a bunch of grapes so large

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that they carried it between two men on a staff. The brook that it had grown beside was called Eshcol, which means a bunch of grapes. They shewed these fruits to the people, and told them that surely it was a land flowing with milk and honey. But," they said, "the cities are walled, and the people are strong that dwell in them, and we have seen the children of Anak there." The children of Anak were of the race of the giants. Caleb, the spy of the tribe of Judah, said, "Let us go up at once and possess the land, for we are able to overcome it." Joshua, the spy of the tribe of Ephraim, said the same. But they were only two; the other ten spies said that they could not go up against this people, for they were stronger than they. They said that the land ate up its inhabitants, and that when they saw the giants, the sons of Anak, there, they seemed to themselves like grasshoppers, which are feeble and timid creatures. George. Were not they very cowardly, grandfather, when there were so many of them?

Grandfather. They were very cowardly six hundred thousand men might have been able to do a great deal ; but it was not so much their number that should have made them fearless, as the remembrance of what God had done for them. He had delivered them, a host of slaves, from the tyranny of the powerful king of Egypt. He had miraculously supplied them with bread and water in the midst of a barren desert. They knew not a step of the way to Canaan. He had guided them by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night. Then,

when the Lord had promised that they would be able to subdue the land, it was doubting the truth of His word to fancy that they could not do it.

Marianne. What did they mean, grandfather, when they said that the land ate up its inhabitants?

Grandfather. They might mean that the inhabitants by their wars destroyed one another, or, it is more probable that a pestilence was raging at the time, and instead of regarding it as providential, to lessen the number of their enemies, they murmured at it as if it were always there. And all the people wept that night, and said, they wished they had stayed in Egypt or in the wilderness; and they said to one another," Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt."

Johnnie. What could they have done in Egypt, grandfather?

Grandfather. They did not know that themselves, I daresay; it was madness to think of going there; they could not hope for mercy from the Egyptians, and they could not expect the blessing of God upon an act of disobedience. When Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell on their faces before the assembled people, for they were unable to speak, and might not have been listened to even if they had spoken. Then Caleb and Joshua, the two good spies, rent their clothes, and spoke to the assembled people in these words :- "The land which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us-a land which floweth