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THE GREAT GENERAL.

""Tis not the law of ten commands,
On holy Sinai given,

Or sent to men by Moses' hands,
Can bring us safe to heaven.

""Tis not the blood which Aaron spilt,
Nor smoke of sweetest smell,
Can buy a pardon for our guilt,
Or save our souls from hell.

"Aaron the priest resigns his breath
At God's immediate will,
And in the desert yields to death
Upon the appointed hill.

"And thus on Jordan's yonder side,
The tribes of Israel stand,

While Moses bow'd his head and died,
Short of the promis'd land.

"Israel rejoice, now Joshua leads,

He'll bring your tribes to rest,
For far the Saviour's name exceeds
The ruler and the priest."

WATTS.

WEARIED of play, and tired of romping, it was very gladly that we seated ourselves by our grandfather's side on the following evening, to hear the story of the

battle with the Midianites.

promise, and he at once began.

We reminded him of his

Grandfather. The Midianites were, as I think I told you before, descended from Abraham; they took their name from Midian, the fourth son of Abraham and Keturah. Some of them had settled to the south of Canaan, and had continued to worship the true God. Moses lived among them for forty years, and his wife was one of them. These, with whom the Israelites were now to fight, lived to the east of Canaan, and were idolaters. It was by the special command of God that the Israelites entered into this war. He had punished his own people for yielding to the temptations of the Midianites, and now the Midianites, who were the tempters, must meet the punishment they deserved. The Lord told Moses that after the children of Israel were avenged on the Midianites, he was to be gathered to his fathers; his work in this world would be ended, so he must leave it.

George. Did all the men who could fight go against the Midianites?

Grandfather. No, only one thousand from every tribe, twelve thousand in all, for that was the number commanded by God. With them went the son of Eleazar the High Priest, who was called Phinehas; he had already made himself famous by killing two of the chief offenders when the Israelites were seduced to worship strange Gods. The Lord rewarded him for that by a promise that the priesthood should remain in his family.

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George. But twelve thousand was a very small army. Grandfather. But the God of armies was with them, and they killed the whole host of the Midianites; the five kings of Midian were killed, and it was at this time that Balaam, the son of Beor, was slain. Whatever was the cause of his being there, he deserved the death he met with. Had he believed what he himself said about the happy death of the righteous, he would not have gone among the wicked to die their death. The Israelites then burnt the Midianites' cities, and their goodly castles, which some think were their idol temples. They took the women and children, the cattle and goods, to their camp. Moses was much displeased with them for saving the lives of the women, because they were the instruments who had been used to seduce the people to idolatry, so he gave orders that they should be killed. The spoil was then divided into two parts: one part was given to the twelve thousand who had gone to the battle, the other was given to the whole congregation.

Marianne. That was not at all an equal division, grandfather.

Grandfather. No, but it was right that those who had run the greatest risks should receive the greatest rewards. Out of the soldiers' half the five-hundredth part was to be given to the High Priest, and out of the people's half a fiftieth part was to be given to the Levites. What was paid to the priests and Levites was considered as a tribute to the Lord. The people who had

staid in the camp had the larger contribution to pay,

which teaches us that "the less we have opportunity of honouring God with our personal services, the more it is expected we honour him with our substance."

George. You said the twelve thousand got a half, grandfather. The twelve thousand could not have been nearly all there. How many of them were killed?

Grandfather. Not one; they all returned in safety, and, as an acknowledgment of the Almighty's gracious protection, the officers presented of the spoil they had taken, the valuable jewels and gold ornaments as a thankoffering to the Lord. We learn from this, that of everything we receive we ought to bestow a part on religious purposes.

George. I did not think the Midianites would have had any jewels or gold ornaments. What sort of people were they?

Grandfather. They were a wandering people, who may be divided into two classes,-shepherds, who moved up and down in tents, driving their cattle before them, and merchants, who travelled from place to place in companies. They were a wealthy people, and their riches brought luxury among them, so that they were remarkable for riot and excess.

Marianne. And did Moses die after the battle?

Grandfather. He did, and the circumstances of his death are very remarkable. He went up to the top of Mount Pisgah. There the Lord shewed him all the promised land—all its extent, and all its beauty-and after having seen that sight, the great lawgiver laid

himself down to die. No human being was near him, but God saw him die. There was no friend to pay the last honours to his remains; but his was the grandest burial that ever was in this earth, for it was the Lord who buried him. Forty years of his life Moses passed at the court of Pharoah, forty in the land of Midian feeding his father-in-law's flocks, and forty years he was in the wilderness of Arabia, the leader and lawgiver of his brethren, the children of Israel. He was a hundred and twenty years old when he died.

Johnnie. What an old man he was!

George. He was not old at all. Adam, and Methuselah, and Noah, and these people, lived eight or nine times as long.

Grandfather. Yes, they did: for several reasons that was an advantage. One might be this, that when the earth was so thinly peopled, and the means of acquiring instruction were so few, it was desirable that men should have a long time to gain knowledge, and a long time to communicate it. But though the early patriarchs lived to so great ages, in the days of Moses people did not live longer than they do now. His life was reckoned a long one for his time, yet none of the infirmities of age were upon him. The successor of Moses, as leader of the people of Israel, was Joshua, the son of Nun, whom I mentioned to you before. When the spies were sent in to search the land of Canaan, he was the spy from the tribe of Ephraim.

George. You mentioned him another time, grand

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