SERMON XII.

THE SEPARATION FROM THOSE WE LOVE.

NUMBERS XXvii. 12—23.

GRANT, O God, that we may die the death of the pious,

that our end may resemble theirs!

Father in heaven, to number our days

Teach us, O our

in order that we

We should re

may attain to wisdom and piety of soul. member our end and the number of our days, how small it is; we should remember that Thou hast meted hours unto us with a span, that the longest human life is as nothing before Thee, that all is vanity if we only seek for what is vain, if we follow vain shadows, if we strive after trifles, if we heap up treasures and know not who shall inherit them. Therefore, O Father, if Thou teach us to live, teach us also to quit life as the righteous quit it! O that we may die as the pious die, that our end may resemble theirs! Amen.

Life, beloved friends, is for the most part made up of union and separation, and small, often very small, is the space that divides them. For like joy and sorrow, meeting and parting often lie close together. And these are perhaps the circumstances under which the dispen

sation is the least painful. That hearts that have found each other, should be parted before the cords that bind them are firmly intertwined, were a minor evil! Far sadder is the separation from persons whom long, long years of love have endeared to us; far more painful is the breaking up of associations, in which other beings have become a part of ourselves, and in which the affection of these friends has each day wound round life a fresh bond of soul. But such links are loosened, for separation is our lot here below! Yet the heart sinks at the thought that the hour of parting may be at hand; bleeds, well-nigh breaks, when that hour is come, and the dear associates must leave each other for years, perhaps for ever! Yet more, when by the separation all visible communion is terminated, and the endeared relationship can never be renewed under its present form: when death has pronounced his irrevocable decree of separation! He who knows such partings from his own experience, knows also what an influence they exercise over our whole being, how we yield to the sorrow, cherish it in our bosoms, and are in danger of consuming our best powers in burning love and vain, vain yearnings for the dead. The oftener such things betide us, the greater the uncertainty as to when we shall receive the summons to depart hence, the more beneficially shall we be influenced by the contemplation of men, whose strength and courage fail not under the pressure of feelings powerful as these, but who remain stedfast amidst separations the most painful, the most heartrending, and know how, as it beseems the pious and the wise, even herein to exercise moderation. The example of these noble beings cannot fail to contribute

to our improvement and ennoblement. Well then, my brethren, I will shew you to-day one of these highminded mortals, ye shall learn by his exampleHow the summons to quit for ever the circle of the beloved ones, should act upon the God-fearing Israelite.'

OF

AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, GET THEE UP
INTO THIS MOUNT ABARIM, AND SEE THE LAND
WHICH I HAVE GIVEN UNTO THE CHILDREN
ISRAEL. AND WHEN THOU HAST SEEN IT, THOU
ALSO SHALT BE GATHERED UNTO THY PEOPLE, AS
AARON THY BROTHER WAS GATHERED. AS YE HAVE
REBELLED AGAINST MY
DESERT OF ZIN, IN
GATION, TO

THEIR EYES:

COMMANDMENT IN THE

THE STRIFE OF THE CONGRESANCTIFY ME AT THE WATER BEFORE

THAT IS THE WATER OF MERIBAH IN KADESH IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIN. AND MOSES SPAKE UNTO THE LORD, SAYING, LEt the Lord, THE GOD OF THE SPIRITS OF ALL FLESH, SET A MAN OVER THE CONGREGATION, WHO MAY GO OUT BEFORE THEM, AND WHO MAY GO IN BEFORE THEM, AND WHO MAY LEAD THEM OUT, AND WHO MAY BRING THEM IN; THAT THE CONGREGATION OF THE

HERD.

LORD BE NOT AS SHEEP WHICH HAVE NO SHEP-
AND THE LORD SAID UNTO MOSES, TAKE
THEE JOSHUA THE SON OF NUN, A MAN IN WHOM
IS THE SPIRIT, AND LAY THINE HAND UPON HIM;
AND SET
HIM BEFORE ELEAZER THE PRIEST, AND
BEFORE ALL THE CONGREGATION; AND GIVE HIM
A CHARGE IN THEIR SIGHT. AND THOU SHALT PUT
SOME OF THINE HONOUR UPON HIM, THAT ALL THE
CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL MAY

BE OBEDIENT. AND HE SHALL STAND BEFORE ELEAZER THE PRIEST, WHO SHALL ASK COUNSEL FOR HIM AFTER THE JUDGMENT OF URIM BEFORE THE LORD: AT HIS WORD THEY SHALL GO OUT,

AND AT HIS WORD THEY SHALL COME IN, BOTH HE, AND ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WITH HIM, AND MOSES DID

EVEN ALL THE

CONGREGATION.

AS THE LORD COMMANDED HIM: AND HE TOOK

JOSHUA, AND SET HIM BEFORE

ELEAZER THE

PRIEST,
AND HE LAID HIS HANDS UPON HIM, AND GAVE
HIM A CHARGE, AS THE LORD SPOKE BY THE HAND
OF MOSES.

AND BEFORE ALL THE CONGREGATION:

Our portion of to-day informs us first, according to what rule Palestine was to be divided among the tribes (chap. xxvi. 51–56); farther, how the daughters of Zelophehad claimed the inheritance of their deceased father (who died without sons), and had their claim allowed (chap. xxvii. 1-7), and then Moses receives the divine command to get him up into the Mount Abarim, and thence to enjoy the glorious view of the promised land, and when still absorbed in the full enjoyment of that view, to be gathered unto his people, as Aaron was gathered. So far our weekly portion of to-day. Whether Moses accepted that summons, how it acted upon him, in what way he used it, herewith begins the next week's portion, whence I have extracted a passage, which cannot, from the close connection existing between them, be well separated from the previous portion. Thus am I enabled at once to shew you by the example of our instructor and benefactor, how to live and how to depart

from life, or, as I have said above, how the summons to leave our beloved ones for ever, should act upon the God-fearing Israelite. Hear and perceive.

I. "Get thee up into the mount Abarim; behold the land into which thou shall not enter: after the last glance thou must die!" Thus does the voice of the Lord call. And Moses, Moses hears and obeys the call. To this point I would first direct your attention. Immediately before our text, the Lord said unto Moses, "To the daughters of Zelophehad thou shalt surely give possession of an inheritance" (chap xxvii. 7). The hope might peradventure thence spring up in his heart, that God had listened unto the petition of his servant, to be allowed to live, to teach in that good land (Deut. iii. 23-25); the stern decree might be abrogated, deferred, "Thou shalt die in this desert." What is not man ready to believe, in accordance with the longings of his heart! Not so the godly man Moses. He knows that the God whose law he teaches, is no man that He should repent, nor a son of man that He should deceive; therefore he deceives not himself: he must depart, and he prepares for departure; he listens to the Divine call, 'Quit the circle of your beloved ones! depart from among them.' Do Do you also hear the voice of God, who warns you of your departure? Do you, my dear friends, hear the summons to separate? Sooner or later, the parting word must be spoken! cherub to keep the way of the tree of life, no son or daughter of Israel shall reach unto it, in order to eat of the fruit and live eternally here below.* Yet we act so often

God has placed a

*Gen. iii. 24.