government of Him, who is "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" and of bringing many immortal spirits from under the power of darkness, into that kingdom, which consists in "righteousness, peace, and joy, in the Holy Ghost." But the mind that hallows the Name of our Father who is in heaven, and fervently breathes the prayer, "Thy kingdom come: Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven;" may naturally admit the discouraging suggestion, which filled with dismay the heart of Joshua, when Israel, at Ai, "could not stand before their enemies"- "Oh Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies ?" The conviction must be admitted, that, in the professing Church of Christ, there is, in wide extent, the prevalence of Achan's spirit, of which his true confession must be made, "When I saw among the spoils, a goodly Babylonish garment, and an hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them, and behold they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent." When the accursed thing which Achan had coveted and taken from the spoils of Jericho, was destroyed, and the transgressor removed from the camp of Israel, the people of God were again victorious over every foe. And, in commemoration of the mighty acts of Jehovah, His servant " Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel, in Mount Ebal;" according as Moses had commanded him, saying, "Thou shall set up great stones, and plaister them with plaister, and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law." "Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones.” Thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them." And Joshua "wrote there upon the stones, a copy of the law of Moses"-he wrote upon the stones "in the presence of the children of Israel." How interesting is it that, at the present time, many such stones, some of them plaistered as Moses directed, are found to be inscribed in the ancient languages and dialects of that country, where such wondrous events occurred! But the all-important object, at which the Christian should continually aim, is that he may be included in the New Covenant of life and peace, and experience the fulfilment of that most gracious promise, given by the Lord Almighty to His spiritual Israel," I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people and they shall not teach every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." The power of Omnipotence was marvellously displayed in defence of His chosen people-not only in the utter destruction of the enemies of Israel, but even in the suspension of those natural laws which He had established in the order of His created universe-He who had said, in the beginning, "Let there be light, and there was light," manifested His infinite sovereignty over all His works, when He "fought for Israel:”For He stayed the course of the sun, or of the earth, so that the sun appeared to stand "still in the midst of heaven, and it hasted not to go down about a whole day; and there was no day like that, before it, or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man;" for "Joshua spake to the Lord, in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said, in the sight of Israel, Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Ajalon." This miracle was doubtless designed to impress, on the surrounding nations, the solemn conviction which had been uttered by Rahab, when she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho, "The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath." : : CHAP. LV.-The rulers of the Canaanites were numerous, and they governed small territories Joshua subdued thirty-one of them he "made war a long time with all those kings." And "Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the Lord said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, according to the divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war." The country which thus became their pos P session was not very extensive, but it was remarkably fruitful; the vallies rich in corn, wine, and oil:-its mountains also were cultivated and fertile; Lebanon was clothed with magnificent cedar-trees: Hermon was verdant and picturesque; and it is peculiarly interesting to contemplate the many objects of attraction which for a long series of ages, were presented to the people of Israel. We find in Deuteronomy iii. 9, a record that Mount Hermon was called by the Sidonians (who dwelt on the sea coast at the northwestern border of Canaan) Mount " Sirion, and the Amorites called it Shenir"—it is also called Sion, Deut. iv. 48. Hence the Psalmist's comparison of the privileges of unity with "the dew of Hermon, and the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion, where the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore." And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and Joshua rehearsed in their hearing the deliverances which Jehovah had wrought for them and for their fathers; and |