more eminently so, than in the narrative which Moses gives of the sentence passed upon himself, and of his conduct and feelings under it. As I have before noticed the circumstances of this offence at the waters of Meribah, I shall not here repeat them. Moses had endured and survived the period of wandering inflicted upon the whole nation, and that period was drawing to its close. The promised land lay almost at his feet, the prize appeared within his grasp. He might now deem himself secure of the glory arising from being the conducter of the chosen people to the place hallowed in their imaginations, and feel certain, at least, of dying within its sacred limits. This prize, however, is wrested from him by his own transgression, and his glory is given unto another. Fervently did he pray that his sin might be pardoned, and its penalty withdrawn. "I besought the Lord," says he, "at that time, saying, O Lord God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness and thy mighty hand for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that

can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the Lord was wroth

with me for your sakes, and would not hear me and the Lord said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter 1." The only boon he could obtain was that promise by which the sentence had at first been mitigated. "Thou shalt behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession. Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither."

Thus we perceive that he who was so powerful with God as repeatedly to obtain mercies and blessings for his people, could not even in a single instance prevail for himself. How are we to account for this difference? How are we to explain this variation in the efficacy of prayer? It can only be accounted for by the cir

1 Deut. iii. 23-27.

cumstance that, in the one instance it was the prayer of intercession, and in the other it was a personal request. So grateful to the Almighty is intercession, so perfectly consonant is it with the general system of his government, so entirely conformable to the spirit of the greatest and most glorious of his dispensations, that it would appear as if there were nothing which man might not obtain, when in humble but fervent faith, he comes boldly to the throne of grace for others. And should not this teach and induce us to pray earnestly and unceasingly for those in whom we are interested, for our friends and relatives, for our neighbours and our country, for our Church, and for our King: nay, even for our enemies? The prayer of faith seldom ascends in intercession, without again descending in blessing. The danger we cannot shield from our own persons we may ward off from those dear to us. The favour we cannot succeed in acquiring for ourselves we may procure for those around us.

How grievous must the sentence, thus pronounced and confirmed, have been to Moses! Cut off, at once, and by his own presumption, from participating in the inheritance promised unto Abraham, from that portion to which he had hitherto looked forward as the temporal recompense of all his toils, the earthly crown of all his labours-his glories blighted at the very moment of expansion, his joys withered at the very instant of fruition, his crown faded before it was fixed upon his brow, his prize snatched from him before its value was ascertained-surely we may think, that the punishment was greater than the crime, the penalty more than the transgression! Surely we may imagine, that forty years of faithful service might well outweigh one indulgence of human frailty! That a long life of laborious self-denial might cover a single ebullition of human passion! And such reasoning would be just and right between man and man- where service could be reckoned as an obligation, and obedience considered as a debt; and both

be pleaded as titles to reward and repayment. But we cannot thus reckon with Jehovah; we cannot write God in our books, nor debit him with the offerings we bring. All that we can present is justly his due; every talent we possess, every faculty of mind and body, belongs to him without exception: the whole life of man is his, without a single drawback; nor can one moment be abstracted, without fraud, one service be withheld without injustice. If we were thus to reason, as in truth we ought, we should find little cause to accuse him of severity, even in the most rigorous inflictions of his justice; we should be thankful that the mercies remaining are more than we have deserved, rather than complain that our sufferings are disproportioned to our offences.

"The little fruit which we have in holiness, it is, God knoweth, corrupt and unsound: we put no confidence at all in it, we challenge nothing for it, we dare not call God to reckoning, as if we had him in our debt-books: our continual suit to him is, and must be, to bear with our infirmities, and pardon our offences."-Hooker.