When Moses saw what was going on, his " anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount, and he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water and made the children of Israel drink of it," thus showing them of what their fancied god was made. Probably they had learnt to worship oxen and calves in Egypt, thus "changing the glory of the incorruptible God into the likeness of four-footed beasts." And Moses said to the people, ye have "sinned a great sin and now I will go up unto the Lord, peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin." And then he returned to the Lord and said, "Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written. Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found grace in Thy sight, shew me now Thy way, that I may know Thee, that I may find grace in Thy sight, and consider that this nation is Thy people." And God answered, "My presence shall go with Thee, and I will give thee rest.”

God let him see His glory; He again kept him on Mount Sinai, and told him to hew out two more tables of stone, and engraved upon them the same commandments as on the former occasion. And the Lord proclaimed Himself as "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." Well did God keep His promise to Moses, that " His presence should be with him." In the wilderness of

Sinai He was ever present; the pillar of cloud by day, the pillar of fire by night, led the people onwards. They were always complaining, their faith and trust seemed almost gone, and the patience of Moses at times appeared to be exhausted; but still their heavenly Father "remembered His chosen people," and they moved onward to "the promised land, flowing with milk and honey."

THE JEWISH SACRIFICES.

THE remainder of the book of Exodus, the whole of Leviticus, and the first few chapters of the book of Numbers, chiefly contain minute directions to the Jewish nation, many of which you would find observed in Jewish synagogues at this day. Some related to the sacrifices of the Tabernacle, the building set apart for the worship of God, which was ornamented with all the precious materials that could be found. Some contained directions to the priesthood, who were to offer the sacrifices for the sins of the people, as types, or foreshadowings, of the one great sacrifice hereafter to be accomplished. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, that Christ "being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For Christ is not entered into the

holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor yet that He should offer himself often, as the High Priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others, for then must He often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation."

From these passages in the New Testament, we see the meaning of the sacrifices by the priesthood which were ordained in the Old Testament. The Jews, who have continued to be a separate people for the last three thousand years, do not believe that the Messiah is yet come. They go on observing most of those rites and ceremonies which were given to the wanderers in the desert.

THE MURMURING OF THE PEOPLE.

YET even all the wonders that God had worked, were not enough to keep in the minds of this stiffnecked people the remembrance of His mercy to them. They wept and said, "Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the flesh which we did eat in Egypt freely, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. But

now our soul is dried away. There is nothing at all besides this manna before our eyes."

Such were their murmurings that Moses said, "I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me." God ordered him to choose out seventy men of the elders of Israel, to help him to bear the burden of the people. Moses said, "The people are six hundred thousand footmen, and Thou hast said, I will give them flesh that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them to suffice them? And the Lord said unto Moses, Is the Lord's hand waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not."

"And there went forth a wind from the Lord and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, and the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails." In the 78th Psalm we read, "It rained flesh upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea."

They seem to have over-eaten themselves, and the consequence was, they were visited with a very great plague. By the command of God, Moses sent forward twelve men "to spy out the land of Canaan," and "see the land what it is, and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, few or many, and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad, and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in tents or in strongholds." And he said, " Be ye of good courage, and

bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes."

They returned, bringing from the brook Eshcol "a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs." And they told Moses that the land flowed with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. "Nevertheless, the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled and very great; and, moreover, we saw the children of Anak there." Such was the report of ten out of the twelve spies; but the cowardly people were rebuked by the courage of Caleb, and of Joshua, that bold warrior of whom we shall hereafter hear so much. "The land," Caleb said, "is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land." But there is nothing that cowards dislike so much as to be urged to be courageous. The terror of the ten men who declared they were not able to go up against the people, for they were too strong and of great stature, had been shared by the rest, till at length all the congregation rebelled against Moses and Aaron, saying, "Would God we had died in this wilderness! Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt." Joshua and Caleb "rent their clothes," and tried to stir up their courage by telling them that the land was a good land; but the infuriated people wished to stone them with stones.

We cannot wonder that, though God did not then