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The Ark of the Covenant had been made by Moses, according to the command of God. It was a kind of chest of shittim-wood, with plates of gold, and enriched with precious stones. In it was kept an omer full of manna, Aaron's rod that had budded miraculously, and the tables of the Ten Commandments. Thus we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews that the Tabernacle contained "the Ark of the Covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the Tables of the Covenant, and over it the cherubims of glory overshadowing the mercy-seat." This sacred chest was considered the most precious possession of the Jews, as it contained the mercy-seat, from whence God gave his commands to His chosen people. It was covered from the eyes of the people, and was carried in solemn procession by the priests. When David had fixed upon Jerusalem as his residence, he removed the Ark there, till the Temple was built which was to contain it. It is supposed that it was then that the 132nd Psalm was composed, which begins— "Lord, remember David and all his afflictions, how he sware unto the Lord and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; Surely, I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed, I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob."

Of all that host of Israelites, only Caleb and Joshua could have remembered the passage of the Red Sea, That this similar miracle might never be forgotten,

Joshua ordered twelve men to take each of them a stone, and lay them down where they slept, and then added, "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones? then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land, for the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up from before us, until we were gone over. That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, and that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever."

JERICHO.

BUT their difficulties were now only beginning. Their enemies were the sons of Anak, men used to war, and delighting in it. The Israelite wanderers in the desert had to fight against the sons of giants, strong in horsemen and chariots of iron. Before them stood the fenced (that is, the walled) city of Jericho, with its royal towers, its majestic palmtrees, its waving fields ready for the barley-harvest. It was full of treasures, wedges of gold, and shekels of silver, and of Babylonish garments. How were they ever to get possession of such a city? Yet if they did not, the people therein would come out and destroy them. "Not by their own might, nor by their own power, but by my name, saith the Lord."

When the people were encamped before the city, Joshua saw a man over against him with a drawn sword, and soldier-like, asked whether he was on their side or the enemy's. And he said, “Nay, but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come." Joshua saw that this was a messenger from heaven, and when told by him to loose his shoe from off his foot, for the place whereon he stood was holy ground, he must have been reminded of the promise, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with thee." Thus strengthened, he by God's direction caused the ark of the covenant to be borne in procession round the city walls for seven days, the priests bearing seven trumpets. On the seventh day, the ark was carried round seven times, then the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the Lord hath given you the city." So the people shouted with a great shout, and "the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city."

For the next sixteen years Joshua was the leader of the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan, from the heathen nations who held it, and he was the executor of the judgments of the Most High against those who rebelled against him. At length his work was done. The peculiar people were settled in the Promised Land. The inheritance was theirs. From one childless man, they had become a family, a tribe, and now a nation. The soldier-guide had now carried the banners of the house of Jacob through the length and breadth of the country.

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"There

failed not any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel-all came to pass."

When all were at peace, he retired to his own possession, Timnath-serah on Mount Ephraim, and there remained till he died, aged one hundred and ten years. But before he passed away, this conqueror of a hundred battles, now well stricken in years (for we are told that it was a long time after that the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies), assembled the tribes once more. Before him were gathered all Israel-their elders, their heads, their judges, their officers. He reminded them of the wonderful works which had been done; how they had obtained a land for which they had not laboured, cities which they built not, vineyards and olive-yards that they planted not. "Now, therefore," he said, "fear the Lord, and serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt and serve ye the Lord." And the people answered, "We will serve the Lord." And Joshua said, "Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the Lord to serve Him." And they said, "We are witnesses." If you have ever seen the rite of confirmation in the Church, this answer of the Israelites must remind you of that which you may be called upon to make at that solemn season.

"And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance at

Timnath-serah, which is in Mount Ephraim. And Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the Lord, that he had done for Israel." One sees by this that the influence and example of a good man does not die with him. Nor need we live to the age of Joshua, to enable us to lead those around us in the right way. Every child can make those around him better or

worse.

THE BOOK OF JUDGES.

A JUDGE here in England, means a man who has studied the laws of the land and is authorized to administer them, and when any one is accused of having broken the law, witnesses are called and the judge examines into the matter, and settles what punishment the law requires. But the judges spoken of in this book were governors and rulers appointed for extraordinary occasions, and possessing extraordinary powers. We are told that they were given during the space of four hundred and fifty years, even to the time of Samuel the Prophet. We have a melancholy account of the backslidings of the chosen people, and of the judgments that followed their sins. To us, it seems almost impossible that they could have doubted the power or the mercy of the one true God, who had done so much for them. But we are told in the New Testament that if people believe

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