Let me, in conclusion, address myself to the elder part of this audience —
[You must not forget, that the subject equally concerns you. For you also must " endure unto the end, if ever you would be saved :" and it is only " by a patient continuance in well-doing, that you can attain to glory and honour and im- mortality."
But that which I would particularly impress on your minds at this time, is the vast importance of your watching over the young people who have now consecrated themselves unto the Lord. Set them a good example yourselves ; and do all you can to induce them to follow it. Take the part that Caleb and Joshua took on this occasion : strengthen their hands : encourage their hearts : tell them what a gracious and power- ful and faithful God they have to help them in every time of need. Speak to them of " the land that floweth with milk and honey." Invite them to taste of " the grapes of Eshcol," which you have taken thence. Watch over the very " lambs of the flock, and carry them in your bosom." So shall all of us, ministers and people, rejoice together, and "have an abundant entrance into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ."]
Numb. xiv. 6 — 9. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes. And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them; and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
WHEN actions originate in an evil principle, how- ever specious they be, the motives from whence they proceed cannot long be hidden : a thousand things in the course of time will arise to elicit truth, and to discover the principles which we fondly hoped to conceal. The proposal of sending spies to search out the land, appears, from the first verse of the pre- ceding chapter, to have been first made by God; but