the promised land, and beheld in Canaan a figurative represen- tation of that better kingdom, to which he was about to be translated.]
2. An assurance that his place should be success- fully filled by Joshua —
[To him was committed the office of instructing, encou- raging, and strengthening Joshua for the arduous work whicli lay before him. And what could be a richer comfort to an aged minister, than to see that God had already raised up one to occupy his post, and to carry on the work which he had begun ? Methinks, the preparing of Joshua's mind for his high office was a task in which Moses would take peculiar delight: and the certainty of Israel's ultimate success would cheer him under the pains of his own personal disappointment.]
The practical observations arising out of this history, will bring the subject home to our own business and bosoms. We learn from it,
1. To guard against sin —
[We might profitably dwell on this thought, if we con- sidered only the exclusion of Moses from the promised land for one single transgression. But as other occasions must arise whereon such an observation may be grounded, we would call your attention rather to the injury which both ministers and people may sustain by means of each other's transgressions. Repeatedly does Moses say, " God was wroth with me for your sakes :" from whence we are assured, that their sins were punished in him. And we know also that his sin was punished in them : they suffered no less by the loss of him, than he did by the loss of Canaan. Such a participation in each other's crimes and punishments is common in the world : children are affected by their parents' faults ; and parents by the faults of their children. In the ministerial relation, this happens as frequently as in any. If a minister seek his own glory instead of God's, or be remiss in the duties of the closet, his people will suffer as well as he : the ordinances from whence they should derive nutriment will be to them " as dry breasts or a miscarrying womb." If the people slight the ministry of a faithful man, what wonder is it if God remove the candle- stick from those who will not avail themselves of the light ? If, on the other hand, they idolize their minister, and put him, as it were, in the place of God, what wonder is it if God, who is a jealous God, leave him to fall, that they may see the folly of their idolatry ; or take him from them, that they may learn where alone their dependence should be ? Let the death of Moses, and the bereavement of the Israelites, be a