BENEVOLENCE TOWARDS GOD's ANCIENT PEOPLE.
Deut. xxiii. 3, 4. An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the congregation of the Lord ; even to their tenth gene- ration shall they not enter into the congregation of the Lord for ever ; because they met you not with bread and with water, when ye came forth out of Egypt.
IN reading the history of God's ancient people, we shall do well to notice even the most minute occur- rences ; since there will scarcely be found one which is not capable of spiritual improvement, or one from which the most important lessons may not be derived. The record before us would be passed over by the generality of readers, as pertaining only to that particular dispensation, and as affording but little instruction for us at this time : yet does it in reality contain as great practical information as can be found in any of the more signal events with which the inspired history abounds. A thousand years after this record was written, it was referred to, not by accident, as we call it, but by the special direction of Divine Providence ; and was made the ground of the most self-denying command that could be given to men ; and the ground, also, of the most prompt obe- dience to that command, that it was possible for fallen man to render. The Jews after their return from Babylon had formed connexions with the heathen that had occupied Judea in their absence : but Nehe- miah, determining to rectify this great evil, read to all the people the very words which I have now read to you; and, by his clear and unquestionable inferences from them, prevailed on all the people of the land to
separate themselves from the mixed multitude,"
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