Ps. Ixxviii. 8. ^ geveratioJi that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not sledfast luith God,
HISTORY is universally considered as a source of the most valuable instruction, since it sets be- fore us the actions of men under all the most important circumstances of life, and teaches us what to avoid, and what to follow. But in this point of view the Inspired History is of incomparably greater value than any other, because it portrays the con- duct of men under an infinitely greater variety of circumstances than any other history can do, and does it also with far greater truth and certainty. Its importance in this respect is strongly marked by
the
the Psalmist in the preceding context. He calls on the whole Jewish nation to listen to him, whilst he sets before them the dealings of Jehovah with their ancestors, and their conduct towards him : and he charges them to impart the information to their chil- dren, in order to its being transmitted through suc- cessive generations to their latest posterity ; that all might learn their obligations to God, and be instructed to avoid the evils into which their ancestors had fallen: " that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his command- ments : and might not be, as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God."
With a view to a similar improvement of the sub- ject for ourselves, I will point out,
I. The character of that generation —
To estimate this aright, we must consider what might reasonably have been expected of them —
[No nation under heaven were ever so distinguished by the Divine favour as they. The wonders that were wrought for them in Egypt — their passage through the Red Sea, in which the enemies who followed them were drowned — their being guided by a cloud which afforded them shade by day and light by night — their being nourished for forty years by bread from heaven, and by water, which, issuing from a rock, followed them in all their way — their having the Law written by the finger of God him- self given them, together with laws and ordinances for the political and religious government of their nation — their having the river Jordan open a passage for them as the sea had formerly done — the seven nations, greater and mightier than they, all subdued before them — the Promised Land in due time put into their possession ; and the worship of God, with all its attendant privileges and blessings, established amongst them — these were favours peculiar to that nation, and elevated them above all other people upon the face of the earth. Respecting their superior obligations to love and serve God on account of these things, Moses made an appeal to their forefathers, which appeal may still be made to their descendants at the present day ^
Now, I ask, what might reasonably be expected of a people so favoured ? Might it not be supposed, that they would love
their " Deut. iv. 32—35.
vol.. IV. T