o:r WHAT THEY ABKED :B'OR. Even so God punishes oar greed by letting us have as much as we want of the coveted thing. The covetous person is punished by ample wealth, the slothful by abundance of ease, the proud by success and flattery, the vain by large admiration, the sensual by anstinted gratification. Thus the man punishes himself, the Lord providing him with the means of destruction. Whether we like it or not, this is tho law of Providence; and to us it is the justice of God. Compare the case of Pharaoh (Rom. ix. 17, 18); of the rich fool (Luke xii. 16); of Herod (Acts xii. 22). VIII. THAT THE PEOPLE IN THEIR GREED LABOURED DAY AND NIGHT TO ACCUMU- LATE PRODIGIOUS QUANTITIES OF FOOD WHICH THEY NEVER ATE. Even BO do vain men labour and toil t6 lay up treasures upon earth, never resting as long as anything remains to be got-treasures which after all they shall never enjoy, and shall perhaps eternally regret (Matt. xix. 24; Luke xii. 21; xvi. 25; James v. 2; Rev. iii. 17). IX. THAT THE PEOPLE, APART FROlf ANY SUPERNATURAL INTERVENTION, WOULD HAVE SICKENED OF THE QUANTITY OF ANIMAL FOOD THEY THOUGHT TO EAT, AND :B'OUND IT "LOATHSOME." Even so self-indulgence soon reaches its natural limits, even when left to itself, and provokes a natural reaction of diBguet. If this world were all, moderation, se1£-restraint, and contentment with a little would still make a happier life than luxury and dissipation. The "roses and raptures of vice" which are sung by many poets, ancient and modern, do not only fade very quickly, but leave a very evil smell behind them. x. THAT THE JUSTICE OF Goo LEFT NOT THE ISRAELITES TO TIIE BLOW REVENGE OF NATURAL SATIETY; hardly had they tasted the flesh ere the plague began among them. Even so greed has its natural reaction of misery, even in the life of this world, but it has its Divine punishment in the soul. "He gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul," says the Psalmist (Ps. cvi. 15), revealing the spiritual truth which lay hid in this history. There is a bale.nee Divinely held be- tween the bodily life and that of the soul, so that if the first is full and fat and well- liking, the second is empty and lean and ill-favoured, No mnn can cater greedily for hie body without impoverishing hie soul; no man can gratify engerly hie carnal appetites without incurring spiritual disense (Luke vi. 24---26). XI. THAT ONE O:B' THE EARLIEST STATIONS ON TIIE WAY TO CANAAN WAS "THE GRAVES OF GREED," AND THAT THE NEXT WAS II ENCLOSURES." Even BO in the heaven- ward journey of the Church we soon come (alns, how soon I) to the graves of greed. to the dishonourable sepulchres of such as perished through love of money or of pleasure. Behold the graves of Ananias, of Sapphira, of those who II slept" at Corinth (1 Cor. xi. 30), of "that woman Jezebel" (Rev. ii. 20), of Demas. And after this we come to II enclosures "-long series of outward restrictions and regula- tions, some npoetolic and some later, which mark a stage in the Church's journey, and testify to her efforts to maintain her moral purity (cf. 1 Cor. v. 9, 11; xi. 34 b.; 1 Tim. v. 9). And what is true of the Church is true of many an individual member. As memory retraces the onward path, how soon come the II graves of greed," the sad memorials of passions sinfully indulged and sharply revenged I and nfter that the "enclosures "-the restrnints and restrictions by which li,berty was perforce abridged in order that sin and folly might be fenced out.
Consider, again, unth respect to the mannar-- 1. THAT THE PEOPLE WERE REALLY TEMPTED TO WEARY OF THE SAMENESS AND INSIP_IDITY Oil' THE MANNA, their staple food, To a palate accustomed to the pungent condiments and varied delicacies of Egypt, it was a great trial to have nothing but nrnnna for IL year; no doubt it failed to satisfy the appetite, and cloyed upon the taste, in spite of its wholesome and nutritious qualities. Even so it is a real trial to one who has known the excitements of sin and the dissipations of the worlll to satisfy himself with the spiritual joys and interests of religion, and we ought to recognise the £net that it is a real trial. In many who have been recovered from a life of indulgence the craving for excitement is at times u.lmost intolerable. Nature itself, even when not depraved by long habit, longs for excitement and change, and weariet1 of the calm monotony of faith, hope, and charity. Even the "sweetness" of the bread of life, which is at first as "honey" and as "fresh oil '' to the starveJ and l 2 116 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [OH, XI. 4--Ba•