of romRnce about them: 1. The account of the king and his bedstead. 2. Tho rnco of {!i:rnts. 3. '111e sixty great cities and unwalled towns-a great many, nnd that within a 8pacc less ihlln that covered by some of our English counties. \Ve can q11ito imn"ino n superficial reader, specially if he., be one who has a keen appreciation of tho liberty of doubtmg, and who restlessly chafes against the Old Book, sayina, 0 "There, it is absurd upon the face of it, just like the legends of other peoples-a picco of mytholo"y," That is the rough-and-ready way in which Moses is dealt with now by many 7vho ought_ to know bct!cr. \Ve arc prepared to contest these sceptics at ovcry point, and, "·hat 1s more, to 11ffirm that a careful study of the !at.est researches will confirm Moses' ~~atc1:10nts,. and. not ~ver~hro"'; _them (see t~ie Exposition on this passage; nlso Dr. h It tu s 'Dad~- Il1 hie headrngs, in loc.; specmlly Hcv. J. L. Porter's • Giant Uities of Il:l,han'). When we sufficiently :i,vail ourselves of the light which modern travel and research ha,·c thrown upon the Il1hle, we find that what seemed romantic and almost legendary before, appears to be exact, literal, sober truth. This is an age of scepticism as regards the old Word, and of resurrections as regards the old world; the latter at every step arc putting the former to shame. Every word of God is pure, and, however some may load it with reproach, it shall be more than vindicated, and shall abide when the last of the sceptics, like the last of the giants, shall have passed away! II. THERE IS IIERE VERY MOCH INSTRUCTIOS SUGGESTED IN THE WAYS OF GOD, TO WRICH IT BEHOVES us TO TAKE REED: as we arc presented with this topic for medita- tion-T/,e passing away of nations and the incoming of others. 1. What a retrospect does t/,e history ef the rise, progress, and abandonment ef these giant cities, and the dwindling away of a stalwart race, call up before our imagination 1 Sixty strong cities. More than forty unwalled towns, of which the remains may even now be seen! \ 1\'hat a hum of busy life must there have been at one time! and what a degree of ci,·ilization at that remote period! "'Vhen Israel was a child," a world of strong, skilled life had reached its prime; of some arts a knowledge was then possessed which, somehow or other, we have lost and cannot regain. We can gather, to some extent, what they were, from silent, monumental speech; but while the ci,ties remain, the nation "·hich reared and owned them has quite passed away! Strange spectacle! Huge mystery! That pillars and monuments and records (even on papyrus) should survive the wreck of ages, while the men who originated all have mouldered Jong in dust! 2. Bow humiliating to see the powerlessness of a nation to guard itself, even when it erects buildings which for ages will survive itself! Those stout walls of Bashan have defied the tempests of three thousand years! But of the men whose wit devised and whose hands wrought them not a trace is left. Is it so? Can a nation fashion that which shall resist the wear and tear of millenniums, and yet do nothing to arrest its own dec,1y? How insiguificant does this make a nation seem (cf. Isa. xl. 17) I 3. How ui,irnportant is it to the worui at large whether one nation or another is uppermost I Ilashan's people are gone, and not for thousands of years has thero been a lament that that race has ceased to be! We ought to learn this lesson : A nation that seems great at one moment, may disappear from the scene of busy life, and, after a. temporary shock, a short iuconvenience, perhaps, the world would soon adjust itself to the change, and would go on as before! 4. Neverthekss, no nation passes away without some advance in tl,e unrolling of the great map of God's providence. God may make much of that of which men make nothing. It was not for nought that Og and his people were dis- possessed. Great strength was combined with ghastly wickedness. 'l'his is the reason why they were swept away. The wheels of providence arc "full of eyes." Unless a nation is accomplishing God's purposes, it will not be spared to fulfil its own! God \l'ill rid the world of plague-spots. 5. By sweeping away O!J and his people, the way wus cleared for planting in their territory u people who should have a nobler faith, even a f uitll in the One living and true God, and who should also set 1tp a higher standard fur natioual life and personal character. The corner-stone of Israel's polity was rigl,teousness. llence we should be prepared to sing right joyously the ·old Hebrew sou;;: in Ps. cxxxvi., and to see in the dispossession of Og a proof of the Divina mercy to tLe world! lieuce: 6. JYe who /,;now God's Name can loolc with calm serenity on natiCJnal C1J,/astropltes. Nations have been, and may yet be, swept off; but in all the tran~itions of power from one people to another, we see the onward march of One who is b 11t putting down that which is ill, that he may ullimately reset the world in goodness, CII, Ill. 1-20,] THE nooK OF DEUTERONOMY. 40
lrulh nm! lovo. vVo can join nnticipatively in the song in Rev. xv. Note, in con- clti~i,;n: ( I) vVhethor rt nation is likely to continue in being or no depenr!R on the degree to which it iH fnlfilling God's designs, rtnd not at all on the measure with which it is carry- iiw out. its own. (2) Whether it is best for the world that a nation should continue in bein" depends on tho virtuo, purity, and piety of the people who compose it. (:{) If virti7o bo a-wanting, no number of cities and town9, nor any stren;,;th and harriness in tho rnco, will evor shield a nation from absolute extinction. God can raise up hetter peoples. Ho i~ ablo, "~f thes~ sto!1es ." _to rats~ up children to Abraham. ( 4) God deab with nations rn tins life; with indwiduals, 10. the next also, " Whatsouver a man 60 wcth, that shall he also reap."
Vers. 23-27.-(Seo Homiletics, eh. xu:ii. 41-52, and eh, xxxiv.)