rations of Israel, and a memorial of the goodness, faithfulness, and power of the Lord their God. Who but must be astonished at God's display of almighty power in favour of this ancient race of people? After having endured severe bondage in Egypt four hundred years, the Lord, with an outstretched arm, divided the water of the Red Sea, and delivered them from the cruel hand of their enemies; and after having borne with their rebellious manners in the wilderness forty years, and now a second time to display his power over the same element of water, to conduct them to Canaan, these unite to lead us in holy admiration and praise of Jehovah's grandeur and glory! and excite us to trust his faithful care amidst the waters of affliction through which we have to pass, before we reach the happy rest above.

This short sketch of the history of the Israelites in passing over Jordan will be sufficient for the present to revive your recollection of that remarkable event, and will aid me to make a few reflec-tions upon it, as an emblem of our passing over the Jordan of death, to the inheritance of immortality and glory.

I. Israel consisted of twelve tribes; they were the people of the Lord by a national covenant, and the sign of their right and title to it was by circumcision. The spiritual Israel of God, as described particularly in the New Testament, both of Jews and Gentiles, are made so by virtue of the covenant

of grace and peace between our everlasting Father and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, ratified and confirmed in his blood, as the blood of the everlasting covenant. Now as it was literally the people Israel, and they only who were so miraculously led through Jordan in safety to the land of rest, we should seek to possess the personal evidence of interest in the spiritual Israel, by the circumcision of the heart, in order to confirm our hope of being conducted through death to eternal blessedness. In the New Testament it is thus described, we are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Philippians iii. 3. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. Galatians vi. 15. If the Lord has therefore made you a partaker of this gracious change, you know something what it means to have your heart circumcised by the Spirit, to the putting away the filth of the flesh, that you may love and serve the Lord while in the wilderness of this world, so that you may be confident, as ancient Israel went out of Egypt to go into the land of Canaan, and into the land of Canaan they came, so the Lord will not forsake you in this wilderness of sorrow, but will give you a safe and triumphant passage through the Jordan of mortality, to the happy rest which is above.

II. The Israelites were forty years in their march through the wilderness to Canaan, whereas God might have lead them a direct way by the hand of

Moses, in less than so many weeks. This will teach you that after the Saviour had visited you in early life, and given you to drink of the cup of his mercy, he might have speedily transmitted you to an eternity of happiness, without leaving you so many years to wander in this wilderness of misery. For in the course of our years, we have known many young persons in the charming bloom of religion, and also some young ministers of the most promising talents, who came up as a flower, were speedily cut down and laid in the dust, and their spirits were transmitted to immortality. Do you ask the reason why the Lord has permitted you to remain so many years in this wilderness, and to endure so many storms of deep distress? It is to prove the reality of your faith, your patience, and your love, and likewise to make the Canaan of cternal rest the sweeter when the waters of Jordan shall divide, that you may pass over and be enabled triumphantly to sing to him which led his people through the wilderness, for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalm cxxxvi. 16.

III. As the river Jordan divided the wilderness from the land of Canaan, so death lies between us and the eternal rest in heaven, for it is appointed unto all men once to die, therefore, of course, we must go through the Jordan of death. There was something very striking in the address of Joshua to the Israelites upon this occasion, when he said unto them, Ye have not passed this way heretofore. Chap. iii. 4. No, they had heard of Jordan, and they had

been very near the stream, but they were ordered back again. And have not we, by severe sickness, in our own apprehension, been brought within sight of death, but by God's delivering hand restored to health, and turned back again to travel yet longer in the thorny wilderness? When the people actually came to Jordan, the ground, the water, and the surrounding scenery, were altogether new to them; and while seeing Jordan at the same time overflowing its banks, and no visible means by which they were to pass over, all these must have excited a variety of conjectures in their minds, and painful feelings in their breasts. To relieve their conflicting minds, Joshua informs them what the Lord would do for them, that the waters should divide, the ark should go over before them, and that they should all pass over in safety to possess the land. This case is too much like our own; we have read and heard of death, and we have seen others pass away in death before us, yet we often heave the plaintive sigh, and say, How shall it be with us when we come to die? There is a passage in the twelfth chapter of Jeremiah and the fifth verse, which is so appropriate to this subject, that I cannot forbear introducing it. If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? Waving the literal meaning of this text in application to the then afflicted state of the Jewish nation, I will make a comment upon it in application to ourselves. If thou hast ran with

the footmen, the ordinary trials of human life, and they have wearicd thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? the more swift, strong temptations and sufferings of Satan and the world; and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, for we have been too much attached to this world, notwithstanding our disappointments and vexations, and they have wecried thee, then, after all these, what wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan, the last, the severest, and the final conflict in death? What wilt thou do? Look to the better Joshua, the Lord Jesus! For as Joshua of old relieved the painful anxiety of the people, by assuring them that the waters should open, and the ark of the Lord be with them, so the Lord Jesus will show you that by his death and resurrection he has divided the waters of death, the evil is removed, his presence, as the true ark, shall be with you, and convey you to the true Canaan of everlasting felicity!

IV. The order which Joshua gave to the officers, that the people should prepare them food before they passed over Jordan, will give you another useful lesson. Chap. i. 10, 11. On temporal supplies for our latter end, it cannot be incorrect for a good man to guide his affairs with discretion, so that if Providence favour his design, he may lay up something in store, when the infirmities of age may prevent him from labour. For this reason it is we are sent to the ant to learn her ways and be wise, for she provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest, for future use; and if this