apostle enforces the whole of these admonitions, by givng his reason for them, which is, that the word of God be not blasphemed. For the word of God enjoins all such moral and social duties, censures the neglectors and violators of them; and whenever ungodly persons have occasion to witness the violation of these precepts by persons professing religion, they eagerly catch the occasion to blaspheme the good word and ways of the Lord. If these advices of Paul are necessary to single persons, whether men or women, they come with a stronger appeal to you as an aged couple. Especially if God should have spared your children, and their children around you, such admonitions repeated from your lips, and enforced by your example as their grandfather and grandmother, may promise the best advantages.

VII. I will conclude by asssuring the aged couple that by walking together in the fear and presence of the Lord, you will not only find an adequate support under the weight of your declining years, but likewise a corrective to your painful thoughts of parting with each other at the call of death; nor will it then be of so much consequence which goes first, whether the husband or wife. The Lord, who first brought you together, and united you in marriage, certainly knows the best time, and will produce the most proper means for dissolving the knot, and for a season to separate your persons from each other. The survivor will not sorrow as one that hath no hope, for if you believe that Jesus

died and rose again, even so them also will God bring with him, and you will be mutual sharers of the Redeemer's glory. Forget not that your Saviour is everlasting in his love to you; his righteousness, in which you trust, answers all demands against you; and the good hope, through grace, which he has given you, shall not make you ashamed. You have your heavenly Father's house to go to, where you will be free from sin and sorrow, personally know and enjoy each other, and where you will be in the immediate presence of God and the Lamb for ever. Therefore comfort one another with these cheering hopes, and let me recommend the admonition of Jude to your serious consideration, as a subject for your most devout prayer. Ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Ver. 20, 21. In this delightful employment may you wait all the days of your appointed time till your change come, and so far from being disappointed, you will find the Lord to be your portion for ever and ever.

How blest the pair whom Christian love unites!
Joy smiles upon their days and crowns their nights;
In peace their happy moments glide away,

Till both are welcom'd to eternal day.

THE LAST DAYS OF MOSES.

Sweet was the journey to the sky,

This wonderous prophet try'd;

"Climb up the mount," says God, "and die."
The prophet climb’d and died.

Softly his fainting head he lay

Upon his Maker's breast;
His Maker kiss'd his soul away,
And laid his flesh to rest.

MOSES was the son of Amram and Jochebed, born in Egypt in the year of the world 2433, and died in the wilderness, on the summit of Mount Nebo, 2553, when he was within sight of Canaan, the promised land. He was the most extraordinary man recorded in the Old Testament. The circumstances attending his infancy; his remarkable preservation; his introduction to the court of Pharaoh ; his education and his sublime genius; his appointment by the Lord to be the deliverer of the Israelites, and the accomplishment of that great event; likewise the office which he sustained as lawgiver, prophet, mediator, guide, historian, judge, and general of so vast a number of people, under the most discouraging circumstances in the wilderness for

nearly forty years; all these distinguish the greatness of his character. Besides, this man of God received such abundant grace and favour from the Almighty, that filled him with profound reverence, and inspired him with such devotion, that it is said of him, the Lord spake unto Moses, face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend. Exodus xxxiii. 11. To crown the whole of what is recorded concerning this distinguished person, Moses was a most eminent type of the promised Messiah, the Son of God; and likewise at the command of God he was institutor of all those ancient rites, consisting of sacrifices and offerings, which should be as shadows, and lead on the way to the great sacrifice, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. No wonder therefore that the last days of so extraordinary a man should be so strongly marked, and so admirably calculated to afford us the most instructive lessons; and more especially to an aged Christian drawing near to the Jordan of death. Under this impression I shall make a selection of a few of the more prominent parts of the latter end of Moses, and draw from them such reflections as may convey to you some serious lessons of instruction.

I. The cause of Moses dying in the wilderness. Two reasons may be assigned for this event. At the waters of Miribah the children of Israel strove with Moses for the want of water, and the Lord commanded him to strike the rock to give them a supply. He did so; but as it was in a manner and

in a temper which was displeasing to the Lord, he therefore spake unto Moses and Aaron, saying, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. Numbers xx. 12. This is to teach you that God requires obedience to his commands in the exact form and order in which he prescribes them; and that he marks the temper and disposition of those who, like Moses, find grace in his sight. The sins of the tongue are many, and sometimes very great, whether in the young or the aged; therefore, like David, incessantly pray, Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. The other reason why Moses could not carry the people into the land of promise is, that he was the giver of that law of God which he, as well as all mankind, have transgressed; and therefore we must be indebted to the hand of another to conduct us to the land of everlasting rest. Moses, therefore, dies, and is succeeded by Joshua, who safely conducted the people over Jordan, and placed them in Canaan. We too, as Paul expresses it, must die unto the law, that we may live unto God; for we have a Joshua, Jesus, a Saviour, (their names being both alike in signification,) who, for his people, having obeyed the law and borne its penalties, and thereby obtained eternal redemption for us, he becomes the glorious leader, through death, to an eternal inheritance in heaven. Let this admonish you to examine the ground and reason for your hope beyond the grave. If it be on your supposed obedience to the law,