"Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.” In vain did Caleb and Joshua assure them, that Canaan was an exceeding good land, and that they had no reason to fear its inhabitants, for their defence was departed from them. Such was their infatuation and their fury, that all the congregation bade stone them with stones.

At this moment the glory of the Lord appeared before them; and he said to Moses, "I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation, and mightier than they." Although this declaration was most honourable to Moses, and though he had been long harassed by their turbulence and folly, he could not bear the idea of their destruction, and pleaded for mercy to them as a parent does for a rebellious child. God listened to his prayer; but while he did not destroy them all in his wrath, he marked out as its victims the spies who had deceived them, and declared that not one of that generation should enter the promised land. In the midst of these testimonies of his displeasure, he bears in the text the most honourable witness to the character of Caleb, and opens the most gratifying prospects to him and to his family. Though Joshua is not mentioned in this verse, it obviously points to him as well as to Caleb; for he was animated by the same temper, and bore the same testimony, and the names of both are conjoined afterwards in the narrative as the two honourable exceptions in the wickedness and the doom of the messengers. The reason why Joshua is not here mentioned may be, that Caleb took a more active part

than he did on this occasion; or because it had been already foretold that Joshua, as the successor of Moses, was to conduct the Israelites into Canaan.

The character and promise in the text are rich in instruction, and are especially applicable to aged saints, whose conversation is in heaven, and who have lived a long and useful life in all godliness, and kindness, and honesty. Your attention has been turned to the deficiency and the doom of Belshazzar; and while you contrast with it the bright excellence and felicity described in the text, you will feel disposed with more ardour than ever to press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

I. Let us then attend, in the first place, to the character of Caleb,-a character drawn by no partial friend disposed to give a high colour to its merits,by no short-sighted mortal who might be misinformed or mistaken, but by him to whom all things are naked and open, and who is the Master and the Judge of every human being.

1. God styles Caleb his servant. He was so, not only as sent by him on this important business, but because, in his general conduct, he was influenced by a regard to his authority, and by a solicitude to please him. Amidst the most honourable testimonies to the piety of good men, Jehovah delights to speak of them by this term; and in their most favoured moments this is the epithet which they love to employ, as a memorial of their dependence and subjection. The enthusiast, when his mind is puffed up

with what he regards as the tokens of the Divine complacency, considers himself as the favourite of Heaven, and delights to exhibit himself to the world in this light. The language of humility and selfdenial accords not with his feelings; and if he does use it, it is obvious that he employs it to secure to himself the more ample applause; but Simeon, after a most signal manifestation of the Divine complacency, speaks of himself as God's servant, whose of fice it was to obey his orders, and who was willing to be disposed of by him according to his pleasure. The honour put on him, and the kindness shown to him, made the will of his Lord more dear to his heart. Thus also the Apostle John, while about to detail the astonishing visions which had been vouchsafed to him alone, and in which there had been presented to his mind's eye every thing in the history of the church, and in the triumphs of the Redeemer, which could dazzle by its splendour, or charm by its blessings, tells us, that the things which he details Jesus Christ had sent, and signified by his angel to his servant John.

When men speak of themselves as God's servants, they may do it in hypocrisy or in delusion, deceived in their apprehensions of their own character, or wishing to deceive others; when others speak of them in this manner, they may do it in the language of a charity, whose conclusions, though amiable, are not infallible; but when God calls any one, as in the text, his servant, it is a certain intimation that he hath put his laws in his heart, and that it is the business and the delight of that person to do his will.

The privileges of the Gospel dispensation are held out by the Apostle as requiring the most exact and solemn regard to our Master's will:-" Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."* The moral law points out the nature and the extent of our service, and the Gospel suggests the most animating motives to fidelity and diligence. Our judgments must serve him by the rejection of error however specious, and by the study of truth however mysterious, and the adoption of it however offensive; our consciences must serve him by strict vigilance and righteous decision; and our affections must serve him by fixing on the objects, moving in the manner, and being influenced by the principles which he prescribes. The members of our bodies must be made the instruments of the soul in external service, and must be kept pure as devoted to righteousness.

This is the service of God; and aged saints can attest that his yoke is easy, and that his burden is light. Your period of serving him on earth is near to its close; but, like the Hebrew servant who had completed his course of service, and had come to the year of release, and who said, "I love my master, and I will not go out free," you feel that his worship is your bliss, and that you wish to serve him in heaven for ever without failure and without interruption. Still you desire to wait at his gates, to hearken

• Heb. xii. 28.

to his voice, and to die to the Lord to whom you have lived; and it shall be so: your good Master will strengthen you by his grace, and confirm you to the end.

How different is the service of God from that of the world! Is the law of love like the power of revenge, or the peace of goodness like the torment of envy? Are the languors of sloth like the cheerfulness of zeal, or the rottenness of sensuality like the vigour of temperance? Are the regrets of remorse like the testimony of conscience, or the forebodings of terror like the rejoicing of hope? This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not grievous.

2. Jehovah states that he had a different spirit in him from that of the rest of the messengers. His conduct made this evident to all around; but Jehovah saw it before it was possible for him to evince it in his conduct.

Their spirit was the spirit of unbelief. Notwithstanding the many proofs they had seen of the power of God, and of his fidelity to his promises, they questioned his ability or his willingness to put them in possession of Canaan; but Caleb believed that no obstacle could resist the course of Omnipotence, and that no event could make his promise to fail. While the infidel scoffer ridicules the hope of immortality as a delusion, and while the carnal mind cleaves to this world as its only portion, it is your attainment, ye aged saints, to sing," Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively