in exposing them, and dwelt with delight on his general excellence. How opposite is this to the conduct of many! They will pass by all the holy beauties of a good man's character, and expatiate on a single fault, as if this was its leading feature, and showed that he was under the power of sin. The charity of worldly men is marked by excessive indulgence to its own, but by the most unrighteous severity to the saints of the Most High.

This approbation, too, was recorded in the Bible, that it might transmit the piety and fidelity of Caleb to every succeeding age, and might hold him up as a pattern of holy courage, and steadfast devotedness to duty. The records of human praise which, in former ages, were deemed a security for lasting fame, have passed away. The pillar of memorial crumbles down, the finest eulogy of human praise is written on the sand, and cannot be placed beyond the reach of the flowing tide of time; but the word of the Lord endureth for ever, and the characters which it celebrates shall be made known in every language, and be admired in every era of the world.

I may add, that it was a pledge of the approving sentence of the day of judgment, when to Caleb, as well as to every holy follower of the Lord, it shall be said from the great white throne, "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”*

Approbation thus open and thus particular, the ser

Matt. xxv. 23,

vants of God have no reason to expect in the present scene; but the voice of conscience, which applauds the sacrifice which they make to truth and duty, and which repels the calumnies of a slanderous genera tion, is a testimony from God. The justice which is done to their intentions and efforts in the course of time, which had been grossly misrepresented, is likewise to be viewed as the language of their heavenly Vindicator, and in the day of judgment Christ will confess before his Father and the holy angels the pious and the upright of every age and of every land.

2. He promises him a happy settlement in Canaan. To Caleb, who was so sensible of the beauty and fertility of that country, this would appear a most de sirable blessing, and to him the assurance of it must have been most solacing, when he had heard the confident assertions of the spies that it was in vain to invade it. In spite of every opposing effort, God would conduct him to it in safety. It was a circumstance connected with this privilege which must have deeply affected the mind of Caleb, that he and Joshua were the only two of that generation who should enter it. Goodness thus great, thus distinguishing, and thus constant, must have bound him more strongly to the service of his God. We have in the book of Joshua an account of Caleb's presenting his claim to the he ritage promised him in Canaan, and of his obtaining it." Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite came and said unto Joshua, Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, the man of God, concerning me and thee, in Kadesh-barnea. Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent

me from Kadesh-barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in mine heart. Nevertheless my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt; but I wholly followed the Lord my God. And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's for ever, because thou hast wholly followed the Lord my God. And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; (for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced;) if so be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said. And Joshua blessed him, and gave unto Caleb the son of Jephunneh Hebron for an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheri tance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel." It is most delightful to mark in this passage Caleb's grateful impressions of Jehovah's goodness, and to see him actuated by the same devotedness to God in old age as he had been in the former periods of life. He trusts not in his vigour, which he felt to be yet undiminished, but in the help

of his God, and complains not of the delay of the fulfilment of this promise, but asks it now as if conscious that the appointed time had arrived. How beautiful is it to see Joshua blessing him, and promptly granting his request! Instead of regarding him with envy, he loved him as a companion in toil, danger, and duty, and regarded it as his honour to assign him the reward which his zeal and courage had

won.

As Caleb was a pious man, we may believe that he saw in this promise of Canaan an assurance of an inheritance in a better country, of which in all its beauty, and fruitfulness, and security, it was only a type. Earthly kings must limit their rewards to the present state. They have nought to give beyond the grave, but God's chief blessings are allotted there. The rewards he promises to worldly men, when he employs them in executing his purposes, are limited to the advantages of the present scene; and such were these which he promised to Nebuchadnezzar and to Cyrus: but godliness is profitable to all things, and hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. In the blessings of Canaan, Caleb beheld a prelude of a felicity more noble, which should be marred by no evil, and from which death should never remove him.

Such is the land to which God will conduct all the

faithful followers of his son. For them it is purchased by the blood of their Leader, and he hath taken possession of it in the character of your forerunner. It is occupied, not as Canaan was, by na

tions which must be assaulted, and conquered, and extirpated, ere you can possess it, but by angels and saints eager to welcome you to their society and their bliss. It is a land where no sin defiles, no curse blasts, and no fear darkens, but where all shine in God's light, rest in his love, and rejoice in his blessing. "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.”*

3. He assures him that his seed shall possess it. This good man felt a strong solicitude for the happiness of his children, and, amidst the fullest assurances of his own felicity, he would have felt anxiety and uneasiness had nothing been said respecting his family; but God declares, that the heritage which should be allotted to him they should enjoy; and the expression intimates, that they would approve themselves the children of such a father, and that they should not be left to forfeit such a portion by their degeneracy. Such an example as that of Caleb constantly before their eyes could not but impress them; the testimony borne to it by Jehovah in the text was a motive to steadfast and active goodness of the strongest kind.

and

It is a remarkable circumstance, that Caleb and his descendants inherited that portion of Canaan which was possessed, when the spies visited it, by a race of men so formidable as to inspire all but himself with terror and despondence. In the very spot which his

* Ps. xvi. 11.