xxviii. It was the theatre of the exploits of the Phoenicians, Is. xxiii. 2; Ezek. xxvi; xxvii; the sea over which Elijah's servants looked for the cloud, 1 Kings xviii; Jer. xlvi. 18. On its shore was Joppa, where Peter had the vision recorded in Acts x. It is about 2,300 miles long, and varies from 80 to 500 broad. It has no tides, except in the Straits, and there only to the extent of a rise of three or four feet. (See the Magazine of 1848, page 298.) THIRD LESSON. THE SOUTHERN BOUNDARY: THE PHILISTINES. This, as fixed by the original promise of the land (Gen. xv. 18.) was to be the Nile, and Solomon extended his authority so far, 1 Kings iv. 21, but the Israelites never peopled the whole extent. The border on the south therefore is usually said to be the desert of Arabia Petræa, or the Rocky. The Nile is the river mentioned in Gen. xli. 1; Ex. ii; vii; viii; and its annual overflowing is probably alluded to in Amos viii. 8; ix. 5. The south-west part of Canaan was inhabited by the Philistines. Point out their chief towns; Gaza, Askelon, Ashdod, Gath, Ekron. Joshua xiii. 1-3; Judges iii. 1-4; 1 Samuel vi. 17. 18; Jer. xxv.20 ; Amos i. 6-8; Zeph. ii. 4; Zech. ix. 5-7 This territory was directly in the path of the Israelites as they came out of Egypt, but God led them further round. See the reason in Ex. xiii. 17, 18. In addition to the texts quoted before, Gaza is mentioned in Judges xvi; Jer. xlvii. 1, 5; Acts viii. 26. Askelon, 2 Sam. i. 20; Jer. xlvii. 5, 7; Judges i. 18; xiv. 19; Jer. xlvii. 5. Ashdod, 1 Sam. v. 1; 2 Chron. xxvi. 6; Neh. xiii. 23; Is. xx. 1; Amos iii. 9. Gath, 1 Sam. v. 8; xxvii. 4; 2 Sam. i. 20; xxi. 22; 1 Kings ii. 39; xii. 17; 1 Chron. xx. 8; viii. 13; xviii. 1; 2 Chron. xxvi. 6. Amos vi. 2; Micah i. 10. Ekron, 1 Sam v. 10; vii. 14; 2 Kings i. 2. The Philistines were most determined enemies to the Israelites, and were often the means God used for chastising his people when rebellious; see particularly 2 Chron. xxi. 16. There was constant war between them; see the history of Samson, Saul, But destruction was threatened against Jer. xxv. 20; xlvii. 1-4; Ezek. xxv. 15, Zech. ix. 7. And their country is now David. FOURTH LESSON. SOUTHERN BOUNDARY, continued: EDOM. From the land of the Philistines eastward, Edom or Idumea extended to the northern extremity of the Red Sea. It was the northern part N of Arabia the Rocky, which extended down the eastern side of the Red Sea. The Amalekites, descended from Amalek, Esau's grandson, (Gen. xxxvi. 12) inhabited the western part of Edom, the Kenites being mingled with them, (Num. xxiv. 21; 1 Sam. xv. 6; xxvii. 10.) and the Edomites properly so called, the remainder; Mount Seir having been given to Esau, or Edom, as a possession, Gen. xxxv. 8. and that by God's providence, Deut. ii. 5. Edom included as its southern district the wilderness of Zin, to which the Israelites came on their journey to Canaan, Num. xx. 1; after the forty years' wandering in the wilderness. The desert of Sin seems to have been still further south, Ex. xvi. 1. Through it the Israelites passed to Rephidim, Ex. xvii. 1, and then into the desert of Sinai, Ex. xix. 1, 2, from which the wilderness of Paran, the inheritance of Ishmael (Gen. xxi. 21.) extended to Edom, Num. x. 12; xii. 16; xiii. 3, 26. On the borders of Edom is Mount Hor, where Aaron died, Num. xx. 22—28; xxxiii. 37. The Edomites were very hostile to the Israelites, remembering probably the ancient cause of quarrel, Gen. xxv. 29–34; xxvii. 36, 41. They refused the Israelites a passage through their country, Num. xx. 14-21. The Israelites were forbidden to molest them, Deut. ii. 4, 5; xxiii. 7; 2 Chron. xx. 10; but the Edomites constantly made war on them, and were therefore severely punished. See 1 Sam. xiv. 47; 2 Sam. viii. 14; 1 Kings xi. 16; Ps. lxxxiii. 6. They were especially cruel when the Israelites were oppressed by other nations, Ps. cxxxvii. 7; 2 Chron, xxviii. 17, which brought on them God's judgments; see Ezek. xxv. 12-14, and xxxv., and read the denunciation of utter desolation in Isaiah xxxiv; Jer. xlix. 9, 10, 15-18; Amos i. 12; Mal. i. 3, 4. The chief city was Petra, signifying "a rock," the dwellings being cut out of the solid rock, as described in Jer. xlix. 16. This the Kenites appear also to have practiced, Num. xxiv. 21. FIFTH LESSON. EASTERN BOUNDARY: THE MOABITES AND AMMONITES. These Nations were descended from Lot. The Moabites inhabited the country on the east and south-east shores of the Dead Sea. It is called Ar, Num. xxi. 28; Deut. ii. 9, 18; Is. xv. 1. The country northwards, had once belonged to Moab, but the Amorites had driven them out, from Heshbon to Arnon, Num. xxi. 26-30. The Israelites passed through it just before entering Canaan, and pitched for some time in the plains of Moab, by the river Arnon. Trace the course of this stream to its discharge into the Dead Sea. In the plains of Moab the Israelites were encamped when Balak sent for Balaam to curse them, Num. xxii., xxiii., xxiv., and where the greater part of the book of Deuteronomy was delivered, Deut. i. 1-5. This part of Moab, however, is that referred to before, as conquered by the Amorites, who in turn were destroyed by the Israelites, and the land given to the tribes of Reuben and Gad, Num. xxi. 21-25, 32-35; Deut. iv. 46, 47; and Num. xxxii. 33; whereas the country, at that time inhabited by Moab and Ammon, was not to be touched, Deut. ii. 9, 19. The Moabites, however, were to be punished for their enmity to the Israelites; see Balaan's prophecy, Num. xxiv. 17; and its primary fulfilment in David's victory, 2 Sam. viii. 2. Chief Cities of Moab-Ar, Kir, Bajith, Dibon, Nebo, Medeba, Heshbon, Elealeh, Zoar, Luhith, Horonaim, Nimrim, Eglaim, Beerelim, Dimon, Isaiah xv. Kirhareseth, Sibmah, Jazer, Is. xvi.; Kiriathaim Misgab, Madmen, Aroer, Arnon, Bozrah, &c., Jer. xlviii. SIXTH LESSON. EASTERN BOUNDARY: MOAB AND AMMON, continued. In Jer. xlviii. and also in Ezekiel xxv. 8—11; Amos ii. 2, and Zeph. ii. 8, 9, we have God's denunciations of anger against the Moabites, and its cause. The wars with the Moabites with Israel are recorded in Judges iii. 12-15, 29, 30; 1 Sam. xiv. 47; 2 Kings i. 1; iii. 4—7, 21–27; xiii. 20; xxiv. 2; 2 Chron. xx. Chemosh was their false god, 1 Kings, xi. 33, whom the Israelites learned to worship, Judges x. 6, and so provoked God's anger. In Moab was Mount Nebo, or Pisgah (which means "the hill,") where Moses died, after viewing from it all the land of Canaan. See also the history of Ruth, the Moabitess. The history of the Ammonites is chiefly mixed up with that of the Moabites, but separate incidents are related of them in Judges xi.; 1 Sam. xi. ; 2 Sam. x.; xii.; 2 Chron. xxvi. 8. Their chief god was Moloch, or Milcom, to whom they offered their own children as sacrifices, Lev. xviii. 21. They also led the Israelites astray, 1 Kings xi. 7, 33; Ezra ix. 1; Neh. xiii. 23; Amos v. 26. See God's denunciations against the Ammonites, Jer. ix. 26; xXXV. 21; xxvii. 3; xlix. 2; Zeph. ii. 9; Ezekiel xxv. 5, 10; Amosi. 14, 15. Their chief city was Rabbah, Deut. iii. 11; 2 Sam. xii. 26. A town of the same name was the chief town of Moab. The Ammonites were considerably reduced by Nebuzaradan, but their kingdom lasted in much prosperity as late as the time of the Romans. I. G. f. The Lecture. ON THE ADVANTAGES OF BIBLE CLASSES, AS A MEANS OF RETAINING THE ELDER SCHOLARS IN OUR SUNDAY SCHOOLS, AND THE BEST METHOD OF CONDUCTING THEM. A Lecture delivered to the Members of the "Church of England Sunday School Institute," by the REV. GEORGE FISK, L.L.B., Prebendary of Lichfield, and Minister of Christ Chapel, Maida Hill. My Christian Brethren and fellow Labourers, the subject on which I am requested to address to you a few thoughts of a practical kind, is indeed an important one, and deserves more attention than it has yet received,--connected as it is with the hopes and prospects of our Sunday school efforts. Three particulars will now demand our attention:-first, the importance of endeavouring to retain the elder scholars in our Sunday schools:secondly, the advantage of Bible classes as means to that end; and, thirdly, the best method of conducting them. : I. The labours of our Sunday schools are directed towards the rising generation at a period of life when, upon all human calculations, impressions of all kinds are most likely to be received and retained. A child's nature is generally plastic, and with some occasional exceptions, ready to yield to the influences by which it may be surrounded. The rapid growth in vice, where the surrounding influences are of a vicious kind, is a familiar proof of the general proposition. Many a child of an ingenuous, amiable, and pliable disposition, has, I doubt not, grown up into a hardened profligate, simply because vice and not virtue, gave the shape to the mould in which the character was cast and formed. Yet I do not mean to say, or to have it assumed, that virtue and vice are merely matters of habit, and exclusively dependent upon the influences acting either way: for I know, and I presume you are equally aware, that the principles from which virtue and vice spring are deeply laid -the one by grace, and the other by sin; and that therefore the triumphant virtue, or the ruinous vice of any individual life, is but the outward manifestation of the activity of the corresponding principle that is within. Still this consideration, (coupled even with the stubborn truth, that we cannot by any human act, either implant the prin ciple of virtue, or expel the principle of vice,) does not render less true the statement, that surrounding influences have much to do with the formation of individual character in childhood, for good or for evil, so as to cherish the principle of virtue if once implanted by grace, or to stimulate to its full and fearful fruition, the principle of vice which is indigenous. On this ground then, we affirm that the first ten or fifteen years of human existence, is the most important period of a whole life. And certain it is, that if that period shall glide by without such influences, and such a process of religious training as shall give the right direction and bias to the individual character, it will (in most cases) have acquired a determination and force in the opposite direction, that shall fit it to become, as life advances, like an over-swoln river; not like the Nile at its rising, spreading life and fertility, but like the waters of the Dead Sea, escaping from their mountain-barriers, in which no living thing abides. Childhood, then, is the season of hope and promise; and we act wisely, if we bring culture of the right kind to meet the infant mind at its first dawning. If we neglect it only for two years, we may rest assured that the devil—aye, and the babe itself, will have got the start of us and that even then, a great deal will have to be undone, and unlearned, before we can hopefully commence the culture which should have been set on foot before. Some thoughtless and unobservant persons would say, "This statement is sheer nonsense! What can be done with a child of two years old ?" I answer "What is it you find you have to begin to correct in a two-year old babe? Is there not much to correct, if it has been left to itself until then ?" Yes:-but what is it? Why, what the child has been learning by itself, and what it has been taught by pernicious influences around it. Temper-passion-self-will-obsti nacy-selfishness-yes, these things soon present themselves. The seed of them all was in the child's heart when he was born. The weeds have sprung up; there they are. He makes use of them; they are his character; and the neglected babe soon becomes the tyrant and the pest of the family, even before he can lisp his mother-tongue. What is he doing? Preparing a whip of scorpions, wherewith, in maturer age, to lash his silly, weak and wicked-because neglectful, parent. This is a strongly-sketched portrait, of more than half the children who are born, and neglected in infancy. The wretchedness of the great world is but the maturing of all this :-the filling up of the sketch. "What can we do with a babe of Why any thing, wisdom, prudence two years old ?" every thing, that and love, can suggest or desire. The history of Infant schools gives proof of this. Come and see my Infant school, and you may in some degree see it exemplified. Of course there are exceptions; but I am speaking of early culture in general terms, leaving exceptions to speak for themselves. In planting trees, we do not find that every one grows and becomes fruitful, though brought into a suitable soil: but we do not on that account doubt the soundness of our habits of horticulture, or the principles upon which those habits are formed. No; we plant, hope, expect, and in the proper season, look for the fruit and find it. You probably agree with me then, that the first fifteen years of our lives are the most important period; because if, during that period, we have been wisely trained, we have within us the rudiments of a corresponding character; if such training has not been bestowed, yet we have been trained, and we have in us the rudiments of the opposite character: and there, at fifteen, stands the character, in either case, that will be recognized (only in a stronger form) when he is thirty, that is, supposing (which is supposing rather too much) that the same influences which are now acting, will act in the same manner during the whole of the future life. But now comes a matter of great consideration. When a boy or girl of fifteen, (and unfortunately often at an earlier age than that,) winds up the connexion with the National school, or the Sunday school, frequently the very best principles that may have been instilled, and the best moral habitude that may have been formed, meet with a check. The cross-currents of the world rush against them. The storm-blast of temptation gathers around. straints of school, the restraints both of precept and example, are removed. Sin The re |