FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173  
174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   >>   >|  
esired effects. Love, gratitude, the sense of danger and of grace, are the powers which elevate characters. And persons who live in sensuality, fraud, or falsehood, hoping to be saved some day by a sort of miracle of grace, ought to ponder this truth, which may not be the gospel now fashionable, but is unquestionably the statement of a Scriptural fact: _in the moral sphere, God works by means and not by miracle_. A free life, the desert air, the rejection of the unfit by many visitations, and the growth of a new generation amid thrilling events, in a soul-stirring region, and under the pure influences of the law,--these were necessary before Israel could cross steel with the warlike children of the Philistines; and even then, it was not with them that he should begin. The other lesson we learn is the tender fidelity of God, Who will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able to bear. He led them aside into the desert, whither He still in mercy leads very many who think it a heavy judgment to be there. _THE BONES OF JOSEPH._ xiii. 19. It is certain that Moses, in the days of his greatness, must often have mused by the sepulchre of the one Israelite before himself who held high rank in Egypt. The knowledge that Joseph's elevation was providential must have helped him at that time, now many years ago, to think rightly of his own. And now we read that Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. In the Epistle to the Hebrews (xi. 22) it is recorded as the most characteristic example of the faith of the patriarch, that instead of desiring to be carried, like his father, at once to Canaan, he made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones. To him Egypt was no longer an alien land. There only he had known honour without envy, and happiness without betrayal. There his bones could rest in quiet; but not for ever. Personal elevation, which had not rent the cord between him and his unworthy family, could still less sever the bands between him and the sacred race. Let him sleep in Egypt while his grave there was honoured: let the remembrance of him be kept fresh, to protect awhile his kindred; and when the predicted days of evil came, let his ashes share the neglect and dishonour of his people, if only they would remember his remains when the Lord would lead them forth. This confidence in their emancipation was his faith--which meant, here as always, not a clear
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163   164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173  
174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   183   184   185   186   187   188   189   190   191   192   193   194   195   196   197   198   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
desert
 

Joseph

 

children

 

elevation

 

miracle

 
Israel
 
mention
 

departure

 
Canaan
 

longer


commandment

 

rightly

 
providential
 

helped

 
Epistle
 

Hebrews

 
desiring
 
carried
 

father

 

patriarch


recorded

 

characteristic

 

betrayal

 

neglect

 

dishonour

 

people

 

awhile

 

protect

 

kindred

 

predicted


remember

 
emancipation
 

confidence

 

remains

 

Personal

 
happiness
 

honour

 
unworthy
 

honoured

 
remembrance

family
 

sacred

 
sphere
 
statement
 

unquestionably

 

Scriptural

 
rejection
 

events

 
stirring
 

region