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