so much, but because their mental attitude affects the
interpretation of what they see.

A notable example of this is seen in the twelve spies sent by Moses to spy
out the land of Canaan. The Israelites had crossed the Red Sea. Their
enemies had been destroyed behind them. They had come at God's command
almost to the borders of the Promised Land. Here the people camped while
the spies went to see the country. They passed through it and viewed the
land and the people, and presently came back with their report. It was a
wonderful land, they agreed, a land flowing with milk and honey. The
samples of the fruit they brought back were large and fine specimens. Of
course, the people were at once very eager to possess such a land, but the
question came up, _Are we able to do so?_ What kind of people are they
over there? Are they good fighters? Are they courageous? Do they have
strongly fortified cities? As soon as this question was broached, there
was a difference of opinion. Caleb said, "Let us go up at once, and
possess it; for we are well able to overcome it" (Num. 13: 30). The
others, however, did not agree with him, except Joshua. They said, "We be
not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we ...
and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there
we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were
in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight" (vs.
31-33).

Now, what made the difference in their views? They all saw the same
things; they all saw the same people; but when it came to telling of them,
they told very different stories. The difference must have lain in the men
themselves. When the ten saw those sons of Anak, they felt that they were
as grasshoppers in comparison with such giants. "Why, we amount to nothing
at all," the ten spies thought. "Those great big fellows could walk right
over us." And when they recalled their sensations, the land did not seem
so fine, either, and they said, "It is a land that eateth up the
inhabitants thereof." They did not stop to consider that their own words
condemned them. How could a land be such a bad land and yet the people who
lived in it be so strong and so great?

Joshua and Caleb, however, were not to be frightened by the stories that
the others told. So they said, "The land, which we passed through to
search it, is an exceeding good land" (chap. 14: 7). They also held fast
their confide