the goodly land. Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God which He hath made with thee!” iv. 22, 23.
2. The second discourse, beginning with the fifth chapter, is, properly, the solemn and renewed promulgation of the Law. One feels the fire of divine inspiration glowing in every page of these soul-stirring chapters. “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength” (vi. 4, 5)! He reminds this singularly privileged people that God’s severe dealings with themselves and their parents was the wise love of a father seeking to restrain the waywardness of an unruly child. “He afflicted thee with want, and gave thee manna for [thy] food, which neither thou nor thy fathers knew: to shew that not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for age, and thy foot is not worn; lo! this is the fortieth year! That thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so the Lord God hath trained thee up” (viii. 3, 4, 5).
3. The third discourse (chaps. xxvii.–xxx. 20) enjoins on those who are to lead and govern the people after Moses the duty of binding the whole nation, when in possession of the land of Chanaan, to give themselves a solemn sanction to this covenant with God, by the alternate blessings on the obedient observers and curses on the transgressors, to be uttered near the grave of Joseph in the Valley of Sichem. The entire ceremonial to be observed in this memorable national solemnity is minutely detailed by the legislator.
God’s grace, vouchsafed abundantly even then to His children in view of the future merits of His incarnate Son, will not fail the subjects of this law. “This commandment that I command thee this day, is not above thee, nor far off from thee. Nor is it in heaven, that thou shouldst say, ‘Which of us can go up to heaven to bring it unto us, and we may hear and fulfill it in work?’ Nor is it beyond the sea, that thou mayst excuse thyself and say, ‘Which of us can cross the sea and bring it unto us, that we may hear and do that which is commanded?’ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart, that thou mayst do it. . . . I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (xxx. 11–19)!
There is not a family in which these inspired lessons should not still be repeated by parents to their children. The Spirit of God, who spoke by Moses, is ever near at hand to give efficacy to the dear voice of father or of mother, rehearsing these immortal teachings, and faithfully laboring to bring down on their loved ones the blessings promised by the Almighty Father, and to turn away from their homes the terrible curses sure to follow on the neglect of God and the contempt of His Law.
4. Most beautiful, too, and most touching is what is related in the concluding chapters of the parting of Moses with his people; of the sublime Canticle or hymn which he composed for them, and which is still one of the most triumphant songs of the Christian Church; of his going up to the summit of Mount Nebo to have a first and last look at the Promised Land, where it lay in all its beauty, across the Dead Sea and
