The Refusal.

'Let it suffice thee; speak to me no more of this matter.'¹— Deut. iii. 26,

Disappointment — the very word has an unpleasant ring; but who is able fully to describe the painfulness of the reality which this word indicates? Just picture to yourself a traveller, making his preparations, in another portion of the world, to visit and embrace his dearest friends once more before he dies. For years he has been making his arrangements with the utmost carefulness; at the appointed time he has embarked with all his property, and he has safely managed through the greater portion of his journey, though most dangerous. From day to day, as we might well expect, desire and hope increase; away on the horizon he already can descry his native shores; a few hours more, and then the joyful 'welcome home' will greet his ears. But suddenly there rises up a violent storm, that makes the masts and tackling crack; the frail craft, though in view of the desired haven, sinks to the bottom, and the wanderer, who came expecting rest within the circle of his friends, finds but a grave down in the gloomy depths. 'How sad a picture!' you exclaim: it is no sadder, we reply, than the reality of many lives on earth. Disappointment: — if such a word is scarcely to be found in the vocabulary of the child and youth, it is that it may stand, with lines so much the darker, in the lists of grey-haired men. What one of us has not had reason, in his way, to testify with Job, 'When I looked for good, then evil came; and when I waited for the light, then darkness came;'² or if there has been any one who has, as if by miracle, escaped till now, who can be sure of what will happen any single moment ere to-morrow ends? What no one looked for may occur the very first; and what seemed yesterday to have been brought within our reach has now, as if by magic touch, quite vanished from our sight. Thus the complaint we make when hope proves vain is quite as old as man himself; and as for prayers unanswered, who has not, sooner or later, buried them deep down in a distressed and anxious mind? And were these merely inconsiderate desires which thus met disappointment, we could certainly scarce feel at liberty, after due thought, to-raise complaint. When mothers like Salome show themselves so foolish as, in unrestrained ambition, to desire a place for her two sons on either side of Jesus' kingly throne, then it is well in all respects that the great Master, wiser far than they, should give the stern reply, 'Ye know not what ye ask.' But there arise, too, in our minds, from time to time, desires for which we have as little reason to feel shame before God as before ourselves. There hover frequently, before our minds, plans whose fulfilment we expect will bear abundant fruit for good to men, and glory to the Lord. Not seldom there are uttered in our solitude, prayers of a nature such that we might almost say with confidence regarding them, 'God saw that it was good.' But even those desires remain ungratified, those plans are thwarted, and those prayers so little answered, that at last we even forget to ask; how bitter an experience, — all the more bitter in proportion as our fancy was inflamed, feeling excited, and our faith supposed to have been placed upon sure ground! How must the Christian view so painful an awakening from the most pleasant dreams? how must the friend of God conduct himself on the complete rejection of his pious prayers?

If such a question have, in your esteem, as much attraction as it has importance in our own, then we rejoice that, in addition to so many other Scripture passages, the history of Moses also offers an important contribution in the way of a reply. The public life of Moses, as Israel's lawgiver and guide, is, as it were, a picture set within a frame of two great disappointments he experienced. The first is the occasion when, on slaying the Egyptian, he fancies that his brethren should acknowledge him as their deliverer, and finds himself most cruelly betrayed; the second, when he sees he is refused an entrance to the Promised Land. The pains arising from the former wound he felt throughout more years than months of pain felt from the latter wound; yet are we wrong in thinking that the second was by far the deepest and the most severe? We almost would even hesitate to fathom its full depth, if he had not himself removed the cover which concealed it, so that Israel, and so far others too, might see. But, in the narrative connected with the text, we hear him, with a touching simplicity, relate an incident which we might almost call a page extracted from the journal of his private history, inserted in the story of the wanderings which he was writing down in this and the two chapters which precede. The old man is engaged, about two months before his death, in looking back, together with his people, on a portion of the way by which the Lord had hitherto been leading them. He bids them bear in mind how Og the king of Bashan had been overcome, his land distributed among the Israelites, and how there has been opened up to Joshua the joyful prospect of still further victories. But though there had thus been such joyful days for Israel, 'at that same time' (see ver. 22) he saw himself compelled to offer a most painful sacrifice. In vain, — so says the humble-minded man, as if to show himself quite willing to do penance publicly, — in vain had he entreated for remission of the sentence passed on him; the Lord had given him a stern reply. We must, with this, compare especially what is recorded Num. xxvii. 12-14, where the Lord repeats the judgment passed on Moses; while the latter prays that Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, will, in his stead, appoint a man as leader of the congregation. There seems good reason to suppose that what is here declared took place between the Lord and him on that occasion, or but shortly afterwards. However this may be, we hear, from the whole tone of his account, how hard he felt the struggle and how painful the defeat. It almost seems to us as if tears marred his utterance, while saying to the younger generations, for their instruction, though to their astonishment, 'But the Lord was wroth with me for your sakes; 'that is, your unbecoming conduct, shown at Kadesh, was the cause why I then sinned against the Lord, and thus must feel His wrath; He would not hear me, but replied, 'Let it suffice thee, — speak no more unto me of this matter! '

Moses rejected in his prayer: how shall we best set forth this touching incident in such a light, that, in accordance with the twofold object of these meditations, God's way of dealing with him may be better understood, and our own Christian life intensified? Perhaps we can do nothing better than simply attempt to trace the course of thoughts that rise within us in such fulness, when we place ourselves before this piece of history. When we bring up the matter by itself before the bar of our own feeling, we exclaim, How dark God's dealings were! But when we further listen to the witness of preceding history, then we acknowledge that this was a righteous judgment of the Lord. When we regard God's mode of dealing in this case with reference to Israel, we find it is a wise arrangement He has made. When, by degrees, we have ascended to the point where faith looks out, we find it is, for Moses himself, a blessing in disguise. When we permit the light, that shines out from the world to come, to fall upon this enigma which meets us here, then we find grounds for everlasting gratitude. And finally, when we return from that height to ourselves, we cannot leave this man engaged in prayer without a glance into a training school here opened to our view. Such is the line of thought we purpose to traverse this hour; give us your company, and do not fail, especially, to glance continually from Moses to yourself, and back once more to him. And Thou, O Lord, who sayest to our hearts, 'Seek ye my face,' — lo, we are here; we seek Thy face! Oh, hide it not from us; and for Thine own name's sake, teach us Thy way! Amen.

1.

There kneels in prayer a godly man, to whom, as we can see at once, such intercourse with God is not a duty merely, or a habit, but a pleasure and delight. Must we now picture Moses in the stillness of the tent of witness, or in the boundless temple of creation, or in the solitude of waking night? It is enough for us that he now ventures, all alone with God, to place upon his lips the prayer that had been already lying heavily upon his heart for days and weeks; and he receives the answer which you know so well, but which produced, upon a heart like this, such an amount of grief as I need not attempt to tell. Well may we, first of all, speak of dark dealing in God's providence. For who is he whom we now see driven from the throne of grace with such inexorable severity? Is it a wicked man, to whom the wise king's words apply in all their force, 'He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer shall be an abomination'?³ Nay, but it is the special favourite of God, who often could succeed, by powerful intercession, in averting from a hundred thousand guilty heads the sword of justice, when it had been raised to smite. What does he ask, that he thus stirs the wrath of Him to whom he speaks? Some special recompense, perhaps, for years of toil and trouble; or, possibly, release from that most arduous post which he approached with such reluctance, uttering the prayer, 'Send, Lord, I pray Thee, by some other one than me; 'or did he ask a throne, which he and his descendants might possess in that good land of promise.'' Nay; he merely asked for a free entrance, a short stay, and calm enjoyment in the evening of his life, in that inheritance which God had promised to the fathers. How was that prayer expressed? Was it with an excessive urgency, unsteady faith, in an uncourteous tone? Nay; he himself is not afraid to own that he but asked a favour as a guilty one; and it is quite impossible to listen to his prayer itself, without perceiving there the spirit of profound humility and the most hearty gratitude. 'Lord God,' he supplicates, 'Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness and Thy mighty hand; for what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy might? I pray Thee, let me go over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain,' — such is the name given to Canaan in its totality, as being mountainous, — 'and Lebanon.' Is not this prayer a faultless one — nay, more, one of the highest excellence, and well deserving praise? But possibly you may already have remarked yourselves, that there does not occur in it a word to palliate the evil done; he does not even allude to what he did for Israel and for Jehovah; there is but humble acknowledgment of what the Lord already has begun to do unto His servant, with the earnest prayer that He will now complete His work. It is not a reward that he desires, but something as a special favour; and even that earnest prayer is wholly free from every shade of selfishness, because he intercedes for Israel, while praying, too, in faith, that God, in His great majesty and mercy, may be glorified. And finally, when was that prayer refused? Now there is but one step — yes, between him and death — but also between him and Canaan; and the mountaintops of the Promised Land already glitter in the sun, before his eyes. 'Canaan,' — that was the name which, even in childhood, he could lisp with feelings of deep reverence and love; that was the spot to which his eye had now been turned, in holy eagerness, for longer than a century, — in youth, in manhood, and in age; this was the sole reward he sought for all his life of toil and conflict, — such a life as God alone could estimate, as to its efforts and results. For this he watched, and worked, and lived; and if you ask what was it that enabled him, without a murmur, to wander eight and thirty years with a rebellious nation, and to bear upon his shoulders such a burden as might almost seem beyond the strength of man, you may be sure that nothing but the thought of entering Canaan could, for a man like Moses, make it seem that he enjoyed a heaven on earth. And now, there he is standing, as it were, upon the threshold of the dwelling that is to make up for everything: 'Back,' cries a voice which no one ever dares to contradict. Alas! some years ago it had been left to him alone to say if he would let himself be made the father of a mighty nation, and the heir of all God's promises instead of the rejected Israel: this, in his magnanimity, he had refused, but even from this sacrifice he will not get the great reward he seeks! But surely (you will say) the Lord is ever gracious; He has never yet rejected Moses, when, as mediator, he made intercession for his Israel; the Lord did not give absolute refusal even to that bold request he once made for himself, 'Show me Thy glory; 'shall this matter, then, so small comparatively, be refused? In vain was supplication made in humblest tones before the All-compassionate. The termination of the wanderings shall form the boundary of Moses' hopes; within thy gates, thou lovely City of the Palms, he shall not pass, but he must enter in within the gates of death. Thus it would seem that Moses fails to reach his earthly destiny, and Israel suffers an irreparable loss; for where on earth is there a second Moses to be found.'' Mystery of mysteries! here, truly, all seems mystery!

But has the like not frequently occurred? — does it not happen still? Though overwhelmed with sorrow, Jeremiah, it is vain for you to intercede for Judah; God has said: 'I will not hear.' In spite of all your penitence, your pleadings, David, for the sparing of Bathsheba's child are vain; not all your prayers can dull the edge of that dread sword, suspended by a slender thread above the tender head, and which but waits the signal of the Sovereign God to fall. With all your zeal and earnestness, it is in vain, Paul, that you have for years now been endeavouring to visit Rome; the Lord continually turns your path towards the east, when you would turn towards the west. And now, ye friends of God, are there not many of your number who have had such an experience as Moses underwent? A lovely prospect smiled on you, a pilgrim on life's path; it seemed to you a very Canaan of terrestrial luxury; then you put forth your strongest efforts to attain that height, and call the treasure yours. Alas! you see the palm trees of Canaan, but it is not permitted you to rest beneath their shade; what you most earnestly desired is merely shown to you, but not bestowed; your path at once takes a direction quite the opposite from that in which you wish to go; instead of milk and honey, bitter waters flow to you. I see you kneeling there, an anxious wife, beside the sick-bed of the husband whom you love; you call aloud to Heaven with strong cryings and tears, beseeching that He may take something else, — if need be, everything besides, — but spare you such a sacrifice as this. It is in vain; death knows no sympathy, and even the Prince of life does not appear to know. Yonder — but nay; where would I stop, even if, out of the book of each man's life, I wished to do no more than indicate the chief among the sealed-up pages, bearing the superscription, 'Unanswered prayers'.''Verily, the Lord did not without good reason say of old that He would dwell in the thick darkness.

2.

But is it really He, the Only Wise, the Gracious One, the God unchangeable in righteousness, who dwells in this darkness? Before you hesitate to answer this in the affirmative, look back a moment from the valley opposite Bethpeor, where the conclusion of this chapter places you, to Kadesh, which you know so well. Such a refusal, which, viewed in itself, seems almost quite inexplicable, arbitrary, harsh, at once appears in quite another light, when you have heard not merely what the heart of Moses says, but also what his conscience tells. However much of pain it causes us, we can no longer speak of a dark dispensation, without adding, in the second place, that this was a just judgment. We shall not here remind you of what it was through which Moses had forfeited his special privileges. We merely add to what has been already said, that though the heinousness of Moses' sin, after some days or weeks, perhaps diminished in his own or Israel's eyes, it could not possibly have seemed the less to Israel's God. The sentence passed on Moses was not, certainly, the consequence of sudden and unholy wrath, but the expression of strict equity, wisdom, and love; and if the Lord had shown Himself relenting here, it would have seemed as if He formerly had gone too far, when He condemned Moses and Aaron equally with those who had transgressed so much. That sentence, certainly, was hard, yet just, and one which there was need to pass: Moses himself, too, is so little disposed to call it arbitrary, that, instead, he acquiesces silently; and even in his latest song he cannot keep from praising God's great righteousness, — yes, but His mercy too. Nay, least of all can the upholder of the law be spared the application of the threatening, 'The soul that sinneth shall die!' Then, Moses, bow thy head when now you pray, and bear the burden laid on you; for surely you, too, are not free from guilt before the Lord.-'

But we must not incautiously exalt a special case into a universal principle. We must not think that every rejection of a natural and suitable request is, for a pious mind, the punishment inflicted for a special sin. But more especially would we exhort you earnestly not to imagine, when a disappointment such as this befalls you, that the cause is always to be sought for in yourself, or to remain dissatisfied till you have found at least one cause. Had not those sisters in distress at Bethany, when the Lord delayed His coming to their brother who was sick, refrained from seeking to discover why they could have merited such a delay on His part, they would have been needlessly increasing sorrow for themselves. But while we thus deny that there must ever be a peculiar connection between rejection and guilt, we must even still more strenuously resist the allegation that such connection is but rare and casual, and in most cases utterly inscrutable. We know full well there is a thread — often, indeed, invisible, yet natural and such as none can break — which forms a bond between our conduct and our destiny; and if the history connected with each one of you were accurately known to us, it would be far from difficult to prove that God has really good reason for the choice He makes of such steep paths for some. At one time, weak in body, you pray vainly for recovery of health and strength, and you exclaim, 'How dark my path!' But did you not, in younger days, employ your powers, when they were fresh, as instruments of sin? May not your present suffering, besides, be a sharp thorn that must remind you, through the flesh, how deeply you once fell? Sometimes, again, in bitter grief, you vainly seek deliverance; and though you sorrow loudly, yet the Lord at present gives you no reply. But is there nothing that you seek to hide.-'do not your feet now tread the path of danger, where you cannot look for peace? have you not sinned against past mercies, and, after plain experience of great deliverance, forgotten your invisible Deliverer? Or yet again, some wretched father may be now beseeching God to bring his lost son back unto his arms and to the home of God, — but all in vain; the blinded one holds on in the broad path that leads to death. But have you ever thought upon the time when your own mother vainly urged you to forsake the sinful path.'' and have you also said within yourself, 'I am but punished now, in my own family, for sins committed in my youth'? So plain and palpable is the connection that exists between the Canaan which we forfeit and the Kadesh where we sinned against the Lord; and it is not Adonibezeks merely, of most cruel memory, who feel constrained at times to make confession of past sins in words like these, 'As I have done, so God hath requited me.'⁴ I know, indeed, that when we show sincerity of faith in Christ, and have begun to turn to God, we need no longer fear the revelation of His wrath, but rather should rejoice in His great exhibition of free grace. But the natural effects of sin are often not removed, in spite of even the most earnest prayer: not seldom, too, the Father deems it right to make His children feel the bitterness of their temptation, even long after they have drunk the stupefying draught, that they may be more thoroughly convinced of the abominable nature of their sin, and of the holiness of His law. In the comparatively small amount that He withholds from His own people. He permits them, as it were, to see and feel how much He might withhold from them, did He — as certainly He could — but feel inclined to set their secret sins before His face. How very sad, then, the presumption that reveals itself in him who, even for a moment, still would dare to think of striving with his Maker! But surely it is not a girdle, but a penitential dress that most becomes us, every time we pass through such experience as Moses did! Before the suit is opened, conscience in each sinner will bear witness that the right lies wholly on the side of Him in whom is found unspotted righteousness.

3.

But our sphere of contemplation tends to widen out on every side. It is not merely to the previous history of Moses, but also to the needs of Israel that we must look, to find the true solution of the enigma connected with the firm refusal to accede to his request. If we mistake not, the providence of God becomes apparent here after His righteousness; and when we take a step still farther in advance, we find that we can readily and heartily extol Him for a wise arrangement in His providence. Is there much need for proof to show that Israel, in this case now before us, really loses less and gains much more than can appear from a mere surfaceglance? Forbid that we should raise a question as to even a single pearl in Moses' well-earned crown; as legislator and as leader of the people, he has never found his match. Nevertheless, Moses was but a man; it is impossible that one man should do everything: it must, too, be acknowledged that he was more fitted to guide Israel through the wilderness than lead them into Canaan. The trembling hands which, even nine and thirty years before, Aaron and Hur had been obliged to lay hold on and sustain, so that the staff of God might be held up aloft for all the camp, — these hands are now less fitted than before to wield with dignity the marshal's staff. The conquest of Canaan — a most colossal work — demands fresh, youthful powers. And to entrust the task into another's hands, while Moses was alive, would have conflicted with the dignity of Moses' character. To find that the attack failed of success through his deficiency in vigour and activity would have been still more galling to his soul. Then, leave in time your scene of action, worthy old man; for even Moses may be well enough dispensed with on the earth, but Moses' God alone is indispensable! Lo, even now, not far from you, there rises up the youthful head of one, a warrior, who, trained in your own school, shall twine the palms of Jericho into a victor's garland for his brow! He shall continue on the path which you have opened up, maintain your law with unabated zeal, display like faith, and far surpass yourself in martial ardour. Do you not think that Israel would have good ground for saying, ere a few years had elapsed, that though the Lord removed from them a benefit. He gave them something better, and arranged all for the best? And how much more does Israel gain, through God's refusal to hear Moses' prayer, than merely a brave leader in the fight? What an instructive lesson there was set before the people in this incident! And certainly the Lord had an important end in view when He thus makes it known. A hundred words, presented in the form of law, and calculated to impress them v/ith a sense of God's unspotted holiness, cannot exert so great an influence upon their minds as this one fact, which almost seems incredible, — that even Moses, for his sins, must die, no less than Korah or Dathan, outside of Canaan. And what a cause of shame to those who had made Moses sin, and thus to forfeit, in one fatal hour, the fruit which he had earned so well through years of toil! And what a warning, too! Surely it must have cried, though not in these same words, 'Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish;' and again, 'If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?'⁵ Moses, because his death took place while he was yet on this side Jordan, must surely have become, to an extent beyond what we can calculate, a grain of wheat that, for this very reason, has produced much fruit; and if there was anything more fitted than another to make Moses reconciled with the refusal of his prayer, it was the thought that, in due time, this other prayer, ah'eady mentioned, had been heard, 'that the God of the spirits of all flesh should appoint a man in his stead over the congregation.' For so God deals with us: wisely for us, with one hand He withholds, but with the other gives abundantly; and much that we are ready to regard as an irreparable injury to us, is just what turns out for the profit of the brethren. When we so rashly raise a loud complaint because our prayers remain unanswered, do we not far too frequently forget that we are here not for ourselves, but with and for each other; and that He who makes provision for the wants of all, without respect of persons, frequently must quite withhold something from one, that the fulfilment of his wishes may not turn out for another's injury? So readily are we inclined to look upon ourselves as if we formed an all-important portion of the universe, rather than beings of but small importance at the best, — or as a chain, not as mere links connected with some other links, — as persons of great consequence, before whom much, nay, everything must yield, and not as those placed in subordinate positions, and put there, too, for the sake of multitudes besides. How much more lightly would our disappointments press on us, had selfishness less influence; and what a multitude of instances does history afford, in which God often, in His wisdom, gave no answer to men's prayers, at least, delayed His answer, so that, in what saddens us, there might be found a germ of what would work for others' good! In vain does David long, for months and years, while he remained a fugitive from Saul, to find enjoyment at the altars of the Lord; but must not Saul have first filled up to him the measure of God's mercy and long-suffering ere David can ascend the throne? Jairus becomes uneasy when the Master is detained in coming to his house; but is the disappointed one aware that, in that crowd, there is concealed a woman who had been a sufferer for twelve long years, to whom that precious moment opened up the prospect of a cure for body and for soul? Paul scarce can cease from his desire to work among the Jews, while, as we know, the Lord designs him specially to labour in the heathen world; but, even now, the great apostle is considering how much the Gentile world will profit by his disappointment; and does he not appear all the more noble in your eyes, when, later, he declares that for his own sake he would wish to be released, but yet considers it to be more needful for the good of his beloved Church that he should still remain on earth? It is quite possible that some of your own worldly prosperity is owing to the disappointment of the wishes of some others; and it is no more than just that a dear wish of yours be sacrificed, on your part, in their interest. The One who guides the destiny of both, of all, in such a way that, in the end, none can set forth well-grounded reasons of complaint, is He who has reserved, as His peculiarly, the honourable name of the 'Only Wise; 'and He desires that you especially shall show, by your example, how a child that is chastised can render due submission to the Father of our spirits, and yet live under the chastisement. Our tears may be a seed of joy for others, and the loss felt by a portion of the universe may be the gain of all besides. Christians, does not that thought apply to your own case; and does it not begin to show itself more clearly to your mind?

4.

But some one may reply. It surely must have saddened Moses' heart to think that he had been incited to the sacrifice of his own personal, legitimate desire, for Israel's benefit? Such an objection might be called a fair one, if the man of God, through what he was deprived of, had been really too great a loser in the case. But just as many a hard, uncomely shell often conceals a kernel of the sweetest fruit, so is it with God's chastisements; the very rods employed in smiting drop with blessing from the Lord. But do you think that we are scarcely warranted in speaking, fourthly, of a blessing in disguise? Then take the scales yourselves, and see what properly it is that Moses is deprived of, what he obtains instead, and what, in various ways, he gains. He is deprived of — yes, Canaan; and that word means — does it mean everything? No, in the eye of faith it is not everything; it merely seems so to the mind of Moses now. Canaan is — and how could it be otherwise? — his earthly ideal; but ideals seldom gain by being realized, and even the Land of Promise offers no exception to the melancholy rule that there is far more pleasure in desire than even in the actual enjoyment of prosperity. But will it be impossible to forfeit Paradise even in Canaan? Shall sin be unknown there? Shall death have no dominion there? Does it make such a mighty difference to one like Moses, whether death takes place on Nebo, or, a few months later, upon Zion hill; for surely, to such minds and hearts, the whole earth is a land of sojourning, where all is strange? Has he been thinking of the daily cross he must expect, because, within the first few weeks, he only looks upon sad scenes of blood and tears, and afterwards finds out that Israel has certainly changed for the better as regards their dwelling-place, but not in heart? Ah, Moses, Moses! little do you know what pain of soul God spares you, when He gives the stern reply, 'Speak no more to me of this.' You have already had enough of sorrow in your day, old man; this last and greatest grief may break your heart! Nay, better far to die on this side Jordan, than endure a hundred deaths upon the other side; and surely, too, you know that, in this instance also, God still shows that He is merciful? Observe the tender care shown in preparing Moses for this disappointment, which was at once the last and greatest he endured. For eight and thirty years he had had time to meditate upon the question why the names of Joshua and Caleb, but not his or Aaron's, were omitted from the common sentence passed on Israel. The separation made by death from all that he had loved before, had gradually made his heart more loose to worldly things. At last, his brother Aaron was the only one that still was spared to him; but it was not long before he also fell asleep, predicting, in his turn, that Moses' death was near. Considering all this, it scarce can seem astonishing that now this last request too is refused; but with what tender mercy it is done! When God will not allow him to speak further of this matter. He Himself begins to speak about another, grander theme. Moses receives permission to ascend the heights of Pisgah, and behold of Canaan not merely what is naturally given to the eye of sense, but what the Lord shall set before his supernaturally enlightened eyes. And presently, in sacred ecstasy, he sees the land in all its wide extent, inhabited, enjoying all the blessings of prosperity — as he would never have an opportunity of seeing it in the reality, as it may never wholly have appeared, as he may have imagined it to be in those clear moments when the eagle spirit spread its rapid wings in flight. How advantageous an exchange to make, the visible Canaan given for the true; and while the foot alone feels loss, and that but to a small extent, the eye and heart have gained! Yes; what is it the man of God gains through that which the Lord his God chooses in wrath for him, but which is nothing else than blessing in disguise? It is not but an hour of pure, unmixed enjoyment, such as earth could scarcely have afforded him, but far more, infinitely more! For has it never yet occurred to you, that here we have the final touch given to Moses' preparation for a higher, heavenly sphere? He who believes there is a definite connection that exists between the earth and heaven, can never doubt that Moses certainly was destined for such an important place before the throne of God as he had filled on earth. But high positions, both in earth and heaven, are only reached by steep ascents; ere Moses can attain his full maturity, the hidden man of his heart must needs pass through a final cleansing. Far more, probably, than he himself yet knew, his heart is still attached to this Canaan; and it is natural, and right, and good, so far; but not even a Canaan may occupy too much of any heart, for which God should be all in all. Till now, it was Canaan and God that had been glorified, or, if you will (for we do not believe the heart can be divided), God in Canaan; now, it is God alone, God wholly, God eternally, the Giver of all good — if need be, even without His highest earthly gift besides! If, after this, in the account of Moses' last farewell and death, you can discover nothing sinful, and scarcely anything that you can say is of the earth, this, too, comes of the present trial; now, not even a Canaan can he regard as his reward; what now can be his portion, his reward, his highest good, but God? Observe the end to which the Lord's ways lead, and lay it well to your own heart. We have already said, that patient waiting is the special training which He gives to all whom He marks out for something. great; but when we have passed through that school, then the instruction given in the higher class (forgive us the expression) before we die is often some great disappointment we experience: a disappointment such as this, which we had scarcely reckoned on at all, in which the aim of life seems to be missed, in which all earthly things escape our grasp, but one in which, nevertheless, we find the last dividing-wall that stood between our heart and God sinks down into the dust, so that at last, in answer to the question whether we still have a wish for anything on earth, we can but answer, in Melanchthon's dying words, 'Nothing but heaven! 'Oh, lovely light, that rises from the land of Jordan on the enigmas of lives spent by so many friends of God! But is it only Moses who has, to the full, experienced that our greatest disappointments are God's greatest benefits? How eagerly do we, too, pray in our shortsightedness for some form or another of mere earthly happiness, which, like Canaan in Moses' eyes, is far beyond comparison with gold, and yet is little more than tinsel! How much more wretched would be the most miserable man on earth, if God had heard and answered all the prayers with which he ever ventured to approach the throne of grace! How often has God given you and me something far better than what we so vainly asked, something less brilliant but more beneficial; and how He purifies our heart for heaven, by weaning it on earth from that which it so earnestly desires! Nay, even the most acute does not perceive how much of the peaceable fruit of righteousness he owes just to those days on which the Lord said, as to Moses, 'Speak to me no more of this matter.' And who can tell what good there is for man, even in this life, in days which he spends here like a vain shadow "i Many an earnest prayer for longer life is utterly refused, that so the eye, closed ere the day of evil comes, may not perceive the misery to follow us! The supplications made by pious parents, for the life of some dear child, often return unanswered, just because God saw, in His omniscience, that the child of hope would afterwards become one of despair! And God refuses us a heaven on earthy that, when the separation follows, it may fall more lightly on our souls; that the heaven in heaven may prove the more attractive, and not any creature, though most dear — that God Himself may be our all in all. — Does not the light begin to break through with increasing clearness, to shine in all directions, and to triumph over every cloud?

5.

When we have gradually and constantly been rising, is there any reason why we should not now take one step more? We place ourselves upon the stand-point of the world to come, and then the blessing in disguise appears to us as an eternal ground of gratitude. But do you not yet feel convinced, with us, that Moses has received the punishment of his offence wholly within this present life, and that the temporary loss has been abundantly made up by God in heaven? We shall say nothing, for the present, of his death viewed in itself; but when we follow him, in thought, somewhat above the height of Nebo, is it not as if the darkness, which by slow degrees gave way before the twilight and the dawn, had now quite disappeared before the splendour of the noonday sun? Isaiah, in a certain passage, puts into the mouth of Israel, when they had been redeemed, this joyful song, 'I will praise Thee, O Lord; though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger is turned away, and Thou comfortest me!'⁶ If we mistake not, it is in the same tone that the psalm of thanksgiving must have been sung by Moses, raised to glory. Yes, now he is finding out the reasons why his heavenly Friend afflicted him; now, endless thanksgiving assumes the place of fruitless prayer! Who now would still desire the earthly Canaan, if exclusion from that land were just what hastened his enjoyment of some greater good? If Moses had been living there, and been a witness of the sin and constant strife in which his nation was involved, I fancy there is little that could form a greater ground of thankfulness than what seemed his untimely death on Nebo's lonely top. How widely different the way in which he viewed the Promised Land, looking from heaven, from that in which he spied it from that mountain-top! How clear an insight must he have obtained into the destiny of Israel, and all the way in which the Lord conducted them! What blessedness he must have then enjoyed, in the immediate presence of that God who no more spake to him out from a cloud that none could penetrate! I fancy, had an angel asked him, 'Moses, do you still wish that you had crossed the Jordan?' that he could have answered, 'Speak to me no more of this matter! 'But now that blessed soil he has in very deed not merely seen, but trodden, in a glorified humanity. After the lapse of fifteen centuries, he tarried, with Elias, in Christ's presence upon Tabor's top; and one hour spent upon that mountain of Canaan, in such companionship, is better than a thousand elsewhere, in the finest valley of the land. Now, there was neither sin nor death to come between him and the Promised Land; now, he no longer need conjecture, for he knows what God has done to him. Oh, why do we still speak, in childishness, of dark and stormy moments, when we know full well that, in eternity, there shall be ample opportunity for solving all the enigmas of time? Well may we rest assured, that all the friends of God will have much cause for gratitude in heaven, but more especially for this, — that He has said so often, in this world, through His strong love, 'No more of this! But do we not begin to find this out even on this side the grave? Many of you, in silent admiration, must acknowledge that the principle of everlasting joy would never have been drawn out in your hearts, had not the Lord been pleased to lead you, through this world, by paths where pains and crosses are familiar things. But the poor heart, that has been cured of lusting by the sorrow it has felt, finds constantly, in overwhelming measure, how the All-sufficient One, in a most wondrous way, makes up for what He has withheld, by giving us Himself. And never has the eye, beclouded by its tears, been pointed towards heaven, but there has been complete fulfilment of the words, 'The Lord has more than this to give you! 'But is it more than even the most that we request, — more than the dearest we have lost, — more than what we have been accustomed to regard as indispensable? 'Yes,' faith replies; and 'Amen,' shouts the morning of eternity, as it beholds the last broad strip that forms part of the veil of mystery drawn from before our eyes. What shall it be, when the Eternal shall at last deign to reply to all the 'whys 'asked by the child of earth.'' Lord, why that great, irreparable loss? 'Without that loss, you never would have gained the treasure in the heavens.' Lord, wherefore have I not been placed where I had always thought I should be? 'Because thou never wouldst have elsewhere learned, as thou hast now, to thirst for me; and thou wouldst have been satisfied.' Lord, why has not my prayer been heard, that this thorn now may be extracted from my flesh? 'Without that thorn fixed in your flesh, you never would have plucked a rose of Paradise; nor would you, by experience, have understood the words, "My grace is sufficient for thee; my strength is made perfect in weakness." 'You may have stared yourself half blind beneath the cloud; but do you not now feel your eyes beginning to be dazzled by the flood of light that comes in streams to you out from the open heaven? and does not your complaint cease when you hear the prelude of the song, 'Great and marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty '? Blessed, thrice blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall then, as now to Moses, 'show His greatness and His mighty hand! 'Then, when the darkness shall be changed to light, and time into eternity, the promise made to Moses shall have been fulfilled, — the promise, made by Him who far surpasses Moses, to His dearest friends, when all was gloom: 'Said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?'⁷

6.

'If thou wouldest believe.' These words now bring us to the close of our address. For, lastly, as we said, this incident in Moses' life shows us a training school that has been opened; but is it not a school especially for learning faith? If you feel like myself, after considerations such as these, with which we have been occupied this hour, you will be wholly at a loss for words in which to give due praise, for His great love, to God, who, in His word, makes a refreshing light arise over our darkest ways, and seeks to reconcile us with everything except our sins. But dare we, even this once, fail to remind you that this priceless comfort is quite lost to all who do not yet, by faith, stand towards God as we see Moses here? Poor man! your heart and conscience must condemn you when you seek to place yourself before His face; for you are not like Moses yet, 'His servant,' but a miserable slave of sin; you are still wholly unacquainted with the blessedness peculiar to that hidden intercourse with Him, in which you here saw Moses, in his troubles, finding sweetest joy! Great is your loss, ye who know not this joy, the only compensation for so much of earthly grief; and every disappointment must fall far more heavily on you than on the Christian, since you can, at most, behold a Judge in Him who takes and keeps from you what you desire; you cannot possibly regard Him as a Father yet. And after that which is, in many ways, a joyless present, what is it that you can look for in a future still more dark? From time to time, perhaps, some greater disappointment of your dearest wishes, but with no ground whatsoever for expecting anything that shall make up for this! Yes, 'no ground whatsoever;' for in this case also do the Saviour's words, to some extent, apply, 'If this is done to the green tree, what shall be done to the dry?⁸ Ah, even Moses' disappointment must sink into insignificance, when we compare it with the fearful prospect of the sinner, who awakes beyond the grave, and hears the sentence uttered in his ears, 'Thou shalt behold the heavenly Canaan with thine eyes, but thou shalt not enter therein.' Oh, dreadful day, when, as for ever afterwards, even this one prayer of the lost soul will be unanswered, 'One drop of water to cool my tongue;' and when, after the bold request, 'Let me pass over, I beseech thee, to behold that pleasant land which lies beyond death's river, and those goodly mountains set apart by Jesus for His people,' nothing but silence shall succeed. Oh, flee from that eternal and irreparable ruin; seek the Lord while He is to be found! He has already spoken to your soul about repentance: say no longer, 'Speak to me no more of this! 'Pray first of all, as Moses did, for grace; and look for it not on the ground of your own excellence, but on the simple ground of Jesus' intercession in your interest. Moses can as little lead the sinner into the Canaan above, as he could of himself enter the Promised Land on earth; Jesus only, like another Joshua, can open Salem's gates for you to enter in. Betake yourself, then, to the Mediator of a better Covenant, who, for your sakes, offered His prayers and supplications, mixed with tears, so that His cup might pass! Pray that the Spirit of all grace may also show in you His greatness and His mighty power! Submit yourselves to be anew brought, through communion with Him, to the glorious state of sons of God, in which the faith of Moses will refresh your soul, and 'Abba, Father,' shall become more than an empty sound!

But when we have thus taken our position in the school of faith, we do not thereby wholly leave unvisited the school of prayer that opens for us here. Does any one suggest that instances like these, of prayer unanswered, must serve rather to deter a man from prayer, than stir us up to practise it, and guide us in the exercise? We answer that it was not so with Moses, or the multitudes who fared like him and had this testimony, that they pleased God; nor shall it be the case with any one who has first learned to say, 'It is good for me that I draw near to God.' So little should unanswered prayers be allowed, even for a moment, to affect our firm belief in special answers given to prayer, that we should rather look on them as the exception which establishes the rule, 'To him that knocketh it shall be opened.' We scarce need mention that unanswered prayers would not appear to be so enigmatical, did there not stand upon the other side, as facts, a series of instances in which an answer has been given to prayer; and heaven and earth would sooner pass away, than that there should be failure, in one jot or tittle, of the promise left, at His departure, to His followers, by the Mediator of the New and better Covenant, 'Whatever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you.' Then, Christians, only let your prayer be truly offered in that ever blessed name, while you maintain with Him, by faith, that close connection whereby, through His Spirit, you are brought into God's fellowship. See that your faith in special answers given to prayer be not bound up with any abstract notions you have formed beforehand with regard to the connection that exists between God's secret counsel and our perfect liberty to act as men. Such views can never fail to be contracted, and may possibly be partial and changeable: what judgment would you be constrained to pass upon a child that made the trust placed in his father's goodness quite dependent on the notions formed, in his own mind, as to his father's secret plan, and not on his actual experience? See that ye rather simply keep to the great facts and the great promises of Scripture, which place far beyond all doubt the possibility and certainty of special answers being given to prayer; a God who could not do what far transcends your thoughts would certainly be utterly unworthy of your adoration. Speak freely to Him, in the name of Jesus, about all that lies upon your mind, but always with submission and in hope. Even when he has been disappointed in his prayer, Moses is far more happy than the sinner when he sees his highest earthly wish fulfilled. Pray just as Moses did, — pleading not your own works, but His; firmly persuaded that what God continues to withhold from you must not be indispensable for your eternal happiness, and may be even injurious. And above all, rejoice that you can offer more than one petition which even Moses never could expect to be refused, 'Lord, increase my faith! '' Create in me a clean heart! ''Guide me with Thy counsel, and receive me to Thy glory! 'And you need never be afraid lest you receive, in answer to requests like these, the words, 'It is enough; speak to me no more of this matter!' Christians! pray continually that there may be poured out on you a double portion of this Spirit of prayer.

And finally, the holy place where you saw Moses kneeling thus becomes to you a school where you are taught how you should live. What are the lessons of celestial wisdom, set before us in his disappointment, for the regulation of our private and our daily life? An exhortation, first, to modesty. Ye who can often build such proud and lofty castles in the air, see here the fabric of great expectations, built, long years before, by one who was a man according to God's own heart, but now laid in the dust; and learn to be more moderate in claims which you imagine you can make upon the future, so well known for its uncertainty. The fairest Canaans flourish not beneath, but above the stars; be quite content when, in the wilderness through which you silently pursue your way, there is no lack of bread from heaven, and living water to refresh your soul. — But secondly, an exhortation to more watchfulness. Ye who have chosen the good part, do not imagine that the crown has been already won, because you have got through a portion of the way, and never stumbled yet; the last stones may still make you fall; one instant may spoil almost everything: therefore, above all, keep your heart with diligence, for out of it are the issues of life! — But specially, an exhortation to submission of our wills to God's. Ye who so often have contended with your Maker, have you really, at any time, stood still and calmly thought upon the touching words with which this chapter ends? How simple and withal important a remark is given in ver. 29, 'So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor.' That quiet waiting, when the Lord does not command us to advance; that ready silence, when there is such ground for loud complaint; that unconditional, implicit following, wherever God appoints our path, — would you not almost envy Moses such submissiveness? and does not even the best man feel how far he is from having such a frame of mind? Come, let us pray to Jesus, that He may Himself conduct us to that eminence; and let us glory in each tribulation, even in those by which our heart is crushed, provided only that our wills are truly bent in due submission to the Lord. The time will come when we shall grieve regarding but one point, — the smallness of our faith, which sometimes made it so extremely difficult for us to stoop, and for that very reason to ascend. But when, with this confession, we have fallen down in heaven, before the feet of our great Guide, — oh, blessed prospect! — He shall then regard us with a look in which we may read more of favour than of wrath; and while He lays His hand upon our mouth, He will reply, 'It is enough; speak no more to me of this matter!'

Amen.

1) Preached Jan. 16, 1859.

2) Job xxx. 26.

3) Prov. xxviii. 9.

4) Judg. i. 7.

5) Luke xiii, 3; 1 Pet. iv. 18.

6) Isa. xii. 1.

7) John xi. 14.

8) Luke xxiii. 31 [Dutch translation].