consume you, after that he hath done you good. 21 And the people said unto Joshua, Nay; but we will serve the LORD. 22 And Joshua said unto the people, Ye are witnesses against yourselves that ye have chosen you the LORD, to serve him. And they said, We are witnesses. 23 Now therefore put away, said he, the strange gods which are among you, and incline your heart unto the LORD God of Israel. 24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey. 25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and set them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. 26 And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God, and took a great stone, and set it up there under an oak, that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. 27 And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.

us;

V. 26-27. In order to impress some important truth, or transaction, men have sometimes represented surrounding inanimate objects as looking on and witnessing the scene, or listening to the words, and ready ever afterwards to open their mouth to testify to the facts, should man deny them. There are no writings which furnish such striking illustrations of these strong figurative representations, as the sacred Scriptures. The first example of this occurs in the above passage, which is too obvious to need any comment. The second example may be taken from the prophet Habakkuk, who describes the insatiable wickedness of the Chaldeans; and addressing the nation as an individual, he says, Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people,

and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.' Such abominations had aroused even the most insensible part of creation-the very timber and stone -to life and indignation.

As a third example, the whole multitude of Jews had just spread their garments upon the ground for Christ to ride over, they meanwhile crying out, 'Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest. But some of the Pharisees said, Master,

rebuke thy disciples; and He answered and said unto them, If these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.' If man refused to do homage to the King of Glory, when He came among them, the rocks, more sensible, would break forth in His praises. The discoveries of modern science, however, show us that there is a literal sense, in which the material creation receives an impression from all our words and actions, that can never be effaced; and that nature, through all time, is ever ready to bear testimony of what we have said and done. Men fancy, that the wave of oblivion passes over the greater part of their actions. But physical science shows us, that those actions have been transfused into the very texture of the universe, so that no waters can wash them out, and no erosions, comminution, or metamorphoses, can obliterate them. The principle expressed in its simple form is this:-Our words, our actions, and even our thoughts, make an indelible impression on the universe. Thrown into a poetic form, this principle converts creation

Into a vast sounding gallery;
Into a vast picture gallery;
And into a universal telegraph.
-Hitchcock.

ance.

28 So Joshua let the people depart, every man unto his inherit29 And it came to pass after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. 30 And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath-serah, which is in mount Ephraim, on the north side of the hill of Gaash. 31 And Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua, and which had known all the works of the LORD, that he had done for Israel. 82 And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph. 88 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died; and they buried him in a hill that pertained to Phinehas his son, which was given him in mount Ephraim.

END OF VOL. I.