it to powder, mixed it with water, and made the wicked worshippers drink of it.

In the desert, on the top of Mount Sinai, to which Moses was called by God, God gave him the Ten Commandments. It was a dreadful sight when God came down upon that mountain to speak with Moses; the people saw the black clouds, saw the blazing lightning, heard the roll of thunder, and the clear, shrill notes of a trumpet. They fell on their faces, and perhaps thought they would all be destroyed. But God was merciful: His name is Love.

Moses and Aaron were told what kind of religious service should be offered by the people; and how they were to make a great tent, called a tabernacle, and what kind of dresses the priests should wear, and what sort of sacrifice should be presented; everything, even to the width of a curtain, or the weight of a ring, was done exactly as God ordered.

All this time the Israelites were wandering in the wilderness, led by the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. When that pillar remained in one place, they encamped sometimes for a long while together; when it moved, they followed it.

After about forty years, when nearly all who had come out of Egypt were dead, and the children born to them had grown up to be men and women, the Israelites came near to the land which God had promised them. Moses was not allowed to enter that land. He had said some foolish, wicked words, and God would not allow him to go into Canaan. But he was allowed to see the land. He went, as God told him, up into a high mountain that overlooked the country, and saw it and rejoiced. And then God took him to heaven-the better land—the land of promise, which we all hope to enter, never more to go out for ever.

THE PROMISED LAND.

FTER the death of Moses the Israelites began to enter on the possession of the land which God had promised to their forefathers. A good and a great man, named Joshua, became the leader of the Israelites, and he it was who took the place of Moses when that holy servant of the Lord was taken away.

The Israelites who had come out of Egypt were all dead, and it was their sons and daughters that followed Joshua into the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb were the only men who survived the wanderings in the wilderness. And now the time had arrived when the people were to become possessed of the Promised Land, and there was but a river between them and the beautiful country which lay beyond. The river was called Jordan. But on the other side of the river there were powerful enemies; and when the Israelites came into the land, they would be exposed to great danger. Joshua knew this, and therefore he told the people they must be strong, and of good courage.

Before crossing over the river, Joshua sent two spies, to find out what kind of land it was. These spies came to a city called Jericho, and there they lodged with a woman named Rahab. But the king of Jericho heard

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THE ISRAELITES CROSS OVER JORDAN.

of their coming, and he sent to Rahab, and commanded her to give the men up. She was afraid to do so, for she had heard of the strange things that had happened in Egypt, and she believed in God. So Rahab concealed the spies, and helped them to get away in safety; only she made them promise that when the Israelites came to Jericho they should do no harm to her, or to those who belonged to her.

When the spies came back they told Joshua all that had happened, and three days afterwards preparations were made for crossing the river. They had no bridge, nor any boats, and the river was deep and wide, so that some, and perhaps many of the Israelites, may have wondered how they should reach the other side. If they doubted, they were foolish; for the same God that had made a pathway through the Red Sea for their fathers could surely make for them a road through this river. On the appointed day the people were all gathered, and marched to the banks of the stream. The priests went first, carrying the ark, and the holy vessels of the tabernacle, and as soon as their feet touched the water, it divided and stood in great heaps, so that the priests and all the people passed over on dry ground. And twelve men took twelve stones out of the river, and set them up on the farther side, as a token of the wonderful work which God had wrought that day.

Thus was it that the Israelites came into the Promised Land.

When the people of the land knew that the Israelites had crossed over the river, they were greatly afraid; and when the Israelites came up towards Jericho, the people in that city were afraid to stir out of its gates. All round the city were the Israelites. But they made no sign of warfare; only for seven days, seven priests, bearing the ark, went round the city seven times, and seven priests, with seven trumpets, seven times sounded. On the seventh day, on the seventh round, at the seventh sound of the seven trumpets, all the Israelites shouted, and the walls of Jericho fell down flat. All that were in the city were killed by the Israelites, all