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(with Deuteronomy 17:16): —

I. OUR LIFE, LIKE ISRAEL'S JOURNEY, IS BY A NEW WAY: "Ye have not gone this way heretofore." What others have felt and done is no sure chart of what we shall do and feel. The ship just coming in cannot predict what will be the voyage of the one just starting out. Like a journey in an unfamiliar, mountainous country, every step is into a new region; strange and unexpected scenes arise.

II. LIFE IS ALSO BY AN IRRETRACEABLE WAY: "Ye shall no more return that way." Like Israel, we look for the first and the last time upon the scenery as we pass through it. We may change the direction of life, correct its tendencies, find pardon for its sins and follies, but we never can retrace the steps already taken,

III. OUR EXPERIENCES, LIKE THOSE OF ISRAEL, ARE FOR PURPOSES OF DISCIPLINE. There is a moral strength, patience, perseverance, and trust, gotten by the valleys we traverse, the steeps we climb, and the magnitudes we see. One day Divine wisdom will be justified in all eyes for this uneven, circuitous path of life.

IV. OUR JOURNEY ALSO LEADS TO THE PROMISED LAND, AND FIDELITY WILL BRING US THERE. We are not in doubt as to whither we go, however unforeseen the way may be. Calebs and Joshuas even now bring us marvellous clusters of fruit as foretastes. We climb, here and there, Pisgahs, to be refreshed by the prospect. We are sure that when our feet touch that "darkly flowing river" it will part, and we shall easily go over. However uncertain the future, some things are sure. A few great truths, sunk deep in the heart, are all we absolutely need for the journey. God never leaves the soul without some light. As Charles Kingsley said, in the London fog: "There is always light enough to get home."

(T. S. Scott.)

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KJV: And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the host;

WEB: It happened after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;