“Till heaven and earth shall pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."

"Ye have heard that it hath been said [Leviticus xix. 18], Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." "Therefore, all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye also unto them for this is the law and the prophets."

:

And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of water, only in the name of a disciple, he shall in no wise lose his reward."

"The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength." "This is the first and great commandment.

'The second is like; namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment, greater than these."

7. A SKETCH OF MOSES.

MOSES led the world's first emancipation movement, liberating three million slaves.

Moses organized this horde of bondmen into the world's first republic, the United States of Israel, with local selfgovernment, citizen soldiery, popular and compulsory education, elective judiciary, primary, and appellate courts, courts of the last resort, and most of the various advantages of which modern republics boast.

Moses legislated for the first constitutional monarchy, a government of laws and not of men, where rulers as well as the people were alike amenable to law.

Moses made every citizen a land-holder, with inalienable rights; introduced Homestead Exemption; cancelled debts after six years; gave every weary toiler a weekly rest; legislated for the protection of the poor and infirm; made the person of every citizen sacred; guarded captives from outrage and abuse; protected bondmen from bodily abuse; prohibited usury; forbade cruelty to animals; and ordained a system of legislation more humane than any the world has ever known.

Moses organized the world's first Total Abstinence Society, with stringent rules and "iron-clad" pledges. Moses introduced a sanitary system so wise and salutary that the science of the present day has only begun to appreciate its advantages.

HORACE LORENZO HASTINGS.

8. THE BURIAL OF THE DELIVERER.

(B. C. 1350.)

THE story of the death of Moses alone, by himself, on Mount Nebo, has no more tender notice than the lines of Mrs. Alexander.

By Nebo's lonely mountain, on this side Jordan's wave,
In a vale in the land of Moab, there lies a lonely grave;
And no man knows that sepulchre, and no man saw it e'er,
For the Angels of God upturned the sod, and laid the dead
man there.

That was the grandest funeral that ever passed on earth;
But no man heard the trampling, or saw the train go forth;

So, without sound of music, or voice of them that wept, Silently down from the mountain's crown the great procession swept.

-

This was the truest warrior that ever buckled sword, -
This the most gifted poet that ever breathed a word:
And never earth's philosopher traced with his golden pen,
On the deathless page, truths half so sage, as he wrote down
for men.

And had he not high honor,— the hillside for a pall,—

To lie in state while angels wait, with stars for tapers tall,

In that strange grave without a name, whence his uncoffined clay

Shall break again, O wondrous thought, before the Judgment

He hides them deep, like the hidden sleep of him He loved

so well.

(Abridged.)

CECIL FRANCES (HUMPHREY) ALEXANDER.

9. NO MAN KNOWETH HIS SEPULCHRE.

THUS, still, whene'er the good and just
Close the dim eye on life and pain,
Heaven watches o'er their sleeping dust
Till the pure spirit comes again.

Though nameless, trampled, and forgot,
His servant's humble ashes lie,

Yet God hath marked and sealed the spot,
To call its inmate to the sky.

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.

10. THE NEW COUNTRY OCCUPIED.

JOSHUA, THE PATRIOT GENERAL.

(B. C. 1451-1443.)

THE discipline of the wilderness had done its work. For a generation, Israel had led a nomadic life, passing from place to place, as pasturage invited, though Kadesh had been its centre. The men who had come down from Egypt gradually died out; and their sons, under the inspiration of Moses and those associated with him, had grown into a strong and vigorous nation. He had given them a constitution which was democratic in its noblest sense. Every Israelite, whether rich or poor, was equal before the law and a free man. They had been taught to believe themselves the people of God, and that to treat them as slaves, as the Pharaohs treated the Egyptians, was a crime against Jehovah.

Moses, though their leader and dictator, bore himself as only the instrument and voice of God, from whom their laws came, and to whom, supremely, they owed both temporal and spiritual obedience. All the legislation given them had been based on the recognition of the highest moral law, and embodied the purest and loftiest conceptions of duty to God and man. Love of their neighbor, brotherly fellowship, equality as Israelites, gentleness and absolute uprightness, were the ideal he had set before them. Such maxims and laws were impressed on them until they became almost instinctively recognized, although sometimes violated or forgotten. In the words of the prophet, "These years saw the kindness of their youth, and the love of their espousal to Jehovah, when, as His betrothed bride, they followed the

pillar of His Presence through the wilderness, in a land that was not sown."

Nor were their manly virtues less strengthened and developed than their religious ideas. The energies called forth by the necessities and perils of a desert life, the quickening breath of the pure air of the wilderness, a love of freedom quickened into a passion by its enjoyment for a generation, the interdependence fostered by common action as a people, the free constitution they enjoyed, and, above all, the grand religious conceptions which aroused all that was noble in the soul, had effaced the servile taunts of Egypt, called out the slumbering qualities of the race, and restored to them the vigorous tone of their shepherd ancestors.

But it was necessary that this wandering life should end, now that it had served its purpose; and the command was given to prepare to take possession of the longpromised land of Canaan.

The supreme authority over the nation and the army had been intrusted by Moses, before his death, to Joshua. This wise, patriotic, and accomplished leader, born about the time when his great master fled to Midian, was in the prime of life, had been intrusted with repelling the attack of Amalek, at Rephidim, and realized the most brilliant success. With no claim to be a prophet, he bore himself as a skilful soldier, with a difficult task to accomplish, and resolute to carry it out. He fulfilled his task, and the great war of the conquest of Canaan was over, and the occupation was complete.

The early Hebrew aversion to the authority of any individual was universal and profound. Patriotism, in a large sense, could hardly exist when each village was practically self-governing. In only two cases - namely, in difficult legal questions, and in the event of a general war was any higher immediate authority than the heads of