Judgments and mercies, my young friend, will make up the course of God's dealings with you, as you pass on through your earthly pilgrimage. Which of them will exceed the other, we cannot, indeed, tell. You may be called to great trials. You may have to receive a severe discipline. If so, you will deserve it. You will need it. Do not murmur and repine under it. Better, vastly better, thus to be afflicted, that you may feel the emptiness of the world and the evil of sin, than to be permitted of God to go on, prosperous and unrebuked, in a course of forgetfulness of his authority, or rebellion against it.

Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. Be submissive to his rod. Consider why he afflicts you. Pray that it may lead you to a cordial repentance for sin; to deep humility of spirit; to an affectionate faith in Christ; and to a holy and benevolent life.

CHAPTER XXV.

Marah. Its bitter waters sweetened. Elim. Encampment near the Red Sea.

At the end of three days, still keeping on through the desert-as we suppose in a south-easterly direction-and verging farther and farther from the shores of the Red Sea, the Israelites soon came to a place where they found water. Their joy at the discovery, however, was soon abated, and their discouragement greatly increased, when they found it so bitter to the taste that they could not drink it. To do so would only have aggravated their sufferings.

They called the place Marah, which means bitterness; and, in the distress of their disappointment, murmured against Moses. Their cries met his ears on all sides. "What shall we drink? what shall we drink?" We shall soon perish with thirst, we and our little ones, our flocks and our herds, unless some immediate relief is found.

Such an outbreaking of complaint was alike ungrateful and wicked. The late miraculous interposition of the Almighty, in rescuing them from the grasp of their enemies, ought to have taught them

that the same power could succor them in any other extremity; and that, if necessary, a miracle could be wrought in the desert to supply them with the water which they panted after. Instead of murmuring against their leader, and distrusting the providence of God, they should have humbly poured forth their supplications before him for aid, relying on his mercy to afford it. This would have showed their submission to his will, and confidence in his goodness; and, in his answer to their prayers, their souls, as well as their bodies, would have been refreshed, and their faith, as well as their natural strength, invigorated to meet and endure new trials.

One prayer, however, ascended to heaven in the midst of their murmurings. It was that of the meek and believing Moses. For, while enduring their reproaches, he trusted in God, and cried unto him for relief. His prayer was heard and answered. He was divinely directed to a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, they immediately became sweet to the taste and fit to drink.

While quenching their thirst, at the fountain thus wonderfully changed for their refreshment, we should think that the Israelites would have learned a lesson of the forbearance of God, and of his watchful care over them, not soon to be forgotten; and that their murmurings and unbelief would be for ever put to silence. But we shall

see, alas! (such is the perverseness of the human heart,) that this was far from being the case.

The distance which the Israelites probably passed over in reaching Marah, after crossing the Red Sea, corresponds with that travelled by Burckhardt, on the same route, when he reached the well ofHawarah. He supposes the two places to be the same; and says that the water of the latter is so bitter, that man cannot drink it; and that even camels, if not very thirsty, refuse to taste it. It seems that this is the only absolutely bitter well on the whole of that coast. This fact, taken in connection with the distance above referred to from the neighborhood of Suez, goes to confirm the opinion already expressed, and supported by other circumstances, that the passage through the Red Sea was effected near that place.

While at Marah, we are told, that God made known his will to Moses and the Israelites in a statute and ordinance, and proved them there. This might have included some of the general features of the moral law, and of the religious rites and ceremonies which they were to observe. But it, doubtless, referred more particularly to the established and unchangeable conditions on which God would engage to be their covenant God, and to protect and bless them as his chosen and peculiar people. Implicit obedience, on their part, they were told, would secure his constant favor and friendship. And, in this way, he proved or tried them. He set.

before them the terms by complying with which they might secure his blessing; and he let them know, that they had commenced a course of probation in the wilderness, that would test the fidelity of their allegiance to him, and of complete submission to his authority.

We, also, are passing through a course of probation, as we advance from one stage to another, in the course of our earthly pilgrimage. God is proving us; and it will appear at last, whether we were willing to have him reign over us, and thus secure his eternal friendship; or whether we resisted his rightful dominion, and thus became subject to his endless displeasure.

Leaving Marah in a direction towards the coast of the Red Sea, the next encampment of the Israelites which is mentioned, was at Elim, where there were, at that time, twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees.

Burckhardt supposes that he found this place in the valley of Ghurundel, after having travelled about three hours and a half from the well of Hawarah, or Maruh. In this valley a copious spring, with a small rivulet, yields its waters for the relief of the thirsty traveller; who is glad often to procure them, disagreeable as they are to the taste, and, if kept for a night, turning bitter and becoming useless. Stinted palm trees abound here; which, with the fact that the fountain in their neighborhood is the