them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them, but it shall not be so among you; but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."*

The magnificent description of the day of judgment which Jesus gives, when he calls himself the Son of Man, ought to have fully instructed his Apostles where his kingdom was to be found, and have convinced them that it was not of this world. "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth the sheep from the goats."+

The parable of the talents, which our Lord had repeated immediately before, together with

*Matt. xx. 25-28.

E

+ Matt. xxv. 31-33..

his representation of the final judgment, were eminently calculated to repress all lofty thoughts in his disciples on the subject of powerand superiority, and to cause them to attend diligently to their present arduous duties, and to improve that valuable talent which had been committed to their care.

"When Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, there came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head as he sat at meat. But when his disciples saw it, they had indignation, saying, To what purpose is this waste; for this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor."* St. John says that it was Judas Iscariot who asked the question, "Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? And this he said," St. John observes, "not that he cared forthe poor, but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bore what was put therein. Then said Jesus, Let her alone, against the day of my burying has she kept this."+ St. Matthew adds a further observation of Jesus, "Verily I

*Matt. xxvi. 6-9.

+ John xii, 5—7.

say unto you, that wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this that this woman hath done be told for a memorial of her."*

* Matt. xxvi. 13.

CHAPTER III.

OF THE ISRAELITES, AND THE REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES.

GOD chose Abraham and his seed, the children of Israel, to preserve his name and worship in the world. After they had been driven from the land of Canaan by a famine into Egypt, where Joseph, the son of Jacob, was governor, they were placed in the land of Goshen; but after a time Pharaoh the king of Egypt died, and another king arose who knew not Joseph, and the people were evil entreated, and were finally brought under a cruel bondage. In their distress they cried unto the Lord, who sent Moses unto them, that, by a series of miracles, wrought in the sight of the Egyptians, he might bring them out with a mighty hand, and after a strict discipline during forty years in the wil

derness, for their good, might conduct them to the land given to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As soon as the people were delivered out of Egypt, and were come unto Mount Sinai in the wilderness, God speaks to them, through Moses, and gives them gracious promises, if they would obey his voice. "And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.”*

It was not long after this, when Moses was gone up into the mount, that the people persuaded Aaron to make them a golden calf, that they might worship it, saying, "make us gods to go before us, for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we

* Exodus xix. 3--6.