the general and moral precepts of the law, in a manner calculated to impress them on the hearts of the people. He binds the Israelites. to the service of God by a series of blessings and curses bearing the divine sanction, and now all things are ready to pass over Jordan and enter Canaan, except the death of the leader. Moses must first die. Alone he ascends the mountain chain of Abarim: that particular mountain is called Nebo, and its highest summit is Pisgah. How sad must have been the parting scene at the foot of that mount!-sad, yet, by faith and hope, brightened and made sublime. On this mountain peak Moses stood, and the Lord showed him all the land of Canaan, "unto the utmost sea." And he said to him, "This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, and unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." DEUT. 34: 4. There Moses died, being a hundred and twenty years old. God buried him in some valley near the mountain, but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. No pilgrimages are therefore made to his shrine; superstition and idolatry are precluded from worshipping his remains. See Moses on the mountain peak sublime; |