Notes of a sermon preached iby the Rev. C. E, Darwent in Union Church Tientsin, Yext; Numbers XIIT v. 1,27—31, XIV. 1 "And the Lord spoke unto "Moses saying, Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan.... And they went and told him and said We came unto the land and surd; flower with milk and, honey... - How belt the people that dwell in Ian ore seme od the cities are fenced, and Very. great, and moreover we saw' the children of Anak there; And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him eaid, We be not able to go up against the people;... And they brought an evi] report..... And wil the congregation lifted voice, and cried, and the people that night."
No journey, ever made by the most famous travellers, has made such an impression on the mind of mankind as this of the Jews, out of Egypt into Canaan. It is} interwoven with the literature, and with the common language and thought of the world. Life itself is a journey, with waterless places, well as Elims and palms.
They are now nearing the land. and Moses is sending out. spies. Like a famous modern general 't was a very important thing for Moses '"'to know what there was on the other side of the hill." Spies are not a favourite class of men:! their names are generally suppressed: but. with the honest, plainness, which always characterizes the Rible, it givea their names, If a thing has to he done, the Bible is never ashamed of it, just as it is never ashamed of calling things by their right names. Has this old story of the sinica any relation to ye today? "Much every way." as} Pant said in another connexion.
First, we are all spies, pont out to spy out various lan That something for us to think of. There is the land of life itself. Our parents sent us out; we had to run the risk of meeting Amoritics and other unpleasant characters. Life compels us all to have some opinion of it, we all have some report to give of it. To some it is a battle, to others a dan one man sars. he "wonld'nt live it over again for anything."" another man "wishes he only had the chance." Some all it a hurly-burly, others a picnic. Whenever a few people act together. the chances ara that they are comparing notes. like the spies. on life. whether it isa land of milk and honey, or whether the sons of Anak are too strong. We are alls philosnhers. on a small scale, over life, its joys and sorrows, All kinds of people, who are interested in the welfare of humanity. spy out the land and bring back a report of what they have seen. Clerey, social reforms. moral committees, secretaries of Societies for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.