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tern of law that has existed from the time when the Almighty gave it at the 

 trembling mount until now. 



By and by that people thus educated, thus trained, thus wrought up, 

 thus endowed with a God-given code, were allowed to reach the plains of 

 Moab after forty years of trial. After forty years of dangers by flood and 

 field, they were allowed to approach the plains of Moab. Then we find the 

 great leader, with an undimmed eye and with constitution still strong, 

 ascended Nebo to the top of Pisgah, to view the land of promise, which he 

 was not permitted to enter, nor to cross the dark rolling Jordan, but from 

 its great height looked upon the land that he had learned from tradition, 

 as well as by inspiration, that his people should enjoy. And looking from 

 Pisgah's height — looking over this splendid land, the most blest of all the 

 earth — lying away to the north were the proud mountains of Lebanon 

 clothed with cedars and crowned with snows; on the east, the plains of 

 Arabia, Syria, and Damascus, with all her richness; to the west was the 

 Mediterranean, or Great Sea. In the midst was the Jordan and Plains of 

 Esdraelon, where more human blood has been shed than on any other 

 spot on earth. Enrapt with his vision, there he died and was buried. 

 And it has been well said — 



That was the grandest funeral that ever passed on earth, 

 But no one heard the tramping or saw the train go forth; 

 No one but the bald old eagle on gray Bethpeor's height, 

 Which from his rocky eyrie looked on the wondrous sight. 



We leave to your memory generally the history of this people. Suffice 

 it to say, after passing the Jordan with the Ark of the Covenant, whose 

 waters rolled back to let it pass, they planted in that heathen land the 

 laws of the Almighty. There was found the worship of Dagon and Bel; 

 and by and by, through the influence of these laws, that people became 

 one of the mightiest upon the earth, their land supporting a dense popula- 

 tion of cultivated people. There was erected the temple of the living God, 

 upon whose altar his presence was manifested by the Shakina. That land 

 was so thoroughly cultivated that it supported one of the most dense popu- 

 lations on earth. But by and by the grand catastrophe of all others was 

 reached: when the Saviour was crucified on Calvary. And later still, the 

 Roman plowshare passed over the foundations of their ruined temple. 

 That land had been the home of soldiers, warriors, prophets, and wise men. 

 But in the course of time there came again Egyptian darkness, which 

 covered the earth; again learning, and agriculture, and all the refining 

 arts languished and perished away, when the Saracen and the barbarian 

 overran and overthrew the existing civilizations. Then there arose a long- 

 ing for a new land of promise. The first had been announced by prophets 

 and inspiration; but the second came upon the sort of inspiration that 

 springs from the longings of the human heart for something better, and 

 there was a looking out for something new where again might be sown the 

 seeds of refinement and progress. In due time the New World was dis- 

 covered. This seeking for gold and treasure led the adventurers across the 

 broad Atlantic to the New World. The Spanish explorers in Mexico were 

 seeking the fabled El Dorado, and, in more northern climes, the Fountain 

 of Youth. The Atlantic side was settled, still there was an unsatisfied 

 longing for a new land. 



Turning for a moment to the great historian Arnold, some fifty or sixty 

 years ago in writing upon the subject of modern history, and in delivering 

 his lectures in Oxford upon the subject of modern history, tells us that 

 there is to be no new history; that this modern history is to be the last; 



