22 



not ; behold, how they reward us, to come and cast us out of 

 Thy possession, which Thou hast given us to inherit. our 

 God, wilt not Thou judge them ? for we have no might against 

 this great company that cometh against us ; neither know we 

 what to do ; but our eyes are upon Thee." 



When the prayer was ended the Spirit of the Lord came 

 upon a Levite in the midst of the congregation, who, under 

 this divine impulse said, " Harken ye, all Judah, and ye in- 

 habitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Johoshaphat ; thus saith 

 the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of 

 this great multitude ; for the battle is not yours, but God's. 

 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle ; set yourselves, 

 stand ye still and see the salvation of the Lord with you." 

 On the morrow, when they went forth at the divine bidding 

 to behold the invaders, they found that the Lord had turned 

 their treachery to Judah towards one another, so that Moab 

 and Edom slew the people of Seir and then turned their 

 swords against each other until all were destroyed ; and the 

 number was so great that it took them three days to collect 

 the spoil. 



This quotation has been made because this piece of national 

 history establishes every position that has been affirmed in the 

 preceding argument. There evidently was free and conscious 

 intercourse with God. H,e was addressed by Jehoshaphat as 

 God in heaven, and as ruling in all the kingdoms of the 

 heathen. As their King they appealed to Him for help, and 

 by that power which He, as the Maker and Upholder of all 

 men was able to use, turned the swords of these foes of Israel 

 against each other, and thus delivered His people who obeyed 

 and trusted in Him, while He, in the same act, punished, by 

 means of their own wickedness, those who had so plainly 

 violated obligations palpable to all. 



The two cases selected are only peculiar in this respect, 

 that they were of that public and general importance which 

 precluded the possibility of mistake or deception ; and they 

 have been taken, not as parts of a divine revelation, but as 

 portions of authentic history. And the history of which they 

 are parts is full of similar divine interpositions in the main- 

 tenance of His law, both to reward and to punish. 



And it must be remembered that, while this rule was 

 immediately over Israel for their good, its ultimate intention 

 was as wide as the race. At the time Abram was chosen as 

 the father of the Church, some special interposition was 

 necessary to prevent the entire and universal departure of 

 men from the Creator and Sustainer of all, as the one true 

 and living God. Other reformers, among the Iranians and 



