UNCLE IN ENGLAND. 217 



I asked my uncle why he was now permitted 

 to go, since his proposal to do so before had ex- 

 cited God's displeasure ? 



" God often graciously stays the wicked in 

 their sins," said my uncle, " or warns us when our 

 inclinations are evil ; but if we obstinately per- 

 sist in indulging them, he then leaves us to our 

 own free-will, and abandons us to our foolish 

 imaginations. Balaam had set his heart on 

 the promised honours and rewards, and was 

 unwilling to forego them, notwithstanding God's 

 distinct prohibition; so the foolish man was 

 allowed to follow his inclination, to proceed in 

 his own way, and to complete his own destruc- 

 tion. Just in the same manner, when the 

 Israelites afterwards demanded a king to reign 

 over them, God graciously condescended to 

 expostulate with them, and to warn them of the 

 consequences ; but they persisted and, there- 

 fore, 'in his anger, he gave them a king.' 



" But the fatal influence of covetousness 

 and ambition, which made Balaam persist in 

 desiring to go, soon led to his wishing to comply 

 with Balak's desire to curse Israel. That he went 

 with this secret design, clearly appears from 

 the angel's saying, Thy way is perverse before 

 me.' So you see that God's anger was now 

 kindled, not at his going, but because he went 

 with a wicked intention. He was, however, 

 suffered to proceed on his journey, in order to 



VOL. II. U 



