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FIFTH SUNDAY EVENING.

ISRAEL DELIVERED FROM THEIR ENEMIES.

E. MAMMA, when Joshua was dead, did the children of Israel remember the promise which they had made to him, and go on serving the Lord ?

M. They do not seem, even at first, my love, to have been altogether obedient to the commands of the Lord; for he had expressly enjoined them to drive out all the inhabitants of Canaan, who were a very wicked and idolatrous people, from the land; he had given them power to do so, and had threatened them with great punishments, if they disobeyed his voice. They did not, however, follow the commands of God, but allowed great numbers of the Canaanites to dwell with them in the land, and to mix themselves and their idols amongst the people of God. Still they did not, at that time, allow the bad example of the heathen to draw them away from the worship of God; and therefore we read in the Bible, that “ the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord that he had done for Israel.” But “ that generation were gathered unto their fathers, and there arose another generation after them that knew not the Lord, nor yet the wonders which he had done for Israel:" that is, they had not themselves seen his miracles, and therefore thought little of God, or of their duty towards him. Then it was, that the evil consequences of the disobedience

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they forgot what God had done for them, and returned to their idols again; thus provoking the Lord to leave them, and to allow their enemies again to rule over them.

There were many of these judges, whom God raised up at different times to fight for his rebellious people; amongst others, Othniel, and Deborah, and Gideon. The history of these persons is written in that part of the Bible which comes next to the book of Joshua, and which is called the book of Judges.

Othniel delivered the Israelites from the Moabites. Deborah saved them from the king of Canaan. After this, they fell into the hands of the people of Midian, who were such powerful enemies, that Israel fled from before them, and were obliged, from fear of them, to hide themselves in dens among the mountains, in caves, and in strong holds. For the Midianites came up, with their cattle and their tents, as grashoppers for multitude : for both they and their camels were without number, and they entered into the land to destroy it. Then it was, that the Lord raised up Gideon, who in a most wonderful manner overcame this terrible people, so that Midian lifted up their heads no more. Gideon was a mighty man of valour; but, though he was very brave and strong, he could not have done any thing at all with Midian, unless the Lord had been with him. It was the God of Israel that raised him up, and made him equal to the work which he had for him to do. It was the Lord who called him out of the tribe of Manasseh, to which he belonged, and made him ruler over his people, at the time when their sins had brought them into such great trouble and misery,

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