The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-30
Third Quarter, Lesson TX; August
 31, 1909; Numbers, xxi, 1-e.
The Brazen Serpent.

A new generation of Israel, one that hadnot been debased and corrupted by the servitude and idolatry of Egypt. but instead had enjoyed a Divine tuteiage, and been inured by the hardships of the wilderness such a nation was approach ing the borders of Canaan.
 One last ordeal for ttheir faith and pa tience remained to be endured. Between them and the land of promise lay Edom. Moses had sent a deputation requesting in most fraternal language the privilege of passing through, assuring the king that they would keep to his own highway, ana not deploy through the country to the en- dangering of the fields and vineyards. AS custom was. promise was made, in addition. to pay for the wate- used en route.
 To this civil petition Israel got churl- fish answer, a blank refusal, emphasized by warlike demons .rations The Israel of forty years before would have gotten angry on the instant and whether God willed it or not, would have undertaken to have forced a passage. But the gen eration bred in the wilderness was more docile
 But hope deferred, and the exceeding difficulty of the way--finty, arid, and sand-swept as it was-tinally broke down the spirits even of the new Israel They raised the old murmuring that ought to have died and been buried with their fathers. In their petulance they failed to mention its real cause; namely. the postponement of the entrance to Canaan and fell to depreciatine one of the great est boons of providence-the mama, with out which they would have long since perished
 Their punishment was by natural means Their path lay through a tract Infested to this day with venomous ser pents. At that day. undeci!nated by the Bedouin, who, familiar with their traits and haunts. avoided then, they had bred in prodigous numbers. In these serpent dens the people, sullen and unwary, walk ed. The serried hosts in the rear, un- aware of the subtle danger, pushed the foremost ranks forward, and made esca pc almost impossible.
 The brief and pitiful record is that much people of Israel died Their man ner of death was shocking. They were quickly affected with a burning and rag ing thirst, accompanied with fiery in fiammation.
 The promptness and genuineness of Israels repentance is a mark of i'm provement in national character. There seems not to have been single instance of wholesome contrition on the part of the former generation. Moses interce5- sion was apparently the only ground or which they were spared. But this gen. eration frankly says: We have sinned." |" Pray for us.
 The means provided for restoration were striking and significant. The supernat- ural character of the case did not admit of question. It was patent to all that there could be no natural connection be tween looking at the bronze snake, cling ing to pole set up in the midst of the camp and the allaying of the deadly fever incident to the bite of venomous reptile. Strange antidote for poison that! But the power of the Almighty was in that improbable means to all who had faith enough to look towards it.
 Many looked. and instantly the deadly fever was allayed and an impending and awful death averted. The mourning of the stricken camp was changed into re- joieing. The mercy and power of God were magni6ed.