Again the people, as the long years of their Wilderness life drew to an end, gathered around the Tabernacle at Kadesh. Again the murmuring spirit broke out, as it had done forty years before. To. the end we shall. be liable to the outbreak of the old sins; and can never relax our vigilance or sheathe the sword.

Moses was to speak to the rock, not smite it. See Exod. 17:6. The Rock of Ages was smitten only once. “Tt is appointed unto men once to die,” and “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.” It is now only needful for the soul to speak to him, though in the lowest and most faltering’ accents, to elicit streams of help and salvation.

It was lack of faith that led Moses. to smite the rock twice. Speaking seemed too slight an effort for the production of such a marvel! He forgot that neither rod nor speech effected the result, but the power of God that wrought through and with him. See 1 Cor. 3:4. as only touched the hem of his garment!” Matt. 20.