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 soul loatheth this light bread." (v. 5.) For this rebellion, fiery serpents came among them, which bit the people, and many died. They, repenting of their folly and ingratitude to the Lord, who had led them thus far on their way in safety, came to Moses and said, "We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord, and against thee: pray unto the Lord that He may take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people." (v. 7.) In answer to this prayer. Moses was commanded to make a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, that those who were bitten might be healed by looking up at the elevated serpent. Moses, by divine command, "made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and any one that had been bitten, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived."

There can be no doubt but that this serpent of brass, made according to divine command, by Moses, with the fact of its elevation upon a pole, causing the bitten person, in order to preserve life, to look up instead of down, is grounded in some divine law of order, and that it points out the true method by which a spiritual healing of the sinful soul may be effected, and eternal life secured. This appears clear, from the fact of the Lord Jesus alluding to this circumstance in reference to his elevation upon the cross. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John iii. 14, 15.) Again, in allusion to the same subject. He says, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me: this He said signifying what death he should die." (John xii. 32, 33.) Here, as