FRIDAY, June 1.  This day, says the Diary, I witnessed a very wonderful appearance about the sun.  About eleven o’clock I saw a bright circle around the sun like a rainbow, with the sun in the center.  At the same time there was another circle somewhat larger than this, on the west side of the sun; and the east side of this ring rested upon the face of the sun.  At the points where the rings crossed each other there was a peculiar brightness and blending of colors.  The whole was a sublime and beautiful sight.

Sermon by Benjamin Bowman.

Preached in Brock’s Gap, Virginia, June 17.

    TEXT.—­There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of
    God.—­Heb. 4:9.

FROM NOTES IN THE DIARY.

We are informed by the Apostle of the Gentiles that the sojourn of the children of Israel in the wilderness and the subsequent dealings of Jehovah with them were examples to us who live under the gospel dispensation.  These examples comprise two great facts: 

   I. Their obedience was always attended with blessings.

  II.  Their disobedience was always attended with sufferings.

These two great facts comprehend the all of man’s life and experience in both worlds, from the alpha to the omega.  I am well aware that many in this assembly are not Bible readers.  I will therefore give you a brief sketch of the children of Jacob or Israel as I find it in the books of Moses and the book of Joshua, which comprise the first six books of the Bible.

Jacob, who is also called Israel, was the grandson of Abraham.  He had twelve sons, of whom Joseph was the next to the youngest.  These twelve sons, with their descendants through all time, are called the children of Israel.  Later on they are also called Jews.  The Jews of the present day claim to be the descendants of these twelve sons of Jacob or Israel.  Joseph’s older brothers became envious of him and sold him to a company of merchants who carried him into Egypt.  Here he was elevated by the Lord to a position of great power, to a place and power next to the king on his throne.

Soon after this a very grievous famine came upon the land of Canaan, the country in which Israel, with his other sons, still lived.  They heard that there was plenty of food in Egypt, and so Jacob sent his sons there to buy grain for bread.  When they arrived in Egypt, to their great surprise, they found their brother Joseph there, whom they had sold to the merchants for thirty pieces of silver.  He received them kindly, supplied their immediate wants, and very soon made arrangements for them and their father Jacob to come down to Egypt and live with him.  And Jacob went down into Egypt and lived with his son Joseph till he died.

These Israelites grew and multiplied in Egypt until they became a great people.  But the time came when the Egyptians oppressed them, laying heavy burdens upon them; and treated them as slaves.  At this time the Lord said to Moses:  I have seen the affliction of my people in Egypt; and I now send thee thither to bring them out of that land, and into a land that I will tell thee of.  Under the leadership of Moses, the most interesting and instructive part of their history is found.