LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. Presented by Division. ..■:L2..'>r?.. ' ^ / O Section..i... A^.^-)V—"hc that believeth "—and o dnetOcriv— " he that obeyeth not." They give us the two sides of the subject of faith. 24 DEUTERONOMY. because God is too kind and too good to punish sinners in hell forever! Did it cost God the giving up, the forsaking, and the bruising of His beloved Son in order to save His people /rom their sins, and shall ungodly sinners, despisers, and rebels be saved in their sins? Did the Lord Jesus Christ die for nothing? did Jehovah put Him to grief and hide His face from Him when there was no necessity ? Why the awful horrors of CaWar}' ? why the three hours' darkness? why that bitter cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" — why all this if sinners can get to heaven without it ? Why all this inconceivable sorrow and suffering for our blessed Lord if God is too kind and too gracious and too tender to send sinners to hell ? What egregious foil}' ! What will not men believe, provided it be not the truth of God ? The poor dark human mind will affect to believe the most monstrous absurdity in order to get a plea for re- jecting the plain teaching of hol}^ Scripture. The very thing which men would never think of attribu- ting to a good human government they do not hesi- tate to attribute to the government of the only wise, the only true, the onl}^ just God. What should we think of a government that could not or would not punish evil-doers ? Would we like to live under it? What should we think of the government of England if, because her majesty is so kind, so gracious, so tender-hearted, she could not allow criminals to be punished as the law directs ? Who would care to live in England ? CHAPTEK VII. 25 Reader, do you not see how that one verse which is now before us demolishes completely all the theo- ries and arguments which men, in their fully and ignorance, have advanced on the subject of the divine government? "The Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which .... repay eth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them ; He will not be slack to him that hateth Him, He will repay him to his face." Oh that men would hearken to the Word of God ! that they would be warned by its clear, emphatic, and solemn statements as to coming wrath, judg- ment, and eternal punishment! that, instead of seeking to persuade themselves and others that there is no hell, no deathless worm and unquench- able fire, no eternal torment, they would listen to the warning voice, and, ere it be too late, flee for refuge to the hope set before them in the gospel ! Truly this would be their wisdom. God declares that He will repay those that hate Him. How awful the thought of this repayment! Who can meet it? The government of God is perfect, and because it is so, it is utterly impossible that it can allow evil to pass unjudged. Nothing can be plainer than this. All Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, sets it forth in terms so clear and forcible as to render it the very height of folly for men to argue against it. How much better and wiser and safer to flee from the wrath to come than to deny that it is coming, and that when it does come, it will be eternal in its duration. It is utterly vain for any one to attempt 26 DEUTERONOMY. to reason in opposition to tlie trutli of God. Every word of God shall stand forever. We see the act- ings of His government in reference to His i)eople Israel, and in reference to Christians now. Did He pass over evil in His people of old? Nay ; on the contrar}, He visited them continually with His chas- tening rod, and this, too, just because they were His people, as He said to them by His prophet Amos — "Hear this word which the Lord hath spoken against you, O cliildren of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 'You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your in- iquities.' " (Amos iii. 1, 2.) We have the same weighty principle set forth in the first epistle of Peter, in its application to Chris- tians now. — "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God ; and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God ? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" (Chap. iv. 17, 18.) God chastens His own just because they are His own, and that they may not be condemned with the world. (1 Cor. xi.) The children of this world are allowed to go on their way ; but their day is coming ' — a dark and heavy day — a day of judgment and unmitigated wrath. Men may question and argue and reason, but Scripture is distinct and emphatic. "God hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness, by that Man whom He CHAPTER VII. 27 hath ordained." The great day of reckoning is at hand, when God will repa}^ ever}- man to his lace. It is truly edifying to mark the way in which Moses, that beloved and honored servant of God, led assuredly by the Spirit of God, pressed the grand and solemn realities of the divine government upon the conscience of the congregation. Hear how he pleads and exhorts: "Thou shalt therefore keep ^ the commandments, and the statutes, and the judg- dJf^ ments, which I command thee this day, to do them. Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and kee^) and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which He sware unto thj^ fathers. And He will love thee, and hless thee, and multiply thee ; He will also bless the fruit of th}^ womb, and the fruit of th}' land, th}^ corn, and tli}' wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which He sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Thou shalt be blessed above all peo- ple ; there shall not be male nor female barren among you or among j'our cattle. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and w-ill put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee ; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee. And thou shalt consume all the people which the Lord thy God shall deliver thee ; thine eye shall have no pity upon them ; neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee." (Ver. 11-16.) What a powerful appeal! how affecting! Mark 3 28 DEUTERONOMY. the two groups of words. Israel was to "hearken," "keep," and "do." Jehovah was to "love," "bless," and "multiply." Alas! alas! Israel failed — sadly, shamefully failed, under law and under government; and hence, instead of the love and the blessing and the multiplying, there has been judg- ment, curse, barrenness, dispersion, desolation. But, blessed be the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, if Israel has failed under law and government^ He has not failed in His rich and precious sovereign grace and mercy. He will keep the covenant and the mercy which He sware unto their fathers. Not one jot or tittle of His covenant-promise shall ever fail. He will make all good by and by. He will fulfill, to the very letter, all His gracious promises. Though He cannot do this on the ground of Israel's obedience. He can and will do it through the blood of the everlasting covenant, the precious blood of Jesus, His eternal Son — all homage to His peerless name I Yes, reader, the God of Israel cannot suffer one of His precious promises to fall to the ground. What would become of us if He could? What se- curity-, what rest, what peace could we have, if Je- hovah's covenant with Abraham were to fail in any single point? True it is that Israel has forfeited all claim. If it be a question of fleshly descent, Ish- mael and Esau have a prior claim : if it be a ques- tion of legal obedience, the golden calf and the broken tables tell their melancholy tale : if it be a CHAPTEU VII. 29 question of government on the ground of the Moab covenant, they have not a single plea to urge. But God will be God, spite of Israel's lamentable unfaithfuhiess. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance," and hence "all Israel shall be saved." God will most assuredly make good His oath to Abraham, spite of all the wreck and ruin of Abraham's seed. We must steadfastly hold to this, in the face of every opposing thought, feeling, or opinion. Israel shall be restored and blessed and multiplied in their own beloved and holy land. They shall take down their harps from the willows and, beneath the peacefid shade of their own vines and fig-trees, chant the high praises of their loving Sav- iour and God, throughout that bright millennial Sabbath which lies before them. Such is the un- varying testimony of Scripture, from beginning to end, which must be maintained in its integrit}', and made good in ever}^ particular, to the glory of God, and on the ground of His everlasting covenant. But we must return to our chapter, the closing verses of which demand our special attention. It is very touching and beautiful to mark the way in which Moses seeks to encourage the heart of the peo- ple in reference to the dreaded nations of Canaan. He enters into and anticipates their very inmost thoughts and feelings. "If thou shalt say in thine hearty These nations are more than I ; how can I dispossess them ? Thou shalt not be afraid of them ; but shalt tvell remem' her what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and 30 DEUTERONOMY. unto all Eg3^pt ; tlie great temptations which thine e3'es saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched-out arm, whereby the Lord thy God brought, thee out : so shall the Lord thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover, the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destro3'ed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them ; for the Lord thy God is amoiifj you, a mighty God and terrible. And the Lord th}^ God will put out those nations before thee by little and little ; thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruc- tion, until they be destroyed. And He shall de- liver their kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under heaven ; there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have destroyed them. The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire ; thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein ; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God. Neither shalt thou bring am abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it; but thou shalt utterty detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it, for it is a cursed thing." (Ver. 17-26.) The grand remedy for all unbelieving fears is, simply to fix the ej-e upon the living God ; thus the heart is raised above the difficulties, whatever CHAPTER VII. 31 they may be. It is of no possible use to deny that there are difficulties and opposing influences of all sorts. This will not minister comfort and encourage- ment to the sinking heart. Some people affect a certain style of speaking of trials and difficulties ■which just goes to prove, not their practical knowl- edge of God, but their profound ignorance of the stern realities of life. They would fain persuade us that we ought not to feel the trials, sorrows, and difficulties of the way. They might as well tell us that we ousfht not to have a head on our shoulders or a heart in our bosom. Such persons know not how to comfort those that are cast down. They are mere visionary theorists, w^holly unfit to deal with souls passing through conflict or grappling with the actual facts of our daily history. How did Moses seek to encourage the hearts of his brethren? "Be not affrighted," he says; but why? Was it that there were no enemies, no diffi- culties, no dangers? No; but "the Lord thy God is among 3'ou, a mighty God and terrible." Here is the true comfort and encouragement. The enemies were there, but God is the sure resource. Tlius it was that Jehoshaphat, in his time of trial and press- ure, sought to encourage himself and his brethren. "O our God, wilt Thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do ; but our eyes are upon Thee.'" Here lies the precious secret. The eyes are upon God. His power is brought in, and this settles every 32 DEUTERONOMY. thing. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" Moses meets, b}^ his precious ministiy, the rising fears in tlie heart of Israel — "Tliese nations are more than I." Yes, but they are not more than the "mighty and terrible God." What nations could stand before Him ? He had a solemn controversy with those nations because of their terrible sins ; their iniquity was full ; the reckoning-time had come, and the God of Israel was going to drive them out before His people. Hence, therefore, Israel had no need to fear the poicer of the enemy. Jehovah would see to that. But there was something far more to be dreaded than the enemy's power, and that was, the insnaring influence of their idolatry. "The graven images of theii* gods shall ye burn with fire." What ! the heart might say, are we to destroy the gold and silver that adorn these images ? Might not that be turned to some good account? Is it not a pity to destroy what is so very valuable in itself? It is all right to burn the images, but why not spare the gold and silver? Ah, it is just thus the poor heart is prone to rea- son ; thus ofttimes we^ deceive ourselves when called to judge and abandon what is evil. We persuade ourselves of the rightness of making some reserve ; we imagine we can pick and choose and make some distinction. We are prepared to give up some of the evil, but not all. We are ready to burn the wood of the idol, but spare the gold and silver. Fatal delusion! "Thou shalt not desire the silver CHAPTER VIII. 33 or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein; for it is an abomination to the Lord thy God." All must be given up, all destroyed. To retain an atom of the accursed thing is to fall into the snare of the devil, and link ourselves with that which, however highly esteemed among men, is an abomination in the sight of God. And let us mark and ponder the closing verses of our chapter. To bring an abomination into the house is to become like it ! How very solemn ! Do we fully understand it? The man who brought an abomination into his house became a cursed thing like it! Reader, maj^ the Lord keep our hearts separated from all evil, and true and loyal to Himself. CHAPTER VIII. ^^ A LL the commandments which I command thee -^ this day shall ye observe to do, that ye mciy live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which tlie Lord sware unto your fathers. And thou shalt remember all the ivay which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His com- mandments or no." (Yer. 1,2.) It is at once refreshing, edifying, and encouraging 84 DEUTERONOMY. to look back over the whole course along which the faithful hand of our God has conducted us ; to trace His wise and gracious dealings with us ; to call to mind His many marvelous interpositions on our be- half; how He delivered us out of this strait and that difficult}^ ; how, ofttimes, when w^e were at our wits' end, He appeared for our help, and opened the way before us, rebuking our fears and filling our hearts with songs of praise and thanksgiving. We must not, by any means, confound this de- liojhtful exercise with the miserable habit of lookins^ back at our ways, our attainments, our progress, our service, what w-e have been able to do, even though we are read}' to admit, in a general way, that it was only by the grace of God that w^e were en- abled to do any little work for Him. All this only ministers to self-complacenc}^ which is destructive of all true spirituality of mind. Self-retrospection, if we may be allowed to use such a term, is quite as injurious in its moral effect as self-introspection. In short, self-occupation, in any of its multiplied phases, is most pernicious ; it is, in so far as it is allowed to operate, the death-blow to fellowship. Any thing that tends to bring self before tlie mind must be judged and refused, wdth stern decision ; it brings in barrenness, darkness, and feebleness. For a person to sit down to look back at his attainments or his doings, is about as wretched an occupation as any one could engage in. We may be sure it was not to any such thing as this that Moses exhorted the people when he charged them to ' ' remember all ciiArxEii VIII. 35 the way by which the Lord their God had led them." We may here recur, for a moment, to the memo- rable words of the apostle in Philippians iii. — "Brethren, I count not m3'self to have appre- hended ; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Now, the question is, what were the "things" of which the blessed apostle speaks ? Did he forget the precious dealings of God with his soul through- out the whole of his wilderness-journey ? Impossi- ble! — indeed we have the very fullest and clearest evidence to the contraiy. Hear his touching words before Agrippa — "Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this da}', witnessing both to small and great." So also, in writing to his be- loved son and fellow-laborer, Timothy, he reviews the past, and speaks of the persecutions and afflic- tions which he had endured ; "but," he adds, "out of them all the Lord delivered me." And again, "At my first answer no man stood with me, but all forsook me ; I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me ; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear ; and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." To what then does the apostle refer when he speaks of "forgetting those things which are be- 36 DEUTERONOMY. hind"? We believe he refers to all those things which had no connection with Christ — things in which the heart might rest, and nature might glory — things which might act as weights and hindrances, — all these were to be forgotten in the ardent pursuit of those grand and glorious realities which lay before him. We do not believe that Paul, or any other child of God or servant of Christ, could ever desire to forget a single scene or circumstance in his whole earthly career in any way illustrative of the good- ness, the loving-kindness, the tender mercy, the faithfulness of God. On the contrary, we believe it will ever be one of our very sweetest exercises to dwell upon the blessed memory of all our Father's ways with us while passing across the desert, home to our everlasting rest. ** There with what joy reviewing Past conflicts, dangers, fears, Thy hand our foes subduing, And drying all our tears. Our hearts with rapture burning, The path Ave shall retrace. Where now our souls are learning The riches of Thy grace." But let us not be misunderstood. We do not, by any means, wish to give countenance to the habit of dwelling merely upon our own experience. This is often very poor work, and resolves itself into self- occupation. We have to guard against this as one of the many things which tend to lower our spiritual tone and draw our hearts away from Christ. But CHAPTER VIII. 37 we need never be afraid of the result of dwelling upon the record of the Lord's dealings and ways with us. This is a blessed habit, tending ever to lift us out of ourselves, and fill us with praise and thanksgiving. Wh}', we may ask, were Israel charged to "re- member all the way" by which the Lord their God had led them? Assuredly, to draw out their hearts in praise for the past, and to strengthen their con- fidence in God for the future. Thus it must ever be. "We'll praise Him for all that is past, And trust Him for all that's to come." May we do so more and more. May we just move on, day by da}', praising and trusting, trusting and praising. These are the two things which redound to the glory of God, and to our peace and joy in Him. When the eye rests on the "Ebenezers" which lie all along the way, the heart must give forth its sweet "halleluiahs" to Him who has helped us hitherto, and will help us right on to the end. He i'mth delivered, and He doth deliver, and He tvill deliver. Blessed chain ! Its every link is divine deliverance. Nor is it merely upon the signal mercies and gracious deliverances of our Father's hand that we are to dwell, willi devout thankfulness, but also upon the "humblings" and the "provings" of His wise, faithful, and hol}^ love. All these things are full of richest blessing to our souls. They are not, as peo- l)le sometimes call them, "mercies in disguise," but 38 DEUTERONOMY. plain, palpable, unmistakable mercies, for which we shall have to praise our God throughout the golden ages of that bright eternity which lies before us. "Thou shalt remember all the way" — every stage of the journe}', every scene of wilderness-life, all the dealings of God, from first to last, with the special object thereof, "to humble thee, and to prove thee, to Jaioio ivhcU ivas in thine heart.''* How wonderful to think of God's patient grace and painstaking love with His people in the wilder- ness ! What precious instruction for us ! With what intense interest and spiritual delight w^e can hang over the record of the divine dealings with Israel in all their desert-wanderings ! How much we can learn from the marvelous history! We, too, have to be humbled and proved, and made to know what is in our hearts. It is very profitable and morally wholesome. On our first setting out to follow the Lord, we know but little of the depths of evil and folly in our hearts. Indeed, we are superficial in every thing. It is as we get on in our practical career that we begin to- prove the reality of things; we find out the depths of evil in ourselves, the utter hollowness and worthlessness of all that is in the world, and the urgent need of the most complete dependence upon the grace of God every moment. All this is very good ; it makes us humble and self-distrusting ; it delivers us from pride and self-sufficienc}', and leads us to cling, in childlike simplicit}^ to the One who alone is able to keep us from falling. Thus, as we CHAPTER VIII. 39 grow in self-knowledge, we get a, deeper sense of grace, a more profound acquaintance with the won- drous love of the heart of God, His tenderness to- ward us, His marvelous patience in bearing with all our infirmities and failings, His rich mercy in having taken us up at all. His loving ministry to all our varied need. His numberless interpositions on our behalf, the exercises through which He has seen fit to lead us for our souls' deep and permanent profit. The practical effect of all this is invaluable ; it imparts depth, solidit}', and mellowness to the char- acter ; it cures us of all our crude notions and vain theories ; it delivers us from one-sidedness and wild extremes ; it makes us tender, thoughtful, patient, and considerate toward others ; it corrects our harsh judgments and gives a gracious desire to put the best possible construction upon the actions of others, and a readiness to attribute the best motives in cases which may seem to us equivocal. These are precious fruits of wilderness-experience which we may all earnestly covet. "And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did th}^ fathers know, that He might make thee know that man doth not live b}' bread onl}', but by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." (Vor3.) This passage derives special interest and import- ance from the fact that it is the first of our Lord's quotations from the book of Deuteronomy' in His 40 DEUTErvONOMY. conflict with the adversaiy in the wilderness. Let us ponder this deeply' ; it demands our earnest at- tention. Wh}^ did our Lord quote from Deuter- onomy ? Because that was the book which, above all others, specially applied to the condition of Israel at the moment. Israel had utterly failed, and this weighty fact is assumed in the book of Deuteronomy from beginning to end. But notwithstanding the failure of the nation, the path of obedience lay open to every faithful Israelite. It was the privilege and duty of every one who loved God to abide b}' His Word under all circumstances and in all places. Now, our blessed Lord was divinely true to the position of the Israel of God. Israel after the flesh had failed and forfeited every thing ; He was there, in the wilderness, as the true Israel of God, to meet the enemy by the simple authority of the AYord of God. "And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the S[)irit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of tlie devil. And in those days He did eat nothing ; and when they W'Cre ended, He afterward hungered. And the devil said unto Him, 'If Thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.' And Jesus answered Him, saying, '•It is ivi'Uten, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.' " (Luke iv.) Here, then, is something for us to ponder. The perfect Man, the true Israel, in the wilderness, sur- rounded b}^ the wild beasts, fasting for forty days, in the presence of the great adversary of God, of CHAPTER VIII. 41 man, of Israel. There was not a single feature in the scene to speak for God. It was not with the second Man as it was with the first ; He was not surrounded with all the delights of Eden,' but with all the dreariness and desolation of a desert — there in loneliness and hunger, but there for God ! Yes, blessed be His name, and there for man, — there to show man how to meet the enemy in all his varied temptations, there to show man how to live. We must not suppose for a moment that our adora- ble Lord met the adversary as God over all. True, He was God, but if it were only as such that He stood in the conflict, it could not afford any example for us. Besides, it would be needless to tell us that God was able to vanquish and put to flight a creat- ure which His own hand had formed. But to see One who was, in every respect, a man, and in all the circumstances of humanitj-, sin excepted, — to see Him there in weakness, in hunger, standing amid the consequences of man's fall, and to find Him tri- umphing completeU' over the terrible foe, it is this which is so full of comfort, consolation, strength, and encouragement for us. And how did He triumph? This is the grand and all-important question for us, — a question demand- ing the most profound attention of every member of the Church of God — a question the magnitude and importance of which it would be utterly impossible to overstate. How, then, did the Man Christ Jesus vanquish Satan in the wilderness? Simply by the Word of God. He overcame, not as the almighty 42 DEUTERONOMY. God, but as the humble, dependent, self-emptied, and obedient Man. We have before us the magnifi- cent spectacle of a Man standing in the presence of the devil and utterly confounding him with no other weapon whatsoever save the Word of God. It was not by the display of divine power, for that could be no model for us ; it was simply with the Word of God, in His heart and in His mouth, that the Second Man confounded the terrible enemy of God and man. And let us carefully note that our blessed Lord does not reason with Satan. He does not appeal to any facts connected with Himself — facts with which the enemy was well acquainted. He does not say, I know I am the Son of God ; the opened heavens, the descending Spirit, the Father's voice, have all borne witness to the fact of My being the Son of God. No ; this would not do ; it would not and could not be an example for us. The one special point for us to seize and learn from is, that our great Exemplar, when meeting all the temptations of the enem}^ used only the weapon which we have in our possession, namely, the simple, precious, written, Word of God. We sa}', "all the temptations," because in all the three instances our Lord's unvarying reply is, ^^ Itis loritten. ' ' He does not say, ' ' I know" — ' ' I think " — "I feel"— "I believe" this, that, or the other; He simply appeals to the written Word of God — the book of Deuteronomy in particular, — that ver}^ book which infidels have dared to insult, but which is pre-eminently the book for every obedient man, in CHAPTER VIII. 43 the face of total, universal, hopeless, wreck and ruin. This is of unspeakable moment for us, beloved reader. It is as though our Lord Christ had said to the adversar}', "Whether I am the Son of God -or not is not now the question, but how man is to live, and the answer to this question is only to be found in holy Scripture ; and it is to be found there as clear as a sunbeam, quite irrespective of all questions respecting Me. Whoever I am, the Scripture is the same: "man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." Here we have the only true, the only safe, the only happy attitude for man, namely, hanging in earnest dependence upon "every word that proceed- eth out of the mouth of the Lord." Blessed atti- tude ! We may well say there is nothing like it in all this world. It brings the soul into direct, living, personal contact with the Lord Himself, by means of His Word. It makes the Word so absolutely essential to us, in every thing ; we cannot do without- it. As the natural life is sustained by bread, so the spiritual life is sustained by the Word of God. It is not merely going to the Bible to find doctrines there, or to have our opinions or views confirmed ; it is very much more than this ; it is going to the Bible for the staple commodity of life — the life of the new man ; it is going there for food, for light, for guid- ance, for comfort, for authority, for strength — for all, in short, that the soul can possibly need, from first to last. 4 44 DEC TERONOMY. And let us specially note the force and value of the expression, ^^ every word." How fully it shows that we cannot afford to dispense with a single word that h'as proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord. We want it all. We cannot tell the moment in which some exigence may present itself for which Scripture has already provided. We may not per- haps have specially noticed the scripture before, but when the difficulty arises, if we are in a right con- dition of soul — the true posture of heart, the Spirit of God will furnish us with the needed scripture, and we shall see a force, beaut}', depth, and moral adaptation in the passage which we had never seen before. Scripture is a divine and therefore exhaust- less treasur3\ in which God has made ample provi- sion for all the need of His people, and for each believer in particular, right on to the end. Hence we should study it all, ponder it, dig deeply into it, and have it treasured up in our hearts, ready for use when the demand arises. There is not a sino;le crisis occurring in the entire history of the Church of God, not a single difficulty in the entire path of au}^ individual believer, from beginning to end, which has not been perfectly provided for in the Bible. We have all we want in that blessed volume, and hence we should be ever seeking to make ourselves more and more ac- quainted with what that volume contains, so as to be *' thoroughly furnished" for whatever ma}^ arise, whether it be a temptation of the devil, an allure- ment of the world, or a lust of the flesh ; or, on the CHAPTER VIIT. 45 other hand, for equipment for that path of good works which God has afore prepared that we should walk in it. And we should, further, give special attention to the expression, '-^ Out of the mouth of the Lord.'' Tliis is unspeakabl}^ precious. It brings the Lord so very near to us, and gives us such a sense of the reality of feeding upon His every word — yea, of hanging upon it as something absoluteh' essential and indispensable. It sets forth the blessed fact that our souls can no more exist without the Word than our bodies could without food. In a word, we are taught by this passage that man's true position, his proper attitude, his only place of strength, safety, rest, and blessing, is to be found in habitual dependence upon the Word of God. This is the life of faith which we are called to live — the life of dependence — the life of obedience — the life that Jesus lived perfectl}^ That blessed One would not move a step, utter a word, or do a single thing save by the authority of the Word of God. No doubt He could have turned stone into breads but He had no command from God to do that ; and inasmuch as He had no command, He had no motive for action. Hence Satan's temptations were per- fectl}^ powerless. He could do nothing with a man who would only act on the authority of the Word of God. And we may also note, with very much interest and profit, that our blessed Lord does not quote Scripture for the purpose of silencing the adversary, 46 DEUTERONOMY. but simply as authority for His position and con- duct. Here is where we are so apt to fail ; we do not sufficiently use the precious Word of God in this way ; we quote it, at times, more for victory over the enemy than for power and authority for our own souls. Thus it loses its power in our hearts. We want to use the Word as a hungry man uses bread, or as a mariner uses his chart and his com- pass ; it is that on which we live, and by which we move and act and think and speak. Such it really is, and the more fully we prove it to be all this to us, the more we shall know of its infinite preciousness. Who is it that knows most of the real value of bread ? Is it a chemist? No ; but a hungry man. A chemist may analyze it, and discuss its component parts, but a hungry man proves its worth. Who knows most of the real value of a chart? is it the teacher of navigation? No ; but the mariner as he sails along an unknown and dangerous coast. These are but feeble figures to illustrate what the Word of God is to the true Christian. He cannot do without it. It is absolutely indispensable, in every relationship of life and in every sphere of action. His hidden life is fed and sustained by it; his practical life is guided by it. In all the scenes and circumstances of his personal and domestic his- tor}^ in the privacy of his closet, in the bosom of his family, in the management of his affairs, he is cast upon the Word of God for guidance and counsel. And it never fails those who simply cleave to it CHAPTER VIII. 47 and confide in it. We may trust Scripture without a single sliade of misgiving. Go to it wlien we will, we shall always find what we want. Are we in sor- row? is the poor heart bereaved, crushed, and des- olate? What can soothe and comfort us like the balmy words which the Holy Spirit has penned for us? One sentence of holy Scripture can do more, in the way of comfort and consolation, than all the letters of condolence that ever were penned by human hand. Are we discouraged, faint-hearted, and cast down? The Word of God meets us with its bright and soul-stirring assurances. Are we pressed by pinching poverty ? The Holy Ghost brings home to our hearts some golden promise from the page of inspiration, recalling us to Him who is *'the Possessor of heaven and earth," and who, in His infinite grace, has pledged Himself to "supply all our need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Are we perplexed and harassed by the conflicting opinions of men, by the dogmas of conflicting schools of divinity, by religious and the- ological diflSculties? A few sentences of holy Scrip- ture will pour in a flood of divine light upon the heart and conscience, and set us at perfect rest, answering every question, solving every diflSculty, removing every doubt, chasing away every cloud, giving us to know the mind of God, putting an end to conflicting opinions by the one divinely competent authority. What a boon, therefore, is holy Scripture! What a precious treasure we possess in the Word of God ! 48 DEUTERONOMY. How we should bless His holy name for having given it to us ! Yes ; and bless Him, too, for every thing that tends to make us more fully acquainted with the depth, fullness, and power of those words of our chapter, *'Man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." Truly precious are these words to the heart of the believer ! And hardly less so are those that follow, in which the beloved and revered lawgiver refers, with touching sweetness, to Jehovah's tender care throughout the whole of Israel's desert-wanderings. ''Thy raiment," he sa} s, "waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty jears." What marvelous grace shines out in these words ! Only think, reader, of Jehovah looking after His people in such a manner, to see that their garments should not wax old or their foot swell ! He not only fed them, but clothed them and cared for them in every way. He even stooped to look after their feet, that the sand of the desert might not injure them. Thus, for forty 3'ears, did He watch over them, with all the exquisite tenderness of a father's heart. What will not love undertake to do for its object? Jehovah had set His love upon His people, and this one blessed fact secured every thing for them, had they only understood it. There was not a single thing within the range of Israel's necessities, from Egypt to Canaan, which was not secured to them and included in the fact that Jehovah had under- taken to do for them. With infinite love and al- CHAPTER VIII. 49 mighty power on their side, what could be lacking? But then, as we know, love clothes itself in various forms. It has something more to do than to provide food and raiment for its objects. It has not only to take account of their physical but also of their moral and spiritual wants. Of this the law- giver does not fail to remind the people. "Thou shalt also consider," he says, "iu thine heart'' — the only true and effective way to consider — "that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee." Now, we do not like chastening; it is not joj'ous, but grievous. It is all very well for a son to receive food and raiment from a father's hand, and to have all his comforts provided by a father's thoughtful love, but he does not like to see him taking down the rod. And 3'et that dreaded rod ma}^ be the very best thing for the son ; it may do for him what no material benefits or earthly blessings could effect, — it may correct some bad habit, or deliver him from some wrong tendenc}', or save him from some evil influence, and thus prove a great moral and spiritual blessing for which he shall have to be forever thank- ful. The grand point for the son is, to see a father's love and care in the discipline and chastening just as distinctly as in the various material benefits which strew his path from day to day. Here is precisely where we so signall^^ fail in reference to the disciplinary dealings of our Father. We rejoice in His benefits and blessings ; we are filled with praise and thankfulness as we receive. 50 DEUTERONOMY. day by day, from His liberal hand, the rich supply of all our need ;■ we delight to dwell upon His mar- velous interposition on our behalf in times of press- ure and difficulty ; it is a most precious exercise to look back over the path by which His good hand has led us, and mark those "Ebenezers" which tell of gracious help supplied all along the road. All this is very good and very right and very pre- cious, but then there is a great danger of our resting in the mercies, the blessings, and the benefits which flow, in such rich profusion, from our Father's loving heart and liberal hand. We are apt to rest in these things, and say wilh the Psalmist, "In my prosperity I said, 'I shall never be moved. Lord, by Thy favor Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.'" True, it is "by Thy favor," but yet we are prone to be occupied with our mountain and our prosperity ; we allow these things to come in between our hearts and the Lord, and thus they become a snare to us. Hence the need of chastening. Our Father, in His faithful love and care, is watching over us ; He sees the danger and He sends trial, in one shape or another. Perhaps a telegram comes announcing the death of a beloved child, or the crash of a bank involving the loss of our earthly all ; or, it may be, we are laid on a bed of pain and sickness, or called to watch by the sick bed of a beloved relative. In a word, we are called to wade through deep waters which seem, to our poor, feeble, coward hearts, absolutely overwhelming. The enemy sug- gests the question, Is this love? Faith replies, CHAPTER VIII. 51 without hesitation and without reserve, Yes ; it is all love — perfect love ; the death of the child, the loss of the property, the long, heav}', painfid illness, all the sorrow, all the pressure, all the exercise, the deep waters and dark shadows — all, all is love — perfect love and unerring wisdom. I feel assured of it, even now ; I do not wait to know it by and by, when I shall look back on the path from amid the full light of the glory ; I know it now, and delight to own it to the praise of that infinite grace which has taken me up from the depth of my ruin, and charged itself with all that concerns me, and which deigns to occupy itself with my very failures, follies, and sins, in order to deliver me from them, and to make me a partaker of divine holiness, and conform me to the image of that blessed One who "loved Me and gave Himself for me." Christian reader, this is the way to answer Satan, and to hush the dark reasonings which may spring up in our hearts. We must always justify God. We must look at all His disciplinary dealings in the light of His love. ' ' Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that, as a man chasteneth Jiis son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee." Most surely we should not like to be without the blessed pledge and proof of sonship. "3/?/ son, despise not thou the chasten- ing of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him ; for idiom the Lord lovetli lie chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth willi you as with sons ; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth 52 DEUTERONOMY. not? But it' ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence ; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure ; but He for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. Now, no chastening for the present seem- elh to be jo3'ous, but grievous ; nevertheless, after- ward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees ; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way ; but let it rather be healed." (Heb. xii. 5-13.) It is at once interesting and profitable to mark the way in which Moses presses upon the congrega- tion the varied motives of obedience arising from the past, the present, and the future. Every thing is brought to bear upon them to quicken and deepen their sense of Jehovah's claims upon them. They were to ' ' remember ' ' the past, they were to ' ' con- sider" the present, and they were to anticipate the future ; and all this was to act on their hearts, and lead them forth in holy obedience to that blessed and gracious One who had done, who was doing, and who would do such great things for them. The thoughtful reader can hardly fail to observe in this constant presentation of moral motives a marked feature of this lovely book of Deuteronomy, CHAPTER VIII. 53 and a striking proof that it is no mere attempt at a repetition of Avliat we have in Exodus ; but, on the contrary, that our book has a province, a range, a scope, and design entirely its own. To speak of mere repetition is absurd ; to speak of contradiction is impious. "Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him." The word "therefore" had a retrospective and prospective force. It was designed to lead the heart back over the past dealings of Jehovah, and forward into the future. They were to think of the marvelous history of those forty jears in the desert, — the teaching, the humbling, the proving, the watch- ful care, the gracious ministry, the full supply of all their need, the manna from heaven, the stream from the smitten rock, the care of their garments, and of their very feet, the wholesome discipline for their moral good. What powerful moral motives were here for Israel's obedience ! But this was not all: they were to look forward into the future ; they were to anticipate the bright prospect which lay before them ; they were to find in the future, as well as in the past and the present, the solid basis of Jehovah's claims upon their rev- erent and whole-hearted obedience. "For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills ; a land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig-trees, and pomegranates, a land of oil olive, and honey ; a land 54 DEUTERONOMY. wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it ; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass." How fair was the prospect ! how bright the vision ! How marked the contrast to the Egypt behind them and the wilderness through which they had passed ! The Lord's land lay before them in all its beauty and verdure, its vine-clad hills and honeyed plains, its gushing fountains and flowing streams. How refreshing the thought of the vine, the fig-tree, the pomegranate, and the olive ! How different from the leeks, onions, and garlic of Egypt ! Yes, all so different ! It was the Lord's own land : this was enough. It produced and contained all they could possibly want. Above its surface, rich profusion ; below, untold wealth — exhaustless treasure. What a prospect ! How the faithful Israelite would long to enter upon it! — long to exchange the sand of the desert for that bright inheritance ! True, the desert had its deep and blessed experiences, its holy lessons, its precious memories ; there they had known Jehovah in a way they could not know Him even in Canaan ; — all this was quite true, and we can fully understand it; but still the wilderness was not Canaan, and every true Israelite would long to set his foot on the land of promise, and truly we may say that Moses presents the land, in the passage just quoted, in a way eminently calculated to attract the heart. "A land," he says, "wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, tliou shalt not lack any CHAPTER VIII. 55 thing in it." What more could be said? Here was the grand fact in reference to that good land into which the hand of covenant-love was about to intro- duce them. All their wants would be divinely met. Hunger and thirst should never be known there. Health and plenty, joy and gladness, peace and blessing, were to be the assured portion of the Israel of God in that fair inheritance upon which they were about to enter. Every enemy was to be sub- dued ; every obstacle swept away; *'the pleasant land" was to pour forth its treasures for their use ; watered continually by heaven's rain, and warmed by its sunlight, it was to bring forth, in rich abund- ance, all that the heart could desire. What a land ! what an inheritance ! what a home ! Of course, we are looking at it now from a divine stand-point — looking at it according to what it was in the mind of God, and what it shall most assur- edly be to Israel during that bright millennial age which lies before them. We should have but a very poor idea indeed of the Lord's land were we to think of it merely as possessed by Israel in the past, even in the very brightest days of its history, as it ap- peared amid the splendors of Solomon's reign. We must look onward to "the times of the restitution of all things," in order to have any thing like a true idea of what the land of Canaan will yet be to the Israel of God. Now, Moses speaks of the land according to the divine idea of it. He presents it as given by God, and not as possessed by Israel. This makes all the 56 DEUTEKONOMT. difference. According to his charming description, there was neither enemy nor evil occurrent : nothing but fruitfulness and blessing fmm end to end. That is what it would have been, that is what it should have been, and that is what it shall be, by and by, to the seed of Abraham, in pursuance of the cove- nant made with their fathers — the new, the everlast- ing covenant, founded on the sovereign grace of God, and ratified by the blood of the cross. No power of earth or hell can hinder the purpose or the promise of God. ''Hath He said, and shall He not do it?'* God will make good, to the letter, every word, spite of all the enemy's opposition and the lamentable failure of His people. Though Abraham's seed have utterly failed under law and under government, yet Abraham's God will give grace and glory' for His gifts and calling are without repentance. Moses fully understood all this. He knew how it would turn out with those who stood before him, and with their children after them, for many generations ; and he looked forward into that bright future in which a covenant-God would displa}*, in the view of all created intelligences, the triumphs of His grace in His dealings with the seed of Abraham His friend. Meanwhile, however, the faithful servant of Jeho- vah, true to the object before his mind, in all those marvelous discourses in the opening of our book, proceeds to unfold to the congregation the truth as to their mode of acting in the good land on which they were about to plant their foot. As he had spoken of the past and of the present, so would he CHAPTER VIII. 57 make use of the future ; he would turn all to account in his holy etfort to urge upon the people their ob- vious, bounden duty to that blessed One who had so graciously and tenderly cared for them all their journey through, and who was about to bring them in and plant them in the mountain of His inherit- ance. Let us hearken to his touching and powerful exhortations. ''When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He has given thee." How simple! how lovel}'! how morally suitable ! Filled with the fruit of Jehovah's goodness, they were to bless and praise His holy name. He delights to surround Himself with hearts filled to overflowing with the sweet sense of His goodness, and pouring forth songs of praise and thanksgiving. He inhabits the praises of His people. He saj's, "Whoso oifereth praise glori- fieth Me." The feeblest note of praise from a grateful heart ascends as fragrant incense to the throne and to the heart of God. Let us remember this, beloved reader. It is as true for us, most surely, as it was for Israel, that praise is comely. Our grand primar}^ business is to praise the Lord. Our every breath should be a halleluiah. It is to this blessed and most sacred exercise the Holy Ghost exhorts us, in manifold places. *' By Him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name." We should ever remember that nothinor so gratifies the heart and 58 DEUTERONOMY. glorifies the name of our God as a thankful, wor- shiping spirit on the part of His people. It is well to do good and communicate, — God is well pleased with such sacrifices ; it is our high privilege, while we have opportunit}-, to do good unto all men, and especially unto them who are of the household of faith ; we are called to be channels of blessing be- tween the loving heart of our Father and every form of human need that comes before us in our daily path ; — all this is most blessedly true, but we must never forget that the very highest place is as- signed to praise. It is this which shall employ our ransomed powers throughout the golden ages of eternit}', when the sacrifices of active benevolence shall no longer be needed. But the faithful lawgiver knew but too well the sad proneness of the human heart to forget all this — to lose sight of the gracious Giver, and rest in His gifts ; hence he addresses the following admonitory words to the congregation — wholesome words, trul}', for them and for us. May we bend our ears and our hearts to them, in holy reverence and teachable- ness of spirit. "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judg- ments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day. Lest ichen thou hast eaten and art full., and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein ; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiph^, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied ; then thine heart be lifted up, and CHAPTER VIII. 59 thou forget the Lord th}^ God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage ; who led thee through that great and ter- rible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water ; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint ; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; and thou savin thine heart. My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God ; for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and wor- ship them, I testify against you this day that )'e shall surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish, he- cause ye would not he ohedient unto the voice of the Lord your God.'' (Ver. 11-20.) Here is something for us to ponder deeply. It has most assuredly a voice for us, as it had for Israel. We may perhaps feel disposed to marvel at the frequent reiteration of the note of warning and admonition, the constant appeals to the heart and conscience of the people as to their bounden dut}' to obey in all things the word of God, the recurrence again and again to those grand soul- stirrim? facts connected with their deliverance out 60 DEUTERONOMY. of Eg3'pt and their journey throiigli the wilderness. But wherefore should we marvel ? In the first place, do w'e not deeply feel and fully admit our own urgent need of warning, admonition, and exhorta- tion ? Bo we not need line upon line, precept upon precept, and that continually ? Are we not prone to forget the Lord our God — to rest in His gifts instead of Himself ? Alas ! alas ! we cannot deny it. We rest in the stream, instead of getting up to the Fountain ; w^e turn the very mercies, blessings, and benefits which strew our path in rich profusion into an occasion of self-complacency and gratulation, instead of finding in them the blessed ground of continual praise and thanksgiving. And then, as to those great facts of which Moses so continually reminds the people, could they ever lose their moral weight, power, or preciousness ? Surely not. Israel might forget and fail to appre- ciate those facts, but the facts remained the same. The terrible plagues of Egypt, the night of the passover, their deliverance from the land of dark- ness, bondage, and degradation, their marvelous passage through the Red Sea, the descent of that mysterious food from heaven morning by morning, the refreshing stream gushing forth from the flinty rock, — how could such facts as these ever lose their power over a heart possessing a spark of genuine love to God ? and why should w^e wonder to find Moses again and again appealing to them and using them as a most powerful lever wherewith to move the hearts of the people ? Moses felt the mighty CHAPTER VIII. 61 moral influence of these things himself, and he would fain lead others to feel it also. To him, they were precious he^'ond expression, and he longed to make his brethren feel their preciousness as well as himself. It was his one object to set before them, in every possible wa}', the powerful claims of Jeho- vah upon their hearty and unreserved obedience. This, reader, will account for what might, to an unspiritual, unintelligent, cursory reader, seem the too frequent recurrence to the scenes of the past in those wonderful discourses of Moses. We are re- minded, as we read them, of the lovely words of Peter, in his second epistle, — "Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things^ though ye know them, and be estab- lished in the present truth. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up^ by putting yo\i in remembrance ; knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that 3^e may be able, after my decease, to have these things always in remembrance.'" (Chap. i. 12-15.) How striking the unity of spirit and purpose in these two beloved and venerable servants of God ! Both the one and the other felt the tendenc}^ of the poor human heart to forget the things of God, of heaven, and of eternit}', and the}' felt the supreme importance and infinite value of the things of which they spoke ; hence their earnest desire to keep them continually before the hearts and abidingly in the 62 DEUTERONOMY. remembrance of the Lord's beloved people. Un- believing, restless nature might say to Moses, or to Peter, Have j-ou nothing new to tell ns ? Why are you perpetually dwelling on the same old themes ? We know all you have got to say ; we have heard it again and again. Why not strike out into some new field of thought ? Would it not be well to try and keep abreast of the science of the day ? If we keep perpetually moping over those antiquated themes, we shall be left stranded on the bank, while the stream of civilization rushes on. Pray give us something new. Thus might the poor unbelieving mind — the worldly heart reason, but faith knows the answer to all such miserable suggestions. We can well believe that both Moses and Peter would have made short work with all such reasonings. And so should we. We know whence they emanate, whither they tend, and what they are worth ; and we should have, if not on our lips, at least deep down in our hearts, a ready answer — an answer perfectly satisfactory to us, however contemptible it may seem to the men of this world. Could a true Israelite ever tire of hear- ing of what the Lord had done for him, in Egypt, in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness ? Never ! Such themes would be ever fresh, ever welcome to his heart. And just so with the Christian. Can he ever tire of the cross and all the grand and glorious realities that cluster around it ? can he ever tiie of Christ, His peerless glories and unsearchable riches. His Person, His work. His offices ? Never ! No, CHAPTER YIII. 63 never, throughout the bright ages of eternil}-. Does he crave any thing new? Can science improve upon Christ ? can human learning add auglit to the great m3'stery of godUness, which has for its foundation God manifest in the flesh, and for its top-stone a Man glorified in heaven ? can we ever get beyond this ? No, reader, we could not if we would, and we would not if we could. And even were we, for a moment, to take a lower range, and look at the works of God in creation ; do we ever tire of the sun ? He is not new ; he has been pouring his beams upon this world for well-nigh six thousand 3'ears, and yet those beams are as fresh and as welcome to-day as they were when first created. Do we ever tire of the sea ? It is not new ; its tide has been ebbing and flowing for nearly six thousand j-ears, but its waves are as fresh and as welcome on our shores as ever. True, the sun is often too dazzling to man's feeble vision, and the sea often swallows up, in a moment, man's boasted works ; but 3'et the sun and the sea never lose their power, their freshness, their charm. Do we ever tire of the dew-drops that fall in refreshing virtue upon our gardens and fields ? do we ever tire of the perfume that emanates from our hedge-rows ? do we ever tire of the notes of the nightingale and the thrush ? And what are all these when compared with the glories which cluster around the Person and the cross of Christ ? what are they when put in contrast with the grand realities of that eternity which is before us ? 64 DEUTERONOMY. Reader, let us beware how we listen to such sug- gestions, whether they come from without or spring from the depths of our own evil hearts, lest we be found, like Israel after the flesh, loathing the heav- enly Manna and despising the pleasant land ; or like Demas, who forsook the blessed apostle, having loved this present age ; or like those of whom we read in the sixth of John, who, offended by our Lord's close and pointed teaching, "went back, and walked no more with Him." May the Lord keep our hearts true to Himself, and fresh and fervent in His blessed cause, till He come. CHAPTER IX. ^^TTEAR, O Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan J-L this day, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven, a people great and tall, the children of the Anakims, whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard sa}', 'Who can stand before the children of Anak!'" (Ver. 1, 2.) This chapter opens with the same grand Deuter- onomic sentence, "^ea?*, O Israel." This, we ma}' saj', is the ke3'-note of this most blessed book, and especially of those opening discourses which have been engaging our attention. But the chapter which now lies open before us presents subjects of im- mense weight and importance. In the first place, CHAPTER IX. 65 the lawgiver sets before the congregation, in terms of deep solemnity, that which lay before them in their entrance upon the land. He does not hide from them the fact that there were serious difficulties and formidable enemies to be encountered. This he does, we need hardly say, not to discourage their hearts, but that they might be forewarned, fore- armed, and prepared. What that preparation was we shall see presently ; but the faithful servant of God felt the rightness, yea, the urgent need of put- ting the true state of the case before his brethren. There are two ways of looking at difficulties ; we may look at them from a human stand-point, or from a divine one ; we may look at them in a spirit of unbelief, or we may look at them in the calmness and quietness of confidence in the living God. We have an instance of the former in the report of the unbelieving spies in Numbers xiii ; we have an in- stance of the latter in the opening of our present chapter. It is not the province, nor the path, of faith to deny that there are difficulties to be encountered by the people of God ; it would be the height of folly to do so, inasmuch as there are difficulties, and it would be but fool-hardiness, fanaticism, or fleshly enthusiasm to deny it. It is always well for people to know what they are about, and not to rush blindly into a path for which they are not prepared. An unbe- lieving sluggard may sa}'. There is a lion in the way ; a blind enthusiast may say, There is no such thing ; the true man of faith will say, Though there 66 DEUTERONOMY. were a thousand lions in the way, God can soon dispose of them. But, as a great practical principle of general ap- plication, it is very important for all the Lord's people to consider, deeply and calmly, what they are about, ere they enter upon any particular path of service or line of action. If this were more attended to, we should not witness so many moral and spirit- ual wrecks around us. What mean those most solemn, searching, and testing words addressed by our blessed Lord to the multitudes that thronged around Him in Luke xiv? — "He turned and said to them, 'If any man come to 3Ie, and hate not his father and mother, his wife and children, and breth- ren and sisters, 3^ea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple. For which of 3^ou, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? lest hapl}', after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, saying. This man began to build, and was not able to finish.'" (Ver. 26-30.) These are solemn and seasonable words for the heart. How many unfinished buildings meet our view as we look forth over the wide field of Chris- tian profession, giving sad occasion to the beholders for mockery ! How many set out upon a path of discipleship under some sudden impulse, or under the pressure of mere human influence, without a CHAPTER IX. 67 proper understanding, or a due consideration of all that is involved ; and then when difficulties arise, when trials come, when the path is found to be nar- row, rough, lonely, unpopular, they give it up, thus proving that they had never really counted the cost, never taken the path in communion with God, never understood what they were doing. Now, such cases are very sorrowful ; they bring great reproach on the cause of Christ, give occasion to the adversary to blaspheme, and greatly dis- hearten those who care for the glory of God and the good of souls. Better far not to take the ground at all than, having taken it, to abandon it in dark un- belief and worldly-mindedness. Hence, therefore. Me can perceive the wisdom and faithfulness of the opening words of our chapter. Moses tells the people plainly what was before them ; not, surely, to discourage them, but to preserve them from self-confidence, which is sure to give way in the moment of trial, and to cast them upon the living God, who never fails a trusting heart. "Understand therefore this da}', that the Lord thy God is He which goeth over before thee ; as a con- suming fire He shall destroy them, and He shall bring them down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee." Here, then, is the divine answer to all difficulties, be they ever so formidable. What were mighty nations, great cities, fenced walls, in the presence of Jehovah? Simply as chaff before the whirlwind. 68 DEUTERONOMY. "If God be for us, who can be against us?" The very things which scare and stumble the coward heart afford an occasion for the display of God's power, and the magnificent triumphs of faith. Faith says. Grant me but this, that God is before me and with me, and I can go any where. Thus the only thing in all this world that really glorifies God is the faith that can trust Him and use Him and praise Him ; and inasmuch as faith is the only thing that glorifies God, so is it the only thing that gives man his proper place, even the place of complete dependence upon God, and this insures victory and inspires praise — unceasing praise. But we must never forget that there is moral danger in the very moment of victory — danger arising out of what we are in ourselves. There is the danger of self-gratulation — a terrible snare to us poor mortals. In the hour of conflict we feel our weakness, our nothingness, our need. This is good and morally safe. It is well to be brought down to the very bottom of self and all that pertains to it, for there w^e find God, in all the fullness and blessedness of what He is, and this is sure and cer- tain victory and consequent praise. But our treacherous and deceitful hearts are prone to forget whence the strength and victory come ; hence the moral force, value, and seasonableness of the following admonitory words addressed by the faithful minister of God to the hearts and con- sciences of his brethren : "Speak not thou in thine heart" — here is where the mischief always begins — CHAPTER IX. 69 "after that the Lord hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness tlie Lord hath brought me in to possess this land ; but for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee." Alas ! what materials there are in us ! what igno- rance of our own hearts ! what a shallow sense of the real character of our ways ! How terrible to think that we are capable of saying in our hearts such words as, "For my righteousness"! Yes, reader, we are verily capable of such egregious folly ; for as Israel was capable of it, so are we, inasmuch as we are made of the very same material ; and that they were capable of it is evident from the fact of their being warned against it; for, most assuredly, the Spirit of God does not warn against phantom dangers or imaginary temptations. We are veril}' capable of turning the actings of God on our behalf into an occasion of self-complacency ; in- stead of seeing in those gracious actings a ground for heartfelt praise to God, we use them as a ground for self-exaltation. Hence, therefore, we would do well to ponder the words of faithful admonition addressed by Moses to the hearts and consciences of the people ; they furnish a very wholesome antidote for the self- righteousness so natural to us as well as to Israel. "Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go to possess their land ; but for the wickedness of those nations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that 70 DEUTERONOMY. He may perform the word which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Under- stand, therefore, that the Lord giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness ; for thou art a stiff-necked people. Remember, and forget not, how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness ; from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt, until ye came unto this place, ye have been rebellious against the Lord." (Ver. 5-7.) This paragraph sets forth two great principles, which, if fully laid hold of, must put the heart into a right moral attitude. In the first place, the people were reminded that their possession of the land of Canaan was simply in pursuance of God's promise to their fathers. This was placing the matter on the most solid basis — a basis which nothing could ever disturb. As to the seven nations which were to be dispos- sessed, it was on the ground of their wickedness that God, in the exercise of His righteous govern- ment, was about to drive them out. Every landlord has a perfect right to eject bad tenants ; and the nations of Canaan had not only failed to pay their rent, as we say, but they had injured and defiled the property to such an extent that God could no longer endure them, and therefore He was going to drive them out, irrespective altogether of the incoming tenants. Whoever was going to get possession of the property, these dreadful tenants must be evicted. The iniquity of the Amorites had reached its highest CHAPTER IX. 71 point, and nothing remained but that judgment should take its course. Men might argue and reason as to the moral fitness and consistency of a benevolent Being unroofing the houses of thousands of families and putting the occupants to the sword, but we may depend upon it the government of God will make very short work with all such arguments. God, blessed forever be His holy name, knows how to manage His own affairs, and that, too, without asking man's opinion. He had borne with the wickedness of the seven nations to such a degree that it had become absolutely insufferable ; the very land itself could not bear it. Any further exercise of forbearance would have been a sanction of the most terrible abominations ; and this, of course, was a moral impossibility. The glory of God absolutely demanded the expulsion of the Canaanites. Yes ; and we may add, the glory of God de- manded the introduction of the seed of Abraham into possession of the property, to hold as tenants forever under the Lord God Almighty — the Most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth. Thus the matter stood for Israel, had they but seen it. Their possession of the land of promise and the maintenance of the divine glory were so bound up together that one could not be touched without touching the other. God had promised to give the land of Canaan to the seed of Abraham as an ever- lasting possession. Had He not a right to do so? Will infidels question God's right to do as He will with His own ? Will they refuse to the Creator and 72 DEUTEKOXOMY. Governor of the universe a light which they claim for themselves? The land was Jehovah's, and He gave it to Abraham His friend forever ; and although this was true, yet were not the Canaanites disturbed in their tenure of the property until their wicked- ness had become positively unbearable. Thus we see that in the matter both of the out- going and incoming tenants the glory of God was involved. That glory demanded that the Canaanites should be expelled, because of their ways ; and that glory demanded that Israel should be put in posses- sion, because of the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But, in the second place, Israel had no ground for self-complacenc}', as Moses most plainly and failh- fnlly instructs them. He rehearses in their ears, in the most touching and impressive manner, all the leading scenes of their history from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea ; he refers to the golden calf, to the broken tables of the covenant, to Taberah and Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah ; and sums all up, at verse 24, with these pungent, humbling words, *'Ye have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you." This was plain dealing with heart and conscience. The solemn review of their whole career w^as emi- nently calculated to correct all false notions about themselves ; evorv scene and circumstance in their entire histor}-, if viewed from a i)roper stand-point, only brought to light the humbling fact of what tliey were, and how near they had been, again and again, CHAPTER IX. 73 to utter destruction. With what stunning force must the following words have fallen upon their ears ! — ''And the Lord said unto me, 'Arise, get thee down quiekl}' from hence, for f/uched the very foundation of Israel's national existence. It was not merely a local or municipal question, but a national one. tit may interest the reader to know that the word rendered, 166 . DEUTERONOMY. xxvi. 7.) And when we look forward into the bright future, the same glorious truth shines, with heavenly lustre, in the seventh chapter of Revelation, where we see the twelve tribes sealed and secured for blessing, rest, and glor}', in connection with a count- less multitude of the Gentiles. And finally, in Revelation xxi. we see the names of the twelve tribes engraved on the gates of the holy Jerusalem, the seat and centre of the glory of God and the Lamb. Thus, from the golden table in the sanctuary to the golden city descenduig out of heaven from God, we have a marvelous chain of evidence in proof of the grand truth of the indissoluble unity of Israel's twelve tribes. And then, if the question be asked. Where is this unity to be seen? or how did Elijah or Hezekiali or Josiah or Paul see it? The answer is a very simple one — They saw it by faith ; they looked within the sanctuary of God, and there, on the golden table, they beheld the twelve loaves, setting forth the perfect distinctness and j-et the perfect oneness of the twelve tribes. Nothing can be more beautiful. The truth of God must stand forever. Israel's unity was seen in the past, and it will be seen in the future ; and though, like the higher unity of the Church, it is unseen in the present, faith believes it all the same, holds it and confesses it in the face of ten thousand hostile influences. * in the above passage, "twelve tribes," is singular — ra Saods- xdqjvXov. It certainly gives very full and vivifl expression to the grand idea of indissoluble unity which is so precious to God, and therefore so precious to faith. CHAPTER XIII. 167 And now let us look for a moment at the practical application of this most glorious truth, as presented in the closing paragraph of Deuteronom}^ xiii. A report reaches a city in the far north of the land of Israel of serious error taught in a certain city in the extreme south — deadly error, tending to draw the inhabitants away from the true God. What is to be done ? Tiie law is as plain as possible ; the path of duty is laid down with such distinctness that it onl}' needs a single e3'e to sec it, and a devoted heart to tread it. "Then shalt thou inquire, and make search, and ask diligently." This surel}' is simple enough. But some of the citizens might say, "What have we in the north to do with error taught in the south? Thank God, there is no error taught amongst us ; it is entiroh' a local question ; each city is responsible for the maintenance of the truth within its own walls. How could we be expected to examine into every case of error which may spring up here and there all over the land? our whole time would be taken up, so that we could not attend to our fields, our vine3'ards, our oliveyards, our flocks, and our herds. It is quite as much as we can do to keep our own borders all right. We certainly condemn the error, and if any one holding or teaching it were to come here, and that we knew of it, we should most decidedly shut our gates against him. Beyond thi?, we do not feel ourselves responsible to go. Now, what, we may ask, would be tlie repl}' of the faithful Israelite to all this line of argument which, 168 DEUTERONOMY. in the judgment of mere nature, seems so exceed- ingly plausible? A very simple and very conclusive one, we may be sure. He would say it was simplj^ a denial of Israel's unity. If every city and every tribe were to take independent ground, then verity the high-priest might take the twelve loaves off the golden table before the Lord and scatter them here and there and every where ; our unity is gone ; we are all broken up into independent atoms, having no national ground of action. Besides, the commandment is most distinct and explicit — "Thou shalt inquire, and make search, and ask diligently." We are bound, therefore, on the double ground of the nation's unity and the plain command of our covenant-God. It is of no pos- sible use to say there is no error taught amongst us, unless we want to separate ourselves from the nation ; if we belong to Israel, then verily the error is taught amongst us, as the Word says, "Such abomination is wrought among you.'' How far does the "j^ou" extend? As far as the national boundaries. Error taught at Dan affects those dwelling at Beersheba. How is this ? Because Israel is one. And then the Word is so plain, so distinct, so emphatic. We are bound to search into it. We cannot fold our arms and sit down in cold indiffer- ence and culpable neutralitj^ else we shall be involved in the awful consequences of this evil ; 3'ea, we are involved until we clear ourselves of it by judging it, with unflinching decision and unsparing sevcrit}-. Such, beloved reader, would be the language of ciiArTEii XIII. 169 eveiy loyal Israelite, and such his mode of acting in reference to error and evil wherever found. To speak or act otherwise would simply be indifference as to the truth and glory of God, and independency as regards Israel. For any to say that they were not responsible to act according to the instructions given in Deuteronomy xiii. 12-18, would be a complete surrender of the truth of God and of Israel's unity. All were bound to act, or else be involved in the judgment of the guilty city. And surely if all this was true in Israel of old, it is not less true in the Church of God now. We may rest assured that any thing like indifference where Christ is concerned is most hateful to God. It is the eternal purpose and counsel of God to glorify His Son ; that every knee should bow to Him, and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father; ''that all should honor the Son even as the}^ honor the Father." Hence, if Christ be dishonored, — if doctrines be taught derogatory to the glory of His Person, the efficacy of His work, or the virtue of His offices, we are bound, b}' ever}' motive which could possibl}^ act on our hearts, to reject, with stern decision, such doctrines. Indifference or neutrality where the Soti of God is concerned is high treason in the judgment of the high court of Heaven. We would not be indifferent if it were a question of our own reputa- tion, our personal character, or our personal or family property- ; we should be thoroughly alive to any thing affecting ourselves or those dear to us 170 DEUTERONOAIT. How much more deeply ought we to feel in reference to what concerns the glory and honor, the name and cause, of the One to whom we owe our present and everlasting all — the One who laid aside His glory, came down into this wretched world, and died a shameful death upon the cross, in order to save us from the everlasting flames of hell. Could we be indifferent to Him? neutral where He is concerned? God, in His great mercy, forbid ! No, reader; it must not be. The honor and glory of Christ must be more to us than all beside. Reputation, propertj^, famil}-, friends — all must stand aside if the claims of Christ are involved. Does not the Christian reader own this, with all the energ}- of his ransomed soul? We feel persuaded he does, even now ; and oh, how shall we feel when we see Him face to face, and stand in the full light of His moral glor}^? with what feelings shall we then contemplate the idea of indifference or neutrality with respect to Him! And are we not justified in declaring that next to the glory of the Head stands the great truth of the unity of His body — the Church? Unquestionably. If the nation of Israel was one, how much more is the body of Christ one ! and if independency was wrong in Israel, how much more wrong in the Church of God ! The plain fact is this : the idea of inde- pendency cannot be maintained for a moment in the light of the New Testament. As well might we say that the hand is independent of the foot, or the eye of the ear, as assert that the members of the body cnArTEU XIII. 171 of Christ are independent one of anoihcr. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ'' — a very remarkable statement, setting forth the intimate union of Christ and the Church. — ^^For by one Spirit are we all bap- tized into one bochj^ whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free ; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one mem- ber, but many. If the foot shall say. Because I am not the hand, I am not of the bod}' ; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say. Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body ; is it there- fore not of the body? If the whole body were an e3'e, where were the hearing ? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members eveiy one of them in the bod}-, as it hath pleased Him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one ho^y. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee ; nor again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble, are necessaiy ; and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor ; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness ; for our comely parts have no need ; but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honor to that part which lacked: that there should be no schism in the body ; but that 12 172 DEUTERONOMY. the members should have the same care one for an- other. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer wilh it ; or one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the BODY OP Christ, and members in particular." (1 Cor. xii. 12-27.) We do not attempt to dwell upon this truly marvelous scripture ; but we earnestly desire to call the attention of the Christian reader to the special truth which it so forcibly sets before us — a truth which intimately concerns every true believer on the face of the earth, namel}^ that he is a member of the body of Christ. This is a great practical truth, in- volving, at once, the ver}^ highest privileges and the A'ery weightiest responsibilities. It is not merely a true doctrine, a sound principle, or an orthodox opinion ; it is a living fact, designed to be a divine power in the soul. The Christian can no longer view himself as an independent person, having no association, no vital link, with others. He is livingly bound up with all the children of God — all true be- lievers — all the members of Christ's body upon the face of the earth. "By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." The Church of God is not a mere club, or a society, an association, or a brotherhood ; it is a body united by the Holy Ghost to the Head in heaven ; and all its members on earth are indissolubly bound to- gether. This being so, it follows, of necessit}^ that all the members of the body are affected by the state and walk of each. "If one member suffer, all the CHAPTER XIII. 173 members suffer with it," — that is, all the members of the body. If there is any thing wrong with the foot, the hand feels it. How? Through the head. So in the Church of God, if any thing goes wrong with an individual member, all feel it through the Head with whom all are livingly connected by the Holy Ghost. Some find it very hard to grasp this great truth ; but there it stands plainly revealed on the inspired page, not to be reasoned about, or submitted in any way to the human judgment, but simply to be believed. It is a divine revelation. No human mind could ever have conceived such a thought ; but God reveals it, faith believes it, and walks in the blessed power of it. It may be the reader feels disposed to ask. How is it possible for the state of one believer to affect those who know nothing about it? The answer is, "If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it." All the members of what? Is it of any mere local assembly or company who ma}^ happen to know 01 be locally connected with the person concerned ? Na}', but the members of the body wherever they are. Even in the case of Israel, where it was only a na- tional unity, we have seen that if there was evil in any one of their cities, all were concerned, all in- volved, all affected. Hence, when Achan sinned, although there were myriads of people totally igno- rant of the fact, the Lord said, ''^Israel hath sinned," and the whole assembly' suffered a humiliating defeat. Can reason grasp this weighty truth? No; but 174 DEUTERONOMY. faith can. If we listen to reason, we sliall believe nothing; but, by the grace of God, we shall not listen to reason, but believe what God says because He says it. And oh, beloved Christian reader, what an im- mense truth is this unity of the body ! What prac- tical consequences flow out of it! How eminently calculated it is to minister to holiness of walk and life ! How watchful it would make us over ourselves — our habits, our ways, our whole moral condition ! How careful it would make us not to dishonor the Head to whom we are united, or grieve the Spirit by whom we are united, or injure the members with whom we are united ! But we must close this chapter, much as we should like to linger over one of the very grandest, most profound, and most powerful formative truths that can possibly engage our attention. May the Spirit of God make it a living power in the soul of every true believer on the face of the earth. CHAPTER XIV. ^^XTE are the children of the Lord your God ; ye -L shall not cut 3'ourselves, nor make any bald- ness between your eyes for the dead ; for thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto Him- self, above all the nations that are upon the earth," (Vei-. L 2.) CHAPTER XIV. 175 The opening clause of this chapter sets before us the basis of all the privileges and responsibilities of the Israel of God. It is a familiar thought amongst us that we must be in a relationship before we can know the affections or discharge the duties which belong to it. This is a plain and undeniable truth. If a man were not a father, no amount of argument or explanation could make him understand the feelings or affections of a father's heart; but the very moment he enters upon the relationship, he knows all about them. Thus it is as to every relationship and position, and thus it is in the things of God. We cannot understand the affections or the duties of a child of God until we are on the ground. We must be Christians before we can perform Christian duties. Even when we are Christians, it is only b}^ the gracious aid of the Holy Ghost that we can walk as such ; but clearly, if we are not on Christian ground, w^e can know nothing of Christian affections or Christian duties. This is so obvious that argument is needless. Now, most evidently, it is God's prerogative to declare how His children ought to conduct them- selves, and it is their high privilege and holy re- sponsibility to seek, in all things, to meet His gracious approval. ' ' Ye are the children of the Lord your God : ye shall not cut yourselves. ' ' They were not their own ; they belonged to Him, and therefore they had no right to cut themselves or disfigure their faces for the dead. Nature, in its pride and self- 176 DEUTERONOMY. will, might say, Why may we not do like other people? What harm can there be in cutting our- selves, or making a baldness between our eyes? It is only an expression of grief, an affectionate tribute to our loved departed ones. Surely there can be nothing morally wrong in such a suited expression of sorrow. To all this there was one simple but conclusive answer — "Ye are the children of the Lord your God." This fact altered every thing. The poor ignorant and uncircumcised Gentiles around them might cut and disfigure themselves, inasmuch as they knew not God, and were not in relationship to Him ; but as for Israel, they were on the high and holy ground of nearness to God, and this one fact was to give tone and character to all their habils. They were not called upon to adopt or refrain from any particular habit or custom in order to he the children of God. This would be, as we say, beginning at the wrong end ; but being His children, they were to act as such. "Thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God." He does not say, Ye ought to he a holy people. How could they ever make themselves a holy people, or a peculiar people, unto Jehovah? Utterly impossible. If they were not His people, no efforts of theirs could ever make them such. But God, in His sovereign gi'ace, in pursuance of His covenant with their fathers, liad made them His children, made them a peculiar people above all the nations that were upon the earth. Here was the CHAPTER XIV. 177 solid foundation of Israel's moral edifice. AH their habits and customs, all their doings and ways, their food and their clothing, what they did and what they did not do — all was to flow out of the one grand fact, with which they had no more to do than with their natural birth, namel}^, that they actually were the children of God, the people of His choice, the people of His own special possession. Now, we cannot but acknowledge it to be a privi- lege of the very highest order to have the Lord so near to us, and so interested in all our habits and ways. To mere nature, no doubt — to one who does not know the Lord — is not in relationship to Him, the very idea of His holy presence, or of nearness to Him, would be simply intolerable: but to every true believer — every one who really loves God, it is a most delightful thought to have Him near us, and to know that He interests Himself in all the most minute details of our personal history and most private life ; that He takes cognizance of what we eat and what we wear ; that He looks after us by day and by night, sleeping and waking, at home and abroad ; in short, that His interest in and care for us go far be3'ond those of the most tender, lov- ing mother for her babe. All this is perfectly wonderful ; and surely, if we only realized it more fully, we should live a very different sort of life, and have a very different tale to tell. What a holy privilege — what a precious realit}', to know that our loving Lord is about our path by day, and about our bed by night ; that His 178 DEUTERONOanr. e3'e rests upon us when we are dressing in the morn- ing, when we sit down to our meals, when we go about our business, and in all our intercourse from morning till night! May the sense of this be a living and abiding power in the heart of every Child of God on the face of the earth. From verse 3 to 20, we have the law as to clean and unclean beasts, fishes, and fowls. The leading principles as to all these have already come under our notice in the eleventh chapter of Leviticus ;* but there is a very important difference between the two scriptures. The instructions in Leviticus are given primarily to Moses and Aaron ; in Deuteronomy, they are given directly to the people. This is per- fectly characteristic of the two books. Leviticus may be specially termed. The priest's guide-book. In Deuteronomy, the priests are almost entirely in the back-ground, and the people are prominent. This is strikingly apparent all through the book, so that there is not the slightest foundation for the idea that Deuteronomy merely repeats Leviticus. Nothing can be further from the truth. Each book has its own peculiar province, its own design, its own work. The devout student sees and owns this with deep delight. Infidels are willfully blind, and can see nothing. In verse 21 of our chapter, the marked dis- tinction between the Israel of God and the stranger *As we have giveu in our "Notes on the Book of Leviticus," chapter xi., what Ave believe to be the scriptural import of verses 4-20 of our chapter, we must refer the reader to what is there advanced. CHAPTER XIV. 179 is strikingly presented. — ''Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself; thou slialt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien ; for thou art a holy people unto the Lord th}^ God." The grand fact of Israel's relationship to Jehovah marked them off from all the nations under the sun. It was not that they were, in themselves, a whit better or holier than others ; but Jehovah was holy, and they were His people. "Be ye holy, for I am holy." Worldly people often think that Christians are very pharisaic in separating themselves from other people, and refusing to take part in the pleasures and amusements of the world ; but they do not really understand the question. The fact is, for a Christian to participate in the vanities and follies of a sinful world would be, to use a typical phrase, like an Israelite eating that which had died of itself. The Christian, thank God, has gotten something better to feed upon than the poor dead things of this world. He has the Living Bread that came down from heaven — the true Manna ; and not only so, but he eats of "the old corn of the land of Canaan," type of the risen and glorified Man in the heavens. Of these most precious things the poor unconverted worldling knows absolutely nothing, and hence he must feed upon what the world has to offer him. It is not a question of the right or the Avrong of things looked at in themselves. No one could possibl}' have known aught about the wrong of eating of 180 DEUTERONOMY. any thing that had died of itself if God's word had not settled it. This is the all-important point for us. We cannot expect the world to see or feel witlrus as to matters of right and wrong. It is our business to look at things from a divine stand-point. Many things may be quite consistent for a worldly man to do which a Christian could not touch at all, simply because he is a Christian. The question which the true believer has to ask as to every thing which comes before him is simply, Can I do this to the glory of God ? can I connect the name of Christ with it ? If not, he must not touch it. In a word, the Christian's standard and test for every thing is Christ. This makes it all so simple. Instead of asking, Is such a thing consistent with our profession, our principles, our character, or our reputation ? we have to ask. Is it consistent with Christ ? This makes all the difference. Whatever is unworthy of Christ is unworthy of a Christian. If this be thoroughly understood and laid hold of, it will furnish a great practical rule which may be applied to a thousand details. If the heart be true to Christ, — if we walk according to the instincts of the divine nature, as strengthened by the ministry of the Holy Ghost, and guided by the authority of holy Scripture, we shall not be much troubled with questions of right or wrong in our daily life. Before proceeding to quote for the reader the lovely paragraph which closes our chapter, we would very briefly call his attention to the last clause of CHAPTER XIV. 181 verse 21. — "Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." Tlie fact that this commandment is given three times, in various connections, is sufficient to mark it as one of special interest and practical importance. The question is, What does it mean ? what are we to learn from it ? We believe it teaches ver}' plainly that the Lord's people must carefully avoid ever}^ thing contrary to nature. Now, it was manifestly contrary to nature that what was in- tended for a creature's nourishment should be used to seethe it. We find, all through the Word of God, great prominence given to what is according to nature — what is comel}'. "Does not even nature itself teach you ?" says the inspired apostle to the assembly at Corinth. There are certain feelings and instincts implanted in nature by the Creator which must never be outraged. We may set it down as a fixed principle, an axiom in Christian ethics, that no action can possibly be of God that offers violence to the sensibilities proper to nature. The Spirit of God may, and often does, lead us beyond and above , nature, but never against it. We shall now turn to the closing verses of our chapter, in which we shall find some uncommonly fine practicalinstruction. "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which He shall choose to place His name there, the tithe of th>' corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds 182 DEUTERONOMY. and of thy flocks ; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God alwa3's. And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it ; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set His name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee ; then shalt thou turn it into mone}^, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose ; and thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after — for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth ; and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, and the Levite that is within thy gates ; thou shalt not forsake him, for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates. And the Levite (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee), and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest." (Yer. 22-29.) This is a deeply interesting and most important passage, setting before us, with special simplicity, the basis^ the centre, and practical features of IsvaeVs national and domestic religion. The grand founda- tion of Israel's worship was laid in the fact that both they themselves and their land belonged to Jehovah. ClTAPTER XIV. 183 Tlie land was Tlis, and they held as tenants under Him. To this precious truth they were called, periodically, to bear testimony by faithfully tithing their land " Thou shalt ^r?J?/ tithe all the increase of thy seed that thy field bringetli forth 3x^ar by year," They were to own, in this practical wa}^, the proprietorship of Jehovah, and never lose sight of it : they were to ov/n no other landlord but the Lord their God. All they were and all they had belono^ed to Him. This was the solid o-round-work of their national worship — their national religion. And then as to the centre, it is set forth with equal clearness. They were to gather to the place where Jehovah recorded His name. Precious privi- lege for all who truly loved that glorious name! We see in this passage, as also in many other portions of the Word of God, what importance He attached to the periodical gatherings of His people around Himself. Blessed be His name. He delighted to see His beloved people assembled in His presence, happy in Him and in one another ; rejoicing together in their common portion, and feeding in sweet and loving fellowship on the fruit of Jehovah's land. "Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place ivhich He shall choose, to place His name there, the tithe of thy corn, .... that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.'* There was, there could be, no other place like that, in the judgment of every faithful Israelite, every true lover of Jehovah. All such would delight to flock to the hallowed spot where that beloved and 184 DEtJTERONOMf. revered name was recorded. It might seem strange and unaccountable to those who knew not the God of Israel, and cared nothing about Him, to see the people traveling — many of them — a long distance from their homes, and carrying their tithes to one particular spot. They might feel disposed to call in question the needs-be for such a custom. Why not eat at home? they might say. But the simple fact is, such persons knew nothing whatever about the matter, and were wholly incapable of entering into the preciousness of it. To the Israel of God, there was the one grand moral reason for journeying to the appointed place, and that reason was found in the glorious motto, Jehovah Shammah — "The Lord is there.'* If an Israelite had willfully determined to stay at home, or to go to some place of his own choosing, he would neither have met Jehovah there nor his brethren, and hence he would have eaten alone. Such a course would have incurred the judg- ment of God ; it would have been an abomination. There was but one centre, and that was not of man's choosing, but of God's. The godless Jeroboam, for his own selfish, political ends, presumed to interfere •with the divine order, and set up his calves at Bethel and Dan ; but the worship offered there was offered to demons and not to God. It was a daring act of wickedness, which brought down upon him and upon his house the righteous judgment of God; and we see, in Israel's after history, that "Jeroboam the son of Nebat" is used as the terrible model of iniquity for all the wicked kings. CHAPTER XIV. 185 But all the faithful in Israel were sure to be found at the one divine centre, and no where else. You would not find such making all sorts of excuses for sta3'ing at home ; neither would 3'ou find them run- ning hither and thither to places of their own or other people's choosing; no, you would find them gathered to Jehovah Shammah, and there alone. Was this narrowness and bigotry ? 'Nay ; it was the fear and love of God. If Jehovah had appointed a place where He would meet His people, assuredly His people should meet Him there. And not only had He appointed a place, but, in His abounding goodness. He devised a means of making that place as convenient as possible for His worshiping people. Thus we read, "And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it ; or if the place be too far from thee ichich the Lord thy God shall choose to set His name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee ; then thou shalt turn it into money, and bind up the mone}' in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord th}^ God shall choose : . . . and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thy household." This is perfectly beautiful. The Lord, in His tender care and considerate love, took account of ever}^ thing. He would not leave a single difficulty in the way of His beloved people, in the matter of their assembling around Himself. He had His own S})ecial joy in seeing His redeemed people happy in His presence, and all who loved His name would 18G DEUTEPtOXOMY. delight to meet the loving desire of His heart by being found at the divinely appointed centre. If any Israelite were found neglecting the blessed occasion of assembling with his brethren at the divinely chosen place and time, it would have simply proved that he had no heart for God or for His people, or, what was worse, that he was willfully absent. He might reason as he pleased about his being happy at home, happy elsewhere ; it was a false happiness, inasmuch as it was happi- ness found in the path of disobedience, the path of willful neglect of the divine appointment. All this is full of most valuable instruction for the Church of God now. It is the will of God now, no less than of old, that His people should assemble in His presence, on divinely appointed ground, and to a divinely appointed centre. This, we presume, will hardly be called in question by an}^ one having a spark of divine light in his soul. The instincts of the divine nature, the leadings of the Holy Ghost, and the teachings of holy Scripture do all most un- questionably lead the Lord's people to assemble themselves together for worship, communion, and edification. However dispensations may differ, there are certain great principles and leading characteristics which ahvays hold good, and the assembling of ourselves together is most assuredly one of these. Whether under the old econom}^ or under the new, the assembling of the Lord's people is a divine institution. Now, this being so, it is not a question of our oiiArTKii XIV. 187 happiness, one way or the other ; though we ma}- be perfectly sure that all true Christians will be happy in being found in their divinely appointed place. There is ever deep jo}^ and blessing in the assembly of God's people. It is impossible for us to find ourselves together in the Loi-d's presence and not be truly happy. It is simply heaven upon earth for the Lord's dear people — those who love His name, love His person, love one another, to be together around His table, around Himself. What can ex- ceed the blessedness of being allowed to break bread together in remembrance of our beloved and adorable Lord, to show forth His death until He come ; to raise, in holy concert, our anthems of praise to God and the Lamb ; to edify, exhort, and comfort one another, accordino^ to the gift and sirace bestowed upon us by the risen and glorified Head of the Church ; to pour out our hearts, in sweet fellowship, in pra3'er, supplication, intercession, and giving of thanks for all men, for kings and all in authority, for the whole household of faith — the Church of God — the body of Christ, for the Lord's work and workmen all over the earth ? Where, we would ask with all possible confidence, is there a true Christian, in a right state of soul, who would not delight in all this, and sa}', from the very depths of his heart, that there is nothing this side the glory to be compared with it ? But, we repeat, our happiness is not the question ; it is less than secondary. We are to be ruled, in this as in all beside, by the will of God as revealed 13 188 DEUTEROXOMY. in His holy Word. The question for us is simply this: Is it according to the mind of God that His people should assemble themselves together for wor- ship and mutual edification ? If this be so, woe be to all who willfully refuse, or indolently neglect to do so, on any ground whatsoever ; the}' not only suffer serious loss in their own souls, but they are offering dishonor to God, grieving His Spirit, and doing injury to the assembly of His people. These are ver}' weight}^ consequences, and they demand the serious attention of all the Lord's people. It must be obvious to the reader that it is according to the revealed will of God that His people should assemble themselves together, in His presence. The inspired apostle exhorts us, in the tenth chapter of his epistle to the Hebrews, not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. There is special value, interest, and importance attaching to the assembly. The truth as to this begins to dawn upon us in the opening pages of the New Testament. Thus, in Matthew xviii. 20, we read the words of our blessed Lord — "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." Here we have the divine centre. ^^ My 7iar,ie." This answers to "The place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name there," so constantly named and so strongly insisted upon in the book of Deuteronomy. It was absolutely essential that Israel should gather at that one place. It was not a matter as to which people might choose for themselves. Human choice was absolutely and CHAPTER XIV. 189 rigidly excluded. It wp.s " TJie place which the Lord thy God shall choose," and no other. This we have seen distinctly. It is so plain that we have only to say, ''How readest thou ?" Nor is it otherwise with the Church of God. It is not human choice, or human judgment, or human opinion, or human reason, or human any thing. It is absolutel}^ and entirely divine. The ground of our gathering is divine, for it is accomplished redemp- tion ; the centre around which we are gathered is divine, for it is the Name of Jesus ; the power by which we are gathered is divine, for it is the Holy Ghost ; and the authority for our gathering is divine, for it is the Word of God. All this is as clear as it is precious, and all we need is the simplicity of faith to take it in and act upon it. If we begin to reason about it, we shall be sure to get into darkness ; and if we listen to human opinions, we shall be plunged in hopeless perplexity between the conflicting claims of Christen- dom's sects and parties. Our only refuge, our onl}^ resource, our only strength, our onl}- comfort, our only authority, is the precious Word of God. Take away that, and we have absolutely nothing ; give us that, and we want no more. This is what makes it all so real and so solid for our souls. Yes, reader; and so consolatory and tranquilizing too. The truth as to our assembly is as clear and as simple and as unquestionable as the truth in reference to our salvation. It is the privilege of all Christians to be as sure that they 190 DEUTERONOMY. are gathered on God's ground, around God's centre, by God's power, and on God's authorit}-, as that they are within the blessed circle of God's salvation. And then, if we be asked. How can we be certain of being around God's centre ? we reply, Simply by the Word of God. How could Israel of old be sure as to God's chosen place for their assembly? By His express commandment. Were they at any loss for guidance ? Surely not. His word was as clear and as distinct as to their i)lace of worship as it was in reference to every thing else. It left not the slightest ground for uncertaint3\ It was so plainly set before them that for any one to raise a question could only be regarded as willful ignorance or posi- tive disobedience. Now, the question is. Are Christians worse off than Israel in reference to the great subject of their place of worship, the centre and ground of their assembly? Are they left in doubt and uncertainty? Is it an open question ? Is it a matter as to which every man is left to do what is right in his own eyes ? Has God given us no positive, definite instruction on a question so intensely interesting and so vitally important ? Could we imagine for a moment that the One who graciously condescended to instruct His people of old in matters which we, in our fancied wisdom, would deem unworthy of notice, would leave His Church now without any definite guidance as to the ground, centre, and characteristic features of our worship ? Utterly impossible ! Every spir- CHAPTER XIV. 191 itual mind must reject, with decision and eneig}-, any sucli idea. No, beloved Christian reader; you know it would not be like our gracious God to deal thus with His heavenly- people. True, there is no such thing now as a particular place to which all Christians are to betake themselves periodically for worship. Tliere ivas such a place for God's earthly people, and there ivill be such a place for restored Israel and for all nations by and b3^ "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills ; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob ; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Is. ii.) And again, "It shall come to pass, that everj^ one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." (Zech. xiv. 16, 17. ) Here are two passages culled, one from the first, and the other from the last but one of the divinely inspired prophets, both pointing forward to the glorious time when Jerusalem shall be God's centre 192 DEUTERONOMY. for Israel and for all nations. And we may assert, with all possible confidence, that the reader will find all the prophets, with one consent, in full harmony with Isaiah and Zechariah on this profoundly inter- esting subject. To apply such passages to the Church, or to heaven, is to do violence to the clearest and grandest utterances that ever fell on human ears ; it is to confound things heavenly and earthly, and to give a flat contradiction to the divinely harmonious voices of prophets and apostles. It is needless to multiply quotations. All Scrip- ture goes to prove that Jerusalem was, and will j^et be, God's earthly centre for His people, and for all nations ; but just now — that is to say, from the day of Pentecost, when God the Holy Ghost came down to form the Church of God, the body of Christ, until the moment when our Lord Jesus Christ shall come to take His people away out of this world — there is no place, no cit}^ no sacred locality, no earthly centre, for the Lord's people. To talk to Christians about holy places, or consecrated ground, is as thoroughly foreign to them (at least, it ouglit to be) as it would have been to talk to a Jew about having his place of worship in heaven. The idea is wholl}^ out of place, wholly out of character. If the reader will turn for a moment to the fourth chapter of John, he will find, in our Lord's marvel- ous discourse with the woman of Sychar, the most blessed teaching on this subject. ''The woman saith unto Him, 'Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshiped in this mountain. CHAPTER XIV. 193 and ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.' Jesus saith unto her, 'Woman, believe Me ; the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain nor 3'et at Jerusalem worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what ; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true wor- shipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Ilim. God is a spirit, and they that worship Him 7nust worship Him in spirit and in truth.' " (Ver. 19-24^) This passage entirely sets aside the thought of any special place of worship now. There really is no such thing. " T/ie Most High dwelleth not in temples made ivith hands; as saith the prophet, 'Heaven is My throne, and eartli is My footstool: what house will 3'e build Me?' saith the Lord, 'or what is the place of My rest ? Hath not My hand made all these things ?' " (Acts vii. 48-50.) And again, "God that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, divelleth not in temples made ivith hands; neither is luorshiped ivith men's hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life and breath and all things." (Acts xvii. 24, 25.) The teaching of the New Testament, from begin- ning to end, is clear and decided as to the subject of worship ; and the Christian reader is solemnly bound to give heed to that teaching, and to seek to understand, and submit his whole moral being to its authority. There has ever been, from the very 194 DEUTERONOMY. earliest ages of the Church's history, a strong and fatal tendency to return to Judaism, not only on the subject of righteousness, but also on that of worship. Christians have not only been put under the law for life and righteousness, but also under the Levitical ritual for the order and character of their worship. We have dealt with the former of these in chapters iv. and v. of these '"Notes," but the latter is hardly less serious in its effect upon the whole tone and character of Christian life and conduct. We have to bear in mind that Satan's great object is, to cast the Church of God down from her excel- lency, in reference to her standing, her walk, and her worship. No sooner was the Church set up on the day of Pentecost than he commenced his cor- rupting and undermining process, and for eighteen long centuries he has carried it on with diabolical persistency. In the face of these plain passages quoted above, in reference to the character of wor- ship which the Father is now seeking, and as to the fact that God does not dwell in temples made with hands, we have seen, in all ages, the strong tend- ency to return to the condition of things under the Mosaic economy. Hence the desire for great build- ings, imposing rituals, sacerdotal orders, choral services, all of which are in direct opposition to the mind of Christ and to the plainest teachings of the New Testament. The professing church has entirely departed from the spirit and authority of the Lord in all these things ; and jet, strange and sad to say, these very things are continuallj' appealed to as CHAPTER XIV. 195 proofs of the wonderful progress of Christianity. We lire told by some of our public teachers and guides that the blessed apostle Paul had little idea of the grandeur to which the Church was to attain ; but if he could only see one of our venerable cathe- drals, with its lofty aisles and painted windows, and listen to the peals of the organ and the voices of the choristers, he would see what an advance had been made upon the upper room at Jerusalem ! Ah ! reader, be assured, it is all a most thorough delusion. It is true indeed, the Church has made progress, but it is in the wrong direction ; it is not upward, but downward. It is away from Christ, away from the Father, away from the Spirit, away from the Word. We should like to ask the reader this one ques- tion : If the apostle Paul were to come to London for next Lord's day, where could he find what he found in Troas eighteen hundred years ago, as recorded in Acts xx. 7? Where could he find a company of disciples gathered simply by the Holy Ghost, to the Name of Jesus, to break bread in remembrance of Him, and to show forth His death till He come ? Such was the divine order then, and such must be the divine order now. We cannot for a moment believe that the apostle would accept any thing else. He would look for the divine thing ; he would have that or nothing. Now, where could he find it ? where could he go and find the table of his Lord, as appointed by Himself the same night in which He was betrayed ? 196 DEUTERONOMY. Mark, reader, we are bound to believe that the apostle Paul would insist upon having the table and the supper of his Lord as he had received them direct from Himself in the glor}-, and given them by the Spirit in the tenth and eleventh chapters of his epistle to the Corinthians — an epistle addressed to "all that in every place call on the name of our 'Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours." We cannot believe that he would teach God's order in the first century and accept man's disorder in the nineteenth. Man has no right to tamper with a divine institution. He has no more authority to alter a single jot or tittle connected with the Lord's supper than Israel had to interfere with the order of the passover. Now, we repeat the question, and earnestly en- treat the reader to ponder and answer it in the divine presence and in the light of Scripture, — - Where could the apostle find this in London, or any where else in Christendom, on next Lord's day? Where could he go and take his seat at the table of his Lord, in the midst of a company of disciples gathered simply on the ground of the one body, to the one ce7itre — the Name of Jesus, by the jpower of the Holy Ghost, and on the authority of the Word of God ? Where could he find a sphere in which he could exercise his gifts without human authorit}', appointment, or ordination ? We ask these ques- tions in order to exercise the heart and conscience of the reader. We are fully convinced that there are places here and there where Paul could find these things carried out, though in weakness and CIIAPTPni XIV. 197 failure, and we believe the Christian reader is sol- emnly responsible to find them out. Alas! alas! they are few and far between, compared with the mass of Christians meeting otherwise. We may perhaps be told that if people knew that it was the apostle Paul, they would willingly allow him to minister. But then he would neither seek nor accept their permission, inasmuch as he tells us plainly, in the first chapter of Galatians, that his ministry was ''not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead." And not only so, but we may rest assured that the blessed apostle would insist upon having the Lord's table spread upon the divine ground of the one body, and he could only consent to eat the Lord's supper according to its divine order as laid down in the New Testament. He could not accept for a moment any thing but the divine reality. He would sa}', Either that or nothing. He could not admit any human interference with a divine institution ; neither could he accept any new ground of gather- ing, or any new principle of organization. He would repeat his own inspired statements — "There is one body and one Spirit," and, "We being many, arc one bread — one body^ for we are all partakers of that one bread." These words apply to "all that iu every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord," and they hold good in all ages of the Church's existence on earth. The reader must be very clear and distinct as to 198 DEUTEK0N03IY. this. God's principle of gathering and unity must on no account be surrendered. The moment men begin to organize — to form societies, churches, or associations, they act in direct opposition to the Word of God, the mind of Christ, and the present action of the Holy Ghost. Man might as well set about to form a world as to form a church. It is entirely a divine work. The Holy Ghost came down on the day of Pentecost to form the Church of God — the body of Christ, and this is the onl}^ Church — the only body that Scripture recognizes ; all else is contrary to God, even though it ma}- l)e sanctioned and defended by thousands of true Christians. Let not the reader misunderstand us. We are not speaking of salvation, of eternal life, or of divine righteousness, but of the true ground of gathering, the divine principle on which the Lord's table should be spread and the Lord's supper cele- brated. Thousands of the Lord's beloved people have lived and died in the communion of the church of Rome ; but the church of Rome is not the Church of God, but a horrible apostasy ; and the sacrifice of the mass is not the Lord's supper, but a marred, mutilated, and miserable invention of the devil. If the question in the mind of the reader be merely what amount of error he can sanction without for- feiting his soul's salvation, it is useless to proceed with the grand and important subject before us. But where is the heart that loves Christ that could be content to take such miserably low ground as this ? What would have been thought of an Israelite CHAPTER XIV. 199 of old who could content himself with being a child of Abi'iiham, and could enjoy his vine and his fig- tree, his flocks and his herds, but never think of going to worship at the place where Jehovah had recorded His name ? Where was the faithful Jew who did not love that sacred spot ? "Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thine house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth." And when, by reason of Israel's sin, the national polity was broken up, and the people were in cap- tivit}', we hear the true-hearted exiles amongst them pouring forth their lament in the following touching and eloquent strain, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down ; yea, we wept ivhen we remem- hered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there the}- that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, 'Sing us one of the sonors of Zion.' How shall we sinsj the Lord's song in a strange land ? If I forget thee, O Jeru- salem [God's centre for His earthly people], let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remem- o o o ber thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above ni}- chief joy.-' (Ps. cxxxvii.) And again, in the sixth chapter of Daniel, we find that beloved exile opening his window three times a day, and praying toward Jerusalem, although he knew that the lions' den was the penalt}'. But why insist upon praying toward Jerusalem ? Was it a piece of Jewish superstition ? Nay, it was a mag- 200 deuterono:my. nifieent displa}' of divine principle ; it was an un- furling of the divine standard amid the depressing and humiliating consequences of Israel's folly and sin. True, Jerusalem was in ruins; but God's thoughts respecting Jerusalem were not in ruins. It was His centre for His earthly people. "Jeru- salem is builded as a city that is compact together, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem ; they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperitj^ within thy palaces. For my brethren and compan- ions' sakes, I will now say. Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good." (Ps. cxxii.) Jerusalem was the centre for Israel's twelve tribes in days gone by, and it will be so in the future. To apply the above and similar passages to the Church of God here or hereafter — on earth or in heaven, is simply turning things upside down, confounding things essentiall}' different, and thus doing an incal- culable amount of damage both to Scripture and the souls of men. We must not allow ourselves to take such unwarrantable liberties wnth the Word of God. Jerusalem was and will be God's earthly centre ; but now, the Church of God should own no centre but the glorious and infinitely precious Name of Jesus. "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." CHAPTER XIV^ 201 Precious centre ! To this alone tlie New Testament points, to this alone the Holy Ghost gathers. It matters not where we are gathered — in Jerusalem or Rome, London, Paris, or Canton. It is not wliere^ but lioiij. But be it remembered, it must be a divinel}' real thing. It is of no possible use to profess to be gathered in, or to, the blessed Name of Jesus, if we are not really so. The apostle's word as to faith may apply with equal force to the question of our centre of gathering. — "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say'' he is gathered to the Name of Jesus? God deals in moral realities ; and while it is perfectly clear that a man who desires to be true to Christ cannot possibly consent to own any other centre or any other ground of gathering but His Name, yet it is quite possible — alas ! alas ! how very possible — for people to profess to be on that blessed and holy ground, while their spirit and conduct, their habits and ways, their whole course and character, go to prove that they are not in the power of their profession. The apostle said to the Corinthians that he would "know, not the speech, but the power." A weighty word, most surel}-, and much needed at all times, but speciall}^ needed in reference to the important subject now before us. We would lovingl}^ yet most solemnh', press upon the conscience of the/' Christian reader his responsibility to consider^ this matter in the holy retirement of the Lord's presence, and in the light of the New Testament. Let him 202 DETTTERONOAIY. not set it aside on the plea of its not being essential. It is in the veiy highest degree essential, inasmuch as it concerns the Lord's glorj^ and the maintenance of His truth. This is the only standard bj which to decide what is essential and what is not. Was it essential for Israel to gather at the divinely appointed centre ? Was it left an open question ? Might ever\' man choose a centre for himself? Let the answer be weighed in the light of Deuteronomy xiv. It was absolutely essential that the Israel of God should assemble around the centre of the God of Israel. This is unquestionable. Woe be to the man who presumed to turn his back on the place where Jeho- vah had set His Name. He would very speedily have been taught his mistake. And if this was true for God's earthly people, is it not equally true for the Church and the individual Christian ? Assuredly it is. We are bound, b}^ the ver^^ highest and most sacred obligations, to refuse every ground of gather- ing but the one body, every centre of gathering but the Name of Jesus, every power of gatliering but the Holy Ghost, everj^ authority of gathering but the Word of God. May all the Lord's beloved people every where be led to consider these things, in the fear and love of His holy name. We shall now close this section by quoting the last paragraph of our chapter, in which we shall find some valuable practical teaching. "At the end of three years, thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates ; and the Levite, CHAPTER XIV. 203 (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within th}- gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that tlie Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest." Here we have a lovely home-scene, a most touch- ing display of the divine character, a beautiful out- shining of the grace and kindness of the God of Israel. It does the heart good to breathe the fra- grant air of such a passage as this. It stands in vivid and striking contrast with the cold selfishness of the scene around us. God would teach His peo- ple to think of and care for all who were in need. The tithe belonged to Him, but He would give them the rare and exquisite privilege of devoting it to the blessed object of making hearts glad. There is peculiar sweetness in the words, "shall come" — "shall eat" — "and be satisfied." So like our own ever-gracious God ! He delights to meet the need of all. He opens His hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. And not only so, but it is His joy to make His people the channel through which the grace, the kindness, and the sympathy of His heart may flow forth to all. How precious is this ! What a privilege to be God's almoners — the dispensers of His bounty — the ex- ponents of His goodness ! Would that we entered more fully into the deep blessedness of all this ! May we breathe more the atmosphere of the divine presence, and then we shall more faithfully reflect the divine character, U 204 DEUTERONOMY. As the deeply interesting and practical subject presented in verses 28 and 29 will come before us in another connection in our study of chapter xxvi, we shall not dwell further upon it here. CHAPTER XV. ^^ A T the end of e\evy seven 3'ears thou shalt make -^ a release. And this is the manner of the release : Every creditor that lendeth aught unto his neighbor shall release it ; he shall not exact it of his neighbor, or of his brother, because it is called the Lord's release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again ; but that which is thine with th}^ brother thine hand shall release, save when there shall be no poor among you ; for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God givetli thee for an inheritance to possess it ; only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I com- mand thee this day. For the Lord th}^ God blesseth thee, as He promised thee ; and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow ; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee." (Ver. 1-6.) It is truly edifying to mark the way in which the God of Israel was ever seeking to draw the hearts of His people to Himself by means of the various sacrifices, solemnities, and institutions of the Leviti- cal ceremonial. There was the morning and evenino^ CHAPTER XV. 205 lamb every clay^ there was the holy Sabbath every iveek, there was the new moon every months there was the passover every yeai\ there was the tithing every three years^ there was the release ever}' seven years^ and there was the jubilee every fifty years. All this is full of deepest interest. It tells its own sweet tale, and teaches its own precious lesson to the heart. The morning and evening lamb, as we know, pointed ever to "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;" the Sabbath was the lovely type of the rest that remaineth to the people of God ; the new moon beautifully prefigured the time when restored Israel shall reflect back the beams of the Sun of Righteousness upon the nations ; the passover was the standing memorial of the nation's deliverance from Egyptian bondage ; the year of tithing set forth the fact of Jehovah's proprietorship of the land, as also the lovely wa}' in which His rents were to be expended in meeting the need of His workmen and of His poor ; the sabbatic year gave promise of a bright time when all debts would be canceled, all loans disposed of, all burdens removed ; and fin all)', the jubilee was the magnificent type of the times of the restitution of all things, when the captive shall be set free, when the exile shall return to his long-lost home and inheritance, and when the land of Israel and the whole earth shall rejoice beneath the beneficent government of the Son of David. Now, in all these lovely institutions we notice two prominent characteristic features, namel}-, glor}' to 206 DEUTERONOMY. God, and blessing to man. These two things are linked together by a divine and everlasting bond. God has so ordained that His full glory and the creature's full blessing should be indissolubly bound up together. This is deep jo}" to the heart, and it helps us to understand more fully the force and beauty of that familiar sentence — "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." When that glory shines forth in its full lustre, then, assuredly, human bless- edness, rest, and felicit}^ shall reach their full and eternal consummation. We see a lovely pledge and foreshadowing of all this in the seventh 3'ear. It was "the Lord's re- lease," and therefore its blessed influence was to be felt by every poor debtor from Dan to Beersheba. Jehovah would grant unto His people the high and holy privilege of having fellowship with Him in causing the debtor's heart to sing for joy. He would teach them, if thej^ would only learn, the deep bless- edness of frankly forgiving all. This is what He Himself delights in, blessed forever be His great and glorious name. But, alas ! the poor human lieart is not up to this lovely mark. It is not fully prepared to tread this heavenly road. It is sadly cramped and hindered, by a low and miserable selfishness, in grasping and carr3dng out the divine principle of grace. It is not quite at home in this heavenly atmosphere ; it is but ill-prepared for being the vessel and channel of that royal grace which shines so brightly in all the ways of God. This will onl}" too fully account for the CHAPTER XV. 207 cautionary clauses of the following passage. "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, tliou shall not harden thine hearty nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother ; but thou shalt open thine hand ivide unto him, and surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a thought in thy luicked hearty saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand ; and thine eye he evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught ; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him^ and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him ; because that for this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto. For the i)oor shall never cease out of thy land ; therefore I command thee, saying. Thou shalt open thine hand tvide unto thy brother, to th}' poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." (Ver. 7-lL) Here the deep springs of the poor selfish heart are discovered and judged. There is nothing like grace for making manifest the hidden roots of evil in human nature. Man must be renewed in the very deepest springs of his moral being ere he can be the vehicle of divine love ; and even those who are thus through grace renewed, have to watch continuall}^ against the hideous forms of selfishness in which our fallen nature clothes itself. Nothing but grace can keep the heart open wide to every form of human 208 DEUTERONOMY. need. We must abide hard by the fountain of heavenly love if we would be channels of blessing in the midst of a scene of misery and desolation like that in which our lot is cast. How lovely are those words, "Thou shalt open thine hand wide"! They breathe the very air of heaven. An open heart and a wide hand are like God. "The Lord loveth a cheerful giver," because that is precisely what He is Himself. "He giveth to all liberall}^ and upbraideth not." And He would grant unto us the rare and most exquisite privilege of being imitators of Him. Marvelous grace ! The very thought of it fills the heart with wonder, love, and praise. We are not only saved by grace, but we stand in grace, live under the blessed reign of grace, breathe the very atmosphere of grace, and are called to be the living exponents of grace, not only to our brethren, but to the whole human familj^ "As we therefore have opportunity, let us do good unto all, especially unto them which are of the household of faith." Christian reader, let us diligently apply our hearts to all this divine instruction. It is most precious ; but its real preciousness can only be tasted in the practical carrying out of it. We are surrounded by ten thousand forms of human miser}', human sorrow, human need. There are broken hearts, crushed spirits, desolate homes, around us on every side. The widow, the orphan, and the stranger meet us daily in our walks. How do yve carry ourselves in reference to all these? Are we hardening our hearts CHAPTER XV. 209 and closing our hands against them ? or are we seeking to act in the lovely spirit of "the Lord's release"? We must bear in mind that we are called to be reflectors of the divine nature and character — to be direct channels of communication between our Father's loving heart and every form of human need. We are not to live for ourselves ; to do so is a most miserable denial of every feature and principle of that morally glorious Christianity which we profess. It is our high and holy privilege, yea, it is our special mission, to shed around us the blessed 'light of that heaven to which' we belong. Wherever we are — in the famil}^, in the field, in the mart or the manufac- tor}', in the shop or in the counting-house, all who come in contact with us should see the grace of Jesus shining out in our ways, our words, our very looks. And then, if any object of need come be- fore us, if we can do nothing more, we should drop a soothing word into the ear, or shed a tear or heave a sigh of genuine, heart-felt sympathy. Reader, is it thus with us ? Are we so living near the fountain of divine love, and so breathing the very air of heaven, that the blessed fragrance of these things shall be diffused around us? or are we displaying the odious selfishness of nature, the unholy tempers and dispositions of our fallen and corrupt humanity? What an unsightly object is a selfish Christian ! He is a standing contradiction, a living, moving lie. The Christianity which he professes throws into dark and terrible relief the unholy- selfish- ness which governs his heart and comes out in his life. 210 DEUTERONOMY. The Lord grant that all who profess and call them- selves Christians may so carry themselves, in daily life, as to be an unblotted epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. In this way, infidelity will, at least, be deprived of one of its weightiest arguments, its gravest objections. Nothing affords a stronger plea to the infidel than the inconsistent lives of pro- fessing Christians. Not that such a plea will stand for a moment, or even be urged, before the judgment-seat of Christ, inasmuch as each one who has within his reach a copy of the holy Scriptures will be judged by the light of those Scriptures, even though there were not a single consistent Christian on the face of the earth. Nevertheless, Christians are solemnly responsible to let their light so shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify our Father in heaven. We are solemnly bound to exhibit and illustrate in daily life the heavenly principles unfolded in the Word of God. We should leave the infidel without a shred of a plea or an argument ; we are responsi- ble so to do. May we lay these things to heart, and then we shall have occasion to bless God for our meditation on the delightful institution of "the Lord's release." We shall now quote for the reader the touching and beautiful institution in reference to the Hebrew servant. We increasingly feel the importance of giving the veritable language of the Holy Ghost ; for albeit it may be said that the reader has his Bible to refer to, yet we know, as a fact, that when pas- CHAPTER XV. 211 sages of Scripture are referred to, there is, in many cases, a reluctance to la}- down the volume which we hold in our hand in order to read the reference. And beside, there is nothing like the Word of God; and as to any remarks which we may offer, their object is simply to help the beloved Christian reader to understand and appreciate the scriptures which we quote. "If th}^ brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go awa}' empt}' ; thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy wine-press ; of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him." How perfectly beautiful ! how like our own ever- gracious God is all this ! He would not have the brother go awaj^ empty. Libert}- and poverty would not be in moral harmony. The brother was to be sent on his wa^- free and full, emancipated and en- dowed, not only with his liberty, but with a liberal fortune to start with. Truly, this is divine. We do not want to be told the school where such exquisite ethics are taught. The}" have the ver}- ring of heaven about them ; they emit the fragrant odor of the ver}" i)aradise of God. Is it not in this way that our God has dealt with us? All prnise to His glorious name ! He has not only given us life and liberty, but He has furnished us 212 DEUTERONOMY. liberal!}^ with all we can possibly want for time and eternit}^ He has opened the exhaustless treasury of heaven for us ; yea, He has given the Son of His bosom for us and to us — for us, to save; to us, to satisfy. He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness ; all that pertains to the life that now is, and to that which is to come, is fully and perfectly secured by our Father's liberal hand. And is it not deeply affecting to mark how the heart of God expresses itself in the style in which the Hebrew servant was to be treated? "Thou shalt furnish him liberally.'' Not grudgingly, or of neces- sit}^ It was to be done in a manner worthy of God. The actings of His people are to be the reflection of Himself. We are called to the high and holy dignity of being His moral representatives. It is marvelous ; but thus it is, through His infinite grace. He has not only delivered us from the flames of an everlasting hell, but He calls us to act for Him, and to be like Him, in the midst of a world that crucified His Son. And not only has He conferred this lofty dignity upon us, but He has endowed us with a princely fortune to support it. The inexhaustible resources of heaven are at our disposal. "All things are ours," through His infinite grace. Oh that we may more fully realize our privileges, and thus more faithfull}^ discharge our holy responsibilities ! At verse 15 of our chapter, we have a very touch- ing motive presented to the heart of the people, one eminently calculated to stir their affections and sympathies. "And thou shalt remember tliat thou CHAPTER XV. 213 wast fi bondman in the land of Eg^pt, and the Lord th}^ God redeemed thee ; therefore I command thee this thing to-da}'." The remembrance of Jehovah's grace in redeeming them out of Egypt was to be the ever-abiding and all-powerful motive-spring of their actings toward the poor brother. This is a never- failing principle, and nothing lower than this will ever stand. If we look for our motive-springs any where but in God Himself, and in His dealings with us, we shall soon break down in our practical career. It is only as we keep before our hearts the marvelous grace of God displaj'ed toward us in the redemption which is in Christ Jesus that we shall be able to pursue a course of true, active benevolence, whether toward our brethren or those outside. Mere kindly feelings, bubbling up in our own hearts, or drawn out by the sorrows and distresses and necessities of others, will prove evanescent. It is only in the living God Himself we can find perennial springs. At verse 16, a case is contemplated in which a servant might prefer remaining with his master. "And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is w^ell with thee, then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant forever." In comparing this passage with Exodus xxi. 1-6, we observe a marked difference arising, as we might expect, from the distinctive character of each book. In Exodus, the typical feature is prominent; in Deuteronomy, the moral. Hence, in the latter, the 214 DEUTERONOMY. inspired writer omits all about the wife and the children, as foreign to his purpose here, though so essential to the beauty and perfectness of the type in Exodus xxi. We merely notice this as one of the many striking proofs that Deuteronomy is very far indeed from being a barren repetition of its predeces- sors. There is neither repetition on the one hand, nor contradiction on the other, but lovel}^ variety in perfect accordance with the divine object and scope of each book. 80 much for the contemptible shal- lowness and ignorance of those infidel writers who have had the impious temerity to level their shafts at this magnificent portion of the oracles of God. In our chapter, then, we have the moral aspect of this interesting institution. The servant loved his master, and was happy with him. He preferred perpetual slaver}' and the mark thereof with a mas- ter whom he loved, to liberty and a liberal portion away from him. This, of course, would argue well for both parties. It is ever a good sign for both master and servant when the connection is of long standing. Perpetual changing ma}^, as a general rule, be taken as a proof of moral wrong somewhere. No doubt there are exceptions ; and not only so, but in the relation of master and servant, as in every thing else, there are two sides to be considered. For instance, we have to consider whether the master is perpetually changing his servants, or the servant perpetually changing his masters. In the former case, appearances would tell against the master ; in the latter, against the servant. CHAPTER XV. * 215 The fact is, we have all to judge ourselves in this matter. Tliose of us who are masters have to con- sider how far we really seek the comfort, happiness, and solid profit of our servants. "We should bear in mind that we have very much more to think of, in reference to our servants, than the amount of work we can get out of them. Even upon the low-level principle of "live and let live," we are bound to seek, in ever}' possible way, to make our servants happy and comfortable ; to make them feel that they have a home under our roof; that we are not con- tent merely with the labor of their hands, but that we want the love of their hearts. We remember once asking the head of a ver}^ large establishment, "How many hearts do you employ?" He shook his head, and owned, with real sorrow, how little heart there is in the relation of master and servant. Hence the common, heartless phrase of "employing hands.*' But the Christian master is called to stand upon a higher level altogether ; he is privileged to be an imitator of his Master — Christ. The remembrance of this will regulate all his actings toward the servant ; it will lead him to stud}', with ever-deei>ening interest and solid profit, his divine model, in order to repro- duce Him in all the practical details of daily life. So also in reference to the Christian servant, in his position and line of action. He, as well as the master, has to study the gi-eat example set before him in the path and ministry of the only true Servant that ever trod this earth. He is called to 216 • DEUTERONOMY. walk in His blessed footsteps, to drink into His spirit, to study His Word. It is not a little remark- able that the Holy Ghost has devoted more attention to the instruction of servants than to all the other relationships put together. This the reader can see at a glance, in the epistles to the Ephesians, Coloss- ians, and Titus. The Christian servant can adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour b}^ not purloining and not answering again. He can serve the Lord Christ in the most common-place duties of domestic life just as effectually as the man who is called to address thousands on the grand realities of eternit3\ Thus, when both master and servant are mutuall}^ governed by heavenly principles, both seeking to serve and glorify the one Lord, the}^ will get on happily together. The master will not be severe, arbitrar\^, and exacting ; and the servant will not be self-seeking, head}-, and high-minded : each will con- tribute, by the faithful discharge of their relative duties, to the comfort and happiness of the other, and to the peace and happiness of the whole domestic circle. Would that it were more after this heavenly fashion in every Christian household on the face of the earth ! Then indeed would the truth of God be vindicated, His Word honored, and His name glori- fied in our domestic relations and practical ways. In verse 18, we have an admonitory w^ord which reveals to us, very faithfull}', but with great delicacy, a moral root in the poor human heart. "It shall not seem hard unto thee when thou sendest him away free from thee, for he has been worth a double CHAPTER XV. 217 hired servant lo thee in serving thee six years, and the Lord thy God shall bless tliee in all that thou doest." This is very affecting. Only think of the most high God condescending to stand before the human heart — the heart of a master, to plead the cause of a poor servant, and set forth his claims ! It is as if He were askinof a favor for Himself. He leaves nothing: unsaid in order to strengthen the case ; He reminds the master of the value of six jears' service, and encourages him by the promise of enlarged blessing as a reward for his generous acting. It is perfectly beautiful. The Lord would not only have the generous thing done, but done in such a way as to gladden the heart of the one to whom it was done ; He thinks not only of the substance of an action, but also of the style. We may, at times, brace ourselves up to the business of doing a kindness ; we do it as a matter of duty, and all the while it may "see77i liarcV that we should have to do it ; thus the act will be robbed of all its charms. It is the generous heart that adorns the generous act. We should so do -a kindness as to assure the recipient that our own heart is made glad In' the act. This is the divine wa}- : "When they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both." — ' ' It is meet that we should make meny, and be glad." — "There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." Oh, to be a brighter reflec- tion of the precious grace of our Father's heart ! Ere closing our remarks on this deeply interesting chapter, we shall quote for the reader its last para- 218 DEUTERONOMY. graph. "All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God ; thou shalt do no work with the first-, ling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep ; thou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year b}^ year in the place ivhich the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. And if there be an}' blem- ish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt eat it within thy gates, the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart. Onl}' thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water." (Ver. 19-23.) Only that which was perfect was to be offered to God. The first-born, unblemished male, the apt figure of the spotless Lamb of God, offered upon the cross for us, the imperishable foundation of our peace, and the precious food of our souls, in the presence of God. This was the divine thing, — the assembly gathered together around the divine centre, feasting in the presence of God on that which was the appointed type of Christ, who is at once our sacrifice, our centre, and our feast. Eternal and universal homage to His most precious and glorious Name ! CHAPTER XVI. WE now approach one of the most profound and comprehensive sections of the book of Deu- teronom}', in which the inspired writer presents to our view what we ma}- call the three great cardinal feasts of the Jewish year, namel}', the passover, Pentecost, and tabernacles; or, redemption, the Holy Ghost, and the glor}'. We have here a more condensed view of those lovely institutions than that given in Leviticus xxiii, where we have, if we count the Sabbath, eight feasts ; but if we view the Sabbath as distinct, and having its own special place as the type of God's own eternal rest, then there are seven feasts, namely, the passover, the feast of un- leavened bread, the feast of first-fruits, Pentecost, trumpets, the da}^ of atonement, and tabernacles. Such is the order of feasts in the book of Leviti- cus, which, as we have ventured to remark in our studies on that most marvelous book, may be called ^'' The pines fs guide-book." But in Deuteronomy', which is pre-eminently the people's book, we have less of ceremonial detail, and the lawgiver confines himself to those great moral and national landmarks which, in the very simplest manner, as adapted to the people, present the past, the present, and the future. "Observe the month of Abib, and keep the pass- over unto the Lord thy God ; for in the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of 15 220 DEUTERONOMY. Egypt by night. Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the Lord shall choose to place His name there. Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it ; seven da3's shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou earnest forth out of the land of Egj^pt in haste : that thou ma3est remember the day when thou earnest forth out of the land of Eg^-pt all the days of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven days ; neither shall there anj^ thing of the flesh, which thou sacri- ficedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the pass- over within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee" — as if it were a matter of no import- ance where, provided the feast were kept — "•but at the p>lace ivhich the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name in, there [and no where else,] thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou earnest forth out of Eg>pt. And thou shalt roast and eat it m the place ivhich the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread ; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the Lord, thy God ; thou shalt do no work therein. "(Ver. 1-8.) Having, in our "Notes on Exodus," gone some- what fully into the great leading principles of this foundation-feast, we must refer the reader to that volume if he desires to study the subject. But CHAPTER XVI. 221 there are certain features peculiar to Deuteronomy to which we feel it our dut}^ to call his special atten- tion ; and,* in the first place, we have to notice the remarkable emphasis laid upon "the place" where the feast was to be kept. This is full of interest and practical moment. The people were not to choose for themselves. It might, a(;cording to human thinking, appear a ver}^ small matter how or where the feast was kept, provided it was kept at all. But, be it carefull}^ noted and deeph' pondered by the reader, human thinking had nothing whatever to do in the matter; it was divine thinking and divine authorit}^ altogether. God had a right to prescribe and definitively settle where He would meet His people ; and this He does in the most dis- tinct and emphatic manner, in the above passage, where, three times over, He inserts the weighty clause, "In the place which the Lord thy God shall choose." Is this vain repetition ? Let no one dare to think, much less to assert it. It is most necessary empha- sis. "Why most necessary-? Because of our igno- rance, our indifference, and our willfulness. God, in His infinite goodness, takes special pains to impress upon the heart, the conscience, and the understanding of His people that He would have one place in particular where the memorable and most significant feast of the passover was to be kept. And be it remarked that it is only in Deuteronomy that the place of celebration is insisted upon. We have nothing about it in Exodus, because there it 222 deutetiono:my. was kept in Egypt; we have nothing about it in Numbers, because there it was kept in the ivilder- ness; but in Deuteronomy it is authoritatively and definitive!}' settled, because there we have the in- structions for the land. Another striking proof that Deuteronomy is very far indeed from being a barren repetition of its predecessors. The all-important point in reference to "the place," so prominent!}' and so peremptorily insisted upon in all the three great solemnities recorded in our chapter, is this : God would gather His beloved people around Himself, that they might feast to- gether in His presence, tliat He might rejoice in them and they in Him and in one another. All this could only be in tlie one special place of divine appointment. All who desired to meet Jehovah and to meet His people — all who desired worship and communion according to God, would tliankfully betake themselves to the divinely appointed centre. Self-will might say. Can we not keep the feast in the bosom of our families ? What need is there of a long journey ? Surely if the heart is right, it cannot matter much as to the place. To all this we reply that the clearest, finest, and best proof of the heart being right would be found in the simple, earnest desire to do the will of God. It was quite suflflcient for every one who loved and feared God that He had appointed a place where He would meet His people ; there they would be found, and no where else. His presence it was that could alone impart joy, comfort, strength, and blessing to all their great CHAPTER XVI. 223 national reunions. It was not the mere fact of a large number of people gathering together, three times a year, to feast and rejoice together ; this might minister to human pride-, self-complacenc}', and excitement. But to flock together to meet Je- hovah, to assemble in His blessed presence, to own the i)lace where He had recorded His Name, this would be the deep joy of every truly loyal heart throughout the twelve tribes of Israel. For any one imlJfidhj to abide at home, or to go any where else than to the one divinel}' appointed place, would not only be to neglect and insult Jehovah, but actually to rebel against His supreme autliorit3\ And now, having briefl}' spoken of the place, we ma}', for a moment, glance at the mode of celebra- tion. This, too, is, as we might expect, quite characteristic of our book. The leading feature here is "the unleavened bread." But the reader will specially note the interesting fact that this bread is styled " The bread of affliction." Now, what is the meaning of this? We all understand that unleavened bread is the. type of that holiness of heart and life so absolutely essential to the en- joyment of true communion with God. We are not saved by personal holiness, but, thank God, we are saved to it. It is not the ground of our salvation, but it is an essential element in our communion. Allowed leaven is the death-blow to communion and worship. We must never, for one moment, lose sight of this great cardinal principle in that life of personal holi- 224 DEUTERONOMY. ness and practical godliness which, as redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, we are called, bound, and privileged to live from day to da}^ in the midst of the scenes and circumstances through which we are journeying home to our eternal rest in the heavens. To speak of communion and worship while living in known sin is the melancholy proof that we know nothing of either the one or the other. In order to enjoy communion with God or the communion of saints, and in order to worship God in spirit and in truth, we must be living a life of personal holiness, a life of separation from all known evil. To take our place in the assembly of God's people, and appear to take part in the holy fellowship and wor- ship pertaining thereto, while living in secret sin, or allowing evil in others, is to defile the assembly, grieve the Holy Ghost, sin against Christ, and bring down upon us the judgment of God, who is noiv judging His house and chastening His children in order that they may not ultimately be condemned with the world. All this is most solemn, and calls for the earnest attention of all who really desire to walk with God and serve Him with reverence and godl}^ fear. It is one thing to have the doctrine of the type in the region of our understanding, and another thing altogether to have its great moral lesson engraved on the heart and worked out in the life. May all who profess to have the blood of the Lamb sprinkled on their conscience seek to keep the feast of un- leavened bread. "Know ye not that a little leaven CHAPTKR XVI. 225 leaveneth the whole lump ? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye ma}' be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacri- ficed for us ; therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sin- cerity and truth." (1 Cor. v. 6-8.) But what are we to understand by "the bread of affliction"? Should we not rather look for joy, praise, and triumph in connection with a feast in memory of deliverance from Egyptian bondage and misery? No doubt there is very deep and real jo}', thankfulness, and praise in realizing the blessed truth of our full deliverance from our former condi- tion, with all its accompaniments and all its conse- quences ; but it is very plain that these were not the prominent features of the paschal feast — indeed, they are not even named. We have "the bread of affliction," but not a word about joy, praise, or triumph. Now, why is this? what great moral lesson is conveyed to our hearts by the bread of affliction? We believe it sets before us those deep exercises of heart which the Holy Ghost produces by bringing powerfully before us what it cost our adorable Lord and Saviour to deliver us from our sins and from the judgment which those sins deserved. Those exer- cises are also typified by the "bitter herbs" of Exodus xii, and they are illustrated again and again in the history of God's people of old, who were led, under the powerful action of the Word and Spirit of 226 DEUTEIIONO-^IY. God, to chasten themselves and "afflict their souls" in the divine presence. And be it remembered that there is not a tinge of the legal element or of unbelief in these holy ex- ercises — far from it. When an Israelite partook of the bread of affliction, with the roasted flesh of the passover, did it express a doubt or a fear as to his full deliverance ? Impossible! How could it? He was in the land ; he was gathered to God's own centre — His own very presence. How could he, then, doubt his full and final deliverance from the land of Eg3'pt? The thought is simply absurd. But although he had no doubts or fears as to his deliverance, yet had he to eat the bread of affliction ; it was an essential element in his paschal feast, "For thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste^ that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Eg3^pt all the days of thy life." This was very deep and real work. They were never to forget their exodus out of Egypt, but to keep up the remembrance of it, in the promised land, throughout all generations. They were to commem- orate their deliverance by a feast emblematical of those holy exercises w^iich ever characterize true, practical. Christian piety. We would very earnestly commend to the serious attention of the Christian reader the whole line of truth indicated b}^ "the bread of affliction." We believe it is much needed by those who profess great familiarity with what are called the doctrines of CHAPTER XVI. 227 grace. Tlicrc is veiy great danger, especially to young professors, while seeking to avoid legality and bondage, of running into the opposite extreme of levity — a most terrible snare. Aged and experi- enced Christians are not so liable to fall into this sad evil ; it is the 3oung amongst us who so need to be most solemnly warned against it. They hear, it ma}' be, a great deal about salvation by grace, just- ification by faith, deliverance from the law, and all the peculiar privileges of the Christian position. Now, we need hardly say that all these are of cardinal importance ; and it would be utterly im- possible for any one to hear too much about them. Would they were more spoken about, written about, and preached about! Thousands of the Lord's be- loved people spend all their days in darkness, doubt, and legal bondage, through ignorance of those great foundation-truths. But w^hile all this is perfectly true, there are, on the other hand, many — alas ! too many — who have a merely intellectual familiarity with the principles of grace, but (if we are to judge from their habits and manners, their style and deportment — the only way we have of judging) who know but little of the sanctifying power of those great principles — their power in the heart and in the life. Now, to speak according to the teaching of the paschal feast, it would not have been according to the mind of God for any one to attempt to keep that feast without the unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction. Such a thinoj would not have been 228 DEUTERONOMY. tolerated in Israel of old. It was an absolute 1}^ essential ingredient. And so, we may rest assured, it is an integral part of that feast which we, as Christians, are exhorted to keep, to cultivate per- sonal holiness and that condition of soul which is so aptly expressed by the "bitter herbs" of Exodus xii. or the Deuteronomic ingredient — "the bread of affliction," which latter would seem to be the per- manent figure for the land. In a word, then, we believe there is a deep and urgent need amongst us of those spiritual feelings and affections, those profound exercises of soul, which the Hol}^ Ghost would produce by unfolding to our hearts the sufferings of Christ — what it cost Him to put our sins awa}- — what He endured for us when passing under the billows and waves of God's right- eous wrath against our sins. We are sadly lacking — if one may be permitted to speak for others — in that deep contrition of heart which flows from spir- itual occupation with the sufferings and death of our precious Saviour. It is one thing to have the blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience, and another thing to have the death of Christ brought home, in a spiritual waj', to the heart, and the cross of Christ applied, in a practical way, to our whole course and character. How is it that we can so lightly commit sin, in thought, word, and deed? how is it that there is so much levit}', so much unsubduedness, so much self- indulgence, so much carnal ease, so much that is merely frothy and superficial? Is it not because that ciiATTKR xvr. 229 ingredient t3'pified b}' "the bread of affliction" is lacking in our feast? We cannot doubt it. We fear there is a \evy deplorable lack of depth and serious- ness in our Christianit}*. There is too much flippant discussion of the profound m3'steries of the Christian faith, too much head-knowledge without the inward power. All this demands the serious attention of the reiider. We cannot shake off the impression that not a little of this melancholy- condition of things is but too justly traceable to a certain style of preaching the gospel, adopted, no doubt, with the very best intentions, but none the less pernicious in its moral effects. It is all right to preach a simple gospel. It cannot, by any possibility, be put more simpl}^ than God the H0I3' Ghost has given it to us in Scripture. All this is fully admitted ; but, at the same time, we are persuaded there is a ver^^ serious defect in the preaching of which we speak. There is a want of spiritual depth, a lack of holy seriousness. In the effort to counteract legalit}', there is that which tends to levit}'. Now, while legality is a great evil, levity is much greater. We must guard against both. We believe grace is the reraed}' for the former, truth for the latter ; but spiritual wisdom is needed to enable us rightly to adjust and apply these two. If we find a soul deeply exercised under the powerful action of truth, thoroughl}'' plowed up by the mighty ministry of the H0I3' Ghost, we should pour in the deep con- solation of the pure and precious grace of God, as 230 DEUTEKOXOMY. set forth in the divinely efficacious sacrifice of Christ. This is the divine remedy for a broken lieart, a con- trite spirit, a convicted conscience. When the deep furrow has been made by the spiritual plowshare, we have only to cast in the incorruptible seed of the gospel of God, in the assurance that it will take root, and bring forth fruit in due season. But, on the other hand, if we find a person going on in a light, air}^ unbroken condition, using very high-flown language about grace, talking loudly against legality, and seeking, in a merely human way, to set forth an easy way of being saved, we consider this to be a case calling for a very solemn application of truth to the heart and conscience. Now, we greatl}^ fear there is a vast amount of this last named element abroad in the professing church. To speak according to the language of our type, there is a tendency to separate the passover from the feast of unleavened bread — to rest in the fact of being delivered from judgment and forget the roasted lamb, the bread of holiness^ and the bread of afflic- tion. In realit}', they never can be separated, inas- much as God has bound them together ; and hence we do not believe that any soul can be really in the enjo3'ment of the precious truth that "Christ our passover is sacrificed for us," who is not seeking to "keep the feast." When the Holy Spirit unfolds to our hearts something of the deep blessedness, pre- ciousness, and efficacy of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, He leads us to meditate upon the soul- subduing mystery of His sufferings — to ponder ia CHAPTER XVI. 231 our hearts all that He passed through for us, all that it cost Him to save us from the eternal consequences of that which we, alas ! so often lightly commit. Now, this is ver}^ deep and holy work, and leads the soul into those exercises which correspond with *'the bread of affliction" in the feast of unleavened bread. There is a wide dilfcrence between the feelings produced b}' dwelling upon our sins and those which flow from dwelling upon the sufferings of Christ to put those sins awa}'. True, we can never forget our sins, never forget the hole of the pit from whence we were digged ; but it is one thing to dwell upon the pit, and another and a deeper thing altogether to dwell upon the o-race that dio^o;ed us out of it, and wliat it cost our precious Saviour to do it. It is this latter we so much need to keep continually in the remembrance of the thoughts of our hearts. We are so terribly volatile, so ready to forget. We need to look very earnestl}- to God to enable us to enter more deeply and practically into the sufferings of Christ, and into the application of the cross to all that in us which is contrary to Him. This will impart depth of tone, tenderness of spirit, an intense breathing after holiness of heai't and life, practical separation from the world, in its every phase, ahoh' subduedness, jealous watchfulness over ourselves, our thoughts, our words, our ways, our whole deportment in daily life. In a word, it would lead to a totally different type of Christianity from what we see around us, and what, alas ! we exhibit 232 DEUTERONOMY. in our own personal histoiy. May the Spirit of God graciously unfold to our hearts, by His own direct and powerful ministry, more and more of what is meant by "the roasted lamb," the ^''unleavened bread," and "the bread of affliction.''* ♦For further remarks on the passover and the feast of unleavened bread, the reader is referred to Exodus xii. and Numbers ix. Specially in the latter — the connection between the passover and the Lord's supper. This is a point of deepest interest and immense practical importance. The passover looked forward to the death of Christ; the Lord's supper looks back to it. What the former was to a faithful Israelite, the latter is to the Church. If this were more fully seen, it would greatly tend to meet the prevailing laxity, indifference, and ei-ror as to the table and supper of the Lord. To any one who lives habitually in the holy atmosphere of Scrip- ture, it must seem strange indeed to mark the confusion of thought and the diversity of practice in reference to a subject so very import- ant, and one so simply and cleai-ly presented in the Word of God. It can hardly be called in question, by any one who bows to Scripture, that the apostles and the early Church assembled on the first day of the week to break bread. There is not a shadow of warrant in the Ne%v Testament for onfining that most precious ordinance to once a month, once a quarter, or once in six months. This can only be vieAved a.", a human interference with a divine institution. We are aware that much is sought to be made of the words, "As oft as ye do it;" but Ave do not see how any argument based on this clause can stand for a moment in the face of apostolic precedent in Acts xx. 7. The first day of the week is unquestion- ably the day for the Church to celebrate the Lord's supper. Does the Christian reader admit this? If so, does he act upon it? It is a serious thing to neglect a special ordinance of Christ, and one appointed by Ilim the same night in which He was betrayed, under circumstances so deeply affecting. Surely, all Mho love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity would desire to remember Him in this special way, according to His own word— "This do in remem- brance of Me." Can we understand any true lover of Christ living in the habitual neglect of this precious memorial? If an Israelite of old neglected the passover, he would have been " cut off." But this was law, and we are under grace. True ; but is that a reason for neglecting our Lord's commandment ? We would command this subject to the reader's careful attention. There is much more involved in it than most of us are aware. We CHAPTER XVI. 233 We shall now briefly consider the feast of Pente- cost, which stands next in order to the j^assover. ''Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee ; begin to n amber the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a free-will offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee ; and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man- servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the father- less, and the widow, that are among j'ou, in the i^lace which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place His name there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt ; and thou shalt observe and do these statutes." (Ver. 9-12.) Here we have the well-known and beautiful type of the day of Pentecost. The passover sets forth the death of Christ ; the sheaf of first-fruits is the believe the entire history of the Lord's supper for the last eighteen centuries is full of interest and instruction. We may see in the ■way in which the Lord's table has been treated a striking moral index of the Church's real condition. In pi-oportion as the Church departed from Christ and His Word did she neglect and pervert the precious institution of the Lord's supper; and on the other hand, just as the Spirit of God wrought, at any time, with special power in the Church, the Lord's supper has found its true place in the hearts of His people. But we cannot pursue this subject further in a foot-note ; we have ventured to suggest it to the reader, and we trust he may be led to follow it up for himself. We believe he will find it a most profitable and suggestive study. 234 DEUTERONOMY. striking figure of a risen Christ ; and in the feast of weeks, we have prefigured before us the descent of the Hoh' Ghost, fift}^ da^'s after the resurrection. We speak, of course, of what these feasts convey to us, according to tlie mind of God, irrespective altogether of the question of Israel's apprehension of theii* meaning. It is our privilege to look at all these tj'pical institutions in the light of the New Testament ; and when we so view them, we are filled with wonder and delight at the divine perfectness, beaut}', and order of all those marvelous t3'pes. And not only so, but — what is of immense value to us — we see how the scriptures of the New Testa- ment dovetailj as it were, into those of the Old ; we see the lovely unity of the divine Volume, and how manifestly it is one Spirit that breathes through the whole, from beginning to end. In this way we are inwardly strengthened in our apprehension of the precious truth of the divine inspiration of the holy Scriptures, and our hearts are fortified against all the blasphemous attacks of infidel writers. Our souls are conducted to the top of the mountain where the moral glories of the Volume shine upon us in all their heavenly lustre, and from whence we can look down and see the clouds and chilling mists of infidel thought rolling beneath us. These clouds and mists cannot aflject us, inasmuch as they are far awa}' below the level on which, through infinite grace, we stand. Infidel writers know absolutely nothing of the moial glories of Scripture ; but one thing is awfully certain, namely, that one moment in eternity ciiArTEu XVI. 235 will completely revolutionize the thoughts of all the infidels and atheists that have ever raved or written against the Bible and its Author. Now, in looking at the deeply interesting feast of weeks, or Pentecost, we are at once struck with the difference between it and the feast of unleavened bread. In the first i)lace, we read of " a free-will offering." Here we have a figure of the Church, formed b}^ the Holy Ghost and presented to God as *'a kind of first-fruits of His creatures." We have dwelt upon this feature of the type in the *' Notes on Leviticus," chapter xxiii, and shall not therefore enter upon it here, but confine our- selves to what is purely Deuteronomic. The people were to present a tribute of a free-will offering of their hand, according as the Lord their God had blessed them. There was nothing like this at the passover, because that sets forth Christ offering Himself for us, as a sacrifice, and not our offering any thing. We remember our deliverance from sin and Satan, and what that deliverance cost; we meditate upon the deep and varied sufferings of our precious Saviour as prefigured by the roasted lamb ; we remember that it was our sins that were laid upon Him. He was bruised for our iniquities — • judged in our stead, and this leads to deep and hearty contrition, or, what we may call true Chris- tian repentance. For we must never forget that repentance is not a mere transient emotion of a sinner when his eyes are first opened, but an abid- ing moral condition of the Christian, in view of the IG 236 DEUTERONOMY. cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. If this were better understood and more fully entered into, it would impart a depth and solidity to the Christian life and character in which the great majority of us are lamentably deficient. But in the feast of Pentecost, we have before us the power of the Holy Ghost, and the varied effects of His blessed presence in us and with us. He en- ables us to present our bodies and all that we have as a free-will offering unto our God, according as He hath blessed us. This, we need hardly sa}-, can only be done by the power of the Holy Ghost ; and hence the striking t^pe of it is presented, not in the passover, which prefigures the death of Christ ; not in the feast of unleavened bread, which sets forth the moral effect of that death upon us, in repent- ance, self-judgment, and practical holiness; but in Pentecost, which is the acknowledged type of the precious gift of the Holy Ghost. Now, it is the Spirit who enables us to enter into the claims of God upon us — claims which are to be measured only by the extent of the divine blessing. He gives us to see and understand that all we are and all we have belong to God. He gives us to delight in consecrating ourselves — spirit, soul, and body — to God. It is truly "a free-will offering.'* It is not of constraint, but willingly. There is not an atom of bondage, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." In short, we have here the lovely spirit and moral character of the entire Christian life and service. A CHAPTER XVI. 237 soul under law cannot understand the force and beauty of this. Souls under the law never received the Spirit. The two things are wholly incompatible. Thus the apostle saj's to the poor misguided assem- blies of Galatia, "This only would I learn of 3'ou, Received ye the Spirit by works of law, or by the hearing of faith ? . . . He therefore that minister- eth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth He it by works of law, or by the hearing of faith?" The precious gift of the Spirit is con- sequent upon the death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of our adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and consequently can have nothing whatever to do with "works of law" in any shape or form. The presence of the Holy Ghost on earth. His dwelling with and in all true believers, is a grand characteristic truth of Christianit}^ It was not, and could not be, known in Old-Testament times. It was not even known by the disciples in our Lord's lifetime. He Himself said to them, on the eve of His departure, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient [or profitable — dvjiKpepei'} for 3'ou that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." (John xvi. 7.) This proves, in the most conclusive manner, that even the very men who enjoyed the high and pre- cious privilege of personal companionship with the Lord Himself were to be put in an advanced position by His going away and the coming of the Comforter. Again, we read, "If ye love Me, keep My com- 238 . DEUTEKONOMY. mandments ; and I will pray the Father, and He shall give 3'ou another Comforter, that He may abide with 3'0ii forever ; even the Spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him ; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you." We cannot, however, attempt to go elaborately into this immense subject here ; our space does not admit of it, much as we should delight in it. We must confine ourselves to one or two points sug- gested by the feast of weeks, as presented in our chapter. We have referred to the very interesting fact that the Spirit of God is the living spring and power of the life of personal devotedness and consecration beautifully prefigured by "the tribute of a free-will offering." The sacrifice of Christ is the ground, the presence of the H0I3' Ghost is the power, of the Christian's dedication of himself — spirit, soul, and body — to God. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." (Rom. xii. 1.) But there is another point of deepest interest presented in verse 11 of our chapter, — "And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God." We have no such word in the paschal feast, or in the feast of unleavened bread. It would not be in moral keeping with either of these solemnities. True it is, the passover lies at the very foundation of all the joy we can or ever shall realize here or hereafter; but we CHAPTER XVI. 239 must ever think of the death of Clirist, His suffer- ings, His sorrows — all that He passed through when the waves and billows of God's righteous wrath passed over His soul. It is upon these profound mysteries that our hearts are, or ought to be, mainly fixed when we surround the Lord's table and keep that feast by which we show the Lord's death until He come. Now, it is plain to the spiritual and thoughtful reader that the feelings proper to such a holy and solemn institution are not of a jubilant character. We certainly can and do rejoice that the sorrows and sufferings of our blessed Lord arc over, and over forever — that those terrible hours are passed, never to return ; but what we recall in the feast is not simply their being over, but their being gone through, and that for us. "Ye do show the Lord's death ; " and we know that whatever may accrue to us from that precious death, j^et when we are called to meditate upon it, our joy is chastened by those profound exercises of soul which the Holy Spirit produces by unfolding to us the sorrows, the suffer- ings, the cross, and passion of our blessed Saviour. Our Lord's words are, "This do in remembrance of Me;'' but what we especiall}^ remember in the supper is, Christ suffering and dying for us ; what we shoiv^ is His death ; and wiih these solemn reali- ties before our souls, in the i)ower of the Holy Ghost, there will, there must be, holy subduedness and seriousness. We speak, of course, of what becomes the imme- 240 DEUTERONOMY. diate occasion of the celebration of the supper — the suited feelings and affections of such a moment. But these must be produced by the powerful minis- try of the Holy Ghost, It can be of no possible use to seek, by any pious efforts of our own, to work ourselves up to a suitable state of mind. This would be ascending by steps to the altar, a thing most offensive to God. It is only by the Holj^ Spirit's ministry that we can worthily celebrate the holy supper of the Lord. He alone can enable us to put away all levit}', all formality, all mere routine, all wandering thoughts, and to discern the body and blood of the Lord in those memorials which, by His own appointment, are laid on His table. But in the feast of Pentecost, rejoicing was a prominent feature. We hear nothing of "bitter herbs" or "bread of affliction" on this occasion, because it is the t3'pe of the coming of the other Comforter — the descent of the Holy Ghost, pro- ceeding from the Father, and sent down by the risen, ascended, and glorified Head in the heavens, to fill the hearts of His people with praise, thanks- giving, and triumphant joy — j-ea, to lead them into full and blessed fellowship with their glorified Head, in His triumph over sin, death, hell, Satan, and all the powers of darkness. The Spirit's presence is connected with libert}-, light, power, and joy. Thus we read, "Tlie disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Ghost." Doubts, fears, and legal bondage flee away before the precious ministry of the Holy Ghost. (JHAPTKU XVI. 241 But we must distinguish between His work and His indwelling — His quickening and His sealing. Tlie very first dawn of conviction in the soul is the fruit of the Spirit's work. It is His blessed operation that leads to all true repentance, and this is not joyful work. It is very good, very needful, absolutely essential ; but it is not joy — na}', it is deep sorrow. But when, through grace, we are enabled to believe in a risen and glorified Saviour, then the Holy Ghost conies and takes up His abode in us, as the seal of our acceptance and the earnest of our inheritance. Now, this fills us with jo}^ unspeakable and full of glor\' ; and being thus filled ourselves, we become channels of blessing to others. "He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive ; for the Holy Ghost was not yet, because that Jesus was not 3'et glorified." The Spirit is the spring of power and joy in the heart of the believer. He fits, fills, and uses us as His vessels in minister- ing to poor thirst}', needy souls around us. He links us with the Man in the glor}-, maintains us in living communion with Him, and enables us to be, in our feeble measure, the expression of what He is. Every movement of the Christian should be redolent with the fragrance of Christ. For one who professes to be a Christian to exhibit unholy tempers, selfish ways, a grasping, covetous, worldly spirit, envy and jealous}', pride and ambition, is to belie his profession, dishonor the holy name of Christ, and 242 DEUTERONOMY. bring reproach upon that glorious Christianity wliich he professes, and of which we have the lovel}^ type in the feast of weeks — a feast pre-eminently char- acterized by a joy which had its source in the good- ness of God, and which flowed out far and wide, and embraced in its hallowed circle every object of need. "Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man- servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger^ and the fatherless^ and the ividoic, that are among j'ou." How lovely ! how perfectly beautiful ! Oh that its antitype were more faithfully exhibited amongst us ! Where are those streams of refreshing which ought to flow from the Church of God ? where those unblotted epistles of Christ known and read of all men? where can we see a practical exhibition of Christ in the ways of His people — something to which w^e could point and say. There is true Chris- tianity? Oh, may the Spirit of God stir up our hearts to a more intense desire after conformity to the image of Christ, in all things ! May He clothe with His own mighty power the Word of God, which we have in our hands and in our homes, that it may speak to our hearts and consciences, and lead us to judge ourselves, our ways, and our associations by its heavenly light, so that there may be a thoroughly devoted band of witnesses gathered out to His name, to wait for His appearing. Will the reader join us in asking for this ? We shall now turn for a moment to the lovely CHAPTER XVI. 243 institution of tlie feast of tabernacles, which gives such remarkable completeness to the range of truth presented in our chapter. "Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven da3-s, after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine ; and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man- servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place ivhich the Lord shall choose ; because the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all th}' males ap- pear before the Lord thy God in the place luhich He shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of taberna- cles ; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty ; every man shall give as he is able, accord- ing to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee." (Ver. 13-17.) Here, then, we have the striking and beautiful type of Israel's future. The feast of tabernacles has not yet had its antitype. The passover and Pentecost have had their fulfillment in the precious death of Christ and the descent of the Holy Ghost, but the third great solemnity points forward to the times of the restitution of all things, which God has spoken of by the mouth of all His holy prophets which have been since the world began. 244 DEUTERONOMY. And let the reader note particularly the time of the celebration of this feast. It was to be "after thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine;" in other words, it was after the harvest and the vintage. Now, there is a very marked distinction between these two things. The one speaks of grace, the other of judgment. At the end of the age, God will gather His wheat into His garner, and then will come the treading of the wine-press, in awful judg- ment. We have in the fourteenth chapter of the book of Revelation a very solemn passage bearing upon the subject now before us. "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, 'Thrust in thy sickle, and reap ; for the time is come for thee to reap ; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.' And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped." Here we have the harvest; and then "another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire" — the emblem of judgment — "and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, 'Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.' And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and CHAPTER XVI. 245 gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. And the wine-press was trodden without the cit}', and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the horse- bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs" — equal to the whole length of the land of Palestine ! Now, these apocalyptic figures set before us, in their own characteristic way, scenes which must be enacted previous to the celebration of the feast of tabernacles. Christ will gather His wheat into His heavenly garner, and after that He will come in crushing judgment upon Christendom. Thus, every section of the volume of inspiration — Moses, the Psalms, the Prophets, the Gospels (or the acts of Christ), the Acts of the Holy Ghost, the Epistles, and Apocal3'pse — all go to establish, unanswerabl}', the fact that the world will not be converted by the gospel, that things are not improving, and will not improve, but grow worse and worse. That glorious time prefigured by the feast of tabernacles must be preceeded by the vintage, the treading of the wine- press of the wrath of almighty God. Why, then, we may well ask, in the face of such an overwhelming body of divine evidence, furnished b}' every section of the inspired canon, will men persist in cherishing the delusive hope of a world converted by the gospel? What mean "gathered wheat and a trodden wine-press"? Assuredly, they do not and cannot mean a converted world. We shall perhaps be told that we cannot build 246 DEUTERONOMY. any thing upon Mosaic tjpes and apocal^'ptic S3^m- bols. Perhaps not, if we had but types and sym- bols ; but when the accumulated rays of Inspiration's heavenly lamp converge upon these tj^pes and sym- bols and unfold their deep meaning to our souls, we find them in perfect harmony with the voices of prophets and apostles, and the living teachings of our Lord Himself. In a word, all speak the same language, all teach the same lesson, all bear the same unequivocal testimony to the solemn truth that at the end of this age, instead of a converted world, prepared for a spiritual millennium, there will be a vine covered and borne down with terrible clusters, full3^ ripe for the wine-press of the wrath of almighty God. Oh, may the men and women of Christendom, and the teachers thereof, apply their hearts to these solemn realities ! May these things sink down into their ears, and into the very depths of their souls, so that they may fling to the winds their fondly cherished delusion, and accept instead the plainly revealed and clearly established truth of God! But we must draw this section to a close ; and ere doing so, we would remind the Christian reader that we are called to exhibit in our daily life the blessed influence of all those great truths presented to us in the three interesting types on which we have been meditating. Christianity is characterized by those three great formative facts — redemption, the pres- ence of the Holy Ghost, and the hope of glor}-. The Christian is redeemed b}' the precious blood of Christ, CHAPTEll XVI. 247 sealed by the Holy Ghost, and he is looking for the Saviour. Yes, beloved reader, these are solid facts, divine realities, great formative truths. They are not mere principles or opinions, but they are designed to be a living power in our souls, and to shine in our lives. See how thoroughly practical were these solemnities on which we have been dwelling ; mark what a tide of praise and thanksgiving and joy and blessing and active benevolence flowed from the assembl}^ of Israel when gathered around Jehovah in the place which He had chosen. Praise and thanksgiving ascended to God, and the blessed streams of a large-hearted benevolence flowed forth to every object of need. ''Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God And they shall not appear before the Lord empty ; every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which He hath given thee." Lovely words ! They were not to come emptj' into the Lord's presence ; the}^ were to come with the heart full of praise, and the hands full of the fruits of divine goodness to gladden the hearts of the Lord's workmen and the Lord's poor. All this was perfectly beautiful. Jehovah would gather His peo- ple around Himself, to fill them to overflowing with jo}' and i)raise, and to make them His channels of blessing to others. They were not to remain under their vine and under their fig-tree, and there con- gratulate themselves upon the rich and varied mercies which surrounded them. This mi^ht be all 248 DEUTERONOMY. right and good in its place, but it would not have full}' met the mind and heart of God. No ; three times in the year the}' had to arise and betake them- selves to the divinely appointed meeting-place, and there raise their halleluiahs to the Lord their God, and there, too, to minister liberally of that which He had bestowed upon them to every form of human need. God would confer upon His people the rich privilege of rejoicing the heart of the Levite, the stranger, the widow, and the fatherless. This is the work in which He Himself delights — blessed forever be His name — and He would share His delight with His people. He would have it to be known, seen, and felt that the place where He met His people was a sphere of joy and praise, and a centre from whence streams of blessing were to flow forth in all directions. Has not all this a voice and a lesson for the Church of God ? Does it not speak home to the writer and the reader of these lines ? Assuredly it does. Ma}^ we listen to it ; may it tell upon our hearts. May the marvelous grace of God so act upon us that our hearts may be full of praise to Him, and our hands full of good works. If the mere types and shadows of our blessings were connected with so much thanksgiving and active benevolence, how much more powerful should be the effect of the blessings themselves ! But ah! the question is. Are we realizing the blessings ? are we making our own of them ? are we grasping them in the power of an artless faith ? CHAPTEU XVI. 249 Here lies the secret of the whole matter. Where do we find professing Christians in the full and settled enjoyment of what the passover prefigured, namely, full deliverance from judgment and this present evil world ? Where do we find them in the full and settled enjoyment of their Pentecost, even the in- dwelling of the Holy Ghost — the seal, the earnest, the unction, and the witness ? Ask the vast ma- jority of professors the plain question, ''Have you received the Holy Ghost?" and see what answer you will get. What answer can the reader give ? Can he sa}-, Yes, thank God, I know I am washed in the precious blood of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Ghost ? It is greatly to be feared that com- paratively few of the vast multitudes of professors around us know any thing of these precious things, which nevertheless are the chartered privileges of the very simplest member of the body of Christ. So also as to the feast of tabernacles, how few understand its meaning! True, it has not yet been fulfilled ; but the Christian is called to live in the present power of that which it sets forth. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Our life is to be governed and our character formed by the combined influence of the "grace" in which we stand and the "glory" for which we wait. But if souls are not established in grace — if they do not even know that their sins are forgiven — if they are taught that it is presumption to be sure of salva- tion, and that it is humility and piety to live in 250 DEUTERONOMY. perpetual doubt and fear, and that no one can be sure of their salvation until they stand before the judgnient-seat of Christ, how can they possibly take Christian ground, manifest the fruits of Christian life, or cherish proper Christian hope? If an Israel- ite of old was in doubt as to whether he was a child of Abraham, a member of the congregation of the Lord, and in the land, how could he keep the feast of unleavened bread, Pentecost, or tabernacles ? There would have been no sense, meaning, or value in such a thing; indeed, we may safely affirm that no Israelite would have thought for a moment of any thing so utterly absurd. How is it, then, that professing Christians — many of them, we cannot doubt, real children of God — never seem to be able to enter upon proper Christian ground ? They spend their days in doubt and fear, darkness and uncertainty'. Their religious exercises and services, instead of being the outcome of life possessed and enjoyed, are entered upon and gone through more as a matter of legal duty, and as a moral preparation for the life to come. Many truly pious souls are kept in this state all their days ; and as to "the blessed hope " which grace has set before us, to cheer our hearts and detach us from present things, they do not enter into it or understand it. It is looked upon as a mere speculation, indulged in by a few visionary enthusiasts here and there. They are looking forward to the day of judgment, instead of looking out for "the bright and morning Star ; " they are praying for the forgiveness of their sins, CUAl'TKK XVI. 251 and asking God to give thcni His Holy Spirit, when the}' ought to be rejoicing in the assured possession of eternal life, divine righteousness, and the Spirit of adoption. All this is directly opposed to the simplest and clearest teaching of the New Testament ; it is utterly foreign to the very genius of Christianit}', subversive of the Christian's peace and liberty, and destructive of all true and intelligent Christian worship, service, and testimony. It is plainly impossible that people can appear before the Lord with their hearts full of praise for privileges which they do not enjo}', or their hands full of the blessing which they have never realized. We call the earnest attention of all the Lord's people, throughout the length and breadth of the professing church, to this weighty subject. We entreat them to search the Scriptures, and see if they afford any warrant for keeping souls in darkness, doubt, and bondage all their days. That there are solemn warnings, searching appeals, weighty admo- nitions, is most true, and we bless God for them, — we need them, and should diligently a})ply our hearts to them ; but let the reader distinctly understand that it is the sweet privilege of the very babes in Christ to know that their sins are all forgiven, that they are accepted in a risen Christ, sealed by the Holy Ghost, and heirs of eternal glor}-. Such, through infinite and sovereign grace, are their clearly established and assured blessings — bless- ings to which the love of God makes them welcome, 17 252 DEUTERONOMY. for which the blood of Christ makes them fit, and as to which the testimon}" of the Holy Ghost makes them sure. May the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls lead all His beloved people — the lambs and sheep of His blood-bought flock — to know, by the teaching of His Holy Spirit, the things that are freely given to them of God ; and may those who do know them, in measure, know them more full}-, and exhibit the precious fruits of them in a life of genuine devoted- ness to Christ and His service. It is greatly to be feared that many of us who profess to be acquainted with the very highest truths of the Christian faith are not answering to our pro- fession ; we are not acting up to the principle set forth in verse 17 of our beautiful chapter, — ^^ Every man shall give as he is ahle^ according to the bless- ing of the Lord tli^' God which He hath given thee." We seem to forofet that althousjh we have nothintr to do and nothing to give for salvation, we have much that we can do for the Saviour, and much that we can give to His workmen and to His poor. There is ver}^ great danger of pushing the do-nothing and give-nothing principle too far. If in the days of our ignorance and legal bondage we worked and gave upon a false principle and with a false object, we surely ought not to do less and ^ve less now that we profess to know that we are not only saved, but blessed with all spiritual blessings in a risen and glorified Christ. We have need to take care that we are not resting in the mere intellectual percep- CHAPTER XVII. 253 tion and verbal profession of these great and glorious truths, ^Yhile the heart and conscience have never felt their sacred action, nor the conduct and character been brought under their powerful and holy influence. We venture, in all tenderness and love, just to offer these practical suggestions to the reader for his prayerful consideration. We would not wound, offend, or discourage the very feeblest lamb in all the flock of Christ ; and Au'ther, we can assure the reader that we are not casting a stone at any one, but simply writing as in the immediate presence of God, and sounding in the ears of the Church a note of warning as to that which we deeply feel to be our common dansrer. We believe there is an urs^ent call, on all sides, to consider our ways, to humble ourselves before the Lord on account of our mani- fold failures, shortcomings, and inconsistencies, and to seek grace from Him to be more real, more thor- oughly devoted, more pronounced in our testimony for Him, in this dark and evil day. CHAPTER XVII. WE must remember that the division of Scripture into chapters and verses is entirely a human arrangement, often veiy convenient, no doubt, for reference; but not nnfrequently it is quite unwar- rantable, and interferes with the connection. Thus 254 DEUTERONO:My. we can see at a glance that the closing verses of chapter xvi. are much more connected with what follows than with what goes before. "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neiiher take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live and inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." These words teach us a twofold lesson ; in the first place, they set forth the even-handed justice and perfect truth which ever characterize the gov- ernment of God. Every case is dealt with accord- ing to its own merits and on the ground of its own facts. The judgment is so plain that there is not a shadow of ground for a question ; all dissension is absolutely closed ; and if any murmur is raised, the murmurer is at once silenced by "Friend, I do thee no wrong." This holds good every where, and at all times, in the holy government of God, and it makes us long for the time when that government shall be established from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. But on the other hand, we learn, from the lines just quoted, what man's judgment is worth if left to himself. It cannot be trusted for a moment. Man is capable of ''^ivre sting judgment," of "respecting CHAPTER XVII. 255 persons," of "taking a gift," of attaching iniport- anc-c to a person because of his position and wealth. That he is capable of all this is evident fmni the fact of his being told not to do it. We must ever re- member this. If God commands man not to steal, it is plain that man has theft in his nature. Hence, therefore, human judgment and human government are liable to the grossest corruption. Judges and governors, if left to themselves, if not under the direct sway of divine principle, are capa- ble of perverting justice for fillh}' lucre's sake — of favoring a wicked man because he is rich, and of condemning a righteous man because he is poor — of giving a judgment in flagrant opposition to the plainest facts because of some advantage to be gained, whether in the shape of money or influence or popularity or power. To prove this, it is not necessary to point to such men as Pilate and Herod and Felix and Festus ; Ave have no need to go beyond the passage just quoted, in order to see what man is, even when clothed in the robes of official dignit}-, seated on the throne of government, or on the bench of justice. Some, as they read these lines, may feel disposed to say, in the language of Hazael, "Is th}- servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" But let such reflect for a moment on the fact that the human heart is the seed-plot of every sin, and of every vile and abominable and contemptible wickedness that ever was committed in this world ; and the unan- swerable proof of this is found in the enactments, 256 DEUTERONOMY. commandments, and prohibitions which appear on the sacred page of ins})! ration. And herein we have an uncommonly fine reply to the oft-repeated question, "What have we to do with many of the laws and institutions set forth in the Mosaic economy? Why are such things set down in the Bible? Can they possibly be inspired?" Yes, they are inspired, and they appear on the page of inspiration in order that Ave may see, as reflected in a divinely perfect mirror, the moral material of which we ourselves are made — the thoughts we are capable of thinking, the words we are capable of speaking, and the deeds we are capable of doing. Is not this something ? Is it not good and whole- some to find, for example, in some of the passages of this most profound and beautiful book of Deuter- onom}', that human nature is capable, and hence we are capable, of doing things that put us morally be- low the level of a beast ? Assuredly it is ; and well would it be for man}' a one who walks in pharisaic pride and self-complacenc}- — puflTed up with false notions of his own dignit}^ and high-toned morality, to learn this deepl}^ humbling lesson. But how morall}' lovel}', how pure, how refined and elevated, were the divine enactments for Israel ! They were not to wrest judgment, but allow it to flow in its own straight and even channel, irrespect- ive altogether of persons. The poor man in vile raiment was to have the same impartial justice as the man with a gold ring and gay clothing. The decision of the judgment-seat was not to be warped CHAPTEIi XVII. 257 by partiality or prejudice, or the robe of justice to be defiled by the staiu of bribery. Oh, what will it be for this oppressed and groan- ing earth to be governed b}- the admirable laws which are recorded in the inspired pages of the Pentateuch, when a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall decree justice ! ''Give the king Thy judgments, O God, and Thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall judge Th}^ people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgment" — no wresting, no bribery, no partial judgments then. — "The mountains [or higher dignities] shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills [or lesser dignities], by righteous- ness. He shall judge [or defend] the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy ^ and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear Thee as long as the sun and moon endure, through- out all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass ; as showers that water the earth. In his daj's shall the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. ... He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the 2)oor and needy ^ and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight." (Ps. Ixxii.) Well may the heart long for the time — the bright and blessed time when all this shall be made good. 258 DEUTERONOMY. when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, when the Lord Jesus shall take to Himself His great power and reign, when the Church in the heavens shall reflect the beams of His glory upon the earth, when Israel's twelve tribes shall repose beneath the vine and fig- tree in their own promised land, and all the nations of the earth shall rejoice beneath the peaceful and beneficent rule of the Son of David. Thanks and praise be to our God, thus it shall be, ere long, as sure as His throne is in the heavens. A little while and all shall be made good, according to the eternal counsels and immutable promise of God. Till then, beloved Christian reader, be it ours to live in the constant, earnest, believing anticipation of this bright and blessed time, and to pass through this ungodly scene as thorough strangers and pilgrims, having no place or portion down here, but ever breathing forth the prayer, "Come, Lord Jesus ! " In the closing lines of chapter xvi, Israel is warned against the most distant approach to the religious customs of the nations around. "Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither shalt thou set thee up any image which the Lord thy God hateth." They were carefully to avoid every thing which might lead them in the direction of the dark and abominable idolatries of the heathen nations around. The altar of God was to stand out in distinct and unmistakable separation from those groves and shady places where false gods CHAl'TEll XVII. 259 were worshiped, and things were done which are not to be named.* In a word, every thing was to be most carefully avoided which might in any way draw the heart away from the one living and true God. Nor this only ; it was not enough to maintain a correct outward form ; images and groves might be abolished, and the nation might i)rofess the dogma of the unity of the Godhead, and all the while there might be an utter want of heart and genuine dc- votedness in the worship rendered. Hence we read, "Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep wherein is blemish, or any ill- favoredness, for that is an abomination unto the Lord." That which was absolutel}- perfect could alone suit the altar and answer to the heart of God. To offer a blemished thing to Him was simply to prove the absence of all true sense of what became Him, and of all real heart for Him. To attempt to offer an imperfect sacrifice was tantamount to the horrible * It may interest the reader to know that the Holy Ghost, in speaking of the altar of God in the Hew Testament, does not apply to it the word used to express a heathen altar, but has a compara- tively new word — a word unknown in the world's classics. The heathen altar is /i&?// ok (Acts xvii. 23.): the altar of God is Qv6ia6rr}pioi' . The former occurs but once ; the latter, twenty- three times. So jealously is the worship of the only true God guarded and preserved from the defiling touch of heathen idolatry. Men may feel disposed to inquire why this should be, or how could the altar of God be affected by a name ? We reply. The Holy Ghost is wiser than we are ; and although the heathen word Avas before Him— a short and convenient word, too,— He refuses to apply it to the altar of the one true and living God. See Trench's " Synonyms of the Xew Testament," p. 242. New edition revised. 260 DEUTERONOMY. blasphemy of saying that any thing was good enough for Him. Let us hearken to the indignant pleadings of the Spirit of God, by the mouth of the prophet Malaehi. ''Ye offer polluted bread upon Mine altar; and ye sa}', *Wlierein have we polluted Thee?' In that ye sa}', 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.' And if 3e offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor ; will he be pleased with thee, or accept tli}' person ? saith the Lord of Hosts. And now, I praj' you, beseech God that He will be gra- cious unto us ; this hath been by your means ; will He regard your persons? saith the Lord of Hosts. Who is there even among you that would shut the doors for naught? neither do ye kindle fire on Mine altar for naught. I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, neither will I accept an offering at 3'our hand. For from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same. My name shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, and a pure offering ; for My name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of Hosts. But ye have profaned it, in that 3'e sa}^, 'The table of the Lord is polluted, and the fruit thereof, even His meat is contemptible.' Ye said also, 'Behold, what a Aveariness is it! ' and ye have snuffed at it, saith the Lord of Hosts ; and ye brought that which was torn, and the lame, and the sick; thus ye brought an offering: should I accept this of your hand? saith the Lord. But cursed be CHArrEK XVII. 261 the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificelh unto the Lord a corrupt thing ; for I am a great King, sailh the Lord of Hosts, and My name is dreadful among the heathen. (Mai. i. 7-U.) Has all this no voice for tlie professing chiu'ch? has it no voice for the \Yriter and the reader of these lines? Assuredly it has. Is there not in our private and public worship a deplorable lack of hearty of real dcvotedness, deep-toned earnestness, holy energy, and integrity of purpose? Is there not much that answers to the offering of the lame and the sick, the blemished and the ill-favored? Is there not a de- plorable amount of cold formalit}^ and dead routine in our seasons of worship, both in the closet and in the assembly? Have we not to judge ourselves for barrenness, distraction, and wandering, even at the very table of our Lord? How often are our bodies at the table while our vagrant hearts and volatile minds are at the ends of the earth ! how often do our lips utter words which are not the true expres- sion of our whole moral being ! We express far more than we feel ; we sing beyond our experience. And then, when we are favored with the blessed opportunity of dropping our offerings in our Lord's treasury, what heartless formality ! what an absence of loving, earnest, hearty devotedness ! what little reference to the apostolic rule — "as God hath pros- pered us"! what detestable niggardliness! how little of the whole-heartedness of the poor widow who having but two mites in the world, and having 262 DEUTERONOMY. the option of at least keeping one for her living, willingly cast in both — cast in her all ! Pounds may be spent on ourselves, perhaps on superfluities, during the week, but when the claims of the Lord's work, His poor, and His cause in general are brought before us, how meagre is the response ! Clu'istian reader, let us consider these things ; let us look at the whole subject of worship and devot- edness in the divine presence, and in the presence of the grace that has saved us from everlasting burnings ; let us calmly reflect upon the precious and powerful claims of Christ upon us. We are not our own ; we are bought with a price. It is not merely our best^ but our all, we owe to that blessed One who gave Himself for us. Do we not fully own it? do not our hearts own it? Then may our lives express it! May we more distinctly declare whose we are and whom we serve. May the heart, the head, the hands, the feet — the whole man be dedicated, in unreserved devotedness, to Him, in the power of the Holy Ghost, and according to the direct teaching of hoi}' Scripture. God grant it may be so, with us and with all His beloved people ! A very weight}^ and practical subject now claims our attention. We feel it right to adhere as much as possible to the custom of quoting at full length the passages for the reader ; we believe it to be profit- able to give the ver}- Word of God itself; and more- over, it is convenient to the great majority of readers to be saved the trouble of LiAino; aside the volume ciiArTEu XVII. 263 and turning to the Bible in order to«find the passages for themselves. "If there be found among 3'ou, within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman that hath wrous^ht wickedness in the si2:ht of the Lord tli}' God, in transgressing Ilis covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshiped them, either the sun or moon, or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded ; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and inquired dili- gentbj, and, behold, it be tj'ue, and the thing certain, that such abomination is zvrought in Israel ;'' — some- thing affecting the whole nation — "then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones till the}' die. At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death ; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. The hands of the wit- liesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and ?>fterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you." (Ver. 2-7.) We have alread}' had occasion to refer to the great principle laid down in the foregoing passage. It is one of immense importance, namel}-, the absolute necessity of having competent testimony ere forming a judgment in any case. It meets us constantly in Scripture ; indeed, it is the invariable rule in the divine government, and therefore it claims our earnest attention. We may be sure it is a safe and 264 DEUTERONOMY. wholesome rule, the neglect of which must always lead us astra}-. We should never allow ourselves to form, much less to express and act upon, a judg- ment without the testimony of two or three wit- nesses. However trustworthy and morally reliable any one witness may he, it is not a sufficient basis for a conclusion. We ma}^ feel convinced in our minds that the thing is true because affirmed by one in whom we have confidence ; but God is wiser than we. It ma}^ be that the one witness is thoroughly upright and truthful, that he would not for worlds tell an untruth or bear false witness against an^- one, — all this may be true, but we must adhere to the divine rule — "In the mouth of two or three wit- nesses shall every word be established." Would that this were more diligently attended to in the Church of God ! Its value in all cases of discipline, and in all cases affecting the character or reputation of any one, is simply incalculable. Ere ever an assembly reaches a conclusion or acts on a judgment in an}^ given case, it should insist on adequate evidence. If this be not forthcoming, let all wait on God — wait patientl}' and confidingh', and He will surely supply what is needed. For instance, if there be moral evil or doctrinal error in an assembl}^ of Christians, but it is only known to one ; that one is perfectl}^ certain — deeply and thoroughly convinced of tlie fact. What is to be done ? Wait on God for further witness. To act without this, is to infringe a divine principle laid down with all possible clearness again and again in CHAPTER XVII. 2G5 the Word of God. Is the one witness to feel him- self aggrieved or insulted because his testimony is not acted upon ? Assuredly not ; indeed he ought not to expect such a thing, yea, he ought not to come forward as a witness until lie can corroborate his testimony b}^ the evidence of one or two more. Is the assembly to be deemed indifferent or supine be- cause it refuses to act on the testimony of a solitary witness? Nay, it would be flying in the face of a divine command were it to do so. And be it remembered that this great practical principle is not confined in its application to cases of discipline, or questions connected with an assembly of the Lord's people ; it is of universal application. We should never allow ourselves to form a judgment or come to a conclusion without the divinely ap- pointed measure of evidence ; if that be not forth- coming, it is our plain duty to wait, and if it be needful for us to judge in the case, God will, in due time, furnish the needed evidence. We have known a case in which a man was falsely accused because the accuser based his charge upon the evidence of one of his senses ; had he taken the trouble of get- ting the evidence of one or two more of his senses, he would not have made the charsre. Thus the entire subject of evidence claims the serious attention of the reader, let his position be what it may. We are all prone to rush to hasty conclusions, to take up impressions, to give place to baseless surmisings, and allow our minds to be warped and carried away b\' prejudice. All these 266 DEUTERONOMY. have to be most carefull}^ guarded against. We need more calmness, seriousness, and cool deliberation in forming and expressing our judgment about men and things; but especially about men, inasmuch as we may inflict a grievous wrong upon a friend, a brother, or a neighbor by giving utterance to a false impression or a baseless charge. We may allow ourselves to be the vehicle of an utterl}^ groundless accusation, whereb}'' the character of another may be seriously damaged. This is very sinful in the sight of God, and should be most jealously watched against in ourselves, and sternly rebuked in others, whenever it comes before us. Whenever an}' one brings a charge against another behind his back, we should insist upon his proving or withdrawing his statement. Were this plan adopted, we should be delivered from a vast amount of evil-speaking, which is not only most unprofitable, but positively wicked, and not to be tolerated. Before turning from the subject of evidence, we may just remark that inspired history supplies us with more than one instance in which a righteous man has been condemned with an appearance of attention to Deuteronomy xvii. 6, 7. Witness the case of Naboth, in 1 Kings xxi ; and the case of Stephen, in Acts vi. and vii ; and above all, the case of the only perfect Man that every trod this earth. Alas ! men can, at times, put on the appeaiance of wonderful attention to the letter of Scripture when it suits their own ungodly ends ; they can quote its sacred words in defense of the most flasfrant un- CIIAPTEll XVII. 267 righteousness and shocking immorality. Two Avit- nesses accused Naboth of blaspheming God and the king, and that faithful Israelite was deprived of liis inheritance and of his life on the testimony of two liars, hired by the direction of a godless, cruel woman. Stephen, a man full of the Holy Ghost, was stoned to death for blasphem}', on the testimony of false witnesses received and acted upon by the great religious leaders of the day, who could doubt- less quote Deuteronomy xvii. as their authorit}'. But all this, while it so sadly and forcibly illus- trates what man is, and what mere human religious- ness without conscience is, leaves wholly untouched the fine moral rule laid down for our guidance in the opening lines of our chapter. Religion without conscience or the fear of God is the most degrading, demoralizing, hardening thing beneath the canopj' of heaven ; and one of its most terrible features is seen in this, that men under its influence are not ashamed or afraid to make use of the letter of hoi}" Scripture as a cloak wherewith to cover the most horrible wickedness. But thanks and praise to our God, His Word stands forth before the vision of our souls in all its heavenly purity, divine virtue, and holy moralit}*, and flings back in the face of the eneni}' his every attempt to draw from its sacred pages a plea for aught that is not true, venerable, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. We shall now proceed to quote for the reader the second paragraph of our chapter, in which we shall 18 268 DEUTERONOMY. find instruction of great moral value, and much needed in this day of self-will and independence. "If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judg- ment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy withhi thy gates ; then shalt thou arise and get thee up into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judges that shall be in those days, and inquire ; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment: and thou shalt do according to the sentence which the}^ of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show thee ; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee ; according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which the}^ shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left, and the man that will do presumptuousl}^, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth to minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die ; and thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear and do no more presumptuously.'" (Ver. 8-13.) Here we have divine provision made for the perfect settlement of all questions which might arise through- out the congregation of Israel. The}' were to be settled in the divine presence, at the divinel}^ ap- pointed centre, by the divinely appointed authority. CHAPTER XVII. 269 Thus self-will and presumption were effectually guarded against. All matters of controversy were to be definitively settled by the judgment of God as expressed by the priest or the judge appointed by God for the purpose. In a word, it was absolutely and entirely a matter of divine authorit3\ It was not for one man to set himself up in self-will and presumption against another. Tliis would never do in the assembly of God. Each one had to submit his cause to a divine tribunal, and bow implicitly to its decision. There was to be no appeal, inasmuch as there was no higher court. The divinely appointed priest or judge spoke as the oracle of God, and botli plaintiff and defendant had to bow, without a demur, to the decision. Now, it must be very evident to the reader tliat no member of the congregation of Israel would ever have thought of bringing his case before a Gentile tribunal for judgment. This, w^e may feel assured, M'ould have been utterl}' foreign to the thouglits and feelings of every true Israelite. It would have involved a positive insult to Jehovah Himself, who was in their midst to give judgment in ever}- case which might arise. Surelj' He was sufficient. He knew the ins and outs, the pros and cons, the roots and issues, of every controvcrs}-, however involved or difficult. All were to look to Him, and to bring their causes to the place which He had chosen, and no where else. The idea of two members of the assembly of God appearing before a tribunal of the 270 DEUTERONOMY. uiicircumcised for judgment would not have been tolerated for a moment. It would be as much as to say that there was a defect in the divine arrange- ment for the consrreo^ation. Has this any voice for us ? How are Christians to have their questions and their controversies settled ? Are they to betake themselves to the world for judg- ment ? Is there no provision in the assembly of God for the proper settlement of cases which may arise ? Hear what the inspired apostle says on the point to the assembly at Corinth, and "to all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours," and therefore to all true Christians now. "Dare any of you, having a matter against an- other, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints ? Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world ? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest mat- ters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life ! If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church. I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among 3'ou ? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goeth to law with brother, and that be- fore the unbelievers. Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong ? why do ye not rather be defrauded ? Nay, ye do wrong, CHAPTER XVII. 271 and defraud, and that your brethren. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived." (1 Cor. vi. 1-9.) Here, then, we have divine instruction for the Church of God in all ages. We must never, for a moment, lose sight of the fact that the Bible is the book for ever}^ stage of the Church's earthly career. True it is, alas ! the Church is not as it was when the above lines were penned by the inspired apostle ; a vast change has taken place in the Church's prac- tical condition. There was no difficulty in early daj's in distinguishing between the Church and the world — between "the saints" and "unbelievers" — between ' ' those within ' ' and ' ' those without. ' ' The line of demarkation was broad, distinct, and unmis- takable in those days. Any one who looked at the face of society in a religious point of view would see three things, nameh'. Paganism, Judaism, and Christianity — the Gentile, the Jew, and the Church of God — the heathen temple, the S3'nagogue, and the assembly of God. There was no confounding these things. The Christian assembly stood out in vivid contrast wiih all beside. Christianity was strongly and clearl}' pronounced in those primitive times. It was neither a national, provincial, nor parochial affair, but a personal, practical, living reality. It was not a mere nominal, national, pro- fessional creed, but a divinely wrought faith, a living power in the heart flowing out in the life. But now, things arc totally changed. The Church and the world are so mixed up, that the vast majority 272 DEUTERONOMY. of professors could hardly understand the real force and proper application of the i)assage which Ave have just quoted. Were we to speak to them about "the saints" going to law "before the unbelievers," it would seem like a foreign tongue. Indeed, the term "saint" is hardly heard in the professing church, save when used with a sneer, or as applied to such as have been canonized by a superstitious reverence. But has any change come over the Word of God, or over the grand truths which that Word unfolds to our souls ? Has any change come over the thoughts of God in reference to what His Church is, or what the world is, or as to the proper relation of the one to the other ? Does He not know who are "saints" and who are "unbelievers" ? Has it ceased to be "a fault" for "brother to go to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers"? In a word, has holy Scripture lost its power, its point, its divine appli- cation ? Is it no longer our guide, our authorit}', our one perfect rule and unerring standard ? Has the marked change that has come over the Church's moral condition deprived the Word of God of all power of application to us — "to all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ"? Has our Father's most precious revelation become, in any one particular, a dead letter — a piece of ob- solete writing — a document pertaining to da3-s long gone by? Has our altered condition robbed the Word of God of a single one of its moral glories ? Reader, what answer does your heart return to CHAPTER XVII. 273 these questions ? Let us most earnestl}^ entreat of you to weigh them honestly, humbl}^ and prayerfully in the presence of your Lord. We believe your answer will be a wonderfully correct index of your real position and moral state. Do 3'ou not clearly see and fully admit that Scripture can never lose its power ? Can the principles of 1 Corinthians vi. ever cease to be binding on the Church of God ? It is fully admitted — for who can deny that things are sadly changed ? — but "Scripture cannot be broken," and therefore what w^as "a fault" in the first century cannot be right in the nineteenth ; there may be more difficulty in carrying out divine principles, but we must never consent to surrender them, or to act on any lower ground. If once we admit the idea that because the whole professing church has gone wrong it is impossible for us to do right, the whole principle of Christian obedience is surrendered. It is as wrong for "brother to go to law with brother before the unbelievers" to-day as when the apostle wrote his epistle to the assembly- at Corinth.* True, *lt is well for us to bear in mind that Avherever there are "two or three " gathered to the Name of the Lord Jesus, in ever such ■weakness, there will be found, if only they are truly humble and dependent, spiritual ability to judge in any case that may arise between brethren. They can count on divine wisdom being sup- plied for the settlement of any question, plea, or controversy, so that there need not be any reference to a worldly tribunal. No doubt Avorldly men Avould smile at such an idea; but we must adhere, with holy decision, to the guidance of Scripture. Brother must not go to hnv Avith brother before the unbelievers. This is distinct and emphatic. There arc resources available for the as- sembly in Christ, the Head and Lord, for the settlement of every possible question. Let the Lord's people seriously apply their hearts to the consid- 274 DEUTERONOMY. the Church's visible unity is gone ; she is shorn of many gifts, she has departed from her normal con- dition ; but the principles of the Word of God can no more lose their power than the blood of Christ can lose its virtue or His priesthood lose its efficacy. And further, we must bear in mind that there are resources of wisdom, grace, power, and spiritual gift treasured up for the Church in Christ her Head, ever available for those who have faith to use them. We are not straitened in our blessed and adorable Head. We need never expect to see the body re- stored to its normal condition on the earth, but for all that, it is our privilege to see what the true eration of this subject. Let them see that they are gathered on the true ground of the Church of God ; and then, though ever conscious that things are not as they once v.ere in the Church — though sensi- ble of the greatest weakness, failure, and shortcoming, they will nevertheless find the grace of Christ ever sufficient for them, and the Word of God full of all needed instruction and authority, so that they need never betake themselves to the Avorld for help, counsel, or judgment. " Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." This surely is enough for every exigence. Is there any question that our Lord Christ cannot settle ? Do we want natural clever- ness, worldly wisdom, long-headedness, great learning, keen sa- gacity, if we have Him? Surely not; indeed all such things can only prove like Saul's armor to David. All we want is, simply to use the resources which we have in Christ. We shall assuredly find, "in the place Avhere His name is recorded," priestly wisdom to judge in every case which may arise between brethren. And further, let the Lord's dear people remember, in all cases of local difficulty which may arise, that there is no need whatever for them to look for extraneous aid, to Avrite to other places to get some wise man to come and lielp them. No doubt, if the Lord sends any of His beloved servants at the moment, their sympathy, fellowship, counsel, and help will be Iiighly prized. AVe are not encouraging independence one of the other, but absolute and complete depend- ence upon Christ, our Head and Lord. CHAPTEU XVII. 275 ground of the body is, and it is our duty to occupy that ground and no other. Now, it is perfectly wonderful the change that takes i)lace in our whole condition — in our view of things, in our thoughts of ourselves and our sur- roundings — the moment we plant our foot on the true ground of the Church of God. Every thing seems changed ; the Bible seems a new book ; we see every thing in a new light ; portions of Scripture which we have been reading for years without interest or profit now sparkle with divine light, and fill us with wonder, love, and praise. We see every- thing from a new stand-point ; our whole range of vision is changed ; we have made our escape from the murky atmosphere which inwraps the M'hole professing church, and can now look around and see things clearly in the heavenly light of Scripture. In fact, it seems like a new conversion ; and we find we can now read Scripture intelligenth-, because we have the divine key. We see Christ to be the centre and object of all the thoughts, purposes, and counsels of God from everlasting to everlasting, and hence we are conducted into that marvelous sphere of grace and glory which the Holv Ghost delights to unfold in the i)recious Word of God. May the reader be led into the thorough under- standing of all this, by the direct and powerful ministry of the Holy Spirit. May he be enabled to give himself to the study of Scripture, and to surrender himself, unreservedly, to its teaching and authoritj'. Let him not confer with flesh and blood, 276 DEUTEKONO.MY. but cast Himself, like a little child, on the Lord, and seek to be led on in spiritual intelligence and practical conformity to the mind of Christ. We must now look for a moment at the closing verses of our chapter, in which we have a remark- able onlook into Israel's future, anticipating the moment in which they should seek to set a king over them. "When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me ; thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee Avhom the Lord th}^ God shall choose ; one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee ; thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses ; forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, 'Ye shall henceforth return no more that way.' Neither shall he multipl}^ wdves to him- self, that his heart turn not awa}' ; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold." How very remarkable that the three things which the king was not to do were just the very things which were done — and extensively done by the orreatest and wisest of Israel's monarchs. "Kinj? Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Eed Sea, in the land of Edora. And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea. CHAPTER XVII. 277 with the servants of Solomon. And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twent}' talents [over two millions], and brought it to king Solomon.'* "And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold." "And the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold [nearly three and a half millions], beside that he had of the merchant- men, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country." Again, we read, "And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones And Solomon had horses hrougltt out of Egypt. .... But king Solomon loved many strange women And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines ; and his wives turned away his heart." (1 Kings ix, x, xi.) What a tale this tells! what a commentary it furnishes upon man in his very best and highest estate ! Here was a man endowed with wisdom be- yond all others, surrounded by unexampled bless- ings, dignities, honors, and privileges ; his earthl}- cup was full to the brim ; there was nothing lacking which this Avorld could supply to minister to human happiness. And not only so, but his remarkable prayer at the dedication of the temple might well lead us to cherish the brightest hopes respecting him, both personally and officiall3\ But sad to say, he broke down most deplorabl}' in every one of the particulars as to which the law of his God had spoken so definitely and so clearly. 278 DEUTERONOMY. He was told not to multiply silver and gold, and yet he multiplied them ; he was told not to return to Egypt to multiply horses, and yet to Egypt he went for horses ; he was told not to multiply wives, and yet he had a thousand of them, and they turned away his heart. Such is man ! Oh, how little is he to be counted upon! "All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away." "Cease ye from man whose breath is in his nos- trils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?" But we may ask. How are we to account for Solomon's signal, sorrowful, and humiliating fail- ure ? what was the real secret of it ? To answer this, we must quote for the reader the closing verses of our chapter. "And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a cop}^ of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests the Levites ; and it shall be ivith Jiim, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them ; that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand or to the left ; to the end that he maj^ prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel." (Ver. 18-20.) Had Solomon attended to these most precious and weighty words, his historian would have had a very different task to perform ; but he did not. We hear CHAPTER XVII. 279 nothing of his having made a copy of the law ; and most assuredlv, if he did make a copy of it, he did not attend to it — yea, he turned his back upon it, and did the veiy things which he was told not to do. In a word, the cause of all the wreck and ruin that so rapidl}' followed the splendor of Solomon's reign, was the neglect of the plain Word of God. It is this which makes it all so solemn for us, in this our own da}-, and which leads us to call the earnest attention of the reader to it. We deeply feel the need of seeking to rouse the attention of the whole Church of God to this great subject. Neglect of the Word of God is the source of all the failure, all the sin, all the error, all the mischief and confusion, the heresies, sects, and schisms that have ever been or are now in this world. And we may add, with equal confidence, that the only real, sovereign remed}^ for our present lamentable con- dition will be found in returning, every one for him- self and herself to the simple but sadly neglected authority of the Word of God. Let each one see his own departure, and that of the whole profess- ing bod}', from the plain and positive teaching of the New Testament — the commandments of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us humble ourselves under the might}' hand of our God, because of our common sin, and let us turn to Him in true self-judgment, and He will graciously restore and heal and bless us, and lead us in that most blessed path of obedience which lies open be- fore ever}' truly humble soul. 280 DEUTERONOMY. Ma}^ God the Holy Ghost, in His own resistless power, bring home to the heart and conscience of every member of the body of Christ on the face of the earth, the urgent need of an immediate and unreserved surrender to the authority of the Word of God. CHAPTER XVIII. THE opening paragraph of this chapter suggests a deeply interesting and practical line of truth. "The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel ; they shall eat the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and His inheritance. Therefore shall they have no inher- itance among their brethren : the Lord is their in- heritance, as He hath said unto them. And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep ; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw. The first-fruits also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep shalt thou give him. For the Lord thy God hath chosen him out of all th}' tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons forever. And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the Lord shall choose; then he shall minister in the name of the Lord his God, as all his brethren CHAPTER XVIII. 281 the Levites do, which stand there before the Lord. They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which Cometh out of the sale of his patrimony/' (Ver. 1-8.) Here, as in every part of the book of Deuteron- oni}', the priests are classed with the Levites in a very marked way. We have called the reader's attention to this as a special characteristic feature of our book, and shall not dwell upon it now, but merel}', in passing, remind the reader of it, as something claiming his attention. Let him weigh the opening words of our chapter, "The priests the Levites," and compare them with the way in which the priests the sons of Aaron are spoken of in Exodus, Levit- icus, and Numbers ; and if he should be disposed to ask the reason of this distinction, we believe it to be this, that in Deuteronomy the divine object is, to bring the whole assembly of Israel more into prom- inence, and hence it is that the priests in their official capacity come rarely before us. The grand Deuteronomic idea is, Israel in immediate relation- ship with Jehovah. Now, in the passage just quoted, we have the priests and the Levites linked together, and pre- sented as the Lord's servants, wholly dependent upon Him, and intimately identified with His altar and His service. This is full of interest, and opens up a very important field of practical truth, to which the Church of God would do well to attend. In looking through the history of Israel, we observe that when things were in any thing like a 282 DEUTERONOMY. healthful condition, the altar of God was well at- tended to, and, as a consequence, the priests and the Levites were well supplied. If Jehovah had His portion. His servants were sure to have theirs; if He was neglected, so were they. They were bound up together. The people were to bring their offerings to God, and He shared them with His servants. The priests the Levites were not to exact or demand of the people, but the people were privi- leged to bring their gifts to the altar of God, and He permitted His servants to feed upon the fruit of His people's devotedness to Him. Such was the true — the divine idea as to the Lord's servants of old. They were to live upon the volun- tary offerings presented to God by the whole con- gregation. True it is that in the dark and evil days of the sons of Eli we find something sadly different from this lovely moral order. Then, "the priest's custom witli the people was, that when any one offered sacrifice, the priest's servant came, while the flesh was in seething, with a flesh-hook of three teeth in his hand ; and he struck it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the flesh-hook brought up, the priest took for himself. So they did in Sliiloh unto all the Israelites that came thither. Also before they burnt the fat [God's special portion], the priest's servant came, and said to the man that sacrificed, ^Give flesh to roast for the priest ; for he will not have sodden flesh of thee, but raw.' And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as CHAPTER XVIII. 283 much as thy soul desiieth ; then he would answer hun, 'Nay; but tliou shalt give it me now; and if not, / will take it by force. ' Wherefore the sin of the young men was ver}' great before the Lord ; for men abhorred the offering of the Lord." (1 Sam. ii. 13-17.) All this was truly deplorable, and ended in the solemn judgment of God upon the house of Eli. It could not be otherwise. If those who ministered at the altar could be guilty of such terrible iniquity and impiet}^, judgment must take its course. But the normal condition of things, as presented in our chapter, was in vivid contrast with all this frightful iniquity. Jehovah would surround Himself with the willing offerings of His people, and from these offerings He would feed His servants who min- istered at His altar. Hence, therefore, when the altar of God was diligently, ferventl}', and devotedly attended to, the priests the Levites had a rich por- tion — an abundant supply ; and on the other hand, when Jehovah and His altar were treated with cold neglect, or merely waited upon in a barren routine or heartless formalism, the Lord's servants were cor- respondingly neglected. In a word, they stood in- timately identified with the worship and service of the God of Israel. Thus, for example, in the bright days of the good king Hezekiah, when things were fresh and hearts happy and true, we read, "And Hezekiah appointed the courses of the i)riests and the Levites after their courses, every man according to his service, the 19 284 DEUTERONOMY. priests and Levites for burnt- offerings and for peace-offerings, to minister, and to give tlianks, and to praise in the gates of the tents of the Lord. He appointed also the king's portion of his substance for the burnt-offerings, to wit, for the morning and evening burnt-offerings, and the burnt-offerings for the Sabbaths, and for the new moons, and for the set feasts, as it is loritten in the laio of the Lord. Moreover, he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites^ that they might he encouraged in the laiv of the Lord. And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the children of Israel brought in abundance the first-fruits of corn, wine, and oil, and hone}', and of all the increase of the field ; and the tithe of all things brought they in abundantly. And con- cerning the children of Israel and Judah, that dwelt in the cities of Judah, the}' also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep, and the tithe of holy things which were consecrated unto the Lord their God, and laid them by heaps. In the third month they began to lay the foundation of the heaps, and finished them in the seventh month. And when Hezekiah and the princes came and saw the heaps, they blessed the Lord and His people Israel. Then Hezekiah questioned with the priests and the Levites concerning the heaps. And Azariah the chief priest of the house of Zadok answered him, and said, ^ Since the peop)le began to bring the offerings into the Jiouse of the Lord, ive have had enough to eat, ayid have left plenty; for the Lord hath blessed His p)eople; CHAPTER XVIII. 285 and that ivhich is left is this great store.'' (2 Cliron. xxxi. 2-10.) How trill}' refreshing is all this ! and how en- couraging! The deep, full, silveiy tide of devoted- ness flowed around the altar of God, bearing upon its bosom an ample supply to meet all the need of the Lord's servants, and "heaps" beside. This, we may feel assured, was grateful to the heart of the God of Israel, as it was to the hearts of those who had given themselves, at His call and by His appointment, to the service of His altar and His sanctuary. And let the reader specially note those precious words, "^4s it is ivritten in the laiv of the Lord.'' Here was Hezekiah's authorit}', the solid basis of his whole line of conduct from first to last. True, the nation's visible unitj^ was gone ; the condition of things when he beo^an his blessed work was most discourao^ino^: but the word of the Lord was as true, as real, and as direct in its application in Hezekiah's day as it was in the days of David or Joshua. Hezekiah rightl}' felt that Deuteronomy xviii. 1-8 applied to his da}" and to his conscience, and that he and the people were responsible to act upon it, according to their ability. Were the priests and the Levites to starve because Israel's national unity was gone? Surely not. They were to stand or fall with the Word, the worship, and the work of God. Circumstances miirlit varv, and the Israelite miojht find himself in a position in which it would be impossible to carry out in detail all the ordinances of the Levitical ceremo- nial, but he never could find himself in circumstances 286 DEUTERONOMY. in which it was not his high privilege to give full ex- pression to his heart's devotedness to the service, the altar, and the law of Jehovah. Thus, then, we see, throughout the entire history of Israel, that when thins^s were at all bright and health}', the Lord's worship, His work, and His work- men were blessedly attended to ; but on the other hand, when things were low, when hearts were cold, when self and its interests had the uppermost place, then all these great objects were treated with heart- less neglect. Look, for example, at Nehemiah xiii. When that beloved and faithful servant returned to Jerusalem, after an absence of certain days, he found, to his deep sorrow, that, even in that short time, various things had gone sadly astray ; amongst the rest, the poor Levites had been left without any thing to eat. "And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them ; for the Levites and the singers that did the work were fled eA'ery one to his field." There were no "heaps" of first-fruits in those dismal da3S, and surely it was hard for men to work and sing when they had no- thing to eat. This was not according to the law of Jehovah, nor according to His loving heart. It was a sad reproach upon the people that the Lord's serv- ants were obliged, through their gross neglect, to abandon His worship and His work in order to keep themselves from starving. This, truly, was a deplorable condition of things. Nehemiah felt it keenly, as we read, "Then con- tended I with the rulers, and said, ' Why is the house CHAFTKR XVIII. 287 of God forsaken?' And I gathered them together, and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn, and the new wine, and the oil, unto the treasuries. And I made treasurers over the treasuries, .... for they were counted faith- ful;" — they were entitled to the confidence of their brethren — "and their office was to distribute unto their brethren." It needed a number of tried and faithful men to occupy the high position of dis- tributing to their brethren the precious fruit of the people's devotedness ; the}^ could take counsel to- gether, and see that the Lord's treasury was faith- fully managed, according to His Word, and the need of His- true and bona-fide workmen fully met, without prejudice or partial it}'. Such was the lovely order of the God of Israel — an order to which every true Israelite such as Nehemiah and Hezekiah would delight to attend. The rich tide of blessing flowed forth from Jehovah to His people, and back from His people to Him, and from that flowing tide His servants were to draw a full supply for all their need. It was a dishonor to Him to have the Levites obliged to return to their fields ; it proved that His house was forsaken, and that there was no sustenance for His servants. Now, the question may here be asked. What has all this to say to us? what has the Church of God to learn from Deuteronomy xviii. 1-8 ? In order to answer this question, we must turn to 1 Corinthians ix, where the inspired apostle deals with the very 288 DEUTERONOMY. important subject of the support of the Christian ministry — a subject so Uttle understood by the great mass of professing Christians. As to the laiv of the case^ it is as distinct as possible. *' Who goeth a warfare at any time at his own charges ? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? Say I these things as a man? or saiih not the law the same also? For it is written in the law of Moses, 'Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen ? or saith He it altogether for our sakes ? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written ; that he that ploweth should plow in hope, and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things? If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless" — here grace shines out, in all its heavenly lustre — "we have not used this power ; but suffer all things lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel. But" — here again grace asserts its holy dignity — "I have used none of these things ; neither have I written these things that it should be so done unto me ; for it were better for me to die than that any man should make my glorying void. For though CHAPTER XVIII. 280 I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of; for necessity is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward ; but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me. What is my reward, then ? Verily that when I preach the gospel, I ma}' make the gospel of Christ without charge, that I abuse not my power in the gospel." (Ver. 7-18.) Here we have this interesting and weighty subject presented in all its bearings. The inspired apostle lays down, with all possible decision and clearness, the divine law on the point. There is no mistaking it. ''The Lord hath ordained that the^^ that preach Ihc gospel should live of the gospel; " that just as the priests and the Levites of old lived on the offer- ings presented by the people, so now, those who are really called of God, gifted by Christ, and fitted by the Hoi}' Ghost to preach the gospel, and who are giving themselves constantly and diUgently to that glorious work, are morally entitled to temporal sup- port. It is not that they should look to those to whom they preach for a certain stipulated sum. There is no such idea as this in the New Testament. The workman must look to his Master, and to Him alone, for support. Woe be to him if he looks to the church, or to men in any wa}''. The priests and Levites had their portion in and from Jehovah. He was the lot of their inheritance. True, He expected the people to minister to Him in the persons of His servants. He told them what to give, and blessed 290 DEUTERONOMY. them in giving: it was their high privilege, as well as their bounden dut}^, to give ; had they refused or neglected, it would have brought drought and barren- ness upon their fields and vine3'ards. (Hag. i. 5-11.) But the priests the Levites had to look 07ily to Jehovah. If the people failed in their offerings, the Levites had to fly to their fields and work for their living. They could not go to law with any one for tithes and offerings ; their only appeal was to the God of Israel, who had ordained them to the work and given them the work to do. So also with the Lord's workmen now — the}^ must look only to Him. They must be well assured that He has fitted them for the work, and called them to it, ere they attempt to push out (if we may so ex- press it) from the shore of circumstances, and give themselves wholly to the work of preaching. They must take their eyes completely oft" from men — from all creature-streams and human props, and lean exclusively upon the living God. We have seen the most disastrous consequences resulting from acting under a mistaken impulse in this most solemn mat- ter ; men not called of God, or fitted for the work, giving up their occupations, and coming forth, as they said, to live by faith and give themselves to the work. Deplorable shipwreck was the result in every instance. Some, when they began to look the stern realities of the path straight in the face, became so alarmed that the}^ actually lost their mental balance, lost their reason for a time ; some lost their peace, and some went risht back into the world ao^ain. CHAPTER XVIII. 291 In short, it is our deep and thorough conviction, after forty 3^ears' observation, that the cases are few and far between in which it is morally safe and good for one to abandon his bread-winning calling in order to preach the gospel. It must be so distinct and unquestionable to the man himself, that he has onl}' to say, with Lulher, at the Diet of Worms, "Here I am ; I can do no otherwise : God help me ! Amen." Then he may be perfectly sure that God will sustain him in the work to which He has called him, and meet all his need "according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." And as to men and their thoughts respecting him and his course, he has simply to refer them to his Master. He is not re- sponsible to them, nor has he ever asked them for any thing. If they were compelled to support him, reason would that they might complain or raise questions ; but as they are not, they must just leave him, remembering that to his own Master he stand- eth or falleth. But when we look at the splendid passage just quoted from 1 Corinthians ix, we find that the blessed apostle, after having established, be^-ond all question, his right to be supported, relinquishes it completely. — '-Nevertheless, I have used none of these things." He worked with liis hands; he wrought with labor and travail night and day, in order not to be chargeable or burdensome to any. "These hands," he says, "have ministered to my necessities, 'and those that were with me." He coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. He 292 DEUTERONOMY. traveled, he preached, he visited from house to house, he was the laborious apostle, the earnest evangelist, the diligent pastor, he had the care of all the churches. Was not he entitled to support ? Assuredly he was. It ought to have been the joy of the Church of God to minister to his every need. But he never enforced his claim — nay, he surren-- dered it. He supported himself and his companions by the labor of his hands ; and all this as an ex- ample, as he says to the elders of Ephesus, "I have showed 30U all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' " Now, it is perfectly wonderful to think of this beloved and revered servant of Christ, with his ex- tensive travels from Jerusalem and round about tc Ill^^ricum, his gigantic labors as an evangelist, a pastor, and a teacher, and 3'et finding time to sup- port himself and others by the work of his hands. Truly he occupied high moral ground. His case is a standing testimony against hirelingism, in every shape and form. The infidel's sneering references to well-paid ministers could have no application what- ever to him. He certainly did not preach for hire. And yet he thankfully received help from those who knew how to give it. Again and again the beloved assembly at Philippi ministered to the necessities of their revered and beloved father in Christ. How well for them that they did so! It will never be forgotten. Millions have read the CIIAI'TEK XVIII. 293 sweet record of their devotedness, and been re- freshed by the odor of their sacrifice ; it is recorded in heaven, where nothing of the kind is ever for- gotten — 3'ea, it is engraved on tiie very tablets of the heart of Christ. Hear how the blessed apostle pours out his gi-ateful heart to his much-loved chil- dren. — "I rejoiced in the Lord greatl}-, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again ; wherein 3'e were also careful, but ye lacked oppor- tunit3\ Not that I speak in respect of want;" — blessed, self-denying servant! — "for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungiy, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. Notwithstanding, ye have well done that 3'e did communicate with my afflic- tion. Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye onl3\ For even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity. Not because I desire a gift ; but I desire fruit that ma3' abound to your account. But I have all, and abound ; I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God. ' But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (Phil. iv. 10-19.) 294 DEUTERONOMY. What a rare privilege to be allowed to comfort the heart of such an honored servant of Christ, at the close of his career, and in the solitude of his prison at Rome ! How seasonable, how right, how lovel}', was their ministry ! What joy to i^eceive the apos- tle's grateful acknowledgments! and then how pre- cious the assurance that their service had gone up, as an odor of sweet smell, to the very throne and heart of God ! Who would not rather be a Philippian ministering to the apostle's need, than a Corinthian calling his ministry in question, or a Galatian breaking his heart ? How vast the difference ! The apostle could not take any thing from the assembly at Corinth ; their state did not admit of it. Individuals in that assembly did minister to him, and their service is recorded on the page of inspiration, remembered above, and it will be abundantly rewarded in the kingdom by and b}-. "I am glad of the coming of Stephanas and For- tunatus and Achaicus ; for that ivhich ivas lacking on your part they have supplied. For they have refreshed my spirit and yours, therefore acknowl- edge 3'e them that are such." (1 Cor. xvi. 17, 18.) Thus, then, from all that has passed before us, we learn most distinctly that both under the law and under the gospel it is according to the revealed will, and according to the heart of God, that those who are really called of Him to the work, and who devote themselves earnestly, diligentl}^ and faithfully to it, should have the hearty sympathy and practical help of His people. All who love Christ will count it CHAPTER XVIII. 295 their deepest jo}' to minister to Him in the persons of His servants. When He Himself was here upon earth, He graciously accepted help from the hands of those who loved Him, and had reaped the fruit of His most precioTis ministry — "certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mar\', called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto Him of their substance." (Luke viii. 2, 3.) Happy, highly privileged women ! What joy to be allowed to minister to the Lord of glor}', in the days of His human need and humiliation ! There stand their honored names, on the divine page, written down by God the Holy Ghost, to be read by untold millions, to be borne along the stream of time right onward into eternit}'. How well it was for those women that they did not waste their substance in self-indulgence, or hoard it up to be rust on their souls, or a positive curse, as money must ever be if not used for God ! But on the other hand, we learn the urgent need, on the part of all who take the place of workers, whether in or out of the assembl}', of keeping them- selves perfectly free from all human influence, all looking to men, in any shape or form. They must have to do with God in the secret of their own souls, or they will assuredly break down, sooner or later. They must look to Him alone for the supply of their need. If the church neglect them, the church will be the serious loser here and hereafter. 296 DEUTERONOMY. If they can support themselves by the labor of their hands, without curtaiHng their direct service to Christ, so much the better ; it is unquestionably the more excellent way. "VVe are as persuaded of this as of the truth of any proposition that could be sub- mitted to us. There is nothing more spirituall}' and morally noble than a trul}^ gifted servant of Christ supporting himself and his family by the sweat of his brow or the sweat of his brain, and, at the same time, giving himself diligently to the Lord's work, whether as an evangelist, a pastor, or a teacher. The moral antipodes of this is presented to our view in the person of a man who, without gift or grace or spiritual life, enters what is called the ministr}-, as a mere profession or means of living. The position of such a man is morally dangerous and miserable in the extreme. We shall not dwell upon it, inas- much as it does not come within the range of the subject which has been engaging our attention, and we are only too thankful to leave it and proceed with our chapter. *'When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer ; for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord, and because of these abominations the CHAPTER XVIII. 297 Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God. For these nations, -which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners ; but as for thee., the Lord thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.'' (Ver. 9-14.) Now, it may be that, on reading the foregoing quotation, the reader feels disposed to ask what possible application it can have to professing Chris- tians. We ask, in reph*, Are there any professing Christians wlio are in the habit of going to witness the performances of wizards, magicians, and necro- mancers? are there any who take part in table-turn- ing, spirit-rapping, mesmerism, or clairvoyance?* If so, the passage which we have just quoted bears very pointedly and solemnly upon all such. We most surely believe that all these things which we have named are of the devil. This may sound harsh and severe, but we cannot help that. We are thor- oughl}' persuaded that when people lend themselves to the awful business of bringing up, in any wa}', the spirits of the departed, they are simply putting themselves into the hands of the devil, to be de- *Some of our readers may object to our classing mesmerism with spirit-rapping and table-turning. It may be they would regard it in the same light, and use it in the same way, as ether or chloro- form, in medical practice. We do not attempt to dogmatize on the point. We can only say that we could have nothing whatever to do with it. We consider it a most solemn tiling for any one to allow himself to be placed by another in a state of utter unconscious- ness, for any purpose whatsoever. And as to the idea of listening to, or being guided by, the ravings of a i)ersoii in that state, we can only regard it as absolutely absurd, if not positively sinful. 298 DEUTERONOMY. ceived and deluded by his lies. What, we may ask, do those who hold in their hands a perfect reve- lation from God want of table-turning and spirit- ra})ping? Surely nothing. And if, not content with that precious Word, they turn to the spirits of departed friends or others, what can they expect but that God will judicially give them over to be blinded and deceived by wicked spirits, who come up and personate the departed, and tell all manner of lies ? We cannot attempt to go fully into this subject here ; we have no time, nor space, nor inclination, for an}" thing of the sort. We merely feel it to be our solemn duty to warn the reader against having any thing whatever to do with consulting departed spirits. We believe it to be most dangerous work. We do not enter upon the question as to whether souls can come back to this world ; no doubt God could permit them to come if He saw fit, but this we leave. The great point for ns to keep ever be- fore our hearts is, the perfect sufficienc}" of divine revelation. What do we want of departed spirits ? The rich man imagined that if Lazarus were to go back to earth and speak to his five brethren, it would have a great effect. — " ^I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to ni}" father's house ; for I have five brethren; that he may testif}" unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' Abraham saith unto him, 'They have Moses and the 'prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'Na}^ father Abraham ; butif one went unto them from the CHAPTER XVIII. 299 dead, they will repent.' And he said unto him, 'If they hear not Moses and the j^rophets^ neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.' " (Lukexvi. 27-31.) Here we have a thorough settlement of this ques- tion. If people will not hear the Word of God, if they will not believe its clear and solemn statements as to themselves, their present condition, and their future destiny, neither will the}^ be persuaded though a thousand departed souls were to come back and tell them what they saw and heard and felt in heaven above or in hell beneath ; it would produce no sav- ing or permanent effect upon them, It might cause great excitement — great sensation, furnish great material for talk, and fill the newspapers far and wide ; but there it would end. People would go on all the same with their traffic and gain, their folly and vanity, their pleasure-hunting and self-indulgence. "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, [and, we may add, Christ and His holy apostles,] neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." The heart that will not bow to Scripture will not be convinced by an}^ thing ; and as to the true believer, he has in Scripture all he can possibly want, and therefore he has no need to have recourse to table-turning, spirit-rapping, or magic. "And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter ; should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to 20 300 DEUTERONOMY. this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Is. viii. 19, 20.) Here is the divine resource of the Lord's people, at all times and in all places ; and to this it is that Moses refers the congregation in the splendid para- graph which closes our chapter. He shows them very distinctly that they had no need to apply to familiar spirits, enchanters, wizards, or witches, which were all an abomination to the Lord. "The Lord thy God," he sa3's, "will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; uyito him ye shall hearken; according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.' And the Lord said unto me, 'They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words into his mouth ; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet which shall presume to speak a word in M}^ name which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart. How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken ? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, CHAPTER XVIII. 301 nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him." (Ver. 15-22.) We can be at no loss to know who this Prophet is, nameh', our adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In the third chapter of Acts, Peter so applies the words of Moses. — "He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you ; whom the heaven must receive nntil the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken b}^ the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, ' A Prophet shall the Lord Aour God raise up unto j'ou of your breth- ren, like unto me; him shall 3'e hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto 3'ou. And it shall come to pass that every soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destro3'ed from among the peo- ple.'" (Ver. 20-23.) How precious the privilege of hearing the voice of such a Prophet ! It is the voice of God speaking through the lips of the Man Christ Jesus — speaking, not in thunder, not with flaming fire, nor the light- ning's flash, but in that still small voice of love and mercy which falls in soothing power on the broken heart and contrite spirit, which distills like the gentle dew of heaven upon the thirsty ground. This voice we have in the holy Scriptures — that precious revelation which comes so constantly and so power- fully before us in our studies on this blessed book of Deuteronomy. We must never forget this. The 302 DEUTEHONOanr. voice of Scripture is the voice of Ciirist, and the voice of Christ is the voice of God. We want no more. If any one presumes to come with a fresh revelation, with some new truth not contained in the divine Volume, we must judge him and his communication by the standard of Scripture and reject them utterl}-. "Thou shalt not be afraid of him." False prophets come with great preten- sions, high-sounding words, and sanctimonious bearing. Moreover, they seek to surround them- selves with a sort of dignit}', weight, and impress- iveness which are apt to impose on the ignorant. But tlie}^ cannot stand the searching power of the Word of God. Some simple clause of holy Scripture will strip them of all their imposing surroundings, and cut up by the roots their wonderful revelations. Those who know the voice of the true Prophet will not listen to any other : those who have heard the voice of the good Shepherd will not listen to the voice of a stranger. Reader, see that you listen only to the voice of Jesus. CHAPTER XIX. ^' TirHEN the Lord thy God hath cut off the na- ' ' tions whose land the Lord thy God giveth thee, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their cities, and in their houses ; thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of tlnj land, which CHAPTER XIX. 303 the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it. Tliou shalt prepare thee a tvay^ and divide the coasts of thy hind, which the Lord thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may Jlee thither.'' (Ver. 1-3.) What a very striking combination of "goodness and severity" we observe in these few lines ! We have the "cutting off" of the nations of Canaan because of their consummated wickedness, which had become positively unbearable ; and on the other hand, we have a most touching display of divine goodness in the provision made for the poor man- slayer in the day of his deep distress, when flying for his life from the avenger of blood. The govern- ment and the goodness of God are, we need hardl}^ say, both divinely perfect. There are cases in which goodness would be nothino: but a toleration of sheer wickedness and open rebellion, which is utterly impossible under the government of God. If men imagine that because God is good they may go on and sin with a high hand, they will sooner or later find out their woeful mistake. "Behold," says the inspired apostle, "the good- ness and severity of God!"* God will most as- suredly cut off evil-doers who despise His goodness and long-suffering mercy. He is slow to anger, blessed be His holy name ! and of great kindness. For hundreds of years He bore with the seven na- tions of Canaan, until their wickedness rose np to *The word rendercMl "severity" is aTtorojut'cx, whUU litcnilly means "cutting off." 304 DEUTERONOMT. the very heavens, and the land itself could bear them no longer. He bore with the enormous wickedness of the guilty cities of the plain; and if He had found even ten righteous people in Sodom, He would have spared it for their sakes. But the da}' of terrible vengeance came, and they were "cut off." And so will it be ere long with guilty Christendom. "Thou also shalt be cut off." The reckoning-time will come, and oh, what a reckoning-time it will be ! The heart trembles at the thought of it, while the eye scans and the pen traces the soul-subduing words. But mark how divine "goodness" shines out in the opening lines of our chapter. See the gracious painstaking of our God to make the city of refuge as available as possible for the slayer. The three cities were to be "i?i the midst of thy land." It would not do to have them in remote corners, or in places difficult of access. And not only so, but ^^thou shalt prepare thee a way;" and again, "Thou shalt divide the coasts of thy land . . . into three parts." Every thing was to be done to facilitate the slayer's escape. The gracious Lord thought of the feelings of the distressed one "flying for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before him." The city of refuge was to be "brought near," just as "the right- eousness of God" is brought near to the poor broken-hearted helpless sinner — so near, that it is "to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodl}-." There is peculiar sweetness in the expression, ^^ Thou slialt prepare thee a ivay." How like our CHAPTEIi XIX. t3UJ own ever-gracious God — "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"! and 3'et it was the same God that cut off the nations of Canaan in righteous judgment who thus made such gracious provision for the man-slayer. "Behold, the goodness and severity of God." "And this is the case of the slayer, which shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoso killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past ; as when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, that he die ; he shall flee unto one of those cities and live ; lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and over- take him, because the ivay is long," — most touching and exquisite grace! — "and slay him ; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Wherefore I command thee, sa}- ing, 'Thou shalt separate three cities for thee.'" (Ver. 4-7.) Here we have a most minute description of the man for whom the city of refuge w^as provided. If he did not answer to this, the city was not for him ; but if he did, he might feel the most perfect assurance that a gracious God had thought of him, and found a refuge for him, where he might be as safe as the hand of God could make him. Once the slayer found himself within the precincts of the city of refuge, he might breathe freely, and enjoy 306 DEUTERONOMY. calm and sweet repose. No avenging sword could reach him there, not a hair of his head could be touched there. He was safe — yes, perfectly safe ; and not only perfectly safe, but perfectly certain. He was not hoping to be saved, he was sure of it. He was in the cit}', and that was enough. Before he got in, he might have many a struggle deep down in his poor ternfied heart, many doubts and fears and painful exercises. He was flying for his life, and this was a serious and an all-absorbing matter for him — a matter that would make all beside seem light and tri- fling. We could not imagine the flying slayer stop- ping to gather flowers b}^ the roadside. Flowers! he would sa}', What have I to do Mith flowers just now? My life is at stake. I am flying for my life. What if the avenger should come and find me gathering flowers? No; the city is my one grand and all-engrossing object; nothing else has the smallest interest or charm for me. I want to be saved ; that is my exclusive business now. But the moment he found himself within the blessed gates, he was safe, and he kneiv it. How did he know it? By his feelings? by his evidences? by experience? Nay; but simply by the Word of God. No doubt he had the feeling, the evidence, and the experience, and most precious they would be to him after his tremendous struggle and conflict to get in ; but these things were by no means the ground of his certainty or the basis of his peace. He knew he was safe because God told him so. The CHAPTER XIX. 307 grace of God had made him safe^ and the Word of God made him sure. We cannot conceive a man-slayer within the walls of the city of refuge expressing himself as many of the Lord's dear people do in reference to the question of safety and certainty. He would not deem it presumption to be sure he was safe. If any one had asked him, Are you sure you are safe ? Sure ! he would say, How can I be otherwise than sure? Was I not a slayer? have I not fled to this city of refuge ? has not Jehovah, our covenant-God, pledged His Word for it ? has He not said that *'fleeing thither he may live"? Yes, thank God, I am perfectly sure. I had a terrible run for it — a fearful struggle. At times, I almost felt as if the avenger had me in his dreaded grasp. I gave m}'- self up for lost ; but then, God, in His infinite mercy, made the wa}' so plain, and made the city so easy of access to me, that, spite of all my doubts and fears, here I am, safe and certain. The struggle is all over, the conflict past and gone. I can breathe freely now, and walk up and down in the perfect security of this blessed place, praising our gracious covenant-God for His great goodness in having provided such a sweet retreat for a poor slayer like me. Can the reader speak thus as to his safety in Christ ? Is he saved, and does he know it ? If not, may the Spirit of God apply to his heart the simple illustration of the man-slayer within the walls of the city of refuge. May he know that "strong 308 DEUTERONOMY. consolation" which is the sure, because divinel}' appointed, portion of all those who have "fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before them." (Heb. vi. 18.) We must now proceed with our chapter ; and in so doing, we shall find that there was more to be thought of in the cities of refuge than the question of the slayer's safety. That was provided for perfectl}^, as we have seen; but the glory of God, the purity of His land, and the integrity of His government had to be duly maintained. If these things were touched, there could be no safety for any one. This great principle shines on every page of the history of God's ways with man. Man's true blessing and God's glory are indissolubly bound together, and both the one and the other rest on the same imperishable foundation, namely, Christ and His precious work. "And if the Lord thy God enlarge thy coasts, as He hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which He promised to give unto thy fathers ; if thou shalt keep all these commandments to do the;ii, which I command thee this da}^, to love the Lord th}^ God, and to walk ever in His ways ; then shalt t-hou add three cities more for thee, be- side these three ; that innocent blood he not shed in thy land^ which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities ; then the CHAPTER XIX. 309 elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he ma}^ die. Thine eye shall not pity him, but thoa shalt i)ut away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel^ that it may go well with thee." (Ver. 8-13.) Thus, whether it was grace for the sla3'er, or judgment for the murderer, the glory of God and the claims of His government had to be duly main- tained. The unwitting man-slayer was met by the provision of mercy ; the guilty murderer fell beneath the stern sentence of inflexible justice. We must never forget the solemn reality of divine government. It meets us ever}' where ; and if it were more fully recognized, it would effectually deliver us from one- sided views of the divine character. Take such words as these — ''Thine eye shall not pity him." Who uttered them? Jehovah. Who penned them ? God the Holy Ghost. What do they mean? Solemn judgment upon wickedness. Let men beware how they trifle with these weighty matters. Let the Lord's people beware how they give place to foolish reasonings in reference to things wholly be3'ond their range. Let them remember that a false sentiment- ality may constantly be found in league with an audacious infidelity in calling in question the solemn enactments of divine government. This is a very serious consideration. Evil doers must look out for the sure judgment of a sin-hating God. If a willful murderer presumed to avail himself of God's provi- sion for the ignorant man-slayer, the hand of justice 310 DEUTERONOMY. laid hold of him and put him to death, without mercy. Such was the government of God in Israel of old, and such will it be in a day that is rapidly approaching. Just now, God is dealing in long- suffering mercy with the world ; this is the da}^ of salvation — the acceptable time. The day of venge- ance is at hand. Oh that man, instead of reasoning about the justice of God's dealings with evil-doers, would flee for refuge to that precious Saviour who died on the cross to save us from the flames of an everlasting hell ! * Before quoting for the reader the closing para- graph of our chapter^ we would just call his attention to verse 14, in which we have a very beautiful proof of God's tender care for His people, and His most gracious interest in every thing which directly or indirectly concerned them. "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbor's landmark, which they of old time have set in thine inheritance, which thou shalt in- herit in the land that the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it." This passage, taken in its plain import and pri- mary application, is full of sweetness, as presenting the loving heart of our God, and showing us how marvelously He entered into all the circumstances of His beloved people. The landmarks were not to be meddled with. Each one's portion was to be left intact, according to the boundary-lines set up by those of old time. Jehovah had given the land to *For other points presented in the cities of refuge we must refer the reader to " Notes on the Book of Numbers," chapter xxxv. CHAPTER XIX. 311 Israel, and not onl}^ so, but He had assigned to each tribe and to each family their proper i)ortion, marked off with perfect precision, and indicated by land- marks so })lain that there could be no confusion, no clashing of interests, no interference one with an- other, no ground for lawsuit or controversy about property. There stood the ancient landmarks, mark- ing off each one's portion in such a manner as to remove all possible ground of dispute. Each one held as a tenant under the God of Israel, who knew all about his little holding, as we say, and every tenant had the comfort of knowing that the eye of the gracious and almighty Landlord w^as upon his bit of land, and His hand over it to protect it from ever}' intruder. Thus he could abide in peace under his vine and under his fig-tree, enjoying the portion assigned him by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thus much as to the obvious sense of this beau- tiful clause of our chapter ; but surely it has a deep spiritual meaning also. Are there not spiritual landmarks for the Church of God, and for each individual member thereof, marking off, with divine accurac}', the boundaries of our heavenly inheritance — those landmarks which they of old time, even the apostles of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, have set up. Assuredly there are, and God has His eye upon them, and He will not permit them to be removed with impunit3\ Woe be to the man that attempts to touch them ; he will have to give account to God for so doing. It is a serious thing for any 312 DEUTERONOMY. one to interfere, in an}- wa}', with the place, portion, and prospect of the Church of God ; and it is to be feared that many are doing it without being aware of it. We do not attempt to go into the question of what these landmarks are ; we have sought to do this in our first volume of " Notes on Deuteronomy," as well as in the other four volumes of the series ; but we feel it to be our duty to warn, in the most solemn manner, all whom it may concern against doing that which, in the Church of God, answers to the re- moval of the landmarks in Israel. If any one had come forward in the land of Israel to suggest some new arrangement in the inheritance of the tribes, to adjust the property of each upon some new principle, to set up some new boundary-lines, what would have been the reply of the faithful Israelite ? A very simple one, we may be sure. He would have replied in the language of Deuteronomy xix. 14. He would have said. We want no novelties here ; we are perfectly content with those sacred and time-honored land- marks which they of old time have set in our inher- itance. We are determined, by the grace of God, to keep to them, and to resist, with firm purpose, any modern innovation. Such, we believe, would have been the prompt reply of every true member of the congregation of Israel ; and surely the Christian ought not to be less prompt or less decided in his answer to all those who, under the plea of progress and development, would remove the landmarks of the Church of God CHAPTER XIX. 313 fl,nd, instead of the precious teaching of Christ and His apostles, offer us the so-called light of science and the resources of philosopln'. Thank God, we want them not. We have Christ and Hit. Word ; what can be added to these ? What do we want of human progress or development, when we have "that which was /rom the beginning"? What can science or philosophy do for those who possess '''all truth"? No doubt, we want — yea, long to make progress in the knowledge of Christ ; long for a fuller, clearer development of the life of Christ in our daily history ; but science and philosophy cannot help us in these ; nay, they could only prove a most serious hindrance. Christian reader, let us seek to keep close to Christ, close to His Word. This is our only security in this dark and evil day. Apart from Him, we are nothing, have nothing, can do nothing; in Him, we have all. He is the portion of our cup and the lot of our inheritance. May we know what it is not only to be safe in Him, but separated to Him, and satisfied luith Him, till that bright day when we shall see Him as He is, and be like Him and with Him forever. We shall now do little more than quote the few remaining verses of our chapter. They need no exposition. The}^ set forth wholesome truth, to which professing Christians, with all their light and knowledge, may well give attention. '^One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the 314 DEUTERONOMY. mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established." (Ver. 15.) This subject has already come before us. It can- not be too strongly insisted upon. We may judge of its importance from the fact that not only does Moses again and again press it upon Israel's atten- tion, but our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and the Holy Ghost in the apostle Paul, in two of his epistles, insists upon the principle of "two or three witnesses," in every case. One witness, be he ever so trustworth}-, is not sufficient to decide a case. If this plain fact were more carefully weighed and dul}^ attended to, it would put an end to avast amount of strife and contention. We, in our fancied wisdom, might imagine that one thoroughly reliable witness ought to be sufficient to settle any question. Let us remember that God is wiser than we are, and that it is ever our truest wisdom, as well as our greatest moral securit}-, to hold fast by His unerring Word. "If a false witness rise up against au}^ man, to testify against him that which is wrong ; then both the men, ])etween whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges which shall be in those days ; and the judges shall maJie diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and have testified falsely against his brother ; then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you. And those which remain shall hear and fear, and shall hence- forth commit no more an}' such evil among 3'ou, CHAPTER XX. 315 And thine e3'e shall not pity ; but life shall go for life, e3'e for e3'e, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." (Ver. 16-21.) We ma}' here see how God hates false witness ; and further, we have to bear in mind that though we are not under law, but under grace, false witness is not less hateful to God ; and surely the more fully we enter into the grace in which we stand, the more intensely we, shall abhor false witness, slander, and evil-speaking, in every shape and form. The good Lord preserve us from all such. CHAPTER XX. ^^TTTHEN thou goest out to battle against thine T T enemies, and seest horses and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them ; for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel! ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies ; let not your hearts faint ; fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them ; for the Lord your God is He that goeth with you to fight for you against 3'our enemies, to save 3'ou." (Ver. 1-4.) How wonderful to think of the Lord as a Man of war ! Think of His fighting against people ! Some 21 316 DEUTERONOMY. find it very hard to take in the idea — hard to under- stand how a benevolent Being could act in such a character. But the difficult}^ arises mainl}^ from not distinguishing between the different dispensations. It was just as consistent with the character of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to fight against His enemies, as it is with the character of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ to forgive them. And inasmuch as it is the revealed character of God that furnishes the model on which His people are to be formed — the standard by which they are to act, it was quite as consistent for Israel to cut their enemies in pieces as it is for us to love them, pray for them, and do them good. If this very simple principle were borne in mind, it would remove a quantity of misunderstanding, and save a vast amount of unintelligent discussion. No doubt it is thoroughly w^-ong for the Church of God to go to war. No one can read the New Testa- ment with a mind free from bias and not see this. We are positive^ commanded to love our enemies, to do good to them that hate us, and to pray for them that despitefully use us. "Put up again th}^ sword into his place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword." And again, in another gospel, "Then said Jesus unto Peter, 'Put up th}^ sword into the sheath: the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it ?'" Again, our Lord says to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world : if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight' ' — it would be perfectly CIIAPTKR XX. 317 consistent for them so to do; — "but noiu is My kingdom not from hence" — and therefore it would be wholly out of character, utterly' inconsistent, thoroughly wrong, for them to fight. All this is so plain that we need only say, "How readest thou?" Our blessed Lord did not fight; He meekl}' and patiently submitted to all manner of abuse and ill-treatment, and in so doing. He left us an example, that we should follow His steps. If we only honestly ask ourselves the question. What would Jesus do ? it would close all discussion on this point, as well as upon a thousand other points besides. There is really no use in reasoning — no need of it. If the words and waj's of our blessed Lord, and the distinct teaching of His Spirit by His holy apostles, be not suflficient for our guidance, all discussion is ntterl}- vain. And if we be asked. What does the Holy Ghost teach on this great practical point ? hear His pre- cious, clear, and pointed words. — "Dearly beloved, avenge not 3'ourselves ; but rather give place unto wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine ; I lolll repay ^ saitli the Lord.' Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink; for in so doing, thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Rom. xii.) These are the lovel}^ ethics of the Church of God, the principles of that heavenly kingdom to which all true Christians belong. Would the}' have suited Israel of old? Certainl}' not. Only conceive Joshua 318 DEUTEtiONO:\IT. acting toward the Canaanites ou the principles of Romans xii ! It would have been as flagrant an inconsistency as for ns to act on the principle of Deuteronomy xx. How is this ? Simply because in Joshua's da}- God was executing judgment in righteousness, whereas now He is dealing in un- qualified grace. This makes all the difference. Tlie principle of divine action is the grand moral regu- lator for God's people in all ages. If this be seen, all difficulty is removed, all discussion definitive!}^ closed. But then, if any feel disposed to ask, What about the w^orld ? how could it get on upon the principle of grace ? Could it act on the doctrine of Romans xii. 20 ? Not for a moment. The idea is simply absurd. To attempt to amalgamate the principles of grace with the law of nations, or to infuse the spirit of the New Testament into the frame-work of political econoni}^, would instantl}' plunge civilized society into hopeless confusion. And here is just where man}^ most excellent and well-meaning people are astray. They want to press the nations of the world into the adoption of a principle which w^ould be destructive of their national existence. The time is not come yet for nations to beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks, and learn war no more. That blessed time will come, thank God, when this groaning earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea ; but to seek to get nations noio to act upon peace i)rinciples is simpl}" to ask them to cease CHAPTER XX. 319 to be — in a word, it is thoroughly hopeless, uninteU hgent labor. It cannot be. We are not called upon to regulate the world, but to pass through it as pil- grims and strangers. Jesus did not come to set the world right. He came to seek and to save that which was lost; and as to the world, He testified of it that its deeds were evil. He will, ere long, come to set things right ; He will take to Himself His great power and reign. The kingdoms of this world shall most assuredly become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Cin-ist. He will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them that do iniquit}'. All this is most blessedly true, but we must wait His time. It can be of no possible use for us, by our ignorant efforts, to seek to bring about a condition of things which all Scripture goes to prove can only be introduced by the personal presence and rule of our beloved and adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But we must proceed with our chapter. Israel were called to fight the Lord's battles. The moment they put their foot upon the land of Canaan it was war to the knife with the doomed inhabitants. ''Of the cities of these people which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou slialt save alive nothing that breatheth." This was dis- tinct and emphatic. The seed of Abraham were not only to possess the land of Canaan, but they were to be God's instruments in executing His just judgment upon the guilty inhabitants, whose sins had risen up to heaven, and become absolutely intolerable. 320 DEUTERONOMY. Does any one feel called upon to apologize for the divine actings toward the seven nations of Canaan ? If so, let him be well assured of this, that his labor is perfectly gratuitous, entirely uncalled for. What folly for any poor worm of the earth to think of entering upon such work ! and what foil}', too, for any one to require an apology or an explanation ! It was a high honor put upon Israel to exterminate those guilty nations — an honor of which they proved themselves utterly unworthy, inasmuch as they failed to do as they were commanded. They left alive many of those who ought to have been utterly de- stro^'ed ; they spared them to be the w^retched instruments of their own ultimate ruin, by leading them into the self-same sins which had so loudly called for divine judgment. But let us look for a moment at the qualifications which were necessary for those who would fight tlie Lord's battles. We shall find the opening para- graph of our chapter full of most precious instruc- tion for ourselves in the spiritual warfare which we are called to wage. The reader will observe that the people, on ap- proaching to the battle, were to be addressed, first, by the priest, and secondl}^ by the officers. This order is very beautiful. Tlie priests came forward to unfold to the people their high privileges; the officers came to remind them of their holy responsi- bilities. Such is the divine order here. Privilege comes first, and then responsibility. "The priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shull CHArXEK XX. 321 say unto them, Hear, O Israel! ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies ; let not j'our hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them ; for the Lord your God is He that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." What blessed words are these ! how full of com- fort and encouragement! how eminently calculated to banish all fear and depression, and to infuse cour- age and confidence into the most sinking, fainting heart ! The priest was the very expression of the grace of God, — his ministry a stream of most precious consolation flowing from the loving heart of the God of Israel to each individual warrior. His loving words were designed and fitted to gird up the loins of the mind, and nerve the feeblest arm for fight. He assures them of the divine presence with them. There is no question, no condition, no "if," no "but." It is an unqualified statement. Jehovah Elohim was with them. This surel}^ was enough. It mattered not, in the smallest degree, how many, how powerful, or how formidable were their enemies, they would all prove to be as chaff before the whirlwind in the presence of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. But then the officer had to be heard as well as the priest. — "And the officers shall speak unto the peo- ple, saying. What man is there that hath built a new house and hath not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man dedicate it. And what man is he that 322 DEUTERONOMY. hath planted a vineyard and hath not 3^et eaten of it? let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man eat of it. And what man is there that hath betrothed a wife and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall sa}^. What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren's heart faint as well as his heart. And it shall be that wben the officers have made an end of speaking unto the people, that they shall make captains of the armies to lead the peo- ple." (Ver. 5-9.) Thus we learn that there were two things abso- lutely essential to all who would fight the Lord's battles, namely, a heart thoroughly disentangled from the things of nature and of earth, and a bold unclouded confidence in God. "No man that war- reth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." There is a very material difference between being engaged in the affairs of this life and being entangled by them. A man might have had a house, a vineyard, and a wife and yet have been fit for the battle. These things were not, in themselves, a hindrance ; but it was having them under such conditions as rendered them an entanglement that unfitted a man for the conflict. It is well to bear this in mind. We, as Christians, are called to carry on a constant spiritual warfare. CHAPTEll XX. o23 We have to fight for every inch of heavenly ground. What the Canaanites were to Israel, the wicked spirits in the heavenlies are to us. We are not called to fight for eternal life ; we have gotten that as God's free gift before we begin. We are not called to fight for salvation ; we are saved before we enter upon the conflict. It is most needful to know what it is that we have to fight for, and whom we are to fight with. The object for which we fight is, to make good, maintain, and carry out practically our heavenl}' position and character in the midst of the scenes and circumstances of ordinary human life from day to da}'. And then as to our spiritual foes, the}^ are wicked spirits, who, during this present time, are permitted to occupy the heavenlies. *' We wrestle not against flesh and blood, [as Israel had to do in Canaan,] but against principalities, against powers, against the world-rulers [^Hoditoxpdropa^'] of this darkness, against wicked spirits in the heavenlies." Now, the question is, what do we want in carrying on such a conflict as this ? Must we abandon our lawful earthly callings? must we detach ourselves from those relationships founded on nature and sanctioned of God? Is it needful to become an ascetic, a mystic, or a monk in order to carry on the spiritual warfare to which we are called ? By no means ; indeed, for a Christian to do any one of these things would, in itself, be a proof that he had com- pletely mistaken his calling, or that he had, at the very outset, fallen in the battle. We are impera- tively called upon to work with our hands the thing 324 DEUTERONOMY. which is good, that we may have to give to him that needeth. And not only so, but we have the most ample guidance, in the pages of the New Test- ament, as to how we are to cany ourselves in the varied natural relationships which God Himself has established, and to which lie has affixed the seal of His approval. Hence it is perfectly plain that earthh- callings and natural relationships are, in themselves, no hindrance to our waging a successful spiritual warfare. What, then, is needed by the Christian warrior? A heart thoroughly disentangled from things earthly and natural, and an unclouded confidence in God. But how are these things to be maintained? Hear the divine reply; "Wherefore take unto 3'ou the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to with- stand in the evil day," — that is, the whole time from the cross to the coming of Christ, — "and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore ; having your loins girt about with truth , and having on the breast- plate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel o^ peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." (Eph. vi.) Reader, mark the qualification of a Christian warrior as here set forth by the Holy Ghost. It CIIAPTEU XX. 325 is not the question of a house, a vinej'ard, or a wife, but of having the inward man governed by "truth," the outward conduct characterized by real practical "righteousness," the moral liabits and ways marked by the sweet "peace" of the gospel, the whole man covered by the impenetrable shield of "faith," the seat of the understanding guarded by the full assurance of "salvation," and the heart continually sustained and strengthened by persevering prayer and supplication, and led forth in earnest intercession for all saints, and specially for the Lord's beloved workmen and their blessed work. This is the way in which the spiritual Israel of God are to be fur- nished for the warfare which the}' are called to wage with wicked spirits in the heavenlies.^ May the Lord, in His infinite goodness, make all these things very real in our souls' experience, and in our practical career from day to day. The close of our chapter contains the principles which were to govern Israel in their warfare. Tliey were most carefully to discriminate between the cities which were very far off from them and those that pertained to the seven judged nations. To the former, they were, in the first place, to make over- tures of peace ; with the latter, on the contrary, they were to make no terms whatever. "When thou comest nigh unto a city to Jight against it^ then pro- claim peace unto it" — a marvelous method of fight- ing! — "And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries 326 DEUTER0N03IY unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it ; and when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof" — as expressing the positive energy of evil — "with the edge of the sword. But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the cit}-, even all the spoil thereof" — all that was capable of being turned to account in the service of God and of His people — "thou shalt take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do unto all the cities which are very far off from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations." Indiscriminate slaughter and wholesale destruction formed no part of Israel's business. If any cities were disposed to accept the proffered terms of peace, they were to have the privilege of becoming tribu- taries to the people of God ; and in reference to those cities which would make no peace, all within their walls which could be made use of was to be reserved. There are things in nature and things of earth which are capable of being used for God — they are sanctified b}^ the Word of God and praj-er. We are told to make to ourselves friends of the mam- mon of unrighteousness, that when we fail, they ma}^ receive us into everlasting habitations ; which simply means that if this world's riches come into the Christian's hands, he should diligently and CHAPTER XX. 327 faithful!}' use them in the service of Christ ; he should freely distribute them to the poor, and to all the Lord's needy workmen ; in short, he should make them available, in every right and prudent wa}', for the furtherance of the Lord's work in every department. In this way, the very riches which else might crumble into dust in their hands, or prove to be as rust on their souls, shall produce precious fruit that shall serve to minister an abund- ant entrance into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Many seem to find considerable difficulty in Luke xvi. 9, but its teaching is as clear and forcible as it is practically important. We find very similar instruction in 1 Timothy vi. — "Charge them that are rich in this world, that the}^ be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richlj- all things to enjoy ; that they do good, that the}' be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life."* There is not a fraction which we spend directly and simply for Christ which will not be l)efoi-e us by and by. The thought of this, though it should not by any means be a motive-spring, may well encourage *It may interest the reader to know that the four leading author- ities agree in reading ovtcd'^ instead of cxlooviov in 1 Timothy vi. 19. Thus the passage would be, " That they may lay hold on life in earnest," or in reality. Tlie only real life is, to live for Christ— to live in the light <»f eternity— to use all we possess for the l)romotion of God's glory and with an eye to the everlasting man- sions. This, and only this, is life in earnest. 328 DEUTERONOMY. US to devote all we have and all we are to the service of our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Such is the plain teaching of Luke xvi. and 1 Timothy vi ; let us see that we understand it. The expression, "That they may receive j-ou into ever- lasting habitations" simply means that what is spent for Christ will be rewarded in the day that is com- ing. Even a cup of cold water given in His precious name shall have its sure reward in His everlasting kingdom. Oh, to spend and be spent for Him ! But we must close this section b}^ quoting the few last lines of our chapter, in which we have a ver}- beautiful illustration of the way in which our God looks after the smallest matters, and His gracious care that nothing should be lost or injured. "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof, by forcing an ax against them ; for thou may est eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to em- ploy them in the siege ; only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down ; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." (Ver. 19, 20.) "Let nothing be lost," is the Master's own word to us — a word which should ever be kept in remem- brance. "Every creature of God is good, and no- thing to be refused." We should carefully guard against all reckless waste of aught that can be made available for human use. Those who occupy the CHAPTER XXI, o29 place of domestic servants should give their special attention to this matter. It is painful, at times, to witness the sinful waste of human food. Many a thing is flung out as offal which might supply a welcome meal for a needy family. If a Christian servant should read these lines, we would earnestly entreat him or her to weigh this subject in the divine presence, and never to practice or sanction the w^aste of the smallest atom that is capable of being turned to account for human use. We may depend upon it that to waste any creature of God is displeasing in His sight. Let us remember that His eye is upon us ; and may it be our earnest desire to be agree- able to Him in all our ways. CHAPTER XXI. ^^TF one be found slain in the land which the Lord J- thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him ; then thy elders and thy judges'' — the guardians of the claims of truth and righteousness — "shall come forth, and the}' shall measure unto the cities that are round about him that is slain ; and it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and hath not drawn in the yoke ; and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley wliich is neither eared 330 £>EUTERONOMY. nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valle}'. And the jpriests the sons of Levi" — exponents of grace and mercy — "shall come near; for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto Him, and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried;" — blessed, comforting fact! — "and all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley ; and they shall an- swer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto Thy people Israel, whom Thou hast redeemed, and la}^ not innocent blood to Thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord." (Ver. 1-9.) A ver}^ suggestive and interesting passage of holy Scripture now lies open before us, and claims our attention. A sin is committed — a man is found slain in the land, but no one knows aught about it; no one can tell whether it is murder or man- slaughter, or w'ho committed the deed. It lies en- tirely beyond the range of human knowledge ; and 3'et there it is — an undeniable fact. Sin has been committed, and it lies as a stain on the Lord's land, and man is wholly incompetent to deal with it. What, then, is to be done ? The glory of God and the purity of His land must be maintained. He knows all about it, and He alone can deal with it ; CHAPTER XXI. .'),'> 1 and truly His mode of dealing with it is full of most precious teaching. First of all, the elders and judges appear on the scene. The claims of truth and righteousness must be duly attended to ; justice and judgment must be perfectly maintained. This is a great cardinal truth, running all through the Word of God. Sin must be judged ere sins can be forgiven or the sinner justified. Ere mercy's heavenly voice can be heard, justice must be perfectly' satisfied, the throne of God vindicated, and His name glorified. Grace must reif^n througrh rii^hteousness. Blessed be God that it is so ! What a glorious truth for all who have taken their true place as sinners ! God has been glorified as to the question of sin, and therefore He can, in perfect righteousness, pardon and justify the sinner. But we must confine ourselves simply to the inter- pretation of the passage before us, and in so doing, we shall find in it a very wonderful onlook into Israel's future. True, the great foundation-truth of atone- ment is presented, but it is with special reference to Israel. The death of Christ is here seen in its two grand aspects, namely, as the expression of man's guilt, and the display of God's grace. The former, we have in the man found slain in the field ; the latter, in the heifer slain in the rough valle}-. The elders and the judges find out the city nearest to the slain man, and nothing can avail for that cit}'' save the blood of a spotless victim — the blood of the One who was slain at the guilty city of Jerusalem. 332 DEUTERONOMY. The reader will note with much interest that the moment the claims of justice were met by the death of the victim, a new element is introduced into the scene. "The priests the sons of Levi shall come near." This is grace acting on the blessed ground of righteousness. The priests are the channels of grace, as the judges are the guardians of righteous- ness. How perfect, how beautiful, is Scripture, in every page, every paragraph, every sentence ! It was not until the blood was shed that the ministers of grace could present themselves. The heifer be- headed in the valley changed the aspect of things completeh'. "The priests the sons of Levi shall come near ; for them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto Him, and to bless in the name of the Lord; and hy their tvord" — blessed fact for Israel ! blessed fact for every true believer ! — "shall eveiy controversy and every stroke he tried."" All is to be settled on the glorious and eternal prin- ciple of grace reigning through righteousness. Thus it is that God will deal with Israel by and by. We must not attempt to interfere with the primar}^ application of all those striking institutions which come under our notice in this profound and marvel- ous book of Deuteronomy. No doubt there are lessons for us — precious lessons, but we may rest perfectly assured that the true way in which to un- derstand and appreciate those lessons is to see their true and proper bearing. For instance, how pre- cious, how full of consolation, the fact that it is by the word of the minister of grace that every con- CHAPTER XXT. 333 troversy and every stroke is to be tried for repentant Israel by and by, and for every repentant soul now ! Do we lose aught of the deep blessedness of this by seeing and owning the proper application of the scripture ? Assuredly not. So far from this, the true secret of profiting by any special passage of the Word of God is to understand its true scope and bearing. "And all the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valle}\"* "I will wash my hands in innocency, and so will I compass Thine altar." The true place to wash the hands is where the blood of atonement has forever expiated our guilt. *'And the}^ shall answer and sa}', Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O Lord, unto Thy people Israel, whom Thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto Thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them." "Father, forgive them, for the}' know not what *IIo\v full of suggestive power is the figure of "the rough ralleij"! How aptly it sets forth what this world at large, and the land of Israel in particular, was to our blessed Loi-d and Sav- iour ! Truly it was a rough place to Him, a place of humiliation, a dry and thirsty land, a place that had never been eared or sown. But, all homage to His Name ! by His death in this rough valley. He has procured for this earth and for the land of Israel a rich harvest of blessing, which shall be reaped throughout the millennial age, to the full praise of redeeming love. And even now. He, from the throne of heaven's majesty, and we, in spirit with Him, can look back to that rough valley as the i)]ace Avhere the blessed work was done which forms the imperishable foundation of God's glory, the Church's blessing, Israel's full restoration, the joy of countleas nations, and the glorious deliverance of this groaning creation. 334 DETTTEKONOMY. the}^ do." "Unto 3^011 first, God having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless j'ou, by turning away every one of you from his iniquities." Thus all Israel shall be saved and blessed by and b}-, according to the eternal counsels of God, and in pursuance of His promise and oath to Abraham, ratified and eternally established by the precious blood of Christ, to whom be all homage and praise, world without end ! Verses 10-17 bear jn a very special way upon Israel's relationship to Jehovah. We shall not dwell upon it here. The reader will find numerous references to this subject throughout the pages of the prophets, in which the Holy Ghost makes the most touching appeals to the conscience of the nation — appeals grounded on the marvelous fact of the relationship into which He had brought them to Himself, but in which they had so signally and grievously failed. Israel has proved an unfaithful wife, and, in consequence thereof, has been set aside ; but the time will come when this long- rejected but never-forgotten people shall not only be reinstated, but brought into a condition of bless- edness, privilege, and glory beyond any thing ever known in the past. This must never, for a moment, be lost sight of or interfered with. It runs like a brilliant golden line through the prophetic scriptures, from Isaiah to Malachi, and the lovely theme is resumed and carried on in the New Testament. Take the follow- ing glowing passage, which is only one of a hundred : CIIAPTEK XXI. 335 ^Tor Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteous- ness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salva- tion thereof as a lamp that burneth. And the Gen- tiles shall see th}' righteousness, and ail kings thy glory ; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a roj'al diadem in the hand of thy God. Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy land an}' more be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah [M}^ delight is in her], and thy land Beulah [married] ; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and th}' land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee ; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night : ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. The Lord hath sworn by His right liand, and by the arm of His strength" — let men beware how they meddle with this ! — "Surel}^ I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies ; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast labored ; but they that have gathered it shall eat it and praise the Lord, and they that have brought it tosrethcr shall drink it in the courts of My holiness Behold, the Lord hath pro- 336 DEUTERONOMY. claimed unto the end of the world, ' Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh ; be- hold. His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. And they shall call them. The holy people. The redeemed of the Lord ; and thou shalt be called. Sought out, A city not forsaken.' " (Is. Ixii.) To attempt to alienate this sublime and glorious passage from its proper object, and apply it to the Christian Church, either on earth or in heaven, is to do positive violence to the Word of God, and intro- duce a system of interpretation utterly destructive of the integrity of holy Scripture. Tlie passage whicli we have just transcribed, with intense spiritual delight, applies only to the literal Zion, the literal Jerusalem, the literal land of Israel. Let the reader see that he thoroughly seizes and faithfully holds fast this fact. As to the Church, her position on earth is that of an espoused virgin, not of a married wife. Her marriage will take place in heaven. (Rev. xix. 7, 8.) To apply to her such passages as the above is to falsify her position entirely, and deny the plainest statements of Scripture as to her calling, her por- tion, and her hope, which are purely heavenly. Verses 18-21 of our chapter record the case of "a stubborn and rebellious son." Here again we have Israel viewed from another stand-point. It is the apostate generation, for which there is no forgive- ness. "If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obe}^ the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that when they have CHAPTEU XXI. 337 chastened him will not hearken unto them ; then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place ; and they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious ; he will not obey our voice ; he* is a glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die ; so shalt thou put evil away from among you ; and all Israel shall hear and fear." The reader may with much interest contrast the solemn action of law and government in the case of the rebellious son, with the lovely and familiar parable of the prodigal son in Luke xv. Our space does not admit of our dwelling upon it here, much as we should delight to do so. It is marvelous to think that it is the same God who speaks and acts in Deuteronomy xxi. and in Luke xv ; but oh, how different the action ! how different the style ! Under the law, the father is called upon to lay hold of his son and bring him forth to be stoned ; under grace, the father runs to meet the returning son, falls on his neck and kisses him ; clothes him in the best robe, puts a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, has the fatted calf killed for him, seats him at the table with himself, and makes the house ring with the joy that fills his own heart at getting back the poor wandering spendthrift. Striking contrast! In Deuteronomy xxi, we see the hand of God, in righteous government, executing judgment upon the rebellious ; in Luke xv, we see 338 DEUTERONOMY. the heart of God pouring itself out, in soul-subduing tenderness, upon the poor repentant one, giving him the sweet assurance that it is His own deep joy to get back His lost one. The persistent rebel meets the stone of judgment ; the returning penitent meets the kiss of love. But we must close this section by calling the reader's attention to the last verse of our chapter. It is referred to in a very remarkable way by the inspired apostle in the third chapter of Galatians. *' Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ; for it is written, ' Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.'" This reference is full of interest and value, not only because it presents to us the precious grace of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, in making Him- self a curse for us, in order that the blessing of Abraham might come on us poor sinners of the Gentiles, but also because it furnishes a very strik- ing illustration of the way in which the Holy Spirit puts His seal upon the writings of Moses in general, and upon Deuteronomy xxi. in particular. All Scrip- ture hangs together so perfectly that if one part be touched, you mar the integrity of the whole. The same Spirit breathes in the writings of Moses, in the pages of the prophets, in the four evangelists, in the Acts, in the apostolic epistles, general and particular, and in that most profound and precious section which closes the divine volume. We deem it our sacred duty — as it is most assuredly our high privilege — to press this weighty fact upon all with CHAPTERS XXII. -XXV. 339 whom we come in contact ; and we would very earnestly entreat the reader to give it his earnest attention, to hold it fast, and bear a steady testimony to it, in this day of carnal laxity, cold indifference, and positive hostility. CHAPTERS XXII.— XXV. THE portion of our book on which we now enter, though not calling for elaborate exposition, 3'et teaches us two very important practical lessons. In the first place, many of the institutions and ordinances here set forth prove and illustrate, in a most striking wa}', the terrible depravity of the human heart. They show us, with unmistakable distinctness, what man is capable of doing if left to himself. We must ever remember, as Ave read some of the paragraphs of this section of Deuter- onomy, that God the Holy Ghost has indited them. We, in our fancied wisdom, may feel disposed to ask why such passages were ever penned. Can it be possible that they are actually inspired by the Holy Ghost? and of what possible value can they be to us? If they w^ere written for our learning, then what are we to learn from them ? Our reply to all these questions is at once simple and direct ; and it is this : The very passages which we might least expect to find on the page of inspira- tion teach us, in their own pecuUar way, the moral 340 DEUTERONOMY. material of which we are made, and the moral depths into which we are capable of plunging. And is not this of great moment? Is it not well to have a faithfid mirror held up before our eyes, in which we may see every moral trait, feature, and lineament perfectly reflected ? Unquestionably. We hear a great deal about the dignity of human nature, and very many find it exceedingly hard to admit that they are really capable of committing some of the sins prohibited in the section before us, and in other portions of the divine volume ; but we may rest assured that when God commands us not to commit this or that particular sin, we are verily capable of committing it. This is beyond all question. Divine wisdom would never erect a dam if there was not a current to be resisted. There would be no necessity to tell an angel not to steal ; but man has theft in his nature, and hence the command applies to him. And just so in reference to every other prohibited thing ; the prohibition proves the tendency — proves it beyond all question. We must either admit this or imply the positive blasphemy that God has spoken in vain. But then, it may be said, and is said by many, that while some very terrible samples of fallen hu- manity are capable of committing some of the abominable sins prohibited in Scripture, yet all are not so. This is a most thorough mistake. Hear what the Holy Ghost says in the seventeenth chapter of the prophet Jeremiah. "T/ie heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Whose CHAPTEllS XXII. -XXV. 341 heart is he speaking of? Is it the heart of some atrocious criminal, or of some untutored savage ? Nay ; it is the human heart — the heart of the writer and of the reader of these lines. Hear also what our Lord Jesus Christ says on this subject. — ^' Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false wit- ness, blasphemies." Out of what heart? Is it the heart of some hideously depraved and abominable wretch, wholly unfit to appear in decent society ? Nay ; it is out of the human heart — the heait of the writer and of the reader of these lines. Let us never forget this ; it is a wholesome truth for every one of us. We all need to bear in mind that if God were to withdraw His sustaining grace for one moment, there is no depth of iniquity into which we are not capable of plunging ; indeed, we may add — and we do it with deep thankfulness — it is His own gracious hand that preserves us, each moment, from becoming a complete wreck in every wa3% — physically, mentally, morall}^, spiritually, and in our circumstances. May we keep this ever in the remembrance of the thoughts of our hearts, so that we may walk humbly and watchfully, and lean upon that arm which alone can sustain and pre- serve us. But we have said there is another valuable lesson furnished by this section of our book which now lies open before us. It teaches us, in a manner peculiar to itself, the marvelous wa}- in which God provided for every thing connected with His people. 342 DEUTERONOMY. Nothing escaped His gracious notice ; nothing was too trivial for His tender care. No mother could be more careful of the habits and manners of her little child than the almighty Creator and moral Governor of the universe was of the most minute details connected with the daily history of His people. By day and by night, waking and sleeping, at home and abroad, He looked after them. Their clothing, their food, their manners and ways toward one another, how they were to build their houses, how they were to plow and sow their ground, how they were to carr}^ themselves in the deepest privacy of their personal life, — all was attended to and pro- vided for in a manner that fills us with wonder, love, and praise. We may here see, in a most striking way, that there is nothing too small for our God to take notice of when His people are concerned. He takes a loving, tender, fatherly interest in their most minute concerns. We are amazed to find the Most High God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, the Sustainer of the vast universe, conde- scendinor to legislate about the matter of a bird's nest ; and yet why should we be amazed when we know that it is just the same to Him to provide for a sparrow as to feed a thousand millions of people daily ? But there was one grand fact which was ever to be kept prominently before each member of the congregation of Israel, namely, the divine presence in their midst. This fact was to govern their most private habits, and give character to all their ways. CIIAPTEUS XXII. -XXV. 343 ''The Lord tliy God walketh in the midst of tliy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee ; therefore shall thy camp he holy; that He see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee." (Chap, xxiii. 14.) What a precious privilege to have Jehovah walk- ing in their midst! what a motive for purity of conduct, and refined delicacy in their personal and domestic habits ! If He was in their midst to secure victory over their enemies, He was also there to de- mand holiness of life. They were never for one moment to forget the august Person who walked up and down in their midst. Would the thought of this prove irksome to any? Onl}- to such as did not love holiness, purit}', and moral order. Ever}^ true Israelite would delight in the thought of having One dwellinof in their midst who could not endure auo:ht that was unhol3\ unseemly, or impure. The Christian reader will be at no loss to seize the moral force and application of this holy principle. It is our privilege to have God the Spirit dwelling in us, individually and collectivelv. Thus we read, in 1 Corinthians vi. 19, "What! know ye not that your body is the temple of the H0I3' Ghost, which is in you, which 3'e have of God, and ye are not your own?" This is individual. Each believer is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and this most glorious and precious truth is the ground of the exhortation given in Ephesians iv. 30 — ''''Grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption/* 344 DEtTTERONOMY. How very important to keep this ever in the remembrance of the thoughts of our hearts! what a mighty moral motive for the diligent cultivation of purity of heart and holiness of life ! When tempted to indulge in any wrong current of thought or feeling, any unworthy manner of speech, any unseemly line of conduct, w^hat a powerful corrective would be found in the realization of the blessed fact that the Holy Spirit dwells in our body as in His temple! If only we could keep this ever before us, it would preserve us from many a wandering thought, many an unguarded and foolish utterance, many an unbecoming act. But not only does the Holy Spirit dwell in each individual believer. He also dwells in the Church collectively. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in youf' (1 Cor. iii. 16.) It is upon this fact that the apostle grounds his exhortation in 1 Thessalonians v. 19 — ''^Quench not the Spirit." How divinely perfect is Scripture? how blessedly it hangs together! The Holy Ghost dwells in us individually, hence we are not to grieve Him ; He dwells in the assembl}^ hence we are not to quench Him, but give Him His right place, and allow full scope for His blessed opera- tions. May these great practical truths find a deep place in our hearts, and exert a more powerful in- fluence over our ways, both in private life and in the public assembly. We shall now proceed to quote a few passages from the section of our book which now lies open CHAPTERS XXII. -XXV. 045 before us strikingly illustrative of the wisdom, good- ness, tenderness, holiness, and righteousness which marked all the dealings of God >Yith His people of old. Take, for example, the ver}^ opening paragraph. "Thou shalt not see thy brother's ox or his sheep go astray, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt in any case bring them again unto thy brother. And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, or if thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it unto thine own house, and it shall be with thee until thy brother seek after it, and thou shalt restore it to him again. In like manner shalt thou do with his ass ; and so shalt thou do with his raiment; and with all lost thing of thy brother's which he hath lost, and thou hast found, shalt thou do likewise ; thou mayest not hide thyself Thou shalt not see tin' brother's ass or his ox fall down l)y tlie wa}-, and hide thyself from them; thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again." (Chap. xxii. 1-4.) Here the two lessons of which we have spoken are very distinctly presented. Wliat a deeply hum- bling picture of the human heart have we in that one sentence, "Thou mayest not hide thyself" ! We are capable of the base and detestable selfishness of hiding ourselves from our brother's claims upon our sympathy and succor — of shirking the hoh' dutj' of looking after his interests — of pretending not to see his real need of our aid. Such is man! — such is the writer! But oh, how blessedly the character of our God shines out in this passage! The brother's ox, or 346 DEUTERONOMY. his sheep, or his ass, was not (to use a modern phrase) to be thrust into pound for trespass ; it was to be brought home, cared for, and restored, safe and sound, to the owner, without charge for damage. And so with the raiment. How lovely is all this ! how it breathes upon us the very air of the divine presence, the fragrant atmosphere of divine goodness, tenderness, and thoughtful love! What a high and holy privilege for an}^ people to have their conduct governed and their character formed by such exquisite statutes and judgments! Again, take the following passage, so beautifully illustrative of divine thoughtfulness : "When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battle- ment for th}' roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence." The Lord would have His people thoughtful and consid- erate of others ; and hence, in building their houses, they were not merely to think of themselves and their convenience, but also of others and their safetj\ Cannot Christians learn something from this ? How prone we are to think only of ourselves, our own interests, our own comfort and convenience ! How rarel}^ it happens that in the building or fur- nishing of our houses we bestow a thought upon other people ! We build and furnish for ourselves. Alas ! self is too much our object and motive-spring in all our undertakings ; nor can it be otherwise unless the heart be kept under the governing power of those motives and objects which belong to Chris- tianity. We must live in the pure and heavrnly CHAPTERS XXII. -XXV. 347 atmosphere of the new creation in order to get above and bej'ond the base selfishness which characterizes fallen humanity. Every unconverted man, woman, and child on the face of the earth is governed simply by self income shape or another. Self is the centre, the object, the motive-spring, of every action. True, some are more amiable, more affectionate, more benevolent, more unselfish, more disinterested, more agreeable, than others ; but it is utterly im- possible that "the natural man" can be governed by spiritual motives, or an earthly man be animated by heavenly objects. Alas ! we have to confess, with shame and sorrow, that we who profess to be heavenly and spiritual are so prone to live for our- selves, to seek our ow^i things, to maintain our own interests, to consult our own ease and convenience. We are all alive and on the alert when self^ in any shape or form, is concerned. All this is most sad and deeply humbling. It really ought not to be, and it w^ould not be if we w^ere looking more simpl}^ and earnestly to Christ as our great Exemplar and model in all things. Earnest and constant occupation of heart with Christ is the true secret of all practical Christianit}'. It is not rules and regulations that will ever make us Christ- like in our spirit, manner, and ways. "We must drink into His spirit, walk in His footsteps, dweli more profoundly upon His moral glories, and then we shall, of blessed necessity, be conformed to His image. "We all with open face beholding as in a glass [or mirroring — Kavo7tTpi^6^evoi~\ the glory, are 23 848 DEUTERONOMY. changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor. iii.) "We must now ask the reader to turn for a moment to the following very important i^ractical instructions *-'full of suggestive power for all Christian workers : '*Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds, lest the fruit of thy seed which thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard be defiled." (Chap, xxii.9.) What a weighty principle is here ! Do we really understand it ? do we see its true spiritual applica- tion ? It is to be feared there is a terrible amount of *' mingled seed" used in the so-called spiritual husbandry of the present day. How much of "phi- losophy and vain deceit," how much of "science falsely so called," how much of "the rudim^ents of the world," do we find mixed up in the teaching and preaching throughout the length and breadth of the professing church ! How little of the pure, un- adulterated seed of the Word of God, the "incor- ruptible seed" of the precious gospel of Christ, is scattered broad-cast over the field of Christendom in this our day ! How few, comparativel}', are con- tent to confine themselves within the covers of the Bible for the material of their ministry ! Those who are, by the grace of God, faithful enough to do so, are looked upon as men of one idea, men of the old school^ narrow, and behind the times. Well, we can only say, with a full and glowing: heart, God bless the men of one idea — men of the precious old school of apostolic preaching ! Most heartity do we congratulate them on their blessed ciiArTEus xxii.-xxv. 049 narrowness, and thuir being behind these dark and infidel times. We are fully aware of what we ex- pose ourselves to in thus writing, but this does not move us. We are persuaded that every true serv- ant of Christ must be a man of one idea, and that idea is Christ ; lie must belong to the very oldest school — the school of Christ ; he must be as narrow- as the truth of God ; and he must, with stern de- cision, refuse to move one hair's breadth in the direction of this infidel age. We cannot shake off the conviction that the effort on the part of the preachers and teachers of Christendom to keep abreast of the literature of the day must, to a very large extent, account for the rapid advance of rationalism and infidelit}'. The}' have got away from the hoh' Scriptures, and sought to adorn their ministry b}" the resources of philosoph}', science, and literature. Tliey have catered more for the intellect than for the heart and conscience. Tiie pure and precious doctrines of hoi}' Scripture, the sincere milk of the Word, the gospel of the grace of God and of the glor}' of Christ, were found in- sufficient to attract and keep together large congre- gations. As Israel of old despised the manna, got tired of it, and pronounced it light food, so the professing church grew weary of the pure doctrines of that glorious Christianity unfolded in the pages of the New Testament, and sighed for something to gratify the intellect and feed the imagination. The doctrines of the cross, in which the blessed apostle gloried, have lost their charm for the professing 350 DEFTERONO^rr. cliurcli, and any who would be faithful enough to adhere and confine themselves in their ministry to those doctrines might abandon all thought of popularit}'. But let all the true and faithful ministers of Christ, all true workers in His vine3'ard, ^pply their hearts to the spiritual principle set forth in Deuteronomy xxii. 9 ; let them, with unflinching decision, refuse to make use of "divers seeds" in their spiritual husbandr}^ ; let them confine them- selves, in their ministry, to "the form of sound words," and ever seek "rightly to divide the word of truth," that so the}^ may not be ashamed of their work, but receive a full reward in that day when every man's work shall be tried of what sort it is. We may depend upon it, the Word of God — the pure seed — is the onl}" proper material for the spir- itual workman to use. We do not despise learning ; far from it ; we consider it most valuable in its right place. The facts of science, too, and the resources of sound philosophy, ma}' all be turned to profitable account in unfoldins^ and illustratino: the truth of hol}- Scripture. We find the blessed Master Him- self and His inspired apostles making use of the facts of history and of nature in their public teach- ing ; and who, in his sober senses, would think of calling in question the value and importance of a competent knowledge of the original languages of Hebrew and Greek in the private study and public exposition of the Word of God ? But admitting all this, as we most fully do, it CHAPTKUS XXII. -XXV. T).") 1 leaves wholly untouched the great practical principle before us — a principle to which all the Lord's people and His servants are bound to adhere, namel}', that the Holy Ghost is the onl}^ power, and holy Scrip- ture the only material, for all true ministry in the gospel and the Church of God. If this were more fully understood and faithfully acted upon, we should witness a very different condition of things throughout the length and breadth of the vineyard of Christ. Here, however, we must close this section. We have elsewhere sought to handle the subject of "The Unequal Yoke," and shall not therefore dwell upon it here.* The Israelite was not to plow with an ox and an ass together ; neither was he to wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen. The spiritual application of both these things is as simple as it is important. The Christian is not to link himself with an unbeliever for any object what- soever, be it domestic, religious, philanthrophic, or commercial ; neither must he allow himself to be governed b}' mixed principles. His character must be formed and his conduct ruled b}' the pure and lofty principles of the Word of God. Thus may it be with all who profess and call themselves Christians. *See a pamphlet entitled " The Unequal Yoke," post-paid, lOcts. Loizeaux Brothers, 63 Fourth Avenue, New York. CHAPTER XXVI. ^^ A ND it shall be, lohen thou art come in unto the -^ land which the Lord th}' God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possessest it, and chvellest there- in ; that thou shalt take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shcdl choose to place His name there'' — not to a place of their own or others' choosing. — "And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God that / am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God." (Ver. 1-4.) The chapter on which we now enter contains the lovely ordinance of the basket of first-fruits, in which we shall find some principles of the deepest interest and practical importance. It was when the hand of Jehovah had conducted His people into the land of promise that the fruits of that land could be presented. It was obviousl}^ necessary to be in Canaan ere Canaan's fruits could be oflTered in worship. The worshiper was able to sa}', "I pro- fess this day unto the Lord thy God that I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us." CHAPTER XXVI. 353 Here lay the root of the matter. — "/ am come/* He does not sa}^, I am coming, hoping to come, or longing to come. No; but, "I am come." Thus it must ever be. We must know ourselves saved ere we can offer the fruits of a known salvation. We may be most sincere in our desires after salva- tion, most earnest in our efforts to obtain it; but then we cannot but see that efforts to be saved, and the fruits of a known and enjoyed salvation, are wholly different. The Israelite did not offer the basket of first-fruits in order to get into the land, but because he was actually in it. "I profess this day . . . that I am come." There is no mistake about it — no question, no doubt, not even a hope. I am actually in the land, and here is the fruit of it. *' And thou shalt speak, and say before the Lord thy God, A Syrian ready to perish was my father ; and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous ; and the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage ; and when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression ; and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders ; and He hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this land, even a land that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first-fruits of the land, 354 DEUTERONOMY. which Thou, O Lord, hast given me. And thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God ; and thou shalt rejoice in ever}^ good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou, and the Le- vite, and the stranger that is among you." This is a very beautiful illustration of worship. •'A S3'rian ready to perish." Such was the origin. There is nothing to boast of, so far as nature is concerned. And as to the condition in which grace had found them, what of it ? Hard bondage in the land of Egypt ; toiling amid the brick-kilns, beneath the cruel lash of Pharaoh's taskmasters. But then, "We cried unto Jehovah." Here was their sure and blessed resource. It was all they could do, but it was enough. That cry of help- lessness went directly up to the throne and to the heart of God, and brought Him down into the very midst of the brick-kilns of Egypt. Hear Jehovali's gracious words to Moses — "I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egj^pt, and have heard their cry, by reason of their taskmasters ; for I linow their sorroics ; and I am come down to de- liver them out of the hand of the Eg3^ptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and hone}' Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me ; and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egj'ptians oppress them." (Ex. iii. 7-9.) Such was the immediate response of Jehovah to CHAPTER XXVI. 355 the cry of His people. "I am come down to deliver them." Yes, blessed be His name, He came down, in the exercise of His own free and sovereign grace, to deliver His people ; and no power of men or devils — earth or hell could hold them for a moment be- yond the appointed time. Hence, in our chapter, we have the grand result as set forth in the language of the worshiper and in the contents of his basket. ''I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us And now, behold, I have brought the first-fruits of the land, which Thou, O Lord, hast given me." The Lord had accomplished all, according to the love of His heart and the faithfulness of His word. Not one jot or tittle had failed. — "I am come" And "I have brought the fruit." The fruit of what? of. Egypt? Nay; but "of the land, which Thou, O Lord, hast given me." The worshiper's lips proclaimed the completeness of Jehovah's work ; the worshiper's basket contained the fruit of Jehovah's land. No- thing could be simpler, nothing more real. There was no room for a doubt, no ground for a question. He had simpl}- to declare Jehovah's work and show the fruit. It was all of God from first to last. He had brought them out of Egypt, and He had brought them into Canaan. He had filled their baskets with the mellow fruits of His land, and their hearts with His praise. And now, beloved reader, let us just ask you, do you think it was presumption on the part of the Israelite to speak as he did ? Was it right, was it 356 DEUTERONOMY. modest, was it humble, of him to say, '-'lam come''? Would it have been more becoming in him merely to give expression to the faint hope that at some future period he might come? would doubt and hesitation as to his position and his portion have been more honoring and gratifying to the God of Israel? What say 30U? It maybe that, anticipa- ting our argument, you are ready to say, Tiiere is no analog}'. Why not? If an Israelite could say, '•I am come unto the country which the Lord sware unto our fathers for to give us," why cannot the believer now sa}', I am come unto Jesus ? True, in the one case, it was sight ; in the other, it is faith. But is the latter less real than the former? Does not the inspired apostle say to the Hebrews, "Ye arecome unto Mount Zion"? and again, "We receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God with rever- ence and godly fear." If we are in doubt as to whether we have "come" or not, and as to whether we have "received the kingdom" or not, it is im- possible to worship in truth or serve with accept- ance. It is when we are in intelligent and peaceful possession of the place and portion in Christ that true worship can ascend to the throne above, and effective service be rendered in the vineyard below. For what, let us ask, is true worship ? It is simply telling out, in the presence of God, what He is, and what He has done. It is the heart occupied with and delighting in God and in all His marvelous actings and ways. Now, if we have CHAPTER XXVI. - 357 no knowledge of God, and no faith in what He has done, how can we worship Him? "He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a re warder of them that diligently seek Him." But then to know God is eternal life. I cannot W'Orship God if I do not know Him, and I cannot know Him without having eternal life. The Athe- nians had erected an altar "to the unknown God," and Paul told them that they were w^orshiping in ignorance, and proceeded to declare unto them the true God as revealed in the Person and work of the Man Christ Jesus. It is deeply important to be clear as to this. I must know God ere I can worship Him. I may "feel after Him, if haply I may find Him;" but feeling after One whom I have not found, and wor- shiping and delighting in One whom I have found, are two totally different things. God has revealed Himself, blessed be His name ! He has given us the light of the knowledge of His glor}^ in the face of Jesus Christ. He has come near to us in the Person of that blessed One, so that w^e may know Him, love Him, trust in Him, delight in Him, and use Him, in all our weakness and in all our need. We have no longer to grope for Him amid the dark- ness of nature, nor yet among the clouds and mists of spurious religion, in its ten thousand forms. No ; our God has made Himself known by a revelation so plain that the wayfaring man, though a fool in all beside, may not err therein. The Christian can say, '''•Iknoio whom I have believed." This is the basis 358 DEUTERONOMY. of all true worship. There may be a vast amount of fleshly pietism, mechanical religion, and ceremonial routine without a single atom of true spiritual worship. This latter can only flow from the knowl- edge of God. But our object is not to write a treatise on worship, but simply to unfold to our readers the instructive and beautiful ordinance of the basket of first-fruits. And having shown that worship was the first thing wilh an Israelite who found himself in possession of the land — and further, that we now must know our place and privilege in Christ before we can truthfully and intelligently worship the Fa- ther — we shall proceed to point out another very important practical result illustrated in our chapter, namely, active benevolence. "When thou hast made an end of tithing all the tithes of thine increase the third year, which is the year of tithing, and hast given it unto the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within thy gates, and be filled ; then thou shalt say before the Lord thy God, I have brought awa}' the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levite, and unto the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all Th}'' commandments, which Thou hast commanded me ; I have not transgressed Thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them." (Ver. 12, 13.) Nothing can be more beautiful than the moral order of these things. It is precisely similar to CHAPTER XXVI. 359 what we have in Hebrews xiii. "By Him therefore let us otl'er the sacrifice of praise to God continu- ally, that is, the fruit of our lii)s giving thanks to His name.'* Here is the worship. ''But to do good and to communicate forget not ; for with such sacri- fices God is well pleased." Here is the active be- nevolence". Putting both together, we have what we may call the upper and the nether side of the Chris- tian's character — praising God and doing good to men. Precious characteristics! May we exhibit them more faithfully. One thing is certain, they will always go together. Show us a man whose heart is full of praise to God, and we will show you one whose heart is open to every form of human need. He may not be rich in this world's goods ; he ma}' be obliged to saj', like one of old who was not ashamed to say it, "Silver and gold have I none ;" but he will have the tear of sympathy, the kindly look, the soothing word, and these things tell far more powerfully upon a sensitive heart than the opening of the purse-strings, and the jingling of silver and gold. Our adorable Lord and Master, our great Exemplar, "went about doing good ;" but we never read of His giving money to any one ; in- deed, we are warranted in believing that the blessed One never possessed a penny. When He wanted to answer the Herodians on the subject of paying trib- ute to Caesar, He had to ask them to show Him a penny ; and when asked to pay tribute, He sent Peter to the sea to get it. He never carried money, and most assuredly money is not named in the cat- 360 DEUTERONOMY. egory of gifts bestowed by Him upon His servants. Still He went about doing good, and we are to do the same, in our little measure ; it is at once our high privilege and our bounden duty to do so. And let the reader mark the divine order laid down in Hebrews xiii. and illustrated in Deuteron- omy xxvi. Worship gets the first, the highest place. Let us never forget this. We, in our wisdom or our sentimentality, might imagine that doing good to men, usefulness, philanthrop}^, is the highest thing ; but it is not so. "Whoso offereth 2)m/se glorifieth Me." God inhabits the praises of His people. He delights to surround Himself with hearts filled to overflowing with a sense of His goodness, His great- ness, and His glory. Hence, we are to offer the sacrifice of praise to God "continually." So also the Psalmist sa3's, ' ' I will bless the Lord at all times ; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." It is not merely now and then, or when all is bright and cheery around us, when ever}^ thing goes on smoothly and prosperousl}^ ; no, but "af all times'' — ^'■con- tinually.'" The stream of thanksgiving is to flow uninterruptedl}'. There is no interval for murmur- ing or complaining, fretfnlness or dissatisfaction, gloom or despondenc}'. Praise and thanksgiving are to be our continual occupation. We are ever to cultivate the spirit of worship. Eveiy breath, as it were, ought to be a halleluiah. Thus it shall be b}^ and by. Praise will be our happ}^ and hol}^ serv- ice while eternity rolls along its course of golden asfes. When we shall have no further call to "com- CHAPTER XXVI. 361 municate," no demand on our resources or our sympathies, when we shall have bid an eternal adieu to this scene of sorrow and need, death and desola- tion, then shall we praise our God for evermore, without let or interruption, in the sanctuary of His own blessed presence above. *'But to do good an^ to communicate /o?*^/^^ not.^' There is singular interest attaching to the mode in which this is put. He does not sa}-, But to offer the sacrifice of praise forget not. No ; but lest, in the full and happy enjoyment of our own place and portion in Christ, we should "forget" that we are passing through a scene of want and miserj', trial and pressure, the apostle adds the salutarj' and much-needed admonition as to doing good and communicating. The spiritual Israelite is not only to rejoice in every good thing M'hich the Lord his God has bestowed upon him, but he is also to re- member the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow — that is, the one who has no earthl}' por- tion, and is thoroughly devoted to the Lord's work, and the one who has no home, the one who has no natural protector, and the one who has no earthly stay. It must ever be thus. The rich tide of grace rolls down from the bosom of God, fills our hearts to overflowing, and in its overflow, refreshes and gladdens our whole sphere of action. If we were only living in the enjoyment of what is ours in God, our every movement, our every act, our every word, yea, our everj^ look, would do good. The Christian, according to the divine idea, is one who 362 DEUTERONOMY. stands with one band lifted up to God in the pres- entation of the sacrifice of praise, and the other hand filled with the fragrant fruits of genuine benevolence to meet every form of human need. O beloved reader, let us deeply ponder these things ; let us reall}' apply our whole hearts to the earnest consideration of them ; let us seek a fuller realization and a truer expression of these two great branches of practical Christianit}^, and not be satis- fied with any thing less. We shall now briefly glance at the third point in the precious chapter before us. We shall do little more than quote the passage for the reader. The Israelite, having presented his basket and distributed his tithes, was further instructed to sa^', "I have not eaten thereof in my mourning^ neither have I taken awa}^ aught thereof for any unclean use, nor given aught thereof for the dead; but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord m}' God, and have done according to all that Thou hast commanded me. Look down from Th}' holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Th}* people Israel, and the land which Thou hast given us, as Thou swarest unto our fa- thers, a land that floweth with milk and hone}'. This day the Lord th}- God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments; thou shalt therefore heep and do them, ivith all thine heart and loith all thy soul. Thou hast avouched the Lord this day to be thy God, and to ivalk in His icays, and to keep His statutes and His commandments and His judg- ments, and to hearken unto His voice : and the CHAPTER XXVI. 363 Lord hath avouched thee this day to be His peculiar people" — that is, a people of His own special pos- session — "as He hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all His commandments ; and to make thee high abcrv'e all nations which He hath made, in praise and in name and in honor ; and that thou maj-est be a holy peojole unto the Lord thy God, as He hath spoken." (Ver. 14-19.) Here we have personal holiness, practical sanctifi- cation, entire separation from ever}' thing inconsist- ent with the holy place and relationship into which the}' had been introduced, in the sovereign grace and mercy of God. There must be no mourning, no uncleanness, no dead works. We have no room, no time, for any such things as these ; they do not belong to that blessed sphere in which we are privi- leged to live and move and have our being. We have just three things to do: We look up to God, and offer the sacrifice of praise ; we look around at a needy world, and do good ; we look in upon the circle of our own being — our inner life, and seek, by grace, to keep ourselves unspotted. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this : To visit the fatlierless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." (Jas. i. 27.) Thus, whether we hearken to Moses in Deuteron- omy xxvi, or to Paul in Hebrews xiii, or to James in his most wholesome, needed, practical epistle, it is the same Siurit that speaks to us, and the same grand lessons that are impressed upon us — lessons 24 364 DEUTERONOMY. of unspeakable value and moral importance — lessons loudly called for in this day of easj'-going profession, in the which the doctrines of grace are taken up and held in a merely intellectual wa}-, and connected with all sorts of worldliness and self-indulgence. Truly, there is an urgent need of a more powerful, practical ministry amongst us. There is a deplor- able lack of the prophetic and pastoral element in our ministrations. By the prophetic element, we mean that character of ministry that deals with the conscience, and brings it into the immediate pres- ence of God. This is greatly needed. There is a good deal of ministry which addresses itself to the intelligence, but sadly too little for the heart and the conscience. The teacher speaks to the under- standing; the prophet speaks to the conscience;* the pastor speaks to the heart. We speak, of course, generall3\ It may so happen that the three elements are found in the ministr}^ of one man ; but they are distinct ; and we cannot but feel that where the prophetic and pastoral gifts are lacking in any as- sembly, the teachers should very earnestly wait upon the Lord for spiritual power to deal with the hearts and consciences of His beloved people. Blessed be His name. He has all needed gift, grace, and power * Very many seem to entertain the idea that a prophet is one who foretells future events, but it Avould be a mistake thus to con- fine the term. 1 Corinthians xiv. 28-32 lets us into the meaning of the words "prophet" and "prophesying." The teacher and the prophet are closely and beautifully connected. The teacher un- folds truth from the Word of God; the prophet applies it to the conscience ; and, we may add, the pastor sees how the ministry of both the one and the other is acting on the heart and in the life. CIIAPTEU XXVII. 3G5 for His servants. All we need is, to wait on Him in real earnestness and sincerit}- of heart, and He will most assnredly supply us with all suited grace and moral fitness for whatever service we ma}' be called to render in His Church. Oh, that all the Lord's servants ma}- be stirred up ta a more deep-toned earnestness, in every depart- ment of His blessed work ! May we be "instant in season, out of season," and in no wise discouraged by the condition of things around us, but rather find in that very condition an urgent reason for more intense devotedness. CHAPTER XXVII. ^^ A ND Moses, with the elders of Israel, com- -^ manded the people, saying, 'Keep all the commandments which I command you this da}'. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaster them with plaster ; and thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey ; as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee. Therefore it shall be when ye be g^one over Jordan, that ye shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount 36 6 ^^ DEUTERONOMY. " Ebal, and thou shall plaster them with plaster. And there shalt thou build an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones : thou shalt not lift up any iron tool upon them. Thou shalt build the altar of the Lord thy God of whole stones ; and thou shalt offer burnt-offerings thereon unto the Lord thy God ; and thou shalt offer peace-offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the Lord thy God. And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law very plainly.' And Moses and the priests the Levites spake unto all Israel, saying, 'Take heed, and hearken, O Israel ; tliis day thou art become the people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the Lord thy God, and do His commandments and His statutes, which I command thee this da}^' And Moses charged the people the same daj^, saying, 'These shall stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when 3'e are come over Jordan : Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin. And these shall stand upon Mount Ebal to curse : Reuben, Gad, and Asher and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.' " (Ver. 1-13.) There could not be a more striking contrast than that which is presented in the opening and close of this chapter. In the paragraph which we have just penned, we see Israel entering upon the land of promise — that fair and fruitful land flowing with milk and hone}^, and there erecting an altar in Mount Ebal, for burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. We read nothing about sin-offerings or trespass- offerings here. The law, in all its fullness, was to CHArxER xxvii. 3G7 be '' written very plainly " upon the plastered stones, and the people, in full, recognized, covenant-rela- tionship, were to oflfer on the altar those special offerings of sweet savor so blessedly expressive of worship and holy communion. The subject here is not the trespasser in act, or the sinner in nature, approaching the brazen altar with a trespass-offering or a sin-offering ; but rather a people fully delivered, accepted, and blessed — a people in the actual enjo}'- uient of their relationship and their inheritance. True, they were trespassers and sinners, and as such, needed the precious provision of the brazen altar, — this, of course, is obvious, and fully under- stood and admitted by every one taught of God ; l)ut it manifestly is not the subject of Deuteronomy xxvii. 1-13, and the spiritual reader will at once perceive the reason. When we see the Israel of God, in full covenant-relationship, entering into possession of their inheritance, having the revealed will of their covenant-God, Jehovah, plainly and fully written before them, and the milk and honey flowing around them, we must conclude that all question as to trespasses and sins is definitively settled, and that nothing remains for a people so highly privileged and so richly blessed but to sur- round the altar of their covenant-God and present those sweet-savor offerings which were acceptable to Him and suited to them. In short, the whole scene unfolded to our view in the first half of our chapter is perfectly beautiful. Israel having avouched Jehovah to be their God, 368 DEUTERONOMY. and Jehovah having avouched Israel to be His pe- culiar people, to make them high above all nations which He had made, in praise and in name and in honor, and a holy people unto the Lord their God, as He had spoken, — Israel thus privileged, blessed, and exalted, in full possession of the goodly land, and having all the precious commandments of God before their eyes, what remained but to present the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, in holy wor- ship and happy fellowship ? . But in the latter half of our chapter, we find something quite diff'erent. Moses appoints six tribes to stand upon Mount Gerizim to bless the people, and six on Mount Ebal to curse ; but alas ! when we come to the actual histor}- — the positive facts of the case, there is not a single syllable of blessing, nothing but twelve awful curses, each confirmed by a solemn "amen" from the whole conorre2:ation. What a sad change ! what a striking contrast ! It reminds us of what passed before us in our study of Exodus xix. There could not be a more im- pressive commentary on the words of the inspired apostle in Galatians iii. 10. — "For as many as are of the works of the law" — as many as are on that ground — "are under the curse; for it is written," — and here he quotes Deuteronomy xxvii. — "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." Here we have the real solution of the question. Israel, as to their actual moral condition, were on the ground of law ; and hence, although the opening CHAPTER XXVII. 369 of our chapter presents a lovely picture of God's thoughts respecting Israel, yet the close of it sets forth the sad and humiliating result of Israel's real state before God. There is not a sound from Mount Gerizim, not one word of benediction ; but, instead thereof, curse upon curse falls on the ears of the 'people. Nor could it possibly be otherwise. Let people contend for it as they will, nothing but a curse can come upon "as many as are of the works of the law." It does not merely sa}', As many as fail to keep the law, though that is true ; but, as if to set the truth in the very clearest and most forcible man- ner before us, the Holy Ghost declares that for all^ no matter who — Jew, Gentile, or nominal Christian — all who are on the ground or principle of works of law, there is and can be nothing but a curse. Thus, then, the reader will be able intelligently to account for the profound silence that reigned on Mount Gerizim in the day of Deuterononi}- xxvii. The simple fact is, if one solitary benediction had been heard, it would have been a contradiction to the entire teaching'of holy Scripture on the question of law. We have so fully gone into the weighty subject of the law in the first volume of these Notes that we do not feel called upon to dwell upon it here. We can only say that the more we study Scripture, and the more we ponder the law question in the light of the New Testament, the more amazed we are at the manner in which some persist in contend- 370 DEUTERONOMY. ing for the opinion that Christians are under the law, whether for life, for righteousness, for holiness, or for any object whatsoever. How can such an opinion stand for a moment in the face of that mag- nificent and conclusive statement in Romans vi. — "Ye are not under law, but under grace"? CHAPTER XXVIII. IN approaching the study of this remarkable sec- tion of our book, the reader must bear in mind that it is by no means to be confounded with chapter xxvii. Some expositors, in seeking to account for the absence of the blessings in the latter, have sought for them here ; but it is a grand mistake — a mistake absolutely fatal to the proper understand- ing of either chapter. The obvious fact is, the two chapters are wholly distinct, in basis, scope, and practical application. Chapter xxvii. is (to put it as pointedly and briefly as possible) moral and j^er- sonal; chapter xxviii. is dispensational and national. That deals with the great root-principle of man's moral condition as a sinner, utterly ruined and wholly incapable of meeting God on the ground of law ; this, on the other hand, takes up the question of. Israel as a nation, under the government of God. In short, a careful comparison of the two chapters will enable the reader to see their entire distinctness. For instance, what connection can we trace between CHAPTER XXVIII. 871 the six blessings of our chapter and the twelve curses of chapter xxvii ? None whatever. It is not possible to establish the slightest relationship. But a child can see the moral link between the blessings and curses of chapter xxviii. Let us quote a passage or two in proof. "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God^" — the grand old Deuteronomic motto, the keN'-note of the book — "to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth ; and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God'' — the only safeguard, the true secret of hap- piness, security, victor}^, and strength, — "Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be ill the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out." Is it not perfectly plain to the reader that these are not the blessings pronounced by the six tribes on Mount Gerizim? What is here presented to us is Israel's national dignity, prosperity, and glory, founded upon their diligent attention to all the commandments set before them in this book. It was the eternal purpose of God that Israel should be pre-eminent on the earth, high above all the 372 DEUTERONOMY. nations. This purpose shall assuredly be made good, although Israel, in the past, have shamefully failed to render that perfect obedience which was to form the basis of their national pre-eminence and glory. We must never forget or surrender this great truth. Some expositors have adopted a system of interpretation by which the covenant-blessings of Israel are spiritualized and made over to the Church of God. This is a most fatal mistake. Indeed, it is hardly possible to set forth in language, or even to conceive, the pernicious effects of such a method of handling the precious Word of God. Nothing is more certain than that it is diametrically opposed to the mind and will of God. He will not and cannot sanction such tampering with His truth, or such an unwarrantable alienation of the blessings and privi- leges of His people Israel. True, we read, in Galatians iii, "That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ, that we might receive" — what? Bless- ings in the city and in the field ? blessings in our basket and store? Nay; but "the promise of the Spirit through faith." So also we learn from the same epistle, in chapter iv, that restored Israel will be permitted to reckon amongst her children all those who are born of the Spirit during the Chris- tian period. "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, 'Rejoice, thou barren, that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not ; for the desolate CHAPTER XXVIII. 373 bath many more children than slie which hath a husband.' " All this is blessedly true, but it affords no war- rant whatever for transferring the promises made to Israel to New-Testament believers. God has pledged Himself by an oath to bless the seed of Abraham His friend — to bless them with all earthly blessings, in the land of Canaan. This promise holds good, and is absolutely inalienable. Woe be to all who attempt to interfere with its literal fulfillment in God's own time. We have referred to this in our studies on the earlier part of this book, and must now rest content with warning the reader most solemnly against every system of interpretation which involves such serious consequences as to the Word and ways of God. We must ever remember that Israel's blessings are earthly; the Church's blessings are heavenly. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual bless- ings i)i the heavenlies in Christ." Thus, both the nature and the sphere of the Church's blessings are wholly different from those of Israel, and must never be confounded. But the system of interpretation above referred to does con- found them, to the marring of the integrit}^ of holy Scripture, and the serious damage of souls. To attempt to apply the promises made to Israel to the Church of God, either now or hereafter, on earth or in heaven, is to turn things completely upside down, and to produce the most hopeless confusion in the exposition and application of Scripture. We feel 374 DEUTERONOMY. _ called upon, in simple faithfulness to the Word of .God and to the soul of the reader, to press this matter upon his earnest attention. He may rest assured it is by no means an unimportant question ; so far from this, we are persuaded that it is utterly impossible for any one who confounds Israel and the Church — the earthly and the heavenl}^, to be a sound or accurate interpreter of the Word of God. However, we cannot pursue this subject further here. We only trust that the Spirit of God will arouse the heart of the reader to feel its interest and importance, and give him to see the necessity of rightly dividing the word of truth. If this be so, our object will be full}^ gained. With regard to this twenty-eighth of Deuteron- omy, if the reader only seizes the fact of its entire distinctness from its predecessor, he will be able to read it with spiritual intelligence and real profit. There is no need whatever for elaborate exposition. It divides itself naturally and obviously into two parts. In the first, we have a full and most blessed statement of the results of obedience (See verses 1- 15.) ; in the second, we have a deeply solemn and affecting statement of the awful consequences of disobedience. (See verses 16-68.) And we cannot but be struck with the fact that the section con- taining the curses is more than three times the length of the one containing the blessings. That consists of fifteen verses ; this, of fift3'-three. The whole chapter furnishes an impressive commentary Oil the government of God, and a most forcible CHAPTER XXVIII. 375 illustralioii of the fact that '•our God is a consuming fire." All the nations of the earth ma}^ learn from Israel's marvelous history that God must punish disobedience, and that, too, first of all, in His own. And if He has not spared His own people, what shall be the end of those who know Him not ? *'The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." It is the very height of extravagant foil}' for any one to attempt to evade the full force of such passages, or to explain them away. It cannot be done. Let an}^ one read the chapter before us and compare it with the actual history of Israel, and he will see that as sure as there is a God on the throne of the majest}' in the heavens, so surely will He punish evil- doers, both here and hereafter. It cannot be other- wise. The government that could or would allow evil to go unjudged, uncondemned, unpunished, would not be a perfect government — would not be the government of God. It is vain to found argu- ments upon one-sided views of the goodness, kind- ness, and mercy of God. Blessed be His name. He is kind and good and merciful and gracious, long- suffering and full of compassion ; but He is holy and just, righteous and true, and "He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world [the hab- itable earth — oixov/uevrfy^ in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained ; whereof He hath given assurance [given proof — Tt/dTiv'] unto all, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." (Acts xvii.) 376 DEUTERONOMY. However, we must draw this section to a close ; but ere doing so, we feel it to be our duty to call the reader's attention to a very interesting point in connection with verse 13 of our chapter. "The Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail ; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath ; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the Lord thy God, which I command thee this da}^, to observe and to do them." This, no doubt, refers to Israel as a nation. They are destined to be the head of all the nations of the earth. Such is the sure and settled purpose and counsel of God respecting them. Low as they are now sunk, scattered and lost amongst the nations, suffering the terrible consequences of their persistent disobedience, sleeping, as we read in Daniel xii, in the dust of the earth, yet they shall, as a nation^ arise and shine in far brighter glory than that of Solomon. All this is blessedly true, and established beyond all question in manifold passages in Moses, the Psalms, the prophets, and the New Testament ; but in looking through the history of Israel, we find some very striking instances of individuals who were permitted and enabled, through infinite grace, to make their own of the precious promise contained in verse 13, and that, too, in very dark and de- pressing periods of the national history, when Israel, as a nation, was the tail and not the head. We shall just give the reader an instance or two, not only to illustrate our point, but also to set before him a CHAPTER XXVIII. 377 principle of immense practical importance and uni- versal application. Let us turn for a moment to that charming little book of Esther — a book so little understood or ap- preciated — a book which, we ma}- truly sa}', fills a niche and teaches a lesson which no other book does. It belongs to a period when most assuredly Israel was not the head, but the tail ; but, notwithstanding, it presents to our view the \evy edifying and en- couraging picture of an individual son of Abraham so carrying himself as to reach the very highest position, and gaining a splendid victory over Israel's bitterest foe. As to Israel's condition in the days of Esther, it was such that God could not publicly own them. Hence it is tliat His name is not found in this book, from beginning to end. The Gentile was the head and Israel the tail. The relationship between Je- hovah and Israel could no longer be publicl}^ owned ; but the heart of Jehovah could never forget His people, and, we may add, the heart of a faithful Israelite could never forget Jehovah or His hol}^ law; and these are just the two facts that speciall}^ characterize this most interesting little book. God was acting for Israel behind the scenes, and Mor- decai was acting for God before the scenes. It is worthy of remark that neither Israel's best Friend nor their worst enemy is once named in the book of Esther, and yet the whole book is full of the actings of both. The finger of God is stamped on every link in the marvelous chain of providence; and on 378 DEUTERONOMY. the other hand, the bitter enmity of Amalek comes out in the cruel plot of the haughty Agagite. All this is intensely interesting. Indeed, in rising from the study of this book, we may well say, '-Oh, scenes surpassing fable and yet true." No romance could possibly exceed in interest this simple but most blessed histor}'. But we must not expatiate, much as we should like to do so. Time and space forbid. We merely refer to it now in order to point out to the reader the unspeakable value and import- ance of individual faithfulness at a moment when the national glory was faded and gone. Mordecai stood like a rock for the truth of God. He refused, with stern decision, to own Amalek. He would save the life of Ahasuerus, and bow to his authority as the expression of the power of God ; but he would not bow to Haman. His conduct in this matter was governed simply by the Word of God. The au- thority for his course was to be found in this blessed book of Deuteronomy. — '•^Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the wa}^, when ye were come forth out of Egypt ; how lie met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and wearj^ ; and he feared not GocV — here was the true secret of the whole matter — "therefore it shall be, when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven ; thou shalt not forget it." (Chap. xxv. 17-19. ) CHAPTER XXVIII. 379 This was (Usiinct enough for eveiy circumcised ear, eveiy obedient heart, ever}'' upright conscience. Equal!}' distinct is the language of Exodus xvii. — ''And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua; for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.' And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it jEHOVAH-nissi [the Lord my banner] ; for he said, 'Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have w\ir with Amalek from generation to generation.' " (Ver. 14-16.) Here, then, was Mordecai's authority for refusing a single nod of his head to the Agagite. How could a faithful member of the house of Israel bow to a member of a house with which Jehovah w^as at war? Impossible. He could clothe himself in sackcloth, fast and weep for his people, but he could not, he would not, he dare not, bow to an Amalekite. He might be charged with presumption, blind obstinacy, stupid bigotry, and contemptible narrow-minded- ness ; but with that he had nothing whatever to do. It might seem the most unaccountable folly to with- hold the common mark of respect from the highest noble in the kingdom ; but that noble was an Ama- lekite, and tliat was enough for Mordecai. The apparent folly was simple obedience. It is this which makes the case so interesting and important for us. Nothing can ever do away with our resi)onsibility to obey the Word of God. It might be said to Mordecai that the commandment as to Amalek was a by-gone thing, having reference 25 380 DEUTEUONOMY. to Israel's palmy days. It was quite right for Joshua to fight with Amalek ; Saul, too, ought to have obeyed the word of Jehovah instead of sparing Agag ; but now, all was changed ; the glorj^ was de- parted from Israel, and it was perfectl}^ useless to attempt to act on Exodus xvii. or Deuteronomy XXV. All such arguments, we feel assured, would have no weight whatever with Mordecai. It was enouo;h for him that Jehovah had said, '"''Remember what Amalek did . . . Thou shall not forget it.'" How long was this to hold good ? "From generation to generation." Jehovah's war with Amalek was never to cease until his very name and remembrance were blotted out from under heaven. And why? Because of his cruel and heartless treatment of Israel. Such was the kindness of God toward His people ! How, then, could a faithful Israelite ever bow to an Ama- lekite ? Impossible. Could Joshua bow to Amalek ? Na3\ Did Samuel? Nay; "he hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal." How, then, could Mordecai bow to him ? He could not do it, cost what it might. It mattered not to him that the gallows was erected for him. He could be hanged, but he could never do homage to Amalek. And what was the result ? A magnificent tri- umph ! There stood the proud Amalekite near the throne, basking in the sunshine of royal favor, boasting himself in his riches, his greatness, his glory, and about to crush beneath his foot the seed of Abraham. There, on the other hand, lay poor CHAPTER XXVIII. 381 Mordecai in sackcloth and ashes and tears. Wliat coukl he do ? He couUl obey. He liad neither sword nor spear; but he had the Word of God, and by simply obeying that Word, he gained a victory over Amalek quite as decisive and splendid in its way as that gained by Joshua in Exodus xvii. — a victory which Saul failed to gain, though surrounded by a host of warriors selected from the twelve tribes of Israel. Amalek sought to get Mordecai hanged ; but instead of that, he was obliged to act as his footman, and conduct him, in all but regal pomp and splendor, through the street of the city. "And Haman answered the king, 'For the man whom the king delighteth to honor, let the ro3'al apparel be brought "which the king useth to wear, and the horse that the king rideth upon, and the crown royal which is set upon his head ; and let this apparel and horse be delivered to the hand of one of the king's most noble princes, that they may array the man withal whom the kinoj delisfhteth to honor, and brino; him on horseback through the street of the cit}^, and proclaim before him, Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor.' Then the king said to Haman, 'Make haste, and take the apparel and the horse, as thou hast said, and do even so to Mordecai the Jew, that sittcth at the kinor's gate : let nothins; fail of all that thou hast spoken.' Then took Haman the apparel and the horse, and arrayed Mordecai, and brought him on horseback through the street of the citv, and pro- claimed before him, 'Thus shall it be done unto the 382 DEUTERONOMY. mail whom the king delighteth to honor.' And Mordecai came asrain to the kin2:'s 2:ate ; but Haman hasted to his house mourning, and having his head covered." Here, assuredly, Israel was the head and Amalek the tail — Israel, not nationallj^, but individualh'. But this was only the beginning of Amalek's defeat and of Israel's glory. Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had erected for Mordecai, "and Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple ; and the city of Shushan rejoiced and was glad." Nor was this all. The effect of Mordecai's mar- velous victory was felt far and wide over the hundred and twent3'-seven provinces of the empire. "In every province, and in every city whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a good day. And many people of the land became Jews, for the fear of the Jews fell upon them." And, to crown all, we read that "Mordecai the Jew was next unto king Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted of the multitude of his brethren, seeking the wealth of his people, and speaking peace to all his seed." Now, reader, does not all this prove to us, in the most striking manner, the immense importance of individual faithfulness ? Is it not eminently calcu- lated to encourage us to stand for the truth of God, CHAPTER XXVIII. 383 cost what it may ? Onl}' see what marvelous results followed from the actings of one man ! Many might have condemned Mordecai's conduct. It might have seemed like unaccountable obstinacy to refuse a simple mark of respect to the highest noble in the empire ; but it was not so. It was simple obedi- ence ; it was decision for God, and it led to a most magnifient victory, the spoils of which were reaped by his brethren at the very ends of the earth. For further illustration of the subject suggested by Deuteronomy xxviii. 13, we must refer the reader to Daniel iii. and vi. There he will see what morally glorious results can be reached by individual faith- fulness to the true God, at a moment when Israel's national glor}^ was gone — their cit}' and temple in ruins. The three worthies refused to worship the golden image. They dared to face the wrath of the king, to withstand the universal voice of the empire, yea, to meet the fiery furnace itself, rather than disobe}'. Thej^ could surrender life, but they could not surrender the truth of God. And what was the result ? A splendid victory ! They walked through the furnace with the Son of God, and were called forth from the furnace as wit- nesses and servants of the Most High God. Glori- ous privilege ! wondrous dignity ! and all the simple result of obedience. Had they gone with the crowd, and bowed the head in worship to the national god, in order to escape the dreadful furnace, see what they would have lost ! But, blessed be God, they were enabled to stand fast in the confession of the 384 DEUTERONOMY. grand foundation-truth of the unity of the Godhead — that truth which had been trampled underfoot amid the splendors of Solomon's reign ; and the record of their faithfulness has been penned for us b}^ the Holy Spirit in order to encourage us to tread, with firm step, the path of individual devotedness, in the face of a God-hating, Christ-rejecting world, and in the face of a truth-neglecting Christendom. It is impossible to read the narrative and not have our whole renewed being stirred up and drawn out in earnest desire for more deep-toned personal devot- edness to Christ and His precious cause. Similar must be the effect produced by the study of Daniel vi. We cannot allow ourselves to quote or expatiate ; we can onh^ commend the soul-stirring record to the attention of tlie reader. It is uncom- monly fine, and it furnishes a splendid lesson for this day of soft, self-indulgent, easj'-going profes- sion, in which it costs people nothing to give^a nominal assent to the truths of Christianity ; but in which, notwithstanding, there is so little desire or readiness to follow, with whole-hearted decision, a rejected Lord, or to yield an unqualified and un- hesitating obedience to His commandments. How refreshing, in the face of so much heartless indifference, to read of the faithfulness of Daniel ! He, with unflinching decision, persisted in his holy habit of praying three times a da}^, with his window open toward Jerusalem, although he knew that the den of lions was the penalt}^ of his act. He might have closed his window and drawn his curtains and CHAPTER XXVIII. 385 retired into the privacy of his chamber to pray, or he might have waited for the midnight hour, when no human eye could see or human ear hear him. But no ; this beloved servant of God would not hide his light under a bed or a bushel. There was a great principle at stake. It was not merely that he would pray to the one living and true God, but he would pray with "/its tvindows open toivard Jerusalem.'' And why "toward Jerusalem"? Because it was God's centre. But it was in ruins. True, for the present, and as looked at from a human stand-point ; but to faith, and from a divine stand-point, Jerusa- lem was God's centre for His earthly people. It was, and it shall be, be3'ond all question. And not only so, but its dust is precious to Jehovah ; and hence Daniel was in full communion with the mind of God when he opened his windows toward Jeru- salem and prayed. He had Scripture for what he did, as the reader may see by referring to 2 Chroni- cles vi. "If they return to thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivitj^, whither they have carried them captives, and pray toivard their land^ which Thou gavest unto their fathers, and toward the city which Thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Thy name." Here was Daniel's warrant. This was what he did, utterly regardless of human opinions, and utterly regardless, too, of pains and penalties. He would rather be thrown into the den of lions than surrender the truth of God ; he would rather go to heaven 386 PKUTEKONO.MY. with a good conscience than remain on earth with a bad one. And what was the result ? Another splendid trium})h! "Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no manner of hurt w^as found upon him, be- cause HE BELIEVED IN HIS GOD." Blessed s'ervant! noble witness! Assuredly he was the head on this occasion, and his enemies the tail. And how? Simply by obedience to the Word of God. This is what we deem to be of such vast moral importance for this our da}'. It is to illustrate and enforce this that we refer to those brilliant examples of individual faithfulness at a time when Israel's national glory was in the dust, their unity gone, and their polity broken up. We cannot but regard it as a fact full of interest, full of encourage- ment, full of suggestive power, that in the darkest days of Israel's history as a nation we have the brightest and noblest examples of personal faith and devotedness. We earnestly press this upon the attention of the Christian reader. We consider it eminently calculated to strengthen and cheer up our hearts in standing for the truth of God at a moment like the present, when there is so much to discourage us in the general condition of the professing church. It is not that we are to look for such speedy, strik- ing, and splendid results as were realized in those cases to which we have referred. This is by no means the question. What we have to keep before our hearts is the fact that, no matter what may be the condition of the ostensible people of God at any CHAPTER XXVIII. ^87 given time, it is the privilege of th^ individual man of God to tread the narrow path and reap the pre- cious fruits of simple obedience to the Word of God and tlie precious commandments of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This, we feel persuaded, is a truth for the da}'. May we all feel its holy power. We are in imminent danger of lowering the standard of personal devot- edness because of the general condition. This is a fatal mistake, yea, it is the positive suggestion of the enemy of Christ and His cause. If Mordecai, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Daniel had acted thus, what would have been the result? Ah, no, reader ; we have ever to bear in mind that our one great business is, to obey, and leave results with God. It may please Him to permit His servants to see striking results, or He may see fit to allow them to wait for that great da}- that is coming, when there will be no danger of our being putfed up by seeing any little fruit of our testimony. Be this ^s it ma}', it is our plain and bounden duty to tread that bright and blessed path indicated for us by the commandments of our precious and adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. May God enable us, by the grace of His Holy Spirit, so to do. May we cleave to the truth of God with purpose of heart, utterly regardless of the opinions of our fellow-men. who may charge us with narrowness, bigotry, intol- erance, and such like. We have just to go on with the Lord! CHAPTER XXIX. THIS chapter closes the second grand division of our book. In it we have a most solemn appeal to the conscience of the con srre station. It is what we ma}' term the summing up and practical application of all that has gone before in this most profound, practical, and hortatory section of the five books of Moses. ''These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moah^ beside the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.'" Allusion has already been made to this passage as one of the many proofs of the entire distinctness of the book of Deuteronom}^ from the preceding section of the Pentateuch ; but it claims the reader's attention on another ground. It speaks of a special covenant made with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, in virtue of which they were to be brought into the land. This covenant was as distinct from the covenant made at Sinai as it was from the cove- nant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In a word, it was neither pure laiu on the one hand, nor pure grace on the other, but government exercised in sovereign mercy. It is perfectly clear that Israel coidd not enter the land on the ground of the Sinai or Horeb-covenant, inasmuch as they had completely failed under it, by CHAPTER XXIX. 389 inaking a golden calf. They forfeited all right and liLle to the land, and were only saved from instant destruction by sovereign mercy exercised toward them through the mediation and earnest intercession of Moses. It is equally plain that they did not enter the land on the ground of the Abrahamic covenant of grace, for had they done so, they would not have been turned out of it. Neither the extent nor the duration of their tenure answered to the terms of the covenant made with their fathers. It was by the terms of the Moab-covenant that they entered upon the limited and temporary possession of the land of Canaan ; and inasmuch as they have as signally failed under the Moab-covenant as under that of Horeb — failed under government as completely as under law, they are expelled from the land and scattered over the face of the earth, under the governmental dealinsfs of God. But not forever. Blessed be the God of all grace, the seed of Abraham His friend sliall yet possess the land of Canaan according to the magnificent terms of tlie original grant. "The gifts and calling of God are without repentance." Gifts and calling must not be confounded with law and government. Mount Zion can never be classed with Horeb and Moab. The new and everlasting covenant of grace, ratified by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, shall be gloriously fulfilled to the letter, spite of all the powers of earth and hell — men and devils combined. " 'Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant wiili the house of Israel 390 DEUTERONOMY. and with the house of Jiidah ; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt ; because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I w^ill make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord : I will put My laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts ; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to Me a people ; and they shall not teach ever}^ man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know Me, from the least to the greatest. For I Avill be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.' In that He saith, 'A new covenant,' He hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away." (Heb. viii. 8-13.) Now, the reader must carefully guard against a system of interpretation that would apply this precious and beautiful passage to the Church. It involves a threefold wrong, namel3^, a wrong to the truth of God, a wrong to the Cliurch, and a wrong to Israel. We have raised a warning note on this subject again and again in the course of our studies on the Pentateuch, because we feel its immense im- portance. It is our deep and thorough conviction that no one can understand, much less expound, the Word of God who confounds Israel with the Church. The two things arc as distinct as heaven and earth ; and hence, when God speaks of Israel, Jerusalem, CHAPTER XXIX. 391 and Zion, if we presunje to apply tliose names to the New-Testament Cliuicb, it can onl^^ issue in utter confusion. We believe it to be a simple impossi- bility to set forth the mischievous consequences of such a method of handling the Word of God. It puts an end to all accuracy of interpretation, and to all that holy precision and divine certainty which Scripture is designed and fitted to impart; it mars the integrity of truth, damages the souls of God's people, and hinders their progress in divine life and spiritual intelligence. In short, we cannot too strongly urge upon every one who reads these lines the absolute necessity of guarding against this fatally false system of handling holy Scripture. We must beware of meddling with the scope of prophecy, or the true application of the promises of God. We have no warrant whatever to interfere with the divinely appointed sphere of the covenants. The inspired apostle tells us distinctly, in the ninth of Romans, that the}' pertain to Israel ; and if we attempt to alienate them from the Old-Testament fathers and transfer them to the Church of God — the body of Christ, we may depend upon it, we are do- ing what Jehovah-Elohim will never sanction. The Church forms no part of the ways of God with Israel and the earth. Her place, her portion, her privileges, her prospect, are all heavenly. She is called into existence in this time of Christ's rejection, to be associated with Him where He is now hidden in the heavens, and to share His glory in the coming day. If the reader fully grasps this grand and glorious 392 DEUTERONOMY. truth, it will go far toward lielping him to put things into their right places and leave them there. We must now turn our attention to the very solemn, 'practical application of all that has passed before us to the conscience of every member of the conorreojation. "And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, 'Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Kgypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land ; the great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs, and those great miracles ; yet the Lord hath not given 3'ou a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.' " This is peculiarly solemn. The most astounding miracles and signs ma}^ pass before us, and leave the heart untouched. These things may produce a transient effect upon the mind and upon the natural feelings, but unless the conscience is brought into the light of the divine presence, and the heart brought under the immediate action of the truth b}^ the power of the Spirit of God, there is no permanent result reached. Nicodemus inferred from the miracles of Christ that He was a teacher come from God ; but this was not enough. He had to learn the deep and wondrous meaning of that mighty sentence, "Ye must be born again." A faith founded on miracles may leave people unsaved, unblessed, unconverted — awfully responsible, no doubt, but wholly unconverted. We read, at the close of the second chapter of John's gospel, of CHAPTER XXIX. 393 many who professed to believe on Christ when they saw His miracles ; but He did not commit Himself unto them. There was no divine work, nothing to be trusted. There must be a new life — a new nature, and miracles and signs cannot impart this. We must be born again — born of the Word and Spirit of God. The new life is communicated by the in- corruptible seed of the gospel of God, lodged in the heart by the power of the Holy Ghost. It is not a head-belief founded on miracles, but a heart- belief in the Son of God. It is something which could never be known under law or government. "The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." Precious gift! glorious source! blessed channel ! Universal and everlasting praise to the Eternal Trinity ! "And I have led jou forty years in the wilder- ness ; your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon th}^ foot." — Won- derful clothes ! wonderful shoes ! God took care of them and made them last, blessed forever be His gf-eat and hoi}' name! — "Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink ; that ye might know that I am the Lord your God." They were fed and clothed by God's own gracious liand. "Man did eat angels' food." They had no need of wine or strong drink — no need of stimulants. "They drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ." That pure stream refreshed them in the drear}^ desert, and the heav- enly manna sustained them day by da}'. All they 894 DEUTERONOMY. wanted was the capacity to enjoy the divine pro- vision. Here, alas ! like ourselves, they failed ; they got tired of the heavenly food, and lusted for other things. How sad that we should be so like them ! how very humbling that we should so fail to appre- ciate that precious One whom God has given to be our life, our portion, our object, our all in all ! How terrible to find our hearts craving the wretched vanities and follies of this poor passing world — its riches, its honors, its distinctions, its pleasures, which all perish in the using, and which, even if they were lasting, are not for a moment to be com- pared with "the unsearchable riches of Christ"! May God, in His infinite goodness, "grant us, ac- cording to the riches of His glory, to be strength- ened with might by His Spirit in the inner man ; that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith ; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height ; and to Tcnoio the love of Christy which passeth knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.''' Oh, that this most blessed prayer may be answered in the deep and abiding experience of the reader and the writer ! "And when 3'e came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan" — formidable and much-dreaded foes! — "came out against us unto battle, and we smote them." And had they been ten thousand times as great and as CHAPTER XXIX. 395 formidable, they would have proved to be as chaff before the presence of the God of the armies of Israel. "And we took tlieir land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gad- ites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh." Will any- one dare to compare this with what human history records respecting the invasion of South America by the Spaniards ? Woe be to those who do so ! they will find themselves terribly mistaken. There is this grand and all-important difference, that Israel had the direct authority of God for what they did to Sihon and Og ; the Spaniards could show no such authority for what they did to the poor ignorant savages of vSouth America. This alters the case completely. The introduction of God and His au- thority is the one perfect answer to every question, the divine solution of every difRcult}^ May we ever keep this weighty fact in the remembrance of the thoughts of our hearts, as a divine antidote ao;ainst every infidel su2:2:estion ! "Keep therefore the words of this [the Moab] covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.'" Simple obedience to the Word of God ever lias been, is now, and ever shall be the deep and I'eal secret of all true prosperity-. To the Chris- tian, of course, the prosperity is not in earthly or material things, but in heavenl}' and spiritual ; and we must never forget that it is the very height of foil}' to think of prospering or making progress in the divine life if we are not yielding an implicit obedience to all the commandments of our blessed 2G 396 DEUTERONOMY. and adorable Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. "If ye abide in Me, and M}^ words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto 3'ou. Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit ; so shall 3'e be My disciples. As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved j^ou ; continue ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments^ ye shall abide in My love ; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." Here is true Christian prosperit}. May we earnestly long after it, and diligently pursue the proper method of attaining it. "Ye stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God ; 3'our captains of your tribes, 3'our elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel, your little ones'' — touching and interesting fact! — "3'our wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp." How exquisite, how deeply affecting, the expression, '•''thy stranger"! What a pow^erful appeal to Israel's heart on behalf of the stranger ! "From the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water ; that thou shouldest enter into covenant with the Lord th3' God, and into His oath, which the Lord th3'God maketh with thee this day ; that He ma3^ establish thee to-day for a people unto Himself, and that He may be unto thee a God, as He hath said unto thee, and as He hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath, but with him that standeth here with us this da3^ before the Lord our God, and also with him that is not here CHAPTER XXIX. ,^07 with us this da}' ; for ye know how we have dwelt ill the land of Egypt, and how we came through the nations which ye passed b}' ; and ye have seen theii* abominations [that is, the objects of their worship — their false gods] and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them." (Ver. 10-17.) This earnest appeal is not only general, but also intensel}'' individual. This is very important. We are ever prone to generalize, and thus miss the ap- plication of truth to our individual conscience. This is a grave mistake, and a most serious loss to our souls. "We are every one of us responsible to yield an implicit obedience to the precious commandments of our Lord. It is thus we enter into the real en- joyment of our relationship, as Moses says to the people, "that He may establish thee for a people unto Himself, and that He may be unto thee a God." Nothing can be more precious. And then it is so very simple. There is no vagueness, obscurity, or mysticism about it. It is simply having His most precious commandments treasured up in our hearts, acting upon the conscience, and carried out in the life. This is the true secret of habitually realizing our relationship with our Father and with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. For any one to imagine that he can enjoy the blessed sense of intimate relationship while living in the habitual neglect of our Lord's commandments is a miserable and mischievous delusion. "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My 398 DEtTTERONOMY. love." This is the grand point; let us deeply ponder it. "If yQ love Me, keep My command- ments." "Not every one that sailh unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven ; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." "For whosoever shall do the will ot My Father which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother." "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God." These are seasonable words for this day of easy- going, self-indulgent, worldly profession. May they sink down into our ears and into our hearts. May they take full possession of our whole moral being, and bring forth fruit in our individual histor}'. We feel persuaded of the need of this practical side of Illinois. We are in imminent danojer, while seekinor to keep clear of every thing like legality, of running into the opposite evil of carnal laxity. The passages of holy Scripture which we have just quoted — and they are but a few of many — supply the divine safeguard against both these pernicious and deadly errors. It is blessedly true that we are brought into the hoi}' relationship of children by the sovereign grace of God, through the power of His Word and Spirit. This one fact cuts up by the roots the noxious weed of legalit3^ But then, surely the relationship has its suited affections, its duties, and its responsibilities, the due recognition of which furnishes the true remedy for the terrible evil of carnal laxity so prevalent on ciiArxEK XXIX. 399 all hands. If we are delivered frora latv-works — as, thank God, we are, if we are true Christians — it is not that we should be good-for-nothing self-pleasers, but that life-works might be produced in us, to the glory of Him whose name we bear, whose we are, and whom we are ])ound, by every argument, to love obe}', and serve. May we, beloved reader, earnestly seek to apply our hearts to this practical line of tilings. We are imperatively called upon to do so, and we may fully count upon the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ to enable us to respond to the call, spite of the ten thousand difficulties and hindrances that lie in our way. Oh, for a deeper work of grace in our souls, a closer walk with God, a more pronounced discipleship ! Let us give ourselves to the earnest pursuit of these things ! We must now proceed with the lawgiver's solemn appeal. He warns the people to take heed, "lest there should be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turneth awa}- this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations ; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood." These searching words are referred to by the inspired apostle in his epistle to the Hebrews in a very emphatic manner. ^'-Looking diligently^'' he says, "lest any man fail of the grace of God ; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby man}' be defiled." What weighty words are these ! how full of whole- 400 DEUTERONOMY. some admonition and warning! They set forth the solemn responsibilitj^ of all Christians. We are all called upon to exercise a holy, jealous, godly care over each other, which, alas ! is but little understood or recognized. We are not all called to be pastors or teachers. The passage just quoted does not refer particularly to such ; it refers to all Christians, and we are bound to attend to it. We hear great com- plaints on all sides, of the sad lack of pastoral care. No doubt there is a great lack of true pastors in the Church of God, as there is of every other gift. This is only what we might expect. How could it be otherwise ? How could we expect a profusion of spiritual gifts in our present miserable condition ? The Spirit is grieved and quenched by our lament- able divisions, our worldliness, our gross unfaithful- ness. Need we, then, marvel at our deplorable poverty ? But our blessed Lord is full of deep and tender compassion toward us in the midst of our ruin and spiritual desolation, and if we only humbled our- selves under His mighty hand. He would graciously lift us up, and enable us, in mau}^ "^'^3's, to meet the deficiency of pastoral gift.amongst us. We might, through His precious grace, look more diligently and lovingly after one another, and seek each other's spiritual progress and prosperity in a thou- sand ways. Let not the reader imagine for a moment that we mean to give the smallest countenance to prying officiousness or unwarrantable espionage on the part CHAPTER XXIX. 401 of Christiiins. Far awa}- be the thought ! We look upon sucli things as perfectly insufferable in the Church of God. They stand at the very moral an- tipodes of that loving, holy, tender, diligent pastoral care of which we speak and for which we long. But does it not strike the reader that, while giving the widest possible berth to these most contemptible evils to which we have just referred, we might culti- vate and exercise a loving, prayerful interest in one another, and a holy watchfulness and care, which might prevent man}- a root of bitterness from spring- ing up ? We cannot doubt it. It is quite true we are not all called to be pastors, and it is equally true that there is a grievous dearth of pastors in the Church of God. We mean, of course, true pastors — pastors given by the Head of the Church — men with a pastor's heart, and real pastoral gift and power. All this is undeniable, and for this very reason it ought to stir the hearts of the Lord's be- loved people every where to seek of Him grace to enable them to exercise a tender, loving, brotherly care over one another, which might go a great way toward supplying the need of pastors amongst us. One thing is clear, that in the passage just quoted from Hebrews xii. there is nothing said about pastors. It is simply a most stirring exhortation to all Christians to exercise a mutual care, and to watch against the springing up of an}- root of bitterness. And oh, how needful this is ! How terrible are those roots ! How bitter the}- are ! How widely 402 DEUTERONOMY. spread are their pernicious tendrils at times ! What irreparable mischief they do! How many are defiled by them ! How many precious links of friendship are snapped, and how many hearts broken by them ! Yes, reader, and how often we have felt persuaded that a little judicious pastoral or even brotherly care, a little loving, godly counsel, might have nipped the evil in the bud, and thus hindered an incalculable amount of mischief and sorrow. May we all la}^ these things to heart, and earnestly seek grace to do what w-e can to prevent roots of bitterness springing up and spreading abroad their defiling influence. But we must hearken to further weighty and searching w^ords from the beloved and venerable lawgiver. He draws a most solemn picture of the end of the one who caused the root of bitterness to spring up. "And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, sa}'- ing, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imag- ination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst." Fatal delusion ! Crying, Peace, peace ! when there is no peace, but imminent wrath and judgment. "The Lord wdll not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall smoke against that man, and," — instead of the "peace" which he vainly promised himself, — "all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven." Awful warning to all who act as roots of bitterness in the ciiArTEii XXIX. 403 midst of the people of God, and to all who counte- nance them ! "And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law ; so that the generation to come of 3'our children, that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall sa}^, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath laid upon it ; and that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomor- rah, Admah and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in His answer and in His wrath;" — Soul-subduins: examples of the governmental dealings of the living God, which ought to speak with a voice of thunder in the ears of all those who are turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the Lord that bought them! — "even all nations shall sa}', Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land ? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the cove- nant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them forth out of the laud of Egypt ; for they went and served other gods, and worshiped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom He had not given unto them ; and the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the curses that are written in this book ; and the Lord rooted them out of their 404 dp:uteuono.my. land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indigna- tion, and cast them into another land, as it is this day." (Ver. 19-28.) Reader, how peculiarly solemn is all this ! What a powerful illustration of the apostle's words, "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" ! and again, "Our God is a consuming fire" ! How important that the professing church should give heed to such warning notes ! Most assuredly, she is called to learn much from the history of God's dealings with His people Israel ; Romans xi. is perfectly clear and conclusive as to this. The apostle, in speaking of the divine judgment upon the unbelieving branches of the olive-tree, thus appeals to Christendom: "If some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive-tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them par- takest of the root and fatness of the olive-tree ; boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt sa}^ then, The branches were broken off that I might be graffed in. Well ; because of unbelief they were broken off; and thou standest b}^ faith. Be not high-minded, but fear ; for if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity' of God ; on them which fell, severity ; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in His good- ness ; otherwise thou also shalt he cut off/* Alas ! the professing church has not continued in the goodness of God. It is utterl}^ impossible to CHArTKR XXIX. 405 read her history in the light of Scripture and not see this. She has grievously departed, and there is nothing before her save the unmingled wrath of Almighty God. The beloved members of the bod}' of Christ who, sad to sa}-, are mingled with the terrible mass of corrupt profession, will be gathered out of it and taken to the place prepared in the Father's house in heaven. Then, if not before, the}' will see how wrong it was to have remained in con- nection with what was so flagrantly opposed to the mind of Christ as revealed, with divine clearness and simplicit}', in the hoi}' Scriptures. But as to the great thing known as Christendom, it will be "spued out" and "cut off." It will be given over to strong delusion, to believe a lie, "that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.''^ Tremendous words ! May they ring in the ears and sink down into the hearts of thousands who are going on from day to day, week to week, and year to year, content with a mere name to live, a form of godliness, but denying the power, ''lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God." What an awfully graphic picture of so-called Christian England ! How appall- ing the condition and the destiny of the pleasure- hunting thousands who are rushing blindly, heed- lessly, and madly down the inclined plane that leads to hopeless and everlasting misery! May God, in His infinite goodness, by the power of His Spirit and by the mighty action of His Word, rouse the hearts of His people every where to a more 406 DEUTERONOMY. profound and influential sense of these tilings. We must now, ere closing this section, briefly direct the reader's attention to the last verse of our chapter. It is one of those passages of Scripture sadly misunderstood and misapplied. "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God ; but those things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." This verse is constantly used to hinder the progress of souls in the knowledge of "the deep things of God," but its simple meaning is this: The things "revealed" are what we have had before us in the preceding chapter of this book ; the things "secret," on the other hand, refer to those resources of grace which God had in store, to be unfolded when the people should have utterly failed to "do all the words of this law." The revealed things are what Israel ought to have done, but did not do ; the secret things are what God would do, spite of Israel's sad and shameful failure, and they are most blessedly presented in the following chapters — the counsels of divine grace, the provisions of sovereign mercy to be displayed when Israel shall have thoroughly learnt the lesson of their utter failure under both the Moab and the Horeb-covenants. Thus this passage, when rightly understood, so far from affording any warrant for the use so constantly made of it, encourages the heart to search into these things which, though "secret" to Israel in the plains of Moab, are fully and clearl}^ "revealed" to us for our profit, comfort, and edification.* The CHAPTER XXIX. 407 Holy Spirit came down, on the day of Pentecost, to lead the disciples into all truth. The canon of Scrip- ture is complete ; all the purposes and counsels of God are fully revealed. The myster}^ of the Church completes the entire circle of divine truth. The apostle John could say to all God's children, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and know all things.'" Thus the entire New Testament abounds with evidence to prove the mistaken use that is so con- stantly made of Deuteronom}' xxix. 29. We have dwelt upon it because we are aware that the Lord's beloved people are sadly hindered b}' it in their progress in divine knowledge. The enemy would ever seek to keep them in the dark, when they ought to be walking in the sunlight of divine revelation — • to keep them as babes feeding upon milk, when thc}^ ought, as those "of full age," to be feeding upon the "strong meat" so freely provided for the Church of *1 Corinthians ii. 9 is another of tlie misunderstood and misap- plied passages. "But, as it is written, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things •which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' " Here, people are sure to stop, and hence conclude that we cannot possibly know aught of the precious things which God has in store for us ; but the verj' next verse proves the gross absurdity of any such conclusion. " But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit ; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we [that is, all the Lord's people] have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God ; that we might l-noir the thitif/s that are freely given to us of God." Thus this pas- sage, like Deuteronomy xxix. 29, teaches the very opposite of what is so constantly deduced from it. How important to examine and weigh tiie context of the passages which arc quoted! 408 DEUTERONOMY. God. We have but little idea of how the Spirit of God is grieved and Christ dishonored by the low tone of things amongst us. How few really "know the things that are freely given to us of God"! Where are the proper privileges of the Christian understood, believed, and realized? How meagre is our apprehension of divine things! How stunted our growth ! How feeble our practical exposition of the truth of God ! What a blotted epistle of Christ we present ! Beloved Christian reader, let us seriousl}' ponder these things in the divine presence. Let us honestly search out the root of all this lamentable failure, and have it judged and put away, that so we ma}- more faithfully and unmistakably declare whose we are and whom w^e serve. Maj" it be more thoroughly manifest that Christ is our one absorbing object. CHAPTER XXX. THIS chapter is one of very deep interest and importance. It is prophetic, and presents to us some of "the secret things" referred to at the close of the preceding chapter. It unfolds some of those most precious resources of grace treasured up in the heart of God, to be unfolded when Israel, having utterly failed to keep the law, should be scattered to the ends of the earth. "And it shall come to pass, when all these things CHAPTER XXX. 409 are come upon thee, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before thee, and thou slialt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee, and shall return unto the Lord thy God^ and shalt obey His voice according to all that I command thee this da}", thou and thy children, ivith all thine heart and icith all thy soul; that then the Lord th}' God will turn thy captivit}', and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee." How touching, how perfectly beautiful, is all this ! It is no question of law-keeping, but something far deeper, far more precious ; it is the turning of the heart — the whole heart — the whole soul to Jehovah, at a time when a literal obedience to the law is utterly impossible. It is a broken and contrite heart turning to God, and God, in deep and tender compassion, meeting that heart. This is true bless- edness, at all times and in all places. It is some- thing above and be3'ond all dispensational dealings and arrangements. It is God Himself, in all the fullness and ineffable blessedness of what He is, meeting a repentant soul ; and we may truly say that when these two meet, all is divinely and eter- nally settled. It must be perfectly clear to the reader that what we have now before us is something as far removed from law-keeping and human righteousness as heaven is above earth. The first verse of our chapter proves in the clearest possible manner that the people are 410 DEUTERONOMY. viewed as in a condition in which the carrying out of the ordinances of the law is a simple impossibilit}'. But blessed be God, there is not a spot on the face of the earth, be it ever so remote, from which the heart cannot turn to God. The hands might not be able to present a victim for the altar, the feet might not be able to travel to the appointed place of wor- ship, but the heart could travel to God. Yes ; the poor crushed, broken, contrite heart could go di- rectly to God, and God, in the depth of His com- passion and tender mercN^, could meet that heart, bind it up, and fill it to overflowing with the rich comfort and consolation of His love, and the full joy of His salvation. But let us hearken yet further to those "secret things" which "belong to God" — things precious be3'ond all human thought. "If any of thine be driven out unto the utmost parts of heaven'' — as far as they could go — "from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee; and the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt possess it ; and He ivill do thee good, and multiply thee above thy fathers." How precious is all this ! But there is something far better still. Not only will He gather them, fetch them, and multiply them — not only will He act in power for them, but He will do a mighty work of grace in them of far more value than any outward prosperity however desirable. "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart'' — 'the very centre CHAPTER XXX. 411 of the whole moral being, the source of all those influences which go to form the character — "and the heart of th}^ seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart" — the grand moral regulator of the entire life — "and with all thy soul, that thou mayesf live. And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted thee'.' — a solemn word for all those nations who have ever sought to oppress the Jews ! — "And thou shalt return, and obey the voice of the Lord, and do all His commandments, which I command thee this da}'." Nothing can be more morally lovely than all this. The people gathered, fetched, multiplied, blessed, circumcised in heart, thoroughly devoted to Jeho- vah, and yielding a whole-hearted, loving obedience to all His precious commandments ! What can ex- ceed this in blessedness for a people on the earth ? "And the Lord th}- God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of tli}' body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thj^ land, for good ; for the Lord will again re- joice over thee for good, as He rejoiced over thy fathers : if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, and if thou turn unto the Lord thy God, with all thine heart and with all thy soul. For this com- mandment which I command thee this da}', it is not hidden from thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say. Who shall go up 412 DEUTERONOMY. for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, that we may hear it and do it ? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest sa}', Who sliall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, that we ma}' hear it and do it? But the Word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it." (Ver. 10-14.) This is a singularly interesting passage. It fur- nishes a key to "the secret things" already referred to, and sets forth the great principles of divine righteousness, in vivid and beautiful contrast to legal righteousness in every possible aspect. Ac- cording to the truth here unfolded, it matters not in the least where a soul ma}' be — here, there, or any where; "the Word is nigh thee." It could not possibly be nigher. What could be nigher than "in thy mouth, and in tliy heart"? We need not, as we say, move a muscle to get it. If it were above us or beyond us, reason would that we might com- plain of our utter inability to reach it ; but no, there is no need of either hayicls or feet in this most blessed and all-important matter. The heart and the mouth are here called into exercise. There is a very beautiful allusion to the above passage in the tenth chapter of the epistle to the Romans, to which the reader may refer with much interest and profit. Indeed, it is so full of evangelic sweetness, that we must quote it. "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record, that they have a zeal of God, but not CHAPTER XXX. 413 according to knowledge. For the}-, being ignorant of God's righteousness^ and gouig about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted them- selves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is tlie end of the law for righteousness to everyone that helieveth'' — not to ever}'- one who says he believes, as in James ii. 14. — "For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise : Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven ? (that is, to bring Christ down ;)" — Striking parenthesis ! Marvelous instance of the Spirit's use of Old-Testament scripture ! It bears the distinct stamp of His master-hand. — "or, Who shall de- scend into the deep ? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The Word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in th}^ heart; that is, the ivord of faith, which we preach;'^ — How perfectl}' beautiful the addition ! Who but the Spirit could have supplied it? — "that if thou shalt confess ivith thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture saith, 'Whosoever believeth on Him shall not be ashamed.' " Mark this beautiful word — "whosoever. " It most assuredly takes in the Jew. It meets him wherever he may be, a poor exile at the very ends of the earth, 414~ DEUTERONOMY. under circumstances where obedience to the law as such was simply impossible, but where the rich and precious grace of God and His most glorious sal- vation could meet him in the depth of his need. There, though he could not keep the law, he could confess with his moutli the Lord Jesus, and believe in his heart that God had raised Him from the dead ; and this is salvation. But then, if it be "whosoever," it cannot possibly be confined to the Jew ; na}-, it cannot be confined at all ; and hence the apostle goes on to say, "There IS no difference between the Jew and the Greek." There ivas the greatest possible difference under the law. There could not be a broader or more distinct line of demarkation than that which the lawgiver had drawn between the Jew and the Greek ; but that line is obliterated, for a double reason : first, because "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (chap. iii. 23.) ; and secondly, because "the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him ; for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." How blessedly simple ! "Calling" — "believing" — "confessino^" ! Nothinor ean exceed the trans- cendent grace that shines in these words. No doubt it is assumed that the soul is reall}' in earnest — that the heai't is eno-aored. God deals in moral realities. It is not a nominal, notional head-belief; but divine faith wrought in the heart b}^ the Holy Gliost — a living faith, which connects the soul, in a divine way and by an everlasting link, to Christ. CHArTEK XXX. 415 And then there is the confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus. This is of cardinal importance. A man may say, I believe in my heart, but I am not one for parading my religious belief. I am not a talker. I keep my religion to myself. It is entirely a matter between my soul and God ; I do not believe in that perpetual intruding our religious impressions upon other people. Many who talk loudly and largel}' about their religion in public, make but a sorry figure in private, and I certainly do not want to be identified with such. I utterly abhor all cant. Deeds, not words, for me. All this sounds ver^- plausible, but it cannot stand for a moment in the light of Romans x. 9. There must be the confession with the mouth. Many would like to be saved by Christ, but they shrink from the reproach of confessing His precious Name. They would like to get to heaven when they die, but they do not want to be identified with a rejected Christ. Now God does not own such. He looks for the full, bold, clear confession of Christ, in the face of a hostile world. Our Lord Christ, too, looks for this confession. He declares that whoso confesses Him before men. He will confess before the angels of God ; but whoso denies Him before men. He will deny before the angels of God. The thief on the cross exhibited the two great branches of true sav- ing faith. He believed with his heart, and confessed with his mouth. Yes, he gave a flat contradiction to the whole world on the most vital question that ever was or ever could be raised, and that question 416 DEUTERONOMY. was Christ. He was a thoroughly pronounced dis- ciple of Christ. Oh, that there were more such ! There is a terrible amount of iudefiniteness and cold half-heartedness in the professing church, grievous to the Holy Ghost, offensive to Christ, hateful to God. We long for bold decision, out-and-out, un- mistakable testimony to the Lord Jesus. Ma}'- God the Holy Spirit stir up all our hearts, and lead us forth, in more thorough consecration of heart, to that blessed One who freely gave His life to save us from everlasting burnings ! We shall close this section by quoting for the reader the last few verses of our chapter, in which Moses makes a peculiarly solemn appeal to the hearts and consciences of the people. It is a most powerful word of exhortation. ''See, I have set before thee tliis day life and good and death and evil.'* Thus it is ever in the govern- ment of God. The two things are inseparably linked together. Let no man dare to snap the link. God "will render to eveiy man according to his deeds; to them who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for giory and honor and immortality, eternal life ; but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obe}^ unrighteousness, indigna- tion and wrath, tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile ; but glory, honor, and peace to evei-y man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: for there is no respect of persons ivith God:* (Rom. ii. 6-11 ) CHAPTER XXX. 417 The apostle does not, in this great practical pas- sage, go into the question of power ; he simply states the broad fact — a fact applicable at all times and under all dispensations — government, law, and Christianity ; it ever holds good that "God will render to every man according to his deeds." This is of the very last possible importance. May we ever bear it in mind. It may perhaps be said. Are not Christians under grace ? Yes, thank God ; but does this weaken, in the smallest degree, the grand governmental principle stated above ? Nay, it strengthens and confirms it immensely. But again, some may feel disposed to say, Can any unconverted person do good ? We reply, This question is not raised in the scripture just quoted. Every one taught of God knows and feels and owns that not one atom of "good " has ever been done in this world but by the grace of God ; that man left to himself will do evil onl}' — evil continually. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and Cometh down from the Father of lights." All this is most blessedly true, and thankfully owned by every pious soul, but it leaves wholly untouched the fact set forth in Deuteronomy xxx. and confirmed by Romans ii, that life and good, death and evil^ are bound together by an inseparable link. May we never forget it. May it ever abide in the remem- brance of the thoughts of our hearts. "See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil ; in tiiat I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in His ways, 418 DEUTERONOMY. and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that thou ma3^est live and mul- tiply ; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it. But if thine heart turn aivay, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn awa}'^, and worship other gods, and serve them ; I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land, whither thou passest over Jor- dan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to I'ecord this day against you, that I have set before 3'ou life and death, blessing and cursing ; therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live ; that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou maj-est obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him" — the all-important, essential thing for each, for all, the very spring and power of all true religion, in every age, in every place; — ''for He is thy life, and tJie lerigth of thy days;'' — How close ! how vital ! how real ! how very precious ! — "that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them." (Ver. 15-20.) Nothing can be more solemn than this closing appeal to the congregation ; it is in full keeping with the tone and character of the entire book of Deuteronom}^ — a book marked throughout by the most powerful exhortations that ever fell on mortal ears. We have no such soul-stirring appeals in any of the preceding sections of the Pentateuch. Each book, we need not sa^-, has its own specific niche to CHAPTEK XXXI. 419 fill, its own distinct object and character ; but the great burden of Deuteronomy, from beginning to end, is exhortation ; its thesis, the Word of God ; its object, obedience — whole-hearted, earnest, loving obedience, grounded on a known relationship and enjoyed privileges. CHAPTER XXXI. THE heart of Moses still lingers, with deep ten- derness and affectionate solicitude, over the conorre