,,expositions ,,of ,,holy ,,scripture ,,alexander ,,maclaren1 ,d4 ,d41 ,litt4 ,d4 ,,genesis1 ,,exodus1 ,,leviticus ,,and ,,numbers ,,expositions ,,of ,,holy ,,scripture ,,alexander ,,maclaren1 ,d4 ,d41 ,litt4 ,d4 ,,genesis ,,contents ,,the ,,vision ,,of ,,creation 7,genesis i4 #bf--;ii4 #c7 ,,how ,,sin ,,came ,,in 7,genesis iii4 #a-ae7 ,,eden ,,lost ,,and ,,restored 7,genesis iii4 #bd2 ,revelation xxii4 #ad7 ,,the ,,growth ,,and ,,power ,,of ,,sin 7,genesis iv4 #c-af7 ,,what ,,crouches ,,at ,,the ,,door 7,genesis iv4 #g1 ,r4,v47 ,,with1 ,,before1 ,,after 7,genesis v4 #bb2 ,genesis xvii4 #a2 ,deuteronomy xiii4 #d7 ,,the ,,course ,,and ,,crown ,,of ,a ,,devout ,,life 7,genesis v4 #bd7 ,,the ,,saint ,,among ,,sinners 7,genesis vi4 #i-bb7 ',,clear ,,shining ,,after ,,rain' 7,genesis viii4 #a-bb7 ,,the ,,sign ,,for ,,man ,,and ,,the ,,remembrancer ,,for ,,god 7,genesis ix4 #h-ag7 ,,an ,,example ,,of ,,faith 7,genesis xii4 #a-i7 ,,abram ,,and ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,faith ,,going ,,forth 7,genesis xii4 #e7 ,,coming ,,in ,,the ,,man ,,of ,,faith 7,genesis xii4 #f1 #g7 ,,life ,,in ,,canaan 7,genesis xii4 #h7 ,,the ,,importance ,,of ,a ,,choice 7,genesis xiii4 #a-ac7 ,,abbam ,,the ,,hebrew 7,genesis xiv4 #ac7 ,,god',s ,,covenant ,,with ,,abram 7,genesis xv4 #e-ah7 ,,the ,,word ,,that ,,scatters ,,fear 7,genesis xv4 #a7 ,,faith ,,and ,,righteousness 7,genesis xv4 #f7 ,,waiting ,,faith ,,rewarded ,,and ,,strengthened ,,by ,,new ,,revelations 7,genesis xvii4 #a-i7 ,a ,,petulant ,,wish 7,genesis xvii4 #ah7 ',,because ,,of ,,his ,,importunity' 7,genesis xviii4 l#f-cc7 ,,the ,,intercourse ,,of ,,god ,,and ,,his ,,friend ,,the ,,swift ,,destroyer 7,genesis xix4 #ae-bf7 ,,faith ,,tested ,,and ,,crowned 7,genesis xxii4 #a-ad7 ,,the ,,crowning ,,test ,,and ,,triumph ,,of ,,faith ,,jehovah-,,jireh 7,genesis xxii4 #ad7 ,,guidance ,,in ,,the ,,way 7,genesis xxiv4 #bg7 ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,abraham 7,genesis xxv4 #h7 ,a ,,bad ,,bargain 7,genesis xxv4 #bg-cd7 ,,pottage versus ,,birthright 7,genesis xxv4 #cd7 ,,the ,,first ,,apostle ,,of ,,peace ,,at ,,any ,,price 7,genesis xxvi4 #ab-be7 ,,the ,,heavenly ,,pathway ,,and ,,the ,,earthly ,,heart 7,genesis xxviii4 #aj-bb7 ,,mahanaim3 ,,the ,,two ,,camps 7,genesis xxxii4 #a1 #b7 ,,the ,,twofold ,,wrestle--,,god',s ,,with ,,jacob ,,and ,,jacob',s ,,with ,,god 7,genesis xxxii4 #i-ab7 ,a ,,forgotten ,,vow 7,genesis xxxv4 #a7 ,,the ,,trials ,,and ,,visions ,,of ,,devout ,,youth 7,genesis xxxvii4 #a-aa7 ,,man',s ,,passions ,,and ,,god',s ,,purpose 7,genesis xxxvii4 #bc-cf7 ,,goodness ,,in ,a ,,dungeon 7,genesis xl4 #a-ae7 ,,joseph1 ,,the ,,prime ,,minister 7,genesis xli4 #ch-dh7 ,,recognition ,,and ,,reconciliation 7,genesis xlv4 #a-ae7 ,,joseph1 ,,the ,,pardoner ,,and ,,preserver ,,growth ,,by ,,transplanting 7,genesis xlvii4 #a-ab7 ,,two ,,retrospects ,,of ,,one ,,life 7,genesis xlvii4 #i2 ,genesis xlviii4 #ae1 #af7 ',,the ,,hands ,,of ,,the ,,mighty ,,god ,,of ,,jacob' 7,genesis xlix4 #bc1 #bd7 ,,the ,,shepherd1 ,,the ,,stone ,,of ,,israel 7,genesis xlix4 #bd7 ,a ,,calm ,,evening1 ,,promising ,a ,,bright ,,morning 7,genesis l4 #ad-bf7 ,,joseph',s ,,faith 7,genesis l4 #be7 ,a ,,coffin ,,in ,,egypt 7,genesis l4 #bf7 ,,the ,,vision ,,of ,,creation ',and ,god said1 ,let us make man in our image1 after our likeness2 and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea1 and over the fowl of the air1 and over the cattle1 and over all the earth1 and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth4 ,so ,god created man in ,his own image3 in the image of ,god created ,he him2 male and female created ,he them4 ,and ,god blessed them3 and ,god said unto them1 ,be fruitful1 and multiply1 and replenish the earth1 and subdue it2 and have dominion over the fish of the sea1 and over the fowl of the air1 and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth4 ,and ,god said1 ,behold1 ,i have given you every herb bearing seed1 which is upon the face of all the earth1 and every tree1 in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed2 to you it shall be for meat4 ,and to every beast of the earth1 and to every fowl of the air1 and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth1 wherein there is life1 ,i have given every green herb for meat3 and it was so4 ,and ,god saw every thing that ,he had made1 and1 behold1 it was very good4 ,and the evening and the morning were the sixth day4 ',thus the heavens and the earth were finished1 and all the host of them4 ,and on the seventh day ,god ended ,his work which ,he had made2 and ,he rested on the seventh day from all ,his work which ,he had made4 ,and ,god blessed the seventh day1 and sanctified it2 because that in it ,he had rested from all ,his work which ,god created and made4' --,,genesis i4 #bf-;ii4 #c4 ,we are not to look to ,genesis for a scientific cosmogony1 and are not to be disturbed by physicists' criticisms on it as such4 ,its purpose is quite another1 and far more important2 namely1 to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one ,god created all things4 ,nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science1 and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry4 ,the comparison of the creation narratives in ,genesis with the cuneiform tablets1 with which they evidently are most closely connected1 has for its most important result the demonstration of the infinite elevation above their monstrosities and puerilities1 of this solemn1 steadfast attribution of the creative act to the one ,god4 ,here we can only draw out in brief the main points which the narrative brings into prominence4 #a4 ,the revelation which it gives is the truth1 obscured to all other men when it was given1 that one ,god 'in the beginning created the heaven and the earth4' ,that solemn utterance is the keynote of the whole4 ,the rest but expands it4 ,it was a challenge and a denial for all the beliefs of the nations1 the truth of which ,israel was the champion and missionary4 ,it swept the heavens and earth clear of the crowd of gods1 and showed the ,one enthroned above1 and operative in1 all things4 ,we can scarcely estimate the grandeur1 the emancipating power1 the all-uniting force1 of that utterance4 ,it is a worn commonplace to us4 ,it was a strange1 thrilling novelty when it was written at the head of this narrative4 ,then it was in sharp opposition to beliefs that have long been dead to us2 but it is still a protest against some living errors4 ,physical science has not spoken the final word when it has shown us how things came to be as they are4 ,there remains the deeper question1 ,what1 or who1 originated and guided the processes8 ,and the only answer is the ancient declaration1 ',in the beginning ,god created the heaven and the earth4' #b4 ,the record is as emphatic and as unique in its teaching as to the mode of creation3 ',god said 444 and it was so4' ,that lifts us above all the poor childish myths of the nations1 some of them disgusting1 many of them absurd1 all of them unworthy4 ,there was no other agency than the putting forth of the divine will4 ,the speech of ,god is but a symbol of the flashing forth of ,his will4 ,to us ,christians the antique phrase suggests a fulness of meaning not inherent in it1 for we have learned to believe that 'all things were made by ,him' whose name is ',the ,word of ,god'2 but1 apart from that1 the representation here is sublime4 ',he spake1 and it was done'2 that is the sign-manual of ,deity4 #c4 ,the completeness of creation is emphasised4 ,we note1 not only the recurrent 'and it was so1' which declares the perfect correspondence of the result with the divine intention1 but also the recurring ',god saw that it was good4' ,his ideals are always realised4 ,the divine artist never finds that the embodiment of ,his thought falls short of ,his thought4 ',what act is all its thought had been8 ,what will but felt the fleshly screen8 ,but ,he has no hindrances nor incompletenesses in ,his creative work1 and the very sabbath rest with which the narrative closes symbolises1 not ,his need of repose1 but ,his perfect accomplishment of ,his purpose4 ,god ceases from ,his works because 'the works were finished1' and ,he saw that all was very good4 #d4 ,the progressiveness of the creative process is brought into strong relief4 ,the work of the first four days is the preparation of the dwelling-place for the living creatures who are afterwards created to inhabit it4 ,how far the details of these days' work coincide with the order as science has made it out1 we are not careful to ask here4 ,the primeval chaos1 the separation of the waters above from the waters beneath1 the emergence of the land1 the beginning of vegetation there1 the shining out of the sun as the dense mists cleared1 all find confirmation even in modern theories of evolution4 ,but the intention of the whole is much rather to teach that1 though the simple utterance of the divine will was the agent of creation1 the manner of it was not a sudden calling of the world1 as men know it1 into being1 but majestic1 slow advance by stages1 each of which rested on the preceding4 ,to apply the old distinction between justification and sanctification1 creation was a work1 not an act4 ,the ,divine ,workman1 who is always patient1 worked slowly then as ,he does now4 ,not at a leap1 but by deliberate steps1 the divine ideal attains realisation4 #e4 ,the creation of living creatures on the fourth and fifth days is so arranged as to lead up to the creation of man as the climax4 ,on the fifth day sea and air are peopled1 and their denizens 'blessed1' for the equal divine love holds every living thing to its heart4 ,on the sixth day the earth is replenished with living creatures4 ,then1 last of all1 comes man1 the apex of creation4 ,obviously the purpose of the whole is to concentrate the light on man2 and it is a matter of no importance whether the narrative is correct according to zoology1 or not4 ,what it says is that ,god made all the universe1 that ,he prepared the earth for the delight of living creatures1 that the happy birds that soar and sing1 and the dumb creatures that move through the paths of the seas1 and the beasts of the earth1 are all ,his creating1 and that man is linked to them1 being made on the same day as the latter1 and by the same word1 but that between man and them all there is a gulf1 since he is made in the divine image4 ,that image implies personality1 the consciousness of self1 the power to say ',i1' as well as purity4 ,the transition from the work of the first four days to that of creating living things must have had a break4 ,no theory has been able to bridge the chasm without admitting a divine act introducing the new element of life1 and none has been able to bridge the gulf between the animal and human consciousness without admitting a divine act introducing 'the image of ,god' into the nature common to animal and man4 ,three facts as to humanity are thrown up into prominence3 its possession of the image of ,god1 the equality and eternal interdependence of the sexes1 and the lordship over all creatures4 ,mark especially the remarkable wording of verse #bg3 'created ,he him male and female created ,he them4' ,so 'neither is the woman without the man1 nor the man without the woman4' ,each is maimed apart from the other4 ,both stand side by side1 on one level before ,god4 ,the germ of the most 'advanced' doctrines of the relations of the sexes is hidden here4 ,,how ,,sin ,,came ,,in ',now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the ,lord ,god had made4 ,and he said unto the woman1 ,yea1 hath ,god said1 ,ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden8 ,and the woman said unto the serpent1 ,we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden3 ,but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden1 ,god hath said1 ,ye shall not eat of it1 neither shall ye touch it1 lest ye die4 ,and the serpent said unto the woman1 ,ye shall not surely die3 ,for ,god doth know1 that in the day ye eat thereof1 then your eyes shall be opened2 and ye shall be as gods1 knowing good and evil4 ,and when the woman saw that the tree was good for food1 and that it was pleasant to the eyes1 and a tree to be desired to make one wise1 she took of the fruit thereof1 and did eat2 and gave also unto her husband with her1 and he did eat4 ,and the eyes of them both were opened1 and they knew that they were naked2 and they sewed fig-leaves together1 and made themselves aprons4 ,and they heard the voice of the ,lord ,god walking in the garden in the cool of the day3 and ,adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the ,lord ,god amongst the trees of the garden4 ,and the ,lord ,god called unto ,adam1 and said unto him1 ,where art thou8 ,and he said1 ,i heard ,thy voice in the garden1 and ,i was afraid1 because ,i was naked2 and ,i hid myself4 ,and ,he said1 ,who told thee that thou wast naked8 ,hast thou eaten of the tree1 whereof ,i commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat ,and the man said1 ,the woman whom ,thou gavest to be with me1 she gave me of the tree1 and ,i did eat4 ,and the ,lord ,god said unto the woman1 ,what is this that thou hast done8 and the woman said1 ,the serpent beguiled me1 and ,i did eat4 ,and the ,lord ,god said onto the serpent4 ,because thou hast done this1 thou art cursed above all cattle1 and above every beast of the field3 upon thy belly shalt thou go1 and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life4 ,and ,i will put enmity between thee and the woman1 and between thy seed and her seed3 it shall bruise thy head1 and thou shalt bruise his heel4'--,,genesis iii #a-ae4 ,it is no part of my purpose to enter on the critical questions connected with the story of 'the fall4' ,whether it is a legend1 purified and elevated1 or not1 is of less consequence than what is its moral and religious significance1 and that significance is unaffected by the answer to the former question4 ,the story presupposes that primitive man was in a state of ignorant innocence1 not of intellectual or moral perfection1 and it tells how that ignorant innocence came to pass into conscious sin4 ,what are the stages of the transition8 #a4 ,there is the presentation of inducement to evil4 ,the law to which ,adam is to be obedient is in the simplest form4 ,there is restriction4 ',thou shalt not' is the first form of law1 and it is a form congruous with the undeveloped1 though as yet innocent1 nature ascribed to him4 ,the conception of duty is present1 though in a very rudimentary shape4 ,an innocent being may be aware of limitations1 though as yet not 'knowing good and evil4' ,with deep truth the story represents the first suggestion of disobedience as presented from without4 ,no doubt1 it might have by degrees arisen from within1 but the thought that it was imported from another sphere of being suggests that it is alien to true manhood1 and that1 if brought in from without1 it may be cast out again4 ,and the temptation had a personal source4 ,there are beings who desire to draw men away from ,god4 ,the serpent1 by its poison and its loathly form1 is the natural symbol of such an enemy of man4 ,the insinuating slyness of the suggestions of evil is like the sinuous gliding of the snake1 and truly represents the process by which temptation found its way into the hearts of the first pair1 and of all their descendants4 ,for it begins with casting a doubt on the reality of the prohibition4 ',hath ,god said8' is the first parallel opened by the besieger4 ,the fascinations of the forbidden fruit are not dangled at first before ,eve1 but an apparently innocent doubt is filtered into her ear4 ,and is not that the way in which we are still snared8 ,the reality of moral distinctions1 the essential wrongness of the sin1 is obscured by a mist of sophistication4 ',there is no harm in it' steals into some young man's or woman's mind about things that were forbidden at home1 and they are half conquered before they know that they have been attacked4 ,then comes the next besieger's trench1 much nearer the wall--namely1 denial of the fatal consequences of the sin3 ',ye shall not surely die1' and a base hint that the prohibition was meant1 not as a parapet to keep from falling headlong into the abyss1 but as a barrier to keep from rising to a great good2 'for ,god doth know1 that in the day ye eat thereof1 then your eyes shall be opened1 and ye shall be as gods4' ,these are still the two lies which wile us to sin3 ',it will do you no harm1' and ',you are cheating yourselves out of good by not doing it4' #b4 ,then comes the yielding to the tempter4 ,as long as the prohibition was undoubted1 and the fatal results certain1 the fascinations of the forbidden thing were not felt4 ,but as soon as these were tampered with1 ,eve saw 'that the tree was good for food1 and that it was a delight to the eyes4' ,so it is still4 ,weaken the awe-inspiring sense of ,god's command1 and of the ruin that follows the breach of it1 and the heart of man is like a city without walls1 into which any enemy can march unhindered4 ,so long as ,god's ',thou shalt not1 lest thou die' rings in the ears1 the eyes see little beauty in the sirens that sing and beckon4 ,but once that awful voice is deadened1 they charm1 and allure to dally with them4 ,in the undeveloped condition of primitive man temptation could only assail him through the senses and appetites1 and its assault would be the more irresistible because reflection and experience were not yet his4 ,but the act of yielding was1 as sin ever is1 a deliberate choice to please self and disobey ,god4 ,the woman's more emotional1 sensitive1 compliant nature made her the first victim1 and her greatest glory1 her craving to share her good with him whom she loves1 and her power to sway his will and acts1 made her his temptress4 ',as the husband is1 the wife is1' says ,tennyson2 but the converse is even truer3 ,as the wife is1 the man is4 #c4 ,the fatal consequences came with a rush4 ,there is a gulf between being tempted and sinning1 but the results of the sin are closely knit to it4 ,they come automatically1 as surely as a stream from a fountain4 ,the promise of knowing good and evil was indeed kept1 but instead of its making the sinners 'like gods1' it showed them that they were like beasts1 and brought the first sense of shame4 ,to know evil was1 no doubt1 a forward step intellectually2 but to know it by experience1 and as part of themselves1 necessarily changed their ignorant innocence into bitter knowledge1 and conscience awoke to rebuke them4 ,the first thing that their opened eyes saw was themselves1 and the immediate result of the sight was the first blush of shame4 ,before1 they had walked in innocent unconsciousness1 like angels or infants2 now they had knowledge of good and evil1 because their sin had made evil a part of themselves1 and the knowledge was bitter4 ,the second consequence of the fall is the disturbed relation with ,god1 which is presented in the highly symbolical form fitting for early ages1 and as true and impressive for the twentieth century as for them4 ,sin broke familiar communion with ,god1 turned ,him into a 'fear and a dread1' and sent the guilty pair into ambush4 ,is not that deeply and perpetually true8 ,the sun seen through mists becomes a lurid ball of scowling fire4 ,the impulse is to hide from ,god1 or to get rid of thoughts of ,him4 ,and when ,he is felt to be near1 it is as a questioner1 bringing sin to mind4 ,the shuffling excuses1 which venture even to throw the blame of sin on ,god 7'the woman whom ,thou gavest me'71 or which try to palliate it as a mistake 7'the serpent beguiled me'71 have to come at last1 however reluctantly1 to confess that ',i' did the sin4 ,each has to say1 ',i did eat4' ,so shall we all have to do4 ,we may throw the blame on circumstances1 weakness of judgment1 and the like1 while here1 but at ,god's bar we shall have to say1 ',mea culpa1 mea culpa4' ,the curse pronounced on the serpent takes its habit and form as an emblem of the degradation of the personal tempter1 and of the perennial antagonism between him and mankind1 while even at that first hour of sin and retribution a gleam of hope1 like the stray beam that steals through a gap in a thundercloud1 promises that the conquered shall one day be the conqueror1 and that the woman's seed1 though wounded in the struggle1 shall one day crush the poison-bearing1 flat head in the dust1 and end forever his power to harm4 ',known unto ,god are all his works from the beginning1' and the ,christ was promised ere the gates of ,eden were shut on the exiles4 ,,eden ,,lost ,,and ,,restored ',so ,he drove out the man3 and ,he placed at the east of the garden of ,eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way1 to keep the way of the tree of life4' --,,genesis iii4 #bd4 ',blessed are they that do ,his commandments1 that they may have right to the tree of life1 and may enter in through the gates into the city4' ,,revelation xxii4 #ad4 ,better is the end of a thing than the beginning4' ,eden was fair1 but the heavenly city shall be fairer4 ,the ,paradise regained is an advance on the ,paradise that was lost4 ,these are the two ends of the history of man1 separated by who knows how many millenniums4 ,heaven lay about him in his infancy1 but as he journeyed westwards its morning blush faded into the light of common day--and only at eventide shall the sky glow again with glory and colour1 and the western heaven at last outshine the eastern1 with a light that shall never die4 ,a fall1 and a rise--a rise that reverses the fall1 a rise that transcends the glory from which he fell1--that is the ,bible's notion of the history of the world1 and ,i1 for my part1 believe it to be true1 and feel it to be the one satisfactory explanation of what ,i see round about me and am conscious of within me4 #a4 ,man had an ,eden and lost it4 ,i take the ,fall to be a historical fact4 ,to all who accept the authority of ,scripture1 no words are needed beyond the simple statement before us1 but we may just gather up the signs that there are on the wide field of the world's history1 and in the narrower experience of individuals1 that such a fall has been4 ,look at the condition of the world3 its degradation1 its savagery-all its pining myriads1 all its untold millions who sit in darkness and the shadow of death4 ,will any man try to bring before him the actual state of the heathen world1 and1 retaining his belief in a ,god1 profess that these men are what ,god meant men to be8 ,it seems to me that the present condition of the world is not congruous with the idea that men are in their primitive state1 and if this is what ,god meant men for1 then ,i see not how the dark clouds which rest on ,his wisdom and ,his love are to be lifted off4 ,then1 again--if the world has not a ,fall in its history1 then we must take the lowest condition as the one from which all have come2 and is that idea capable of defence8 ,do we see anywhere signs of an upward process going on now8 ,have we any experience of a tribe raising itself8 ,can you catch anywhere a race in the act of struggling up1 outside of the pale of ,christianity8 ,is not the history of all a history of decadence1 except only where the ,gospel has come in to reverse the process8 ,but passing from this3 ,what mean the experiences of the individual-these longings2 this hard toil2 these sorrows8 ,how comes it that man alone on earth1 manifestly meant to be leader1 lord1 etc41 seems but cursed with a higher nature that he may know greater sorrows1 and raised above the beasts in capacity that he may sink below them in woe1 this capacity only leading to a more exquisite susceptibility1 to a more various as well as more poignant misery8 ,whence come the contrarieties and discordance in his nature8 ,it seems to me that all this is best explained as the ,bible explains it by saying3 7#a7 ,sin has done it2 7#b7 ,sin is not part of ,god's original design1 but man has fallen2 7#c7 ,sin had a personal beginning4 ,there have been men who were pure1 able to stand but free to fall4 ,it seems to me that that explanation is more in harmony with the facts of the case1 finds more response in the unsophisticated instinct of man1 than any other4 ,it seems to me that1 though it leaves many dark and sorrowful mysteries all unsolved1 yet that it alleviates the blackest of them1 and flings some rays of hope on them all4 ,it seems to me that it relieves the character and administration of ,god from the darkest dishonour2 that it delivers man's position and destiny from the most hopeless despair2 that though it leaves the mystery of the origin of evil1 it brings out into clearest relief the central truths that evil is evil1 and sin and sorrow are not ,god's will2 that it vindicates as something better than fond imaginings the vague aspirations of the soul for a fair and holy state2 that it establishes1 as nothing else will1 at once the love of ,god and the dignity of man2 that it leaves open the possibility of the final overthrow of that ,sin which it treats as an intrusion and stigmatises as a fall2 that it therefore braces for more vigorous1 hopeful conflict against it1 and that while but for it the answer to the despairing question1 ,hast ,thou made all men in vain8 must be either the wailing echo ',in vain1' or the denial that ,he has made them at all1 there is hope and there is power1 and there is brightness thrown on the character of ,god and on the fate of man1 by the old belief that ,god made man upright1 and that man made himself a sinner4 #b4 ,heaven restores the lost ,eden4 ',god is not ashamed to be called their ,god1 for ,he hath prepared them a city4' ,the highest conception we can form of heaven is the reversal of all the evil of earth1 and the completion of its incomplete good3 the sinless purity--the blessed presence of ,god--the fulfilment of all desires--the service which is blessed1 not toil--the changelessness which is progress1 not stagnation4 #c4 ,heaven surpasses the lost ,eden4 7#a7 ,garden--,city4 ,the perfection of association--the nations of the saved4 ,here 'we mortal millions live alone1' even when united with dearest4 ,like ,egyptian monks of old1 each dwelling in his own cave1 though all were a community4 7#b7 ,the richer experience4 ,the memory of past sorrows which are understood at last4 ,heaven's bliss in contrast with earthly joys4 ,sinlessness of those who have been sinners will be more intensely lustrous for its dark background in the past4 ,redeemed men will be brighter than angels4 ,the impossibility of a fall4 ,death behind us4 ,the former things shall no more come to mind1 being lost in blaze of present transcendent experience1 but yet shall be remembered as having led to that perfect state4 ,christ not only repairs the 'tabernacle which was fallen1' but builds a fairer temple4 ,he brings 'a statelier ,eden1' and makes us dwell for ever in a ,garden ,city4 ,,the ,,growth ,,and ,,power ,,of ,,sin ',and in process of time it came to pass1 that ,cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the ,lord4 ,and ,abel1 he also brought of the firstlings of his flock1 and of the fat thereof4 ,and the ,lord had respect unto ,abel1 and to his offering3 ,but unto ,cain1 and to his offering1 he had not respect4 ,and ,cain was very wroth1 and his countenance fell4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,cain1 ,why art thou wroth8 and why is thy countenance fallen8 ,if thou doest well1 shalt thou not be accepted8 and if thou doest not well1 sin lieth at the door4 ,and unto thee shall be his desire1 and thou shalt rule over him4 ,and ,cain talked with ,abel his brother3 and it came to pass1 when they were in the field1 that ,cain rose up against ,abel his brother1 and slew him4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,cain1 ,where is ,abel thy brother8 ,and he said1 ,i know not4 ,am ,i my brother's keeper8 ,and ,he said1 ,what hast thou done8 the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto ,me from the ground4 ,and now art thou cursed from the earth1 which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand4 ,when thou tillest the ground1 it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength4 ,a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth4 ,and ,cain said unto the ,lord1 ,my punishment is greater than ,i can bear4 ,behold1 ,thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth2 and from ,thy face shall ,i be hid2 and ,i shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth3 and it shall come to pass1 that every one that findeth me shall slay me4 ,and the ,lord said unto him1 ,therefore1 whosoever slayeth ,cain1 vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold4 ,and the ,lord set a mark upon ,cain1 lest any finding him should kill him4 ,and ,cain went out from the presence of the ,lord1 and dwelt in the land of ,nod1 on the east of ,eden4' ,,genesis iv4 #c-af4 ,many lessons crowd on us from this section4 ,its general purport is to show the growth of sin1 and its power to part man from man even as it has parted man from ,god4 ,we may call the whole ',the beginning of the fatal operations of sin on human society4' #a4 ,the first recorded act of worship occasions the first murder4 ,is not that only too correct a forecast of the oceans of blood which have been shed in the name of religion1 and a striking proof of the subtle power of sin to corrupt even the best1 and out of it to make the worst8 ,what a lesson against the bitter hatred which has too often sprung up on so-called religious grounds6 ,no malice is so venomous1 no hate so fierce1 no cruelty so fiendish1 as those which are fed and fanned by religion4 ,here is the first triumph of sin1 that it poisons the very springs of worship1 and makes what should be the great uniter of men in sweet and holy bonds their great separator4 #b4 ,sin here appears as having power to bar men's way to ,god4 ,much ingenuity has been spent on the question why ,abel's offering was accepted and ,cain's rejected4 ,but the narrative itself shows in the words of ,jehovah1 ',if thou doest well1 is there not acceptance8' that the reason lay in ,cain's evil deeds4 ,so1 in #a ,john iii4 #ab1 the fratricide is put down to the fact that 'his works were evil1 and his brother's righteous'2 and ,hebrews xi4 #d differs from this view only in making the ground of righteousness prominent1 when it ascribes the acceptableness of ,abel's offering to faith4 ,both these passages are founded on the narrative1 and we need not seek farther for the reason of the different reception of the two offerings4 ,character1 then1 or1 more truly1 faith1 which is the foundation of a righteous character1 determines the acceptableness of worship4 ,cain's offering had no sense of dependence1 no outgoing of love and trust1 no adoration1--though it may have had fear1--and no moral element4 ,so it had no sweet odour for ,god4 ,abel's was sprinkled with some drops of the incense of lowly trust1 and came from a heart which fain would be pure2 therefore it was a joy to ,god4 ,so we are taught at the very beginning1 that1 as is the man1 so is his sacrifice2 that the prayer of the wicked is an abomination4 ,plenty of worship nowadays is ,cain worship4 ,many reputable professing ,christians bring just such sacrifices4 ,the prayers of such never reach higher than the church ceiling4 ,of course1 the lesson of the story is not that a man must be pure before his sacrifice is accepted4 ,of course1 the faintest cry of trust is heard1 and a contrite heart1 however sinful1 is always welcome4 ,but we are taught that our acts of worship must have our hearts in them1 and that it is vain to pray and to love evil4 ,sin has the awful power of blocking our way to ,god4 #c4 ,note in one word that we have here at the beginning of human history the solemn distinction which runs through it all4 ,these two1 so near in blood1 so separate in spirit1 head the two classes into which ,scripture decisively parts men1 especially men who have heard the gospel4 ,it is unfashionable now to draw that broad line between the righteous and the wicked1 believers and unbelievers4 ,sheep and goats are all one4 ,modern liberal sentiment--so-called--will not consent to such narrowness as the old-fashioned classification4 ,there are none of us black1 and none white2 we are all different shades of grey4 ,but facts do not quite bear out such amiable views4 ,perhaps it is not less charitable1 and a great deal truer1 to draw the line broad and plain1 on one side of which is peace and safety1 and on the other trouble and death1 if only we make it plain that no man need stop one minute on the dark side4 #d4 ,the solemn divine voice reads the lesson of the power of sin1 when once done1 over the sinner4 ,like a wild beast1 it crouches in ambush at his door1 ready to spring and devour4 ,the evil deed once committed takes shape1 as it were1 and waits to seize the doer4 ,remorse1 inward disturbance1 and above all1 the fatal inclination to repeat sin till it becomes a habit1 are set forth with terrible force in these grim figures4 ,what a menagerie of ravenous beasts some of us have at the doors of our hearts6 ,with what murderous longing they glare at us1 seeking to fascinate us1 and make us their prey6 ,when we sin1 we cannot escape the issues2 and every wrong thing we do has a kind of horrible life given it1 and sits henceforth there1 beside us1 ready to rend us4 ,the tempting1 seducing power of our own evils was never put in more startling and solemnly true words1 on which the bitter experience of many a poor victim of his own past is a commentary4 ,the eternal duty of resistance is farther taught by the words4 ,hope of victory1 encouragement to struggle1 the assurance that even these savage beasts may be subdued1 and the lion and adder 7the hidden and the glaring evils--those which wound unseen1 and which spring with a roar7 may be overcome1 led in a silken leash or charmed into harmlessness1 are given in the command1 which is also a promise1 ',rule thou over it4' #e4 ,the deadly fruit of hate is taught us in the brief account of the actual murder4 ,notice the impressive plainness and fewness of the words4 ',cain rose up against his brother1 and slew him4' ,a kind of horror-struck awe of the crime is audible4 ,observe the emphasis with which 'his brother' is repeated in the verse and throughout4 ,observe1 also1 the vivid light thrown by the story on the rise and progress of the sin4 ,it begins with envy and jealousy4 ,cain was not wroth because his offering was rejected4 ,what did he care for that8 ,but what angered him was that his brother had what he had not4 ,so selfishness was at the bottom1 and that led on to envy1 and that to hatred4 ,then comes a pause1 in which ,god speaks remonstrances1--as ,god's voice--conscience--does now to us all1--between the imagination and the act of evil4 ,a real or a feigned reconciliation is effected4 ,the brothers go in apparent harmony to the field4 ,no new provocation appears1 but the old feelings1 kept down for a time1 come in again with a rush1 and ,cain is swept away by them4 ,hatred left to work means murder4 ,the heart is the source of all evil4 ,selfishness is the mother tincture out of which all sorts of sin can be made4 ,guard the thoughts1 and keep down self1 and the deeds will take care of themselves4 #f4 ,mark how close on the heels of sin ,god's question treads6 ,how ,god spoke1 we know not4 ,doubtless in some fashion suited to the needs of ,cain4 ,but ,he speaks to us as really as to him1 and no sooner is the rush of passion over1 and the bad deed done1 than a revulsion comes4 ,what we call conscience asks the question in stern tones1 which make a man's flesh creep4 ,our sin is like touching the electric bells which people sometimes put on their windows to give notice of thieves4 ,as soon as we step beyond the line of duty we set the alarm going1 and it wakens the sleeping conscience4 ,some of us go so far as to have silenced the voice within2 but1 for the most part1 it speaks immediately after we have gratified our inclinations wrongly4 #g4 ,cain's defiant answer teaches us how a man hardens himself against ,god's voice4 ,it also shows us how intensely selfish all sin is1 and how weakly foolish its excuses are4 ,it is sin which has rent men apart from men1 and made them deny the very idea that they have duties to all men4 ,the first sin was only against ,god2 the second was against ,god and man4 ,the first sin did not break1 though it saddened1 human love2 the second kindled the flames of infernal hatred1 and caused the first drops to flow of the torrents of blood which have soaked the earth4 ,when men break away from ,god1 they will soon murder one another4 ,cain was his brother's keeper4 ,his question answered itself4 ,if ,abel was his brother1 then he was bound to look after him4 ,his self-condemning excuse is but a specimen of the shallow pleas by which the forgetfulness of duties we owe to all mankind1 and all sins1 are defended4 #h4 ,the stern sentence is next pronounced4 ,first we have the grand figure of the innocent blood having a voice which pierces the heavens4 ,that teaches in the most forcible way the truth that ,god knows the crimes done by 'man's inhumanity to man1' even when the meek sufferers are silent4 ,according to the fine old legend of the cranes of ,ibycus1 a bird of the air will carry the matter4 ,it speaks1 too1 of ,god's tender regard for ,his saints1 whose blood is precious in ,his sight2 and it teaches that ,he will surely requite4 ,we cannot but think of the innocent blood shed on ,calvary1 of the ,brother of us all1 whose sacrifice was accepted of ,god4 ,his blood1 too1 crieth from the ground1 has a voice which speaks in the ear of ,god1 but not to plead for vengeance1 but pardon4 ',jesus' blood through earth and skies1 ,mercy1 free1 boundless mercy1 cries4' ,then follows the sentence which falls into two parts--the curse of bitter1 unrequited toil1 and the doom of homeless wandering4 ,the blood which has been poured out on the battlefield fertilises the soil2 but ,abel's blasted the earth4 ,it was a supernatural infliction1 to teach that bloodshed polluted the earth1 and so to shed a nameless horror over the deed4 ,we see an analogous feeling in the common belief that places where some foul sin has been committed are cursed4 ,we see a weak natural correspondence in the devastating effect of war1 as expressed in the old saying that no grass would grow where the hoof of the ,turk's horse had stamped4 ,the doom of wandering1 which would be compulsory by reason of the earth's barrenness1 is a parable4 ,the murderer is hunted from place to place1 as the ,greek fable has it1 by the furies1 who suffer him not to rest4 ,conscience drives a man 'through dry places1 seeking rest1 and finding none4' ,all sin makes us homeless wanderers4 ,there is but one home for the heart1 one place of repose for a man1 namely1 in the heart of ,god1 the secret place of the ,most ,high2 and he who1 for his sin1 durst not enter there1 is driven forth into 'a salt land and not inhabited1' and has to wander wearily there4 ,the legend of the wandering ,jew1 and that other of the sailor1 condemned for ever to fly before the gale through stormy seas1 have in them a deep truth4 ,the earthly punishment of departing from ,god is that we have not where to lay our heads4 ,every sinner is a fugitive and a vagabond4 ,but if we love ,god we are still wanderers indeed1 but we are 'pilgrims and sojourners with ,thee4' #i4 ,cain's remonstrance completes the tragic picture4 ,we see in it despair without penitence4 ,he has no word of confession4 ,if he had accepted his chastisement1 and learned by it his sin1 all the bitterness would have passed away4 ,but he only writhes in agony1 and adds1 to the sentence pronounced1 terrors of his own devising4 ,god had not forbidden him to come into ,his presence4 ,but he feels that he dare not venture thither4 ,and he was right2 for1 whether we suppose that some sensible manifestation of the divine presence is meant by ',thy face' or no1 a man who had unrepented sin on his conscience1 and murmurings in his heart1 could not hold intercourse with ,god2 nor would he wish to do so4 ,thus we learn again the lesson that sin separates from our ,father1 and that chastisements1 not accepted as signs of ,his love1 build up a black wall between ,god and us4 ,nor had ,cain been told that his life was in danger4 ,but his conscience made a coward of him1 as of us all1 and told him what he deserved4 ,there were1 no doubt1 many other children of ,adam1 who would be ready to avenge ,abel's death4 ,the wild justice of revenge is deep in the heart of men2 and the natural impulse would be to hunt down the murderer like a wolf4 ,it is a dreadful picture of the defiant and despairing sinner1 tortured by well-founded fears1 shut out from the presence of ,god1 but not able to shut out thoughts of ,him1 and seeing an avenger in every man4 ,we need not ask how ,god set a mark on ,cain4 ,enough that ,his doing so was a merciful alleviation of his lot1 and teaches us how ,god's long-suffering spares life1 and tempers judgment1 that there may still be space for repentance4 ,if even ,cain has gracious protection and mercy blended with his chastisement1 who can be beyond the pale of ,god's compassion1 and with whom will not ,his loving providence and patient pity labour8 ,no man is so scorched by the fire of retribution1 but many a dewy drop from ,god's tenderness falls on him4 ,no doubt1 the story of the preservation of ,cain was meant to restrain the blood-feuds so common and ruinous in early times2 and we need the lesson yet1 to keep us from vengeance under the mask of justice4 ,but the deepest lesson and truest pathos of it lies in the picture of the watchful kindness of ,god lingering round the wretched man1 like gracious sunshine playing on some scarred and black rock1 to win him back by goodness to penitence1 and through penitence to peace4 ,,what ,,crouches ,,at ,,the ,,door ',if thou doest not well1 sin croucheth at the door3 and unto thee shall be his desire1 and thou shalt rule over him4'--,,genesis iv4 #g 7,r4 ,v474 ,these early narratives clothe great moral and spiritual truths in picturesque forms1 through which it is difficult for us to pierce4 ,in the world's childhood ,god spoke to men as to children1 because there were no words then framed which would express what we call abstract conceptions4 ,they had to be shown by pictures4 ,but these early men1 simple and childlike as they were1 had consciences2 and one abstraction they did understand1 and that was sin4 ,they knew the difference between good and evil4 ,so we have here ,god speaking to ,cain1 who was wroth because of the rejection of his sacrifice2 and in dim1 enigmatical words setting forth the reason of that rejection4 ',if thou doest well1 shalt thou not be accepted8' ,then clearly his sacrifice was rejected because it was the sacrifice of an evil-doer4 ,his description as such is given in the words of my text1 which are hard for us to translate into our modern1 less vivid and picturesque language4 ',if thou doest not well1 sin lieth at the door2 and unto thee shall be his desire1 and thou shalt rule over him4' ,strange as the words sound1 if ,i mistake not1 they convey some very solemn lessons1 and if well considered1 become pregnant with meaning4 ,the key to the whole interpretation of them is to remember that they describe what happens after1 and because of1 wrong-doing4 ,they are all suspended on ',if thou doest not well4' ,then1 in that case1 for the first thing--'sin lieth at the door4' ,now the word translated here 'lieth' is employed only to express the crouching of an animal1 and frequently of a wild animal4 ,the picture1 then1 is of the wrong-doer's sin lying at his door there like a crouching tiger ready to spring1 and if it springs1 fatal4 ',if thou doest not well1 a wild beast crouches at thy door4' ,then there follow1 with a singular swift transition of the metaphor1 other words still harder to interpret1 and which have been1 as a matter of fact1 interpreted in very diverse fashions4 ',and unto thee shall be its' 7,i make that slight alteration upon our version7 'desire1 and thou shalt rule over it4' ,where did we hear these words before8 ,they were spoken to ,eve1 in the declaration of her punishment4 ,they contain the blessing that was embedded in the curse4 ',thy desire shall be to thy husband1 and he shall rule over thee4' ,the longing of the pure womanly heart to the husband of her love1 and the authority of the husband over the loving wife--the source of the deepest joy and purity of earth1 is transferred1 by a singularly bold metaphor1 to this other relationship1 and1 in horrible parody of the wedded union and love1 we have the picture of the sin1 that was thought of as crouching at the sinner's door like a wild beast1 now1 as it were1 wedded to him4 ,he is mated to it now1 and it has a kind of tigerish1 murderous desire after him1 while he on his part is to subdue and control it4 ,the reference of these clauses to the sin which has just been spoken of involves1 no doubt1 a very bold figure1 which has seemed to many readers too bold to be admissible1 and the words have therefore been supposed to refer to ,abel1 who1 as the younger brother1 would be subordinate to ,cain4 ,but such a reference breaks the connection of the sentence1 introduces a thought which is not a consequence of ,cain's not doing well1 has no moral bearing to warrant its appearance here1 and compels us to travel an inconveniently long distance back in the context to find an antecedent to the 'his' and 'him' of our text4 ,it seems to be more in consonance1 therefore1 with the archaic style of the whole narrative1 and to yield a profounder and worthier meaning1 if we recognise the boldness of the metaphor1 and take 'sin' as the subject of the whole4 ,now all this puts in concrete1 metaphorical shape1 suited to the stature of the bearers1 great and solemn truths4 ,let us try to translate them into more modern speech4 #a4 ,first think1 then1 of that wild beast which we tether to our doors by our wrong-doing4 ,we talk about 'responsibility' and 'guilt1' and 'consequences that never can be effaced1' and the like4 ,and all these abstract and quasi-philosophical terms are implied in the grim1 tremendous metaphor of my text ',if thou doest not well1 a tiger1 a wild beast1 is crouching at thy door4' ,we are all apt to be deceived by the imagination that when an evil deed is done1 it passes away and leaves no permanent results4 ,the lesson taught the childlike primitive man here1 at the beginning1 before experience had accumulated instances which might demonstrate the solemn truth1 was that every human deed is immortal1 and that the transitory evil thought1 or word1 or act1 which seems to fleet by like a cloud1 has a permanent being1 and hereafter haunts the life of the doer1 as a real presence4 ,if thou doest not well1 thou dost create a horrible something which nestles beside thee henceforward4 ,the momentary act is incarnated1 as it were1 and sits there at the doer's doorpost waiting for him2 which being turned into less forcible but more modern language1 is just this3 every sin that a man does has perennial consequences1 which abide with the doer for evermore4 ,i need not dwell upon illustrations of that to any length4 ,let me just run over two or three ways in which it is true4 ,first of all1 there is that solemn fact which we put into a long word that comes glibly off people's lips1 and impresses them very little--the solemn fact of responsibility4 ,we speak in common talk of such and such a thing lying at some one's door4 ,whether the phrase has come from this text ,i do not know4 ,but it helps to illustrate the force of these words1 and to suggest that they mean this1 among other things1 that we have to answer for every deed1 however evanescent1 however long forgotten4 ,its guilt is on our heads4 ,its consequences have to be experienced by us4 ,we drink as we have brewed4 ,as we make our beds1 so we lie on them4 ,there is no escape from the law of consequences4 ',if 'twere done1 when 'tis done1 then 'twere well it were done quickly4' ,but seeing that it is not done when 'tis done1 then perhaps it would be better that it were not done at all4 ,your deed of a moment1 forgotten almost as soon as done1 lies there at your door2 or to take a more modern and commercial figure1 it is debited to your account1 and stands inscribed against you for ever4 ,think how you would like it1 if all your deeds from your childhood1 all your follies1 your vices1 your evil thoughts1 your evil impulses1 and your evil actions1 were all made visible and embodied there before you4 ,they are there1 though you do not see them yet4 ,all round your door they sit1 ready to meet you and to bay out condemnation as you go forth4 ,they are there1 and one day you will find out that they are4 ,for this is the law1 certain as the revolution of the stars and fixed as the pillars of the firmament3 ',whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he also reap' ,there is no seed which does not sprout in the harvest of the moral life4 ,every deed germinates according to its kind4 ,for all that a man does he has to carry the consequences1 and every one shall bear his own burden4 ',if thou doest not well1' it is not1 as we fondly conceive it sometimes to be1 a mere passing deflection from the rule of right1 which is done and done with1 but we have created1 as out of our very own substance1 a witness against ourselves whose voice can never be stifled4 ',if thou doest not well' thy sin takes permanent form and is fastened to thy door4 ,and then let me remind you1 too1 how the metaphor of our text is confirmed by other obvious facts1 on which ,i need but briefly dwell4 ,putting aside all the remoter bearings of that thought of responsibility1 ,i suppose we all admit that we have consciences2 ,i suppose that we all know that we have memories2 ,i suppose we all of us have seen1 in the cases of others1 and have experienced for ourselves1 how deeds long done and long forgotten have an awful power of rising again after many long years4 ,be sure that your memory has in it everything that you ever did4 ,a landscape may be hidden by mists1 but a puff of wind will clear them away1 and it will all lie there1 visible to the furthest horizon4 ,there is no fact more certain than the extraordinary swiftness and completeness with which1 in certain circumstances of life1 and often very near the close of it1 the whole panorama of the past may rise again before a man1 as if one lightning flash showed all the dreary desolation that lay behind him4 ,there have been men recovered from drowning and the like1 who have told us that1 as in an instant1 there seemed unrolled before their startled eyes the whole scroll of their earthly career4 ,the records of memory are like those pages on which you write with sympathetic ink1 which disappears when dry1 and seems to leave the page blank4 ,you have only to hold it before the fire1 or subject it to the proper chemical process1 and at once it stands out legible4 ,you are writing your biography upon the fleshly tables of your heart1 my brother2 and one day it will all be spread out before you1 and you will be bid to read it1 and to say what you think of it4 ,the stings of a nettle will burn for days1 if they are touched with water4 ,the sting and inflammation of your evil deeds1 though it has died down1 is capable of being resuscitated1 and it will be4 ,what an awful menagerie of unclean beasts some of us have at our doors6 ,what sort of creatures have you tethered at yours8 ,crawling serpents1 ugly and venomous2 wild creatures1 fierce and bloody1 obscene and foul2 tigers and bears2 lustful and mischievous apes and monkeys8 or such as are lovely and of good report1--doves and lambs1 creatures pure and peaceable1 patient to serve and gentle of spirit8 ,remember1 remember1 that what a man soweth--be it hemlock or be it wheat--that1 and nothing else1 'shall he reap4' #b4 ,now1 let us look for a moment at the next thought that is here2 which is put into a strong1 and1 to our modern notions1 somewhat violent metaphor2--the horrible longing1 as it were1 of sin toward the sinner3 ',unto thee shall be its desire4' ,as ,i explained1 these words are drawn from the previous chapter1 where they refer to the holy union of heart and affection in husband and wife4 ,here they are transferred with tremendous force1 to set forth that which is a kind of horrible parody of that conjugal relation4 ,a man is married to his wickedness1 is mated to his evil1 and it has1 as it were1 a tigerish longing for him1 unhallowed and murderous4 ,that is to say--our sins act towards us as if they desired to draw our love to themselves4 ,this is just another form of the statement1 that when once a man has done a wrong thing1 it has an awful power of attracting him and making him hunger to do it again4 ,every evil that ,i do may1 indeed1 for a moment create in me a revulsion of conscience2 but it also exercises a fascination over me which it is hard to resist4 ,it is a great deal easier to find a man who has never done a wrong thing than to find a man who has only done it once4 ,if the wall of the dyke is sound it will keep the water out1 but if there is the tiniest hole in it1 the flood will come in4 ,so the evil that you do asserts its power over you1 or1 in the vigorous metaphor of my text1 it has a fierce1 longing desire after you1 and it gets you into its clutches4 ',the foolish woman sitteth in the high places of the city1 and saith1 ,whoso is simple let him turn in hither4' ,and foolish men go after her1 and--'know not that her guests are in the depth of hell4' ,ah6 my brother6 beware of that siren voice that draws you away from all the sweet and simple and pure food which ,wisdom spreads upon her table1 to tempt the beast that is in you with the words1 ',stolen waters are sweet1 and bread eaten in secret is pleasant4' ,beware of the first step1 for as sure as you are living1 the first step taken will make the second seem to become necessary4 ,the first drop will be followed by a bigger second1 and the second1 at a shorter interval1 by a more copious third1 until the drops become a shower1 and the shower becomes a deluge4 ,the river of evil is ever wider and deeper1 and more tumultuous4 ,the little sins get in at the window1 and open the front door for the full-grown house-breakers4 ,one smooths the path for the other4 ,all sin has an awful power of perpetuating and increasing itself4 ,as the prophet says in his vision of the doleful creatures that make their sport in the desolate city1 ',none of them shall want her mate4 ,the wild beasts of the desert shall meet with the wild beasts of the island4' ,every sin tells upon character1 and makes the repetition of itself more and more easy4 ',none is barren among them4' ,and all sin is linked together in a slimy tangle1 like a field of seaweed1 so that the man once caught in its oozy fingers is almost sure to be drowned4 #c4 ,and now1 lastly1 one word about the command1 which is also a promise3 ',to thee shall be its desire1 and thou shalt rule over it4' ,man's primitive charter1 according to the earlier chapters of ,genesis1 was to have dominion over the beasts of the field4 ,cain knew what it was to war against the wild creatures which contested the possession of the earth with man1 and to tame some of them for his uses4 ,and1 says the divine voice1 just as you war against the beasts of prey1 just as you subdue to your purposes and yoke to your implements the tamable animals over which you have dominion1 so rule over this wild beast that is threatening you4 ,it is needful for all men1 if they do not mean to be torn to pieces1 to master the animal that is in them1 and the wild thing that has been created out of them4 ,it is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh4 ,it is your own evil that is thus incarnated there1 as it were1 before you2 and you have to subdue it1 if it is not to tyrannise over you4 ,we all admit that in theory1 but how terribly hard the practice6 ,the words of our text seem to carry but little hope or comfort in them1 to the man who has tried--as1 no doubt1 many of us have tried--to flee the lusts that war against the soul1 and to bridle the animal that is in him4 ,those who have done so most honestly know best how hard it is1 and may fairly ask1 ,is this useless repetition of the threadbare injunction all that you have to say to us8 ,if so1 you may as well hold your tongue4 ,a wild beast sits at my door1 you say1 and then you bid me1 ',rule thou over it6' ,tell me to tame the tiger6 ',canst thou draw out ,leviathan with a hook8 ,wilt thou take him a servant for ever8' ,i do not undervalue the earnest and sometimes partially successful efforts at moral reformation which some men of more than usual force of character are able to make1 emancipating themselves from the outward practice of gross sin1 and achieving for themselves much that is admirable4 ,but if we rightly understand what sin is--namely1 the taking self for our law and centre instead of ,god--and how deep its working and all-pervading its poison1 we shall learn the tragic significance of the prophets question1 ',can the leopard change his spots8' ,then may a man cast out sin from his nature by his own resolve1 when the body can eliminate poison from the veins by its own energy4 ,if there is nothing more to be said to the world than this message1 ',sin lieth at thy door--rule thou over it1' we have no gospel to preach1 and sin's dominion is secure4 ,for there is nothing in all this world of empty1 windy words1 more empty and windy than to come to a poor soul that is all bespattered and stained with sin1 and say to him3 ',get up1 and make thyself clean1 and keep thyself so6' ,it cannot be done4 ,so my text1 though it keeps itself within the limits of the law and only proclaims duty1 must have hidden1 in its very hardness1 a sweet kernel of promise4 ,for what ,god commands ,god enables us to do4 ,therefore these words1 ',rule thou over it1' do really point onwards through all the ages to that one fact in which every man's sin is conquered and neutralised1 and every man's struggles may be made hopeful and successful1 the great fact that ,jesus ,christ1 ,god's own ,son1 came down from heaven1 like an athlete descending into the arena1 to fight with and to overcome the grim wild beasts1 our passions and our sins1 and to lead them1 transformed1 in the silken leash of ,his love4 ,my brother6 your sin is mightier than you4 ,the old word of the ,psalm is true about every one of us1 ',our iniquities are stronger than we4' ,and1 blessed be ,his name6 the hope of the ,psalmist is the experience of the ,christian3 ',as for my transgressions1 ,thou wilt purge them away4' ,christ will strengthen you1 to conquer2 ,christ will take away your guilt2 ,christ will bear1 has borne your burden2 ,christ will cleanse your memory2 ,christ will purge your conscience4 ,trusting to ,him1 and by ,his power and life within us1 we may conquer our evil4 ,trusting to ,him1 and for the sake of ,his blood shed for us all upon the cross1 we are delivered from the burden1 guilt1 and power of our sins and of our sin4 ,with thy hand in ,his1 and thy will submitted to ,him1 'thou shalt tread on the lion and the adder2 the young lion and the dragon thou shalt trample under foot4' ,,with1 ,,before1 ,,after ',enoch walked with ,god1'--,,genesis v4 #bb4 ',walk before ,me4'--,,genesis xvii4 #a4 ',ye shall walk after the ,lord your ,god4'--,,deuteronomy xiii4 #d4 ,you will have anticipated1 ,i suppose1 my purpose in doing what ,i very seldom do--cutting little snippets out of different verses and putting them together4 ,you see that these three fragments1 in their resemblances and in their differences1 are equally significant and instructive4 ,they concur in regarding life as a walk--a metaphor which expresses continuity1 so that every man's life is a whole1 which expresses progress1 which expresses change1 and which implies a goal4 ,they agree in saying that ,god must be brought into a life somehow1 and in some aspect1 if that life is to be anything else but an aimless wandering1 if it is to tend to the point to which every human life should attain4 ,but then they diverge1 and1 if we put them together1 they say to us that there are three different ways in which we ought to bring ,god into our life4 ,we should 'walk with ,him1' like ,enoch2 we should 'walk before' ,him1 as ,abraham was bade to do2 and we should 'walk after' ,him1 as the command to do was given to all ,israel4 ,and these three prepositions1 with1 before1 after1 attached to the general idea of life as a walk1 give us a triple aspect--which yet is1 of course1 fundamentally1 one--of the way in which life may be ennobled1 dignified1 calmed1 hallowed1 focussed1 and concentrated by the various relations into which we enter with ,him4 ,so ,i take the three of them4 #a4 ',enoch walked with ,god4' ,that is a sweet1 simple1 easily intelligible1 and yet lofty way of putting the notion which we bring into a more abstract and less impressive shape when we talk about communion with ,god4 ,two men travelling along a road keep each other company4 ',how can two walk together except they be agreed8' ,the companion is at our side all the same1 though the mists may have come down and we cannot see ,him4 ,we can hear ,his voice1 we can grasp ,his hand1 we can catch the echoes of ,his steps4 ,we know ,he is there1 and that is enough4 ,enoch and ,god walked together1 by the simple exercise of the faith that fills the ,invisible with one great1 loving ,face4 ,by a continuous1 definite effort1 as we are going through the bustle of daily life1 and amid all the pettiness and perplexities and monotonies that make up our often weary and always heavy days1 we can realise to ourselves that ,he is of a truth at our sides1 and by purity of life and heart we can bring ,him nearer1 and can make ourselves more conscious of ,his nearness4 ,for1 brethren1 the one thing that parts a man from ,god1 and makes it impossible for a heart to expatiate in the thought of ,his presence1 is the contrariety to ,his will in our conduct4 ,the slightest invisible film of mist that comes across the blue abyss of the mighty sky will blot out the brightest of the stars1 and we may sometimes not be able to see the mist1 and only know that it is there because we do not see the planet4 ,so unconscious sin may steal in between us and ,god1 and we shall no longer be able to say1 ',i walk with ,him4' ,the ,roman ,catholics talk1 in their mechanical way1 of bringing down all the spiritual into the material and formal1 about the 'practice of the presence of ,god4' ,it is an ugly phrase1 but it means a great thing1 that ,christian people ought1 very much more than they do1 to aim1 day by day1 and amidst their daily duties1 at realising that most elementary thought which1 like a great many other elementary thoughts1 is impotent because we believe it so utterly1 that wherever we are1 we may have ,him with us4 ,it is the secret of blessedness1 of tranquillity1 of power1 of everything good and noble4 ',i am a stranger with ,thee1 and a sojourner1 as all my fathers were1' said the ,psalmist of old4 ,if he had left out these two little words1 'with ,thee1' he would have been uttering a tragic complaint2 but when they come in1 all that is painful1 all that is solitary1 all that is transient1 bitterly transient1 in the long succession of the generations that have passed across earth's scene1 and have not been kindred to it1 is cleared away and changed into gladness4 ,never mind1 though you are a stranger1 if you have that companion4 ,never mind1 though you are only a sojourner2 if you have ,him with you1 whatever passes ,he will not pass2 and though we dwell here in a system to which we do not belong1 and its transiency and our transiency bring with them many sorrows1 when we can say1 ',lord6 ,thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations1' we are at home1 and that eternal home will never pass4 ,enoch 'walked with ,god1' and1 of course1 ',god took him1' ,there was nothing else for it1 and there could be no other end1 for a life of communion with ,god here has in it the prophecy and the pledge of a life of eternal union hereafter4 ,so1 then1 'practise the presence of ,god4' ,an old mystic says3 ',if ,i can tell how many times to-day ,i have thought about ,god1 ,i have not thought about ,him often enough4' ,walk with ,him by faith1 by effort1 by purity4 #b4 ,and now take the other aspect suggested by the other word ,god spoke to ,abraham3 ',i am the ,almighty ,god1 walk before ,me and be thou perfect4' ,that suggests1 as ,i suppose ,i do not need to point out1 the idea not only of communion1 which the former phrase brought to our minds1 but that of the inspection of our conduct4 ',as ever in the great ,taskmaster's eye1' says the stern ,puritan poet1 and although one may object to that word ',taskmaster1' yet the idea conveyed is the correct expansion of the commandment given to ,abraham4 ,observe how 'walk before ,me' is dovetailed1 as it were1 between the revelation ',i am the ,almighty ,god' and the injunction ',be thou perfect4' ,the realisation of that presence of the ,almighty which is implied in the expression ',walk before ,me1' the assurance that we are in ,his sight1 will lead straight to the fulfilment of the injunction that bears upon the moral conduct4 ,the same connection of thought underlies ,peter's injunction1 ',like as ,he 444 is holy1 so be ye holy in all manner of conversation1' followed immediately as it is by1 ',if ye call on ,him as ,father1 who without respect of persons judgeth'--as a present estimate--'according to every mail's work1 pass the time of your sojourning here in fear'--that reverential awe which will lead you to be 'holy even as ,i am holy4' ,this thought that we are in that divine presence1 and that there is silently1 but most really1 a divine opinion being formed of us1 consolidated1 as it were1 moment by moment through our lives1 is only tolerable if we have been walking with ,god4 ,if we are sure1 by the power of our communion with ,him1 of ,his loving heart as well as of ,his righteous judgment1 then we can spread ourselves out before ,him1 as a woman will lay out her webs of cloth on the green grass for the sun to blaze down upon them1 and bleach the ingrained filth out of them4 ,we must first walk 'with ,god' before the consciousness that we are walking 'before' ,him becomes one that we can entertain and not go mad4 ,when we are sure of the 'with' we can bear the 'before4' ,did you ever see how on a review day1 as each successive battalion and company nears the saluting-point where the ,general inspecting sits1 they straighten themselves up and dress their ranks1 and pull themselves together as they pass beneath his critical eye4 ,a master's eye makes diligent servants4 ,if we1 in the strength of ,god1 would only realise1 day by day and act by act of our lives1 that we are before ,him1 what a revolution could be effected on our characters and what a transformation on all our conduct6 ',walk before ,me' and you will be perfect4 ,for the ,hebrew words on which ,i am now commenting may be read1 in accordance with the usage of the language1 as being not only a commandment but a promise1 or1 rather1 not as two commandments1 but a commandment with an appended promise1 and so as equivalent to ',if you will walk before ,me you will be perfect4' ,and if we realise that we are under 'the pure eyes and perfect judgment of' ,god1 we shall thereby be strongly urged and mightily helped to be perfect as ,he is perfect4 #c4 ,lastly1 take the other relation1 which is suggested by the third of my texts1 where ,israel as a whole is commanded to 'walk after the ,lord' their ,god4 ,in harmony with the very frequent expression of the ,old ,testament about 'going after idols' so ,israel here is to 'go after ,god4' ,what does that mean8 ,communion1 the consciousness of being judged by ,god1 will lead on to aspiration and loving1 longing effort to get nearer and nearer to ,him4 ',my soul followeth hard after ,thee1' said the ,psalmist1 ',thy right hand upholdeth me4' ,that element of yearning aspiration1 of eager desire to be closer and closer1 and liker and liker1 to ,god must be in all true religion4 ,and unless we have it in some measure1 it is useless to talk about being ,christian people4 ,to press onwards1 not as though we had already attained1 but following after1 if that we may apprehend that for which also we are apprehended1 is the attitude of every true follower of ,christ4 ,the very crown of the excellence of the ,christian life is that it never can reach its goal1 and therefore an immortal youth of aspiration and growth is guaranteed to it4 ,christian people1 are you following after ,god8 ,are you any nearer to ,him than you were ten years ago8 ',walk with ,me1 walk before ,me1 walk after ,me4' ,i need not do more than remind you of another meaning involved in this same expression4 ,if ,i walk after ,god1 then ,i let ,him go before me and show me my road4 ,do you remember how1 when the ark was to cross ,jordan1 the commandment was given to the ,israelites to let it go well on in front1 so that there should be no mistake about the course1 'for ye have not passed this way heretofore4' ,do not be in too great a hurry to press upon the heels of ,god1 if ,i may so say4 ,do not let your decisions outrun ,his providence4 ,keep back the impatience that would hurry on1 and wait for ,his ripening purposes to ripen and ,his counsels to develop themselves4 ,walk after ,god1 and be sure you do not go in front of your ,guide1 or you will lose both your way and your ,guide4 ,i need not say more than a word about the highest aspect which this third of our commandments takes1 ',his sheep follow ,him'--'leaving us an example that we should follow in ,his steps1' that is the culmination of the walking 'with1' and 'before1' and 'after' ,god which these ,old ,testament saints were partially practising4 ,all is gathered into the one great word1 ',he that saith he abideth in ,him ought himself also so to walk even as ,he walked4' ,,the ,,course ,,and ,,crown ,,of ,a ,,devout ,,life ',and ,enoch walked with ,god2 and he was not1 for ,god took him4' ,,genesis v4 #bd4 ,this notice of ,enoch occurs in the course of a catalogue of the descendants of ,adam1 from the ,creation to the ,deluge4 ,it is evidently a very ancient document1 and is constructed on a remarkable plan4 ,the formula for each man is the same4 ,so-and-so lived1 begat his heir1 the next in the series1 lived on after that so many years1 having anonymous children1 lived altogether so long1 and then died4 ,the chief thing about each life is the birth of the successor1 and each man's career is in broad outline the same4 ,a dreary monotony runs through the ages4 ,how brief and uniform may be the records of lives of striving and tears and smiles and love that stretched through centuries6 ,nine hundred years shrink into less than as many lines4 ,the solemn monotony is broken in the case of ,enoch4 ,this paragraph begins as usual--he 'lived'2 but afterwards1 instead of that word1 we read that he 'walked with ,god'--happy they for whom such a phrase is equivalent to 'live'--and1 instead of 'died1' it is said of him that 'he was not4' ,that seems to imply that he1 as it were1 slipped out of sight or suddenly disappeared2 as one of the psalms says1 ',i looked1 and lo6 he was not4' ,he was there a moment ago--now he is gone2 and my text tells how that sudden withdrawal came about4 ,god1 with whom he walked1 put out ,his hand and took him to ,himself4 ,of course4 ,what other end could there be to a life that was all passed in communion with ,god except that apotheosis and crown of it all1 the lifting of the man into closer communion with his ,father and his ,friend8 ,so1 then1 there are just these two things here--the noblest life and its crown4 #a4 ,the noblest life4 ',he walked with ,god4' ,that is all4 ,there is no need to tell what he did or tried to do1 how he sorrowed or joyed1 what were his circumstances4 ,these may all fade from men's knowledge as they have somewhat faded from his memory up yonder4 ,it is enough that he walked with ,god4 ,of course1 we have here1 underlying the phrase1 the familiar comparison of life to a journey1 with all its suggestions of constant change and constant effort1 and with the suggestion1 too1 that each life should be a progress directly tending to one clearly recognised goal4 ,but passing from that1 let us just think for a moment of the characteristics which must go to make up a life of which we can say that it is walking with ,god4 ,the first of these clearly is the one that the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews puts his finger upon1 when he makes faith the spring of ,enoch's career4 ,the first requisite to true communion with ,god is vigorous exercise of that faculty by which we realise the fact of ,his presence with us2 and that not as a jealous-eyed inspector1 from whose scrutiny we would fain escape1 but as a companion and friend to whom we can cleave4 ',he that cometh to ,god1' and walks with ,god1 must first of all 'believe that ,he is'2 and passing by all the fascinations of things seen1 and rising above all the temptations of things temporal1 his realising eye must fix upon the divine ,father and see ,him nearer and more clearly than these4 ,you cannot walk with ,god unless you are emancipated from the dominion of sense and time1 and are living by the power of that great faculty1 which lays hold of the things that are unseen as the realities1 and smiles at the false and forged pretensions of material things to be the real4 ,we have to invert the teaching of the world and of our senses4 ,my fingers and my eyes and my ears tell me that this gross1 material universe about me is the real1 and that all beyond it is shadowy and 7sometimes we think7 doubtful1 or1 at any rate1 dim and far off4 ,but that is false1 and the truth is precisely the other way4 ,the ,unseen is the ,real1 and the ,material is the merely ,apparent4 ,behind all visible objects1 and giving them all their reality1 lies the unchangeable ,god4 ,cultivate the faculty and habit of vigorous faith1 if you would walk with ,god4 ,for the world will put its bandages over your eyes1 and try to tempt you to believe that these poor1 shabby illusions are the precious things2 and we have to shake ourselves free from its harlot kisses and its glozing lies1 by very vigorous and continual efforts of the will and of the understanding1 if we are to make real to ourselves that which is real1 the presence of our ,god4 ,besides this vigorous exercise of the faculty of faith1 there is another requisite for a walk with ,god1 closely connected with it1 and yet capable of being looked at separately1 and that is1 that we shall keep up the habit of continual occupation of thought with ,him4 ,that is very much an affair of habit with ,christian people1 and ,i am afraid that the neglect of it is the habitual practice of the bulk of professing ,christians nowadays4 ,it is hard1 amidst all our work and thought and joys and sorrows1 to keep fresh our consciousness of ,his presence1 and to talk with ,him in the midst of the rush of business4 ,but what do we do about our dear ones when we are away from them8 ,the measure of our love of them is accurately represented by the frequency of our remembrances of them4 ,the mother parted from her child1 the husband and the wife separated from one another1 the lover and the friend1 think of each other a thousand times a day4 ,whenever the spring is taken off1 then the natural bent of the inclination and heart assert themselves1 and the mind goes back again1 as into a sanctuary1 into the sweet thought4 ,is that how we do with ,god8 ,do we so walk with ,him1 as that thought1 when released1 instinctively sets in that direction8 ,when ,i take off the break1 does my spirit turn to ,god8 ,if there is no hand at the helm1 does the bow always point that way8 ,when the magnet is withdrawn for a moment1 does the needle tremble back and settle itself northwards8 ,if we are walking with ,god1 we shall1 more times a day than we can count when the evening comes on1 have had the thought of ,him coming into our hearts 'like some sweet beguiling melody1 so sweet we know not we are listening to it4' ,thus we shall 'walk with ,god4' ,then there is another requisite4 ',how can two walk together except they be agreed8' ',he that saith he abideth in ,him ought himself also so to walk even as ,he walked4' ,there is no union with ,god in such communion possible1 unless there be a union with ,him by conformity of will and submission of effort and aim to ,his commandments4 ,well1 then1 is that life possible for us8 ,look at this instance before us4 ,we know very little about how much knowledge of ,god these people in old days had1 but1 at all events1 it was a great deal less than you and ,i have4 ,their theology was very different from ours2 their religion was absolutely identical with ours4 ,their faith1 which grasped the ,god revealed in their creed1 was the same as our faith1 though the creed which their faith grasped was only an outline sketch of yours and mine4 ,but at all times and in all generations1 the element and essence of the religious life has been the same-that is1 the realising sense of the living divine presence1 the effort and aspiration after communion with ,him1 and the quiet obedience and conformity of the practical life to ,his will4 ,and so we can reach out our hands across all the centuries to this pre-,noachian1 antediluvian patriarch1 dim amongst the mists1 and feel that he too is our brother4 ,and he has set us the example that in all conditions of life1 and under the most unfavourable circumstances1 it is possible to live in this close touch with ,god4 ,for in his time1 not only was there1 as ,i have said1 an incomplete and rudimentary knowledge of ,god1 but in his time the earth was filled with violence1 and gigantic forms of evil are represented as having dominated mankind4 ,amidst it all1 the ,titanic pride1 the godlessness1 the scorn1 the rudeness1 and the violence1 amidst it all1 this one 'white flower of a blameless life' managed to find nutriment upon the dunghill1 and to blossom fresh and fair there4 ,you and ,i cannot1 whatever may be our hindrances in living a consistent ,christian life1 have anything like the difficulties that this man had and surmounted4 ,for us all1 whatever our conditions1 such a life is possible4 ,and then there is another lesson that he teaches us1 viz4 that such a life is consistent with the completest discharge of all common duties4 ,the outline1 as far as appearance was concerned1 of this man's life was the same as the outline of those of his ancestors and successors4 ,they are all described in the same terms4 ,the formula is the same4 ,enoch lived1 ,mahalaleel1 and all the rest of the half-unpronounceable names1 they lived1 they begat their heirs1 and sons and daughters1 and then they died4 ,and the same formula is used about this man4 ,he walked with ,god1 but it was while treading the common path of secular life that he did so4 ,he found it possible to live in communion with ,god1 and yet to do all the common things that men did then4 ,anybody's house may be a ,bethel--a house of ,god--and anybody's work may be worship2 and wherever we are and whatever we do1 it is possible therein to serve ,god1 and there to walk with ,him4 #b4 ,and now a word about the crown of this life of communion4 ',he was not1 for ,god took him' ,what wonderful reticence in describing1 or rather hinting at1 the stupendous miracle that is here in question6 ,is that like a book that came from the legend-loving and legend-making brains of men2 or does it sound like the speech of ,god1 to whom nothing is extraordinary and nothing needs to have a mark of admiration after it8 ,it was the same to ,him whether ,enoch died or whether ,he simply took him to ,himself4 ,if one wants to know what men would have made of such a thing1 if they had had to tell it1 let them read those wretched ,rabbinical fables that have been stitched on to this verse4 ,there they will see how men describe miracles2 and here they will see how ,god does so4 ',he was not4' ,as ,i have said1 he disappeared2 that was what the world knew4 ',god took him'2 that was what ,god tells the world4 ,thus this strange exception to the law of death stood1 as ,i suppose1 to the ancient world as doing somewhat the same office for them that the translation of ,elijah afterwards partially did for ,israel1 and that the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ does completely for us1 viz4 it brought the future life into the realm of fact1 and took it out of the dim region of speculation altogether4 ,he establishes a truth who proves it1 and he proves a fact that shows it4 ,a doctrine of a future state is not worth much1 but the fact of a future state1 which was established by this incident then1 and is certified for us all now1 by the ,christ risen from the dead1 is all-important4 ,our gospel is all built upon facts1 and this is the earliest fact in man's history which made man's subsistence in other conditions than that of earthly life a certainty4 ,and then1 again1 this wonderful exception shows to us1 as it did to that ancient world1 that the natural end of a religious life is union with ,god hereafter4 ,it seems to me that the real proofs of a future life are two3 one1 the fact of ,christ's resurrection1 and the other1 the fact of our religious experience4 ,for anything looks to me more likely1 and less incredible1 than that a man who could walk with ,god should only have a poor earthly life to do it in1 and that all these aspirations1 these emotions1 should be bounded and ended by a trivial thing1 that touches only the physical frame4 ,surely1 surely1 there is nothing so absurd as to believe that he who can say ',thou art my ,god1' and who has said it1 should ever by anything be brought to cease to say it4 ,death cannot kill love to ,god2 and the only end of the religious life of earth is its perfecting in heaven4 ,the experiences that we have here1 in their loftiness and in their incompleteness1 equally witness for us1 of the rest and the perfectness that remain for the children of ,god4 ,then1 again1 this man in his unique experience was1 and is1 a witness of the fact that death is an excrescence1 and results from sin4 ,i suppose that he trod the road which the divine intention had destined to be trodden by all the children of men1 if they had not sinned2 and that his experience1 unique as it is1 is a survival1 so to speak1 of what was meant to be the law for humanity1 unless there had intervened the terrible fact of sin and its wages1 death4 ,the road had been made1 and this one man was allowed to travel along it that we might all learn1 by the example of the exception1 that the rule under which we live was not the rule that ,god originally meant for us1 and that death has resulted from the fact of transgression4 ,no doubt ,enoch had in him the seeds of it1 no doubt there were the possibilities of disease and the necessity of death in his physical frame1 but ,god has shown us in that one instance1 and in the other of the great prophet's1 how ,he is not subject to the law that men shall die1 although men are subject to it1 and that if ,he will1 ,he can take them all to ,himself1 as ,he did take these two1 and will take them who1 at last1 shall not die but be changed4 ,let me remind you that this unique and exceptional end of a life of communion may1 in its deepest1 essential character1 be experienced by each of us4 ,there are two passages in the book of ,psalms1 both of which ,i regard as allusions to this incident4 ,the one of them is in the forty-ninth ,psalm and reads thus3 ',he will deliver my soul from the power of the grave1 for ,he will take me4' ,our version conceals the allusion1 by its unfortunate and non-literal rendering 'receive4' ,the same word is employed there as here4 ,can we fail to see the reference8 ,the ,psalmist expects his soul to be 'delivered from the power of the grave1' because ,god takes it4 ,and again1 in the great seventy-third ,psalm1 which marks perhaps the highwater mark of pre-,christian anticipations of a future state1 we read3 ',thou wilt guide me by ,thy counsel1 and afterwards take me' 7again the same word7 'to glory4' ,here1 again1 the ,psalmist looks back to the unique and exceptional instance1 and in the rapture and ecstasy of the faith that has grasped the living ,god as his portion1 says to himself3 ',though the externals of ,enoch's end and of mine may differ1 their substance will be the same1 and ,i1 too1 shall cease to be seen of men1 because ,god takes me into the secret of ,his pavilion1 by the loving clasp of ,his lifting hand4' ,enoch was led1 if ,i may say so1 round the top of the valley1 beyond the head waters of the dark river1 and was kept on the high level until he got to the other side4 ,you and ,i have to go down the hill1 out of the sunshine1 in among the dank weeds1 to stumble over the black rocks1 and wade through the deep water2 but we shall get over to the same place where he stands1 and ,he that took him round by the top will 'take' us through the river2 and so shall we 'ever be with the ,lord' ',enoch walked with ,god and he was not2 for ,god took him4' ,this verse is like some little spring with trees and flowers on a cliff4 ,the dry genealogical table--and here this bit of human life in it6 ,how unlike the others--they lived and they died2 this man's life was walking with ,god and his departure was a fading away1 a ceasing to be found here4 ,it is remarkable in how calm a tone the ,bible speaks of its supernatural events4 ,we should not have known this to be a miracle but for the ,epistle to the ,hebrews4 ,the dim past of these early chapters carries us over many centuries4 ,we know next to nothing about the men1 where they lived1 how they lived1 what thoughts they had1 what tongue they spoke4 ,some people would say that they never lived at all4 ,i believe1 and most of you1 ,i suppose1 believe that they did4 ,but how little personality we give them6 ,little as we know of environment and circumstances1 we know the main thing1 the fact of their having been4 ,then we are sure that they had sorrow and joy1 strife and love1 toil and rest1 like the rest of us1 that whether their days were longer or shorter they were filled much as ours are1 that whatever was the pattern into which the quiet threads of their life was woven it was1 warp and weft1 the same yarn as ours4 ,in broad features every human life is much the same4 ,widely different as the clothing of these grey fathers in their tents1 with their simple contrivances and brief records1 is from that of cultivated busy ,englishmen to-day1 the same human form is beneath both4 ,and further1 we know but little as to their religious ideas1 how far they were surrounded with miracles1 what they knew of ,god and of ,his purposes1 how they received their knowledge1 what served them for a ,bible4 ,of what positive institutions of religion they had we know nothing2 whether for them there was sacrifice and a sabbath day1 how far the original gospel to ,adam was known or remembered or understood by them4 ,all that is perfectly dark to us4 ,but this we know1 that those of them who were godly men lived by the same power by which godly men live nowadays4 ,whatever their creed1 their religion was ours4 ,religion1 the bond that unites again the soul to ,god1 has always been the same4 ,,the ,,saint ,,among ,,sinners ',these are the generations of ,noah3 ,noah was a just man and perfect in his generations1 and ,noah walked with ,god4 ,and ,noah begat three sons1 ,shem1 ,ham1 and ,japheth4 ,the earth also was corrupt before ,god1 and the earth was filled with violence4 ,and ,god looked upon the earth1 and1 behold1 it was corrupt2 for all flesh had corrupted ,his way upon the earth4 ,and ,god said unto ,noah1 ,the end of all flesh is come before ,me2 for the earth is filled with violence through them2 and1 behold1 ,i will destroy them with the earth4 ,make thee an ark of gopher wood2 rooms shalt thou make in the ark1 and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch4 ,and this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of3 ,the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits1 the breadth of it fifty cubits1 and the height of it thirty cubits4 ,a window shalt thou make to the ark1 and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above2 and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof2 with lower1 second1 and third stories shalt thou make it4 ,and1 behold1 ,i1 even ,i1 do bring a flood of waters upon the earth1 to destroy all flesh1 wherein is the breath of life1 from under heaven2 and every thing that is in the earth shall die4 ,but with thee will ,i establish ,my covenant2 and thou shalt come into the ark1 thou1 and thy sons1 and thy wife1 and thy sons' wives with thee4 ,and of every living thing of all flesh1 two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark1 to keep them alive with thee2 they shall be male and female4 ,of fowls after their kind1 and of cattle after their kind1 of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind1 two of every sort shall come unto thee1 to keep them alive4 ,and take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten1 and thou shalt gather it to thee2 and it shall be for food for thee1 and for them4 ,thus did ,noah2 according to all that ,god commanded him1 so did he4'--,,genesis vi4 #i-bb4 #a4 ,notice here1 first1 the solitary saint4 ,noah stands alone 'in his generations' like some single tree1 green and erect1 in a forest of blasted and fallen pines4 ',among the faithless1 faithful only he4' ,his character is described1 so to speak1 from the outside inwards4 ,he is 'righteous1' or discharging all the obligations of law and of his various relationships4 ,he is 'perfect4' ,his whole nature is developed1 and all in due symmetry and proportion2 no beauty wanting1 no grace cultivated at the expense of others4 ,he is a full man2 not a one-sided and therefore a distorted one4 ,of course we do not take these words to imply sinlessness4 ,they express a relative1 not an absolute1 completeness4 ,hence we may learn both a lesson of stimulus and of hope4 ,we are not to rest satisfied with partial goodness1 but to seek to attain an all-round perfectness1 even in regard to the graces least natural to our dispositions4 ,and we can rejoice to believe that ,god is generous in ,his acceptance and praise4 ,he does not grudge commendation1 but takes account of the deepest desires and main tendencies of a life1 and sees the germ as a full-blown flower1 and the bud as a fruit4 ,learn1 too1 that solitary goodness is possible4 ,noah stood uninfected by the universal contagion2 and1 as is always the case1 the evil around1 which he did not share1 drove him to a more rigid abstinence from it4 ,a ,christian who is alone 'in his generations1' like a lily among nettles1 has to be1 and usually is1 a more earnest ,christian than if he were among like-minded men4 ,the saints in ',caesar's household' needed to be very unmistakable saints1 if they were not to be swept away by the torrent of godlessness4 ,it is hard1 but it is possible1 for a boy at school1 or a young man in an office1 or a soldier in a barrack1 to stand alone1 and be ,christlike2 but only on condition that he yields to no temptation to drop his conduct to the level around him1 and is never guilty of compromise4 ,once yield1 and all is over4 ,flowers grow on a dunghill1 and the very reeking rottenness may make the bloom finer4 ,learn1 too1 that the true place for the saint is 'in his generations4' ,if the mass is corrupt1 so much the more need to rub the salt well in4 ,disgust and cowardice1 and the love of congenial society1 keep ,christian people from mixing with the world1 which they must do if they are to do ,christ's work in it4 ,there is a great deal too much union with the world1 and a great deal too much separation from it1 nowadays1 and both are of the wrong sort4 ,we cannot keep too far away from it1 by abstinence from living by its maxims1 and tampering with its pleasures4 ,we cannot mix too much with it if we take our ,christianity with us1 and remember our vocation to be its light4 ,notice1 again1 the companion of the solitary saint4 ,what beauty there is in that description of the isolated man1 passing lonely amid his contemporaries1 like a stream of pure water flowing through some foul liquid1 and untouched by it1 and yet not alone in his loneliness1 because 'he walked with ,god6' ,the less he found congenial companionship on earth1 the more he realised ,god as by his side4 ,the remarkable phrase1 used only of ,enoch and of ,noah1 implies a closer relation than the other expression1 ',to walk before ,god4' ,communion1 the habitual occupation of mind and heart with ,god1 the happy sense of ,his presence making every wilderness and solitary place glad because of ,him4 the child's clasping the father's hand with his tiny fingers1 and so being held up and lifted over many a rough place1 are all implied4 ,are we lonely in outward reality8 ,here is our unfailing companion4 ,have we to stand single among companions1 who laugh at us and our religion8 ,one man1 with ,god to back him1 is always in the majority4 ,though surrounded by friends1 have we found that1 after all1 we live and suffer1 and must die alone8 ,here is the all-sufficient ,friend1 if we have fellowship with whom our hearts will be lonely no more4 ,observe that this communion is the foundation of all righteousness in conduct4 ,because ,noah walked with ,god1 he was 'just' and 'perfect4' ,if we live habitually in the holy of holies1 our faces will shine when we come forth4 ,if we desire to be good and pure1 we must dwell with ,god1 and ,his ,spirit will pass into our hearts1 and we shall bear the fragrance of his presence wherever we go4 ,learn1 also1 that communion with ,god is not possible unless we are fighting against our sin1 and have some measure of holiness4 ,we begin communion with ,him1 indeed1 not by holiness1 but by faith4 ,but it is not kept up without the cultivation of purity4 ,sin makes fellowship with ,god impossible4 ',can two walk together1 except they be agreed8' ',what communion hath light with darkness8' ,the delicate bond which unites us in happy communion with ,god shrivels up1 as if scorched1 at the touch of sin4 ',if we say that we have fellowship with ,him1 and walk in darkness1 we lie4' #b4 ,notice the universal apostasy4 ,two points are brought out in the sombre description4 ,the first is moral corruption2 the second1 violence4 ,bad men are cruel men4 ,when the bonds which knit society to ,god are relaxed1 selfishness soon becomes furious1 and forcibly seizes what it lusts after1 regardless of others' rights4 ,sin saps the very foundations of social life1 and makes men into tigers1 more destructive to each other than wild beasts4 ,all our grand modern schemes for the reformation of society will fail unless they begin with the reformation of the individual4 ,to walk with ,god is the true way to make men gentle and pitying4 ,learn from this dark outline that ,god gazes in silence on the evil4 ,that is a grand1 solemn expression1 ',corrupt before ,god4' ,all this mad riot of pollution and violence is holding its carnival of lust and blood under the very eye of ,god1 and ,he says never a word4 ,so is it ever4 ,like some band of conspirators in a dark corner1 bad men do deeds of darkness1 and fancy they are unseen1 and that ,god forgets them1 because they forget ,god2 and all the while ,his eye is fixed on them1 and the darkness is light about them4 ,then comes a further expression of the same thought3 ',god looked upon the earth4' ,as a sudden beam of sunshine out of a thunder-cloud1 ,his eye flashes down1 not as if ,he then began to know1 but that ,his knowledge then began1 as it were1 to act4 #c4 ,what does the stern sentence on the rotten world teach us8 ,a very profound truth1 not only of the certain divine retribution1 but of the indissoluble connection of sin with destruction4 ,the same word is thrice employed in verses #aa and #ab to express 'corruption' and in verse #ac to express 'destruction4' ,a similar usage is found in #a ,corinthians iii4 #ag1 where the same ,greek word is translated 'defile' and 'destroy4' ,this teaches us that1 in deepest reality1 corruption is destruction1 that sin is death1 that every sinner is a suicide4 ,god's act in punishment corresponds to1 and is the inevitable outcome of1 our act in transgression4 ,so fatal is all evil1 that one word serves to describe both the poison-secreting root and the poisoned fruit4 ,sin is death in the making2 death is sin finished4 ,the promise of deliverance1 which comes side by side with the stern sentence1 illustrates the blessed truth that ,god's darkest threatenings are accompanied with a revelation of the way of escape4 ,the ark is always shown along with the flood4 ,zoar is pointed out when ,god foretells ,sodom's ruin4 ,we are no sooner warned of the penalties of sin1 than we are bid to hear the message of mercy in ,christ4 ,the brazen serpent is ever reared where the venomous snakes bite and burn4 #d4 ,we pass by the details of the construction of the ark to draw the final lesson from the exact obedience of ,noah4 ,we have the statement twice over1 ,he did 'according to all that ,god commanded him4' ,it was no easy thing for him to build the ark1 amidst the scoffing of his generations4 ,smart witticisms fell around him like hail4 ,all the 'practical men' thought him a dreamy fool1 wasting his time1 while they prospered and made something of life4 ,the ,epistle to the ,hebrews tells us the secret of his obedience3 ',by faith1 ,noah1' etc4 ,he realised the distant unseen1 because he believed ,him who warned him of it4 ,the immediate object of his faith was 'the things not seen as yet'2 but the real1 deepest object was ,god1 whose word showed him these4 ,so faith is always trust in a divine ,person1 whether it lays hold of the past sacrifice1 the present indwelling ,spirit1 or the future heaven4 ,noah's example teaches us the practical effects of faith4 ',moved with godly fear1' says ,hebrews2 by which is meant1 not a mere dread of personal evil1 for ,noah was assured of safety--but that godly reverence and happy fear which dwells with faith1 and secures precise obedience4 ,learn that a faith which does not work on the feelings is a very poor thing4 ,some ,christian people have a great horror of emotional religion4 ,unemotional religion is a great deal worse4 ,the road by which faith gets at the hands is through the heart4 ,and he who believes but feels nothing1 will do exactly as much as he feels1 and probably does not really believe much more4 ,so after ,noah's emotion followed his action4 ,he was bid to prepare his ark1 we have only to take refuge in the ark which ,god has prepared in ,christ2 but the principle of ,noah's obedience applies to us all4 ,he realised so perfectly that future1 with its double prospect of destruction and deliverance1 that his whole life was moulded by the conduct which should lead to his escape4 ,the far-off flood was more real to him than the shows of life around him4 ,therefore he could stand all the gibes1 and gave himself to a course of life which was sheer folly unless that future was real4 ,perhaps a hundred and twenty years passed between the warning and the flood2 and for all that time he held on his way1 nor faltered in his faith4 ,does our faith realise that which lies before us with anything like similar clearness8 ,do we see that future shining through all the trivial1 fleeting present8 ,does it possess weight and solidity enough to shape our lives8 ,noah's creed was much shorter than ours2 but ,i fear his faith was as much stronger4 #e4 ,we may think1 finally1 of the vindication of his faith4 ,for a hundred and twenty years the wits laughed1 and the 'common-sense' people wondered1 and the patient saint went on hammering and pitching at his ark4 ,but one morning it began to rain2 and by degrees1 somehow1 ,noah did not seem quite such a fool4 ,the jests would look rather different when the water was up to the knees of the jesters2 and their sarcasms would stick in their throats as they drowned4 ,so is it always4 ,so it will be at the last great day4 ,the men who lived for the future1 by faith in ,christ1 will be found out to have been the wise men when the future has become the present1 and the present has become the past1 and is gone for ever2 while they who had no aims beyond the things of time1 which are now sunk beneath the dreary horizon1 will awake too late to the conviction that they are outside the ark of safety1 and that their truest epitaph is ',thou fool6' ',,clear ,,shining ,,after ,,rain' ',and ,god remembered ,noah1 and every living thing1 and all the cattle that was with him in the ark3 and ,god made a wind to pass over the earth1 and the waters asswaged2 ,the fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped1 and the rain from heaven was restrained2 ,and the waters returned from off the earth continually3 and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated4 ,and the ark rested in the seventh month1 on the seventeenth day of the month1 upon the mountains of ,ararat4 ,and the waters decreased continually until the tenth month3 in the tenth month1 on the first day of the month1 were the tops of the mountains seen4 ,and it came to pass at the end of forty days that ,noah opened the window of the ark which he had made3 ,and he sent forth a raven1 which went forth to and fro1 until the waters were dried up from off the earth4 ,also he sent forth a dove from him1 to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground2 ,but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot1 and she returned unto him into the ark1 for the waters were on the face of the whole earth3 then he put forth his hand1 and took her1 and pulled her in unto him into the ark4 ,and he stayed yet other seven days2 and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark2 ,and the dove came in to him in the evening2 and1 lo1 in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off3 so ,noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth4 ,and he stayed yet other seven days2 and sent forth the dove2 which returned not again unto him any more4 ,and it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year1 in the first month1 the first day of the month1 the waters were dried up from off the earth3 and ,noah removed the covering of the ark1 and looked1 and1 behold1 the face of the ground was dry4 ,and in the second month1 on the seven and twentieth day of the month1 was the earth dried4 ,and ,god spake unto ,noah1 saying1 ,go forth of the ark1 thou1 and thy wife1 and thy sons1 and thy sons wives with thee4 ,bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee1 of all flesh1 both of fowl1 and of cattle1 and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth2 that they may breed abundantly in the earth1 and be fruitful1 and multiply upon the earth4 ,and ,noah went forth1 and his sons1 and his wife1 and his sons' wives with him3 ,every beast1 every creeping thing1 and every fowl1 and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth1 after their kinds1 went forth out of the ark4 ,and ,noah builded an altar unto the ,lord2 and took of every clean beast1 and of every clean fowl1 and offered burnt offerings on the altar4 ,and the ,lord smelled a sweet savour2 and the ,lord said in ,his heart1 ,i will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake2 for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth2 neither will ,i again smite any more every thing living1 as ,i have done4 ,while the earth remaineth1 seedtime and harvest1 and cold and heat1 and summer and winter1 and day and night shall not cease1'--,,genesis viii4 #a-bb4 ,the universal tradition of a deluge is most naturally accounted for by admitting that there was a 'universal deluge4' ,but 'universal' does not apply to the extent as embracing the whole earth1 but as affecting the small area then inhabited--an area which was probably not greater than the valleys of the ,euphrates and ,tigris4 ,the story in ,genesis is the ,hebrew version of the universal tradition1 and its plain affinity to the cuneiform narratives is to be frankly accepted4 ,but the relationship of these two is not certain4 ,are they mother and daughter1 or are they sisters8 ,the theory that the narrative in ,genesis is derived from the ,babylonian1 and is a purified1 elevated rendering of it1 is not so likely as that both are renderings of a more primitive account1 to which the ,hebrew narrative has kept true1 while the other has tainted it with polytheistic ideas4 ,in this passage the cessation of the flood is the theme1 and it brings out both the love of the ,god who sent the awful punishment1 and the patient godliness of the man who was spared from it4 ,so it completes the teaching of the flood1 and proclaims that ,god 'in wrath remembers mercy4' #a4 ',god remembered ,noah4' ,that is a strong 'anthropomorphism1' like many other things in ,genesis--very natural when these records were written1 and bearing a true meaning for all times4 ,it might seem as if1 in the wild rush of the waters from beneath and from above1 the little handful in the ark were forgotten4 ,had the ,judge of all the earth1 while executing 'terrible things in righteousness1' leisure to think of them who were 'afar off upon the sea'8 ,was it a blind wrath that had been let loose8 ,no2 in all the severity there was tender regard for those worthy of it4 ,judgment was discriminating4 ,the sunshine of love broke through even the rain-clouds of the flood4 ,so the blessed lesson is taught that1 in the widest sweep of the most stormy judgments1 there are those who abide safely1 fearing no evil4 ,though the waters are out1 there is a rock on which we may stand safe1 above their highest wave4 ,and why did ,god 'remember ,noah'8 ,it was not favouritism1 arbitrary and immoral4 ,noah was bid to build the ark1 because he was 'righteous' in a world of evil-doers2 he was 'remembered' in the ark1 because he had believed ,god's warning1 obeyed ,god's command as seeing the judgment 'not seen as yet1' and so 'became heir of the righteousness which is by faith4' ,they who trust ,god1 and1 trusting ,him1 realise as if present the future judgment1 and1 'moved with fear1' take refuge in the ark1 are never forgot by ,him1 even while the world is drowned4 ,they live in ,his heart1 and in due time ,he will show that ,he remembers them4 #b4 ,the gradual subsidence of the flood is told with singular exactitude of dates1 which are certainly peculiar if they are not historical4 ,the slow decrease negatives the explanation of the story as being the exaggerated remembrance of some tidal-wave caused by earthquake and the like4 ,precisely five months after the flood began1 the ark grounded1 and the two sources1 the rain from above and the 'fountains of the deep' 7that is1 probably1 the sea71 were 'restrained1' and a high wind set in4 ,that date marked the end of the increase of the waters1 and consequently the beginning of their decrease4 ,seven months and ten days elapsed between it and the complete restoration of the earth to its previous condition4 ,that time was divided into stages4 ,two months and a half passed before the highest land emerged2 two months more and the surface was all visible2 a month and twenty-seven days more before 'the earth was dry4' ,the frequent recurrence of the sacred numbers1 seven and ten1 is noticeable4 ,the length of time required for the restorative process witnesses to the magnitude of the catastrophe1 impresses the imagination1 and suggests the majestic slowness of the divine working1 and how ,he uses natural processes for ,his purposes of moral government1 and rules the wildest outbursts of physical agents4 ,the ,lord as king 'sitteth upon the flood1' and opens or seals the fountains of the great deep as ,he will4 ,scripture does not tell of the links between the ,first ,cause and the physical effect4 ,it brings the latter close up to the former4 ,the last link touches the fixed staple1 and all between may be ignored4 ,but the patient expectance of ,noah comes out strongly in the story1 as well as the gradualness of ,god's working4 ,not till 'forty days'--a round number--after the land appeared1 did ,he do anything4 ,he waited quietly till the path was plain4 ,eager impatience does not become those who trust in ,god4 ,it is not said that the raven was sent out to see if the waters were abated4 ,no purpose is named1 nor is it said that it returned at all4 ',to and fro' may mean over the waste of waters1 not back and forward to and from the ark4 ,the raven1 from its blackness1 its habit of feeding on carrion1 its fierceness1 was a bird of ill-omen1 and sending it forth has a grim suggestion that it would find food enough1 and 'rest for the sole of its foot1' among the swollen corpses floating on the dark waters4 ,the dove1 on the other hand1 is the emblem of gentleness1 purity1 and tenderness4 ,she went forth1 the very embodiment of meek hope that wings its way over dark and desolate scenes of calamity and judgment1 and1 though disappointed at first1 patiently waits till the waters sink further1 discerns the earliest signs of their drying up1 and comes back to the sender with a report which is a prophecy3 ',your peace shall return to you again4' ,happy they who send forth1 not the raven1 but the dove1 from their patient hearts4 ,their gentle wishes come back with confirmation of their hopes1 'as doves to their windows4' #c4 ,but ,noah did not leave the ark1 though 'the earth was dry4' ,god had 'shut him in1' and it must be ,god who brings him out4 ,we have to take heed of precipitate departure from the place where ,he has fixed us4 ,like ,israel in the desert1 it must be 'at the commandment of the ,lord' that we pitch the camp1 and at the commandment of the ,lord that we journey4 ,till ,he speaks we must remain1 and as soon as ,he speaks we must remove4 ',god spake unto ,noah1 saying1 ,go forth 444 and ,noah went forth4' ,thus prompt must be our obedience4 ,a sacrifice of gratitude is the fit close of each epoch in our lives1 and the fit beginning of each new one4 ,before he thought of anything else1 ,noah built his altar4 ,all our deeds should be set in a golden ring of thankfulness4 ,so the past is hallowed1 and the future secure of ,god's protection4 ,it is no unworthy conception of ,god which underlies the strongly human expression that he 'smelled the sweet savour4' ,he delights in our offerings1 and our trustful1 grateful love is 'an odour of a sweet smell1 a sacrifice acceptable' to ,him4 ,the pledge that ,he will not any more curse the ground for man's sake is occasioned by the sacrifice1 but is grounded on what seems1 at first sight1 a reason for the very opposite conclusion4 ,man's evil heart the reason for ,god's forbearance8 ,yes1 because it is 'evil from his youth4' ,he deals with men as knowing our frame1 the corruption of our nature1 and the need that the tree should be made good before it can bring forth good fruit4 ,therefore ,he will not smite1 but rather seek to draw to repentance by ,his goodness1 and by the faithful continuance of ,his beneficence in the steadfast covenant of revolving seasons1 'filling our hearts with food and gladness4' ,,the ,,sign ,,for ,,man ,,and ,,the ,,remembrancer ,,for ,,god ',and ,god spake unto ,noah1 and to his sons with him1 saying1 ,and ,i1 behold1 ,i establish my covenant with you1 and with your seed after you2 ,and with every living creature that is with you1 of the fowl1 of the cattle1 and of every beast of the earth with you2 from all that go out of the ark1 to every beast of the earth4 ,and ,i will establish my covenant with you2 neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood2 neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth4 ,and ,god said1 ,this is the token of the covenant which ,i make between ,me and you and every living creature that is with you1 for perpetual generations3 ,i do set ,my bow in the cloud1 and it shall be for a token of a covenant between ,me and the earth4 ,and it shall come to pass1 when ,i bring a cloud over the earth1 that the bow shall be seen in the cloud3 ,and ,i will remember ,my covenant1 which is between ,me and you and every living creature of all flesh2 and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh4 ,and the bow shall be in the cloud2 and ,i will look upon it1 that ,i may remember the everlasting covenant between ,god and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth4 ,and ,god said unto ,noah1 ,this is the token of the covenant1 which ,i have established between ,me and all flesh that is upon the earth4 ,,genesis ix4 #h-ag4 ,the previous verses of this chapter lay down the outlines of the new order which followed the flood4 ,the blessing and the command to be fruitful are repeated4 ,the dominion over animals is confirmed1 but enlarged by the permission to use them as food1 and by the laying on them of 'the terror of you and the dread of you4' ,the sanctity of human life is laid down with great emphasis4 ,violence and bloodshed had brought about the flood4 ,the appalling destruction effected by it might lead to the mistaken notion that ,god held man's life cheap4 ,therefore the cornerstone of future society is laid in that declaration that life is inviolable4 ,these blessings and commands are followed by this remarkable section1 which deals with ,god's covenant with ,noah1 and its token in the rainbow4 #a4 ,the covenant is stated1 and the parties concerned in it enumerated in verses #c-aa4 ,when ,noah came forth from the ark1 after the stupendous act of divine justice1 he must have felt that the first thing he needed was some assurance as to the footing on which he and the new world round him stood with ,god4 ,the flood had swept away the old order4 ,it had revealed terrible possibilities of destruction in nature1 and terrible possibilities of wrath in ,god4 ,was any knowledge of ,his intentions and ways possible8 ,could continuance of the new order be counted on8 ,the answer to such questions was--,god's covenant4 ,now1 as then1 when any great convulsions shake what seems permanent1 and bring home to men the thinness of the crust of use and wont roofing an infinite depth of unknown possibilities of change1 on which we walk1 the heart cries out for some assurance of perpetuity1 and some revelation of ,god's mind4 ,we can have such1 as truly as ,noah had1 if we use the ,revelation given us in ,jesus4 ,in ,god's covenant with ,noah1 the fact of the covenant may first be noted4 ,what is a covenant8 ,the term usually implies a reciprocal bond1 both parties to which come under obligations by it1 each to the other4 ,but1 in this case1 there are no obligations on the part of man or of the creatures4 ,this covenant is ,god's only4 ,it is contingent on nothing done by the recipients4 ,he binds ,himself1 whatever be the conduct of men4 ,this covenant is the self-motived promise of an unconditional mercy4 ,may we not say that the ',new ,covenant' in ,jesus ,christ is after the pattern of this1 rather than after the manner of compacts which require both parties to do their several parts8 ,but note the great thought1 that ,god limits ,his freedom of action by this definite promise4 ,noah was not left to grope in dread among the terrible possibilities opened by the flood4 ,god marked out the line on which ,he would move1 and marked off a course which ,he would not pursue4 ,it is like a king giving his subjects a constitution4 ,men can reckon on ,god4 ,he has let them know much of the principles and methods of ,his government4 ,he has buoyed out ,his course1 as it were1 on the ocean1 or pricked it down upon a chart4 ,we have not to do with arbitrary power1 with inscrutable will4 ,our ,god is not one who 'giveth no account of any of ,his matters4' ,to use a common saying1 ',we know where to have ,him4' ,the substance of this covenant is noteworthy4 ,it is concerned solely with physical nature4 ,there is nothing spiritual or 'religious' about it4 ,there are to be no more universal deluges4 ,that is all which it guarantees4 ,but consider how important such an assurance was in two aspects4 ,note the solemn light which it threw on the past4 ,it taught that the flood was an exception in the divine government1 which should stand unrepeated for ever1 in its dread pre-eminence testifying how awful it was as a judicial act1 and how outrageous had been the guilt which it drowned out of existence and sight4 ,a wholesome terror at the unexampled act of judgment would fill the hearts of the little group which now represented mankind4 ,consider the effect of the covenant in encouraging hope4 ,we have said that the one thing needful for ,noah was some assurance that the new order would last4 ,he was like a man who has just been rescued from an earthquake or a volcanic eruption4 ,the ground seems to reel beneath him4 ,old habitudes have been curled up like leaves in the fire4 ,is there to be any fixity1 any ground for continuous action1 or for labour for a moment beyond the present8 ,is it worth while to plant or sow8 ,men who have lived through national tempests or domestic crashes know how much they need to be steadied afterwards by some reasonable assurance of comparative continuity4 ,and these men1 in the childhood of the race1 would need it much4 ,so they were sent out to till the earth1 and to begin again strenuous lives1 with this covenant to keep them from falling into a hand-to-mouth style of life1 which would have brought them down to barbarism4 ,we all need the same kind of assurance2 and then1 when we get it1 such is the weakness of humanity1 we are tempted to think that continuity means eternity1 and that1 because probably to-morrow shall be as this day1 there will never come a to-morrow which shall be quite unlike to-day4 ,the crust of cooled earth1 on which we walk1 is thick enough to bear man and all his works1 but there comes a time when it will crack4 ,the world will not be flooded again1 but we forget1 what ,noah did not know1 that it will be burned4 ,the parties to the covenant must be noticed4 ,note how frequently the share in it1 which all living creatures have1 is referred to in the context4 ,in verse #aj the language becomes strained 7in the original71 in order to express the universal participation of all living creatures2 and in verse #ac 'the earth' itself is spoken of as one party4 ,god recognises obligations to all living things1 and even to the dumb1 non-sentient earth4 ,he will not causelessly quench one bright1 innocent life1 nor harm one clod4 ,surely this is1 at least1 an incipient revelation of a ,god whose 'tender mercies are over all his works4' ,he 'doth take care for oxen'2 and man1 with all the creatures that are with him1 and all the wild ones that 'come not near' him1 and all the solid structure of the world1 are held in one covenant of protecting and sustaining providence and power4 #b4 ,the sign of the covenant is described at great length in verses #ab-ag4 ,note that verses #ab1 #ac state the general idea of a token or sign1 that verses #ad-af deepen this by stating that the token to man is a reminder to ,god1 and that verse #ag sums up the whole with emphatic repetition of the main points4 ,the narrative does not imply1 as has often been supposed1 that the rainbow was visible for the first time after the deluge4 ,to suppose that1 is to read more into the story than is there1 or than common sense tolerates4 ,if there were showers and sunshine1 there must have been rainbows4 ,but the fair vision strode across the sky with no articulate promise in its loveliness1 though it must always have kindled wonder1 and sometimes stirred deeper thoughts4 ,now1 for the first time1 it was made 'a sign1' the visible pledge of ,god's promise4 ,mark the emphasis with which ,god's agency is declared and ,his ownership asserted4 ',i do set ,my bow4' ,neither ,noah nor the writer knew anything about refraction or the prismatic spectrum4 ,but perhaps they knew more about the rainbow than people do who know all about how it comes1 except that ,god sets it in the cloud1 and that it is ,his4 ,let us have the facts which science labels as such1 by all means1 and the more the better2 but do not let us forget that there are other facts in nature which science has no means of attaining1 but which are as solid and a great deal deeper than those which it supplies4 ,the natural adaptation of the rainbow for this office of a token is too plain to need dwelling on4 ,it 'fills the sky when storms prepare to part1' and hence is a natural token that the downpour is being stayed4 ,somewhere there must be a bit of blue through which the sun can pierce2 and the small gap1 which is large enough to let it out1 will grow till all the sky is one azure dome4 ,it springs into sight in front of the cloud1 without which it could not be1 so it typifies the light which may glorify judgments1 and is born of sorrows borne in the presence of ,god4 ,it comes from the sunshine smiting the cloud2 so it preaches the blending of love with divine judgment4 ,it unites earth and heaven2 so it proclaims that heavenly love is ready to transform earthly sorrows4 ,it stretches across the land2 so it speaks of an all-embracing care1 which enfolds the earth and all its creatures4 ,it is not only a 'sign to men4' ,it is also1 in the strong anthropomorphism of the narrative1 a remembrancer to ,god4 ,of course this is accommodation of the representation of ,his nature to the limitations of ours4 ,and the danger of attaching unworthy ideas to it is lessened by noticing that ,he is said to set ,his bow in the cloud1 before it acts as ,his remembrancer4 ,therefore1 ,he had remembered before it appeared4 ,the truth1 conveyed in the childlike language1 is that ,god has ,his covenant ever before ,him1 and that ,he responds to and honours the appeal made to ,him1 by that which ,he has ,himself appointed for a sign to men4 ,the expectant eyes of the trustful man and the eye of ,god meet1 as it were1 in looking on the sign4 ,on earth it nourishes faith2 in heaven it moves to love and blessing4 ,god can be reminded of what ,he always remembers4 ,the rainbow reminds ,him of ,his covenant by its calm light4 ,jesus ,christ reminds ,him of ,his grace by ,his intercession before the throne4 ,we remind ,him of ,his plighted faithfulness by our prayers4 ',ye that are the ,lord's remembrancers1 keep not silence4' ,,an ,,example ,,of ,,faith ',now the ,lord had said unto ,abram1 ,get thee out of thy country1 and from thy kindred1 and from thy father's house1 unto a land that ,i will shew thee3 ,and ,i will make of thee a great nation1 and ,i will bless thee1 and make thy name great2 and thou shalt be a blessing3 ,and ,i will bless them that bless thee1 and curse him that curseth thee3 and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed4 ,so ,abram departed1 as the ,lord had spoken unto him2 and ,lot went with him3 and ,abram was seventy and five years old when he departed out of ,haran4 ,and ,abram took ,sarai his wife1 and ,lot his brother's son1 and all their substance that they had gathered1 and the souls that they had gotten in ,haran2 and they went forth to go into the land of ,canaan2 and into the land of ,canaan they came4 ,and ,abram passed through the land unto the place of ,sichem1 unto the plain of ,moreh4 ,and the ,canaanite was then in the land4 ,and the ,lord appeared unto ,abram1 and said1 ,unto thy seed will ,i give this land3 and there builded he an altar unto the ,lord1 who appeared unto him4 ,and he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of ,beth-el1 and pitched his tent1 having ,beth-el on the west1 and ,hai on the east3 and there he builded an altar unto the ,lord1 and called upon the name of the ,lord4 ,and ,abram journeyed1 going on still toward the south4' ,,genesis xii4 #a-i4 ,i ,we stand here at the well-head of a great river--a narrow channel1 across which a child can step1 but which is to open out a broad bosom that will reflect the sky and refresh continents4 ,the call of ,abram is the most important event in the ,old ,testament1 but it is also an eminent example of individual faith4 ,for both reasons he is called 'the ,father of the ,faithful4' ,we look at the incident here mainly from the latter point of view4 ,it falls into three parts4 #a4 ,the divine voice of command and promise4--,god's servants have to be separated from home and kindred1 and all surroundings4 ,the command to ,abram was no mere arbitrary test of obedience4 ,god could not have done what ,he meant with him1 unless ,he had got him by himself4 ,so ,isaiah 7li4 #b7 put his finger on the essential when he says1 ',i called him alone4' ,god's communications are made to solitary souls1 and ,his voice to us always summons us to forsake friends and companions1 and to go apart with ,god4 ,no man gets speech of ,god in a crowd4 ,if you desired to fill a person with electricity1 you used to put him on a stool with glass legs1 to keep him from earthly contact4 ,if the quickening impulse from the great magnet is to charge the soul1 that soul must be isolated4 ',he that loveth father or mother more than ,me is not worthy of ,me4' ,the vagueness of the command is significant4 ,abram did not know 'whither he went4' ,he is not told that ,canaan is the land1 till he has reached ,canaan4 ,a true obedience is content to have orders enough for present duty4 ,ships are sometimes sent out with sealed instructions1 to be opened when they reach latitude and longitude so-and-so4 ,that is how we are all sent out4 ,our knowledge goes no farther ahead than is needful to guide our next step4 ,if we 'go out' as ,he bids us1 ,he will show us what to do next4 ',i do not ask to see ,the distant scene2 one step enough for me4' ,observe the promise4 ,we may notice that it needed a soul raised above the merely temporal to care much for such promises4 ,they would have been but thin diet for earthly appetites4 ',a great nation'2 a divine blessing2 to be a source of blessing to the whole world1 and a touchstone by their conduct to which men would be blessed or cursed2--what was there in these to fascinate a man1 unless he had faith to teach him the relative importance of the earthly and the heavenly1 the present and the future8 ,notice that the whole promise appeals to unselfish desires4 ,it is always1 in some measure1 elevating to live for a future1 rather than a present1 good2 but if it be only the same kind of good as the present would yield1 it is a poor affair4 ,the only really ennobling faith is one which sets before itself a future full of divine blessing1 and of diffusion of that blessing through us1 and which therefore scorns delights1 and for such gifts is content to be solitary and a wanderer4 #b4 ,the obedience of faith4--,we have here a wonderful example of prompt1 unquestioning obedience to a bare word4 ,we do not know how the divine command was conveyed to ,abram4 ,we simply read1 ',the ,lord said'2 and if we contrast this with verse #g1 ',the ,lord appeared 444 and said1' it will seem probable that there was no outward sign of the divine will4 ,the patriarch knew that he was following a divine command1 and not his own purpose2 but there seems to have been no appeal to sense to authenticate the inward voice4 ,he stands1 then1 on a high level1 setting the example of faith as unconditional acceptance of1 and obedience to1 ,god's bare word4 ,observe that faith1 which is the reliance on a person1 and therefore trust in his word1 passes into both forms of confidence in that word as promise1 and obedience to that word as command4 ,we cannot cut faith in halves1 and exercise the one aspect without the other4 ,some people's faith says that it delights in ,god's promises1 but it does not delight in ,his commandments4 ,that is no faith at all4 ,whoever takes ,god at ,his word1 will take all ,his words4 ,there is no faith without obedience2 there is no obedience without faith4 ,we have already said enough about the separation which was effected by ,abram's journey2 but we may just notice that the departure from his father's house was but the necessary result of the gulf between them and him1 which had been opened by his faith4 ,they were idolaters2 he worshipped one ,god4 ,that drove them farther apart than the distance between ,sichem and ,haran4 ,when sympathy in religion was at an end1 the breach of all other ties was best4 ,so to-day1 whether there be outward separation or no1 depends on circumstances2 but every true ,christian is parted from the dearest who is not a ,christian1 by an abyss wider than any outward distance can make4 ,the law for us is ,abram's law1 ',get thee out4' ,either our faith will separate us from the world1 or the world will separate us from our faith and our ,god4 ,the companionship of ,lot1 who attaches himself to ,abram1 teaches that religion1 in its true possessors1 exercises an attractive influence over even common natures1 and may win them to a loftier life4 ,some weak eyes may discern more glory in the sunshine tinting a poor bit of mist into ruddy light than in the beam which is too bright to look at4 ,a faithful ,abram will draw ,lot after him4 ',they went forth to go into the land of ,canaan2 and into the land of ,canaan they came4' ,compare this singular expression with chapter xi4 #ca1 where we have ,terah's emigration from ,ur described in the same terms1 with the all-important difference in the end1 ',they came' not into ,canaan1 but 'unto ,haran1 and dwelt there4' ,many begin the course2 one finishes it4 ,terah's journeying was only in search of pasture and an abode4 ,so he dropped his wider scheme when the narrower served his purpose4 ,it was an easy matter to go from ,ur to ,haran4 ,both were on the same bank of the ,euphrates4 ,but to cross the broad1 deep1 rapid river was a different thing1 and meant an irrevocable cutting loose from the past life4 ,only the man of faith did that4 ,there are plenty of half-and-half ,christians1 who go along merrily from ,ur to ,haran2 but when they see the wide stream in front1 and realise how completely the other side is separated from all that is familiar1 they take another thought1 and conclude they have come far enough1 and ,haran will serve their turn4 ,again1 the phrase teaches us the certain issue of patient pilgrimage and persistent purpose4 ,there is no mystery in getting to the journey's end4 ',one foot up1 and the other foot down1' continued long enough1 will bring to the goal of the longest march4 ,it looks a weary journey1 and we wonder if we shall ever get thither4 ,but the magic of 'one step at a time' does it4 ,the guide is also the upholder of our way4 ',every one of them appeareth before ,god in ,zion4' #c4 ,the life in the land4--,the first characteristic of it is its continual wandering4 ,this is the feature which the ,epistle to the ,hebrews marks as significant4 ,there was no reason but his own choice why ,abram should continue to journey1 and prefer to pitch his tent now under the terebinth tree of ,moreh1 now by ,hebron1 rather than to enter some of the cities of the land4 ,he dwelt in tents because he looked for the city4 ,the clear vision of the future detached him1 as it will always detach men1 from close participation in the present4 ,it is not because we are mortal1 and death is near at the furthest1 that the ,christian is to sit loose to this world1 but because he lives by the hope of the inheritance4 ,he must choose to be a pilgrim1 and keep himself apart in feeling and aims from this present4 ,the great lesson from the wandering life of ,abram is1 ',set your affection on things above4' ,cultivate the sense of belonging to another polity than that in the midst of which you dwell4 ,the ,canaanites christened ,abram ',the ,hebrew' 7,genesis xiv4 #ac71 which may be translated ',the man from the other side4' ,that is the name which all true ,christians should deserve4 ,they should bear their foreign extraction in their faces1 and never be naturalised subjects here4 ,life is wholesomer in the tent under the spreading tree1 with the fresh air blowing about us and clear sky above1 than in the ,canaanite city4 ,observe1 too1 that ,abram's life was permeated with worship4 ,wherever he pitches his tent1 he builds an altar4 ,so he fed his faith1 and kept up his communion with ,god4 ,the only condition on which the pilgrim life is possible1 and the temptations of the world cease to draw our hearts1 is that all life shall be filled with the consciousness of the divine presence1 our homes altars1 and ourselves joyful thankofferings4 ,then every abode is blessed4 ,the undefended tent is a safe fortress1 in which dwelling we need not envy those who dwell in palaces4 ,common tasks will then be fresh1 full of interest1 because we see ,god in them1 and offer them up to ,him4 ,the wandering life will be a life of walking with ,god1 and progressive knowledge of ,him2 and over all the roughnesses and the sorrows and the trivialities of it will be spread 'the light that never was on sea or land1 the consecration' of ,god's presence1 and the peacefulness of communion with ,him4 ,again1 we may notice that the life of obedience was followed by fuller manifestations of ,god1 and of ,his will4 ,god 'appeared' when ,abram was in the land4 ,is it not always true that obedience is blessed by closer vision and more knowledge8 ,to him that hath shall be given2 and he who has followed the unseen ,guide through dimly discerned paths to an invisible goal1 will be gladdened when he reaches the true ,canaan1 by the sight of ,him whom1 having not seen1 he loved4 ,even here on earth obedience is the path to fuller knowledge2 and when the pilgrims who have left all and followed the ,captain of salvation through a deeper1 darker stream than ,abram crossed1 have touched the other side1 ,god will appear to them1 and say1 as the enraptured eye gazes amazed on the goodly land1 ',arise1 walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it2 for ,i will give it unto thee4' ,,abram ,,and ,,the ,,life ,,of ,,faith ,,ii ,a great act of renunciation at the divine call lies at the foundation of ,israel's history1 as it does at the foundation of every life that blesses the world or is worth living4 ,the divine ,word to ,abram first gives the command in all its authoritativeness and plain setting forth of how much had to be surrendered1 and then in its exuberant setting forth of how much was to be won by obedience4 ,god does not hide the sacrifices that have to be made if we will be true to ,his command4 ,he will enlist no recruits on false pretences4 ,all ties of country1 kindred1 and father's house have to be loosened1 and1 if need be1 to be cut1 for ,his command is to be supreme1 and clinging hands that would hold back the pilgrim have to be disengaged4 ,if a man realises ,god's hold on him1 he feels all others relaxed4 ,the magnetism of the divine command overcomes gravitation1 and lifts him high above earth4 ,the life of faith ever begins as that of 'the ,father of the ,faithful' began1 with the solemn recognition of a divine will which separates4 ,further1 ,abram saw plainly what he had to leave1 but not what he was to win4 ,he had to make a venture of faith1 for 'the land that ,i will shew thee' was undefined4 ,certainly it was somewhere1 but where was it8 ,he had to fling away substance for what seemed shadow to all but the eye of faith1 as we all have to do4 ,the familiar1 undeniable good of the present has to be waived in favour of what 'common sense' calls a misty possibility in the future4 ,to part with solid acres and get nothing but hopes of an inheritance in the skies looks like insanity1 and is the only true wisdom4 ',get thee out' is plain2 'the land that ,i will shew thee' looks like the doubtful outlines seen from afar at sea1 which may be but clouds4 ,but ,abram had a great hope blazing in front1 none the less bright or guiding because it all rested on the bare promise of ,god4 ,it is the prerogative of faith to give solidity and reality to what the world thinks has neither4 ,the wanderer who had left his country was to receive a land for his own2 the solitary who had left his kindred was to become the founder of a nation2 the unknown stranger was to win a great name1--and how wonderfully that has come true6 ,not only was he to be blessed1 but also to be a blessing1 for from him was to flow that which should bless all the earth1--and how transcendently that has come true6 ,the attitude of men to him 7and to the universal blessing that should descend from him7 was to determine their position in reference to ,god and 'blessings' or 'cursings' from him4 ,so the migration of ,abram was a turning-point in universal history4 ,obedience followed the command1 immediate as the thunder on the flash1 and complete4 ',so ,abram went1 as the ,lord had spoken unto him1'--blessed they of whose lives that may be the summing-up6 ,happy the life which has ,god's command at the back of every deed1 and no command of ,his unobeyed6 ,if our acts are closely parallel with ,god's speech to us1 they will prosper1 and we shall be peaceful wherever we may have to wander4 ,success followed obedience in ,abram's case1 as in deepest truth it always does4 ,that is a pregnant expression3 ',they went forth to go into the land of ,canaan2 and into the land of ,canaan they came4' ,a strange itinerary of a journey1 which omits all but the start and the finish6 ,and yet are these not the most important points in any journey or life1--whither it was directed and where it arrived8 ,how little will the weary tramps in the desert be remembered when the goal has been reached6 ,dangers and privations soon pass from memory1 and we shall think little of sorrows1 cares1 and pains1 when we arrive at home4 ,the life of faith is the only one which is always sure of getting to the place to which it seeks to journey4 ,others miss their aim1 or drop dead on the road1 like the early emigrants out ,west2 ,christian lives get to the city4 ,once in the land1 ,abram was still a stranger and pilgrim4 ,he first planted himself in its heart by ,sichem1 but outside the city1 under the terebinth tree of ,moreh4 ,the reason for his position is given in the significant statement that 'the ,canaanite was then in the land4' ,so he had to live in the midst of an alien civilisation1 and yet keep apart from it4 ,as ,hebrews says1 he was 'dwelling in tabernacles1' because he 'looked for a city4' ,the hope of the permanent future made him keep clear of the passing present2 and we are to feel ourselves pilgrims and sojourners1 not so much because earth is fleeting and we are mortal1 as because our true affinities are with the unseen and eternal4 ,but the presence of 'the ,canaanite' is connected also with the following words1 which tell that 'the ,lord appeared unto ,abram1' and now after his obedience told him that this was the land that was to be his4 ,he unfolds ,his purposes to those who keep ,his commandments2 obedience is the mother of insight4 ,the revelation put a further strain on faith1 for the present occupiers of the land were many and strong2 but it matters not how formidably and firmly rooted the ,canaanite is1 ,god's children can be sure that the promise will be fulfilled4 ,we can calmly look on his power and reckon on its decay1 if the ,lord appears to us1 as to ,abram--and ,he surely will if we have followed ,his separating voice1 and dwell as strangers here1 because our hearts are with ,him4 ,after the appearance of ,god and the promise1 we have an outline of the pilgrim's life1 as seen in ,abram4 ,he signalised ,god's further opening of ,his purposes1 by building an altar on the place where ,he had been seen by him4 ,thankful recognition and commemoration of the times in our lives when ,he has most plainly drawn near and shown us glimpses of ,his will1 are no less blessed than due1 and they who thus rear altars to ,him will wonder1 when they come to count up how many they have had to build4 ,but the life of faith is ever a pilgrim life1 and ,bethel has soon to be the home instead of ,shechem4 ,there1 too1 ,abram keeps outside the city1 and pitches his tent4 ,there1 too1 the altar rises by the side of the tent4 ,the transitory provision for housing the pilgrim contrasts with the solid structure for offering sacrifices4 ,the tent is 'pitched1' and may be struck and carried away to-morrow1 but the altar is 'builded4' ,that part of our lives which is concerned with the material and corporeal is1 after all1 short in duration and small in importance2 that which has to do with ,god1 ,his revelations1 and ,his worship and service1 lasts4 ,what is left in ancient historic lands1 like ,egypt or ,greece1 is the temples of the gods1 while the huts of the people have perished long centuries ago4 ,what we build for ,god lasts2 what we pitch for ourselves is transient as we are4 ,,going ,,forth ',they went forth to go into the land of ,canaan1 and into the land of ,canaan they came4'--,,genesis xii4 #e4 ,i ,the reference of these words is to ,abram's act of faith in leaving ,haran and setting out on his pilgrimage4 ,it is a strange narrative of a journey1 which omits the journey altogether1 with its weary marches1 privations1 and perils1 and notes but its beginning and its end4 ,are not these the main points in every life1 its direction and its attainment8 ,there are-- ',two points in the adventure of the diver1 ,one--when1 a beggar1 he prepares to plunge1 ,one--when1 a prince1 he rises with his pearl4' ,abram and his company had a clear aim4 ,but does not the ,epistle to the ,hebrews magnify him precisely because he 'went out1 not knowing whither he went'8 ,both statements are true1 for ,abram had the same combination of knowledge and ignorance as we all have4 ,he knew that he was to go to a land that he should afterwards inherit1 and he knew that1 in the first place1 ,canaan was to be his 'objective point1' but he did not know1 till long after he had crossed the ,euphrates and pitched his tent by ,bethel1 that it was the land4 ,the ultimate goal was clear1 and the first step towards it was plain1 but how that first step was related to the goal was not plain1 and all the steps between were unknown4 ,he went forth with sealed orders1 to go to a certain place1 where he would have further instructions4 ,he knew that he was to go to ,canaan1 and beyond that point all was dark1 except for the sparkle of the great hope that gleamed on the horizon in front1 as a sunlit summit rises above a sea of mist between it and the traveller4 ,like such a traveller1 ,abram could not accurately tell how far off the shining peak was1 nor where1 in the intervening gorges full of mist1 the path lay2 but he plunged into the darkness with a good heart1 because he had caught a glimpse of his journey's end4 ,so with us4 ,we may have clear before us the ultimate aim and goal of our lives1 and also the step which we have to take now1 in pressing towards it1 while between these two there stretches a valley full of mist1 the breadth of which may be measured by years or by hours1 for all that we know1 and the rough places and green pastures of which are equally hidden from us4 ,we have to be sure that the mountain peak far ahead1 with the sunshine bathing it1 is not delusive cloud but solid reality1 and we have to make sure that ,god has bid us step out on the yard of path which we can see1 and1 having secured these two certainties1 we are to cast ourselves into the obscurity before us1 and to bear in our hearts the vision of the end1 to cheer us amid the difficulties of the road4 ,life is strenuous1 fruitful1 and noble1 in the measure in which its ultimate aim is kept clearly visible throughout it all4 ,nearer aims1 prescribed by physical necessities1 tastes1 circumstances1 and the like1 are clear enough1 but a melancholy multitude of us have never reflected on the further question3 ',what then8' ,suppose ,i have made my fortune1 or won my wife1 or established my position1 or achieved a reputation1 behind all these successes lies the larger question4 ,these are not ends but means1 and it is fatal to treat them as being the goal of our efforts or the chief end of our being4 ,there would be fewer wrecked lives1 and fewer bitter and disappointed old men1 if there were more young ones who1 at starting1 put clearly before themselves the question3 ',what am ,i living for8 and what am ,i going to do when ,i have secured the nearer aims necessarily prescribed to me8' ,what that aim should be is not doubtful4 ,the only worthy end befitting creatures with hearts1 minds1 consciences1 and wills like ours is ,god ,himself4 ,abram's ',canaan' is usually regarded as an emblem of heaven1 and that is correct1 but the land of our inheritance is not wholly beyond the river1 for ,god is the portion of our hearts4 ,he is heaven4 ,to dwell with ,him1 to have all the current of our being running towards ,him1 to set ,him before us in the strenuous hours of effort and in the quiet moments of repose1 in the bright and in the dark days1 are the conditions of blessedness1 strength1 and peace4 ,that aim clearly apprehended and persistently pursued gives continuity to life1 such as nothing else can do4 ,how many of the things that drew us to themselves1 and were for a while the objects of desire and effort1 have sunk below the horizon6 ,the lives that are not directed to ,god as their chief end are like the voyages of old-time sailors1 who had to creep from one headland to another1 and steer for points which1 one after another1 were reached1 left behind1 and forgotten4 ,there is only one aim so great1 so far in advance that we can never reach1 and therefore can never pass and drop it4 ,life then becomes a chain1 not a heap of unrelated fragments4 ,that aim made ours1 stimulates effort to its highest point1 and therefore secures blessedness4 ,it emancipates from many bonds1 and takes the poison out of the mosquito bites of small annoyances1 and the stings of great sorrows4 ,it gleams ever before a man1 sufficiently attained to make him at rest1 sufficiently unattained to give the joy of progress4 ,the pilgrims who had but one single aim1 'to go to the land of ,canaan1' were delivered from the miseries of conflicting desires1 and with simplicity of aim came concentration of force and calm of spirit4 ,,coming ,,in ,,ii ,if life has a clear1 definite aim1 and especially if its aim is the highest1 there will be detachment from1 and abandonment of1 many lower ones4 ,nothing worth doing is done1 and nothing worth being is realised in ourselves1 except on condition of resolutely ignoring much that attracts4 ',they went forth'2 ,haran must be given up if ,canaan is to be reached4 ,artists are content to pay the price for mastery in their art1 students think it no hardship to remain ignorant of much in order to know their own subject thoroughly2 men of business feel it no sacrifice to give up culture1 leisure1 and sometimes still higher things1 such as love and purity1 to win wealth4 ,and we shall not be ,christians after ,christ's heart unless we practise similar restrictions4 ,the stream that is to flow with impetus sufficient to scour its bed clear of obstructions must not be allowed to meander in side branches1 but be banked up in one channel4 ,sometimes there must be actual surrender and outward withdrawal from lower aims which1 by our weakness1 have become rival aims2 always there must be subordination and detachment in heart and mind4 ,the compass in an iron ship is disturbed by the iron1 unless it has been adjusted2 the golden apples arrest the runner1 and there are clogs and weights in every life1 which have to be laid aside if the race is to be won4 ,the old pilgrim fashion is still the only way4 ,we must do as ,abram did3 leave ,haran and its idols behind us1 and go forth1 ready to dwell1 if need be1 in deserts1 and as sojourners even when among cities1 or we shall not reach the 'land that is very far off4' ,it is near us if we forsake self and the 'things seen and temporal1' but it recedes when we turn our hearts to these4 ',into the land of ,canaan they came4' ,no man honestly and rightly seeks ,god and fails to find ,him4 ,no man has less goodness and ,christ-likeness than he truly desires and earnestly pursues4 ,nearer aims are often missed1 and it is well that they should be4 ,we should thank ,god for disappointments1 for hopes unfulfilled1 or proving still greater disappointments when fulfilled4 ,it is mercy that often makes the harvest from our sowing a scanty one1 for so we are being taught to turn from the quest in which searching has no assurance of finding1 to that in which to seek is to find4 ',i have never said to any of the seed of ,jacob1 ,seek ye me in vain4' ,we may not reach other lands which seem to us to be lands of promise1 or when we do1 may find that the land is 'evil and naughty1' but this land we shall reach1 if we desire it1 and if1 desiring it1 we go forth from this vain world4 ,the ,christian life is the only one which has no failures1 no balked efforts1 no frustrated aims1 no brave settings out and defeated returnings4 ,the literal meaning of one of the ,old ,testament words for sin is missing the mark1 and that embodies the truth that no man wins what he seeks who seeks satisfaction elsewhere than in ,god4 ,like the rivers in ,asiatic deserts1 which are lost in the sand and never reach the sea1 all lives which flow towards anything but ,god are dissipated and vain4 ,but the supreme realisation of an experience like ,abram's is reserved for another life4 ,no pilgrim ,zion-ward perishes in the wilderness1 or loses his way or fails to come to 'the city of habitation4' ',they go from strength to strength1 every one of them in ,zion appeareth before ,god4' ,and when they appear there1 they will think no more1 just as this narrative says nothing1 of the sandy1 salt1 waterless wildernesses1 or the wearinesses1 dangers1 and toils of the road4 ,the experience of the happy travellers1 who have found all which they sought and are at home for ever in the fatherland towards which they journeyed1 will all be summed up in this1 that 'they went forth to go into the land of ,canaan1 and into the land of ,canaan they came4' ,,the ,,man ,,of ,,faith ',and ,abram passed through the land unto the place of ,sichem1 unto the plain of ,moreh4 ,and the ,canaanite was then in the land4 ,and the ,lord appeared unto ,abram1 and said1 ,unto thy seed will ,i give this land3 and there builded he an altar unto the ,lord1 who appeared unto him4'--,,genesis xii4 #f1 #g4 ,great epoch and man4 ,steps of ,abram's training4 ,first he was simply called to go--no promise of inheritance--obeyed--came to ,canaan-found a thickly peopled land with advanced social order1 and received no divine vision till he was face to face with the ,canaanite4 #a4 ,god's bit-by-bit leading of us4 ,how slowly the divine purpose was revealed--the trial before the promise--did not know where1 nor that ,canaan was land1 but only told enough for his first march4 ,so with us--our ignorance of future is meant to have the effect of keeping us near ,god and training us to live a day at a time4 ,god's finger on the page points to a word at a time4 ,each day's route is given morning by morning in the order for the day4 #b4 ,obedience often brings us into very difficult places4 ,abram was ready to say1 no doubt1 ',this cannot be the land for me1 peopled as it is with all these ,canaanites4' ,we are ever ready to think that1 if we find obstacles1 we must have misunderstood ,god's directions1 but 'many adversaries' often indicate an 'open door4' #c4 ,the presence of enemies brings the presence of ,god4 ,this is the first time we read that ,god appeared to men4 ,as the darkness thickens1 the pillar of fire brightens4 ,but not only does ,god appear more clearly1 but our spirits are more eager and therefore able to see ,him4 ,we are mercifully left to feel the enemies before we see ,him present in ,his strength4 #d4 ,the victory for us lies in the vision of ,god and of ,his loving purpose4 ,how superb the confidence of ',unto thy seed will ,i give this land4' ,that vision is our true strength4 ,and it will make us feel as pilgrims1 which is in itself more than half the battle4 ,,life ,,in ,,canaan ',and he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of ,beth-el1 and pitched his tent1 having ,beth-el on the west1 and ,hai on the east3 and there he builded an altar unto the ,lord1 and called upon the name of the ,lord4' ,,genesis xii4 #c4 ,these are the two first acts of ,abram in the land of ,canaan4 #a4 ,all life should blend earthly and heavenly4 ,they are not to be separated4 ,religion should run through everything and take the whole of life for its field4 ,where we cannot carry it is no place for us4 ,it is a shame that heathenism should be more penetrated by its religion than ,christendom is4 #b4 ,the family should be a church4 ,domestic religion4 ,new ,testament households4 ,abram a priest4 ,the decay of family religion1 worship1 and instruction4 #c4 ,the service to ,god should be more costly than to ourselves4 ,pitching a tent cheaper than building an altar4 ,give ,god the best4 ,we build ourselves ceiled houses and the ark dwells in curtains4 ,pagans build elaborate temples1 but their houses are hovels4 ,too many ,christians do the opposite4 #d4 ,building for ,god lasts1 for selves perishes4 ,a tent is stricken1 and no trace remains but embers4 ,the stones of ,jacob's altar may be standing yet4 ,the ,parthenon of ,athens remains3 where are the hovels of the people8 ',he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4' ,permanent results of transitory deeds4 ,,the ,,importance ,,of ,a ,,choice ',and ,abram went up out of ,egypt1 he1 and his wife1 and all that he had1 and ,lot with him1 into the south4 ,and ,abram was very rich in cattle1 in silver1 and in gold4 ,and he went on his journeys from the south even to ,beth-el1 unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning1 between ,beth-el and ,hal2 ,unto the place of the altar1 which he had made there at the first3 and there ,abram called on the name of the ,lord4 ,and ,lot also1 which went with ,abram1 had flocks1 and herds1 and tents4 ,and the land was not able to bear them1 that they might dwell together3 for their substance was great1 so that they could not dwell together4 ,and there was a strife between the herdmen of ,abram's cattle and the herdmen of ,lot's cattle2 and the ,canaanite and the ,perizzite dwelled then in the land4 ,and ,abram said unto ,lot1 ,let there be no strife1 ,i pray thee1 between me and thee1 and between my herdmen and thy herdmen2 for we be brethren4 ,is not the whole land before thee8 ,separate thyself1 ,i pray thee1 from me3 if thou wilt lake the left hand1 then ,i will go to the right2 or if thou depart to the right hand1 then ,i will go to the left4 ,and ,lot lifted up his eyes1 and beheld all the plain of ,jordan1 that it was well watered every where1 before the ,lord destroyed ,sodom and ,gomorrah1 even as the garden of the ,lord1 like the land of ,egypt1 as thou comest unto ,zoar4 ,then ,lot chose him all the plain of ,jordan2 and ,lot journeyed east3 and they separated themselves the one from the other4 ,abram dwelled in the land of ,canaan1 and ,lot dwelled in the cities of the plain1 and pitched his tent toward ,sodom4 ,but the men of ,sodom were wicked and sinners before the ,lord exceedingly4'--,,genesis xiii4 #a-ac4 ,the main lesson of this section is the wisdom of seeking spiritual rather than temporal good4 ,that is illustrated on both sides4 ,prosperity attends ,abram and ,lot while they think more of obeying ,god than of flocks and herds4 ,lot makes a mistake1 as far as this world is concerned1 when he chooses his place of abode for the sake of its material advantages4 ,but the introductory verses 7vv4 #a-d7 suggest a question1 and seem to teach an important lesson4 ,was ,abram right in so soon leaving the land to which ,god had led him1 and going down to ,egypt8 ,was that not taking the bit between his teeth8 ,he had been commanded to go to ,canaan2 should he not have stopped there--famine or no famine--till the same authority commanded him to leave the land8 ,if ,god had put him there1 should he not have trusted ,god to keep him alive in famine8 ,the narrative seems to imply that his going to ,egypt was a failure of faith4 ,it gives no hint of a divine voice leading him thither4 ,we do not hear that he builded any altar beside his tent there1 as he had done in the happier days of life by trust4 ,his stay resulted in peril and in something very like lying1 for which he had to bear the disgrace of being rebuked by an idolater1 and having no word of excuse to offer4 ,the great lesson of the whole section1 and indeed of ,abram's whole life1 receives fresh illustration from the story thus understood1 which preaches loudly that trust is safety and wellbeing1 and that it is always sin and always folly to leave ,canaan1 where ,god has put us1 even if there be a famine1 and to go down into ,egypt1 even if its harvests be abundant4 ,but another lesson is also taught4 ,after the interruption of the ,egyptian journey1 ,abram had to begin all his ,canaan life over again4 ,very emphatically the narrative puts it1 that he went to 'the place where his tent had been at the beginning1' to the altar which he had made at the first4 ,yes6 that is the only place for a man who has faltered and gone aside from the course of obedience4 ,he must begin over again4 ,the backsliding ,christian has to resort anew to the place of the penitent1 and to come to ,christ1 as he did at first for pardon4 ,it is a solemn thought that years of obedience and heroisms of self-surrender1 may be so annihilated by some act of self-seeking distrust that the whole career has1 as it were1 to be begun anew from the very starting-point4 ,it is a blessed thought that1 however far and long we may have wandered1 we can always return to the place where we were at the beginning1 and there call on the name of the ,lord4 ,note how we are taught here the great truth for the ,old ,testament1 that outward prosperity follows most surely those who do not seek for it4 ,abram's wealth has increased1 and his companion1 ,lot1 has shared in the prosperity4 ,it is because he 'went with ,abram' that he 'had flocks1 and herds1 and tents4' ,of course1 the connection between despising the world and possessing it is not thus close in ,new ,testament times4 ,but even now1 one often sees that the men who will be rich fall into a pit of poverty1 and that a heart set on higher things1 which counts earthly advantages second and not first1 wins a sufficiency of these most surely4 ,foxlike cunning1 and wolf-like rapacity1 and ,devil-like selfishness1 which make up a large portion of what the world calls 'great business capacity1' do not always secure the prize4 ,but the real possession of earth and all its wealth depends to-day1 as much as ever it did in ,abram's times1 on seeking 'first the kingdom of ,god1 and ,his righteousness4' ,only when we are ,christ's are all things ours4 ,they are ours1 not by the vulgar way of what the world calls ownership1 but in proportion as we use them to the highest ends of helping us to grow in wisdom and ,christ-likeness1 in the measure in which we subordinate them to heavenly good1 in the degree in which we employ them as means of serving ,christ4 ,we can see the ,pleiades best by not looking directly at1 but somewhat away from1 them2 and just as pleasure1 if made the direct object of life1 ceases to be pleasure1 so the world's goods1 if taken for our chief aim1 cease to yield even the imperfect good which they can bestow4 ,but now we have to look at the two dim figures which the remainder of this story presents to us1 and which shine there1 in that far-off past1 types and instances of the two great classes into which men are divided1--,abram1 the man of faith2 ,lot1 the man of sense4 ,mark the conduct of the man of faith4 ,why should he1 who has ,god's promise that all the land is his1 squabble with his kinsman about pasture and wells8 ,the herdsmen naturally would come to high words and blows1 especially as the available land was diminished by the claims of the ',canaanite and ,perizzite4' ,but the direct effect of ,abram's faith was to make him feel that the matter in dispute was too small to warrant a quarrel4 ,a soul truly living in the contemplation of the future1 and filled with ,god's promises1 will never be eager to insist on its rights1 or to stand on its dignity1 and will take too accurate a measure of the worth of things temporal to get into a heat about them4 ,the clash of conflicting interests1 and the bad blood bred by them1 seem infinitely small1 when we are up on the height of communion with ,god4 ,an acre or two more or less of grass land does not look all-important1 when our vision of the city which hath foundations is clear4 ,so an elevated calm and 'sweet reasonableness' will mark the man who truly lives by faith1 and he will seek after the things that make for peace4 ,abram could fight1 as ,old ,testament morality permitted1 when occasion arose1 as ,lot found out to his advantage before long4 ,but he would not strive about such trifles4 ,may we not venture to apply his words to churches and sects8 ,they too1 if they have faith strong and dominant1 will not easily fall out with one another about intrusions on each other's territory1 especially in the presence1 as at this day1 of the common foe4 ,when the ,canaanite and the ,perizzite are in the land1 and ,unbelief in militant forms is arrayed against us1 it is more than folly1 it is sin1 for brethren to be turning their weapons against each other4 ,the common foe should make them stand shoulder to shoulder4 ,abram's faith led1 too1 to the noble generosity of his proposal4 ,the elder and superior gives the younger and inferior the right of option1 and is quite willing to take ,lot's leavings4 ,right or left--it mattered not to him2 ,god would be with him1 whichever way he went2 and the glorious ,beyond1 for which he lived1 blazed too bright before his inward sight to let him be very solicitous where he was4 ',i have learned1 in whatsoever state ,i am1 therewith to be content4' ,it does not matter much what accommodation we have on ship-board1 when the voyage is so short4 ,if our thoughts are stretching across the sea to the landing at home1 and the welcome there1 we shall not fight with our fellow-passengers about our cabins or places at the table4 ,and notice what rest comes when faith thus dwindles the worth of the momentary arrangements here4 ,the less of our energies are consumed in asserting ourselves1 and scrambling for our rights1 and cutting in before other people1 so as to get the best places for ourselves1 the more we shall have to spare for better things2 and the more we live in the future1 and leave ,god to order our ways1 the more shall our souls be wrapped in perfect peace4 ,mark the conduct of the man of sense4 ,we can fancy the two standing on the barren hills by ,bethel1 from one of which1 as travellers tell us1 there is precisely the view which ,lot saw4 ,he lifted up his greedy eyes1 and there1 at his feet1 lay that strange ,jordan valley with its almost tropical richness1 its dark lines of foliage telling of abundant water1 the palm-trees of ,jericho perhaps1 and the glittering cities4 ,up there among the hills there was little to tempt1--rocks and scanty herbage2 down below1 it was like the lost ,eden1 or the ,egypt from which they had but lately come4 ,what need for hesitation8 ,true1 the men of the plain were 'wicked and sinners before the ,lord exceedingly1' as the chapter says with grim emphasis4 ,but ,lot evidently never thought about that4 ,he knew it1 though1 and ought to have thought about it4 ,it was his sin that he was guided in his choice only by considerations of temporal advantage4 ,put his action into words1 and it says1 ',grass for my sheep is more to me than fellowship with ,god1 and a good conscience4' ,no doubt he would have had salves enough4 ',i do not need to become like them1 though ,i live among them4' ',a man must look after his own interests4' ',i can serve ,god down there as well as up here4' ,perhaps he even thought that he might be a missionary among these sinners4 ,but at bottom he did not seek first the kingdom of ,god1 but the other things4 ,we have seldom the choice put before us so dramatically and sharply2 but it is as really presented to each4 ,there is the shameless cynicism of the men who avowedly only ask the question1 ',will it pay8' ,but there are subtler forms which affect us all4 ,it is the standing temptation of ,englishmen to apply a money standard to everything1 to adopt courses of action of which the only recommendation is that they promote getting on in the world4 ,men who call themselves ,christians select schools for their children1 or professions for their boys1 or marriages for their daughters1 down in ,sodom1 because it will give them a lift in life which they would not get up in the starved pastures at ,bethel1 with nobody but ,abram and his like to associate with4 ,if the earnestness with which men pursue an end is to be taken as any measure of its importance in their eyes1 it certainly does not look much as if modern average ,christians did believe that it was of more moment to be united to ,god1 and to be growing like ,him1 than to secure a good large share of earthly possessions4 ,tried by the test of conduct1 their faith in getting on is a great deal deeper than their faith in getting up4 ,but if our religion does not make us put the world beneath our feet1 and count all things but loss that we may win ,christ1 we had better ask ourselves whether our religion is any better than ,lot's1 which was second-hand1 and was much more imitation of ,abram than obedience to ,god4 ,lot teaches us that material good may tempt and conquer1 even after it has once been overcome4 ,his early life had been heroic2 in his young enthusiasm1 he had thrown in his portion with ,abram in his great venture4 ,he had not been thinking of his flocks when he left ,haran4 ,probably1 as ,i have just said1 he was a good deal galvanised into imitation2 but still1 he had chosen the better part4 ,but now he has tired of a pilgrim's life4 ,there are men who cut down the thorns1 and in whom the seed is sown2 but thorns are tenacious of life1 and quick growing1 and so they spread over the field and choke the seed4 ,it is easier to take some one bold step than to keep true through life to its spirit4 ,youth contemns1 but too often middle-age worships1 worldly success4 ,the world tightens its grasp as we grow older1 and ,lot and ,demas teach us that it is hard to keep for a lifetime on the heights4 ,faith1 strong and ever renewed by communion1 can do it2 nothing else can4 ,lot's history teaches what comes of setting the world first1 and ,god's kingdom second4 ,for one thing1 the association with it is sure to get closer4 ,lot began with choosing the plain2 then he crept a little nearer1 and pitched his tent 'towards' ,sodom2 next time we hear of him1 he is living in the city1 and mixed up inextricably with its people4 ,the first false step leads on to connections unforeseen1 from which the man would have shrunk in horror1 if he had been told that he would make them4 ,once on the incline1 time and gravity will settle how far down we go4 ,we shall see1 in subsequent sections1 how far ,lot's own moral character suffered from his choice4 ,but we may so far anticipate the future narrative as to point out that it affords a plain instance of the great truth that the sure way to lose the world as well as our own souls1 is to make it our first object4 ,he would have been safe if he had stopped up among the hills4 ,the shadowy ,eastern kings who swooped down on the plain would never have ventured up there4 ,but when we choose the world for our portion1 we lay ourselves open to the full weight of all the blows which change and fortune can inflict1 and come voluntarily down from an impregnable fastness to the undefended open4 ,nor is this all2 but at the last1 when the fiery rain bursts on the doomed city1 ,lot has to leave all the wealth for which he has sacrificed conscience and peace1 and escapes with bare life2 he suffers loss even if he himself is 'saved as dragged through the fire4' ,the world passeth away and the lust thereof1 but he that doeth the will of ,god abideth for ever4 ,the riches which wax not old1 and need not to be left when we leave all things besides1 are surely the treasures which the calmest reason dictates should be our chief aim4 ,god is the true portion of the soul2 if we have ,him1 we have all4 ,so1 let us seek ,him first1 and1 with ,him1 all else is ours4 ,,abram ,,the ,,hebrew ',and there came one that had escaped1 and told ,abram the ,hebrew4' ,,genesis xiv4 #ac4 ,this is a singular designation of ,abram as ',the ,hebrew4' ,probably we have in its use here a trace of the customary epithet which he bore among the inhabitants of ,canaan1 and perhaps the presence of the name in this narrative may indicate the influence of some older account1 traditional or written1 which owed its authorship to some of them4 ,at all events1 this is the first appearance of the name in ,scripture4 ,as we all know1 it has become that of the nation1 but a ,jew did not call himself a ',hebrew' except in intercourse with foreigners4 ,as in many other cases1 the national name used by other nations was not that by which the people called themselves4 ,here1 obviously1 it is not a national name1 for the very good reason that there was no nation then4 ,it is a personal epithet1 or1 in plain ,english1 a nickname1 and it means1 probably1 as the ancient ,greek translation of ,genesis gives it1 neither more nor less than ',the man from the other side1' the man that had come across the water4 ,just as a mediaeval prince bore the sobriquet ,outremere-the 'man from beyond the sea'--so ,abram1 to the aboriginal1 or1 at least1 long-settled1 inhabitants of the country1 was known simply as the foreigner1 the 'man from the other side' 7of the ,jordan1 or more probably of the great river ,euphrates71 the man from across the water4 ,now that name may suggest1 with a permissible1 and1 ,i hope1 not misleading play of fancy1 just two things1 which ,i seek now to press upon our hearts and consciences4 ,the one is as to how men become ,christians1 and the other is as to how they look to other people when they are4 #a4 ,men become ,christians by a great emigration4 ',get thee out from thy father's house1 and from thy country1 and from thy kindred1' was the command to ,abram4 ,and he became the heir to ,god's promises and the father of the faithful1 because he did not hesitate a moment to make the plunge and to leave behind him all his past1 his associations1 his loves1 much of his possessions1 and1 in a very profound sense1 his old self1 and put a great impassable gulf between him and them all4 ,now ,i am not going to say anything so narrow or foolish as that the ,christian life must always begin with a conscious and sudden change2 but this ,i am quite sure of1 that in the vast majority of cases of thoroughly and out-and-out religious men1 there must be a conscious change1 whether it has been diffused through months or years1 or concentrated in one burning moment4 ,there has been a beginning2 whether it has been like the dawn1 or whether it has been like the kindling of a candle1 the beginning of the flashing of the divine light into the heart2 and the men that are most really under the influence of religious truth can1 as a rule1 looking back upon their past experience1 see that it divides itself into two halves1 separated from each other by a profound gulf--the time on the other side1 and that on this side1 of the great river4 ,we must take heed lest by insisting on any one way of entrance into the kingdom we seem to narrow ,god's mercy1 or sadden true hearts1 or make the method of approach a test of the fact of entrance4 ,god's city has more than twelve gates2 they open to all the thirty-two points of the compass1 yet there is1 in the religious experience of the truest saints1 always something analogous to this change4 ,and what ,i desire to press upon you is1 that unless you are only religious people after the popular superficial fashion of the day1 there will be something like it in your lives4 ,there will be a change in a man's deepest self1 so that he will be a 'new creature1' with new tastes1 new motives stirring to action1 new desires pressing for satisfaction1 new loves sweetly filling his heart1 new insight into the meanings and true good of life and time guiding his conduct1 new aversions withdrawing him from old delights which have become hateful now1 new hopes pluming their growing wings1 and new powers bearing him along a new road4 ,there will be a change in his relations to ,god and to ,god's will4 ,god in ,christ will have become his centre1 instead of self1 which was so before4 ,he lives in a new world1 being himself a new man4 ,our ,lord uses this very illustration when ,he says1 ',he that heareth ,my ,word1 and believeth ,him that sent ,me1 hath eternal life1 and cometh not into judgment1 but hath passed out of death into life4' ,that is a great migration1 is it not1 from the condition of a corpse to that of a living man8 ,paul1 too1 gives the same idea with a somewhat different turn of the illustration1 when he gives 'thanks to the ,father who delivered us out of the power of darkness1 and translated us into the kingdom of1'--not1 as we might expect to complete the antithesis1 'the light1' but--the 'kingdom of the ,son of ,his love1' which is the same thing as the light4 ,the illustration is probably drawn from the practice of the ancient conquering monarchs1 who1 when they subjugated a country1 were wont to lead away captive long files of its inhabitants as compulsory colonists1 and set them down in another land4 ,thus the conquering ,christ comes1 and those whom ,he conquers by ,his love1 ,he shifts by a great emigration out of the dominion of that darkness which is at once tyranny and anarchy1 and leads them into the happy kingdom of the light4 ,thus1 then1 all ,christian men become such1 because they turn their backs upon their old selves1 and crucify their affections and lusts2 and paste down the leaf1 as it were1 on which their blotted past is writ1 and turn over a new and a fairer one4 ,and my question to you1 dear brethren1 is1 ,are you men from the other side1 who were not born where you live now1 and who have passed out of the native ,chaldea into the foreign--and yet to the new self home--land of union with ,god8 #b4 ,this designation may be taken as teaching that a ,christian should be known as a foreigner1 a man from across the water4 ,everybody in ,canaan that knew ,abram at all knew him as not one of themselves4 ,the ,hebrew was the name he went by1 because his unlikeness to the others was the most conspicuous thing about him1 even to the shallowest eye4 ,abram found himself1 when he had migrated into ,canaan1 in no barbarous country1 but plunged at once into the midst of an organised and compact civilisation1 that walled its cities1 and had the comforts and conveniences and regularities of a settled order2 and in the midst of it all1 what did he do8 ,he elected to live in a tent4 ',he dwelt in tabernacles1 as the ,epistle to the ,hebrews comments upon his history1 'because he looked for a city4' ,the more his expectations were fixed upon a permanent abode1 the more transitory did he make his abode here4 ,if there had been no other city to fill his eyes1 he would have gone and lived in some of those that were in the land4 ,if there had been no other order to which he felt himself to belong1 he would have had no objection to cast in his lot with the order and the people with whom he lived on friendly terms4 ,but although he bought and sold with them1 and fought for them and by their sides1 and acquired from them land in which to bury his dead1 he was not one of them1 but said1 ',no6 ,i am not going into your city4 ,i stay in my tent under this terebinth tree2 for ,i am here as a stranger and a sojourner4' ,no doubt there were differences of language1 dress1 and a hundred other little things which helped the impression made on the men of the land by this strange visitor who lived in amity but in separation1 and they are all crystallised in the name which the popular voice gave him1 ',the man from the other side4' ,that is the impression which ,christian people ought to make in the world4 ,they should be recognised1 by even unobservant eyes who know nothing of the inner secret of their lives1 as plainly belonging to another order4 ,if we seek to keep fresh in our own minds the consciousness that we do so1 it will make itself manifest in all our bearing and actions4 ,so that exhortation to cultivate the continual sense that our true city--the mother city of our hearts and hopes--is in heaven is ever to be reiterated1 and as constantly obeyed1 as the necessary condition of a life worthy of our true affinities and of our glorious hopes4 ,nor less needful is the other exhortation--live by the laws of your own land1 not by those of the foreign country where you are for a time4 ,if you do that thoroughly1 you will not need to say1 ',i am from another country4' ,your conduct will say it for you4 ,an ,english ship is a bit of ,england1 in whatever latitude it may be1 and however far beyond the three-mile limit of the ,king's authority upon the seas it may float4 ,and so1 wherever there is a ,christian man1 there is a bit of ,god's kingdom1 and over that little speck in the midst of the ocean of the world the flag with the ,cross on it should fly1 and the laws of the ,christ should be the only laws that have currency4 ,if it could be said of us as ,haman said to his king about the ,jews1 that we were a people with laws 'diverse from those of all people1' we should be doing more than1 alas6 most of us do1 to honour ,him whom we profess to serve4 ,follow ,christ1 and people will be quick enough to say of you ',the man from the other side1' ',he does not belong to our city4' ,there is no need for ostentation1 nor for saying1 ',come and see my zeal for the ,lord1' nor for blowing trumpets before us at street corners or elsewhere4 ,the less of all that the better4 ,the more we try to do the common things done by the folk round us1 but from another motive1 the more powerful will be our witness for our ,master4 ,for instance1 when ,john ,knox was in the ,french galleys1 he was fastened to the same oar with some criminal1 perhaps a murderer4 ,the two men sat on the same bench1 did the same work1 tugged at the same heavy sweep1 were fed with the same food1 suffered the same sorrows4 ,do you think there was any doubt as to the infinite gulf between them8 ,we may be working side by side1 at the very same tasks1 and under similar circumstances1 with men that have no share in our faith1 and no sympathy with our hopes and aspirations1 and yet1 though doing the same thing1 it will not be the same thing4 ,and if we keep ,christ before us1 and follow ,his steps who has left us an example1 depend upon it people will very soon find out that we are men 'from across the water4' ,notice1 further1 how this dissimilarity and obvious aloofness from the order of things in which we dwell is still perfectly compatible with all sorts of helpful associations4 ,the context shows us that4 ,there had come a flood of invasion1 under kings with strange and barbarous names1 from the far ,east4 ,they had swept down upon the fertile valley of ,siddim1 and there had inflicted devastation4 ,amongst the captives had been ,lot1 ,abram's relative1 and all his goods had been taken4 ,one fugitive1 as it appears1 had escaped1 and the first thing he did was to go straight to 'the man from the other side1' and tell him about it1 as if sure of sympathy and help4 ,no doubt the relationship between ,abram and ,lot was the main reason why the panting survivor made his way to the hills where ,abram's tent was pitched1 but there was also confidence in his willingness to help the ,sodomites who had lost their goods4 ,so it was not to the sons of ,heth in ,mamre that the fugitive turned in his extremity1 but he 'told ,abram the ,hebrew4' ,i need not narrate over again the familiar story of how1 for once in his peaceful life1 the 'friend of ,god' girds on his sword and develops military instincts in his prompt and well-planned pursuit1 which show that if he did not try to conquer some part of the land which he knew to be his by the will of ,god1 it was not for want of ability1 but because he 'believed ,god1' and could wait4 ,we all know how he armed his slaves1 and made a swift march to the northern extremity of the land1 and then1 by a nocturnal surprise1 came down upon the marauders and scattered them like chaff1 before his onset1 and recovered ,lot and all the spoil4 ,let us learn that1 if ,christian men will live well apart from the world1 they will be able to sympathise with and help the world2 and that our religion should fit us for the prompt and heroic undertaking1 as it certainly does for the successful accomplishment1 of all deeds of brotherly kindness and sympathy1 bringing help and solace to the weak and the wearied1 liberty to the captives1 and hope to the despairing4 ,i do not believe that ,christian men have any business to draw swords now4 ,abram is in that respect the ,old ,testament type of a ,god-fearing hero1 with the actual sword in his hands4 ,the ,new ,testament type of a ,christian warrior without a sword is not one jot less1 but more1 heroic4 ,the form of sympathy1 help1 and 'public spirit' which the 'man from the other side' displayed is worse than an anachronism now in the light of ,christ's law4 ,it is a contradiction4 ,but the spirit which breathed through ,abram's conduct should be ours4 ,we are bound to 'seek the peace of the city' where we dwell as strangers and pilgrims1 avoiding no duty of sympathy and help1 but by prompt1 heroic1 self-forgetting service to all the needy1 sorrowful1 and oppressed1 building up such characters for ourselves that fugitives and desperate men shall instinctively turn to men from the other side for that help which1 they know full well1 the men of the country are too selfish or cowardly to give4 ,may ,i venture to suggest yet another and very different application of this name8 ,to the aboriginal inhabitants of heaven1 the angels that kept their first estate1 redeemed men are possessors of a unique experience2 and are the 'men from the other side4' ,they who entered on their pilgrimage through the ,red ,sea of conversion1 pass out of it through the ,jordan of death4 ,they who become ,christ's1 by the great change of yielding their hearts to ,him1 and who live here as pilgrims and sojourners1 pass dryshod through the stream into ,his presence4 ,and there they who have always dwelt in the sunny highlands of the true ,canaan1 gather round them1 and call them1 not unenvying1 perhaps1 their experience1 ',the men that have crossed4' ,the ',hebrews of the ,hebrews' in the heavens are those who have known what it is to be pilgrims and sojourners1 and to whom the promise has been fulfilled in the last hour of their journey1 ',when thou passest through the river1 ,i will be with thee4' ,they teach the angels a new song who sing1 ',thou hast led us through fire and through water1 and brought us into a wealthy place4' ,,god',s ,,covenant ,,with ,,abram ',and ,he brought him forth abroad1 and said1 ,look now toward heaven1 and tell the stars1 if thou be able to number them3 and ,he said unto him1 ,so shall thy seed be4 ,and he believed in the ,lord2 and ,he counted it to him for righteousness4 ,and ,he said unto him1 ,i am the ,lord that brought thee out of ,ur of the ,chaldees1 to give thee this land to inherit it4 ,and he said1 ,lord ,god1 whereby shall ,i know that ,i shall inherit it8 ,and ,he said unto him1 ,take me an heifer of three years old1 and a she goat of three years old1 and a ram of three years old1 and a turtledove1 and a young pigeon4 ,and he took unto him all these1 and divided them in the midst1 and laid each piece one against another3 but the birds divided he not4 ,and when the fowls came down upon the carcases1 ,abram drove them away4 ,and when the sun was going down1 a deep sleep fell upon ,abram2 and1 lo1 an horror of great darkness fell upon him4 ,and he said unto ,abram1 ,know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs1 and shall serve them2 and they shall afflict them four hundred years2 ,and also that nation1 whom they shall serve1 will ,i judge3 and afterward shall they come out with great substance4 ,and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace2 thou shalt be buried in a good old age4 ,but in the fourth generation they shall come hither again3 for the iniquity of the ,amorites is not yet full4 ,and it came to pass1 that1 when the sun went down1 and it was dark1 behold a smoking furnace1 and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces4 ,in the same day the ,lord made a covenant with ,abram1 saying1 ,unto thy seed have ,i given this land1 from the river of ,egypt unto the great river1 the river ,euphrates4'--,,genesis xv4 #e-ah4 #a4 ,abram had exposed himself to dangerous reprisals by his victory over the confederate ,eastern raiders4 ,in the reaction following the excitement of battle1 dread and despondency seem to have shadowed his soul4 ,therefore the assurance with which this chapter opens came to him4 ,it was new1 and came in a new form4 ,he is cast into a state of spiritual ecstasy1 and a mighty 'word' sounds1 audible to his inward ear4 ,the form which it takes--',i am thy shield'--suggests the thought that ,god shapes ,his revelation according to the moment's need4 ,the unwarlike ,abram might well dread the return of the marauders in force1 to avenge their defeat4 ,therefore ,god speaks to his fears and present want4 ,just as to ,jacob the angels appeared as a heavenly camp guarding his undefended tents and helpless women2 so1 here and always1 ,god is to us what we most need at the moment1 whether it be comfort1 or wisdom1 or guidance1 or strength4 ,the manna tasted to each man1 as the rabbis say1 what he most desired4 ,god's gifts take the shape of man's necessity4 ,abram had just exercised singular generosity in absolutely refusing to enrich himself from the spoil4 ,god reveals ,himself as 'his exceeding great reward4' ,he gives ,himself as recompense for all sacrifices4 ,whatever is given up at ,his bidding1 'the ,lord is able to give thee much more than this4' ,not outward things1 nor even an outward heaven1 is the guerdon of the soul2 but a larger possession of ,him who alone fills the heart1 and fills the heart alone4 ,other riches may be counted1 but this is 'exceeding great1' passing comprehension1 and ever unexhausted1 and having something over after all experience4 ,both these aspects of ,god's preciousness are true for earth2 but we need a shield only while exposed to attack4 ,in the land of peace1 ,he is only our reward4 #b4 ,mark the triumphant faith which wings to meet the divine promise4 ,the first effect of that great assurance is to deepen ,abram's consciousness of the strange contradiction to it apparently given by his childlessness4 ,it is not distrust that answers the promise with a question1 but it is eagerness to accept the assurance and ingenuous utterance of difficulties in the hope of their removal4 ,god is too wise a father not to know the difference between the tones of confidence and unbelief1 however alike they may sound2 and ,he is too patient to be angry if we cannot take in all ,his promise at once4 ,he breaks it into bits not too large for our lips1 as ,he does here4 ,the frequent reiterations of the same promises in ,abram's life are not vain4 ,they are a specimen of the unwearied repetition of our lessons1 ',here a little1 there a little1' which our teacher gives ,his slow scholars4 ,so1 once more1 ,abram gets the promise of posterity in still more glorious form4 ,before1 it was likened to the dust of the earth2 now it is as the innumerable stars shining in the clear ,eastern heaven4 ,as he gazes up into the solemn depths1 the immensity and peace of the steadfast sky seems to help him to rise above the narrow limits and changefulness of earth1 and a great trust floods his soul4 ,abram had lived by faith ever since he left ,haran2 but the historian1 usually so silent about the thoughts of his characters1 breaks through his usual manner of narrative to insert the all-important words which mark an epoch in revelation1 and are1 in some aspects1 the most significant in the ,old ,testament4 ,abram 'believed in the ,lord2 and ,he counted it to him for righteousness4' ,observe the teaching as to the nature and object of faith in that first clause4 ,the word rendered 'believed' literally means to steady oneself by leaning on something4 ,so it gives in a vivid picture more instructive than many a long treatise what faith is1 and what it does for us4 ,as a man leans his trembling hand on a staff1 so we lay our weak and changeful selves on ,god's strength2 and as the most mutable thing is steadied by being fastened to a fixed point1 so we1 though in ourselves light as thistledown1 may be steadfast as rock1 if we are bound to the rock of ages by the living band of faith4 ,the metaphor makes it plain that faith cannot be merely an intellectual act of assent1 but must include a moral act1 that of confidence4 ,belief as credence is mainly an affair of the head1 but belief as trust is an act of the will and the affections4 ,the object of faith is set in sunlight clearness by these words1--the first in which ,scripture speaks of faith4 ,abram leaned on 'the ,lord4' ,it was not the promise1 but the promiser1 that was truly the object of ,abram's trust4 ,he believed the former1 because he trusted ,him who made it4 ,many confusions in ,christian teaching would have been avoided if it had been always seen that faith grasps a person1 not a doctrine1 and that even when the person is revealed by doctrine1 it is him1 and not only it1 which faith lays hold of4 ,whether ,god speaks promises1 teachings of truth1 or commandments1 faith accepts them1 because it trusts ,him4 ,christ is revealed to us for our faith by the doctrinal statements of the ,new ,testament4 ,but we must grasp ,himself1 as so revealed1 if we are to have faith which saves the soul4 ,this same thought of the true object of faith as personal helps us to understand the substantial identity of faith in all ages and stages of revelation1 however different the substance of the creeds4 ,abram knew very little of ,god1 as compared with our knowledge4 ,but it was the same ,god whom ,abram trusted1 and whom we trust as made known in ,his ,son4 ,hence we can stretch out our hands across the ages1 and clasp his as partaker of 'like precious faith4' ,we walk in the light of the same sun1--he in its morning beams1 we in its noonday glory4 ,there has never been but one road to ,god1 and that is the road which ,abram trod1 when 'he believed in the ,lord4' #c4 ,mark the full-orbed gospel truth as to the righteousness of faith which is embedded in this record of early revelation1 ',he counted it to him for righteousness4' ,a geologist would be astonished if he came on remains in some of the primary strata which indicated the existence1 in these remote epochs1 of species supposed to be of much more recent date4 ,so here we are startled at finding the peculiarly ,new ,testament teaching away back in this dim distance4 ,no wonder that ,paul fastened on this verse1 which so remarkably breaks the flow of the narrative1 as proof that his great principle of justification by faith was really the one only law by which1 in all ages1 men had found acceptance with ,god4 ,long before law or circumcision1 faith had been counted for righteousness4 ,the whole ,mosaic system was a parenthesis2 and even in it1 whoever had been accepted had been so because of his trust1 not because of his works4 ,the whole of the subsequent divine dealings with ,israel rested on this act of faith1 and on the relation to ,god into which1 through it1 ,abram entered4 ,he was not a perfectly righteous man1 as some passages of his life show2 but he rose here to the height of loving and yearning trust in ,god1 and ,god took that trust in lieu of perfect conformity to ,his will4 ,he treated and regarded him as righteous1 as is proved by the covenant which follows4 ,the gospel takes up this principle1 gives us a fuller revelation1 presents the perfect righteousness of ,christ as capable of becoming ours by faith1 and so unveils the ground on which ,abram and the latest generations are equally 'accepted in the beloved4' ,this reckoning of righteousness to the unrighteous1 on condition of their faith1 is not because of any merit in faith4 ,it does not come about in reward of1 but by means of1 their faith1 which is nothing in itself1 but is the channel only of the blessing4 ,nor is it a mere arbitrary act of ,god's1 or an unreal imputing of what is not4 ,but faith unites with ,christ2 and 'he that is joined to the ,lord is one spirit1' so as that 'in ,him we have redemption4' ,his righteousness becomes ours4 ,faith grafts us into the living ,vine1 and we are no longer regarded in our poor sinful individual personality1 but as members of ,christ4 ,faith builds us into the rock2 but ,he is a living ,stone1 and we are living stones1 and the life of the foundation rises up through all the courses of the great temple4 ,faith unites sinful men to ,god in ,christ2 therefore it makes them partakers of the 'blessedness of the man1 444 to whom the ,lord will not impute sin1' and of the blessedness of the man to whom the ,lord reckons his faith for righteousness4 ,that same faith which thus clothes us with the white robe of ,christ's righteousness1 in lieu of our own tattered raiment1 also is the condition of our becoming righteous by the actual working out in our character of all things lovely and of good report4 ,it opens the heart to the entrance of that divine ,christ1 who is first made for us1 and then1 by daily appropriation of the law of the spirit of life1 is made in us1 'righteousness and sanctification1 and redemption4' ,may all who read these lines 'be found in ,him1' having 'that which is through the faith of ,christ1 the righteousness which is of ,god by faith6' #d4 ,consider the covenant which is the consequence of ,abram's faith1 and the proof of his acceptance4 ,it is important to observe that the whole remainder of this chapter is regarded by the writer as the result of ,abram's believing ,god4 ,the way in which verse #g and the rest are bolted on1 as it were1 to verse #f1 clearly shows this4 ,the nearer lesson from this fact is1 that all the ,old ,testament revelation from this point onward rests on the foundation of faith4 ,the further lesson1 for all times1 is that faith is ever rewarded by more intimate and loving manifestations of ,god's friendship1 and by fuller disclosure of ,his purposes4 ,the covenant is not only ,god's binding ,himself anew by solemn acts to fulfil ,his promises already made1 but it is ,his entering into far sweeter and nearer alliance with ,abram than even ,he had hitherto had4 ,that name1 'the friend of ,god1' by which he is still known over all the ,mohammedan world1 contains the very essence of the covenant4 ,in old days men were wont to conclude a bond of closest amity by cutting their flesh and interchanging the flowing blood4 ,henceforth they had1 as it were1 one life4 ,we have not here the shedding of ,abram's blood1 as in the covenant of circumcision4 ,still1 the slain animals represent the parties to the covenant1 and the notion of a resulting unity of the closest order as between ,god and ,abram is the very heart of the whole incident4 ,the particulars as to the rite by which the covenant was established are profoundly illuminative4 ,the significant division of the animals into two shows that they were regarded as representing the contracting parties1 and the passing between them symbolised the taking up of the obligations of the covenant4 ,this strange rite1 which was widely spread1 derives importance from the use of it probably made in ,hebrews ix #af1 #ag4 ,the new covenant1 bringing still closer friendship and higher blessings1 is sealed by the blood of ,christ4 ,he represents both ,god and man4 ,in ,his death1 may we not say that the manhood and the ,godhead are parted1 and we1 standing as it were between them1 encompassed by that awful sacrifice1 and enclosed in its mysterious depths1 enter into covenant with ,god1 and become ,his friends8 ,we need not to dwell upon the detailed promises1 of which the covenant was the seal4 ,they are simply the fuller expansion of those already made1 but now confirmed by more solemn guarantees4 ,the new relation of familiar friendship1 established by the covenant itself1 is the main thing4 ,it was fitting that ,god's friend should be in the secret of ,his purposes4 ',the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth1' but the friend does4 ,and so we have here the assurance that faith will pierce to the discernment of much of the mind of ,god1 which is hid from sense and the wisdom of this world4 ,if we would know1 we must believe4 ,we may be 'men of ,god's counsel1' and see deeply into the realities of the present1 and far ahead into what will then become the certainties of the future1 if only we live by faith in the secret place of the ,most ,high1 and1 like ,john1 lean so close on the ,master's bosom that we can hear ,his lowest whisper4 ,notice1 too1 the lessons of the smoking furnace and the blazing torch4 ,they are like the pillar of fire and cloud4 ,darkness and light2 a heart of fire and a wrapping of darkness1--these are not symbols of ,israel and its checkered fate1 as ,dean ,stanley thinks1 but of the divine presence3 they proclaim the double aspect of all divine manifestations1 the double element in the divine nature4 ,he can never be completely known2 ,he is never completely hid4 ,ever does the lamp flame2 ever around it the smoke wreathes4 ,in all ,his self-revelation is 'the hiding of ,his power'2 after all revelation ,he dwelleth 'in the thick darkness4' ,only the smoke is itself fire1 but not illumined to our vision4 ,the darkness is light inaccessible4 ,much that was 'smoke' to ,abram has caught fire1 and is 'light' to us4 ,but these two elements will ever remain2 and throughout eternity ,god will be unknown1 and yet well known1 pouring ,himself in ever-growing radiance on our eyes1 and yet 'the ,king invisible4' ,nor is this all the teaching of the symbol4 ,it speaks of that twofold aspect of the divine nature1 by which to hearts that love ,he is gladsome light1 and to unloving ones ,he is threatening darkness4 ,as to the ,israelites the pillar was light1 and to the ,egyptians darkness and terror2 so the same ,god is joy to some1 and dread to others4 ',what maketh heaven1 that maketh hell4' ,light itself can become the source of pain the most exquisite1 if the eye is diseased4 ,god ,himself cannot but be a torment to men who love darkness rather than light4 ,love and wrath1 life and death1 a ,god who pities and who cannot but judge1 are solemnly proclaimed by that ancient symbol1 and are plainly declared to us in the perfect revelation in ,christ ,jesus4 ,observe1 too1 the manner of the ratification of the covenant4 ,the symbol of the ,divine presence passed between the pieces4 ,no mention is made of ,abram's doing so4 ,why this one-sided covenant8 ,because ,god's gracious dealings with men are one-sided4 ,he seeks no oaths from us2 ,he does not exchange blessings for our gifts4 ,his covenant is the free result of ,his unmotived love1 and is ratified by a solemn sacrifice1 which we do not offer4 ,we have nothing to do but to take what ,he gives4 ,all ideas of barter and bargain are far from ,him4 ,our part is but to embrace ,his covenant1 which is complete and ratified whether we embrace it or not4 ,what a wonderful thought that is of a covenant-making and a covenant-keeping ,god6 ,we do not hear so much of it as our fathers did4 ,the more is the pity4 ,it means that ,god has1 as it were1 buoyed out across the boundless ocean of ,his possible modes of action a plain course1 which ,he binds ,himself to keep2 that ,he has frankly let us into the very secret of ,his doings2 that ,he has stooped to use human forms of assurance to make it easier to trust ,him2 that ,he has confirmed ,his promise by a mighty sacrifice4 ,therefore we may enter into closest friendship with ,him1 and take for our own the exultant swan-song of ,abram's royal son3 ',although my house be not so with ,god although my life be stained1 and my righteousness unfit to be offered to ,his pure eyes2 yet ,he hath made with me an everlasting covenant1 ordered in all things1 and sure3 for this is all my salvation1 and all my desire4' ,,the ,,word ,,that ,,scatters ,,fear ',fear not1 ,abram3 ,i am thy shield1 and thy exceeding great reward4' ,,genesis ,,xv4 #a4 ,i ,abram was now apparently about eighty-five years old4 ,he had been fourteen years in ,palestine1 and had1 for the only time in his life1 quite recently been driven to have recourse to arms against a formidable league of northern kings1 whom1 after a swift forced march from the extreme south to the extreme north of the land1 he had defeated4 ,he might well fear attack from their overwhelmingly superior forces4 ,so this vision1 like all ,god's words1 fits closely to moments needs1 but is also for all time and all men4 #a4 ,the call to conquer fear4 ,fear not4--7a7 ,there is abundant reason for fear in facts of life4 ,there are so many certain evils1 and so many possible evils1 that any man who is not a feather-brained fool must sometimes quail4 7b7 ,reasons for fear in our relations to divine law4 7c7 ,the only rational way of conquering fears is by showing them to be unfounded4 ,it is waste of breath to say1 ,don't be afraid1 and to do nothing to remove the occasions of fear4 ,it is childish to try to get rid of fears by shutting the eyes tight and refusing to look formidable facts in the face4 7d7 ,the revelation of ,god is the true antidote to fear4 7e7 ',fear not' is the characteristic word of divine revelation4 ,it is of frequent occurrence from ,abraham till ,john in ,patmos4 #b4 ,the ground of the call in the ,revelation of ,god as ,shield4 7a7 ,as to outward evils1 ,his protection assures us1 not of absolute exemption1 but of ,his entire control of them1 so that men and circumstances are ,his instruments1 and ,his will only is powerful4 ,chedorlaomer and all the allied kings are nothing2 'a noise1' as the prophet said of a later conqueror4 ,all the bitterness and terror is taken out of evil4 ,if any fiery dart pass through the shield1 all its poison is wiped off in passage4 ,so there remains no reason for fear1 since all things work together for good4 ,behind that shield we are safe as diver in his bell1 though seas rave and sea-monsters swim around4 7b7 ,as to inward evils1 our ,shield assures us of absolute exemption4 ',shield of faith4' ,faith is shield because it takes hold of ,god's strength4 #c4 ,the ground of the call in the ,revelation of ,god as ,reward4 ,abraham had refused all share in booty1 a large sacrifice1 and here he is promised1 ,a ,reward in ,god1 i4e4 ,he gives ,himself in recompense for all sacrifices in path of duty4 ',the ,lord is able to give thee much more than these4' ,this promise opens out to general truth that ,god ,himself is the true reward of a devout life4 ,there are many recompenses for all sacrifices for ,god1 some of them outward and material1 some of them inward and spiritual1 but the reward which surpasses all others is that by such sacrifices we attain to greater capacity for ,god1 and therefore possess more of ,him4 ,this is the only ,reward worth thinking of--,god only satisfies the soul4 ,with ,him we are rich2 without ,him poor2 'exceeding great'--'riches in glory1' transcending all measure4 ,the revelations of ,god as ,shield and ,reward are both given in reference to the present life1 but the former applies only to earth1 where 'without are fighters1 within are fears'2 while 'the latter is mainly true for heaven1 where those who have fought1 having ,god for their ,shield1 will possess ,him for their ,reward1 in a measure and manner which will make all earthly experiences seem poor4 ,here the 'heirs of ,god' get subsistence money1 which is a small instalment of their inheritance2 there they enter into possession of it all4 ,,ii ,many years have passed since ,abram was called to go forth from his father's house1 assured that ,god would make of him a great nation4 ,they had been years of growing power4 ,he has been dwelling at ,mamre1 as a prince among the people of the land1 a power4 ,there sweeps down on ,southern ,palestine the earliest of those invasions from the vast plains of the ,north which afterwards for generations were the standing dread of ,abram's descendants4 ,like the storm pillars in their own deserts1 are these wild marauders with the wild names that never appear again in the history4 ,down on the rich valleys and peaceful pasture lands they swoop for booty1 not for conquest4 ,like some sea-bird1 they snatch their prey and away4 ,they carry with them among the long train of captives ,abram's ungenerous brother-in-law1 ,lot4 ,then the friend of ,god1 the father of the faithful1 musters his men1 like an ,arab sheikh as he was1 and swiftly follows the track of the marauders over the hills of ,samaria1 and across the plain of ,jezreel4 ,the night falls1 and down he swoops upon them and scatters them4 ,coming back he had interviews with the ,king of ,sodom1 when he refuses to take any of the spoil1 and with ,melchizedek4 ,abram is back at ,mamre4 ,how natural that fear and depression should seize him3 the reaction from high excitement2 the dread that from the swarming ,east vengeance would come for his success in that night surprise2 the thought that if it did1 he was a wandering stranger in a strange land and could not count on allies4 ,then there would come1 perhaps1 the remembrance of how long ,god had delayed the very beginnings of the fulfilment1 ',seeing ,i go childless4' ,to this mood of mind the divine vision is addressed4 ',fear not--,i am thy shield' whatever force comes against thee1 'and thine exceeding great reward1'--perhaps in reference to his refusal to take anything from the spoil4 ,but ,god says this to us all4 ,in these antique words the very loftiest and purest principles of spiritual religion are set forth4 ,he that loves and trusts ,god possesses ,god4 ,he that possesses ,god has enough for earth4 ,he that possesses ,god has enough for heaven4 #a4 ,it is possible for a man to have ,god for his4 ',i am thy ,reward1'--not merely ,rewarder1 but ,reward4 ,how can one spiritual ,being belong to another8--plainly1 ,by mutual love4 ,the ,gospel assures us of ,god's love1 and makes it possible for ours to be fixed on ,him4 ,faith gives us ,god for ours4 ,the highest view of the blessings of the ,gospel is that ,god ,himself becomes our reward4 ,how sad the insanity of men appears1 in the ordinary aims of their life1 its rewards and its objects of desire6 ,how they chase after variety6 ,how much loftier and truer a conception of the blessing of religion this is than notions of mere escape and the like6 #b4 ,the possession of ,god is enough for earth4 ,god the all-sufficient object for our spirits1 ,his love1 the communication of ,himself1 the sense of ,his presence1 the depths of ,his infinite character1 of ,his wondrous ways1 of ,his revealed ,truth as an object for thought3 of ,his authoritative will as imperative for will and conscience3 aspiration towards ,him4 ,god the ,eternal ,object4 ,to find ,him in everything1 and everything in ,him1 is to be at rest4 ,this is what ,he promises-- ,not a life of outward success and ease--much nobler than if ,he did4 ,take ,abram's as a type4 ,in war ,he will be our ,defence4 ,in absence of other joys ,he will be ,enough4 ,sphered and included in ,him is all sweetness4 ,he sustains all relations1 and does for us what these other joys and goods partially do4 ,the possession of ,his love should put away all fear1 since having ,him we are not at the mercy of externals4 ,what1 then1 is ,life as men ordinarily make it8--what a blunder6 #c4 ,to possess ,god is enough for heaven4 ,such a relationship is the great proof of immortality4 ,christ and ,sadducees4 ,the true glory of heaven is in fuller possession of ,god3 no doubt other things1 but these subsidiary4 ,the ,reward is ,god4 ,the idea of recompense ample and full for all sorrow4 ,more than adequate wages for all work4 ,that final reward will show how wise the wanderer was1 who left his father's house and 'looked for a city4' ,god is not ashamed to be called their ,god4 ,christ comes to us--offers ,himself4 ,think of how rich with ,him1 and oh1 think of how poor without ,him6 ,which will you have on earth8 ,which will you have in another world8 ,,faith ,,and ,,righteousness ',and he believed in the ,lord2 and ,he counted it to him for righteousness4' ,,genesis ,,xv4 #f4 ,it is remarkable to find this anticipation of ,new ,testament teaching so far back4 ,it is like finding one full-blown flower in a garden where all else is but swelling into bud4 ,no wonder that ,paul fastened on it to prove that justification by faith was older than ,moses1 than law or circumcision1 that his teaching was the real original1 and that faith lay at the foundation of the ,old ,testament religion4 #a4 ,the ,nature of ,faith4--,the metaphor in the ,hebrew word is that of a man leaning all his weight on some strong stay4 ,surely that metaphor says more than many definitions4 ,it teaches that the essence of faith is absolute reliance1 and that unites us with ,him on whom we rely4 ,its result will be steadfastness4 ,we are weak1 mobile1 apt to be driven hither and thither1 but light things lashed to fixed things become fixed4 ,so 'reeds shaken with wind' are changed into iron pillars4 #b4 ,the ,object of ,faith4--',lord4' ,it is a ,person1 not the promise but the ,promiser4 ,of course1 reliance on the ,person results in acceptance of ,his word1 and here it is ,god's word as to the future4 ,our faith has to do with the future1 but also with the past4 ,its object is ,christ1 the historic ,christ1 the living ,christ1 the ,christ who will come again4 ,how clear the nature of faith becomes when its object is clear6 ,it cannot be mere assent1 but trust4 ,how clear becomes its identity in all ages6 ,the creeds may be different in completeness1 but the object of faith is the same1 and the emotion is the same4 #c4 ,the effect of ,faith4--,righteous is conformity to the will of ,god4 ,abram was not righteous1 but he yielded himself to ,god and trusted ,him1 and ,god accepted that as the equivalent of righteousness4 ,the acceptance was shown by the ,covenant1 and by the fulfilment of the promises4 ,so here is the great truth that faith is accepted for righteous4 ,it is rightly regarded and treated as righteous1 by the estimate of ,god1 who estimates things as they really are4 ,it is righteousness1 for-- 7a7 ,faith is itself a supreme act of righteousness1 as being accordant with ,god's supreme desire for man4 7b7 ,faith unites with ,christ the righteous4 7c7 ,faith will blossom out into all righteousness4 ,,waiting ,,faith ,,rewarded ,,and ,,strengthened ,,by ,,new ,,revelations ',and when ,abram was ninety years old and nine1 the ,lord appeared to ,abram1 and said unto him1 ,i am the ,almighty ,god2 walk before ,me1 and be thou perfect4 ,and ,i will make ,my covenant between ,me and thee1 and will multiply thee exceedingly4 ,and ,abram fell on his face3 and ,god talked with him1 saying1 ,as for ,me1 behold1 ,my covenant is with thee1 and thou shalt be a father of many nations4 ,neither shall thy name any more be called ,abram1 but thy name shall be ,abraham2 for a father of many nations have ,i made thee4 ,and ,i will make thee exceeding fruitful1 and ,i will make nations of thee1 and kings shall come out of thee4 ,and ,i will establish ,my covenant between ,me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant1 to be a ,god unto thee1 and to thy seed after thee4 ,and ,i will give unto thee1 and to thy seed after thee1 the land wherein thou art a stranger1 all the land of ,canaan1 for an everlasting possession2 and ,i will be their ,god4 ,and ,god said unto ,abraham1 ,thou shalt keep ,my covenant therefore1 thou1 and thy seed after thee ,in their generations4' ,,genesis xvii4 #a-i4 ,abram was seventy-five years old when he left ,haran4 ,he was ninety-nine when ,god appeared to him1 as recorded in this chapter4 ,there had been three divine communications in these twenty-five years--one at ,bethel on entering the land1 one after the hiving off of ,lot1 and one after the battle with the ,eastern kings4 ,the last-named vision had taken place before ,ishmael's birth1 and therefore more than thirteen years prior to the date of the lesson4 ,we are apt to think of ,abraham's life as being crowded with supernatural revelations4 ,we forget the foreshortening necessary in so brief a sketch of so long a career1 which brings distant points close together4 ,revelations were really but thinly sown in ,abram's life4 ,for something over thirteen years he had been left to walk by faith1 and1 no doubt1 had felt the pressure of things seen1 silently pushing the unseen out of his life4 ,especially would this be the case as ,ishmael grew up1 and his father's heart began to cling to him4 ,the promise was beginning to grow dimmer1 as years passed without the birth of the promised heir4 ,as verse #ah of this chapter shows1 ,abram's thoughts were turning to ,ishmael as a possible substitute4 ,his wavering confidence was steadied and quickened by this new revelation4 ,we1 too1 are often tempted to think that1 in the highest matters1 'a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush1' and to wish that ,god would be content with our ,ishmaels1 which satisfy us1 and would not withdraw us from possessed good1 to make us live by hope of good unseen4 ,we need to reflect on this vision when we are thus tempted4 #a4 ,note the revelation of ,god's character1 and of our consequent duty1 which preceded the repetition of the covenant4 ',i am the ,almighty ,god4' ,the aspect of the divine nature1 made prominent in each revelation of ,himself1 stands in close connection with the circumstances or mental state of the recipient4 ,so when ,god appeared to ,abram after the slaughter of the kings1 ,he revealed ,himself as 'thy ,shield' with reference to the danger of renewed attack from the formidable powers which ,he had bearded and beaten4 ,in the present case the stress is laid on ,god's omnipotence1 which points to doubts whispering in ,abram's heart1 by reason of ,god's delay in fulfilling ,his word1 and of his own advancing years and failing strength4 ,paul brings out the meaning of the revelation when he glorifies the faith which it kindled anew in ,abram1 'being fully assured that1 what ,he had promised1 ,he was able also to perform' 7,rom4 iv4 #ba74 ,whenever our 'faith has fallen asleep' and we are ready to let go our hold of ,god's ideal and settle down on the low levels of the actual1 or to be somewhat ashamed of our aspirations after what seems so slow of realisation1 or to elevate prudent calculations of probability above the daring enthusiasms of ,christian hope1 the ancient word1 that breathed itself into ,abram's hushed heart1 should speak new vigour into ours4 ',i am the ,almighty ,god--take ,my power into all thy calculations1 and reckon certainties with it for the chief factor4 ,the one impossibility is that any word of ,mine should fail4 ,the one imprudence is to doubt ,my word4' ,what follows in regard to our duty from that revelation8 ',walk before ,me1 and be thou perfect4' ,enoch walked with ,god2 that is1 his whole active life was passed in communion with ,him4 ,the idea conveyed by 'walking before ,god' is not precisely the same4 ,it is rather that of an active life1 spent in continual consciousness of being 'naked and opened before the eyes of ,him to whom we have to give account4' ,that thrilling consciousness will not paralyse nor terrify1 if we feel that we are not only 'ever in the great ,task-,master's eye1' but that ,god's omniscience is all-knowing love1 and is brought closer to our hearts and clothed in gracious tenderness in ,christ whose 'eyes were as a flame of fire1' but whose love is more ardent still1 who knows us altogether1 and pities and loves as perfectly as ,he knows4 ,what sort of life will spring from the double realisation of ,god's almightiness1 and of our being ever before ,him8 ',be thou perfect4' ,nothing short of immaculate conformity with ,his will can satisfy ,his gaze4 ,his desire for us should be our aim and desire for ourselves4 ,the standard of aspiration and effort cannot be lowered to meet weakness4 ,this is nobility of life--to aim at the unattainable1 and to be ever approximating towards our aim4 ,it is more blessed to be smitten with the longing to win the unwon than to stagnate in ignoble contentment with partial attainments4 ,better to climb1 with faces turned upwards to the inaccessible peak1 than to lie at ease in the fat valleys6 ,it is the salt of life to have our aims set fixedly towards ideal perfection1 and to say1 ',i count not myself to have apprehended3 but 444 ,i press toward the mark4' ,toward that mark is better than to any lower4 ,our moral perfection is1 as it were1 the reflection in humanity of the divine almightiness4 ,the wide landscape may be mirrored in an inch of glass4 ,infinity may be1 in some manner1 presented in miniature in finite natures4 ,our power cannot represent ,god's omnipotence1 but our moral perfection may1 especially since that omnipotence is pledged to make us perfect if we will walk before ,him4 #b4 ,note the sign of the renewed covenant4 ,compliance with these injunctions is clearly laid down as the human condition of the divine fulfilment of it4 ',be thou perfect' comes first2 ',my covenant is with thee' follows4 ,there was contingency recognised from the beginning4 ,if ,israel broke the covenant1 ,god was not unfaithful if ,he should not adhere to it4 ,but the present point is that a new confirmation is given before the terms are repeated4 ,the main purpose1 then1 of this revelation1 did not lie in that repetition1 but in the seal given to ,abram by the change of name4 ,another sign was also given1 which had a wider reference4 ,the change of name was ,god's seal to ,his part4 ,circumcision was the seal of the other party1 by which ,abram1 his family1 and afterwards the nation1 took on themselves the obligations of the compact4 ,the name bestowed is taken to mean ',father of a ,multitude4' ,it was the condensation into a word1 of the divine promise4 ,what a trial of ,abram's faith it was to bid him take a name which would sound in men's ears liker irony than promise6 ,he1 close on a hundred years old1 with but one child1 who was known not to be the heir1 to be called the father of many6 ,how often ,canaanites and his own household would smile as they used it6 ,what a piece of senile presumption it would seem to them6 ,how often ,abram himself would be tempted to think his new name a farce rather than a sign6 ,but he took it humbly from ,god1 and he wore it1 whether it brought ridicule from others or assurance in his own heart4 ,it takes some courage for any of us to call ourselves by names which rest on ,god's promise and seem to have little vindication in present facts4 ,the world is fond of laughing at 'saints1' but ,christians should familiarise themselves with the lofty designations which ,god gives ,his children1 and see in them not only a summons to life corresponding1 but a pledge and prophecy of the final possession of all which these imply4 ,god calls 'things that are not1 as though they were'2 and it is wisdom1 faith1 and humility--not presumption--which accepts the names as omens of what shall one day be4 ,the substance of the covenant is mainly identical with previous revelations4 ,the land is to belong to ,abram's seed4 ,that seed is to be very numerous4 ,but there is new emphasis placed on ,god's relation to ,abram's descendants4 ,god promises to be 'a ,god unto thee1 and to thy seed after thee1' and1 again1 ',i will be their ,god' 7verses #g1 #h74 ,that article of the old covenant is repeated in the new 7,jer4 xxxi4 #cc71 with the addition1 ',and they shall be ,my people1' which is really involved in it4 ,we do not read later more spiritual ideas into the words1 when we find in them here1 at the very beginning of ,hebrew monotheism1 an insight into the deep truth of the reciprocal possession of ,god by us1 and of us by ,god4 ,what a glimpse into the depths of that divine heart is given1 when we see that we are ,his possession1 precious to ,him above all the riches of earth and the magnificences of heaven6 ,what a lesson as to the inmost blessedness of religion1 when we learn that it takes ,god for its very own1 and is rich in possessing ,him1 whatever else may be owned or lacking6 ,to possess ,god is only possible on condition of yielding ourselves to ,him4 ,when we give ourselves up1 in heart1 mind1 and will1 to be ,his1 ,he is ours4 ,when we cease to be our own1 we get ,god for ours4 ,the self-centred man is poor2 he neither owns himself nor anything besides1 in any deep sense4 ,when we lose ourselves in ,god1 we find ourselves1 and being content to have nothing1 and not even to be our own masters or owners1 we possess ourselves more truly than ever1 and have ,god for our portion1 and in ,him 'all things are ours4' ,a ,,petulant ,,wish ',and ,abraham said unto ,god1 ,o that ,ishmael might live before ,thee6 ,,genesis xvii4 #ah4 ,these words sound very devout1 and they have often been used by ,christian parents yearning for the best interests of their children1 and sometimes of their wayward and prodigal children4 ,but consecrated as they are by that usage1 ,i am afraid that their meaning1 as they were uttered1 was nothing so devout and good as that which is often attached to them4 #a4 ,note the temper in which ,abraham speaks here4 ,the very existence of ,ishmael was a memorial of ,abraham's failure in faith and patience4 ,for he thought that the promised heir was long in coming1 and so he thought that he would help ,god4 ,for thirteen years the child had been living beside him1 winding a son's way into a father's heart1 with much in his character1 as was afterwards seen1 that would make a frank1 daring boy his old father's darling4 ,then all at once comes the divine message1 ',this is not the son of the ,covenant2 this is not the heir of the ,promise4 ,sarah shall have a child1 and from him shall come the blessings that have been foretold4' ,and what does ,abraham do8 ,fall down in thankfulness before ,god8 leap up in heart at the conviction that now at last the long-looked-for fulfilment of the oath of ,god was impending8 ,not he4 ',o that ,ishmael might live before ,thee4 ,why cannot he do8 ,why may he not be the chosen child1 the heir of the ,promise8 ,take him1 ,o ,god6' ,that is to say1 he thinks he knows better than ,god4 ,he is petulant1 he resists his blessing1 he fancies that his own plan is quite as good as the divine plan4 ,he does not want to draw away his heart from the child that it has twined round4 ,so he loses the blessing of the revelation that is being made to him2 because he does not bow his will1 and accept ,god's way instead of his own4 ,now1 do you not think that that is what we do8 ,when ,god sends us ,isaac1 do we not often say1 ',take ,ishmael2 he is my own making4 ,i have set all my hopes on him4 ,why should ,i have to wrench them all away8' ,in our individual lives we want to prescribe to ,god1 far too often1 not only the ends1 but the way in which we shall get to the ends2 and we think to ourselves1 ',that road of my own engineering that ,i have got all staked out1 that is the true way for ,god's providence to take4' ,and when ,his path does not coincide with ours1 then we are discontented1 and instead of submitting we go with our pet schemes to ,him2 and if not in so many words1 at least in spirit and temper1 we try to force our way upon ,god1 and when ,he is speaking about ,isaac insist on pressing ,ishmael on ,his notice4 ,it is often so in regard to our individual lives2 and it is so in regard to the united action of ,christian people very often4 ,a great deal of what calls itself earnest contending for 'the faith once delivered to the saints' is nothing more nor less than insisting that methods of men's devising shall be continued1 when ,god seems to be substituting for them methods of ,his own sending2 and so fighting about externals and church polity1 and determining that the world has got to be saved in my own special fashion1 and in no other1 though ,god ,himself seems to be suggesting the new thing to me4 ,that is a very frequent phenomenon in the experience of ,christian communities and churches4 ,ishmael is so very dear4 ,he is not the child of promise1 but he is the child that we have thought it advisable to help ,god with4 ,it is hard for us to part with him4 ,dear brethren1 sometimes1 too1 ,god comes to us in various providences1 and not only reduces into chaos and a heap of confusion our nicely built-up little houses1 but ,he sometimes comes to us1 and lifts us out of some lower kind of good1 which is perfectly satisfactory to us1 or all but perfectly satisfactory1 in order to give to us something nobler and higher4 ,and we resist that too2 and do not see why ,ishmael should not serve ,god's turn as he has served ours2 or think that there is no need at all for ,isaac to come into our lives4 ,god never takes away from us a lower1 unless for the purpose of bestowing upon us a higher blessing4 ,therefore not to submit is the foolishest thing that men can do4 ,but if that be anything like an account of the temper expressed by this saying1 is it not strange that murmuring against ,god takes the shape of praying8 ,ah6 there is a great deal of 'prayer' as it calls itself1 which is just moulded upon this petulant word of ,abraham's momentarily failing faith and submission4 ,how many people think that to pray means to bring their wishes to ,god1 and try to coax ,him to make them ,his wishes6 ,why1 half the shallow sceptical talk of this generation about the worthlessness of prayer goes upon that fundamental fallacy that the notion of prayer is to dictate terms to ,god2 and that unless a man gets his wishes answered he has no right to suppose that his prayers are answered4 ,but it is not so4 ,prayer is not after the type of ',o that ,ishmael might live before ,thee6' ,that is a poor kind of prayer of which the inmost spirit is resistance to a clear dictate of the divine will2 but the true prayer is1 ',o that ,i may be willing to take what ,thou art willing1 in ,thy mercy and love1 to send6' ,i believe in importunate prayer1 but ,i believe also that a great deal of what calls itself importunate prayer is nothing more than an obstinate determination not to be satisfied with what satisfies ,god4 ,if a man has been bringing his wishes--and he cannot but have such--continuously to ,god1 with regard to any outward things1 and these have not been answered1 he needs to look very carefully into his own temper and heart in order to make sure that what seems to be waiting upon ,god in importunate petition is not pestering ,him with refused desires4 ,to make a prayer out of my rebellion against ,his will is surely the greatest abuse of prayer that can be conceived4 ,and when ,abraham said1 ',o that ,ishmael might live before ,thee6' if he said it in the spirit in which ,i think he did1 he was not praying1 but he was grumbling4 #b4 ,and then notice1 still further1 how such a temper and such a prayer have the effect of hiding joy and blessing from us4 ,this was the crisis of ,abraham's whole life4 ,it was the moment at which his hundred years nearly of patient waiting were about to be rewarded4 ,the message which he had just received was the most lovely and gracious word that ever had come to him from the heavens1 although many such words had come4 ,and what does he do with it8 ,instead of falling down before ,god1 and letting his whole heart go out in jubilant gratitude1 he has nothing to say but ',i would rather that ,thou didst it in another way4 ,it is all very well to speak about sending this heir of promise4 ,i have no pleasure in that1 because it means that my ,ishmael is to be passed by and shelved4' ,so the proffered joy is turned to ashes1 and ,abraham gets no good1 for the moment1 out of ,god's greatest blessing to him2 but all the sky is darkened by mists that come up from his own heart4 ,brethren1 if you want to be miserable1 perk up your own will against ,god's4 ,if you want to be blessed1 acquiesce in all that ,he does send1 in all that ,he has sent1 and1 by anticipation1 in all that ,he will send4 ,for1 depend upon it1 the secret of finding sunbeams in everything is simply letting ,god have ,his own way1 and making your will the sounding-board and echo of ,his4 ,if ,abraham had done as he ought to have done1 that would have been the gladdest moment of his life4 ,you and ,i can make out of our deepest sorrows the occasions of pure1 though it is quiet1 gladness1 if only we have learned to say1 ',not my will1 but ,thy will be done4' ,that is the talisman that turns everything into gold1 and makes sorrow forget its nature1 and almost approximate to solemn joy4 #c4 ,my last word is this3 ,god loves us all too well to listen to such a prayer4 ,abraham's passionate cry was so much empty wind1 and was like a straw laid across the course of an express train1 in so far as its power to modify the gracious purpose of ,god already declared was concerned4 ,and would it not be a miserable thing if we could deflect the solemn1 loving march of the divine ,providence by these hot1 foolish1 purblind wishes of ours1 that see only the nearer end of things1 and have no notion of where their further end may go1 or what it may be8 ,is it not better that we should fall back upon this thought1 though1 at first sight1 it seems so to limit the power of petition1 ',we know that if we ask anything according to ,his will ,he heareth us'8 ,there is nothing that would more wreck our lives than if what some people want were to be the case--that ,god should let us have our own way1 and give us serpents because we asked for them and fancied they were eggs2 or let us break our teeth upon bestowed stones because1 like whimpering children crying for the moon1 we had asked for them under the delusion that they were bread4 ,leave all that in ,his hands2 and be sure of this1 that the true way to peace1 to rest1 to gladness1 and to wringing the last drop of possible sweetness out of gifts and losses1 disappointments and fruitions1 is to have no will but ,god's will enthroned above and in our own wills4 ,if ,abraham had acquiesced and submitted1 ,ishmael and ,isaac would have been a pair to bless his life1 as they stood together over his grave4 ,and if you and ,i will leave ,god to order all our ways1 and not try to interfere with ,his purposes by our short-sighted dictation1 'all things will work together for good to us1 because we love ,god1' and lovingly accept ,his will and ,his law4 ',,because ,,of ,,his ,,importunity' ',and the men rose up from thence1 and looked toward ,sodom3 and ,abraham went with them to bring them on the way4 ,and the ,lord said1 ,shall ,i hide from ,abraham that thing which ,i do2 ,seeing that ,abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation1 and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him6 ,for ,i know him1 that he will command his children and his household after him1 and they shall keep the way of the ,lord1 to do justice and judgment2 that the ,lord may bring upon ,abraham that which ,he hath spoken of him4 ,and the ,lord said1 ,because the cry of ,sodom and ,gomorrah is great1 and because their sin is very grievous2 ,i will go down now1 and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it1 which is come unto ,me2 and if not1 ,i will know4 ,and the men turned their faces from thence1 and went toward ,sodom3 but ,abraham stood yet before the ,lord4 ,and ,abraham drew near1 and said1 ,wilt ,thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked8 ,peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city3 wilt ,thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein8 ,that be far from ,thee to do after this manner1 to slay the righteous with the wicked3 and that the righteous should be as the wicked1 that be far from ,thee3 ,shall not the ,judge of all the earth do right8 ,and the ,lord said1 ,if ,i find in ,sodom fifty righteous within the city1 then ,i will spare all the place for their sakes4 ,and ,abraham answered and said1 ,behold now1 ,i have taken upon me to speak unto the ,lord1 which am but dust and ashes3 ,peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous3 wilt ,thou destroy all the city for lack of five8 ,and ,he said1 ,if ,i find there forty and five1 ,i will not destroy it4 ,and he spake unto ,him yet again1 and said1 ,peradventure there shall be forty found there4 ,and ,he said1 ,i will not do it for forty's sake4 ,and he said unto ,him1 ,oh let not the ,lord be angry1 and ,i will speak3 ,peradventure there shall thirty be found there4 ,and ,he said1 ,i will not do it1 if ,i find thirty there4 ,and he said1 ,behold now1 ,i have taken upon me to speak unto the ,lord3 ,peradventure there shall be twenty found there4 ,and ,he said1 ,i will not destroy it for twenty's sake4 ,and he said1 ,oh let not the ,lord be angry1 and ,i will speak yet but this once3 ,peradventure ten shall be found there4 ,and ,he said1 ,i will not destroy it for ten's sake4 ,and the ,lord went ,his way1 as soon as ,he had left communing with ,abraham3 and ,abraham returned unto his place4'--,,genesis xviii4 #af-cc4 ,i ,the first verse of this chapter says that 'the ,lord appeared' unto ,abraham1 and then proceeds to tell that 'three men stood over against him1' thus indicating that these were1 collectively1 the manifestation of ,jehovah4 ,two of the three subsequently 'went toward ,sodom1' and are called 'angels' in chapter xix4 #a4 ,one remained with ,abraham1 and is addressed by him as ',lord1' but the three are similarly addressed in verse #c4 ,the inference is that ,jehovah appeared1 not only in the one 'man' who spake with ,abraham1 but also in the two who went to ,sodom4 ,in this incident we have1 first1 ,god's communication of ,his purpose to ,abraham4 ,he was called the friend of ,god1 and friends confide in each other4 ',the secret of the ,lord is with them that fear ,him1' and it is ever true that they who live in amity and communion with ,god thereby acquire insight into ,his purposes4 ,even in regard to public or so-called 'political' events1 a man who believes in ,god and ,his moral government will often be endowed with a 'terrible sagacity1' which forecasts consequences more surely than do godless politicians4 ,in regard to one's own history1 it is still more evidently true that the one way to apprehend ,god's purposes in it is to keep in close friendship with ,him4 ,then we shall see the meaning of the else bewildering whirl of events1 and be able to say1 ',he that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is ,god4' ,but the reason assigned for intrusting ,abraham with the knowledge of ,god's purpose is to be noted4 ,it was because of his place as the medium of blessing to the nations1 and as the lawgiver to his descendants4 ,god had 'known him1'--that is1 had lovingly brought him into close relations with ,himself1 not for his own sake only1 but1 much more1 that he might be a channel of grace to ,israel and the world4 ,his 'commandment' to his descendants was to lead to their worship of ,jehovah and their upright living1 and these again to their possession of the blessings promised to ,abraham4 ,that purpose would be aided by the knowledge of the judgment on ,sodom1 its source1 and its cause1 and therefore ,abraham was admitted into the council-chamber of ,jehovah4 ,the insight given to ,god's friends is given that they may more fully benefit men by leading them into paths of righteousness1 on which alone they can be met by ,god's blessings4 ,the strongly figurative representation in verses #bj1 #ba1 according to which ,jehovah goes down to ascertain whether the facts of ,sodom's sin correspond to the report of it1 belongs to the early stage of revelation1 and need not surprise us1 but should impress on us the gradual character of the divine ,revelation1 which would have been useless unless it had been accommodated to the mental and spiritual stature of its recipients4 ,nor should it hide from us the lofty conception of ,god's long-suffering justice1 which is presented in so childlike a form4 ,he does 'not judge after 444 the hearing of ,his ears1' nor smite without full knowledge of the sin4 ,a later stage of revelation puts the same thought in language less strange to us1 when it teaches that 'the ,lord is a ,god of knowledge1 and by ,him actions are weighed1' and in ,his balances many a false estimate1 both of virtuous and vicious acts1 is corrected1 and retribution is always exactly adjusted to the deed4 ,but the main importance of the incident is in the wonderful picture of ,abraham's intercession1 which1 in like manner1 veils1 under a strangely sensuous representation1 lofty truths for all ages4 ,it is to be noted that the divine purpose expressed in ',i will go down now1 and see1' is fulfilled in the going of the two 7men or angels7 towards ,sodom2 therefore ,jehovah was in them4 ,but ,he was also in the ,one before whom ,abraham stood4 ,the first great truth enshrined in this part of the story is that the friend of ,god is compassionate even of the sinful and degraded4 ,abraham did not intercede for ,lot1 but for the sinners in ,sodom4 ,he had perilled his life in warfare for them2 he now pleads with ,god for them4 ,where had he learned this brave pity8 ,where but from the ,god with whom he lived by faith8 ,how much more surely will real communion with ,jesus lead us to look on all men1 and especially on the vicious and outcast1 with ,his eyes who saw the multitudes as sheep without a shepherd1 torn1 panting1 scattered1 and lying exhausted and defenceless6 ,indifference to the miseries and impending dangers of ,christless men is impossible for any whom ,he calls 'not servants1 but friends4' ,again1 we are taught the boldness of pleading which is permitted to the friend of ,god1 and is compatible with deepest reverence4 ,abraham is keenly conscious of his audacity1 and yet1 though he knows himself to be but dust and ashes1 that does not stifle his petitions4 ,his was the holy 'importunity' which ,jesus sent forth for our imitation4 ,the word so rendered in ,luke xi4 #h1 which is found in the ,new ,testament there only1 literally means 'shamelessness1' and is exactly the disposition which ,abraham showed here4 ,not only was he persistent1 but he increased his expectations with each partial granting of his prayer4 ,the more ,god gives1 the more does the true suppliant expect and crave2 and rightly so1 for the gift to be given is infinite1 and each degree of possession enlarges capacity so as to fit to receive more1 and widens desire4 ,what contented us to-day should not content us to-morrow4 ,again1 ,abraham is bold in appealing to a law to which ,god is bound to conform4 ',shall not the ,judge of all the earth do right8' is often quoted with an application foreign to its true meaning4 ,abraham was not preaching to men trust that the most perplexing acts of ,god would be capable of full vindication if we knew all1 but he was pleading with ,god that ,his acts should be plainly accordant with the idea of justice planted by ,him in us4 ,the phrase is often used to strengthen the struggling faith that ',all is right which seems most wrong1 ,if it be ,his sweet will4' ,but it means not ',such and such a thing must be right because ,god has done it1' but ',such and such a thing is right1 therefore ,god must do it4' ,of course1 our conceptions of right are not the absolute measure of the divine acts1 and the very fact which ,abraham thought contrary to justice is continually exemplified in ,providence1 that 'the righteous should be as the wicked' in regard to earthly calamities affecting communities4 ,so far ,abraham was wrong1 but the spirit of his remonstrance was wholly right4 ,again1 we learn the precious lesson that prayer for others is a real power1 and does bring down blessings and avert evils4 ,abraham did not here pray for ,lot1 but yet ',god remembered ,abraham1 and sent ,lot out of the midst of the overthrow'7chap4 xix4 #bi71 so that there had been unrecorded intercession for him too4 ,the unselfish desires for others1 that exhale from human hearts under the influence of the love which ,christ plants in us1 do come down in blessings on others1 as the moisture drawn up by the sun may descend in fructifying rain on far-off pastures of the wilderness4 ,we help one another when we pray for one another4 ,the last lesson taught is that 'righteous' men are indeed the 'salt of the earth' not only preserving cities and nations from further corruption1 but procuring for them further existence and probation4 ,god holds back ,his judgments so long as hope of amendment survives1 and 'will not destroy for the ten's sake4' ,,the ,,intercourse ,,of ,,god ,,and ,,his ,,friend ,,ii ,we have seen that the fruit of ,abraham's faith was ,god's entrance into close covenant relations with him2 or1 as ,james puts it1 ',it was reckoned unto him for righteousness2 and he was called the friend of ,god4' ,this incident shows us the intercourse of the divine and human friends in its familiarity1 mutual confidence1 and power4 ,it is a forecast of ,christ's own profound teachings in ,his parting words in the upper chamber1 concerning the sweet and wondrous intercourse between the believing soul and the indwelling ,god4 #a4 ,the friend of ,god catches a gleam of divine pity and tenderness4 ,abraham has no relations with the men of ,sodom4 ,their evil ways would repel him2 and he would be a stranger among them still more than among the ,canaanites1 whose iniquity was 'not yet full4' ,but though he has no special bonds with them1 he cannot but melt with tender compassion when he hears their doom4 ,communion with the very ,source of all gentle love has softened his heart1 and he yearns over the wicked and fated city4 ,where else than from his heavenly ,friend could he have learned this sympathy8 ,it wells up in this chapter like some sudden spring among solemn solitudes--the first instance of that divine charity which is the best sign that we have been with ,god1 and have learned of ,him4 ,all that the ,new ,testament teaches of love to ,god1 as necessarily issuing in love to man1 and of the true love to man as overleaping all narrow bounds of kindred1 country1 race1 and ignoring all questions of character1 and gushing forth in fullest energy towards the sinners in danger of just punishment1 is here in germ4 ,the friend of ,god must be the friend of men2 and if they be wicked1 and he sees the frightful doom which they do not see1 these make his pity the deeper4 ,abraham does not contest the justice of the doom4 ,he lives too near his friend not to know that sin must mean death4 ,the effect of friendship with ,god is not to make men wish that there were no judgments for evil-doers1 but to touch their hearts with pity1 and to stir them to intercession and to effort for their deliverance4 #b4 ,the friend of ,god has absolute trust in the rectitude of ,his acts4 ,abraham's remonstrance1 if we may call it so1 embodies some thoughts about the government of ,god in the world which should be pondered4 ,his first abrupt question1 flung out without any reverential preface1 assumes that the character of ,god requires that the fate of the righteous should be distinguished from that of the wicked4 ,the very brusqueness of the question shows that he supposed himself to be appealing to an elementary and indubitable law of ,god's dealings4 ,the teachings of the ,fall and of the ,flood had graven deep on his conscience the truth that the same loving ,friend must needs deal out rewards to the good and chastisement to the bad4 ,that was the simple faith of an early time1 when problems like those which tortured the writers of the seventy-third ,psalm1 or of ,job and ,ecclesiastes1 had not yet disturbed the childlike trust of the friend of ,god1 because no facts in his experience had forced them on him4 ,but the belief which was axiomatic to him1 and true for his supernaturally shaped life with its special miracles and visible divine guard1 is not the ultimate and irrefragable principle which he thought it4 ,in widespread calamities the righteous are blended with the wicked in one bloody ruin2 and it is the very misery of such judgments that often the sufferers are not the wrongdoers1 but that the fathers eat the sour grapes1 and the children's teeth are set on edge4 ,the whirlwind of temporal judgments makes no distinctions between the dwellings of the righteous and the wicked1 but levels them both4 ,no doubt1 the fact that the impending destruction was to be a direct ,divine interposition of a punitive kind made it more necessary that it should be confined to the actual culprits4 ,no doubt1 too1 ,abraham's zeal for the honour of ,god's government was right4 ,but his first plea belongs to the stage of revelation at which he stood1 not to that of the ,new ,testament1 which teaches that the eighteen on whom the tower in ,siloam fell were not sinners above all men in ,jerusalem4 ,abraham's confidence in ,god's justice1 not ,abraham's conceptions of what that justice required1 is to be imitated4 ,a friend of ,god will hold fast by the faith that ',his way is perfect1' and will cherish it even in the presence of facts more perplexing than any which met ,abraham's eyes4 ,another assumption in his prayer is that the righteous are sources of blessing and shields for the wicked4 ,has he there laid hold of a true principle8 ,certainly1 it is indeed the law that 'every man shall bear his own burden1' but that law is modified by the operation of this other1 of which ,god's providence is full4 ,many a drop of blessing trickles from the wet fleece to the dry ground4 ,many a stroke of judgment is carried off harmlessly by the lightning conductor4 ,where ,god's friends are inextricably mixed up with evil-doers1 it is not rare to see diffused blessings which are destined indeed primarily for the former1 but find their way to the latter4 ,christians are the 'salt of the earth' in this sense too1 that they save corrupt communities from swift destruction1 and for their sakes the angels delay their blow4 ,in the final resort1 each soul must reap its own harvest from its own deeds2 but the individualism of ,christianity is not isolation4 ,we are bound together in mysterious community1 and a good man is a fountain of far-flowing good4 ,the truest 'saviours of society' are the servants of ,god4 ,a third principle is embodied in the solemn question1 ',shall not the ,judge of all the earth do right8' ,this is not meant in its bearing here1 as we so often hear it quoted1 to silence man's questionings as to mysterious divine acts1 or to warn us from applying our measures of right and wrong to these4 ,the very opposite thought is conveyed2 namely1 the confidence that what ,god does must approve itself as just to men4 ,he is ,judge of all the earth1 and therefore bound by ,his very nature1 as by ,his relations to men1 to do nothing that cannot be pointed to as inflexibly right4 ,if ,abraham had meant1 ',what ,god does1 must needs be right1 therefore crush down all questions of how it accords with thy sense of justice1' he would have been condemning his own prayer as presumptuous1 and the thought would have been entirely out of place4 ,but the appeal to ,god to vindicate ,his own character by doing what shall be in manifest accord with ,his name1 is bold language indeed1 but not too bold1 because it is prompted by absolute confidence in ,him4 ,god's punishments must be obviously righteous to have moral effect1 or to be worthy of ,him4 ,but true as the principle is1 it needs to be guarded4 ,abraham himself is an instance that men's conceptions of right do not completely correspond to the reality4 ,his notion of 'right' was1 in some particulars1 as his life shows1 imperfect1 rudimentary1 and far beneath ,new ,testament ideas4 ,conscience needs education4 ,the best men's conceptions of what befits divine justice are relative1 progressive2 and a shifting standard is no standard4 ,it becomes us to be very cautious before we say to ,god1 ',this is the way4 ,walk ,thou in it1' or dismiss any doctrine as untrue on the ground of its contradicting our instincts of justice4 #c4 ,the friend of ,god has power with ,god4 ',shall ,i hide from ,abraham that thing which ,i do8' ,the divine ,friend recognises the obligation of confidence4 ,true friendship is frank1 and cannot bear to hide its purposes4 ,that one sentence in its bold attribution of a like feeling to ,god leads us deep into the ,divine heart1 and the sweet reality of his amity4 ,insight into ,his will ever belongs to those who live near ,him4 ,it is the beginning of the long series of disclosures of 'the secret of the ,lord' to 'them that fear ,him1' which is crowned by 'henceforth ,i call you not servants2 but 444 friends2 for all things that ,i have heard of ,my ,father ,i have made known unto you4' ,so much for the divine side of the communion4 ,on the human side1 we are here taught the great truth1 that ,god's friends are intercessors1 whose voice has a mysterious but most real power with ,god4 ,if it be true1 that1 in general terms1 the righteous are shields and sources of blessing to the unholy1 it is still more distinctly true that they have access to ,god's secret place with petitions for others as well as for themselves4 ,the desires which go up to ,god1 like the vapours exhaled to heaven1 fall in refreshing rain on spots far away from that whence they rose4 ,in these days we need to keep fast hold of our belief in the efficacy of prayer for others and for ourselves4 ,god knows ,himself and the laws of ,his government a great deal better than any one besides does2 and ,he has abundantly shown us in ,his ,word1 and by many experiences1 that breath spent in intercession is not wasted4 ,in these old times1 when worship was mainly sacrificial1 this wonderful instance of pure intercession meets us1 an anticipation of later times4 ,and from thence onwards there has never failed proof to those who will look for it1 that ,god's friends are true priests1 and help their brethren by their prayers4 ,our voices should 'rise like a fountain night and day' for men4 ,but there is a secret distrust of the power1 and a flagrantly plain neglect of the duty1 of intercession nowadays1 which need sorely the lesson that ,god 'remembered ,abraham' and delivered ,lot4 ,luther1 in his rough1 strong way1 says3 ',if ,i have a ,christian who prays to ,god for me1 ,i will be of good courage1 and be afraid of nothing4 ,if ,i have one who prays against me1 ,i had rather have the ,grand ,turk for my enemy4' ,the tone of ,abraham's intercession may teach us how familiar the intercourse with the ,heavenly ,friend may be4 ,the boldest words from a loving heart1 jealous of ,god's honour1 are not irreverent in ,his eyes4 ,this prayer is abrupt1 almost rough4 ,it sounds like remonstrance quite as much as prayer4 ,abraham appeals to ,god to take care of ,his name and honour1 as if he had said1 ,if ,thou doest this1 what will the world say of ,thee1 but that ,thou art unmerciful8 ,but the grand confidence in ,god's character1 the eager desire that it should be vindicated before the world1 the dread that the least film should veil the silvery whiteness or the golden lustre of ,his name1 the sensitiveness for ,his honour--these are the effects of communion with ,him2 and for these ,god accepts the bold prayer as truer reverence than is found in many more guarded and lowly sounding words4 ,many conventional proprieties of worship may be broken just because the worship is real4 ',the frequent sputter shows that the soul's depths boil in earnest4' ,we may learn1 too1 that the most loving familiarity never forgets the fathomless gulf between ,god and it4 ,abraham remembers that he is 'dust and ashes'2 he knows that he is venturing much in speaking to ,god4 ,his pertinacious prayers have a recurring burden of lowly recognition of his place4 ,twice he heralds them with ',i have taken upon me to speak unto the ,lord'2 twice with ',oh let not the ,lord be angry4' ,perfect love casts out fear and deepens reverence4 ,we may come with free hearts1 from which every weight of trembling and every cloud of doubt has been lifted4 ,but the less the dread1 the lower we shall bow before the ,loftiness which we love4 ,we do not pray aright until we tell ,god everything4 ,the 'boldness' which we as ,christians ought to have1 means literally a frank speaking out of all that is in our hearts4 ,such 'boldness and access with confidence' will often make short work of so-called seemly reverence1 but it will never transgress by so much as a hair's-breadth the limits of lowly1 trustful love4 ,abraham's persistency may teach us a lesson4 ,if one might so say1 he hangs on ,god's skirt like a burr4 ,each petition granted only encourages him to another4 ,six times he pleads1 and ,god waits till he has done before ,he goes away2 ,he cannot leave ,his friend till that friend has said all his say4 ,what a contrast the fiery fervour and unwearying pertinacity of ,abraham's prayers make to the stiff formalism of the intercessions one is familiar with6 ,the former are like the successive pulses of a volcano driving a hot lava stream before it2 the latter1 like the slow flow of a glacier1 cold and sluggish4 ,is any part of our public or private worship more hopelessly formal than our prayers for others8 ,this picture from the old world may well shame our languid petitions1 and stir us up to a holy boldness and persistence in prayer4 ,our ,saviour ,himself teaches that 'men ought always to pray1 and not to faint1' and ,himself recommends to us a holy importunity1 which ,he teaches us to believe is1 in mysterious fashion1 a power with ,god4 ,he gives room for such patient continuance in prayer by sometimes delaying the apparent answer1 not because ,he needs to be won over to bless1 but because it is good for us to draw near1 and to keep near1 the ,lord4 ,he is ever at the door1 ready to open1 and if sometimes1 like ,rhoda to ,peter1 ,he does not open immediately1 and we have to keep knocking1 it is that our desires may increase by delay1 and so ,he may be able to give a blessing1 which will be the greater and sweeter for the tarrying4 ,so the friendship is manifested on both sides3 on ,god's1 by disclosure of ,his purpose and compliance with ,his friend's request2 on ,abraham's1 by speech which is saved from irreverence by love1 and by prayer which is acceptable to ,god by its very importunity4 ,jesus ,christ has promised us the highest form of such friendship1 when ,he has said1 ',i have called you friends3 for all things that ,i have heard of ,my ,father ,i have made known unto you'2 and again1 ',if ye abide in ,me1 444 ye shall ask what ye will1 and it shall be done unto you4' ,,the ,,swift ,,destroyer ',and when the morning arose1 then the angels hastened ,lot1 saying1 ,arise1 take thy wife1 and thy two daughters1 which are here2 lest them be consumed in the iniquity of the city4 ,and while he lingered1 the men laid hold upon his hand1 and upon the hand of his wife1 and upon the hand of his two daughters2 the ,lord being merciful unto him3 and they brought him forth1 and set him without the city4 ,and it came to pass1 when they had brought them forth abroad1 that ,he said1 ,escape for thy life2 look not behind thee1 neither stay thou in all the plain2 escape to the mountain1 lest thou be consumed4 ,and ,lot said unto them1 ,oh1 not so1 my ,lord3 ,behold now1 ,thy servant hath found grace in ,thy sight1 and ,thou hast magnified ,thy mercy1 which ,thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life2 and ,i cannot escape to the mountain1 lest some evil take me1 and ,i die3 ,behold now1 this city is near to flee unto1 and it is a little one3 ,oh1 let me escape thither1 7is it not a little one87 and my soul shall live4 ,and ,he said unto him1 ,see1 ,i have accepted thee concerning this thing also1 that ,i will not overthrow this city1 for the which thou hast spoken4 ,haste thee1 escape thither2 for ,i cannot do any thing till thou be come thither4 ,therefore the name of the city was called ,zoar4 ,the sun was risen upon the earth when ,lot entered into ,zoar4 ,then the ,lord rained upon ,sodom and upon ,gomorrah brimstone and fire from the ,lord out of heaven2 ,and ,he overthrew those cities1 and all the plain1 and all the inhabitants of the cities1 and that which grew upon the ground4 ,but his wife looked back from behind him1 and she became a pillar of salt4'--,,genesis xix4 #ae-bf4 ,the religious significance of this solemn page of revelation is but little affected by any of the interesting questions which criticism raises concerning it1 so that ,i am free to look at the whole narrative for the purpose of deducing its perennial lessons4 ,there are four clearly marked stages in the story3 the lingering of ,lot in the doomed city1 and the friendly force which dragged him from it2 the prayer of abject fear1 and the wonderful answer2 the awful catastrophe2 and the fate of the wretched woman who looked back4 #a4 ,lot's lingering and rescue by force4 ,second thoughts are not always best4 ,when great resolves have to be made1 and when a clear divine command has to be obeyed1 the first thought is usually the nobler2 and the second1 which pulls it back1 and damps its ardour1 is usually of the earth1 earthy4 ,so was it with ,lot4 ,overnight1 in the excitement of the terrible scene enacted before his door1 ,lot had been not only resolved himself to flee1 but his voice had urged his sons-in-law to escape from the doom which he then felt to be imminent4 ,but with the cold grey light of morning his mood has changed4 ,the ties which held him in ,sodom reassert their power4 ,perhaps daylight made his fears seem less real4 ,there was no sign in the chill ,eastern twilight that this day was to be unlike the other days4 ,perhaps the angels' summons roused him from sleep1 and their 'arise' is literally meant4 ,it might have given wings to his flight4 ,urgent1 and resonant1 like the morning bugle1 it bids him be stirring lest he be swept away 'in the punishment of the city4' ,observe that the same word means 'sin' and 'punishment1'--a testimony to the profound truth that at bottom they are one1 sin being pain in the root1 pain being sin in the flower4 ,so our own word 'evil' covers all the ground1 and means both sin and sorrow4 ,but even that pealing note does not shatter his hesitation4 ,he still lingers4 ,what kept him8 ,that which had first taken him there--material advantages4 ,he had struck root in ,sodom4 ,the tent life which he had kept to at first has been long given up2 we find him sitting in the gate of the city1 the place for gossip and friendly intercourse4 ,he has either formed1 or is going to form1 marriage alliances for his daughters with men of the city who are as black as the rest4 ,perhaps his wife1 whom the story will not name1 for pity or for horror1 was a ,sodomite4 ,to escape meant to leave all this and his wealth behind4 ,if he goes out1 he goes out a pauper4 ,so his heart1 which is where his treasure is1 makes his movements slow4 ,what insanity his lingering must have seemed to the angels6 ,i wonder if we1 who cling so desperately to the world1 and who are so slow to go where ,god would have us to be for our own safety1 if thereby we shall lose anything of this world's wealth1 seem very much wiser to eyes made clear-sighted with the wisdom of heaven4 ,this poor hesitating lingerer1 too much at home in the city of destruction to get out of it even to save his life1 has plenty of brothers to-day4 ,every man who lets the world hold him by the skirts when ,christ is calling him to salvation1 and every man who is reluctant to obey any clear call to sacrifice and separation from godless men1 may see his own face in this glass1 and perhaps get a glimpse of its ugliness4 ,what a homely picture1 full of weighty truth1 the story gives us1 of the angels each taking two of the reluctant four by the hand1 and dragging them with some degree of kindly force from destruction into safety6 ,so1 in a great fire1 domestic animals and horses seem to find a strange fascination in the flames1 and have to be carried out of certain death by main force4 ,they 'set him'--or we might read1 'made him rest'--outside the city4 ,it was but a little distance1 for these 'cities' were tiny places1 and the walls were soon reached4 ,but it was far enough to change ,lot's whole feelings4 ,he passes to feeble despair and abject fear1 as we shall see4 ,that forlorn group1 homeless1 friendless1 stripped of everything1 shivering outside the gate in the cold morning air1 may teach us how wise and prudent the man is who seeks the kingdom of ,god second1 and the other things first4 #b4 ,there was a pause outside the city4 ,a new voice speaks now to ,lot4 ',they' brought him forth2 but ',he' said 'escape4' ,the same ',lord' to whom ,abraham had prayed1 has now rejoined the mysterious pair whom ,he had sent to ,sodom4 ,and ,lot's entreaty is addressed to ,him whom he calls 'my ,lord4' ,he uses singular pronouns throughout1 although the narrator says that he 'said unto them4' ,there seems to be here the same idea as is embodied in the word ',elohim'2 namely1 that the divine powers are regarded as in some sense separable1 and yet all inhering in a personal unity4 ,at all events1 we have here a distinct representation of an intercourse between ,god and man1 in which thoughts are conveyed to the human spirit direct from the divine1 and desires pass from the human to the divine4 ,the manner of the intercourse we do not know1 but the possibility of the fact can scarcely be denied by any believer in a ,god2 and1 however we may call this miraculous or abnormal1 the essence of the event can be repeated in the experience of each of us4 ,god still speaks to men1 and men may still plead with ,god4 ,unless our religion is communion1 it is nothing4 ,the divine voice reiterates the angels' urgent command in still more stringent words3 ',escape for thy life4' ,there is to be no more angel-leading1 but ,lot's feet are to be made as hinds' feet by the thought of the flaming death that is pursuing4 ,his lingering looks are sternly forbidden1 since they would delay his flight and divide his heart4 ,the direction of his flight is for the first time pointed out4 ,the fertile plain1 which had lured him down from the safe hills1 is prohibited4 ,only on the mountain-side1 probably the eastern mountains1 where the morning red was beginning to blush1 is there safety4 ,lot's answer shows a complete change of feeling4 ,he is too fully alarmed now4 ,his fright is so desperate that it has killed faith and common sense4 ,the natural conclusion from ,god's mercy1 which he acknowledges1 would have been trust and obedience4 ',therefore ,i can escape1' not 'but ,i cannot escape1' would have been the logic of faith4 ,the latter is the irrationality of fear4 ,when a man who has been cleaving to this fleeting life of earthly good wakes up to believe his danger1 he is ever apt to plunge into an abyss of terror1 in which ,god's commands seem impossible1 and ,his will to save becomes dim4 ,the world first lies to us by ',you are quite safe where you are4 ,don't be in a hurry to go4' ,then it lies1 ',you never can get away now4' ,reverse ,lot's whimpering fears1 and we get the truth4 ,are not ,god's directions how to escape1 promises that we shall escape8 ,will ,he begin to build1 and not be able to finish8 ,will the judgments of ,his hand overrun their commission1 like a bloodhound which1 in its master's absence1 may rend his friend8 ',we have all of us one human heart1' and this swift leap from unreasoning carelessness to as unreasoning dread1 this failure to draw the true conclusion from ,god's past mercy1 and this despairing recoil from the path pointed for us1 and craving for easier ways1 belongs to us4 ',a strange servant of ,god was this1' say we4 ,yes1 and we are often quite as strange4 ,how many people awakened to see their danger are so absorbed by the sight that they cannot see the cross1 or think they can never reach it6 ,god answered the cry1 whatever its fault1 and that may well make us pause in our condemnation4 ,he hears even a very imperfect petition1 and can see the tiniest germ of faith buried under thick clods of doubt and fear4 ,this stooping readiness to meet ,lot's weakness comes in wonderful contrast with the terrible revelation of judgment which follows4 ,what a conception of ,god1 which had room for this more than human patience with weakness1 and also for the flashing1 lurid glories of destructive retribution6 ,zoar is spared1 not for the unworthy reason which ,lot suggested--because its minuteness might buy impunity1 as some noxious insect too small to be worth crushing--but in accordance with the principle which was illustrated in ,abraham's intercession1 and even in ,lot's safety2 namely1 that the righteous are shields for others1 as ,paul had the lives of all that sailed with him given to him4 ,god's 'cannot' answers ,lot's 'cannot4' ,his power is limited by ,his own solemn purpose to save ,his faltering servant4 ,the latter had feared that1 before he could reach the mountain1 'the evil' would overtake him4 ,god shows him that his safety was a condition precedent to its outburst4 ,lot barred the way4 ,god could not 'let slip the dogs of' judgment1 but held them in the leash until ,lot was in ,zoar4 ,very awful is the command to make haste1 based on this impossibility1 as if ,god were weary of delay1 and more than ready to smite4 ,however we may find anthropomorphism in these early narratives1 let us not forget that1 when the world has long been groaning under some giant evil1 and the bitter seed is grown up into a waving forest of poison1 there is something in the passionless righteousness of ,god which brooks no longer delay1 but seeks to make 'a short work' on the earth4 #c4 ,so we are brought face to face with the grim story of the destruction4 ,there is a world of tragic meaning in the simple note of time given4 ',the sun was risen upon the earth when ,lot entered into ,zoar4' ,the low-lying cities of the plain would lie in shadow for some time before the sun topped the eastern hills4 ,what a dawn6 ,at that joyous hour1 just when the sunshine struck down on the smiling plain1 and lake and river gleamed like silver1 and all things woke to new hopes and fresh life1 then the sky darkened1 and the earth sank1 and horrible rain of fiery bitumen fell from the black pall1 salt mud poured in streams1 and over all hung a column of fat1 oily smoke4 ,it is not my province to discuss the physical cause of the destruction2 but ,i may refer to the suggestions of ,sir ,j4 ,w4 ,dawson1 in his ,egypt and ,syria1 and in ,the ,expositor for ,may #ahhf1 in which he shows that great beds of bituminous limestone extend below the ,jordan valley and much of the ,dead ,sea1 and that the escape of inflammable gag from these through the opening of a fissure along a great 'line of fault1' is capable of producing all the effects described4 ,the 'brimstone' of the ,authorised ,version is probably rather some form of bituminous matter which would be carried into the air by such an escape of gas1 and a thick saline mud would accompany the eruption1 encrusting anything it reached4 ,subsidence would follow the ejection of quantities of such matter2 and hence the word 'overthrew1' which seems inappropriate to a mere conflagration1 would be explained4 ,but1 however this may be1 we have to recognise a supernatural element in the starting of the train of natural causes1 as well as in the timing of the catastrophe1 and a divine purpose of retribution1 which turns the catastrophe1 however effected1 into a judgment4 ,so regarded1 the event has a double meaning4 ,in the first place1 it is a revelation of an element in the divine character and of a feature in the divine government4 ,to the men of that time1 it might be a warning4 ,to ,abraham1 and through him to his descendants1 and through them to us1 it preaches a truth very unwelcome to many in this day3 that there is in ,god that which constrains ,him to hate1 fight against1 and punish1 evil4 ,the temper of this generation turns away from such thoughts1 and1 in the name of the truth that ',god is love1' would fain obliterate the truth that ,he does and will punish4 ,but if the punitive element be suppressed1 and that in ,god which makes it necessary ignored or weakened1 the result will be a ,god who has not force enough to love1 but only weakly to indulge4 ,if ,he does not hate and punish1 ,he does not pardon4 ,for the sake of the love of ,god1 we must hold firm by the belief in the judgments of ,god4 ,the ,god who destroyed ,sodom is not merely the ,god of an earlier antiquated creed4 ',is ,he the ,god of the ,jews only8 ,is ,he not also of the ,gentiles8 ,yea1 of the ,gentiles also4' ,again1 this event is a prophecy4 ,so our ,lord has employed it2 and much of the imagery in which the last judgment is represented is directly drawn from this narrative4 ,so far from this story showing to us only the superstitions of a form of belief which we have long outgrown1 its deepest meaning lies far ahead1 and closes the history of man on the earth4 ,we know from the lips which cannot lie1 that the appalling suddenness of that destruction foreshadows the swiftness of the coming of that last 'day of the ,lord4' ,we know that in literality some of the physical features shall be reproduced2 for the fire which shall burn up the world and all its works is no figure1 nor is it proclaimed only by such non-authoritative voices as those of ,jesus and ,his apostles1 but also by the modern possessors of infallible certitude1 the men of science4 ,we know that that day shall be a day of retribution4 ,we know1 too1 that the crime of ,sodom1 foul and unnatural as it was1 is not the darkest1 but that its inhabitants 7who have to face that judgment too7 will find their doom more tolerable1 and their sins lighter1 than some who have had high places in the ,church1 than the ,pharisees and wise men who have not taken ,christ for their ,saviour4 #d4 ,the fate of the loiterer4 ,her backward look must have been more than momentary1 for the destruction of the cities did not begin till ,lot was safe in ,zoar4 ,she must have lingered far behind1 and been overtaken by the eruption of liquid saline mud1 which1 as ,sir ,j4 ,w4 ,dawson has shown1 would attend or follow the outburst of bituminous matter1 so that her fate was the natural consequence of her heart being still in ,sodom4 ,as to the 'pillar of salt' which has excited cavils on the one hand and foolish legends on the other1 probably we are to think rather of a heap than of a pillar4 ,the word does not occur in either meaning elsewhere1 but its derivation implies something raised above the level of the ground2 and a heap1 such as would be formed by a human body encrusted with salt mud1 would suit the requirements of the expression4 ,like a man who falls in a snowstorm1 or1 still more accurately1 just as some of the victims at ,pompeii stumbled in their flight1 and were buried under the ashes1 which still keep the outline of their figures1 so ,lot's wife was covered with the half-liquid slimy mud4 ,granted the delay in her flight1 the rest is perfectly simple and natural4 ,she was buried in a horrible tomb2 and1 in pity to her memory1 no name has been written upon it4 ,she remains to all generations1 in a far truer sense than superstition dreamed of when it pointed to an upright salt rock as her prison and her monument1 a warning of the danger of the backward look1 which betrays the true home of the heart1 and may leave us unsheltered in the open plain when the fiery storm bursts4 ',remember ,lot's wife4' ,when the angels awoke ,lot1 the day was breaking4 ,by the time that ,abraham had risen 'early in the morning1' and reached the place by his tent from which he had yesterday looked on the smiling plain1 all was over1 and the heavy smoke cloud wrapped the dead with its pall-like folds4 ,so swift and sudden is to be the coming of the ,son of man1--as the lightning which rushes in one fierce blinding flash from one side of heaven to the other4 ,wherefore1 ,god calls to each of us3 ',escape for thy life2 look not behind thee4' ,,faith ,,tested ,,and ,,crowned ',and it came to pass after these things1 that ,god did tempt ,abraham1 and said unto him1 ,abraham3 and he said1 ,behold1 here ,i am4 ,and ,he said1 ,take now thy son1 thine only son ,isaac1 whom thou lovest1 and get thee into the land of ,moriah2 and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which ,i will tell thee of4 ,and ,abraham rose up early in the morning1 and saddled his ass1 and took two of his young men with him1 and ,isaac his son1 and clave the wood for the burnt offering1 and rose up1 and went unto the place of which ,god had told him4 ,then on the third day ,abraham lifted up his eyes1 and saw the place afar off4 ,and ,abraham said unto his young men1 ',abide ye here with the ass2 and ,i and the lad will go yonder and worship1 and come again to you4 ,and ,abraham took the wood of the burnt offering1 and laid it upon ,isaac his son2 and he took the fire in his hand1 and a knife2 and they went both of them together4 ,and ,isaac spake unto ,abraham his father1 and said1 ,my father3 and he said1 ,here am ,i1 my son4 ,and he said1 ,behold the fire and the wood3 but where is the lamb for a burnt offering6 ,and ,abraham said1 ,my son1 ,god will provide ,himself a lamb for a burnt offering3 so they went both of them together4 ,and they came to the place which ,god had told him of2 and ,abraham built an altar there1 and laid the wood in order1 and bound ,isaac his son1 and laid him on the altar upon the wood4 ,and ,abraham stretched forth his hand1 and took the knife to slay his son4 ,and the angel of the ,lord called unto him out of heaven1 and said1 ,abraham1 ,abraham3 and he said1 ,here am ,i4 ,and ,he said1 ,lay not thine hand upon the lad1 neither do thou any thing unto him3 for now ,i know that thou fearest ,god1 seeing thou hast not withheld thy son1 thine only son from ,me4 ,and ,abraham lifted up his eyes1 and looked1 and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns3 and ,abraham went and took the ram1 and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son4 ,and ,abraham called the name of that place ,jehovah-jireh3 as it is said to this day1 ,in the mount of the ,lord it shall be seen4'--,,genesis xxii4 #a-ad4 ,i ,a life of faith and self-denial has usually its sharpest trials at or near its beginning4 ,a stormy day has generally a calm close4 ,but ,abraham's sorest discipline came all sudden1 like a bolt from blue sky4 ,near the end1 and after many years of peaceful1 uneventful life1 he had to take a yet higher degree in the school of faith4 ,sharp trial means increased possession of ,god4 ,so his last terrible experience turned to his crowning mercy4 #a4 ,the very first words of this solemn narrative raise many questions4 ,we have ,god appointing the awful trial4 ,the ,revised ,version properly replaces 'tempt' by 'prove4' ,the former word conveys the idea of appealing to the worse part of a man1 with the wish that he may yield and do the wrong4 ,the latter means an appeal to the better part of a man1 with the desire that he should stand4 ,temptation says3 ',do this pleasant thing2 do not be hindered by the fact that it is wrong4' ,trial1 or proving1 says3 ',do this right and noble thing2 do not be hindered by the fact that it is painful4' ,the one is 'a sweet1 beguiling melody1' breathing soft indulgence and relaxation over the soul2 the other is a pealing trumpet-call to high achievements4 ,god's proving does not mean that ,he stands by1 watching how ,his child will behave4 ,he helps us to sustain the trial to which ,he subjects us4 ,life is all probation2 and because it is so1 it is all the field for the divine aid4 ,the motive of ,his proving men is that they may be strengthened4 ,he puts us into ,his gymnasium to improve our physique4 ,if we stand the trial1 our faith is increased2 if we fall1 we learn self-distrust and closer clinging to ,him4 ,no objection can be raised to the representation of this passage as to ,god's proving ,abraham1 which does not equally apply to the whole structure of life as a place of probation that it may be a place of blessing4 ,but the manner of the trial here presents a difficulty4 ,how could ,god command a father to kill his son8 ,is that in accordance with ,his character8 ,well1 two considerations deserve attention4 ,first1 the final issue2 namely1 ,isaac's deliverance1 was an integral part of the divine purpose from the beginning of the trial2 so that the question really is1 ,was it accordant with the divine character to require readiness to sacrifice even a son at ,his command8 ,second1 that in ,abraham's time1 a father's right over his child's life was unquestioned1 and that therefore this command1 though it lacerated ,abraham's heart1 did not wound his conscience as it would do were it heard to-day4 ,it is impossible to conceive of a divine injunction such as this being addressed to us4 ,we have learned the inalienable sacredness of every life1 and the awful prerogative and burden of individuality4 ,god's command cannot enforce sin4 ,but it was not wrong in ,abraham's eyes for a father to slay his son2 and ,god might shape ,his message to the form of the existing morality without derogation from ,his character1 especially when the result of the message would be1 among other things1 to teach ,his abhorrence of human sacrifices1 and so to lift the existing morality to a higher level4 #b4 ,the great body of the history sets before us ,abraham standing the terrible test4 ,what unsurpassable beauty is in the simple story6 ,it is remarkable1 even among the scriptural narratives1 for the entire absence of anything but the visible facts4 ,there is not a syllable about the feelings of father or of son4 ,the silence is more pathetic than many words4 ,we look as into a magic crystal1 and see the very event before our eyes1 and our own imaginations tell us more of the world of struggle and sorrow raging under that calm outside than the highest art could do4 ,the pathos of reticence was never more perfectly illustrated4 ,observe1 too1 the minute1 prolonged details of the slow progress to the dread instant of sacrifice4 ,each step is told in precisely the same manner1 and the series of short clauses1 coupled together by an artless 'and1' are like the single strokes of a passing bell1 or the slow drops of blood heard falling from a fatal wound4 ,the homely preparations for the journey are made by ,abraham himself4 ,he makes no confidante of ,sarah2 only ,god and himself knew what that bundle of wood meant4 ,what thoughts must have torn his soul throughout these weary days6 ,how hard to keep his voice round and full while he spoke to ,isaac6 ,how much the long protracted tension of the march increased the sharpness of the test6 ,it is easier to reach the height of obedient self-sacrifice in some moment of enthusiasm1 than to keep up there through the commonplace details of slowly passing days4 ,many a faith1 which could even have slain its dearest1 would have broken down long before the last step of that sad journey was taken4 ,the elements of the trial were two3 first1 ,abraham's soul was torn asunder by the conflict of fatherly love and obedience to ,god4 ,the narrative intimates this struggle by continually insisting on the relationship between the two4 ,the command dwells with emphasis on it3 'thy son1 thine only son ,isaac1 whom thou lovest4' ,he takes with him ',isaac his son'2 lays the wood on ',isaac his son4' ,isaac 'spake unto ,abraham his father'2 ,abraham answers1 ',here am ,i1 my son'2 and again1 ',my son1 ,god will provide4' ,he bound ',isaac his son'2 he 'took the knife to slay his son'2 and lastly1 in the glad surprise at the end1 he offers the ram 'in the stead of his son4' ,thus1 at every turn1 the tender bond is forced on our notice1 that we may feel how terrible was the task laid on him--to cut it asunder with his own hand4 ,the friend of ,god must hold all other love as less than ,his1 and must be ready to yield up the dearest at ,his bidding4 ,cruel as the necessity seems to flesh and blood1 and specially poignant as his pain was1 in essence ,abraham's trial only required of him what all true religion requires of us4 ,some of us have been called by ,god's providence to give up the light of our eyes1 the joy of our homes1 to ,him4 ,some of us have had to make the choice between earthly and heavenly love4 ,all of us have to throne ,god in our hearts1 and to let not the dearest usurp ,his place4 ,in our weakness we may well shrink from such a test4 ,but let us not forget that the trial of ,abraham was not imposed by his own mistaken conceptions of duty1 nor by a sterner ,god than the ,new ,testament reveals1 but is distinctly set before every ,christian in essence1 though not in form1 by the gentle lips from which flowed the law of love more stringent and exclusive in its claims than any other3 ',he that loveth father or mother more than ,me is not worthy of ,me4' ,the conflict in ,abraham's soul had a still more painful aspect in that it seemed to rend his very religion into two4 ,faith in the promise on which he had been living all his life drew one way2 faith in the later command1 another4 ,god seemed to be against ,god1 faith against faith1 promise against command4 ,if he obeys now1 what is to become of the hopes that had shone for years before him8 ,his whole career will be rendered nugatory1 and with his own hand he will crush to powder his life's work4 ,that wonderful short dialogue which broke the stern silence of the journey seems to throw light on his mood4 ,there is nothing in literature sacred or secular1 fact or fiction1 poetry or prose1 more touching than the innocent curiosity of ,isaac's boyish question1 and the yearning self-restraint of the father's desperate and yet calm answer4 ,but its value is not only in its pathos4 ,it seems to show that1 though he knew not how1 still he held by the hope that somehow ,god would not forget ,his promise4 ,out of his very despair1 his faith struck1 out of the flint of the hard command1 a little spark which served to give some flicker of light amid the darkness4 ,his answer to his boy does not make his sacrifice less1 but his faith more4 ,the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews gives a somewhat different turn to his hopes1 when he tells us that he offered up the heir of the promises1 'accounting that ,god was able to raise him from the dead4' ,both ways of clinging to the early promise1 even while obeying the later command1 seem to have passed through his mind4 ,the wavering from the one to the other is natural4 ,he is sure that ,god had not lied before1 and means what ,he commands now4 ,he is sure that there is some point of reconciliation--perhaps this1 perhaps that1 but certainly somewhat4 ,so he goes straight on the road marked for him1 quite sure that it will not end in a blind alley1 from which there is no exit4 ,that is the very climax of faith--to trust ,god so absolutely1 even when ,his ways seem contradictory1 as to be more willing to believe apparent impossibilities than to doubt ,him1 and to be therefore ready for the hardest trial of obedience4 ,we1 too1 have sometimes to take courses which seem to annihilate the hope and aims of a life4 ,the lesson for us is to go straight on the path of clear duty wherever it leads4 ,if it seem to bring us up to inaccessible cliffs1 we may be sure that when we get there we shall find some ledge1 though it may be no broader than a chamois could tread1 which will suffice for a path4 ,if it seem to bring us to a deep and bridgeless stream1 we shall find a ford when we get to the water's edge4 ,if the mountains seem to draw together and bar a passage1 we shall find1 when we reach them1 that they open out2 though it may be no wider than a caon1 still the stream can get through1 and our boat with it4 #c4 ,so we have the climax of the story--faith rewarded4 ,the first great lesson which the interposition of the ,divine voice teaches us1 is that obedience is complete when the inward surrender is complete4 ,the outward act was needless4 ,abraham would have done no more if the flashing knife had buried itself in ,isaac's heart4 ,here is the first great proclamation of the truth which revolutionises morality and religion1 the beginnings of the teaching which culminates in the ethics of the ,sermon on the ,mount1 and in the gospel of salvation1 not by deeds1 but through faith4 ,the will is the man1 the true action is the submission of the will4 ,the outward deed is only the coarse medium through which it is made visible for men3 ,god looks on purpose as performance4 ,again1 faith is rewarded by ,god's acceptance and approval4 ',i know that thou fearest ,god1' not meaning that ,he learned the heart by the conduct1 but that1 on occasion of the conduct1 ,he breathes into the obedient heart that calm consciousness of its service as recognised and accepted by ,him1 which is the highest reward that ,his friend can know4 ',to be well pleasing to ,him' is our noblest aim1 which1 cherished1 makes sacrifice sweet1 and all difficult things easy4 ',nor know we anything more fair ,than is the smile upon ,thy face4' ,again1 faith is rewarded by a deeper insight into ,god's will4 ,much has been said about the sacrifice of ,isaac in its bearing upon the custom of human sacrifice4 ,we do not believe that ,abraham was led to his act by a mistaken idea1 borrowed from surrounding idolatries4 ,his position as the sole monotheist amid these1 the absence of evidence that human sacrifice was practised then among his neighbours1 and1 above all1 the fact of the divine approval of his intention1 forbid our acceptance of that theory4 ,nor can we regard the condemnation of such sacrifices as the main object of the incident4 ,but no doubt an incidental result1 and1 we may perhaps say1 a subsidiary purpose of it1 was to stamp all such hideous usages with the brand of ,god's displeasure4 ,the mode of thought which led to them was deeply rooted in the consciousness of the ,old ,world1 and corresponded to a true conception of the needs of humanity4 ,the dark sense of sin1 the conviction that it required expiation1 and that procurable only by death1 drove men to these horrid rites4 ,and that ram1 caught in the thicket1 thorn-crowned and substituted for the human victim1 taught ,abraham and his sons that ,god appointed and provided a lamb for an offering4 ,it was a lesson won by faith4 ,nor need we hesitate to see some dim forecast of the great ,substitute whom ,god provided1 who bears the sins of the world4 ,again1 faith is rewarded by receiving back the surrendered blessing1 made more precious because it has been laid on the altar4 ,how strange and solemn must have been the joy with which these two looked in each other's faces6 ,what thankful wonder must have filled ,abraham's heart as he loosed the cord that had bound his son6 ,it would be many days before the thrill of gratitude died away1 and the possession of his son seemed to ,abraham1 or that of life seemed to ,isaac1 a common thing4 ,he was doubly now a child of wonder1 born by miracle1 delivered by miracle4 ,so is it ever4 ,god gives us back our sacrifices1 tinged with a new beauty1 and purified from earthly alloy4 ,we never know how sweet our blessings are till we have yielded them to ,him4 ',there is no man that hath left' anything or any person for ,christ's sake and the gospel's who will not 'receive a hundred-fold more in this life1 and in the world to come life everlasting4' ,lastly1 ,abraham was rewarded by being made a faint adumbration1 for all time1 of the yet more wondrous and awful love of the divine ,father1 who1 for our sakes1 has surrendered ,his only-begotten ,son1 whom ,he loved4 ,paul quotes the very words of this chapter when he says3 ',he that spared not ,his own ,son1 but delivered ,him up for us all4' ,such thoughts carry us into dim regions1 in which1 perhaps1 silence is best4 ,did some shadow of loss and pain pass over the divine all-sufficiency and joy1 when ,he sent ,his ,son8 ,was the unresisting innocence of the son a far-off likeness of the willing eagerness of the sinless ,sufferer who chose to die8 ,was the resolved surrender of the father a faint prelude of the deep divine love which gave ,his only ,son for us8 ,shall we not say1 ',now ,i know that ,thou lovest me1 because ,thou hast not withheld ,thy ,son1 ,thine only ,son1 from me'8 ,shall we not recognise this as the crown of ,abraham's reward1 that his act of surrender of his dearest to ,god1 his ,friend1 has been glorified by being made the mirror of ,god's unspeakable gift of ,his ,son to us1 ,his enemies8 ,,the ,,crowning ,,test ,,and ,,triumph ,,of ,,faith ,,ii ,the first words of this lesson give the keynote for its meaning4 ',god did prove ,abraham'2 the strange command was a test of his faith4 ,in recent times the incident has been regarded chiefly as embodying a protest against child-sacrifices1 and no doubt that is part of its intention1 and their condemnation was part of its effect1 but the other is the principal thing4 ,abraham1 as the ',father of the ,faithful1' has his faith tested by a series of events from his setting out from ,haran1 and they culminate in this sharpest of all1 the command to slay his son4 ,the life of faith is ever a life of testing1 and very often the fire that tries increases in heat as life advances4 ,the worst conflicts are not always at the beginning of the war4 ,our best way of knowing ourselves is to observe our own conduct1 especially when it is hard to do nobly4 ,we may easily cheat ourselves about what is the basis and ruling motive of our lives1 but our actions will show it us4 ,god does not 'test' us as if ,he did not know what was gold and what base metal1 but the proving is meant to make clear to others and ourselves what is the worth and strength of our religion4 ,the test is also a means of increasing the faith which it demonstrates1 so that the exhortation to 'count it all joy' to have faith tried is no overstrained counsel of perfection4 ,the narrative plainly declares that the command to sacrifice his son was to ,abraham unmistakably divine4 ,the explanation that ,abraham1 living beside peoples who practised child-sacrifice1 heard but the voice of his own conscience asking1 ',canst thou do for ,jehovah what these do for ,moloch8' does not correspond to the record4 ,no doubt ,god does speak through conscience2 but what sent ,abraham on his terrible journey was a command which he knew did not spring up within1 but came to him from above4 ,we may believe or disbelieve the possibility or the actuality of such direct and distinguishable commands from ,god1 but we do not face the facts of this narrative unless we recognise that it asserts that ,god made ,his will known to ,abraham1 and that ,abraham knew that it was ,god's will1 not his own thought4 ,but is it conceivable that ,god should ever bid a man commit a crime8 ,to the question put in that bald way1 of course there can be but one answer1 ,no4 ,but several conditions have to be taken into account4 ,first1 it is conceivable that ,god should test a man's willingness to surrender what is most precious to him1 and what all his hopes are fixed on2 and this command was given with the purpose that it should not be obeyed in fact1 if the willingness to obey it was proved4 ,again1 the stage of development of the moral sense at which ,abraham stood has to be remembered4 ,the child-sacrifices around him were not regarded as crimes1 but as worship1 and1 while his affections were the same as ours1 and his father's heart was wrung1 to slay ,isaac did not present itself to him as a crime in the way in which it does so to us4 ,god deals with men on the moral and spiritual level to which they have attained1 and1 by descending to it1 raises them higher4 ,the purpose of the command was to test faith1 even more than to test whether earthly love or heavenly obedience were the stronger4 ,there is a beautiful and instructive climax in the designations of ,isaac in verse #b1 where four times he is referred to1 'thy son1 thine only son1' in whom all the hopes of fulfilment of the divine promise were concentrated1 so that1 if this fruit from the aged tree were cut off1 no other could ever grow2 'whom thou lovest1'--there the sharp point pierces the father's heart2 'even ,isaac1' in which name all the ties that knit him to ,abraham are gathered up4 ,each word heightens the greatness of the sacrifice demanded1 and is a fresh thrust of the dagger into ,abraham's very life4 ,each suggests a reason for not slaying ,isaac1 which sense might plead4 ,god does not hide the painfulness of surrender from us4 ,the more precious the treasure is1 the more are we bound to lay it on the altar4 ,but it was ,abraham's faith even more than his love that was tested4 ,the ,epistle to the ,hebrews lays hold on this as the main element in the trial1 that he who 'had received the promises' was called to do what seemed to blast all hope of their being fulfilled4 ,what a cruel position to have ,god's command and ,god's promise apparently in diametrical opposition6 ,but faith loosened even that seemingly inextricable tangle of contradiction1 and felt that to obey was for man1 and to keep ,his promise was for ,god4 ,if we do our duty1 ,he will see to the consequences4 ',tis mine to obey2 'tis ,his to provide4' ,nothing in literature is more tenderly touched or more truly imagined than that long1 torturing journey--,abraham silent1 ,isaac silently wondering1 the servants silently following4 ,and1 like a flash1 at last 'the place' was seen afar off4 ,how calmly ,abraham speaks to the two followers1 mastering his heart's throbbing even then6 ',we will worship1 and come again to you'--was that a 'pious fraud' or did it not rather indicate that a ray of hope1 like pale light from a shrouded sun1 shone for him8 ,he 'accounted that ,god was able to raise him up even from the dead4' ,somehow1 he knew not how1 ,isaac slain was still to live and inherit the promises4 ,anything was possible1 but that ,god's word should fail was impossible4 ,that picture of the father and son alone1 the one bearing the wood1 the other the fire and the knife1 exchanging no word but once1 when the innocent wonder of ,isaac's question must have shaken ,abraham's steadfastness1 and made it hard for him to steady his voice to answer1 touches the deepest springs of pity and pathetic sublimity4 ,but the answer is in the same spirit as that to the servants1 and indicates the same hope4 ',god will provide ,himself a lamb1 my son4' ,he does not know definitely what he expects2 he is ready to slay ,isaac1 but his faith is not quenched1 though the end seems so inevitable and near4 ,faith was never more sharply tested1 and never more triumphantly stood the test4 ,the divine solution of the riddle was kept back till the last moment1 as it usually is4 ,the place is slowly reached1 the hill slowly climbed1 the altar built1 the unresisting ,isaac bound 7with what deep thoughts in each1 who can tell871 the steady hand holding the glittering knife lifted--a moment more and it will be red with heart's blood1 and not till then does ,god speak4 ,it is ever so4 ,the trial has 'its perfect work4' ,faith is led to the edge of the precipice1 one step farther and all is over4 ,then ,god speaks1 all but just too late1 and yet 'right early4' ,the willingness to make the sacrifice is tested to the utmost1 and being proved1 the sacrifice is not required4 ,abraham had said to ,isaac1 ',god will provide a lamb1' and the word 'provide' is that which appears in the name he gave to the place--,jehovah-jireh4 ,the name1 then1 commemorated1 not the servant's faith but the ,lord's mercy1 and the spirit of it was embodied in what became a popular saying1 ',in the mount of the ,lord it shall be provided4' ,if faith dwells there1 its surrenders will be richly rewarded4 ,how much more dear was ,isaac to ,abraham as they journeyed back to ,beersheba6 ,and whatever we lay on ,god's altar comes back a 'hundred-fold more in this life1' and brings in the world to come life everlasting4 ,,jehovah-,,jireh ',and ,abraham called the name of that place ,jehovah-jireh2 7that is1 ,the ,lord will provide74'-,,genesis xxii4 #ad4 ,as these two1 ,abraham and ,isaac1 were travelling up the hill1 the son bearing the wood1 and the father with the sad burden of the fire and the knife1 the boy said3 ',where is the lamb8' and ,abraham1 thrusting down his emotion and steadying his voice1 said3 ',my son1 ,god will provide ,himself a lamb4' ,when the wonderful issue of the trial was plain before him1 and he looked back upon it1 the one thought that rose in his mind was of how1 beyond his meaning1 his words had been true4 ,so he named that place by a name that spoke nothing of his trial1 but everything of ,god's provision--',the ,lord will see1' or ',the ,lord will provide4' #a4 ,the words have become proverbial and threadbare as a commonplace of ,christian feeling4 ,but it may be worth our while to ask for a moment what it was exactly that ,abraham expected the ,lord to provide4 ,we generally use the expression in reference to outward things1 and see in it the assurance that we shall not be left without the supply of the necessities for which1 because ,god has made us to feel them1 ,he has bound ,himself to make provision4 ,and most blessedly true is that application of them1 and many a ,christian heart in days of famine has been satisfied with the promise1 when the bread that was given has been scant4 ,but there is a meaning deeper than that in the words4 ,it is true1 thank ,god6 that we may cast all our anxiety about all outward things upon ,him1 in the assurance that ,he who feeds the ravens will feed us1 and that if lilies can blossom into beauty without care1 we shall be held by our ,father of more value than these4 ,but there is a deeper meaning in the provision spoken of here4 ,what was it that ,god provided for ,abraham8 ,what is it that ,god provides for us8 ,a way to discharge the arduous duties which1 when they are commanded1 seem all but impossible for us1 and which1 the nearer we come to them1 look the more dreadful and seem the more impossible4 ,and yet1 when the heart has yielded itself in obedience1 and we are ready to do the thing that is enjoined1 there opens up before us a possibility provided by ,god1 and strength comes to us equal to our day1 and some unexpected gift is put into our hand1 which enables us to do the thing of which ,nature said3 ',my heart will break before ,i can do it'2 and in regard to which even ,grace doubted whether it was possible for us to carry it through4 ,if our hearts are set in obedience to the command1 the farther we go on the path of obedience1 the easier the command will appear1 and to try to do it is to ensure that ,god will help us to do it4 ,this is the main provision that ,god makes1 and it is the highest provision that ,he can make4 ,for there is nothing in this life that we need so much as to do the will of our ,father in heaven4 ,all outward wants are poor compared with that4 ,the one thing worth living for1 the one thing which being secured we are blessed1 and being missed we are miserable1 is compliance in heart with the commandment of our ,father2 and that compliance wrought out in life4 ,so1 of all gifts that ,he bestows upon us1 and of all the abundant provision out of ,his rich storehouses1 is not this the best1 that we are made ready for any required service8 ,when we get to the place we shall find some lamb 'caught in the thicket by its horns'2 and heaven itself will supply what is needful for our burnt offering4 ,and then there is another thought here which1 though we cannot certainly say it was in the speaker's mind1 is distinctly in the historian's intention1 ',the ,lord will provide4' ,provide what8 ,the lamb for the burnt offering which ,he has commanded4 ,it seems probable that that bare mountain-top which ,abraham saw from afar1 and named ,jehovah-jireh1 was the mountain-top on which afterwards the ,temple was built4 ,and perhaps the wood was piled for the altar1 on which ,abraham was called to lay his only son1 on that very piece of primitive rock which still stands visible1 though ,temple and altar have long since gone2 and which for many a day was the place of the altar on which the sacrifices of ,israel were offered4 ,it is no mere forcing of ,christian meanings on to old stories1 but the discerning of that prophetic and spiritual element which ,god has impressed upon these histories of the past1 especially in all their climaxes and crises1 when we see in the fact that ,god provided the ram which became the appointed sacrifice1 through which ,isaac's life was preserved1 a dim adumbration of the great truth that the only ,sacrifice which ,god accepts for the world's sin is the ,sacrifice which ,he ,himself has provided4 ,this is the deepest meaning of all the sacrificial worship1 as of ,israel so of heathen nations--,god ,himself will provide a ,lamb4 ,the world had built altars1 and ,israel1 by divine appointment1 had its altar too4 ,all these express the want which none of them can satisfy4 ,they show that man needed a ,sacrifice2 and that ,sacrifice ,god has provided4 ,he asked from ,abraham less than ,he gives to us4 ,abraham's devotion was sealed and certified because he did not withhold his son1 his only son1 from ,god4 ,and ,god's love is sealed because ,he hath not withheld ,his only-begotten ,son from us4 ,so this name that came from ,abraham's grateful and wondering lips contains a truth which holds true in all regions of our wants4 ,on the lowest level1 the outward supply of outward needs2 on a higher1 the means of discharging hard duties and a path through sharp trials2 and1 on the highest of all1 the spotless sacrifice which alone avails for the world's sins--these are the things which ,god provides4 #b4 ,so1 note again on what conditions ,he provides them4 ,the incident and the name became the occasion of a proverb1 as the historian tells us1 which survived down to the period of his writing1 and probably long after1 when men were accustomed to say1 ',in the mount of the ,lord it shall be provided4' ,the provision of all sorts that we need has certain conditions as to the when and the where of the persons to whom it shall be granted4 ',in the mount of the ,lord it shall be provided4' ,if we wish to have our outward needs supplied1 our outward weaknesses strengthened1 power and energy sufficient for duty1 wisdom for perplexity1 a share in the ,sacrifice which taketh away the sins of the world1 we receive them all on the condition that we are found in the place where all ,god's provision is treasured4 ,if a man chooses to sit outside the baker's shop1 he may starve on its threshold4 ,if a man will not go into the bank1 his pockets will be empty1 though there may be bursting coffers there to which he has a right4 ,and if we will not ascend to the hill of the ,lord1 and stand in ,his holy place by simple faith1 and by true communion of heart and life1 ,god's amplest provision is nought to us2 and we are empty in the midst of affluence4 ,get near to ,god if you would partake of what ,he has prepared4 ,live in fellowship with ,him by simple love1 and often meditate on ,him1 if you would drink in of ,his fulness4 ,and be sure of this1 that howsoever within ,his house the stores are heaped and the treasury full1 you will have neither part nor lot in the matter1 unless you are children of the house4 ',in the mount of the ,lord it shall be provided4' ,and round it there is a waste wilderness of famine and of death4 ,further1 note when the provision is realised4 ,when the man is standing with the knife in his hand1 and next minute it will be red with the son's blood--then the call comes3 ',abraham6' and then he sees the ram caught in the thicket4 ,there had been a long weary journey from their home away down in the dry1 sunny south1 a long tramp over the rough hills1 a toilsome climb1 with a breaking heart in the father's bosom1 and a dim foreboding gradually stealing on the child's spirit4 ,but there was no sign of respite or of deliverance4 ,slowly he piles together the wood1 and yet no sign4 ,slowly he binds his boy1 and lays him on it1 and still no sign4 ,slowly1 reluctantly1 and yet resolvedly1 he unsheathes the knife1 and yet no sign4 ,he lifts his hand1 and then it comes4 ,that is ,god's way always4 ,up to the very edge we are driven1 before ,his hand is put out to help us4 ,such is the law1 not only because the next moment is always necessarily dark1 nor because ,god will deal with us in any arbitrary fashion1 and play with our fears1 but because it is best for us that we should be forced to desperation1 and out of desperation should 'pluck the flower1 safety4' ,it is best for us that we should be brought to say1 ',my foot slippeth6' and then1 just as our toes are sliding upon the glacier1 the help comes and ',thy mercy held me up4' ',the ,lord is her helper1 and that right early4' ,when ,he delays1 it is not to trifle with us1 but to do us good by the sense of need1 as well as by the experience of deliverance4 ,at the last moment1 never before it1 never until we have found out how much we need it1 and never too late1 comes the ,helper4 ,so 'it is provided' for the people that quietly and persistently tread the path of duty1 and go wherever ,his hand leads them1 without asking anything about where it does lead4 ,the condition of the provision is our obedience of heart and will4 ,to ,abraham doing what he was commanded1 though his heart was breaking as he did it1 the help was granted--as it always will be4 #c4 ,and so1 lastly1 note what we are to do with the provision when we get it4 ,abraham christened the anonymous mountain-top1 not by a name that reminded him or others of his trial1 but by a name that proclaimed ,god's deliverance4 ,he did not say anything about his agony or about his obedience4 ,god spoke about that1 not ,abraham4 ,he did not want these to be remembered1 but what he desired to hand on to later generations was what ,god had done for him4 ,oh6 dear friends1 is that the way in which we look back upon life8 ,many a bare1 bald mountain-top in your career and mine we have got our names for4 ,are they names that commemorate our sufferings or ,god's blessings8 ,when we look back on the past what do we see8 ,times of trial or times of deliverance8 ,which side of the wave do we choose to look at1 the one that is smitten by the sunshine or the one that is all black and purple in the shadow8 ,the sea looked at from the one side will be all a sunny path1 and from the other dark as chaos4 ,let us name the heights that lie behind us1 visible to memory1 by names that commemorate1 not the troubles that we had on them1 but the deliverances that on them we received from ,god4 ,this name enshrines the duty of commemoration--ay6 and the duty of expectation4 ',the ,lord will provide4' ,how do you know that1 ,abraham8 and his answer is1 ',because the ,lord did provide4' ,that is a shaky kind of argument if we use it about one another4 ,our resources may give out1 our patience may weary4 ,if it is a storehouse that we have to go to1 all the corn that is treasured in it will be eaten up some day2 but if it is to some boundless plain that grows it that we go1 then we can be sure that there will be a harvest next year as there has been a harvest last4 ,and so we have to think of ,god1 not as a storehouse1 but as the soil from which there comes forth1 year by year and generation after generation1 the same crop of rich blessings for the needs and the hungers of every soul4 ,if we have to draw from reservoirs we cannot say1 ',i have gone with my pitcher to the well six times1 and ,i shall get it filled at the seventh4' ,it is more probable that we shall have to say1 ',i have gone so often that ,i durst not go any more'2 but if we have to go1 not to a well1 but to a fountain1 then the oftener we go1 the surer we become that its crystal cool waters will always be ready for us4 ',thou hast been with me in six troubles2 and in seven thou wilt not forsake me1' is a bad conclusion to draw about one another2 but it is the right conclusion to draw about ,god4 ,and so1 as we look back upon our past lives1 and see many a peak gleaming in the magic light of memory1 let us name them all by names that will throw a radiance of hope on the unknown and un-climbed difficulties before us1 and say1 as the patriarch did when he went down from the mount of his trial and deliverance1 ',the ,lord will provide4' ,,guidance ,,in ,,the ,,way ',i being in the way1 the ,lord led me4'--,,genesis xxiv4 #bg4 ,so said ,abraham's anonymous servant when telling how he had found ,rebekah at the well1 and known her to be the destined bride of his master's servant4 ,there is no more beautiful page1 even amongst the many lovely ones in these ancient stories1 than this domestic idyll of the mission of the faithful servant from far ,canaan across the desert4 ,the homely test by which he would determine that the maiden should be pointed out to him1 the glimpse of old-world ways at the well1 the gracious courtesy of the fair damsel1 and the simple devoutness of the speaker1 who recognises in what to others were trivial commonplaces ,god's guidance to the end which ,he had appointed1 his recognition of the divine hand moving beneath all the nothings and littlenesses of daily life--may teach us much4 #a4 ,the first thing that these words seem to me to suggest is the conditions under which we may be sure that ,god leads--',i being in the way4' ,now1 of course1 some of you may know that the words of our text are1 by the ,revised ,version and others1 rendered so as to obliterate the clause telling where the speaker was when the ,lord led him1 and to make the whole a continuous expression of the one fact--',as for me1 the ,lord hath led me in the way to the house of my master's brethren4' ,the literal rendering is1 ',i in the way1 ,jehovah led me4' ,no doubt the ,hebrew idiom admits of the ',i' being thus emphatically premised1 and then repeated as 'me' after the verb1 and possibly no more is to be made of the words than that4 ,but the fuller and more impressive meaning is possible1 and ,i venture to retain it1 and to see in it the expression of the truth that it is when we are 'in the way' that ,god will certainly lead us4 ,so that suggests1 first1 how the people that have any right to expect any kind of guidance from ,god are those who have their feet upon a path which conscience approves4 ,many men run into all manner of perplexities by their own folly and self-will1 and never ask whether their acts are right or wrong1 wise or foolish1 until they begin to taste the bitter consequences4 ,then they cry to ,god to help them1 and think themselves very religious because they do4 ,that is not the way to get ,god's help4 ,such folk are like ,italian brigands who had an image of the ,virgin in their hats1 and sometimes had the ,pope's commission in their pockets1 and therefore went out to murder and ravish1 in sure and certain hope of ,god's favour and protection4 ,but when we are 'in the way1' and know that we are doing what we ought to do1 and conscience says1 ',go on2 never mind what stands against you1' it is then1 and only then1 that we have a right to be sure that the ,lord will lead us4 ,otherwise1 the best thing that can happen to us is that the ,lord should thwart us when we are on the wrong road4 ,resistance1 indeed1 may be guidance2 and it is often ,god's manner of setting our feet in the way of ,his steps4 ,we have no claim on ,him for guidance1 indeed1 unless we have submitted ourselves to ,his commandments2 yet ,his mercies go beyond our claims4 ,just as the obedient child gets guidance1 so the petulant and disobedient child gets resistance1 which is guidance too4 ,the angel of the ,lord stands in front of ,balaam1 amongst the vines1 though the seer sometimes does not see1 and blocks the path for him1 and hedges up the way with his flaming sword4 ,only1 if we would have the sweet1 gracious1 companionable guidance of our ,lord1 let us be sure1 to begin with1 that we are 'in the way1' and not in any of the bypaths into which arrogance and self-will and fleshly desires and the like are only too apt to divert our feet4 ,another consideration suggested by these words1 ',i being in the way1' is that if we expect guidance we must diligently do present duty4 ,we are led1 thank ,god1 by one step at a time4 ,he does with ,his child1 whom ,he is teaching to read ,his will1 as we sometimes do with our children1 when we are occupied in teaching them their first book-learning3 we cover the page up1 all but the line that we want them to concentrate their eyes upon2 and then1 when they have got to the end of that1 slip the hand down1 low enough to allow the next line to come into view4 ,so often ,god does with us4 ,one thing at a time is enough for the little brains4 ,and this is the condition of mortal life1 for the most part--though there do come rare exceptions4 ,not that we have to look a long way ahead1 and forecast what we shall do this time ten years off1 or to make decisions that involve a distant future--except once or twice in a lifetime--but that we have to settle what is to be done in this flying minute1 and in the one adjacent to it4 ',do the duty that lies nearest thee1' and the remoter duty will become clearer4 ,there is nothing that has more power to make a man's path plain before his feet than that he should concentrate his better self on the manful and complete discharge of the present moment's service4 ,and1 on the other hand1 there is nothing that will so fill our sky with mists1 and blur the marks of the faint track through the moor1 as present negligence1 or still more1 present sin4 ,iron in a ship's hull makes the magnet tremble1 and point away from its true source4 ,he that has complied with evil to-day is the less capable of discerning duty to-morrow2 and he that does all the duty that he knows will thereby increase the probability that he will know all that he needs4 ',if any man wills to do ,his will1 he shall know of the teaching'--enough1 at any rate1 to direct his steps4 ,but there is another lesson still in the words2 and that is that1 if we are to be guided1 we must see to it that we expect and obey the guidance4 ,this servant of ,abraham's1 with a very imperfect knowledge of the divine will1 had1 when he set out on his road1 prayed very earnestly that ,god would lead him4 ,he had ventured to prescribe a certain token1 nave in its simplicity3 ',if the girl drops her pitcher1 and gives us drink gladly1 and does not grudge to fill the troughs for the cattle1 that will show that she is of a good sort1 and will make the right wife for ,isaac4' ,he had prayed thus1 and he was ready to accept whomsoever ,god so designated4 ,he had not made up his mind1 ',bethuel's daughter is a relation of my master's1 and so she will be a suitable wife for his son4' ,he left it all with ,god1 and then he went straight on his road1 and was perfectly sure that he would get the guidance that he had sought4 ,and when it came the good man bowed and obeyed4 ,now there is a picture for us all4 ,there are many people that say1 ',o ,lord6 guide me4' when all the while they mean1 ',let me guide ,thee4' ,they are perfectly willing to accept the faintest and moat questionable indications that may seem to point down the road where their inclination drives them1 and like ,lord ,nelson at ,copenhagen1 will put the telescope to the blind eye when the flag is flying at the admiral's peak1 signalling ',come out of action1' because they are determined to stay where they are4 ,do not let us forget that the first condition of securing real guidance in our daily life is to ask it1 and that the next is to look for it1 and that a third is to be quite willing to accept it1 whether the finger points down the broad road that we would like to go upon1 or through some tangled path amongst the brushwood that we would fain avoid4 ,and if you and ,i1 dear brethren1 in the littlenesses of our daily life1 do fulfil these conditions1 the heavens will crumble1 and earth will melt1 before ,god will leave ,his child untaught in the way in which he should go4 ,only1 let us be patient4 ,do you remember what ,joshua said to the ,israelites8 ',let there be a good space of vacant ground between you and the guiding ark1 that you may know by which way you ought to go4' ,when men precipitately press on the heels of half-disclosed providences1 they are uncommonly apt to mistake the road4 ,we must wait till we are sure of ,god's will before we try to do it4 ,if we are not sure of what ,he would have us do1 then1 for the present1 ,he would have us do nothing until ,he speaks4 ',i being in the way1 the ,lord led me4' #b4 ,now a word about the manner of the guidance4 ,there was no miracle1 no supernatural voice1 no pillar of cloud or fire1 no hovering glory round the head of the village maiden4 ,all the indications were perfectly natural and trivial4 ,a thousand girls had gone to the wells that day all about ,haran and done the very same things that ,rebekah did4 ,but the devout man who had prayed for guidance1 and was sure that he was getting it1 was guided by her most simple1 commonplace act2 and that is how we are usually to be guided4 ,god leaves a great deal to our common sense4 ,his way of speaking to common sense is by very common things4 ,if any of us fancy that some glow at the heart1 some sudden flash as of inspiration1 is the test of a divine commandment1 we have yet to learn the full meaning of the ,incarnation of ,jesus ,christ4 ,for that ,incarnation1 amongst all its other mighty influences1 hallowed the commonest things of life and turned them into ministers of ,god's purposes4 ,so remember1 ,god's guidance may come to you through so insignificant a girl as ,rebekah4 ,it may come to you through as commonplace an incident as tipping the water of a spring out of an earthen pot into a stone trough4 ,none the less is it ,god's guidance2 and what we want is the eye to see it4 ,he will guide us by very common indications of ,his providence4 #c4 ,and now1 the last thing that ,i would say a word about is the realisation in daily life of this guidance as a plain actual fact4 ,this anonymous trusted servant of ,abraham's1 whose name we should like to have known1 had a mere segment of the full orb of the knowledge of ,god that shines upon our path4 ,with true ,oriental freedom to speak about the deepest matters1 he was not afraid nor ashamed to stand before ,bethuel and ,laban1 and all these other strangers that crowded round the doorway1 and say1 ',the ,lord led me4' ,there is a pattern for some of us tongue-tied1 shamefaced ,christians4 ,whatever may be the truth about the degradations of which heathen religion is full1 there is a great deal in heathen religion that ought to teach1 and does teach1 ,christendom a lesson1 as to willingness to recognise and to confess ,god's working in daily life4 ,it may be very superficial2 it may be very little connected with high morality2 but so far as it goes it is a thousand-fold better than the dumb religion that characterises such hosts of ,christian people4 ,a realisation of the divine guidance is the talisman that makes crooked things straight and rough places plain2 that brings peace and calmness into our hearts1 amid all changes1 losses1 and sorrows4 ,if we hold fast by that faith1 it will interpret for us the mysterious in the providences concerning our own lives1 and will help us to feel that1 as ,i said1 resistance to our progress may be true guidance1 and thwarting our wills may be our highest good4 ,for the road which we travel should1 in all its turnings1 lead us to ,god2 and whatsoever guides us to ,him is only and always blessed4 ,may ,i1 for one moment1 turn these words in another direction1 and remind you1 dear friends1 of how the sublimest application of them is still to be realised8 ,as a climber on a mountain-peak may look down the vale up which he had painfully toiled for many days and see the dusty path lying1 like a sinuous snake1 down all along it1 so1 when we get up yonder1 ',thou shalt remember all the way by which the ,lord thy ,god hath led thee these many years in the wilderness1' and shalt see the green pastures and the still waters1 valleys of the shadow of death1 and burning roads with sharp flints1 which have all brought thee hither at last4 ,we shall know then what we believe now1 that the ,lord does indeed go before them who desire to follow ,him1 and that the ,god of ,israel is their reward4 ,then we shall say with deepened thankfulness1 deepened by complete understanding of life here1 seen in the light of its attained end1 ',i being in the way1 the ,lord led me1' and ',i shall dwell in the house of the ,lord for ever4' ,,the ,,death ,,of ,,abraham ',then ,abraham gave up the ghost1 and died in a good old age1 an old man1 and full of years2 and was gathered to his people4'--,,genesis xxv4 #h4 ',full of years' does not seem to me to be a mere synonym for longevity4 ,that would be an intolerable tautology1 for we should then have the same thing said three times over--'an old man1' 'in a good old age1' 'full of years4' ,there must be some other idea than that in the words4 ,if you notice that the expression is by no means a usual one1 that it is only applied to one or two of the ,old ,testament characters1 and those selected characters1 ,i think you will see that there must be some other significance in it than merely to point to length of days4 ,it may be well to note the instances4 ,in addition to our text1 we find it employed1 first1 in reference to ,isaac1 in ,genesis xxxv4 #bi1 where the words are repeated almost verbatim4 ,that calm1 contemplative life1 so unlike the active1 varied career of his father1 also attained to this blessing at its close4 ,then we find that the stormy and adventurous course of the great king ,david1 with its wonderful alternations both of moral character and of fortune1 is represented as being closed at last with this tranquil evening glory3 ',he died in a good old age1 full of days1 riches1 and honour4' ,once more we read of the great high priest ,jehoiada1 whose history had been crowded with peril1 change1 brave resistance1 and strenuous effort1 that with all the storms behind him he died at last1 'full of days4' ,the only other instance of the occurrence of the phrase is at the close of the book of ,job1 the typical record of the good man suffering1 and of the abundant compensations given by a loving ,god4 ,the fair picture of returning prosperity and family joy1 like the calm morning sunshine after a night of storm and wreck1 with which that wonderful book ends1 has this for its last touch1 evidently intended to deepen the impression of peace which is breathed over it all3 ',so ,job died1 being old and full of days4' ,these are all the instances of the occurrence of this phrase1 and ,i think we may fairly say that in all it is meant to suggest not merely length of days1 but some characteristic of the long life over and above its mere length4 ,we shall1 ,i think1 understand its meaning a little better if we make a very slight and entirely warranted change1 and instead of reading 'full of years1' read 'satisfied with years4' ,the men were satisfied with life2 having exhausted its possibilities1 having drunk a full draught1 having nothing more left to wish for4 ,the words point to a calm close1 with all desires gratified1 with hot wishes stilled1 with no desperate clinging to life1 but a willingness to let it go1 because all which it could give had been attained4 ,so much for one of the remarkable expressions in this verse4 ,there is another1 ',he was gathered to his people1' of which we shall have more to say presently4 ,enough for the present to note the peculiarity1 and to suggest that it seems to contain some dim hint of a future life1 and some glimmer of some of the profoundest thoughts about it4 ,we have two main things to consider4 #a4 ,the tranquil close of a life4 ,it is possible1 then1 at the end of life to feel that it has satisfied one's wishes4 ,whether it does or no will depend mostly on ourselves1 and very slightly on our circumstances4 ,length of days1 competence1 health1 and friends are important2 but neither these nor any other externals will make the difference between a life which1 in the retrospect1 will seem to have been sufficient for our desires1 and one which leaves a hunger in the heart4 ,it is possible for us to make our lives of such a sort1 that whether they run on to the apparent maturity of old age1 or whether they are cut short in the midst of our days1 we may rise from the table feeling that it has satisfied our desires1 met our anticipation1 and been all very good4 ,possibly1 that is not the way in which most of us look at life4 ,that is not the way in which a great many of us seem to think that it is an eminent part of ,christian and religious character to look at life4 ,but it is the way in which the highest type of devotion and the truest goodness always look at it4 ,there are people1 old and young1 who1 whenever they look back1 whether it be over a long tract of years or over a short one1 have nothing to say about it except3 ',vanity of vanities6 all is vanity and vexation of spirit'2 a retrospect of weary disappointments and thwarted plans4 ,how different with some of us the forward and the backward look6 ,are there not some listening to me1 whose past is so dark that it flings black shadows over their future1 and who can only cherish hopes for to-morrow1 by giving the lie to and forgetting the whole of their yesterdays8 ,it is hard to paint the regions before us like 'the ,garden of the ,lord1' when we know that the locusts of our own godless desires have made all the land behind us desolate4 ,if your past has been a selfish past1 a godless past1 in which passion1 inclination1 whim1 anything but conscience and ,christ have ruled1 your remembrances can scarcely be tranquil2 nor your hopes bright4 ,if you have only 'prospects drear1' when you 'backward cast your eye1' it is not wonderful if 'forwards though you cannot see1' you will 'guess and fear4' ,such lives1 when they come towards an end1 are wont to be full of querulous discontent and bitterness4 ,we have all seen godless old men cynical and sour1 pleased with nothing1 grumbling1 or feebly complaining1 about everything1 dissatisfied with all which life has thus far yielded them1 and yet clinging desperately to it1 and afraid to go4 ,put by the side of such an end this calm picture of the old man going down into his grave1 and looking back over all those long days since he came away from his father's house1 and became a pilgrim and a stranger4 ,how all the hot anxieties1 desires1 occupations1 of youth have quieted themselves down6 ,how far away now seem the warlike days when he fought the invading kings6 ,how far away the heaviness of heart when he journeyed to ,mount ,moriah with his boy1 and whetted the knife to slay his son6 ,his love had all been buried in ,sarah's grave4 ,he has been a lonely man for many years2 and yet he looks back1 as ,god looked back over ,his creative week1 and feels that all has been good4 ',it was all for the best2 the great procession of my life has been ordered from the beginning to its end1 by the ,hand that shapes beauty everywhere1 and has made all things blessed and sweet4 ,i have drunk a full draught2 ,i have had enough2 ,i bless the ,giver of the feast1 and push my chair back2 and get up and go away4' ,he died an old man1 and satisfied with his life4 ,ay6 ,and what a contrast that makes1 dear friends1 to another set of people4 ,there is nothing more miserable than to see a man1 as his years go by1 gripping harder and tighter at this poor1 fleeting world that is slipping away from him2 nothing sadder than to see how1 as opportunities and capacities for the enjoyment of life dwindle1 and dwindle1 and dwindle1 people become almost fierce in the desire to keep it4 ,why1 you can see on the face of many an old man and woman a hungry discontent1 that has not come from the mere wrinkles of old age or care2 an eager acquisitiveness looking out of the dim old eyes1 tragical and awful4 ,it is sad to see a man1 as the world goes from him1 grasping at its skirts as a beggar does at the retreating passer-by that refuses him an alms4 ,are there not some of us who feel that this is our case1 that the less we have before us of life here on earth1 the more eagerly we grasp at the little which still remains2 trying to get some last drops out of the broken cistern which we know can hold no water8 ,how different this blessed acquiescence in the fleeting away of the fleeting2 and this contented satisfaction with the portion that has been given him1 which this man had who died willingly1 being satisfied with life6 ,sometimes1 too1 there is satiety--weariness of life which is not satisfaction1 though it looks like it4 ,its language is3 ',man delights me not2 nor woman neither4 ,i am tired of it all4' ,those who feel thus sit at the table without an appetite4 ,they think that they have seen to the bottom of everything1 and they have found everything a cheat4 ,they expect nothing new under the sun2 that which is to be hath already been1 and it is all vanity and striving after the wind4 ,they are at once satiated and dissatisfied4 ,nothing keeps the power to charm4 ,how different from all this is the temper expressed in this text1 rightly understood6 ,abraham had had a richly varied life4 ,it had brought him all he wished4 ,he has drunk a full draught1 and needs no more4 ,he is satisfied1 but that does not mean loss of interest in present duties1 occupations1 or enjoyments4 ,it is possible to keep ourselves fully alive to all these till the end1 and to preserve something of the keen edge of youth even in old age1 by the magic of communion with ,god1 purity of conduct1 and a habitual contemplation of all events as sent by our ,father4 ,when ,paul felt himself very near his end1 he yet had interest enough in common things to tell ,timothy all about their mutual friends' occupations1 and to wish to have his books and parchments4 ,so1 calmly1 satisfied and yet not sickened1 keenly appreciating all the good and pleasantness of life1 and yet quite willing to let it go1 ,abraham died4 ,so may it be with us too1 if we will1 no matter what the duration or the externals of our life4 ,if we too are his children by faith1 we shall be 'blessed with faithful ,abraham4' ,and ,i beseech you to ask yourselves whether the course of your life is such as that1 if at this moment ,god's great knife were to come down and cut it in two1 you would be able to say1 ',well6 ,i have had enough1 and now contentedly ,i go4' ,again1 it is possible at the end of life to feel that it is complete1 because the days have accomplished for us the highest purpose of life4 ,scaffoldings are for buildings1 and the moments and days and years of our earthly lives are scaffolding4 ,what are you building inside the scaffolding1 brother8 ,what kind of a structure will be disclosed when the scaffolding is knocked away8 ,what is the end for which days and years are given8 ,that they may give us what eternity cannot take away--a character built upon the love of ,god in ,christ1 and moulded into ,his likeness4 ',man's chief end is to glorify ,god1 and to enjoy ,him for ever4' ,has your life helped you to do that8 ,if it has1 though you be but a child1 you are full of years2 if it has not1 though your hair be whitened with the snows of the nineties1 you are yet incomplete and immature4 ,the great end of life is to make us like ,christ1 and pleasing to ,christ4 ,if life has done that for us1 we have got the best out of it1 and our life is completed1 whatever may be the number of the days4 ,quality1 not quantity1 is the thing that determines the perfectness of a life4 ,and like as in northern lands1 where there is only a week or two from the melting of the snow to the cutting of the hay1 the whole harvest of a life may be gathered in a very little space1 and all be done which is needed to make the life complete4 ,has your life this completeness8 ,can you be 'satisfied' with it1 because the river of the flowing hours has borne down some grains of gold amidst the mass of mud1 and1 notwithstanding many sins and failures1 you have thus far fulfilled the end of your being1 that you are in some measure trusting and serving the ,lord ,jesus ,christ8 ,again1 it is possible1 at the end of life1 to be willing to go as satisfied4 ,most men cling to life in grim desperation1 like a climber to a cliff giving way1 or a drowning man clutching at any straw4 ,how beautiful the contrast of the placid1 tranquil acquiescence expressed in that phrase of our text6 ,no doubt there will always be the shrinking of the bodily nature from death4 ,but that may be overcome4 ,there is no passion so weak but in some case it has 'mated and mastered the fear of death1' and it is possible for us all to come to that temper in which we shall be ready for either fortune1 to live and serve ,him here1 or to die and enjoy ,him yonder4 ,or1 to return to an earlier illustration1 it is possible to be like a man sitting at table1 who has had his meal1 and is quite contented to stay on there1 restful and cheerful1 but is not unwilling to put back his chair1 to get up and to go away1 thanking the ,giver for what he has received4 ,ah6 that is the way to face the end1 dear brethren1 and how is it to be done8 ,such a temper need not be the exclusive possession of the old4 ,it may belong to us at all stages of life4 ,how is it won8 ,by a life of devout communion with ,god4 ,the secret of it lies in obeying the commandment and realising the truth which ,abraham realised and obeyed3 ',i am the ,almighty ,god1 walk before ,me1 and be thou perfect4' ',fear not1 ,abram1 ,i am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward4' ,that is to say1 a simple communion with ,god1 realising ,his presence and feeling that ,he is near1 will sweeten disappointment1 will draw from it its hidden blessedness1 will make us victors over its pains and its woes4 ,such a faith will make it possible to look back and see only blessing2 to look forward and see a great light of hope burning in the darkness4 ,such a faith will check weariness1 avert satiety1 promote satisfaction1 and will help us to feel that life and the great hereafter are but the outer and inner mansions of the ,father's house1 and death the short though dark corridor between4 ,so we shall be ready for life or for death4 #b4 ,now ,i must turn to consider more briefly the glimpse of the joyful society beyond1 which is given us in that other remarkable expression of our text3 ',he was gathered to his people' ,that phrase is only used in the earlier ,old ,testament books1 and there only in reference to a few persons4 ,it is used of ,abraham1 ,ishmael1 ,isaac1 ,jacob1 ,moses1 and ,aaron1 and once 7,judges ii4 #aj7 of a whole generation4 ,if you will weigh the words1 ,i think you will see that there is in them a dim intimation of something beyond this present life4 ',he was gathered to his people' is not the same thing as ',he died1' for1 in the earlier part of the verse1 we read1 ',abraham gave up the ghost and died 444 and was gathered to his people4' ,it is not the same thing as being buried4 ,for we read in the following verse3 ',and his sons ,isaac and ,ishmael buried him in the cave of ,machpelah1 in the field of ,ephron1 the son of ,zohar the ,hittite1 which is before ,mamre4' ,it is then the equivalent neither of death nor of burial4 ,it conveys dimly and veiledly that ,abraham was buried1 and yet that was not all that happened to him4 ,he was buried1 but also 'he was gathered to his people4' ,why6 his own 'people' were buried in ,mesopotamia1 and his grave was far away from theirs4 ,what is the meaning of the expression8 ,who were the people he was gathered to8 ,in death or in burial1 'the dust returns to the earth as it was4' ,what was it that was gathered to his people8 ,dimly1 vaguely1 veiledly1 but unmistakably1 as it seems to me1 is here expressed at least a premonition and feeling after the thought of an immortal self in ,abraham that was not there in what 'his sons ,isaac and ,ishmael laid in the cave at ,machpelah1' but was somewhere else and was for ever4 ,that is the first thing hinted at here--the continuance of the personal being after death4 ,is there anything more8 ,i think there is4 ,now1 remember1 ,abraham's whole life was shaped by that commandment1 ',get thee out from thy father's house1 and from thy kindred1 and from thy country4' ,he never dwelt with his kindred2 all his days he was a pilgrim and a sojourner1 a stranger in a strange land4 ,and though he was living in the midst of a civilisation which possessed great cities whose walls reached to heaven1 he pitched his tent beneath the terebinth tree at ,mamre1 and would have nothing to do with the order of things around him1 but remained an exotic1 a waif1 an outcast in the midst of ,canaan all his life4 ,why8 ,because he 'looked for the city which hath the foundations1 whose builder and maker is ,god4' ,and now he has gone to it1 he is gathered to his people4 ,the life of isolation is over1 the true social life is begun4 ,he is no longer separated from those around him1 or flung amidst those that are uncongenial to him4 ',he is gathered to his people'2 he dwells with his own tribe2 he is at home2 he is in the city4 ,and so1 brethren1 life for every ,christian man must be lonely4 ,after all communion we dwell as upon islands dotted over a great archipelago1 each upon his little rock1 with the sea dashing between us2 but the time comes when1 if our hearts are set upon that great ,lord1 whose presence makes us one1 there shall be no more sea1 and all the isolated rocks shall be parts of a great continent4 ,death sets the solitary in families4 ,we are here like travellers plodding lonely through the night and the storm1 but soon to cross the threshold into the lighted hall1 full of friends4 ,if we cultivate that sense of detachment from the present1 and of having our true affinities in the unseen1 if we dwell here as strangers because our citizenship is in heaven1 then death will not drag us away from our associates1 nor hunt us into a lonely land1 but will bring us where closer bonds shall knit the 'sweet societies' together1 and the sheep shall couch close by one another1 because all are gathered round the one shepherd4 ,then many a broken tie shall be rewoven1 and the solitary wanderer meet again the dear ones whom he had 'loved long since1 and lost awhile4' ,further1 the expressions suggest that in the future men shall be associated according to affinity and character4 ',he was gathered to his people1' whom he was like and who were like him2 the people with whom he had sympathy1 the people whose lives were shaped after the fashion of his own4 ,men will be sorted there4 ,gravitation will come into play undisturbed2 and the pebbles will be ranged according to their weights on the great shore where the sea has cast them up1 as they are upon ,chesil beach1 down there in the ,english ,channel1 and many another coast besides2 all the big ones together and sized off to the smaller ones1 regularly and steadily laid out4 ,like draws to like4 ,our spiritual affinities1 our religious and moral character1 will settle where we shall be1 and who our companions will be when we get yonder4 ,some of us would not altogether like to live with the people that are like ourselves1 and some of us would not find the result of this sorting to be very delightful4 ,men in the ,dantesque circles were only made more miserable because all around them were of the same sort as1 and some of them worse than1 themselves4 ,and an ordered hell1 with no company for the liar but liars1 and none for the thief but thieves1 and none for impure men but the impure1 and none for the godless but the godless1 would be a hell indeed4 ',he was gathered to his people1' and you and ,i will be gathered likewise4 ,what is the conclusion of the whole matter8 ,let us follow with our thoughts1 and in our lives1 those who have gone into the light1 and cultivate in heart and character those graces and excellences which are congruous with the inheritance of the saints in light4 ,above all1 let us give our hearts to ,christ1 by simple faith in ,him1 to be shaped and sanctified by ,him4 ,then our country will be where ,he is1 and our people will be the people in whom ,his love abides1 and the tribe to which we belong will be the tribe of which ,he is ,chieftain4 ,so when our turn comes1 we may rise thankfully from the table in the wilderness1 which ,he has spread for us1 having eaten as much as we desired1 and quietly follow the dark-robed messenger whom ,his love sends to bring us to the happy multitudes that throng the streets of the city4 ,there we shall find our true home1 our kindred1 our ,king4 ',so shall we ever be with the ,lord4' ,a ,,bad ,,bargain ',and the boys grew3 and ,esau was a cunning hunter1 a man of the field2 and ,jacob was a plain man1 dwelling in tents4 ,and ,isaac loved ,esau1 because he did eat of his venison3 but ,rebekah loved ,jacob4 ,and ,jacob sod pottage3 and ,esau came from the field1 and he was faint3 ,and ,esau said to ,jacob1 ,feed me1 ,i pray thee1 with that same red pottage2 for ,i am faint3 therefore was his name called ,edom4 ,and ,jacob said1 ,sell me this day thy birthright4 ,and ,esau said1 ,behold1 ,i am at the point to die3 and what profit shall this birthright do to me8 ,and ,jacob said1 ,swear to me this day2 and he sware unto him3 and he sold his birthright unto ,jacob4 ,then ,jacob gave ,esau bread and pottage of lentiles2 and he did eat and drink1 and rose up1 and went his way3 thus ,esau despised his birthright4' ,,genesis xxv4 #bg-cd4 ,isaac's small household represented a great variety of types of character4 ,he himself lacked energy1 and seems in later life to have been very much of a tool in the hands of others4 ,rebekah had the stronger nature1 was persistent1 energetic1 and managed her husband to her heart's content4 ,the twin brothers were strongly opposed in character2 and1 naturally enough1 each parent loved best the child that was most unlike him or her3 ,isaac rejoicing in the very wildness of the adventurous1 dashing ,esau2 and ,rebekah finding an outlet for her womanly tenderness in an undue partiality for the quiet lad that was always at hand to help her and be petted by her4 ,one's sympathy goes out to ,esau4 ,he was 'a man of the field1'--by which is meant1 not cultivated ground1 but open country1 which we might call prairie4 ,he was a 'backwoodsman1'--liked the wild hunter's life better than sticking at home looking after sheep4 ,he had the attractive characteristics of that kind of men1 as well as their faults4 ,he was frank1 impulsive1 generous1 incapable of persevering work or of looking ahead1 passionate4 ,his descendants prefer cattle-ranching and gold-prospecting to keeping shops or sitting with their lungs squeezed against a desk4 ,jacob had neither the high spirits nor the animal courage of his brother4 ,he was 'a plain man4' ,the word is literally 'perfect1' but cannot be used in its deepest sense2 for ,jacob was very far indeed from being that1 but seems to have a lower sense1 which might perhaps be represented by 'steady-going1' or 'respectable1' in modern phraseology4 ,he went quietly about his ordinary work1 in contrast with his daring brother's escapades and unsettledness4 ,the two types are intensified by civilisation1 and the antagonism between them increased4 ,city life tends to produce ,jacobs1 and its ,esaus escape from it as soon as they can4 ,but ,jacob had the vices as well as the virtues of his qualities4 ,he was orderly and domestic1 but he was tricky1 and keenly alive to his own interest4 ,he was persevering and almost dogged in his tenacity of purpose1 but he was not above taking mean advantages and getting at his ends by miry roads4 ,he had little love for his brother1 in whom he saw an obstacle to his ambition4 ,he had the virtues and vices of the commercial spirit4 ,but we judge the two men wrongly if we let ourselves be fascinated1 as ,isaac was1 by ,esau1 and forget that the superficial attractions of his character cover a core worthy of disapprobation4 ,they are crude judges of character who prefer the type of man who spurns the restraints of patient industry and order2 and popular authors1 who make their heroes out of such1 err in taste no less than in morals4 ,there is a very unwholesome kind of literature1 which is devoted to glorifying the ,esaus as fine fellows1 with spirit1 generosity1 and noble carelessness1 whereas at bottom they are governed by animal impulses1 and incapable of estimating any good which does not appeal to sense1 and that at once4 ,the great lesson of this story lies on its surface4 ,it is the folly and sin of buying present gratification of appetite or sense at the price of giving up far greater future good4 ,the details are picturesquely told4 ,esau's eagerness1 stimulated by the smell of the mess of lentils1 is strikingly expressed in the ,hebrew3 ',let me devour1 ,i pray thee1 of that red1 that red there4' ,it is no sin to be hungry1 but to let appetite speak so clamorously indicates feeble self-control4 ,jacob's coolness is an unpleasant foil to ,esau's impatience1 and his cautious bargaining1 before he will sell what a brother would have given1 shows a mean soul1 without generous love to his own flesh and blood4 ,esau lets one ravenous desire hide everything else from him4 ,he wants the pottage which smokes there1 and that one poor dish is for the moment more to him than birthright and any future good4 ,jacob knows the changeableness of ,esau's character1 and is well aware that a hungry man will promise anything1 and1 when fed1 will break his promise as easily as he made it4 ,so he makes ,esau swear2 and ,esau will do that1 or anything asked4 ,he gets his meal4 ,the story graphically describes the greedy relish with which he ate1 the short duration of his enjoyment1 and the dark meaning of the seemingly insignificant event1 by that accumulation of verbs1 ',he did eat and drink1 and rose up and went his way3 so ,esau despised his birthright4' ,now we may learn1 first1 how profound an influence small temptations1 yielded to1 may exert on a life4 ,many scoffs have been directed against this story1 as if it were unworthy of credence that eating a dish of lentils should have shaped the life of a man and of his descendants4 ,but is it not always the case that trifles turn out to be determining points8 ,hinges are very small1 compared with the doors which move on them4 ,most lives are moulded by insignificant events4 ,no temptation is small1 for no sin is small2 and if the occasion of yielding to sense and the present is insignificant1 the yielding is not so4 ,but the main lesson is1 as already noted1 the madness of flinging away greater future good for present gratifications of sense4 ,one cannot suppose that the spiritual side of 'the birthright' was in the thoughts of either brother4 ,esau and ,jacob alike regarded it only as giving the headship of the family4 ,it was merely the right of succession1 with certain material accompanying advantages1 which ,jacob coveted and ,esau parted with4 ,but even in regard to merely worldly objects1 the man who lives for only the present moment is distinctly beneath him who lives for a future good1 however material it may be4 ,whoever subordinates the present1 and is able steadily to set before himself a remote object1 for which he is strong enough to subdue the desire of immediate gratifications of any sort1 is1 in so far1 better than the man who1 like a savage or an animal1 lives only for the instant4 ,the highest form of that nobility is when time is clearly seen to be the 'lackey to eternity1' and life's aims are determined with supreme reference to the future beyond the grave4 ,but how many of us are every day doing exactly as ,esau did--flinging away a great future for a small present6 ,a man who lives only for such ends as may be attained on this side of the grave is as 'profane' a person as ,esau1 and despises his birthright as truly4 ,he knew that he was hungry1 and that lentil porridge was good1 ',what good shall the birthright do me8' ,he failed to make the effort of mind and imagination needed in order to realise how much of the kind of 'good' that he could appreciate it would do to him4 ,the smell of the smoking food was more to him than far greater good which he could only appreciate by an effort4 ,a sixpence held close to the eye can shut out the sun4 ,resolute effort is needed to prevent the small1 intrusive present from blotting out the transcendent greatness of the final future4 ,and for lack of such effort men by the thousand fling themselves away4 ,to sell a birthright for a bowl of lentils was plain folly4 ,but is it wiser to sell the blessedness and peace of communion with ,god here and of heaven hereafter for anything that earth can yield to sense or to soul8 ,how many shrewd 'men of the highest commercial standing' are making as bad a bargain as ,esau's6 ,the 'pottage' is hot and comforting1 but it is soon eaten2 and when the bowl is empty1 and the sense of hunger comes back in an hour or two1 the transaction does not look quite as advantageous as it did4 ,esau had many a minute of rueful meditation on his bad bargain before he in vain besought his father's blessing4 ,and suspicions of the folly of their choice are apt to haunt men who prefer the present to the future1 even before the future becomes the present1 and the folly is manifest4 ',what doth it profit a man1 to gain the whole world1 and forfeit his life8' ,so a character like ,esau's1 though it has many fine possibilities about it1 and attracts liking1 is really of a low type1 and may very easily slide into depths of degrading sensualism1 and be dead to all nobleness4 ,enterprise1 love of stirring life1 impatience of dull plodding1 are natural to young lives4 ,unregulated1 impulsive characters1 who live for the moment1 and are very sensitive to all material delights1 have often an air of generosity and joviality which hides their essential baseness2 for it is base to live for flesh1 either in more refined or more frankly coarse forms4 ,it is base to be incapable of seeing an inch beyond the present4 ,it is base to despise any good that cannot minister to fleeting lusts or fleshly pleasures1 and to say of high thought1 of ideal aims of any sort1 and most of all to say of religion1 ',what good will it do me8' ,to estimate such precious things by the standard of gross utility is like weighing diamonds in grocers' scales4 ,they will do very well for sugar1 but not for precious stones4 ,the sacred things of life are not those which do what the ,esaus recognise as 'good4' ,they have another purpose1 and are valuable for other ends4 ,let us take heed1 then1 that we estimate things according to their true relative worth2 that we live1 not for to-day1 but for eternity2 and that we suppress all greedy cravings4 ,if we do not1 we shall be 'profane' persons like ,esau1 'who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright4' ,,pottage ,,versus ,,birthright ',esau despised his birthright'--,,genesis xxv4 #cd4 ,broad lessons unmistakable1 but points strange and difficult to throw oneself back to so different a set of ideas4 ,so ,i4 ,deal with the narrative4 ,not to tell it over again1 but bring out the following points3-- 7a7 ,birthright4--,what8 ,none of them any notion of sacred1 spiritual aspect of it4 ,to all1 merely material advantages3 headship of the clan4 ,all the loftier aspects gone from ,isaac1 who thought he could give it for venison1 from ,esau1 and from the scheming ,rebekah and the crafty ,jacob4 7b7 ,the ,bargain4 ,it is not clear whether the transaction was seriously meant1 or whether it only shows ,jacob's wish to possess the birthright and ,esau's indifference to it4 ,at any rate1 the barter was not supposed to complete ,jacob's title1 as is shown by a subsequent piece of trickery4 ,isaac's blessing was conceived to confer it2 that blessing1 if once given1 could not be revoked1 even if procured by fraud and given in error4 ,the belief would fulfil itself1 as far as the chieftainship was concerned4 ,it is significant of the purely 'secular' tone of all the parties concerned that only temporal blessings are included in ,isaac's words4 7c7 ,the ,scripture judgment on all parties concerned4 ,great mistakes are made by forgetting that the ,bible is a passionless narrator of its heroes' acts1 and seldom pauses to censure or praise--so people have thought that ,scripture gave its vote for ,jacob as against ,esau4 ,the character of the two men4 ,esau--frank1 impulsive1 generous1 chivalrous1 careless1 and sensuous4 ,jacob--meditative1 reflective1 pastoral1 timid1 crafty1 selfish4 ,each has the defects of his qualities4 ,but the subsequent history of ,jacob shows what heaven thought of him4 ,this dirty transaction marred his life1 sent him a terrified exile from ,isaac's tent1 and shook his soul long years after with guilty apprehensions when he had to meet ,esau4 ,all subsequent career to beat his crafty selfishness out of him and to lift him to higher level4 ,,ii4 ,broad ,general ,lessons4 #a4 ,the ,choice4--,birthright versus ,pottage4 7a7 ,the ,present versus ,the ,future4 ,suppose it true that to both brothers the birthright seemed to secure merely material advantage1 yet even so the better part would have been to sacrifice material present for material future4 ,even on plane of worldly things1 to live for to-morrow ennobles a man1 and he is the higher style of man who 'spurns delights and lives laborious days' for some issue to be realised in the far future4 ,the very same principle extended leads to the conviction that the highest wisdom is his who lives for the furthest1 which is also the most certain1 ,future4 7b7 ,the ,seen versus ,the ,unseen4 ,however material the advantages of the birthright were supposed to be1 they then appealed to imagination1 not sense4 ,there was the pottage in the pan3 ',i can see that and smell it4 ,this birthright1 can ,i eat it8 ,let me get the solid realities1 and let who will have the imaginary4' ,so the unseen good things1 such as intellectual culture1 fair reputation1 and the like1 are better than the gross satisfactions that can be handled1 or tasted1 or seen4 ,and1 on the very same principle1 high above the seeker after these--as high as he is above the drunkard--is the ,christian1 whose life is shaped by the loftiest ,unseen1 even ',him who is invisible4' #b4 ,the grim absurdity of the choice4 ,the story seems to have a certain undertone of sarcasm1 and a keen perception of the immense stupidity of the man4 ,pottage and a full belly to-day--that was all he got for such a sacrifice4 ',this their way is their folly4' #c4 ,how well the bargain worked at first1 and what came of it at last4 ,no doubt ,esau had his meal1 and1 no doubt1 when a man sells his soul to the devil 7the mediaeval form of the story71 he generally gets the price for which he bargained1 more or less1 and oftentimes with a dash of vinegar in the porridge1 which makes it less palatable4 ,what comes of it at last4 ,put side by side the pictures of ,esau's animal contentment at the moment when he had eaten up his mess1 and of his despair when he wailed1 ',hast thou not one blessing8' ,he finds out his mistake4 ,a sense of the preciousness of the despised thing wakes in him4 ,and it is too late4 ,there are irrevocable consequences of every false choice4 ,youth is gone3 cannot alter that4 ,opportunities gone3 cannot alter that4 ,strength gone3 cannot alter that4 ,habits formed1 associations1 reputation1 position1 character1 are all determined4 ,but there is a blessed contrast between ,esau's experience and what may be ours4 ,the desire to have the birthright is sure to bring it to us4 ,no matter how late the desire is of springing1 nor how long and insultingly we have suppressed it1 we never go to our ,father in vain with the cry1 ',bless me1 even me also4' ',what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul8' ,,the ,,first ,,apostle ,,of ,,peace ,,at ,,any ,,price ',then ,isaac sowed in that land1 and received in the same year an hundredfold1 and the ,lord blessed him4 ,and the man waxed great1 and went forward1 and grew until he became very great3 ,for he had possession of flocks1 and possession of herds1 and great store of servants3 and the ,philistines envied him4 ,for all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days of ,abraham his father1 the ,philistines had stopped them1 and filled them with earth4 ,and ,abimelech said unto ,isaac1 ,go from us2 for thou art much mightier than we4 ,and ,isaac departed thence1 and pitched his tent in the valley of ,gerar1 and dwelt there4 ,and ,isaac digged again the wells of water1 which they had digged in the days of ,abraham his father2 for the ,philistines had stopped them after the death of ,abraham3 and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them4 ,and ,isaac's servants digged in the valley1 and found there a well of springing water4 ,and the herdmen of ,gerar did strive with ,isaac's herdmen1 saying1 ,the water is ours3 and he called the name of the well ,esek2 because they strove with him4 ,and they digged another well1 and strove for that also3 and he called the name of it ,sitnah4 ,and he removed from thence1 and digged another well2 and for that they strove not3 and he called the name of it ,rehoboth2 and he said1 ,for now the ,lord hath made room for us1 and we shall be fruitful in the land4 ,and he went up from thence to ,beer-sheba4 ,and the ,lord appeared unto him the same night1 and said1 ,i am the ,god of ,abraham thy father3 fear not1 for ,i am with thee1 and will bless thee1 and multiply thy seed for my servant ,abraham's sake4 ,and he builded an altar there1 and called upon the name of the ,lord1 and pitched his tent there3 and there ,isaac's servants digged a well4'--,,genesis xxvi4 #ab-be4 ,the salient feature of ,isaac's life is that it has no salient features4 ,he lived out his hundred and eighty years in quiet1 with little to make history4 ,few details of his story are given1 and some of these are not very creditable4 ,he seems never to have wandered far from the neighbourhood of ,beersheba4 ,these quiet1 rolling stretches of thinly peopled land contented him1 and gave pasture for his flocks1 as well as fields for his cultivation4 ,like many of the tribes of that district still1 he had passed from the purely nomad and pastoral life1 such as ,abraham led1 and had begun to 'sow in that land4' ,that marks a stage in progress4 ,his father's life had been like a midsummer day1 with bursts of splendour and heavy thunder-clouds2 his was liker a calm day in autumn1 windless and unchanging from morning till serene evening4 ,the world thinks little of such lives1 but they are fruitful4 ,our text begins with a sweet little picture of peaceful industry1 blessed by ,god1 and therefore prospering4 ,travellers tell us that the land where ,isaac dwelt is still marvellously fertile1 even to rude farming4 ,but to be merely a successful farmer and sheep-owner might have seemed poor work to the heir of such glowing promises1 and the prospect of a high destiny often disgusts its possessor with lowly duties4 ',but if we hope for that which we see not1 then do we with patience wait for it1' and the best way to fit ourselves for great things in the future is to bend our backs and wills to humble toil in the present4 ,peter expected every day to see the risen ,lord1 when he said1 ',i go a-fishing4' ,the ,philistines' envy was very natural1 since ,isaac was an alien1 and1 in some sense1 an intruder4 ,their stopping of the wells was a common act of hostility1 and an effectual one in that land1 where everything lives where water comes1 and dies if it is cut off4 ,abimelech's reason for 'extraditing' ,isaac might have provoked a more pugnacious person to stay and defy the ,philistines to expel him4 ',thou art much mightier than we1' and so he could have said1 ',try to put me out1 then1' and the result might have been that ,abimelech and his ,philistines would have been the ones to go4 ,but the same spirit was in the man as had been in the lad1 when he let his father bind him and lay him on the altar without a struggle or a word1 and he quietly went1 leaving his fields and pastures4 ',very poor-spirited1' says the world2 what does ,christ say8 ,isaac was not 'original4' ,he cleaned out the wells which his father had digged1 and with filial piety gave them again the old names 'which his father had called them4' ,some of us nowadays get credit for being 'advanced and liberal thinkers1' because we regard our fathers' wells as much too choked with rubbish to be worth clearing out1 and the last thing we should dream of would be to revive the old names4 ,but the old wells were not enough for the new time1 and so fresh ones were added4 ,isaac and his servants did not say1 ',we will have no water but what is drawn from ,abraham's wells4 ,what was enough for him is enough for us4' ,so1 like all wise men1 they were conservatively progressive and progressively conservative4 ,the ,gerar shepherds were sharp lawyers4 ,they took strong ground in saying1 ',the water is ours2 you have dug wells1 but we are ground-owners1 and what is below the surface1 as well as what is on it1 is our property4' ,again ,isaac fielded1 moved on a little way1 and tried again4 ,a second well was claimed1 and given up1 and all that ,isaac did was to name the two ',contention' and ',enmity1' as a gentle rebuke and memorial4 ,then1 as is generally the result1 gentleness wearied violence out1 and the ,philistines tired of annoying before ,isaac tired of yielding4 ,so he came into a quiet harbour at last1 and traced his repose to ,god1 naming his last well ',broad ,places1' because the ,lord had made room for him4 ,such a quiet spirit1 strong in non-resistance1 and ready to yield rather than quarrel1 was strangely out of place in these wild days and lands4 ,he obeyed the ,sermon on the ,mount millenniums before it was spoken4 ,whether from temperament or from faith1 he is the first instance of the ,christian type of excellence in the ,old ,testament4 ,for there ought to be no question that the spirit of meekness1 which will not meet violence by violence1 is the ,christian spirit4 ,christian morals alter the perspective of moral excellences1 and exalt meekness above the 'heroic virtues' admired by the world4 ,the violets and lilies in ,christ's garden outshine voluptuous roses and flaunting sunflowers4 ,in this day1 when there is a recrudescence of militarism1 and we are tempted to canonise the soldier1 we need more than ever to insist that the highest type is 'the ,lamb of ,god1' who was 'as a sheep before her shearers4' ,to fight for my rights is not the ,christian ideal1 nor is it the best way to secure them4 ,isaac will generally weary out the ,philistines1 and get his well at last1 and will have escaped much friction and many evil passions4 ',tis safer being meek than fierce4' ,isaac won the friendship of his opponents by his patience1 as the verses after the text tell4 ,their consciences and hearts were touched1 and they 'saw plainly that the ,lord was with him1' and sued him for alliance4 ,it is better to turn enemies into friends than to beat them and have them as enemies still4 ',i'll knock you down unless you love me' does not sound a very hopeful way of cementing peaceful relations4 ,but 'when a man's ways please the ,lord1 he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him4' ,but ,isaac won more than the ,philistines' favour by his meek peacefulness1 for 'the ,lord appeared unto him1' and assured him that1 undefended and unresisting as he was1 he had a strong defence1 and need not be afraid3 ',fear not1 for ,i am with thee4' ,the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit is1 in the sight of ,god1 of great price1 and that not only for 'a woman'2 and it brings visions of ,god1 and assurances of tranquil safety to him who cherishes it4 ,the ,spirit of ,god comes down in the likeness of a dove1 and that bird of peace sits 'brooding only on the charmed wave' of a heart stilled from strife and wrath1 like a quiet summer's sea4 ,isaac's new home at ,beersheba1 having been thus hallowed by the appearance of the ,lord1 was consecrated by the building of an altar4 ,we should hallow by grateful remembrance the spots where ,god has made ,himself known to us4 ,the best beginning of a new undertaking is to rear an altar4 ,it is well when new settlers begin their work by calling on the name of the ,lord4 ,beersheba and ,plymouth ,rock are a pair4 ,first comes the altar1 then the tent can be trustfully pitched1 but 'except the ,lord build the house1 they labour in vain that build it4' ,and if the house is built in faith1 a well will not be lacking2 for they who 'seek first the kingdom of ,god' will have all needful 'things added unto them4' ,,the ,,heavenly ,,pathway ,,and ,,the ,,earthly ,,heart ',and ,jacob went out from ,beer-sheba1 and went toward ,haran4 ,and he lighted upon a certain place1 and tarried there all night1 because the sun was set2 and he took of the stones of that place1 and put them for his pillows1 and lay down in that place to sleep4 ,and he dreamed1 and behold a ladder set up on the earth1 and the top of it reached to heaven2 and behold the angels of ,god ascending and descending on it4 ,and1 behold1 the ,lord stood above it1 and said1 ,i am the ,lord ,god of ,abraham thy father1 and the ,god of ,isaac2 the land whereon thou liest1 to thee will ,i give it1 and to thy seed2 ,and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth1 and thou shalt spread abroad to the west1 and to the east1 and to the north1 and to the south2 and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed4 ,and1 behold1 ,i am with thee1 and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest1 and will bring thee again into this land2 for ,i will not leave thee1 until ,i have done that which ,i have spoken to thee of4 ,and ,jacob awaked out of his sleep1 and he said1 ,surely the ,lord is in this place2 and ,i knew it not4 ,and he was afraid1 and said1 ,how dreadful is this place6 this is none other but the house of ,god1 and this is the gate of heaven4 ,and ,jacob rose up early in the morning1 and took the stone that he had put for his pillows1 and set it up for a pillar1 and poured oil upon the top of it4 ,and he called the name of that place ,beth-el3 but the name of that city was called ,luz at the first4 ,and ,jacob vowed a vow1 saying1 ,if ,god will be with me1 and will keep me in this way that ,i go1 and will give me bread to eat1 and raiment to put on1 ,so that ,i come again to my father's house in peace2 then shall the ,lord be my ,god2 ,and this stone1 which ,i have set for a pillar1 shall be ,god's house2 and of all that ,thou shalt give me ,i will surely give the tenth unto ,thee4'--,,genesis xxviii4 #aj-bb4 ,from ,abraham to ,jacob is a great descent4 ,the former embodies the nobler side of the ,jewish character1--its capacity for religious ideas2 its elevation above1 and separation from1 the nations2 its consciousness of1 and peaceful satisfaction in1 a divine ,friend2 its consequent vocation in the world4 ,these all were deep in the founder of the race1 and flowed to it from him4 ,jacob1 on the other hand1 has in him the more ignoble qualities1 which ,christian treatment of the ,jew has fostered1 and which have become indissolubly attached to the name in popular usage4 ,he is a crafty schemer1 selfish1 over-reaching1 with a keen eye to the main chance4 ,whoever deals with him has to look sharply after his own interests4 ,self-advantage in its most earthly form is uppermost in him2 and1 like all timid1 selfish men1 shifty ways and evasions are his natural weapons4 ,the great interest of his history lies in the slow process by which the patient ,god purified him1 and out of this 'stone raised up a worthy child to ,abraham4' ,we see in this context the first step in his education1 and the very imperfect degree in which he profited by it4 #a4 ,consider the vision and its accompanying promise4 ,jacob has fled from home on account of his nobler brother's fierce wrath at the trick which their scheming mother and he had contrived4 ,it was an ugly1 heartless fraud1 a crime against a doting father1 as against ,esau4 ,rebekah gets alarmed for her favourite2 and her fertile brain hits upon another device to blind ,isaac and get ,jacob out of harm's way1 in the excuse that she cannot bear his marriage with a ,hittite woman4 ,her exaggerated expressions of passionate dislike to 'the daughters of ,heth' have no religious basis4 ,they are partly feigned and partly petulance4 ,so the poor old blind father is beguiled once more1 and sends his son away4 ,starting under such auspices1 and coming from such an atmosphere1 and journeying back to ,haran1 the hole of the pit whence ,abraham had been digged1 and turning his back on the land where ,god had been with his house1 the wanderer was not likely to be cherishing any lofty thoughts4 ,his life was in danger2 he was alone1 a dim future was before him1 perhaps his conscience was not very comfortable4 ,these things would be in his mind as he lay down and gazed into the violet sky so far above him1 burning with all its stars4 ,weary1 and with a head full of sordid cares1 plans1 and possibly fears1 he slept2 and then there flamed on 'that inward eye1 which is the bliss of solitude' to the pure1 and its terror to the evil1 this vision1 which speaks indeed to his then need1 as he discerned it1 but reveals to him and to us the truth which ennobles all life1 burns up the dross of earthward-turned aims1 and selfish1 crafty ways4 ,we are to conceive of the form of the vision as a broad stair or sloping ascent1 rather than a ladder1 reaching right from the sleeper's side to the far-off heaven1 its pathway peopled with messengers1 and its summit touching the place where a glory shone that paled even the lustrous constellations of that pure sky4 ,jacob had thought himself alone2 the vision peoples the wilderness4 ,he had felt himself defenceless2 the vision musters armies for his safety4 ,he had been grovelling on earth1 with no thoughts beyond its fleeting goods2 the vision lifts his eyes from the low level on which they had been gazing4 ,he had been conscious of but little connection with heaven2 the vision shows him a path from his very side right into its depths4 ,he had probably thought that he was leaving the presence of his father's ,god when he left his father's tent2 the vision burns into his astonished heart the consciousness of ,god as there1 in the solitude and the night4 ,the divine promise is the best commentary on the meaning of the vision4 ,the familiar ancestral promise is repeated to him1 and the blessing and the birthright thus confirmed4 ,in addition1 special assurances1 the translation of the vision into word and adapted to his then wants1 are given1--,god's presence in his wanderings1 his protection1 ,jacob's return to the land1 and the promise of ,god's persistent presence1 working through all paradoxes of providence and sins of ,his servant1 and incapable of staying its operations1 or satisfying ,god's heart1 or vindicating ,his faithfulness1 at any point short of complete accomplishment of ,his plighted word4 ,we pass from the lone desert and the mysterious twilight of ,genesis to the beaten ways between ,galilee and ,jordan1 and to the clear historic daylight of the gospel1 and we hear ,christ renewing the promise to the crafty ,jacob1 to one whom ,he called a son of ,jacob in his after better days1 'an ,israelite indeed1 in whom is no guile4' ,the very heart of ,christ's work was unveiled in the terms of this vision3 ,from henceforth 'ye shall see the heaven opened1 and the angels of ,god ascending and descending upon the ,son of man4' ,so1 then1 the fleeting vision was a transient revelation of a permanent reality1 and a faint foreshadowing of the true communication between heaven and earth4 ,jesus ,christ is the ladder between ,god and man4 ,on ,him all divine gifts descend2 by ,him all the angels of human devotion1 consecration1 and aspiration go up4 ,this flat earth is not so far from the topmost heaven as sense thinks4 ,the despairing question of ,jewish wisdom1 ',who hath ascended up into heaven1 or descended8 444 ,what is his name1 and what is his son's name1 if thou canst tell8'--which has likewise been the question of every age that has not been altogether sunk in sensual delights--is answered once for all in the incarnate and crucified and ascended ,lord1 by and in whom all heaven has stooped to earth1 that earth might be lifted to heaven4 ,every child of man1 though lonely and earthly1 has the ladder-foot by his side1--like the sunbeam1 which comes straight into the eyes of every gazer1 wherever he stands4 ,it becomes increasingly evident1 in the controversies of these days1 that there will remain for modern thought only the alternative1--either ,jesus ,christ is the means of communication between ,god and man1 or there is no communication4 ,deism and theism are compromises1 and cannot live4 ,the cultivated world in both hemispheres is being more and more shut up to either accepting ,christ as revealer1 by whom alone we know1 and as medium by whom alone we love and approach1 ,god2 or sinking into abysses of negations where choke-damp will stifle enthusiasm and poetry1 as well as devotion and immortal hope4 ,jacob's vision was meant to teach him1 and is meant to teach us1 the nearness of ,god1 and the swift directness of communication1 whereby ,his help comes to us and our desires rise to ,him4 ,these and their kindred truths were to be to him1 and should be to us1 the parents of much nobleness4 ,here is the secret of elevation of aim and thought above the mean things of sense4 ,we all1 and especially the young1 in whose veins the blood dances1 and to whom life is in all its glory and freshness1 are tempted to think of it as all4 ,it does us good to have this vision of the eternal realities blazing in upon us1 even if it seems to glare at us1 rather than to shine with lambent light4 ,the seen is but a thin veil of the unseen4 ,earth1 which we are too apt to make a workshop1 or a mere garden of pleasure1 is a ,bethel1--a house of ,god4 ,everywhere the ladder stands2 everywhere the angels go up and down2 everywhere the ,face looks from the top4 ,nothing will save life from becoming1 sooner or later1 trivial1 monotonous1 and infinitely wearisome1 but the continual vision of the present ,god1 and the continual experience of the swift ascent and descent of our aspirations and ,his blessings4 ,it is the secret of purity too4 ,how could ,jacob indulge in his craft1 and foul his conscience with sin1 as long as he carried the memory of what he had seen in the solitary night on the uplands of ,bethel8 ,the direct result of the vision is the same command as ,abraham received1 ',walk before ,me1 and be thou perfect4' ,realise ,my presence1 and let that kill the motions of sin1 and quicken to service4 ,it is also the secret of peace4 ,hopes and fears1 and dim uncertainty of the future1 no doubt agitated the sleeper's mind as he laid him down4 ,his independent life was beginning4 ,he had just left his father's tents for the first time2 and1 though not a youth in years1 he was in the position which youth holds with us4 ,so to him1 and to all young persons1 here is shown the charm which will keep the heart calm1 and preserve us from being 'over exquisite to cast the fashion of uncertain evils1' or too eagerly longing for possible good4 ',i am with thee' should be enough to steady our souls2 and the confidence that ,god will not leave us till ,he has accomplished ,his own purpose for us1 should make us willing to let ,him do as ,he will with ours4 #b4 ,notice the imperfect reception of the divine teaching4 ,jacob's startled exclamation on awakening from his dream indicates a very low level both of religious knowledge and feeling4 ,nor is there any reason for taking the words in any but their most natural sense2 for it is a mistake to ascribe to him the knowledge of ,god due to later revelation1 or1 at this stage of his life1 any depth of religious emotion4 ,he is alarmed at the thought that ,god is near4 ,probably he had been accustomed to think of ,god's presence as in some special way associated with his father's encampment1 and had not risen to the belief of ,his omnipresence4 ,there seems no joyous leaping up of his heart at the thought that ,god is here4 ,dread1 not unmingled with the superstitious fear that he had profaned a holy place by laying himself down in it1 is his prevailing feeling1 and he pleads ignorance as the excuse for his sacrilege4 ,he does not draw the conclusion from the vision that all the earth is hallowed by a near ,god1 but only that he has unwittingly stumbled on ,his house2 and he does not learn that from every place there is an open door for the loving heart into the calm depths where ,god is throned1 but only that here he unwittingly stands at the gate of heaven4 ,so he misses the very inner purpose of the vision1 and rather shrinks from it than welcomes it4 ,was that spasm of fear all that passed through his mind that night8 ,did he sleep again when the glory died out of the heaven8 ,so the story would appear to suggest4 ,but1 in any case1 we see here the effect of the sudden blazing in upon a heart not yet familiar with the ,divine ,friend1 of the conviction that ,he is really near4 ,gracious as ,god's promise was1 it did not dissipate the creeping awe at ,his presence4 ,it is an eloquent testimony of man's consciousness of sin1 that whensoever a present ,god becomes a reality to a worldly man1 he trembles4 ',this place' would not be 'dreadful1' but blessed1 if it were not for the sense of discord between ,god and me4 ,the morning light brought other thoughts1 when it filled the silent heavens1 and where the ladder had stretched1 there was but empty blue4 ,the lesson is sinking into his mind4 ,he lifts the rude stone and pours oil on it1 as a symbol of consecration1 as nameless races have done all over the world4 ,his vow shows that he had but begun to learn in ,god's school4 ,he hedges about his promise with a punctilious repetition of ,god's undertaking1 as if resolved that there should be no mistake4 ,clause by clause he goes over it all1 and puts an 'if' to it4 ,god's word should have kindled something liker faith than that4 ,what a fall from ',abram believed in the ,lord1 and ,he counted it to him for righteousness'6 ,jacob barely believed1 and will wait to see whether all will turn out as it has been promised4 ,that is not the glad1 swift response of a loving1 trusting heart4 ,nor is he contented with repeating to ,god the terms of his engagement1 but he adds a couple of clauses which strike him as being important1 and as having been omitted4 ,there was nothing about 'bread to eat1 and raiment to put on1' nor about coming back again 'in peace1' so he adds these4 ,a true ',jew1'--great at a bargain1 and determined to get all he can1 and to have no mistake about what he must get before he gives anything6 ,was ,jesus thinking at all of the ancestor when ,he warned the descendants1 in words which sound curiously like an echo of ,jacob's1 not to be anxious 'what ye shall eat1' nor 'what ye shall put on'8 ,as the vow stands in the ,authorised ,version1 it is farther open to the charge of suspending his worship of ,god upon the fulfilment of these conditions2 but it is better to adopt the marginal rendering of the ,revised ,version1 according to which the clause 'then shall the ,lord be my ,god' is a part of the conditions1 not of the vow1 and is to be read ',and if the ,lord will be 444 then this stone 444 shall be1' etc4 ,if this rendering be adopted1 as ,i think it should be1 the vow proper is simply of outward service1--he will rear an altar1 and he will tithe his substance4 ,not a very munificent pledge6 ,and where in it is the surrender of the heart8 ,where is the outgoing of love and gratitude8 ,where the clasping of the hand of his heavenly ,friend with calm rapture of thankful self-yielding1 and steadfastness of implicit trust8 ,god did not want ,jacob's altar1 nor his tenths2 ,he wanted ,jacob4 ,but many a weary year and many a sore sorrow have to leave their marks on him before the evil strain is pressed out of his blood2 and by the unwearied long-suffering of his patient ,friend and ,teacher in heaven1 the crafty1 earthly-minded ,jacob 'the supplanter' is turned into ',israel1 the prince with ,god1 in whom is no guile4' ,the slower the scholar1 the more wonderful the forbearance of the ,teacher2 and the more may we1 who are slow scholars too1 take heart to believe that ,he will not be soon angry with us1 nor leave us until ,he has done that which ,he has spoken to us of4 ,,mahanaim3 ,,the ,,two ,,camps ',and ,jacob went on his way1 and the angels of ,god met him4 ,and when ,jacob saw them1 he said1 ,this is ,god's host3 and he called the name of that place ,mahanaim' 7i4e4 ,two camps74--,,genesis xxxii4 #a1 #b4 ,this vision came at a crisis in ,jacob's life4 ,he has just left the house of ,laban1 his father-in-law1 where he had lived for many years1 and in company with a long caravan1 consisting of wives1 children1 servants1 and all his wealth turned into cattle1 is journeying back again to ,palestine4 ,his road leads him close by the country of ,esau4 ,jacob was no soldier1 and he is naturally terrified to meet his justly incensed brother4 ,and so1 as he plods along with his defenceless company trailing behind him1 as you may see the ,arab caravans streaming over the same uplands to-day1 all at once1 in the middle of his march1 a bright-harnessed army of angels meets him4 ,whether visible to the eye of sense1 or1 as would appear1 only to the eye of faith1 they are visible to this troubled man2 and1 in a glow of confident joy1 he calls the name of that place ',mahanaim1' two camps4 ,one camp was the little one of his down here1 with the helpless women and children and his own frightened and defenceless self1 and the other was the great one up there1 or rather in shadowy but most real spiritual presence around about him1 as a bodyguard making an impregnable wall between him and every foe4 ,we may take some very plain and everlastingly true lessons out of this story4 #a4 ,first1 the angels of ,god meet us on the dusty road of common life4 ',jacob went on his way1 and the angels of ,god met him4' ,as he was tramping along there1 over the lonely fields of ,edom1 with many a thought on his mind and many a fear at his heart1 but feeling ',there is the path that ,i have to walk on1' all at once the air was filled with the soft rustle of angel wings1 and the brightness from the flashing armour of the heavenly hosts flamed across his unexpecting eye4 ,and so is it evermore4 ,the true place for us to receive visions of ,god is in the path of the homely1 prosaic duties which ,he lays upon us4 ,the dusty road is far more likely to be trodden by angel feet than the remote summits of the mountain1 where we sometimes would fain go2 and many an hour consecrated to devotion has less of the manifest presence of ,god than is granted to some weary heart in its commonplace struggle with the little troubles and trials of daily life4 ,these make the doors1 as it were1 by which the visitants draw near to us4 ,it is the common duties1 'the narrow round1 the daily task1' that not only give us 'all we ought to ask1' but are the selected means and channels by which1 ever1 ,god's visitants draw near to us4 ,the man that has never seen an angel standing beside him1 and driving his loom for him1 or helping him at his counter and his desk1 and the woman that has never seen an angel1 according to the bold realism and homely vision of the old ,german picture1 working with her in the kitchen and preparing the meal for the household1 have little chance of meeting such visitants at any other point of their experience or event of their lives4 ,if the week be empty of the angels1 you will never catch sight of a feather of their wings on the ,sunday4 ,and if we do not recognise their presence in the midst of all the prose1 and the commonplace1 and the vulgarity1 and the triviality1 and the monotony1 the dust of the small duties1 we shall go up to the summit of ,sinai itself and see nothing there but cold grey stone and everlasting snows4 ',jacob went on his way1 and the angels of ,god met him4' ,the true field for religion is the field of common life4 ,and then another side of the same thought is this1 that it is in the path where ,god has bade us walk that we shall find the angels round us4 ,we may meet them1 indeed1 on paths of our own choosing1 but it will be the sort of angel that ,balaam met1 with a sword in his hand1 mighty and beautiful1 but wrathful too2 and we had better not front him6 ,but the friendly helpers1 the emissaries of ,god's love1 the apostles of ,his grace1 do not haunt the roads that we make for ourselves4 ,they confine themselves rigidly to 'the paths in which ,god has before ordained that we should walk in them4' ,a man has no right to expect1 and he will not get1 blessing and help and divine gifts when1 self-willedly1 he has taken the bit between his teeth1 and is choosing his own road in the world4 ,but if he will say1 ',lord6 here ,i am2 put me where ,thou wilt1 and do with me what ,thou wilt1' then he may be sure that that path1 though it may be solitary of human companionship1 and leading up amongst barren rocks and over bare moorlands1 where the sun beats down fiercely1 will not be unvisited by a better presence1 so that in sweet consciousness of sufficiency of rich grace1 he will be able to say1 ',i1 being in the way1 the ,lord met me4' #b4 ,still further1 we may draw from this incident the lesson that ,god's angels meet us punctually at the hour of need4 ,jacob is drawing nearer and nearer to his fear every step4 ,he is now just on the borders of ,esau's country1 and close upon opening communications with his brother4 ,at that critical moment1 just before the finger of the clock has reached the point on the dial at which the bell would strike1 the needed help comes1 the angel guards draw near and camp beside him4 ,it is always so4 ',the ,lord shall help her1 and that right early4' ,his hosts come no sooner and no later than we need4 ,if they appeared before we had realised our danger and our defencelessness1 our hearts would not leap up at their coming1 as men in a beleaguered town do when the guns of the relieving force are heard booming from afar4 ,often ,god's delays seem to us inexplicable1 and our prayers to have no more effect than if they were spoken to a sleeping ,baal4 ,but such delays are merciful4 ,they help us to the consciousness of our need4 ,they let us feel the presence of the sorrow4 ,they give opportunity of proving the weakness of all other supports4 ,they test and increase desire for ,his help4 ,they throw us more unreservedly into ,his arms4 ,they afford room for the sorrow or the burden to work its peaceable fruits4 ,so1 and in many other ways1 delay of succour fits us to receive succour1 and our ,god makes no tarrying but for our sakes4 ,it is ,his way to let us come almost to the edge of the precipice1 and then1 in the very nick of time1 when another minute and we are over1 to stretch out ,his strong right hand and save us4 ,so ,peter is left in prison1 though prayer is going up unceasingly for him--and no answer comes4 ,the days of the ,passover feast slip away1 and still he is in prison1 and prayer does nothing for him4 ,the last day of his life1 according to ,herod's purpose1 dawns1 and all the day the ,church lifts up its voice--but apparently there is no answer1 nor any that regarded4 ,the night comes1 and still the vain cry goes up1 and ,heaven seems deaf or apathetic4 ,the night wears on1 and still no help comes4 ,but in the last watch of that last night1 when day is almost dawning1 at nearly the last minute when escape would have been possible1 the angel touches the sleeping ,apostle1 and with leisurely calmness1 as sure that he had ample time1 leads him out to freedom and safety4 ,it was precisely because ,jesus loved the ,household at ,bethany that1 after receiving the sisters' message1 ,he abode still for two days in the same place where ,he was4 ,however our impatience may wonder1 and our faithlessness venture sometimes almost to rebuke ,him when ,he comes1 with words like ,mary's and ,martha's--',lord1 if ,thou hadst been here1 such and such sorrows would not have happened1 and ,thou couldst so easily have been here'--we should learn the lesson that even if ,he has delayed so long that the dreaded blow has fallen1 ,he has come soon enough to make it the occasion for a still more glorious communication of ,his power4 ',rest in the ,lord1 wait patiently for ,him1 and ,he shall give thee the desires of thine heart4' #c4 ,again1 we learn from this incident that the angels of ,god come in the shape which we need4 ,jacob's want at the moment was protection4 ,therefore the angels appear in warlike guise1 and present before the defenceless man another camp1 in which he and his unwieldy caravan of women and children and cattle may find security4 ,if his special want had been of some blessing of another kind1 no doubt another form of appearance1 suited with precision to his need1 would have been imposed upon these angel helpers4 ,for ,god's gifts to us change their character2 as the ,rabbis fabled that the manna tasted to each man what each most desired4 ,the same pure heavenly bread has the varying savour that commends it to varying palates4 ,god's grace is ,protean4 ,it takes all the forms that man's necessities require4 ,as water assumes the shape of any vessel into which it is put1 so this great blessing comes to each of us1 moulded according to the pressure and taking the form of our circumstances and necessities4 ,his fulness is all-sufficient4 ,it is the same blood that1 passing to all the members1 ministers to each according to the needs and fashion of each4 ,and it is the same grace which1 passing to our souls1 in each man is shaped according to his present condition and ministers to his present wants4 ,so1 dear brethren1 in that great fulness each of us may have the thing that we need4 ,the angel who to one man is protection1 to another shall be teaching and inspiration2 to another shall appear with chariots of fire and horses of fire to sweep the rapt soul heavenward2 to another shall draw near as a deliverer from his fetters1 at whose touch the bonds shall fall from off him2 to another shall appear as the instructor in duty and the appointer of a path of service1 like that vision that shone in the castle to the ,apostle ,paul1 and said1 ',thou must bear witness for me at ,rome'2 to another shall appear as opening the door of heaven and letting a flood of light come down upon his darkened heart1 as to the ,apocalyptic seer in his rocky ,patmos4 ,and 'all this worketh that one and the self-same' ,lord of angels 'dividing to every man severally as ,he will1' and as the man needs4 ,the defenceless ,jacob has the manifestation of the divine presence in the guise of armed warriors that guard his unwarlike camp4 ,i add one last word4 ,long centuries after ,jacob's experience at ,mahanaim1 another trembling fugitive found himself there1 fearful1 like ,jacob1 of the vengeance and anger of one who was knit to him by blood4 ,when poor ,king ,david was flying from the face of ,absalom his son1 the first place where he made a stand1 and where he remained during the whole of the rebellion1 was this town of ,mahanaim1 away on the eastern side of the ,jordan4 ,do you not think that to the kingly exile1 in his feebleness and his fear1 the very name of his resting-place would be an omen8 ,would he not recall the old story1 and bethink himself of how round that other frightened man ',bright-harnessed angels stood in order serviceable' and would he not1 as he looked on his little band of friends1 faithful among the faithless1 have his eyesight cleared to behold the other camp8 ,such a vision1 no doubt1 inspired the calm confidence of the psalm which evidently belongs to that dark hour of his life1 and made it possible for the hunted king1 with his feeble band1 to sing even then1 ',i will both lay me down in peace and sleep1 for ,thou1 ,lord1 makest me dwell in safety1 solitary though ,i am4' ,nor is the vision emptied of its power to stay and make brave by all the ages that have passed4 ,the vision was for a moment2 the fact is for ever4 ,the sun's ray was flashed back from celestial armour1 'the next all unreflected shone' on the lonely wastes of the desert--but the host of ,god was there still4 ,the transitory appearance of the permanent realities is a revelation to us as truly as to the patriarch2 and though no angel wings may winnow the air around our road1 nor any sworded seraphim be seen on our commonplace march1 we too have all the armies of heaven with us1 if we tread the path which ,god has marked out1 and in our weakness and trembling commit ourselves to ,him4 ,the heavenly warriors die not1 and hover around us to-day1 excelling in the strength of their immortal youth1 and as ready to succour us as they were all these centuries ago to guard the solitary ,jacob4 ,better still1 the ',captain of the ,lord's host' is 'come up' to be our defence1 and our faith has not only to behold the many ministering spirits sent forth to minister to us1 but ,one mightier than they1 whose commands they all obey1 and who ,himself is the companion of our solitude and the shield of our defencelessness4 ,it was blessed that ,jacob should be met by the many angels of ,god4 ,it is infinitely more blessed that 'the ,angel of the ,lord'--the ,one who is more than the many--'encampeth round about them that fear ,him1 and delivereth them4' ,the postscript of the last letter which ,gordon sent from ,khartoum closed with the words1 ',the hosts are with me--,mahanaim4' ,were they not1 even though death was near8 ,was that sublime faith a mistake--the vision an optical delusion8 ,no1 for their ranks are arrayed around ,god's children to keep them from all evil while ,he wills that they should live1 and their chariots of fire and horses of fire are sent to bear them to heaven when ,he wills that they should die4 ,,the ,,twofold ,,wrestle--,,god',s ,,with ,,jacob ,,and ,,jacob',s ,,with ,,god ',and ,jacob said1 ,o ,god of my father ,abraham1 and ,god of my father ,isaac1 the ,lord which saidst unto me1 ,return unto thy country1 and to thy kindred1 and ,i will deal well with thee3 ,i am not worthy of the least of all the mercies1 and of all the truth1 which ,thou hast shewed unto ,thy servant2 for with my staff ,i passed over this ,jordan2 and now ,i am become two bands4 ,deliver me1 ,i pray thee1 from the hand of my brother1 from the hand of ,esau3 for ,i fear him1 lest he will come and smite me1 and the mother with the children4 ,and ,thou saidst1 ,i will surely do thee good1 and make thy seed as the sand of the sea1 which cannot be numbered for multitude4' --,,genesis xxxii4 #i-ab4 ,jacob's subtlety and craft were1 as is often the case1 the weapons of a timid as well as selfish nature4 ,no wonder1 then1 that the prospect of meeting his wronged and strong brother threw him into a panic1 notwithstanding the vision of the camp of angels by the side of his defenceless caravan of women and children4 ,esau had received his abject message of propitiation in grim silence1 sent no welcome back1 but with ominous haste and ambiguous purpose began his march towards him with a strong force4 ,a few hours will decide whether he means revenge4 ,jacob's fright does not rob him of his ready wit2 he goes to work at once to divide his party1 so as to ensure safety for half of it4 ,he schemes first1 and prays second4 ,the order might have been inverted with advantage1 but is like the man--in the lowest phase of his character4 ,his prayer shows that he is beginning to profit by the long years of schooling4 ,though its burden is only deliverance from ,esau1 it pleads with ,god on the grounds of ,his own command and promise1 of ,jacob's unworthiness of ,god's past mercies1 and of ,his firm covenant4 ,a breath of a higher life is stirring in the shifty schemer who has all his life been living by his wits4 ,now he has come to a point where he knows that his own power can do nothing4 ,with ,laban1 a man of craft like himself1 it was diamond cut diamond2 and ,jacob was equal to the position4 ,but the wild ,bedouin brother1 with his four hundred men1 is not to be managed so2 and ,jacob is driven to ,god by his conscious helplessness4 ,it is the germ1 but only the germ1 and needs much tending and growth before it matures4 ,the process by which this faint dawning of a better life is broadened into day is begun in the mysterious struggle which forms the main part of this lesson1 and is ,god's answer to his prayer4 #a4 ,we have1 first1 the twofold wrestling4 ,the silent night-long wrestle with the 'traveller unknown' is generally regarded as meaning essentially the same thing as the wonderful colloquy which follows4 ,but ,i venture to take a somewhat different point of view1 and to suggest that there are here two well-marked stages4 ,in the first1 which is represented as transacted in unbroken silence1 'a man' wrestles with ,jacob1 and does not prevail2 in the second1 which is represented as an interchange of speech1 ,jacob strives with the 'man1' and does prevail4 ,taken together1 the two are a complete mirror1 not only of the manner of the transformation of ,jacob into ,israel1 but of universal eternal truths as to ,god's dealings with us1 and our power with ,him4 ,as to the former stage1 the language of the narrative is to be noted1 ',there wrestled a man with him4' ,the attack1 so to speak1 begins with his mysterious antagonist1 not with the patriarch4 ,the 'man' seeks to overcome ,jacob1 not ,jacob the man4 ,there1 beneath the deep heavens1 in the solemn silence of night1 which hides earth and reveals heaven1 that strange struggle with an unknown ,presence is carried on4 ,we have no material for pronouncing on the manner of it1 whether ecstasy1 vision1 or an objective and bodily fact4 ,the body was implicated in the consequences1 at all events1 and the impression which the story leaves is of an outward struggle4 ,but the purpose of the incident is the same1 however the question as to its form be answered4 ,nor can we pronounce1 as some have done1 on the other question1 of the personality of the silent wrestler4 ,angel1 or 'the angel of the covenant1' who is a transient1 and possibly only apparent1 manifestation in human form of ,him who afterwards became flesh and dwelt among us1 or some other supernatural embodiment1 for that one purpose1 of the divine presence1--any of these hypotheses is consistent with the intentionally reticent text4 ,what it leaves unspoken1 we shall wisely leave undetermined4 ,god acts and speaks through 'the man4' ,that is all we can know or need4 ,what1 then1 was the meaning of this struggle8 ,was it not a revelation to ,jacob of what ,god had been doing with him all his life1 and was still doing8 ,was not that merciful striving of ,god with him the inmost meaning of all that had befallen him since the far-off day when he had left his father's tents1 and had seen the opened heavens1 and the ladder1 which he had so often forgotten8 ,were not his disappointments1 his successes1 and all the swift changes of life1 ,god's attempts to lead him to yield himself up1 and bow his will8 ,and was not ,god striving with him now1 in the anxieties which gnawed at his heart1 and in his dread of the morrow8 ,was ,he not trying to teach him how crime always comes home to roost1 with a brood of pains running behind it8 ,was not the weird duel in the brooding stillness a disclosure1 which would more and more possess his soul as the night passed on1 of a ,presence which in silence strove with him1 and only desired to overcome that ,he might bless8 ,the conception of a ,divine manifestation wrestling all night long with a man has been declared 'crude1' 'puerile1' and ,i know not how many other disparaging adjectives have been applied to it4 ,but is it more unworthy of ,him1 or derogatory to ,his nature1 than the lifelong pleading and striving with each of us1 which ,he undoubtedly carries on8 ,the idea of a man contending with ,god has been similarly stigmatised2 but is it more mysterious than that awful power which the human will does possess of setting at naught ,his counsels and resisting ,his merciful strivings8 ,the close of the first stage of the twofold wrestle is marked by the laming of ,jacob4 ,the paradox that ,he1 who could not overcome1 could yet lame by a touch1 is part of the lesson4 ,if ,his finger could do that1 what would the grip of ,his hand do1 if ,he chose to put out ,his power8 ,it is not for want of strength that ,he has not crushed the antagonist1 as ,jacob would feel1 with deepening wonder and awe4 ,what a new light would be thus thrown on all the previous struggle6 ,it was the striving of a power which cared not for a mere outward victory1 nor put forth its whole force1 lest it should crush him whom it desired to conquer only by his own yielding4 ,as ,job says1 ',will ,he plead against me with ,his great power8' ,no2 ,god mercifully restrains ,his hand1 in ,his merciful striving with men4 ,desiring to overcome them1 ,he desires not to do so by mere superior power1 but by their willing yielding to ,him4 ,that laming of ,jacob's thigh represents the weakening of all the life of nature and self which had hitherto been his4 ,he had trusted to his own cunning and quick-wittedness2 he had been shrewd1 not over-scrupulous1 and successful4 ,but he had to learn that 'by strength shall no man prevail1' and to forsake his former weapons4 ,wrestling with his hands and limbs is not the way to prevail either with ,god or man4 ,fighting with ,god in his own strength1 he is only able to thwart ,god's merciful purpose towards him1 but is powerless as a reed in a giant's grasp if ,god chooses to summon ,his destructive powers into exercise4 ,so this failure of natural power is the turning-point in the twofold wrestle1 and marks as well as symbolises the transition in ,jacob's life and character from reliance upon self and craft to reliance upon his divine ,antagonist become his ,friend4 ,it is the path by which we must all travel if we are to become princes with ,god4 ,the life of nature and of dependence on self must be broken and lamed in order that1 in the very moment of discovered impotence1 we may grasp the hand that smites1 and find immortal power flowing into our weakness from it4 #b4 ,so we come to the second stage1 in which ,jacob strives with ,god and does prevail4 ',let me go1 for the day breaketh4' ,then did the stranger wish to go2 and if he did1 why could not he1 who had lamed his antagonist1 loose himself from his grasp8 ,the same explanation applies here which is required in reference to ,christ's action to the two disciples at ,emmaus3 ',he made as though ,he would have gone further4' ,in like manner1 when ,he came to them on the water1 ,he appeared as though ,he 'would have passed by4' ,in all three cases the principle is the same4 ,god desires to go1 if we do not desire ,him to stay4 ,he will go1 unless we keep ,him4 ,then1 at last1 ,jacob betakes himself to his true weapons4 ,then1 at last1 he strangely wishes to keep his apparent foe4 ,he has learned1 in some dim fashion1 whom he has been resisting1 and the blessedness of having ,him for friend and companion4 ,so here comes in the account of the whole scene which ,hosea gives 7,hos4 xii4 #d73 ',he wept1 and made supplication unto ,him4' ,that does not describe the earlier portion1 but is the true rendering of the later stage1 of which our narrative gives a more summary account4 ,the desire to retain ,god binds ,him to us4 ,all ,his struggling with us has been aimed at evoking it1 and all ,his fulness responds to it when evoked4 ,prayer is power4 ,it conquers ,god4 ,we overcome ,him when we yield4 ,when we are vanquished1 we are victors4 ,when the life of nature is broken within us1 then from conscious weakness springs the longing which ,god cannot but satisfy4 ',when ,i am weak1 then am ,i strong4' ,as ,charles ,wesley puts it1 in his grand hymn on this incident3-- ',yield to me now1 for ,i am weak1 ,but confident in self-despair4' ,and ,god prevails when we prevail4 ,his aim in all the process of ,his mercy has been but to overcome our heavy earthliness and selfishness1 which resists ,his pleading love4 ,his victory is our yielding1 and1 in that yielding1 obtaining power with ,him4 ,he delights to be held by the hand of faith1 and ever gladly yields to the heart's cry1 ',abide with me4' ,i will not let ,thee go1 except ,thou bless me1' is music to ,his ear2 and our saying so1 in earnest1 persistent clinging to ,him1 is ,his victory as well as ours4 #c4 ,we have1 next1 the new name1 which is the prize of ,jacob's victory1 and the sign of a transformation in his character4 ,before this time he had been ,jacob1 the worker with wiles1 who supplanted his brother1 and met his foes with duplicity and astuteness like their own4 ,he had been mainly of the earth1 earthy4 ,but that solemn hour had led him into the presence-chamber1 the old craft had been mortally wounded1 he had seen some glimpse of ,god as his friend1 whose presence was not 'awful1' as he had thought it long ago1 nor enigmatical and threatening1 as he had at first deemed it that night1 but the fountain of blessing and the one thing needful4 ,a man who has once learned that lesson1 though imperfectly1 has passed into a purer region1 and left behind him his old crookedness4 ,he has learned to pray1 not as before1 prayers for mere deliverance from ,esau and the like1 but his whole being has gone out in yearning for the continual nearness of his mysterious antagonist-friend4 ,so1 though still the old nature remains1 its power is broken1 and he is a new creature4 ,therefore he needs a new name1 and gets it from ,him who can name men1 because ,he sees the heart's depths1 and because ,he has the right over them4 ,to impose a name is the sign of authority1 possession1 insight into character4 ,the change of name indicates a new epoch in a life1 or a transformation of the inner man4 ,the meaning of ',israel' is ',he 7who7 strives with ,god'2 and the reason for its being conferred is more accurately given by the ,revised ,version1 which translates1 ',for thou hast striven with ,god and with men1' than in the ,authorised rendering4 ,his victory with ,god involved the certainty of his power with men4 ,all his life he had been trying to get the advantage of them1 and to conquer them1 not by spear and sword1 but by his brains4 ,but now the true way to true sway among men is opened to him4 ,all men are the servants of the servant and the friend of ,god4 ,he who has the ear of the emperor is master of many men4 ,jacob is not always called ,israel in his subsequent history4 ,his new name was a name of character and of spiritual standing1 and that might fluctuate1 and the old self resume its power2 so he is still called by the former appellation1 just as1 at certain points in his life1 the apostle forfeits the right to be ',peter1' and has to hear from ,christ's lips the old name1 the use of which is more poignant than many reproachful words2 ',simon1 ,simon1 behold1 ,satan hath desired to have you4' ,but in the last death-bed scene1 when the patriarch lifted himself in his bed1 and with prophetic dignity pronounced his parting benediction on ,joseph's sons1 the new name reappears with solemn pathos4 ,that name was transmitted to his descendants1 and has passed over to the company of believing men1 who have been overcome by ,god1 and have prevailed with ,god4 ,it is a charter and a promise4 ,it is a stringent reminder of duty and a lofty ideal4 ,a true ,christian is an ',israel4' ,his office is to wrestle with ,god4 ,nor can we forget how this mysterious scene was repeated in yet more solemn fashion1 beneath the gnarled olives of ,gethsemane1 glistening in the light of the paschal full moon1 when the true ,israel prayed with such sore crying and tears that ,his body partook of the struggle1 and ',his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground4' ,the word which describes ,christ's agony is that which is often rendered 'wrestling1' and perhaps is selected with intentional allusion to this incident4 ,at all events1 when we think of ,jacob by the brook ,jabbok1 and of a 'greater than our father ,jacob' by the brook ,kedron1 we may well learn what persistence1 what earnestness and effort of the whole nature1 go to make up the ideal of prayer1 and may well blush for the miserable indifference and torpor of what we venture to call our prayers4 ,these are our patterns1 'as many as walk according to this rule1' and are thereby shown to be 'the ,israel of ,god1'--upon them shall be peace4 #d4 ,we have1 as the end of all1 a deepened desire after closer knowledge of ,god1 and the answer to it4 ,some expositors 7as1 for instance1 ,robertson of ,brighton1 in his impressive sermon on this section7 take the closing petition1 ',tell me1 ,i pray thee1 ,thy name1' as if it were the centre point of the whole incident4 ,but this is obviously a partial view4 ,the desire to know that name does not come to ,jacob1 as we might have expected1 when he was struggling with his unknown foe in the dark there4 ,it is the end1 and1 in some sense1 the issue1 of all that has gone before4 ,not that he was in any doubt as to the person to whom he spoke2 it is just because he knows that he is speaking with ,god1 who alone can bless1 that he longs to have some deeper1 clearer knowledge still of ,him4 ,he is not asking for a word by which he may call ,him2 the name is the expression of the nature1 and his parting request is for something far more intimate and deep than syllables which could be spoken by any lips4 ,the certain sequel of the discovery of ,god as striving in mercy with a man1 and of yielding to him1 is the thirst for deeper acquaintance with ,him1 and for a fuller1 more satisfying knowledge of ,his inmost heart4 ,if the season of mysterious intercourse must cease1 and day hide more than it discloses1 and ,jacob go to face ,esau1 and we come down from the mount to sordid cares and mean tasks1 at least we long to bear with us as a love-token some whisper in our inmost hearts that may cheer us with the peaceful truth about ,him and be a hidden sweetness4 ,the presence of such a desire is a sure consequence1 and therefore a good test1 of real prayer4 ,the ,divine answer1 which sounds at first like refusal1 is anything but that4 ,why dost thou ask after ,my name8 surely ,i need not to give thee more revelation of ,my character4 ,thou hast enough of light2 what thou needest is insight into what thou hast already4 ,we have in what ,god has made known of ,himself already to us--both in ,his outward revelation1 which is so much larger and sweeter to us than it was to ,jacob1 but also in ,his providences1 and in the inward communion which we have with ,him if we have let ,him overcome us1 and have gained power to prevail with ,him--sources of certain knowledge of ,him so abundant and precious that we need nothing but the loving eye which shall take in all their beauty and completeness1 to have our most eager desires after ,his name more than satisfied4 ,we need not ask for more sunshine1 but take care to spread ourselves out in the full sunshine which we have1 and let it drench our eyes and fire our hearts4 ',and ,he blessed him there4' ,not till now was he capable of receiving the full blessing4 ,he needed to have self beaten out of him2 he needed to recognise ,god as lovingly striving with ,him2 he needed to yield himself up to ,him2 he needed to have his heart thus cleansed and softened1 and then opened wide by panting desire for the presence and benediction of ,god2 he needed to be made conscious of his new standing1 and of the higher life budding within him2 he needed to experience the yearning for a closer vision of the face1 a deeper knowledge of the name1--and then it was possible to pour into his heart a tenderness and fulness of blessing which before there had been no room to receive1 and which now answered in sweetest fashion the else unanswered desire1 ',tell me1 ,i pray thee1 ,thy name4' ,in like manner we may each be blessed with the presence and benediction of ,him whose merciful strivings1 when we knew ,him not1 came to us in the darkness2 and to whom1 if we yield1 there will be peace and power in our hearts1 and upon us1 too1 the sun will rise as we pass from the place where our foe became our friend1 and by faith we saw ,him face to face1 and drank in life by the gaze4 ,a ,,forgotten ,,vow ',arise1 go up to ,beth-el1 and dwell there3 and make there an altar unto ,god1 that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of ,esau thy brother1' ,,genesis ,,xxxv4 #a4 ,thirty years at least had passed since ,jacob's vow2 ten or twenty since his return4 ,he is in no haste to fulfil it1 but has settled down at ,shechem and bought land there1 and seems to have forgotten all about ,bethel4 #a4 ,the lesson of possible negligence4 7a7 ,we are apt to forget vows when ,god has fulfilled ,his side of them4 ,resolutions made in time of trouble are soon forgotten4 ,we pray and think about ,god more then than when things go well with us4 ,religion is in many men's judgment for stormy weather only4 7b7 ,we are often more resolved to make sacrifices in the beginning of our ,christian course than afterwards4 ,many a brilliant morning is followed by cloudy day4 ,youth is often full of enthusiasms which after-days forget4 #b4 ,the reasons for the negligence4 ,jacob felt a gradual fading away of impressions of need4 ,he was comfortably settled at ,shechem4 ,he was surrounded by a wild1 godless household who cherished their idols1 and he knew that if he went to ,bethel idolatry must be given up4 #c4 ,the essentials to communion and service4 ,surrender4 ,purity4 ,must bury idols under oak4 #d4,the reward of sacrifice and of duty discharged4 ,the renewed appearance of ,god4 ,the confirmation of name ,israel4 ,enlarged promises4 ,so the old man's vision may be better than the youth's1 if he lives up to his youthful vows4 ,,the ,,trials ,,and ,,visions ,,of ,,devout ,,youth ',and ,jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger1 in the land of ,canaan4 ,these are the generations of ,jacob4 ,joseph1 being seventeen years old1 was feeding the flock with his brethren2 and the lad was with the sons of ,bilhah1 and with the sons of ,zilpah1 his father's wives3 and ,joseph brought unto his father their evil report4 ,now ,israel loved ,joseph more than all his children1 because he was the son of his old age3 and he made him a coat of many colours4 ,and when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren1 they hated him1 and could not speak peaceably unto him4 ,and ,joseph dreamed a dream1 and he told it his brethren3 and they hated him yet the more4 ,and he said unto them1 ,hear1 ,i pray you1 this dream which ,i have dreamed3 ,for1 behold1 we were binding sheaves in the field1 and1 lo1 my sheaf arose1 and also stood upright2 and1 behold1 your sheaves stood round about1 and made obeisance to my sheaf4 ,and his brethren said to him1 ,shalt thou indeed reign over us8 or shalt thou ,indeed have dominion over us8 ,and they hated him yet the more for his dreams1 and for his words4 ,and he dreamed yet another dream1 and told it his brethren1 and said1 ,behold1 ,i have dreamed a dream more2 and behold1 the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me4 ,and he told it to his father1 and to his brethren3 and his father rebuked him1 and said unto him1 ,what is this dream that thou hast dreamed8 ,shall ,i and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth8 ,and his brethren envied him2 but his father observed the saying4'--,,genesis xxxvii4 #a-aa4 ',the generations of ,jacob' are mainly occupied with the history of ,joseph1 because through him mainly was the divine purpose carried on4 ,jacob is now the head of the chosen family1 since ,isaac's death 7,gen4 xxxv4 #bi71 and therefore the narrative is continued under that new heading4 ,there may possibly be intended a contrast in 'dwelt' and 'sojourned' in verse #a1 the former implying a more complete settling down4 ,there are two principal points in this narrative1--the sad insight that it gives into the state of the household in which so much of the world's history and hopes was wrapped up1 and the preludings of ,joseph's future in his dreams4 ,as to the former1 the account of it is introduced by the statement that ,joseph1 at seventeen years of age1 was set to work1 according to the wholesome ,eastern usage1 and so was thrown into the company of the sons of the two slave-women1 ,bilhah and ,zilpah4 ,delitzsch understands 'lad' in verse #b in the sense in which we use 'boy1' as meaning an attendant4 ,joseph was1 then1 told off to be subordinate to these two sets of his rough brothers4 ,the relationship was enough to rouse hatred in such coarse souls4 ,and1 indeed1 the history of ,jacob's household strikingly illustrates the miserable evils of polygamy1 which makes families within the family1 and turns brothers into enemies4 ,bilhah's and ,zilpah's sons reflected in their hatred of ,rachel's their mothers' envy of the true wife of ,jacob's heart4 ,the sons of the bondwoman were sure to hate the sons of the free4 ,if ,joseph had been like his brothers1 they would have forgiven him his mother4 ,but he was horrified at his first glimpse of unrestrained young passions1 and1 in the excitement of disgust and surprise1 'told their evil report4' ,no doubt1 his brothers had been unwilling enough to be embarrassed by his presence1 for there is nothing that wild young men dislike more than the constraint put on them by the presence of an innocent youth2 and when they found out that this 'milk-sop' of a brother was a spy and a telltale1 their wrath blazed up4 ,so ,joseph had early experience of the shock which meets all young men who have been brought up in godly households when they come into contact with sin in fellow-clerks1 servants1 students1 or the like4 ,it is a sharp test of what a young man is made of1 to come forth from the shelter of a father's care and a mother's love1 and to be forced into witnessing and hearing such things as go on wherever a number of young men are thrown together4 ,be not 'partaker of other men's sins4' ,and the trial is doubly great when the tempters are elder brothers1 and the only way to escape their unkindness is to do as they do4 ,joseph had an early experience of the need of resistance2 and1 as long as the world is a world1 love to ,god will mean hatred from its worst elements4 ,if we are 'sons of the day1' we cannot but rebuke the darkness4 ,it is an invidious office to tell other people's evil-doing1 and he who brings evil reports of others generally and deservedly gets one for himself4 ,but there are circumstances in which to do so is plain duty1 and only a mistaken sense of honour keeps silence4 ,but there must be no exaggeration1 malice1 or personal ends in the informer4 ,classmates in school or college1 fellow-servants1 employees in great businesses1 and the like1 have not only a duty of loyalty to one another1 but of loyalty to their superior4 ,we are sometimes bound to be blind to1 and dumb about1 our associates' evil deeds1 but sometimes silence makes us accomplices4 ,jacob had a right to know1 and ,joseph would have been wrong if he had not told him1 the truth about his brothers4 ,their hatred shows that his purity had made their doing wrong more difficult4 ,it is a grand thing when a young man's presence deprives the ,devil of elbow-room for his tricks4 ,how much restraining influence such a one may exert6 ,jacob's somewhat foolish love1 and still more foolish way of showing it1 made matters worse4 ,there were many excuses for him4 ,he naturally clung to the son of his lost but never-forgotten first love1 and as naturally found1 in ,joseph's freedom from the vices of his other sons1 a solace and joy4 ,it has been suggested that the 'long garment with sleeves1' in which he decked the lad1 indicated an intention of transferring the rights of the first-born to him1 but in any case it meant distinguishing affection2 and the father or mother who is weak enough to show partiality in the treatment of children need not wonder if their unwise love creates bitter heart-burnings4 ,perhaps1 if ,bilhah's and ,zilpah's sons had had a little more sunshine of a father's love1 they would have borne brighter flowers and sweeter fruit4 ,it is fatal when a child begins to suspect that a parent is not fair4 ,so these surly brothers1 who could not even say ',peace be to thee6' 7the common salutation7 when they came across ,joseph1 had a good deal to say for themselves4 ,it is a sad picture of the internal feuds of the house from which all nations were to be blessed4 ,the ,bible does not idealise its characters1 but lets us see the seamy side of the tapestry1 that we may the more plainly recognise the ,mercy which forgives1 and the mighty ,providence which works through1 such imperfect men4 ,but the great lesson for all young people from the picture of ,joseph's early days1 when his whiteness rebuked the soiled lives of his brothers1 as new-fallen snow the grimy cake1 hardened and soiled on the streets1 is1 ',my son1 if sinners entice thee1 consent thou not4' ,never mind a world's hatred1 if you have a father's love4 ,there is one ,father who can draw ,his obedient children into the deepest secrets of ,his heart without withholding their portion from the most prodigal4 ,joseph's dreams are the other principal point in the narrative4 ,the chief incidents of his life turn on dreams1--his own1 his fellow-prisoners'1 ,pharaoh's4 ,the narrative recognises them as divinely sent1 and no higher form of divine communication appears to have been made to ,joseph1 ,he received no new revelations of religious truth4 ,his mission was1 not to bring fresh messages from heaven1 but to effect the transference of the nation to ,egypt4 ,hence the lower form of the communications made to him4 ,the meaning of both dreams is the same1 but the second goes beyond the first in the grandeur of the emblems1 and in the inclusion of the parents in the act of obeisance4 ,both sets of symbols were drawn from familiar sights4 ,the homeliness of the 'sheaves' is in striking contrast with the grandeur of the 'sun1 moon1 and stars4' ,the interpretation of the first is ready to hand1 because the sheaves were 'your sheaves' and 'my sheaf4' ,there was no similar key included in the second1 and his brothers do not appear to have caught its meaning4 ,it was ,jacob who read it4 ,probably ,rachel was dead when the dream came1 but that need not make a difficulty4 ,note that ,joseph did not tell his dreams with elation1 or with a notion that they meant anything particular4 ,it is plainly the singularity of them that makes him repeat them1 as is clearly indicated by the repeated 'behold' in his two reports4 ,with perfect innocence of intention1 and as he would have told any other strange dream1 the lad repeats them4 ,the commentary was the work of his brothers1 who were ready to find proofs of his being put above them1 and of his wish to humiliate them1 in anything he said or did4 ,they were wiser than he was4 ,perhaps they suspected that ,jacob meant to set him at the head of the clan on his decease1 and that the dreams were trumped up and told to them to prepare them for the decision which the special costume may have already hinted4 ,at all events1 hatred is very suspicious1 and ready to prick up its ears at every syllable that seems to speak of the advancement of its object4 ,there is a world of contempt1 rage1 and fear in the questions1 ',shalt thou indeed reign over us8 or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us8' ,the conviction that ,joseph was marked out by ,god for a high position seems to have entered these rough souls1 and to have been fuel to fire4 ,hatred and envy make a perilous mixture4 ,any sin can come from a heart drenched with these4 ,jacob seems to have been wise enough to make light of the dreams to the lad1 though much of them in his heart4 ,youthful visions of coming greatness are often best discouraged4 ,the surest way to secure their fulfilment is to fill the present with strenuous1 humble work4 ',do the duty that is nearest thee4' ',the true apprenticeship for a ruler is to serve4' ',act1 act1 in the living present4' ,the sheaves may come to bow down some day1 but 'my sheaf' has to be cut and bound first1 and the sooner the sickle is among the corn1 the better4 ,but yet1 on the other hand1 let young hearts be true to their early visions1 whether they say much about them or not4 ,probably it will be wisest to keep silence4 ,but there shine out to many young men and women1 at their start in life1 bright possibilities of no ignoble sort1 and rising higher than personal ambition1 which it is the misery and sin of many to see 'fade away into the light of common day1' or into the darkness of night4 ,be not 'disobedient to the heavenly vision'2 for the dreams of youth are often the prophecies of what ,god means and makes it possible for the dreamer to be1 if he wakes to work towards that fair thing which shone on him from afar4 ,,man',s ,,passions ,,and ,,god',s ,,purpose ',and it came to pass1 when ,joseph was come unto his brethren1 that they stript ,joseph out of his coat1 his coat of many colours that was on him2 ,and they took him1 and cast him into a pit3 and the pit was empty1 there was no water in it4 ,and they sat down to eat bread3 and they lifted up their eyes and looked1 and1 behold1 a company of ,ishmeelites came from ,gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh1 going to carry it down to ,egypt4 ,and ,judah said unto his brethren1 ,what profit is it if we slay our brother1 and conceal his blood6 ,come1 and let us sell him to the ,ishmeelites1 and let not our hand be upon him2 for he is our brother and our flesh4 ,and his brethren were content4 ,then there passed by ,midianites merchantmen2 and they drew and lifted up ,joseph out of the pit1 and sold ,joseph to the ,ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver3 and they brought ,joseph into ,egypt4 ,and ,reuben returned unto the pit2 and1 behold1 ,joseph was not in the pit2 and he rent his clothes4 ,and he returned unto his brethren1 and said1 ,the child is not2 and ,i1 whither shall ,i go8 ,and they took ,joseph's coat1 and killed a kid of the goats1 and dipped the coat in the blood2 ,and they sent the coat of many colours1 and they brought it to their father2 and said1 ,this have we found3 know now whether it be thy son's coat or no4 ,and he knew it1 and said1 ,it is my son's coat2 an evil beast hath devoured him2 ,joseph is without doubt rent in pieces4 ,and ,jacob rent his clothes1 and put sackcloth upon his loins1 and mourned for his son many days4 ,and all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him2 but he refused to be comforted2 and he said1 ,for ,i will go down into the grave unto my son mourning4 ,thus his father wept for him4 ,and the ,midianites sold him into ,egypt unto ,potiphar1 an officer of ,pharaoh's and captain of the guard4'--,,genesis xxxvii4 #bc-cf4 ,we have left the serene and lofty atmosphere of communion and saintship far above us4 ,this narrative takes us down into foul depths4 ,it is a hideous story of vulgar hatred and cruelty4 ,god's name is never mentioned in it2 and he is as far from the actors' thoughts as from the writer's words4 ,the crime of the brothers is the subject1 and the picture is painted in dark tones to teach large truths about sin4 #a4 ,the broad teaching of the whole story1 which is ever being reiterated in ,old ,testament incidents1 is that ,god works out ,his great purposes through even the crimes of unconscious men4 ,there is an irony1 if we may so say1 in making the hatred of these men the very means of their brother's advancement1 and the occasion of blessing to themselves4 ,as coral insects work1 not knowing the plan of their reef1 still less the fair vegetation and smiling homes which it will one day carry1 but blindly building from the material supplied by the ocean a barrier against it2 so even evil-doers are carrying on ,god's plan1 and sin is made to counterwork itself1 and be the black channel through which the flashing water of life pours4 ,joseph's words 7,gen4 #a4 #bj7 give the point of view for the whole story3 ',ye thought evil against me2 but ,god meant it unto good 444 to save much people alive4' ,we can scarcely forget the still more wonderful example of the same thing1 in the crime of crimes1 when his brethren slew the ,son of ,god--like ,joseph1 the victim of envy--and1 by their crime1 ,god's counsel of mercy for them and for all was fulfilled4 #b4 ,following the narrative1 verses #bc1 #bd1 and #be show us the poisonous fruit of brotherly hatred4 ,the family1 not the nation1 is the social unit in ,genesis4 ,from the beginning1 we find the field on which sin works is the family relation4 ,cain and ,abel1 ,ishmael and ,isaac1 ,esau and ,jacob1 and now the other children of ,jacob and ,joseph1 attest the power of sin when it enters there1 and illustrate the principle that the corruption of the best is the worst4 ,the children of ,rachel could not but be hated by the children of other mothers4 ,jacob's undisguised partiality for ,joseph was a fault too1 which wrought like yeast on the passions of his wild sons4 ,the long-sleeved garment which he gave to the lad probably meant to indicate his purpose to bestow on him the right of the first-born forfeited by ,reuben1 and so the violent rage which it excited was not altogether baseless4 ,the whole miserable household strife teaches the rottenness of the polygamous relation on which it rested1 and the folly of paternal favouritism4 ,so it carries teaching especially needed then1 but not out of date now4 ,the swift passage of the purely inward sin of jealous envy into the murderous act1 as soon as opportunity offered1 teaches the short path which connects the inmost passions with the grossest outward deeds4 ,like ,jonah's gourd1 the smallest seed of hate needs but an hour or two of favouring weather to become a great tree1 with all obscene and blood-seeking birds croaking in its branches4 ',whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer1' ,therefore the solemn need for guarding the heart from the beginnings of envy1 and for walking in love4 ,the clumsy contrivance for murder without criminality1 which ,reuben suggested1 is an instance of the shallow pretexts with which the sophistry of sin fools men before they have done the wrong thing4 ,sin's mask is generally dropped very soon after4 ,the bait is useless when the hook is well in the fish's gills4 ',don't let us kill him4 ,let us put him into a cistern4 ,he cannot climb up its bottle-shaped1 smooth sides4 ,but that is not our fault4 ,nobody will ever hear his muffled cries from its depths4 ,but there will be no blood on our hands4' ,it was not the first time1 nor is it the last1 that men have tried to blink their responsibility for the consequences which they hoped would come of their crimes4 ,such excuses seem sound when we are being tempted2 but1 as soon as the rush of passion is past1 they are found to be worthless4 ,like some cheap castings1 they are only meant to be seen in front1 where they are rounded and burnished4 ,get behind them1 and you find them hollow4 ',they sat down to eat bread1' ,thomas ,fuller pithily says3 ',with what heart could they say grace1 either before or after meat8' ,what a grim meal6 ,and what an indication of their rude natures1 seared consciences1 and deadened affections6 ,this picture of the moral condition of the fathers of the ,jewish tribes is surely a strong argument for the historical accuracy of the narrative4 ,it would be strange if the legends of a race1 instead of glorifying1 should blacken1 the characters of its founders4 ,no motive can be alleged which would explain such a picture2 its only explanation is its truth4 ,the ugly story1 too1 throws vivid light on that thought1 which prophets ever reiterated1 'not for your sakes1 but for ,my name's sake4' ,the divine choice of ,israel was grounded1 not on merit1 but on sovereign purpose4 ,and the undisguised plainness of the narrative of their sins is but of a piece with the tone of ,scripture throughout4 ,it never palliates the faults even of its best men4 ,it tells its story without comment4 ,it never indulges in condemnation any more than in praise4 ,it is a perfect mirror2 its office is to record1 not to criticise4 ,many misconceptions of ,old ,testament morality would have been avoided by keeping that simple fact in view4 #c4 ,the ill-omened meal is interrupted by the sudden appearance1 so picturesquely described1 of the caravan of ,ishmaelites with their loaded camels4 ,dothan was on or near the great trade route to ,egypt1 where luxury1 and especially the custom of embalming1 opened a profitable market for spices4 ,the traders would probably not be particular as to the sort of merchandise they picked up on their road1 and such an 'unconsidered trifle' as a slave or two would be neither here nor there4 ,this opportune advent of the caravan sets a thought buzzing in ,judah's brain1 which brings out a new phase of the crime4 ,hatred darkening to murder is bad enough2 but hatred which has also an eye to business1 and makes a profit out of a brother1 is a shade or two blacker1 because it means cold-blooded calculation and selfish advantage instead of raging passion4 ,judah's cynical question avows the real motive of his intervention4 ,he prefers the paltry gain from selling ,joseph to the unprofitable luxury of killing him4 ,it brings in regard to brotherly ties at the end1 as a kind of homage paid to propriety1 as if the obligations they involved were not broken as really by his proposal as by murder4 ,certainly it is strange logic which can say in one breath1 ',let us sell him2 444 for he is our brother1' and finds the clause between buffer enough to keep these two contradictories from collision4 ,if any touch of conscience made the brothers prefer the less cruel alternative1 one can only see here another illustration of the strange power which men have of limiting the working of conscience1 and of the fact that when a greater sin has been resolved on1 a smaller one gets to look almost like a virtue4 ,perhaps ,judah and the rest actually thought themselves very kind and brotherly when they put their brother into strangers' power1 and so went back to their meal with renewed cheerfulness1 both because they had gained their end without bloodshed1 and because they had got the money4 ,they did not think that every tear and pang which ,joseph would shed and feel would be laid at their door4 ,we do not suppose that ,joseph was meant to be1 in the accurate sense of the word1 a type of ,christ4 ,but the coincidence is not to be passed by1 that these same powerful motives of envy and of greed were combined in ,his case too1 and that there again a ,judah 7,judas7 appears as the agent of the perfidy4 ,we may note that the appearance of the traders in the nick of time1 suggesting the sale of ,joseph1 points the familiar lesson that the opportunity to do ill deeds often makes ill deeds done4 ,the path for entering on evil is made fatally easy at first2 that gate always stands wide4 ,the ,devil knows how to time his approaches4 ,a weak nature1 with an evil bias in it1 finds everywhere occasions and suggestions to do wrong4 ,but it is the evil nature which makes innocent things opportunities for evil4 ,therefore we have to be on our guard1 as knowing that if we fall it is not circumstances1 but ourselves1 that made stumbling-blocks out of what might have been stepping-stones4 #d4 ,leaving ,joseph to pursue his sad journey1 our narrative introduces for the first time ,reuben1 whose counsel1 as the verses before the text tell us1 it had been to cast the poor lad into the cistern4 ,his motive had been altogether good2 he wished to save life1 and as soon as the others were out of the way1 to bring ,joseph up again and get him safely back to ,jacob4 ,in chapter xlii4 #bb1 ,reuben himself reminds his brothers of what had passed4 ,there he says that he had besought them not to 'sin against the child1' which naturally implies that he had wished them to do nothing to him1 and that they 'would not hear4' ,in the verses before the text he proposes the compromise of the pit1 and the others 'hear4' ,so there seem to have been two efforts made by him--first1 to shield ,joseph from any harm1 and then that half-and-half measure which was adopted4 ,he is absent1 while they carry out the plan1 and from the cruel merriment of the feast--perhaps watching his opportunity to rescue1 perhaps in sickness of heart and protest against the deed4 ,well meant and kindly motived as his action was--and self-sacrificing too1 if1 as is probable1 ,joseph was meant by ,jacob as his successor in the forfeited birthright--his scheme breaks down1 as attempts to mitigate evil by compliance and to make compromises with sinners usually do4 ,the only one of the whole family who had some virtue in him1 was too timid to take up a position of uncompromising condemnation4 ,he thought it more polite to go part of the way1 and to trust to being able to prevent the worst4 ,that is always a dangerous experiment4 ,it is often tried still2 it never answers4 ,let a man stand to his guns1 and speak out the condemnation that is in his heart2 otherwise1 he will be sure to go farther than he meant1 he will lose all right of remonstrance1 and will generally find that the more daring sinners have made his well-meant schemes to avert the mischief impossible4 #e4 ,the cruel trick by which ,jacob was deceived is perhaps the most heartless bit of the whole heartless crime4 ,it came as near an insult as possible4 ,it was maliciously meant4 ,the snarl about the coat1 the studied use of 'thy son' as if the brothers disowned the brotherhood1 the unfeeling harshness of choosing such a way of telling their lie--all were meant to give the maximum of pain1 and betray their savage hatred of father and son1 and its causes4 ,was ,reuben's mouth shut all this time8 ,evidently4 ,from his language in chapter xlii41 ',his blood is required1' he seems to have believed until then that ,joseph had been killed in his absence4 ,but he dared not speak4 ,had he told what he did know1 the brothers had but to add1 ',and he proposed it himself1' and his protestations of his good intentions would have been unheeded4 ,he believed his brother dead1 and perhaps thought it better that ,jacob should think him slain by wild beasts than by brothers' hands1 as ,reuben supposed him to be4 ,but his shut mouth teaches again how dangerous his policy had been1 and how the only road1 which it is safe1 in view of the uncertainties of the future1 to take1 is the plain road of resistance to evil and non-fellowship with its doers4 #f4 ,and what of the poor old father8 ,his grief is unworthy of ,god's wrestler4 ,it is not the part of a devout believer in ,god's providence to refuse to be comforted4 ,there was no religious submission in his passionate sorrow4 ,how unlike the quiet resignation which should have marked the recognition that the ,god who had been his guide was working here too6 ,no doubt the hypocritical condolences of his children were as vinegar upon nitre4 ,no doubt the loss of ,joseph had taken away the one gentle and true son on whom his loneliness rested since his ,rachel's death1 while he found no solace in the wild1 passionate men who called him 'father' and brought him no 'honour4' ,but still his grief is beyond the measure which a true faith in ,god would have warranted2 and we cannot but see that the dark picture which we have just been looking at gets no lighter or brighter tints from the demeanour of ,jacob4 ,there are few bitterer sorrows than for a parent to see the children of his own sin in the sins of his children4 ,jacob might have felt that bitterness1 as he looked round on the lovelessness and dark1 passionate selfishness of his children1 and remembered his own early crimes against ,esau4 ,he might have seen that his unwise fondness for the son of his ,rachel had led to the brothers' hatred1 though he did not know that that hatred had plunged the arrow into his soul4 ,whether he knew it or not1 his own conduct had feathered the arrow4 ,he was drinking as he had brewed2 and the heart-broken grief which darkened his later years had sprung from seed of his own sowing4 ,so it is always4 ',whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he also reap4' ,it is a miserable story of ignoble jealousy and cruel hate2 and yet1 over all this foaming torrent1 ,god's steadfast bow of peace shines4 ,these crimes and this 'affliction of ,joseph' were the direct path to the fulfilment of ,his purposes4 ,as blind instruments1 even in their rebellion and sin1 men work out ,his designs4 ,the lesson of ,joseph's bondage will one day be the summing up of the world's history4 ',thou makest the wrath of man to praise ,thee3 and with the remainder thereof ,thou girdest ,thyself4' ,,goodness ,,in ,a ,,dungeon ',and ,joseph's master took him1 and put him into the prison1 a place where the king's prisoners were bound3 and he was there in the prison4 ,but the ,lord was with ,joseph1 and showed him mercy1 and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison4 ,and the keeper of the prison committed to ,joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison2 and whatsoever they did there1 he was the doer of it4 ,the keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand2 because the ,lord was with him1 and that which he did1 the ,lord made it to prosper4'--,,genesis xxxix4 #bj-bc4 ',and it came to pass after these things1 that the butler of the king of ,egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of ,egypt4 ,and ,pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers1 against the chief of the butlers1 and against the chief of the bakers4 ,and he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard1 into the prison1 the place where ,joseph was bound4 ,and the captain of the guard charged ,joseph with them1 and he served them3 and they continued a season in ward4 ,and they dreamed a dream both of them1 each man his dream in one night1 each man according to the interpretation of his dream1 the butler and the baker of the king of ,egypt1 which were bound in the prison4 ,and ,joseph came in unto them in the morning1 and looked upon them1 and1 behold1 they were sad4 ,and he asked ,pharaoh's officers that were with him in the ward of his lord's house1 saying1 ,wherefore look ye so sadly to day8 ,and they said unto him1 ,we have dreamed a dream1 and there is no interpreter of it4 ,and ,joseph said unto them1 ,do not interpretations belong to ,god8 tell me them1 ,i pray you4 ,and the chief butler told his dream to ,joseph1 and said to him1 ,in my dream1 behold1 a vine was before me2 ,and in the vine were three branches3 and it was as though it budded1 and her blossoms shot forth2 and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes3 ,and ,pharaoh's cup was in my hand3 and ,i took the grapes1 and pressed them into ,pharaoh's cup1 and ,i gave the cup into ,pharaoh's hand4 ,and ,joseph said unto him1 ,this is the interpretation of it3 ,the three branches are three days3 ,yet within three days shall ,pharaoh lift up thine head1 and restore thee unto thy place3 and thou shalt deliver ,pharaoh's cup into his hand1 after the former manner when thou wast his butler4 ,but think on me when it shall be well with thee1 and shew kindness1 ,i pray thee1 unto me1 and make mention of me unto ,pharaoh1 and bring me out of this house3 ,for indeed ,i was stolen away out of the land of the ,hebrews3 and here also have ,i done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon4'--,,genesis xl4 #a-ae4 ,potiphar was 'captain of the guard1' or1 as the title literally runs1 chief of the executioners4 ,in that capacity he had charge of the prison1 which was connected with his house 7,gen4 xl4 #c74 ,it is1 therefore1 quite intelligible that he should have put ,joseph in confinement on his own authority1 and the distinction drawn between such a prisoner and the 'king's prisoners1' who were there by royal warrant or due process of law1 is natural4 ,such high-handed treatment of a slave was a small matter1 and it was merciful as well as arrogant1 for death would have been the punishment of the crime of which ,joseph was accused4 ,either ,potiphar was singularly lenient1 or1 as is perhaps more probable1 he did not quite believe his wife's story1 and thought it best to hush up a scandal4 ,the transfer of ,joseph from the house to the adjoining prison would be quietly managed1 and then no more need be said about an ugly business4 ,so now we see him at the lowest ebb of his fortunes1 flung down in a moment by a lie from the height to which he had slowly been climbing1 having lost the confidence of his master1 and earned the unslumbering hatred of a wicked woman4 ,he had wrecked his career by his goodness4 ',what a fool6' says the world4 ',how badly managed things are in this life1' say doubters1 'that virtue should not be paid by prosperity6' ,but the end1 even the nearer end in this life1 will show whether he was a fool1 and whether things are so badly arranged2 and the lesson enforced by the picture of ,joseph in his dungeon1 and which young beginners in life have special need to learn1 is that1 come what will of it1 right is right1 and sin is sin1 that consequences are never to deter from duty1 and that it is better to have a clean conscience and be in prison than do wickedness and sit at a king's table4 ,a very threadbare lesson1 but needing to be often repeated4 ',but the ,lord was with ,joseph4' ,that is one of the eloquent 'buts' of ,scripture4 ,the prison is light when ,god is there1 and chains do not chafe if ,he wraps ,his love round them4 ,many a prisoner for ,god since ,joseph's time has had his experience repeated1 and received tenderer tokens from ,him in a dungeon than ever before4 ,paul the prisoner1 ,john in ,patmos1 ,bunyan in ,bedford jail1 ,george ,fox in ,lancaster ,castle1 ,rutherford in ,aberdeen1 and many more1 have found the ,lord with them1 and showing them ,his kindness4 ,we may all be sure that1 if ever faithfulness to conscience involves us in difficulties1 the faithfulness and the difficulties will combine to bring to us sweet and strong tokens of ,god's approval and presence1 the winning of which will make a prison a palace and a gate of heaven4 ,joseph's relations to jailer and fellow-prisoners are beautiful and instructive4 ,the former is called 'the keeper of the prison1' and is evidently ,potiphar's deputy1 in more immediate charge of the prison4 ,of course1 the great man had an underling to do the work1 and probably that underling was not chosen for sweetness of temper or facile leniency to his charges4 ,but he fell under the charm of ,joseph's character--all the more readily1 perhaps1 because his occupation had not brought many good men to his knowledge4 ,this jewel would flash all the more brightly for the dark background of criminals1 and the jailer would wonder at a type of character so unlike what he was accustomed to4 ,eastern prisons to-day present a curious mixture of cruelty and companionship4 ,the jailers are on intimate terms with prisoners1 and yet are ready to torture them4 ,there is no discipline1 nor any rules1 nor inspection4 ,the jailer does as he likes4 ,so it seems to have been in ,egypt1 and there would be nothing unnatural in making a prisoner jailer of the rest1 and leaving everything in his hands4 ,the 'keeper of the prison' was lazy1 like most of us1 and very glad to shift duties on to any capable shoulders4 ,such a thing would1 of course1 be impossible with us1 but it is a bit of true local colouring here4 ,joseph won hearts because ,god was with him1 as the story is careful to point out4 ,our religion should recommend us1 and therefore itself1 to those who have to do with us4 ,it is not enough that we should be severely righteous1 as ,joseph had been1 or ready to meet trouble with stoical resignation1 but we are to be gentle and lovable1 gracious towards men1 because we receive grace from ,god4 ,we owe it to our ,lord and to our fellows1 and to ourselves1 to be magnets to attract to ,jesus1 by showing how fair ,he can make a life4 ,joseph in prison found work to do1 and he did not shirk it4 ,he might have said to himself3 ',this is poor work for me1 who had all ,potiphar's house to rule4 ,shall such a man as ,i come down to such small tasks as this8' ,he might have sulked or desponded in idleness1 but he took the kind of work that offered1 and did his best by it4 ,many young people nowadays do nothing1 because they think themselves above the small humdrum duties that lie near them4 ,it would do some of us good to remember ,joseph in the jail1 and his cheerful discharge of what his hands found to do there4 ,of course1 work done 'because the ,lord was with him1' in the consciousness of ,his presence1 and in obedience to ,him1 went well4 ',the ,lord made it to prosper1' as ,he always will make such work4 ',when thou dost favour any action1 ,it runs1 it flies4' ,and even if1 sometimes1 work done in the fear of the ,lord does not outwardly prosper1 it does so in deepest truth1 if it work in us the peaceable fruit of righteousness4 ,we need to have a more ,christian idea of what constitutes prosperity1 and then we shall understand that there are no exceptions to the law that1 if a man does his work by ,god and with ,god and for ,god1 'that which he does1 the ,lord makes it to prosper4' ,the help that ,joseph gave by interpreting the two high officials' dreams cannot be considered here in detail1 but we note that the names of similar officers1 evidently higher in rank than we should suppose1 with our notions of bakers and butlers1 are found in ,egyptian documents1 and that these two were 'king's prisoners1' and put in charge of ,potiphar1 who alleviated their imprisonment by detailing ,joseph as their attendant1 thus showing that his feeling to the young ,hebrew was friendly still4 ,dreams are the usual method of divine communication in ,genesis1 and belong to a certain stage in the process of revelation4 ,the friend of ,god1 who is in touch with ,him1 can interpret these4 ',the secret of the ,lord is with them that fear ,him1' and it is still true that they who live close by ,god have insight into ,his purposes4 ,joseph showed sympathy with the two dreamers1 and his question1 ',why look ye so sadly8' unlocked their hearts4 ,he was not so swallowed up in his own trouble as to be blind to the signs of another's sorrow1 or slow to try to comfort4 ,grief is apt to make us selfish1 but it is meant to make us tender of heart and quick of hand to help our fellows in calamity4 ,we win comfort for our own sorrows by trying to soothe those of others4 ,jesus stooped to suffer that ,he might succour them that suffer1 and we are to tread in ,his steps4 ,,joseph1 ,,the ,,prime ,,minister ',and ,pharaoh said unto his servants1 ,can we find such a one as this is1 a man in whom the ,spirit of ,god is8 ,and ,pharaoh said unto ,joseph1 ,forasmuch as ,god hath shewed thee all this1 there is none so discreet and wise as thou art3 ,thou shalt be over my house1 and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled3 only in the throne will ,i be greater than thou4 ,and ,pharaoh said unto ,joseph1 ,see1 ,i have set thee over all the land of ,egypt4 ,and ,pharaoh took off his ring from his hand1 and put it upon ,joseph's hand1 and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen1 and put a gold chain about his neck2 ,and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had2 and they cried before him1 ,bow the knee3 and he made him ruler over all the land of ,egypt4 ,and ,pharaoh said unto ,joseph1 ,i am ,pharaoh1 and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of ,egypt4 ,and ,pharaoh called ,joseph's name ,zaphnath-paaneah2 and he gave him to wife ,asenath the daughter of ,poti-pherah priest of ,on4 ,and ,joseph went out over all the land of ,egypt4 ,and ,joseph was thirty years old when he stood before ,pharaoh king of ,egypt4 ,and ,joseph went out from the presence of ,pharaoh1 and went throughout all the land of ,egypt4 ,and in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls4 ,and he gathered up all the food of the seven years1 which were in the land of ,egypt1 and laid up the food in the cities3 the food of the field1 which was round about every city1 laid he up in the same4' ,,genesis xli4 #ch-dh4 ,at seventeen years of age ,joseph was sold for a slave2 at thirty he was prime minister of ,egypt 7,gen4 xxxvii1 #b2 xli4 #df74 ,how long his prison life lasted is uncertain2 but it was long enough for the promises contained in his early dreams to 'try him' 7,ps4 cv4 #ai7 whether his faith would stand apparent disappointment and weary delay4 ,like all the ,scripture narratives1 this history of ,joseph has little to say about feelings1 and prefers facts4 ,but we can read between the lines1 and be tolerably sure that the thirteen years of trial were well endured1 and that the inward life had grown so as to fit him for his advancement4 ,we have here a full-length portrait of the prime minister1 or vizier1 which brings out three points--his elevation1 his naturalisation1 and his administration4 ,joseph had not only interpreted ,pharaoh's dream1 but had suggested a policy in preparation for the coming famine4 ,he had recommended the appointment of 'a wise and discreet man1' with supreme authority over the land4 ,pharaoh first consulted 'his servants1' and1 with their consent1 possibly not very hearty1 appointed the proposer of the plan as its carrier-out1 quoting to him his own words1 'wise and discreet4' ,the sudden installing of an unknown prisoner in high office has often been thought hard to believe1 and has been pointed to as proof of the legendary character of the story4 ,but the ground on which ,pharaoh put it goes far to explain it4 ,he and his servants had come to believe that ',god' spoke through this man1 that 'the ,spirit of ,god' was in him4 ,so here was a divinely sent messenger1 whom it would be impiety and madness to reject4 ,observe that ,pharaoh and ,joseph both speak in this chapter of ',god4' ,there was a common ground of recognition of a divine ,being on which they met4 ,the local colour of the story indicates a period before the fuller revelation1 which drew so broad a line of demarcation between ,israel and the other nations4 ,joseph's sudden promotion is made the more intelligible by the probability which the study of ,egyptian history has given1 that the ,pharaoh who made him his second in command was one of the ,hyksos conquerors who dominated ,egypt for a long period4 ,they would have no prejudices against ,joseph on account of his being a foreigner4 ,a dynasty of alien conquerors has generally an open door for talent1 and cares little who a man's father is1 or where he comes from1 if he can do his work4 ,and ,joseph1 by not being an ,egyptian born1 would be all the fitter an instrument for carrying out the policy which he had suggested4 ,his ceremonial investiture with the insignia of office is true to ,egyptian manners4 ,the signet ring1 as the emblem of full authority2 the chain1 as a mark of dignity2 the robe of 'fine linen' 7or rather of cotton71 which was a priestly dress--all are illustrated by the monuments4 ,the proclamation made before him as he rode in the second chariot has been very variously interpreted4 ,it has been taken for a ,hebraised ,egyptian word1 meaning ',cast thyself down'2 and this interpretation was deemed the most probable1 until ,assyrian discovery brought to light 'that abarakku is the ,assyrian name of the grand vizier' 7,fr4 ,delitzsch1 ,hebrew ,language ,viewed in the ,light of ,assyrian ,research1 p4 #bf74 ,sayce proposes another explanation1 also from the cuneiform tablets3 ',there was a word abrik in the ,sumerian language1 which signified a seer1 and was borrowed by the ,semitic ,babylonians under the varying forms of abrikku and abarakku4 ,it is abrikku which we have in ,genesis1 and the title applied by the people to the seer ,joseph proves to be the one we should most naturally expect4' ,the ,tel el-,amarna tablets show that the knowledge of cuneiform writing was common in ,egypt 7,sayce1 ,higher ,criticism and the ,monuments1 p4 #bad74 ,this explanation is tempting1 but it is perhaps scarcely probable that the proclamation should have been in any other language than ,egyptian1 or should have had reference to anything but ,joseph's new office4 ,it was not as seer that he was to be obeyed1 but as ,pharaoh's representative1 even though he had become the latter because he had proved himself the former4 ,but in any case1 the whole context is accurately and strongly ,egyptian4 ,was there any point in the history of ,israel1 down to an impossibly late date1 except the time of ,moses1 at which ,jewish writers were so familiar with ,egypt as to have been capable of producing so true a picture8 ,the lessons of this incident are plain4 ,first stands out1 clear and full1 the witness it bears to ,god's faithfulness1 and to ,his sovereign sway over all events4 ,what are all the persons concerned in the narrative but unconscious instruments of ,his8 ,the fierce brothers1 the unconcerned slave-dealers1 ,potiphar1 his wife1 the prisoners1 ,pharaoh1 are so many links in a chain2 but they are also men1 and therefore free to act1 and guilty if acting wrongly4 ,men execute ,god's purposes1 even when unconscious or rebellious1 but are responsible1 and often punished1 for the acts which ,he uses to effect ,his designs4 ,joseph's thirteen years of trial1 crowned with sudden prosperity1 may read all of us1 and especially young men and women1 a lesson of patience4 ,many of us have to fight our way through analogous difficulties at the outset of our career2 and we are apt to lose heart and get restive when success seems slow to come1 and one hindrance after another blocks our road4 ,but hindrances are helps4 ,if one of ,joseph's misfortunes had been omitted1 his good fortune would never have come4 ,if his brethren had not hated him1 if he had not been sold1 if he had not been imprisoned1 he would never have ruled ,egypt4 ,not one thread in the tapestry could have been withdrawn without spoiling the pattern4 ,we cannot afford to lose one of our sorrows or trials4 ,there would be no summer unless winter had gone before4 ,there is a bud or a fruit for every snowflake1 and a bird's song for every howl of the storm4 ,plainly1 too1 does the story read the lesson of quiet doing of the work and accepting the circumstances of the moment4 ,joseph was being prepared for the administration of a kingdom by his oversight of ,potiphar's house and of the prison4 ,his character was matured by his trials1 as iron is consolidated by heavy hammers4 ,to resist temptation1 to do modestly and sedulously whatever work comes to our hands1 to be content to look after a jail even though we have dreamed of sun and moon bowing down to us1 is the best apprenticeship for whatever elevation circumstances--or1 to speak more devoutly1 ,god--intends for us4 ,young men thrown into city life far away from their homes1 and whispered to by many seducing voices1 have often to suffer for keeping themselves unspotted2 but they are being strengthened by rough discipline1 and will get such promotion1 in due time1 as is good for them4 ,but outward success is not ,god's best gift4 ,it was better to be the ,joseph who deserved his high place1 than to have the place4 ,the character which he had grown into was more than the trappings which ,pharaoh put on him4 ,and such a character is always the reward of such patience1 faith1 and self-control1 whether chains and chariots are added or not4 ,little need be said about the other points of the story4 ,joseph's naturalisation as an ,egyptian was complete4 ,his name was changed1 in token that he had completely become a subject of ,pharaoh's4 ,the meaning of the formidable-looking polysyllable1 which ,egyptian lips found easier than ',joseph1' is uncertain4 ',at present the origin of the first syllable is still doubtful1 and though the latter part of the name is certainly the ,egyptian n-ti-pa-ankh 7of the life71 it is difficult to say in which of its different senses the expression pa-ankh 7the life7 is employed' 7,sayce1 ut supra1 p4 #bac74 ,the prevailing opinion of ,egyptian experts is that it means ',support of life4' ,the naturalising was completed by his marriage to ,asenath 7supposed to mean ',one belonging to the goddess ,neith'71 a daughter of a high officer of state1 ,poti-phera 7meaning1 like its shortened form1 ,potiphar1 ',the gift of ,ra' the sun-god74 ,such an alliance placed him at once in the very innermost circle of ,egyptian aristocracy4 ,it may have been a bitter pill for the priest to swallow1 to give his daughter to a man of yesterday1 and an alien2 but1 just as probably1 he too looked to ,joseph with some kind of awe1 and was not unwilling to wed ,asenath to the first man in the empire1 wherever he had started up from4 ,but should not ,joseph's religion have barred such a marriage8 ,the narrator gives no judgment on the fact1 and we have to form our own estimate4 ,but it is not to be estimated as if it had occurred five or six centuries later4 ,the family of ,jacob was not so fenced off1 nor was its treasure of revelation so complete1 as afterwards4 ,we may be fairly sure that ,joseph felt no inconsistency between his ancestral faith1 which had become his own in his trials1 and this union4 ,he was risking a great deal2 that is certain4 ,whether the venture ended well or ill1 we know not4 ,only we may be very sure that a marriage in which a common faith is not a strong bond of union lacks its highest sanctity1 and is perilously apt to find that difference in religious convictions is a strong separator4 ,joseph's administration opens up questions as to ,egyptian land tenure1 and the like1 which cannot be dealt with here4 ',in the earlier days of the monarchy the country was in the hands of great feudal lords2 444 the land belonged to them absolutely4444 ,but after the convulsion caused by the ,hyksos conquest and the war of independence1 this older system of land tenure was completely changed4444 ,the ,pharaoh is the fountain head1 not only of honour1 but of property as well4444 ,the people ceased to have any rights of their own' 7,sayce1 ut supra1 p4 #baf74 ,we may note ,joseph's immediate entrance upon office and his characteristic energy in it4 ,he 'went out from the presence of ,pharaoh1 and went throughout all the land of ,egypt4' ,no grass grew under this man's feet4 ,he was ubiquitous1 personally overseeing everything for seven long years4 ,wasteful consumption of the abundant crops had to be restrained1 storehouses to be built1 careful records of the contents to be made1 after ,egyptian fashion4 ,the people1 who could not look so far as seven years ahead1 and wanted to enjoy1 or make money out of1 the good harvests1 had to be looked after1 and an army of officials to be kept in order4 ,dignity meant work for him4 ,like all true men1 he thought more of his duty than of his honours4 ,depend on it1 he did not wear his fine clothes or ride in the second chariot1 when he was hurrying about the country at his task4 ,he had come 'out of prison to reign1' and1 as we all find1 if we are ,god's servants1 to reign means to serve1 and the higher the place the harder the task4 ,the long years of waiting had nourished powers which the seven years of busy toil tested4 ,we must make ourselves1 by ,god's help1 ready1 in obscurity1 and especially in youth1 for whatever may be laid on us in after days4 ,and if we understand what life here means1 we shall be more covetous of spheres of diligent service than of places of shining dignity4 ,whatever our task1 let us do it1 as ,joseph did his1 with strenuous concentration1 knowing1 as he did1 that the years in which it is possible are but few at the longest4 ,,recognition ,,and ,,reconciliation ',then ,joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him2 and he cried1 ,cause every man to go out from me4 ,and there stood no man with him1 while ,joseph made himself known unto his brethren4 ,and he wept aloud3 and the ,egyptians and the house of ,pharaoh heard4 ,and ,joseph said unto his brethren1 ,i am ,joseph2 doth my father yet live8 ,and his brethren could not answer him2 for they were troubled at his presence4 ,and ,joseph said unto his brethren1 ,come near to me1 ,i pray you4 ,and they came near4 ,and he said1 ,i am ,joseph your brother1 whom ye sold into ,egypt4 ,now therefore be not grieved1 nor angry with yourselves1 that ye sold me hither3 for ,god did send me before you to preserve life4 ,for these two years hath the famine been in the land3 and yet there are five years1 in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest4 ,and ,god sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth1 and to save your lives by a great deliverance4 ,so now it was not you that sent me hither1 but ,god3 and ,he hath made me a father to ,pharaoh1 and lord of all his house1 and a ruler throughout all the land of ,egypt4 ,haste ye1 and go up to my father1 and say unto him4 ,thus saith thy son ,joseph1 ,god hath made me lord of all ,egypt3 come down unto me1 tarry not3 ,and thou shalt dwell in the land of ,goshen1 and thou shalt be near unto me1 thou1 and thy children1 and thy children's children1 and thy flocks1 and thy herds1 and all that thou hast3 ,and there will ,i nourish thee2 for yet there are five years of famine2 lest thou1 and thy household1 and all that thou hast1 come to poverty4 ,and1 behold1 your eyes see1 and the eyes of my brother ,benjamin1 that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you4 ,and ye shall tell my father of all my glory in ,egypt1 and of all that ye have seen2 and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither4 ,and he fell upon his brother ,benjamin's neck1 and wept2 and ,benjamin wept upon his neck4 ,moreover he kissed all his brethren1 and wept upon them3 and after that his brethren talked with him4' ,,genesis xlv4 #a-ae4 ,i ,if the writer of this inimitable scene of ,joseph's reconciliation with his brethren was not simply an historian1 he was one of the great dramatic geniuses of the world1 master of a vivid minuteness like ,defoe's1 and able to touch the springs of tears by a pathetic simplicity like his who painted the death of ,lear4 ,surely theories of legend and of mosaic work fail here4 #a4 ,we have1 first1 disclosure4 ,the point at which the impenetrable1 stern ruler breaks down is significant4 ,it is after ,judah's torrent of intercession for ,benjamin1 and self-sacrificing offer of himself for a substitute and a slave4 ,why did this touch ,joseph so keenly8 ,was it not because his brother's speech shows that filial and fraternal affection was now strong enough in him to conquer self8 ,he had sent ,joseph to the fate which he is now ready to accept4 ,he and the rest had thought nothing of the dagger they plunged into their father's heart by selling ,joseph2 but now he is prepared to accept bondage if he may save his father's grey head an ache4 ,the whole of ,joseph's harsh1 enigmatical treatment had been directed to test them1 and to ascertain if they were the same fierce1 cruel men as of old4 ,now1 when the doubt is answered1 he can no longer dam back the flood of forgiving love4 ,the wisest pardoning kindness seeks the assurance of sorrow and change in the offender1 before it can safely and wholesomely enjoy the luxury of letting itself out in tears of reconciliation4 ,we do not call ,joseph a type of ,christ2 but the plain process of forgiveness in his brotherly heart is moulded by the law which applies to ,god's pardon as to ours4 ,all the wealth of yearning pardon is there1 before contrition and repentance2 but it is not good for the offender that it should be lavished on him1 impenitent4 ,what a picture that is of the all-powerful ruler1 choking down his emotion1 and hurriedly ordering the audience chamber to be cleared6 ,how many curious glances would be cast over their shoulders1 by the slowly withdrawing crowd1 at the strange group--the viceroy1 usually so calm1 thus inexplicably excited1 and the huddled1 rude shepherds1 bewildered and afraid of what was coming next1 in this unaccountable country6 ,how eavesdroppers would linger as near as they durst1 and how looks would be exchanged as the sounds of passionate weeping rewarded their open ears6 ,the deepest feelings are not to be flaunted before the world4 ,the man who displays his tears1 and the man who is too proud to shed them1 are both wrong2 but perhaps it is worse to weep in public than not to weep at all4 ',i am ,joseph4' ,were ever the pathos of simplicity1 and the simplicity of pathos1 more nobly expressed than in these two words8--7,there are but two in the ,hebrew47 ,has the highest dramatic genius ever winged an arrow which goes more surely to the heart than that8 ,the question1 which hurries after the disclosure1 seems strange and needless2 but it is beautifully self-revealing1 as expressive of agitation1 and as disclosing a son's longing1 and perhaps1 too1 as meant to relieve the brothers' embarrassment1 and1 as it were1 to wrap the keen edge of the disclosure in soft wool4 #b4 ,we have1 next1 conscience-stricken silence4 ,no wonder his brethren 'could not answer' and 'were troubled at his presence4' ,they had found their brother a ruler2 they had found the ruler their brother4 ,their former crime had turned what might have been a joy into a terror4 ,already they had come to know and regret it4 ,it might seem to their startled consciences as if now they were about to expiate it4 ,they would remember the severity of ,joseph's past intercourse2 they see his power1 and cannot but be doubtful of his intentions4 ,had all his strange conduct been manoeuvring to get them1 ,benjamin and all1 into his toils1 that one blow might perfect his revenge8 ,our suspicions are the reflections of our own hearts4 ,so there they stand in open-mouthed1 but dumb1 wonder and dread4 ,it would task the pencil of him who painted1 on the mouldering refectory wall at ,milan1 the conflicting emotions of the apostles1 at the announcement of the betrayer1 to portray that silent company of abased and trembling criminals4 ,they are an illustration of the profitlessness of all crime4 ,sin is1 as one of its ,hebrew names tells us1 missing the mark--whether we think of it as fatally failing to reach the ideal of conduct1 or as always1 by a divine nemesis1 failing to hit even the shabby end it aims at4 ',every rogue is a roundabout fool4' ,they put ,joseph in the pit1 and here he is on a throne4 ,they have stained their souls1 and embittered their father's life for twenty-two long years1 and the dreams have come true1 and all their wickedness has not turned the stream of the divine purpose1 any more than the mud dam built by a child diverts the ,mississippi4 ,one flash has burned up their whole sinful past1 and they stand scorched and silent among the ruins4 ,so it always is4 ,sooner or later the same certainty of the futility of his sin will overwhelm every sinful man1 and dumb self-condemnation will stand in silent acknowledgment of evil desert before the throne of the ,brother1 who is now the ,prince and the ,judge1 on whose fiat hangs life or death4 ,to see ,christ enthroned should be joy2 but it may be turned into terror and silent anticipation of ,his just condemnation4 #c4 ,we have encouragement and complete forgiveness4 ,that invitation to come close up to him1 with which ,joseph begins the fuller disclosure of his heart1 is a beautiful touch4 ,we can fancy how tender the accents1 and how1 with some lightening of fear1 but still hesitatingly and ashamed1 the shepherds1 unaccustomed to courtly splendours1 approached4 ,the little pause while they draw near helps him to self-command1 and he resumes his words in a calmer tone4 ,with one sentence of assurance that he is their brother1 he passes at once into that serene region where all passion and revenge die1 unable to breathe its keen1 pure air4 ,the comfort which he addresses to their penitence would have been dangerous1 if spoken to men blind to the enormity of their past4 ,but it will not make a truly repentant conscience less sensitive1 though it may alleviate the aching of the wound1 to think that ,god has used even its sin for ,his own purposes4 ,it will not take away the sense of the wickedness of the motive to know that a wonderful providence has rectified the consequences4 ,it will rather deepen the sense of evil1 and give new cause of adoration of the love that pardons the wrong1 and the providence that neutralises the harm4 ,joseph takes the true point of view1 which we are all bound to occupy1 if we would practise the ,christian grace of forgiveness4 ,he looks beyond the mere human hate and envy to the divine purpose4 ',the sword is theirs2 the hand is ,thine4' ,he can even be grateful to his foes who have been unintentionally his benefactors4 ,he thinks of the good that has come out of their malice1 and anger dies within him4 ,highest attainment of all1 the good for which he is grateful is not his all-but-regal dignity1 but the power to save and gladden those who would fain have slain1 and had saddened him for many a weary year4 ,we read in these utterances of a lofty piety and of a singularly gentle heart1 the fruit of sorrow and the expression of thoughts which had slowly grown up in his mind1 and had now been long familiar there4 ,such a calm1 certain grasp of the divine shaping and meaning of his life could not have sprung up all at once in him1 as he looked at the conscience-stricken culprits cowering before him4 ,more than natural sweetness and placability must have gone to the making of such a temper of forgiveness4 ,he must have been living near the ,fountain of all mercy to have had so full a cup of it to offer4 ,because he had caught a gleam of the divine pardon1 he becomes a mirror of it2 and we may fairly see in this ill-used brother1 yearning over the half-sullen sinners1 and seeking to open a way for his forgiveness to steal into their hearts1 and rejoicing over his very sorrows which have fitted him to save them alive1 and satisfy them in the days of famine1 an adumbration of our ,elder ,brother's forgiving love and saving tenderness4 #d4 ,the second part of ,joseph's address is occupied with his message to ,jacob1 and shows how he longed for his father's presence4 ,there is something very natural and beautiful in the repeated exhortations to haste1 as indicating the impatient love of a long-absent son4 ,if his heart was so true to his father1 why had he sent him no message for all these years8 ,egypt was near enough1 and for nine years now he had been in power4 ,surely he could have gratified his heart4 ,but he could not have learned by any other means his brethren's feelings1 and if they were still what they had been1 no intercourse would be possible4 ,he could only be silent1 and yearn for the way to open in ,god's providence1 as it did4 ,the message to ,jacob is sent from 'thy son ,joseph1' in token that the powerful ruler lays his dignity at his father's feet4 ,no elevation will ever make a true son forget his reverence for his father4 ,if he rise higher in the world1 and has to own an old man1 away in some simple country home1 for his sire1 he will be proud to do it4 ,the enduring sanctity of the family ties is not the least valuable lesson from our narrative for this generation1 where social conditions are so often widely different in parents and in children4 ,there is an affectionate spreading out of all his glory before his father's old eyes2 not that he cared much about it for himself1 since1 as we have seen1 elevation to him meant mainly work1 but because he knew how the eyes would glisten at the sight4 ,his mother1 who would have been proud of him1 is gone1 but he has still the joy of gladdening his father by the exhibition of his dignity4 ,it bespeaks a simple nature1 unspoiled by prosperity1 to delight thus in his father's delight1 and to wish the details of all his splendour to be told him4 ,a statesman who takes most pleasure in his elevation because of the good he can do by it1 and because it will please the old people at home1 must be a pure and lovable man4 ,the command has another justification in the necessity to assure his father of the wisdom of so great a change4 ,god had set him in the ,promised ,land1 and a very plain divine injunction was needed to warrant his leaving it4 ,such a one was afterwards given in vision2 but the most emphatic account of his son's honour and power was none the less required to make the old ,jacob willing to abandon so much1 and go into such strange conditions4 ,we have another instance of the difference between man's purposes and ,god's counsel in this message4 ,joseph's only thought is to afford his family temporary shelter during the coming five years of famine4 ,neither he nor they knew that this was the fulfilment of the covenant with ,abraham1 and the bringing of them into the land of their oppression for four centuries4 ,no shadow of that future was cast upon their joy1 and yet1 the steady march of ,god's plan was effected along the path which they were ignorantly preparing4 ,the road-maker does not know what bands of mourners1 or crowds of holiday makers1 or troops of armed men may pass along it4 #e4 ,this wonderfully beautiful scene ends with the kiss of full reconciliation and frank communion4 ,all the fear is out of the brothers' hearts4 ,it has washed away all the envy along with it4 ,the history of ,jacob's household had hitherto been full of sins against family life4 ,now1 at last1 they taste the sweetness of fraternal love4 ,joseph1 against whom they had sinned1 takes the initiative1 flinging himself with tears on the neck of ,benjamin1 his own mother's son1 nearer to him than all the others1 crowding his pent-up love in one long kiss4 ,then1 with less of passionate affection1 but more of pardoning love1 he kisses his contrite brothers4 ,the offender is ever less ready to show love than the offended4 ,the first step towards reconciliation1 whether of man with man or of man with ,god1 comes from the aggrieved4 ,we always hate those whom we have harmed2 and if enmity were ended only by the advances of the wrong-doer1 it would be perpetual4 ,the injured has the prerogative of praying the injurer to be reconciled4 ,so was it in ,pharaoh's throne-room on that long past day2 so is it still in the audience chamber of heaven4 ',he that might the vantage best have took found out the remedy4' ',we love ,him1 because ,he first loved us4' ,the pardoned men find their tongues at last4 ,forgiveness has opened their lips1 and though their reverence and thanks are no less1 their confidence and familiarity are more4 ,how they would talk when once the terror was melted away6 ,so should it be with the soul which has tasted the sweetness of ,christ's forgiving love1 and has known 'the kisses of ,his mouth4' ,long1 unrestrained1 and happy should be the intercourse which we forgiven sinners keep up with our ,brother1 the ,prince of all the land4 ',after that his brethren talked with him4' ,,joseph1 ,,the ,,pardoner ,,and ,,preserver ,,ii ,,the noble words in which ,joseph dissipates his brothers' doubts have1 as their first characteristic1 the recognition of the ,god by whom his career had been shaped1 and1 for their next1 the recognition of the purpose for which it had been4 ,there is a world of tenderness and forgivingness in the addition made to his first words in verse #d1 ',joseph1 your brother4' ,he owns the mystic bond of kindred1 and thereby assures them of his pardon for their sin against it4 ,it was right that he should remind them of their crime1 even while declaring his pardon4 ,but he rises high above all personal considerations and graciously takes the place of soother1 instead of that of accuser4 ,far from cherishing thoughts of anger or revenge1 he tries to lighten the reproaches of their own consciences4 ,thrice over in four verses he traces his captivity to ,god4 ,he had learned that wisdom in his long years of servitude1 and had not forgotten it in those of rule4 ,there will be little disposition in us to visit offences against ourselves on the offenders1 if we discern ,god's purpose working through our sorrows1 and see1 as the ,psalmist did1 that even our foes are 'men which are ,thy hand1 ,o ,lord4' ,true1 ,his overruling providence does not make their guilt less2 but the recognition of it destroys all disposition to revenge1 and injured and injurer may one day unite in adoring the result of what the ,one suffered at the other's hands4 ,surely1 some ,christian persecutors and their victims have thus joined hands in heaven4 ,if we would cultivate the habit of seeing ,god behind second causes1 our hearts would be kept free from much wrath and bitterness4 ,joseph was as certain of the purpose as of the source of his elevation4 ,he saw now what he had been elevated for1 and he eagerly embraced the task which was a privilege4 ,no doubt1 he had often brooded over the thought1 ',why am ,i thus lifted up8' and had felt the privilege of being a nation's saviour2 but now he realises that he has a part to play in fulfilling ,god's designs in regard to the seed of ,abraham4 ,cloudy as his outlook into the future may have been1 he knew that great promises affecting all nations were intertwined with his family1 separation from whom had been a sorrow for years4 ,but now the thought comes to him with sudden illumination and joy3 ',this1 then1 is what it all has meant1 that ,i should be a link in the chain of ,god's workings4' ,he knows himself to be ,god's instrument for effecting ,his covenant promises4 ,how small a thing honour and position became in comparison6 ,we cannot all have great tasks in the line of ,god's purposes1 but we can all feel that our little ones are made great by being seen to be in it4 ,the less we think about chariots and gold chains1 and the more we try to find out what ,god means by setting us where we are1 and to do that1 the better for our peace and true dignity4 ,a true man does not care for the rewards of work half as much as for the work itself4 ,find out what ,god intends1 and never mind whether ,he puts you in a dungeon or in a palace4 ,both places lie on the road which ,he has marked and1 in either1 the main thing is to do ,his will4 ,next comes the swiftly devised plan for carrying out ,god's purpose4 ,it sounds as if ,joseph1 with prompt statesmanship1 had struck it out then and there4 ,at all events1 he pours it forth with contagious earnestness and haste4 ,note how he says over and over again ',my father1' as if he loved to dwell on the name1 but also as if he had not yet completely realised the renewal of the broken ties of brotherhood4 ,it was some trial of the stuff he was made of1 to have to bring his father and his family to be stared at1 and perhaps mocked at1 by the court4 ,many a successful man would be very much annoyed if his old father1 in his country clothes1 and hands roughened by toil1 sat down beside him in his prosperity4 ,joseph had none of that baseness4 ,jacob would come1 if at all1 as a half-starved immigrant1 and would be 'an abomination to the ,egyptians4' ,but what of that8 ,he was 'my father1' and his son knows no better use to make of his dignity than to compel reverence for ,jacob's grey hairs1 which he will take care shall not be 'brought down with sorrow to the grave4' ,it is a very homely lesson--never be ashamed of your father4 ,but in these days1 when children are often better educated than their parents1 and rise above them in social importance1 it is a very needful one4 ,the first overtures of reconciliation should come from the side of the injured party4 ,that is ,christ's law1 and if it were ,christians' practice1 there would be fewer alienations among them4 ,it is ,christ's law1 because it is ,christ's own way of dealing with us4 ,he1 too1 was envied1 and sold by ,his brethren4 ,his sufferings were meant 'to preserve life4' ,stephen's sermon in the ,sanhedrin dwells on ,joseph as a type of ,christ2 and the typical character is seen not least distinctly in this1 that ,he against whom we have sinned pleads with us1 seeks to draw us nearer to ,himself1 and to lead us to put away all hard thoughts of ,him1 and to cherish all loving ones towards ,him1 by showing us how void ,his heart is of anger against us1 and how full of yearning love and of gracious intention to provide for us a dwelling-place1 with abundance of all needful good1 beside ,himself1 while the years of famine shall last4 ,,growth ,,by ,,transplanting ',then ,joseph came and told ,pharaoh1 and said1 ,my father and my brethren1 and their flocks1 and their herds1 and all that they have1 are come out of the land of ,canaan2 and1 behold1 they are in the land of ,goshen4 ,and he took some of his brethren1 even five men1 and presented them unto ,pharaoh4 ,and ,pharaoh said unto his brethren1 ,what is your occupation8 ,and they said unto ,pharaoh1 ,thy servants are shepherds1 both we1 and also our fathers4 ,they said moreover unto ,pharaoh1 ,for to sojourn in the land are we come2 for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks1 for the famine is sore in the land of ,canaan3 now therefore1 we pray thee1 let thy servants dwell in the land of ,goshen4 ,and ,pharaoh spake unto ,joseph1 saying1 ,thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee3 ,the land of ,egypt is before thee2 in the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell2 in the land of ,goshen let them dwell3 and if thou knowest any men of activity among them1 then make them rulers over my cattle4 ,and ,joseph brought in ,jacob his father1 and set him before ,pharaoh3 and ,jacob blessed ,pharaoh4 ,and ,pharaoh said unto ,jacob1 ,how old art thou8 ,and ,jacob said unto ,pharaoh1 ,the days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years3 few and evil have the days of the years of my life been1 and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage4 ,and ,jacob blessed ,pharaoh1 and went out from before ,pharaoh4 ,and ,joseph placed his father and his brethren1 and gave them a possession in the land of ,egypt1 in the best of the land1 in the land of ,rameses1 as ,pharaoh had commanded4 ,and ,joseph nourished his father1 and his brethren1 and all his father's household1 with bread1 according to their families4' --,,genesis xlvii4 #a-ab4 #a4 ,the conduct of ,joseph in reference to the settlement in ,goshen is an example of the possibility of uniting worldly prudence with high religious principle and great generosity of nature4 ,he had promised his brothers a home in that fertile eastern district1 which afforded many advantages in its proximity to ,canaan1 its adaptation to pastoral life1 and its vicinity to ,joseph when in ,zoan1 the capital4 ,but he had not consulted ,pharaoh1 and1 however absolute his authority1 it scarcely stretched to giving away ,egyptian territory without leave4 ,so his first care1 when the wanderers arrive1 is to manage the confirmation of the grant4 ,he goes about it with considerable astuteness--a hereditary quality1 which is redeemed from blame because used for unselfish purposes and unstained by deceit4 ,he does not tell ,pharaoh how far he had gone1 but simply announces that his family are in ,goshen1 as if awaiting the monarch's further pleasure4 ,then he introduces a deputation1 no doubt carefully chosen1 of five of his brothers 7as if the whole number would have been too formidable71 previously instructed how to answer4 ,he knows what ,pharaoh is in the habit of asking1 or he knows that he can lead him to ask the required question1 which will bring out the fact of their being shepherds1 and utilise the prejudice against that occupation1 to ensure separation in ,goshen4 ,all goes as he had arranged4 ,thanks partly to the indifference of the king1 who seems to have been rather a roi fainant in the hands of his energetic maire du palais1 and to have been contented to give1 with a flourish of formality1 as a command to ,joseph1 what ,joseph had previously carefully suggested to him 7vers4 #f1 #g74 ,there is nothing unfair in all this4 ,it is good1 shrewd management1 and no fault can be found with it2 but it is a new trait in the ideal character of a servant of ,god1 and contrasts strongly with the type shown in ,abraham4 ,none the less1 it is a legitimate element in the character and conduct of a good man1 set down to do ,god's work in such a world4 ,joseph is a saint and a politician4 ,his shrewdness is never craft2 sagacity is not alien to consecration4 ,no doubt it has to be carefully watched lest it degenerate2 but prudence is as needful as enthusiasm1 and he is the complete man who has a burning fire down in his heart to generate the force that drives him1 and a steady hand on the helm1 and a keen eye on the chart1 to guide him4 ,be ye 'wise as serpents' but also 'harmless as doves4' #b ,we may note in ,joseph's conduct also an instance of a man in high office and not ashamed of his humble relations4 ,one of the great lessons meant to be taught by the whole patriarchal period was the sacredness of the family4 ,that is1 in some sense1 the keynote of ,joseph's history4 ,here we see family love1 which had survived the trial of ill-usage and long absence1 victorious over the temptation of position and high associates4 ,it took some nerve and a great deal of affection1 for the viceroy1 whom envious and sarcastic courtiers watched1 to own his kin4 ,what a sweet morsel for malicious tongues it would be1 ',have you heard8 ,he is only the son of an old shepherd1 who is down in ,goshen1 come to pick up some crumbs there6' ,one can fancy the curled lips and the light laugh1 as the five brothers1 led by the great man himself1 made their rustic reverences to ,pharaoh4 ,it is as if some high official in ,paris were to walk in half a dozen peasants in blouse and sabots1 and present them to the president as 'my brothers4' ,it was a brave thing to do2 and it teaches a lesson which many people1 who have made their way in the world1 would be nobler and more esteemed if they learned4 #c4 ,the brother's words to ,pharaoh are another instance of that ignorant carrying out of the divine purposes which we have already had to notice4 ,they evidently contemplate only a temporary stay in the country4 ,they say that they are come 'to sojourn'--the verb from which are formed the noun often rendered 'strangers1' and that which ,jacob uses in verse #i1 'my pilgrimage4' ,the reason for their coming is given as the transient scarcity of pasturage in ,canaan1 which implies the intention of return as soon as that was altered4 ,joseph had the same idea of the short duration of their stay2 and though ,jacob had been taught by vision that the removal was in order to their being made a great nation1 it does not seem that his sons' intentions were affected by that--if they knew it4 ,so mistaken are our estimates4 ,we go to a place for a month1 and we stay in it for twenty years4 ,we go to a place to settle for life1 and our tent-pegs are pulled up in a week4 ,they thought of five years1 and it was to be nearly as many centuries4 ,they thought of temporary shelter and food2 ,god meant an education of them and their descendants4 ,over all this story the unseen ,hand hovers1 chastising1 guiding1 impelling2 and the human agents are free and yet fulfilling an eternal purpose1 blind and yet accountable1 responsible for motives1 and mercifully ignorant of consequences4 ,so we all play our little parts4 ,we have no call to be curious as to what will come of our deeds4 ,this end of the action1 the motive of it1 is our care2 the other end1 the outcome of it1 is ,god's business to see to4 #d4 ,we may also observe how trivial incidents are wrought into ,god's scheme4 ,the ,egyptian hatred of the shepherd class secured one of the prime reasons for the removal from ,canaan--the unimpeded growth of a tribe into a nation4 ,there was no room for further peaceful and separate expansion in that thickly populated country4 ,nor would there have been in ,egypt1 unless under the condition of comparative isolation1 which could not have been obtained in any other way4 ,thus an unreasonable prejudice1 possibly connected with religious ideas1 became an important factor in the development of ,israel2 and1 once again1 we have to note the wisdom of the great ,builder who uses not only gold1 silver1 and precious stones1 but even wood1 hay1 stubble--follies and sins--for ,his edifice4 #e4 ,the interview of ,jacob with ,pharaoh is pathetic and beautiful4 ,the old man comports himself1 in all the later history of ,joseph1 as if done with the world1 and waiting to go4 ',let me die1 since ,i have seen thy face1' was his farewell to life4 ,he takes no part in the negotiation about ,goshen1 but has evidently handed over all temporal cares to younger hands4 ,a halo of removedness lies round his grey hairs1 and to ,pharaoh he behaves as one withdrawn from fleeting things1 and1 by age and nearness to the end1 superior even to a king's dignity4 ,as he enters the royal presence he does not do reverence1 but invokes a blessing upon him4 ',the less is blessed of the better4' ,he has nothing to do with court ceremonials or conventionalities4 ,the hoary head is a crown of honour1 ,pharaoh recognises his right to address him thus by the kindly question as to his age1 which implied respect for his years4 ,the answer of the ',hebrew ,ulysses1' as ,stanley calls him1 breathes a spirit of melancholy not unnatural in one who had once more been uprooted1 and found himself again a wanderer in his old age4 ,the tremulous voice has borne the words across all the centuries1 and has everywhere evoked a response in the hearts of weary and saddened men4 ,look at the component parts of this pensive retrospect4 ,life has been to him a 'pilgrimage'4 ,he thinks of all his wanderings from that far-off day when at ,bethel he received the promise of ,god's presence 'in all places whither thou goest1' till this last happy and yet disturbing change4 ,but he is thinking not only1 perhaps not chiefly1 of the circumstances1 but of the spirit1 of his life4 ,this is1 no doubt1 the confession 'that they were strangers and pilgrims' referred to in the ,epistle to the ,hebrews4 ,he was a pilgrim1 not because he had often changed his place of abode1 but because he sought the 'city which hath foundations1' and therefore could not be at home here4 ,the goal of his life lay in the far future2 and whether he looked for the promises to be fulfilled on earth1 or had the unformulated consciousness of immortality1 and saluted the dimly descried coast from afar while tossing on life's restless ocean1 he was effectually detached from the present1 and felt himself an alien in the existing order4 ,we have to live by the same hope1 and to let it work the same estrangement1 if we would live noble lives4 ,not because all life is change1 nor because it all marches steadily on to the grave1 but because our true home--the community to which we really belong1 the metropolis1 the mother city of our souls--is above1 are we to feel ourselves strangers upon earth4 ,they who only take into account the transiency of life are made sad1 or sometimes desperate1 by the unwelcome thought4 ,but they whose pilgrimage is a journey home may look that transiency full in the face1 and be as glad because of it as colonists on their voyage to the old country which they call 'home1' though they were born on the other side of the world and have never seen its green fields4 ,to ,jacob's eyes his days seem 'few4' ,abraham's one hundred and seventy-five years1 ,isaac's one hundred and eighty1 were in his mind4 ,but more than these was in his mind4 ,the law of the moral perspective is other than that of the physical4 ,the days in front1 seen through the glass of anticipation1 are drawn out2 the days behind1 viewed through the telescope of memory1 are crowded together4 ,what a moment looked all the long years of his struggling life--shorter now than even had once seemed the seven years of service for his ,rachel1 that love had made to fly past on such swift wings6 ,that happy wedded life1 how short it looked6 ,a bright light for a moment1 and ',ere a man could say ,behold6 ,the jaws of darkness did devour it up4' ,it is well to lay the coolness of this thought on our fevered hearts1 and1 whether they be torn by sorrows or gladdened with bliss1 to remember 'this also will pass' and the longest stretch of dreary days be seen in retrospect1 in their due relation to eternity1 as but a moment4 ,that will not paralyse effort nor abate sweetness1 but it will teach proportion1 and deliver from the illusions of this solid-seeming shadow which we call life4 ,the pensive retrospect darkens as the old man's memory dwells upon the past4 ,his days have not only been few--that could be borne--but they have been 'evil' by which ,i understand not unfortunate so much as faulty4 ,we have seen in preceding pages the slow process by which the crafty ,jacob had his sins purged out of him1 and became ',god's wrestler4' ,here we learn that old wrong-doing1 even when forgiven--or1 rather1 when and because forgiven--leaves regretful memories lifelong4 ,the early treachery had been long ago repented of and pardoned by ,god and man4 ,the nature which hatched it had been renewed4 ,but here it starts up again1 a ghost from the grave1 and the memory of it is full of bitterness4 ,no lapse of time deprives a sin of its power to sting4 ,as in the old story of the man who was killed by a rattlesnake's poison fang embedded in a boot which had lain forgotten for years1 we may be wounded by suddenly coming against it1 long after it is forgiven by ,god and almost forgotten by ourselves4 ,many a good man1 although he knows that ,christ's blood has washed away his guilt1 is made to possess the iniquities of his youth4 ',thou shalt be ashamed and confounded1 and never open thy mouth any more1 when ,i am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done4' ,but this shaded retrospect is one-sided4 ,it is true1 and in some moods seems all the truth2 but ,jacob saw more distinctly1 and his name was rightly ,israel1 when1 laying his trembling hands on the heads of ,joseph's sons1 he laid there the blessing of 'the ,god which fed me all my life long1 444 'the ,angel which redeemed me from all evil4' ,that was his last thought about his life1 as it began to be seen in the breaking light of eternal day4 ,pensive and penitent memory may call the years few and evil1 but grateful faith even here1 and still more the cleared vision of heaven1 will discern more truly that they have been a long miracle of loving care1 and that all their seeming evil has been transmuted into good4 ,,two ,,retrospects ,,of ,,one ,,life ',and ,jacob said unto ,pharaoh1 ,few and evil have the days of the years of my life been4'--,,genesis xlvii4 #i4 ',the ,god which fed me all my life long unto this day2 the ,angel which redeemed me from all evil4' --,,genesis xlviii4 #ae1af4 ,these are two strangely different estimates of the same life to be taken by the same man4 ,in the latter ,jacob categorically contradicts everything that he had said in the former4 ',few and evil1' he said before ,pharaoh4 ',all my life long1' 'the ,angel which redeemed me from all evil1' he said on his death-bed4 ,if he meant what he said when he spoke to ,pharaoh1 and characterised his life thus1 he was wrong4 ,he was possibly in a melancholy mood4 ,very naturally1 the unfamiliar splendours of a court dazzled and bewildered the old man1 accustomed to a quiet shepherd life down at ,hebron4 ,he had not come to see ,pharaoh1 he only cared to meet ,joseph2 and1 as was quite natural1 the new and uncongenial surroundings depressed him4 ,possibly the words are only a piece of the etiquette of an ,eastern court1 where it is the correct thing for the subject to depreciate himself in all respects as far inferior to the prince4 ,and there may be little more than conventional humility in the words of my first text4 ,but ,i am rather disposed to think that they express the true feeling of the moment1 in a mood that passed and was followed by a more wholesome one4 ,i put the two sayings side by side just for the sake of gathering up one or two plain lessons from them4 #a4 ,we have here two possible views of life4 ,now the key to the difference between these two statements and moods of feeling seems to me to be a very plain one4 ,in the former of them there is nothing about ,god4 ,it is all ,jacob4 ,in the latter we notice that there is a great deal more about ,god than about ,jacob1 and that determines the whole tone of the retrospect4 ,in the first text ,jacob speaks of 'the days of the years of my pilgrimage1' 'the days of the years of my life1' and so on1 without a syllable about anything except the purely earthly view of life4 ,of course1 when you shut out ,god1 the past is all dark enough1 grey and dismal1 like the landscape on some cloudy day1 where the woods stand black1 and the rivers creep melancholy through colourless fields1 and the sky is grey and formless above4 ,let the sun come out1 and the river flashes into a golden mirror1 and the woods are alive with twinkling lights and shadows1 and the sky stretches a blue pavilion above them1 and all the birds sing4 ,let ,god into your life1 and its whole complexion and characteristics change4 ,the man who sits whining and complaining1 when he has shut out the thought of a divine ,presence1 finds that everything alters when he brings that in4 ,and1 then1 look at the two particulars on which the patriarch dwells4 ',i am only one hundred and thirty years old1' he says2 a mere infant compared with ,abraham and ,isaac6 ,how did he know he was not going to live to be as old as either of them8 ,and 'if his days were evil1' as he said1 was it not a good thing that they were few8 ,but1 instead of that1 he finds reasons for complaint in the brevity of the life which1 if it were as evil as he made it out to be1 must often have seemed wearisomely long1 and dragged very slowly4 ,now1 both things are true--life is short1 life is long4 ,time is elastic--you can stretch it or you can contract it4 ,it is short compared with the duration of ,god2 it is short1 as one of the ,psalms puts it pathetically1 as compared with this ,nature round us--',the earth abideth for ever'2 we are strangers upon it1 and there is no abiding for us4 ,it is short as compared with the capacities and powers of the creatures that possess it2 but1 oh6 if we think of our days as a series of gifts of ,god1 if we look upon them1 as ,jacob looked upon them when he was sane1 as being one continued shepherding by ,god1 they stretch out into blessed length4 ,life is long enough if it manifests that ,god takes care of us1 and if we learn that ,he does4 ,life is long enough if it serves to build up a ,god-pleasing character4 ,it is beautiful to see how the thought of ,god enters into the dying man's remembrances in the shape which was natural to him1 regard being had to his own daily avocations4 ,for the word translated 'fed' means much more than supplied with nourishment4 ,it is the word for doing the office of shepherd1 and we must not forget1 if we want to understand its beauty1 that ,jacob's sons said1 ',thy servants are shepherds2 both we and also our fathers4' ,so this man1 in the solitude of his pastoral life1 and whilst living amongst his woolly people who depended upon his guidance and care1 had learned many a lesson as to how graciously and tenderly and constantly fed1 and led1 and protected1 and fostered by ,god were the creatures of ,his hand4 ,it was he1 ,i suppose1 who first gave to religious thought that metaphor which has survived temple and sacrifice and priesthood1 and will survive even earth itself2 for ',i am the ,good ,shepherd' is as true to-day as when first spoken by ,jesus1 and 'the ,lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall lead them1' and be their ,shepherd when the flock is carried to the upper pastures and the springs that never fail4 ,the life which has brought us that thought of a ,shepherd-,god has been long enough2 and the days which have been so expanded as to contain a continuous series of ,his benefits and protections need never be remembered as 'few1' whatsoever be the arithmetic that is applied to them4 ,the other contradiction is equally eloquent and significant4 ',few and evil' have my days been1 said ,jacob1 when he was not thinking about ,god2 but when he remembered the ,angel of the ,presence1 that mysterious person with whom he had wrestled at ,peniel1 and whose finger had lamed the thigh while ,his lips proclaimed a blessing1 his view changed1 and instead of talking about 'evil' days1 he says1 ',the ,angel that redeemed me from all evil4' ,yes1 his life had been evil1 whether by that we mean sorrowful or sinful1 and the sorrows and the sins had been closely connected4 ,a sorely tried man he had been4 ,far away back in the past had been his banishment from home2 his disappointment and hard service with the churlish ,laban2 the misbehaviour of his sons2 the death of ,rachel--that wound which was never stanched2 and then the twenty years' mourning for ,rachel's son1 the heir of his inheritance4 ,these were the evils1 the sins were as many1 for every one of the sorrows1 except perhaps the chiefest of them all1 had its root in some piece of duplicity1 dishonesty1 or failure4 ,but he was there in ,egypt beside ,joseph4 ,the evils had stormed over him1 but he was there still4 ,and so at the end he says1 ',the ,angel 444 redeemed me from evil1 though it smote me4 ,sorrow became chastisement1 and ,i was purged of my sin by my calamities4' ,the sorrows are past1 like some raging inundation that comes up for a night over the land and then subsides2 but the blessing of fertility which it brought in its tawny waves abides with me yet4 ,joseph is by my side4 ',i had not thought to see thy face1 and ,god hath showed me the face of thy seed4' ,that sorrow is over4 ,rachel's grave is still by the wayside1 and that sorest of sorrows has wrought with others to purify character4 ,jacob has been tried by sorrows2 he has been purged from sins4 ',the ,angel delivered me from all evil4' ,so1 dear friends1 sorrow is not evil if it helps to strip us from the evil that we love1 and the ills that we bear are good if they alienate our affections from the ills that we do4 #b4 ,secondly1 note the wisdom and the duty of taking the completer and brighter view4 ,these first words of ,jacob's are very often quoted as if they were the pattern of the kind of thing people ought to say1 ',few and evil have been the days of the years of my pilgrimage4' ,that is a text from which many sermons have been preached with approbation of the pious resignation expressed in it4 ,but it does not seem to me that that is the tone of them4 ,if the man believed what he said1 then he was very ungrateful and short-sighted1 though there were excuses to be made for him under the circumstances4 ,if the days had been evil1 he had made them so4 ,but the point which ,i wish to make now is that it is largely a matter for our own selection which of the two views of our lives we take4 ,we may make our choice whether we shall fix our attention on the brighter or on the darker constituents of our past4 ,suppose a wall papered with paper of two colours1 one black1 say1 and the other gold4 ,you can work your eye and adjust the focus of vision so that you may see either a black background or a gold one4 ,in the one case the prevailing tone is gloomy1 relieved by an occasional touch of brightness2 and in the other it is brightness1 heightened by a background of darkness4 ,and so you can do with life1 fixing attention on its sorrows1 and hugging yourselves in the contemplation of these with a kind of morbid satisfaction1 or bravely and thankfully and submissively and wisely resolving that you will rather seek to learn what ,god means by darkness1 and not forgetting to look at the unenigmatical blessings1 and plain1 obvious mercies1 that make up so much of our lives4 ,we have to govern memory as well as other faculties1 by ,christian principle4 ,we have to apply the plain teaching of ,christian truth to our sentimental1 and often unwholesome1 contemplations of the past4 ,there is enough in all our lives to make material for plenty of whining and complaining1 if we choose to take hold of them by that handle4 ,and there is enough in all our lives to make us ashamed of one murmuring word1 if we are devout and wise and believing enough to lay hold of them by that one4 ,remember that you can make your view of your life either a bright one or a dark one1 and there will be facts for both2 but the facts that feed melancholy are partial and superficial1 and the facts that exhort1 ',rejoice in the ,lord alway2 and again ,i say1 ,rejoice1' are deep and fundamental4 #c4 ,so1 lastly1 note how blessed a thing it is when the last look is the happiest4 ,when we are amongst the mountains1 or when we are very near them1 they look barren enough1 rough1 stony1 steep4 ,when we travel away from them1 and look at them across the plain1 they lie blue in the distance2 and the violet shadows and the golden lights upon them and the white peaks above make a dream of beauty4 ,whilst we are in the midst of the struggle1 we are often tempted to think that things go hardly with us and that the road is very rough4 ,but if we keep near our dear ,lord1 and hold by ,his hand1 and try to shape our lives in accordance with ,his will--whatever be their outward circumstances and texture--then we may be very sure of this1 that when the end comes1 and we are far enough away from some of the sorrows to see what they lead to and blossom into1 then we shall be able to say1 ,it was all very good1 and to thank ,him for all the way by which the ,lord our ,god has led us4 ,in the same conversation in which the patriarch1 rising to the height of a prophet and organ of divine revelation1 gives this his dying testimony of the faithfulness of ,god1 and declares that he has been delivered from all evil1 he recurs to the central sorrow of his life2 and speaks1 though in calm words1 of that day when he buried ,rachel by ',ephrath1 which is ,bethel4' ,but the pain had passed and the good was present to him4 ,and so1 leaving life1 he left it according to his own word1 'satisfied with favour1 and full of the blessing of the ,lord4' ,so we in our turns may1 at the last1 hope that what we know not now will largely be explained2 and may seek to anticipate our dying verdict by a living confidence1 in the midst of our toils and our sorrows1 that 'all things work together for good to them that love ,god4' ',,the ,,hands ,,of ,,the ,,mighty ,,god ,,of ,,jacob' ,the archers shot at him1 but his bow abode in strength1 and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty ,god of ,jacob4' ,,genesis xlix4 #bc1 #bd4 ,these picturesque words are part of what purports to be one of the oldest pieces of poetry in the ,bible--the dying ,jacob's prophetic blessing on his sons4 ,of these sons there are two over whom his heart seems especially to pour itself--,judah the ancestor of the royal tribe1 and ,joseph4 ,the future fortunes of their descendants are painted in most glowing colours4 ,and of these two1 the blessing on the 'son who was dead and is alive again1 who was lost and is found' is the fuller of tender desire and glad prediction4 ,the words of our text are probably to be taken as prophecy1 not as history--as referring to the future conflicts and victories of the tribe1 not to the past trials and triumphs of its father4 ,but be that as it may1 they contain1 in most vivid metaphor1 the earliest utterance of a very familiar truth4 ,they are the first hint of that thought which is caught up and expanded in many a later saying of psalmist1 and prophet1 and apostle4 ,we hear their echoes in the great song ascribed to ,david 'in the day that the ,lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies1 and from the hand of ,saul'3 ',he teacheth my hands to war1 so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms'2 and the idea receives its fullest carrying out and noblest setting forth1 in the trumpet-call of the apostle1 who had seen more formidable weapons and a more terrible military discipline in ,rome's legions than ,jacob knew1 and who pressed them into his stimulating call3 ',be strong in the ,lord1 and in the power of ,his might4' ',put on the whole armour of ,god4' ,strength for conflict by contact with the strength of ,god is the common thought of all these passages--a very familiar thought1 which may perhaps be freshened for us by the singular intensity with which this metaphor of our text presents it4 ,look at the picture4--,here stands the solitary man1 ringed all round by enemies full of bitter hate4 ,their arrows are on the string1 their bows drawn to the ear4 ,the shafts fly thick1 and when they have whizzed past him1 and he can be seen again1 he stands unharmed1 grasping his unbroken bow4 ,the assault has shivered no weapon1 has given no wound4 ,he has been able to stand in the evil day--and look6 a pair of great1 gentle1 strong hands are laid upon his hands and arms1 and strength passes into his feebleness from the touch of 'the hands of the mighty ,god of ,jacob4' ,so the enemy have two1 not one1 to reckon with4 ,by the side of the hunted man stands a mighty figure1 and it is ,his strength1 not the mortal's impotence1 that has to be overcome4 ,some dream of such divine help in the struggle of battle has floated through the minds1 and been enshrined in the legends1 of many people1 as when the panoplied ,athene has been descried leading the ,grecian armies1 or1 through the dust of conflict1 the gleaming armour and white horses of the ,twin ,brethren were seen far in advance of the armies of ,rome4 ,but the dream is for us a reality4 ,it is true that we go not to warfare at our own charges1 nor by our own strength4 ,if we love ,him and try to make a brave stand against our own evil1 and to strike a manful blow for ,god in this world1 we shall not have to bear the brunt alone4 ,remember he who fights for ,god never fights without ,god4 ,there is a strange story in a later book of ,scripture1 which almost reads as if it had been modelled on some reminiscence of these words of the dying ,jacob--and is1 at any rate1 a remarkable illustration of them4 ,the kingdom of ,israel1 of which the descendants of ,joseph were the most conspicuous part1 was in the very crisis and agony of one of its ,syrian wars4 ,its principal human helper was 'fallen sick of the sickness whereof he died4' ,and to his death-bed came1 in a passion of perplexity and despair1 the irresolute weakling who was then king1 bewailing the impending withdrawal of the nation's best defence4 ,the dying ,elisha1 with curt authority1 pays no heed to the tears of ,joash1 but bids him take bow and arrows4 ',and he said to the king of ,israel1 ,put thine hand upon the bow1' and he put his hand upon it2 and ',elisha put his hands upon the king's hands4' ,then1 when the thin1 wasted1 transparent fingers of the old man were thus laid1 guiding and infusing strength1 by a strange paradox1 into the brown1 muscular hands of the young king1 he tells him to open the casement that looked eastward towards the lands of the enemy1 and1 as the blinding sunshine and the warm air streamed into the sick-chamber1 he bids him draw the bow4 ,he was obeyed1 and1 as the arrow whizzed ,jordanwards1 the dying prophet followed its flight with words brief and rapid like it1 'the arrow of the ,lord's deliverance4' ,here we have all the elements of our text singularly repeated--the dying seer1 the king the representative of ,joseph in the royal dignity to which his descendants have come1 the arrows and the bow1 the strength for conflict by the touch of hands that had the strength of ,god in them4 ,the lesson of that paradox that the dying gave strength to the living1 the feeble to the strong1 was the old one which is ever new1 that mere human power is weakness when it is strongest1 and that power drawn from ,god is omnipotent when it seems weakest4 ,and the further lesson is the lesson of our text1 that our hands are then strengthened1 when ,his hands are laid upon them1 of whom it is written3 ',thou hast a mighty arm3 strong is ,thy hand1 and high is ,thy right hand4 ,as a father in old days might have taken his little boy out to the butts1 and put a bow into his hand1 and given him his first lesson in archery1 directing his unsteady aim by his own firmer finger1 and lending the strength of his wrist to his child's feebler pull1 so ,god does with us4 ,the sure1 strong hand is laid on ours1 and is 'profitable to direct4' ,a wisdom not our own is ever at our side1 and ready for our service4 ,we but dimly perceive the conditions of the conflict1 and the mark at which we should aim is ever apt to be obscured to our perceptions4 ,but in all cases where conscience is perplexed1 or where the judgment is at fault1 we may1 if we will1 have ,him for our teacher4 ,and when we know not where to strike the foes that seem invulnerable1 like the warrior who was dipped in the magic stream1 or clothed in mail impenetrable as rhinoceros' hide1 ,he will make us wise to know the one spot where a wound is fatal4 ,we shall not need to fight as he that beats the air2 to strike at random2 or to draw our bow at a venture1 if we will let ,him guide us4 ,or if ever the work be seen clearly enough1 but our poor hands cannot take aim for very trembling1 or shoot for fear of striking something very dear to us1 ,he will steady our nerves and make our aim sure and true4 ,we have often1 in our fight with ourselves1 and in our struggle to get ,god's will done in the world1 to face as cruel a perplexity as the father who had to split the apple on his son's head4 ,the evil against which we have to contend is often so closely connected with things very precious to us1 that it is hard to smite the one when there is such danger of grazing the other4 ,many a time our tastes1 our likings1 our prejudices1 our hopes1 our loves1 make our sight dim1 and our pulses too tumultuous to allow of a good1 long1 steady gaze and a certain aim4 ,it is hard to keep the arrow's point firm when the heart throbs and the hand shakes4 ,but in all such difficult times ,he is ready to help us4 ',behold1 we know not what to do1 but our eyes are upon ,thee1' is a prayer never offered in vain4 ,the word that is here rendered 'made strong1' might be translated 'made pliable1' or 'flexible' conveying the notion of deftness and dexterity rather than that of simple strength4 ,it is practised strength that ,he will give1 the educated hand and arm1 masters of the manipulation of the weapon4 ,the stiffness and clumsiness of our handling1 the obstinate rigidity as well as the throbbing feebleness of our arms1 the dimness of our sight1 may all be overcome4 ,at ,his touch the raw recruit is as the disciplined veteran2 the prophet who cannot speak because he is a child1 gifted with a mouth and wisdom which all the adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor to resist4 ,do not be disheartened by your inexperience1 or by your ignorance2 but as the prophet said to the young king1 ,take the bow and shoot4 ,god's strong hand will hold yours1 and the arrow will fly true4 ,that strong hand is laid on ours1 and lends its weight to our feeble pull4 ,the bow is often too heavy for us to bend1 but we do not need to strain our strength in the vain attempt to do it alone4 ,tasks seem too much for us4 ,the pressure of our daily work overwhelms us4 ,the burden of our daily anxieties and sorrows is too much4 ,some huge obstacle starts up in our path4 ,some great sacrifice for truth1 honour1 duty1 which we feel we cannot make1 is demanded of us4 ,some daring defiance of some evil1 which has caught us in its toils1 or which it is unfashionable to fight against1 seems laid upon us4 ,we cannot rise to the height of the occasion1 or bring ourselves to the wrench that is required4 ,or the wearing recurrence of monotonous duties seems to take ail freshness out of our lives1 and all spring out of ourselves2 and we are ready to give over struggling any more1 and let ourselves drift4 ,can we not feel that large hand laid on ours2 and does not power1 more and other than our own1 creep into our numb and relaxed fingers8 ,yes1 if we will let ,him4 ,his strength is made perfect in our weakness2 and every man and woman who will make life a noble struggle against evil1 vanity1 or sin1 may be very sure that ,god will direct and strengthen their hands to war1 and their fingers to fight4 ,but the remarkable metaphor of the text not only gives the fact of divine strength being bestowed1 but also the manner of the gift4 ,what a boldness of reverent familiarity there is in that symbol of the hands of ,god laid on the hands of the man6 ,how strongly it puts the contact between us and ,him as the condition of our reception of power from ,him6 ,a true touch1 as of hand to hand1 conveys the grace4 ,it is as when the prophet laid himself down with his warm lip on the dead boy's cold mouth1 and his heart beating against the still heart of the corpse1 till the life passed into the clay1 and the lad lived4 ,so1 if we may say it1 our ,quickener bends ,himself over all our deadness1 and by ,his own warmth reanimates us4 ,perhaps this same thought is one of the lessons which we are meant to learn from the frequency with which our ,lord wrought ,his miracles of healing by the touch of ,his hand4 ',come and lay ,thy hand on him1 and he shall live4' ',and ,he put forth ,his hand and touched him1 and said1 ,i will1 be thou clean4' ',many said1 ,he is dead2 but ,jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up1 and he arose4' ,the touch of ,his hand is healing and life4 ,the touch of our hands is faith4 ,in the mystery of ,his incarnation1 in the flow of ,his sympathy1 in the forth-putting of ,his power1 ,he lays hold not on angels1 but ,he lays hold on the seed of ,abraham4 ,by our lowly trust1 by the forth-putting of our desires1 we stretch 'lame hands of faith1' and1 blessed be ,god6 we do not 'grope1' but we grasp ,his strong hand and are held up4 ,the contact of our spirits with ,his ,spirit is a contact far more real than the touch of earthly hands that grasp each other closest4 ,there is ever some film of atmosphere between the palms4 ,but 'he that is joined to the ,lord is one spirit1' and he that clasps ,christ's outstretched hand of help with his outstretched hand of weakness1 holds ,him with a closeness to which all unions of earth are gaping gulfs of separation4 ,you remember how ,mary cast herself at ,christ's feet on the resurrection morning1 and would have flung her arms round them in the passion of her joy4 ,the calm word which checked her has a wonderful promise in it4 ',touch me not1 for ,i am not yet ascended to my ,father'2 plainly leading to the inference1 ',when ,i am ascended1 then you may touch ,me4' ,and that touch will be more reverent1 more close1 more blessed1 than any clasping of ,his feet1 even with such loving hands1 and is possible for us all for evermore4 ,nothing but such contact will give us strength for conflict and for conquest4 ,and the plain lesson therefore is--see to it1 that the contact is not broken by you4 ,put away the metaphor1 and the simple ,english of the advice is just this3--,first1 live in the desire and the confidence of ,his help in all your need1 of ,his strength as all your power4 ,as a part of that confidence--its reverse and under side1 so to speak--cherish the profound sense of your own weakness4 ',in our own strength we nothing can2 ,full soon were we down-ridden'-- as ,luther has taught us to sing4 ,let there be a constant renewal1 in the midst of your duties and trials1 of that conscious dependence and feeling of insufficiency4 ,stretch out the empty hands to ,him in that desire and hope1 which1 spoken or silent1 is prayer4 ,keep the communications open1 by which ,his strength flows into your souls4 ,let them not be choked with self-confidence1 with vanities1 with the rubbish of your own nature1 or of the world4 ,do not twitch away your hands from under the strong hands that are laid so gently upon them4 ,but let ,him cover1 direct1 cherish1 and strengthen your poor fingers till they are strong and nimble for all your work and warfare4 ,if you go into the fight trusting to your own wit and wisdom1 to the vigour of your own arm1 or the courage of your own heart1 that very foolhardy confidence is itself defeat1 for it is sin as well as folly1 and nothing can come of it but utter collapse and disaster4 ,but if you will only go to your daily fight with yourself and the world1 with your hand grasping ,god's hand1 you will be able to 'withstand in the evil day1 and having done all1 to stand4' ,the enemies may compass you about like bees1 but in the name of the ,lord you can destroy them4 ,their arrows may fly thick enough to darken the sun1 but1 as the proud old boast has it1 'then we can fight in the shade'2 and when their harmless points have buried themselves in the ground1 you will stand unhurt1 your unshivered bow ready for the next assault1 and your hands made strong by the hands of the mighty ,god of ,jacob4 ',in all these things we are more than conquerors1 through ,him that loved us4' ,,the ,,shepherd1 ,,the ,,stone ,,of ,,israel '444 ,the mighty ,god of ,jacob4 ,from thence is the ,shepherd1 the stone of ,israel4'--,,genesis xlix4 #bd4 ,a slight alteration in the rendering will probably bring out the meaning of these words more correctly4 ,the last two clauses should perhaps not be read as a separate sentence4 ,striking out the supplement 'is1' and letting the previous sentence run on to the end of the verse1 we get a series of names of ,god1 in apposition with each other1 as the sources of the strength promised to the arms of the hands of the warlike sons of ,joseph4 ,from the hands of the mighty ,god of ,jacob--from thence1 from the ,shepherd1 the stone of ,israel--the power will come for conflict and for conquest4 ,this exuberant heaping together of names of ,god is the mark of the flash of rapturous confidence which lit up the dying man's thoughts when they turned to ,god4 ,when he begins to think of ,him he cannot stay his tongue4 ,so many aspects of ,his character1 so many remembrances of ,his deeds1 come crowding into his mind2 so familiar and so dear are they1 that he must linger over the words1 and strive by this triple repetition to express the manifold preciousness of ,him whom no name1 nor crowd of names1 can rightly praise4 ,so earthly love ever does with its earthly objects1 inventing and reiterating epithets which are caresses4 ,such repetitions are not tautologies1 for each utters some new aspect of the one subject1 and comes from a new gush of heart's love towards it4 ,and something of the same rapture and unwearied recurrence to the ,name that is above every name should mark the communion of devout souls with their heavenly ,love4 ,what a wonderful burst of such praise flowed out from ,david's thankful heart1 in his day of deliverance1 like some strong current1 with its sevenfold wave1 each crested with the ,name--',the ,lord is my rock1 and my fortress1 and my deliverer2 my ,god1 my strength1 in whom ,i will trust2 my buckler1 and the horn of my salvation1 and my high tower4' ,those three names which we find here are striking and beautiful in themselves2 in their juxtaposition2 in their use on ,jacob's lips4 ,they seem to have been all coined by him1 for1 if we accept this song as a true prophecy uttered by him1 we have here the earliest instance of their occurrence4 ,they all have a history1 and appear again expanded and deepened in the subsequent revelation4 ,let us look at them as they stand4 #a4 ,the ,mighty ,god of ,jacob4--,the meaning of such a name is clear enough4 ,it is ,he who has shown ,himself mighty and mine by ,his deeds for me all through my life4 ,the dying man's thoughts are busy with all that past from the day when he went forth from the tent of ,isaac1 and took of the stones of the field for his pillow when the sun went down4 ,a perplexed history it had been1 with many a bitter sorrow1 and many a yet bitterer sin4 ,passionate grief and despairing murmurs he had felt and flung out1 while it slowly unfolded itself4 ,when the ,pharaoh had asked1 ',how old art thou8' he had answered in words which owe their sombreness partly to obsequious assumption of insignificance in such a presence1 but have a strong tinge of genuine sadness in them too3 ',few and evil have the days of the years of my life been4' ,but lying dying there1 with it all well behind him1 he has become wiser2 and now it all looks to him as one long showing forth of the might of his ,god1 who had been with him all his life long1 and had redeemed him from all evil4 ,he has got far enough away to see the lie of the land1 as he could not do while he was toiling along the road4 ,the barren rocks and white snow glow with purple as the setting sun touches them4 ,the struggles with ,laban2 the fear of ,esau2 the weary work of toilsome years2 the sad day when ,rachel died1 and left to him the 'son of her sorrow'2 the heart sickness of the long years of ,joseph's loss--all have faded away1 or been changed into thankful wonder at ,god's guidance4 ,the one thought which the dying man carries out of life with him is3 ,god has shown ,himself mighty1 and ,he has shown ,himself mine4 ,for each of us1 our own experience should be a revelation of ,god4 ,the things about ,him which we read in the ,bible are never living and real to us till we have verified them in the facts of our own history4 ,many a word lies on the page1 or in our memories1 fully believed and utterly shadowy1 until in some soul's conflict we have had to grasp it1 and found it true4 ,only so much of our creed as we have proved in life is really ours4 ,if we will only open our eyes and reflect upon our history as it passes before us1 we shall find every corner of it filled with the manifestations to our hearts and to our minds of a present ,god4 ,but our folly1 our stupidity1 our impatience1 our absorption with the mere outsides of things1 our self-will1 blind us to the ,angel with the drawn sword who resists us1 as well as to the ,angel with the lily who would lead us4 ,so we waste our days2 are deaf to ,his voice speaking through all the clatter of tongues1 and blind to ,his bright presence shining through all the dimness of earth2 and1 for far too many of us1 we never can see ,god in the present1 but only discern ,him when ,he has passed by1 like ,moses from his cleft4 ,like this same ,jacob1 we have to say3 ',surely ,god was in this place1 and ,i knew it not4' ,hence we miss the educational worth of our lives1 are tortured with needless cares1 are beaten by the poorest adversaries1 and grope amidst what seems to us a chaos of pathless perplexities1 when we might be marching on assured and strong1 with ,god for our guide1 and the hands of the ,mighty ,one of ,jacob for our defence4 ,notice1 too1 how distinctly the thought comes out in this name--that the very vital centre of a man's religion is his conviction that ,god is his4 ,jacob will not be content with thinking of ,god as the ,god of his fathers2 he will not even be content with associating himself with them in the common possession2 but he must feel the full force of the intensely personal bond that knits him to ,god1 and ,god to him4 ,of course such a feeling does not ignore the blessed fellowship and family who also are held in this bond4 ,the ,god of ,jacob is to the patriarch also the ,god of ,abraham1 and of ,isaac1 and of ,jacob4 ,but that comes second1 and this comes first4 ,each man for himself must put forth the hand of his own faith1 and grasp that great hand for his own guide4 ',my ,lord and my ,god' is the true form of the confession4 ',he loved me and gave ,himself for me1' is the shape in which the ,gospel of ,christ melts the soul4 ,god is mine because ,his love individualises me1 and ,i have a distinct place in ,his heart1 ,his purposes1 and ,his deeds4 ,god is mine1 because by my own individual act--the most personal which ,i can perform--,i cast myself on ,him1 by my faith appropriate the common salvation1 and open my being to the inflow of ,his power4 ,god is mine1 and ,i am ,his1 in that wonderful mutual possession1 with perpetual interchange of giving and receiving not only gifts but selves1 which makes the very life of love1 whether it be love on earth or love in heaven4 ,remember1 too1 the profound use which our ,lord made of this name1 wherein ,jacob claims to possess ,god4 ,because ,moses at the bush called ,god1 the ,god of ,abraham1 and of ,isaac1 and of ,jacob1 they cannot have ceased to be4 ,the personal relations1 which subsist between ,god and the soul that clasps ,him for its own1 demand an immortal life for their adequate expression1 and make it impossible that ,death's skeleton fingers should have power to untie such a bond4 ,anything is conceivable1 rather than that the soul which can say ',god is mine' should perish4 ,and that continued existence demands1 too1 a state of being which shall correspond to itself1 in which its powers shall all be exercised1 its desires fulfilled1 its possibilities made facts4 ,therefore there must be the resurrection4 ',god is not ashamed to be called their ,god1 for ,he hath prepared for them a city4' ,the dying patriarch left to his descendants the legacy of this great name1 and often1 in later times1 it was used to quicken faith by the remembrance of the great deeds of ,god in the past4 ,one instance may serve as a sample of the whole4 ',the ,lord of ,hosts is with us1 the ,god of ,jacob is our refuge4' ,the first of these two names lays the foundation of our confidence in the thought of the boundless power of ,him whom all the forces of the universe1 personal and impersonal1 angels and stars1 in their marshalled order1 obey and serve4 ,the second bids later generations claim as theirs all that the old history reveals as having belonged to the 'world's grey fathers4' ,they had no special prerogative of nearness or of possession4 ,the arm that guided them is unwearied1 and all the past is true still1 and will for evermore be true for all who love ,god4 ,so the venerable name is full of promise and of hope for us3 ',the ,god of ,jacob is our refuge4' #b4 ,the ,shepherd4--,how that name sums up the lessons that ,jacob had learned from the work of himself and of his sons6 ',thy servants are shepherds' they said to ,pharaoh2 'both we1 and also our sons4' ,for fourteen long1 weary years he had toiled at that task4 ',in the day the drought consumed me1 and the frost by night2 and my sleep departed from mine eyes1' and his own sleepless vigilance and patient endurance seem to him to be but shadows of the loving care1 the watchful protection1 the strong defence1 which 'the ,god1 who has been my ,shepherd all my life long1' had extended to him and his4 ,long before the shepherd king1 who had been taken from the sheepcotes to rule over ,israel1 sang his immortal psalm1 the same occupation had suggested the same thought to the shepherd patriarch4 ,happy they whose daily work may picture for them some aspect of ,god's care--or rather1 happy they whose eyes are open to see the dim likeness of ,god's care which every man's earthly relations1 and some part of his work1 most certainly present4 ,there can be no need to draw out at length the thoughts which that sweet and familiar emblem has conveyed to so many generations4 ,loving care1 wise guidance1 fitting food1 are promised by it2 and docile submission1 close following at the ,shepherd's heels1 patience1 innocence1 meekness1 trust1 are required4 ,but ,i may put emphasis for a moment on the connection between the thought of 'the mighty ,god of ,jacob' and that of 'the ,shepherd4' ,the occupation1 as we see it1 does not call for a strong arm1 or much courage1 except now and then to wade through snowdrifts1 and dig out the buried and half-dead creatures4 ,but the shepherds whom ,jacob knew1 had to be hardy1 bold fighters4 ,there were marauders lurking ready to sweep away a weakly guarded flock4 ,there were wild beasts in the gorges of the hills4 ,there was danger in the sun by day on these burning plains1 and in the night the wolves prowled round the flock4 ,we remember how ,david's earliest exploits were against the lion and the bear1 and how he felt that even his duel with the ,philistine bully was not more formidable than these had been4 ,if we will read into our ,english notions of a shepherd this element of danger and of daring1 we shall feel that these two clauses are not to be taken as giving the contrasted ideas of strength and gentleness1 but the connected ones of strength1 and therefore protection and security4 ,we have the same connection in later echoes of this name4 ',behold1 the ,lord ,god shall come with strong hand2 ,he shall feed ,his flock like a shepherd4' ,and our ,lord's use of the figure brings into all but exclusive prominence the good shepherd's conflict with the ravening wolves--a conflict in which he must not hesitate even 'to lay down his life for the sheep4' ,as long as the flock are here1 amidst dangers and foes1 and wild weather1 the arm that guides must be an arm that can guard2 and none less mighty than the ,mighty ,one of ,jacob can be the ,shepherd of men4 ,but a higher fulfilment yet awaits this venerable emblem1 when in other pastures1 where no lion nor any ravening beast shall come1 the ',lamb1 which is in the midst of the throne1' and is ,shepherd as well as ,lamb1 'shall feed them1 and lead them by living fountains of waters4' #c4 ,the ,stone of ,israel4--,here1 again1 we have a name1 that after-ages have caught up and cherished1 used for the first time4 ,i suppose the ,stone of ,israel means much the same thing as the ,rock4 ,if so1 that symbol1 too1 which is full of such large meanings1 was coined by ,jacob4 ,it is1 perhaps1 not fanciful to suppose that it owes its origin to the scenery of ,palestine4 ,the wild cliffs of the eastern region where ,peniel lay1 or the savage fastnesses in the southern wilderness1 a day's march from ,hebron1 where he lived so long1 came back to his memory amid the flat1 clay land of ,egypt2 and their towering height1 their immovable firmness1 their cool shade1 their safe shelter1 spoke to him of the unalterable might and impregnable defence which he had found in ,god4 ,so there is in this name the same devout1 reflective laying-hold upon experience which we have observed in the preceding4 ,there is also the same individualising grasp of ,god as his very own2 for ',israel' here is1 of course1 to be taken not as the name of the nation but as his own name1 and the intention of the phrase is evidently to express what ,god had been to him personally4 ,the general idea of this symbol is perhaps firmness1 solidity4 ,and that general idea may be followed out in various details4 ,god is a rock for a foundation4 ,build your lives1 your thoughts1 your efforts1 your hopes there4 ,the house founded on the rock will stand though wind and rain from above smite it1 and floods from beneath beat on it like battering rams4 ,god is a rock for a fortress4 ,flee to ,him to hide1 and your defence shall be the 'munitions of rocks1' which shall laugh to scorn all assault1 and never be stormed by any foe4 ,god is a rock for shade and refreshment4 ,come close to ,him from out of the scorching heat1 and you will find coolness and verdure and moisture in the clefts1 when all outside that grateful shadow is parched and dry4 ,the word of the dying ,jacob was caught up by the great law-giver in his dying song4 ',ascribe ye greatness to our ,god4 ,he is the ,rock4' ,it reappears in the last words of the shepherd king1 whose grand prophetic picture of the true ,king is heralded by ',the ,book of ,israel spake to me4' ,it is heard once more from the lips of the greatest of the prophets in his glowing prophecy of the song of the final days3 ',trust ye in the ,lord for ever2 for in the ,lord ,jehovah is the ,rock of ,ages1' as well as in his solemn prophecy of the ,stone which ,god would lay in ,zion4 ,we hear it again from the lips that cannot lie3 ',did ye never read in the ,scriptures1 ,the ,stone which the builders rejected1 the same is become the headstone of the corner8' ,and for the last time the venerable metaphor which has cheered so many ages appears in the words of that ,apostle who was 'surnamed ,cephas1 which is by interpretation a stone'3 ',to whom coming as unto a living ,stone1 yea also as living stones are built up4' ,as on some rocky site in ,palestine1 where a hundred generations in succession have made their fortresses1 one may see stones with the bevel that tells of early ,jewish masonry1 and above them ,roman work1 and higher still masonry of crusading times1 and above it the building of to-day2 so we1 each age in our turn1 build on this great rock foundation1 dwell safe there for our little lives1 and are laid to peaceful rest in a sepulchre in the rock4 ,on ,christ we may build4 ,in ,him we may dwell and rest secure4 ,we may die in ,jesus1 and be gathered to our own people1 who1 having died1 live in ,him4 ,and though so many generations have reared their dwellings on that great rock1 there is ample room for us too to build4 ,we have not to content ourselves with an uncertain foundation among the shifting rubbish of perished dwellings1 but can get down to the firm virgin rock for ourselves4 ,none that ever builded there have been confounded4 ,we clasp hands with all who have gone before us4 ,at one end of the long chain this dim figure of the dying ,jacob1 amid the strange vanished life of ,egypt1 stretches out his withered hands to ,god the ,stone of ,israel2 at the other end1 we lift up ours to ,jesus1 and cry3-- ',rock of ,ages6 cleft for me1 ,let me hide myself in ,thee4' ,the faith is one4 ,one will be the answer and the reward4 ,may it be yours and mine6 ,a ,,calm ,,evening1 ,,promising ,a ,,bright ,,morning ',and ,joseph returned into ,egypt1 he1 and his brethren1 and all that went up with him to bury his father1 after he had buried his father4 ,and when ,joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead1 they said1 ,joseph will peradventure hate us1 and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him4 ,and they sent a messenger unto ,joseph1 saying1 ,thy father did command before he died1 saying1 ,so shall ye say unto ,joseph1 ,forgive1 ,i pray thee now1 the trespass of thy brethren1 and their sin2 for they did unto thee evil3 and now1 we pray thee1 forgive the trespass of the servants of the ,god of thy father4 ,and ,joseph wept when they spake unto him4 ,and his brethren also went and fell down before his face2 and they said1 ,behold1 we be thy servants4 ,and ,joseph said unto them1 ,fear not3 for am ,i in the place of ,god8 ,but as for you1 ye thought evil against me2 but ,god meant it unto good1 to bring to pass1 as it is this day1 to save much people alive ,now therefore fear ye not3 ,i will nourish you1 and your little ones4 ,and he comforted them1 and spake kindly unto them4 ,and ,joseph dwelt in ,egypt1 he1 and his father's house3 and ,joseph lived an hundred and ten years4 ,and ,joseph saw ,ephraim's children of the third generation3 the children also of ,machir the son of ,manasseh were brought up upon ,joseph's knees4 ,and ,joseph said unto his brethren1 ,i die3 and ,god will surely visit you1 and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to ,abraham1 to ,isaac1 and to ,jacob4 ,and ,joseph took an oath of the children of ,israel1 saying1 ,god will surely visit you1 and ye shall carry up my bones from hence4 ,so ,joseph died1 being an hundred and ten years old3 and they embalmed him1 and he was put in a coffin in ,egypt4'--,,genesis l4 #ad-bf4 ,joseph's brothers were right in thinking that he loved ,jacob better than he did them2 and they knew only too well that he had reasons for doing so4 ,but their fear that ,jacob's death would be followed by an outbreak of long-smothered revenge betrayed but too clearly their own base natures4 ,they thought him like themselves1 and they knew themselves capable of nursing wrath to keep it warm through long years of apparent kindliness4 ,they had no room in their hearts for frank1 full forgiveness4 ,so they had lived on through numberless signs of their brother's love and care1 and still kept the old dread1 and1 probably1 not a little of the old envy4 ,how much happiness they had lost by their slowness to believe in ,joseph's love6 ,is there nothing like this in our thoughts of ,god8 ,do men not live for years on ,his bounty1 and all the while cherish suspicions of ,his heart8 ',thou thoughtest that ,i was altogether such an one as thyself4' ,it is hard to believe in a love which has no faintest trace of desire for vengeance for all past slights4 ,it is hard for hearts conscious of their own slowness to pardon1 to realise undoubtingly ,god's infinite placability4 ,the brothers' procedure is marked by unwarrantable lack of trust in ,joseph4 ,why did they not go to him at once1 and appeal to his brotherly affection8 ,their roundabout way of going to work by sending a messenger was an insult to their brother1 though it may have been meant as honour to the viceroy4 ,the craft which was their father's by nature seems to have been amply transmitted4 ,the story of ,jacob's dying wish looks very apocryphal4 ,if he had been afraid of ,joseph's behaviour when he was gone1 he was much more likely to have spoken to ,joseph about it before he went1 than to have left the gun loaded and bid them fire it after his death4 ,jacob knew his son better1 and trusted him more than his brothers did4 ,we note1 too1 the ingenious way of slipping in motives for forgiving1 first in putting the mention of their relationship into ,jacob's mouth1 and then claiming to be worshippers of 'thy 7not our7 father's ,god4' ,they had proved how truly they were both1 when they sold him to the ,midianites6 ,joseph's tears were a good answer4 ,no doubt they were partly drawn out by the shock of finding that he had been so misunderstood1 but they were omens of his pardon4 ,so1 when they were reported to the brothers1 they came themselves1 and fulfilled the old dream by falling down before him in abjectness4 ,they do not call themselves his brethren1 but his slaves1 as if grovelling was the way to win love or to show it4 ,a little affection would have gone farther than much submission4 ,if their attitude truly expressed their feelings1 their hearts were as untouched by ,joseph's years of magnanimous kindness as a rock by falling rain4 ,if it was a theatrical display of feigned subjection1 it was still worse4 ,our ,brother1 against whom we have sinned1 wants love1 not cowering2 and if we believe in ,his forgiveness1 we shall give ,him the hearts which ,he desires1 and after that shall render the unconditional submission which only trust and love can yield4 ,joseph's answer is but the reiteration of his words at his first making himself known4 ,he soothes unworthy fears1 says not a word of reproach for their misunderstanding of him1 waives all pretension to deal out that retribution which ,god alone sends1 and shows that he has lost all bitterness in thinking of the past1 since he sees in it1 not the working of their malice1 but of ,god's providence1 and is ready to thank1 if not them1 at any rate ,him1 for having1 by even so painful a way1 made him the instrument of widespread good4 ,a man who sees ,god's hand in his past1 and thinks lightly of his sorrows and nobly of the opportunities of service which they have brought him1 will waste no feeling on the men who were ,god's tools4 ,if we want to live high above low hatreds and revenges1 let us cultivate the habit of looking behind men to ,god4 ,so we shall be saved from many fruitless pangs over irrevocable losses and from many disturbing feelings about other people4 ,the sweet little picture of the great minister's last days is very tenderly touched4 ,surrounded by his kindred1 probably finding in a younger generation the reverence and affection which the elder had failed to give1 he wears away the calm evening of the life which had opened so stormily4 ,it 'came in like a lion1 it goes out like a lamb4' ,the strong domestic instincts so characteristic of the ,hebrew race had full gratification4 ,honours and power at court and kingdom probably continued1 but these did not make the genial warmth which cheered the closing years4 ,it was that he saw his children's children's children1 and that they gathered round his knees in confidence1 and received from him his benediction4 ,but it is in his death that the flame shoots up most brightly at the last4 ',by faith ,joseph1 when he died1 made mention of the departing of the children of ,israel2 and gave commandment concerning his bones4' ,he had been an ,egyptian to all appearance all his life from the day of his captivity1 filling his place at court1 marrying an ,egyptian woman1 and bearing an ,egyptian name1 but his dying words show how he had been a stranger in the midst of it all4 ,as truly as his fathers who dwelt in tents1 he too felt that he here had no continuing city4 ,he lived by faith in ,god's promises1 and therefore his heart was in the unseen future far more than in the present4 ,he died with the ancestral assurance on his lips4 ,jacob1 dying1 had said to him1 ',behold1 ,i die2 but ,god shall be with you1 and bring you again unto the land of your fathers' 7,gen4 xlviii4 #ba74 ,joseph hands on the hope to his descendants4 ,it is a grand instance of indomitable confidence in ,god's word1 not nonplussed1 bewildered1 or weakened1 though the man who cherishes it dies without seeing even a beginning of fulfilment4 ,such a faith bridges the gulf of death as a very small matter4 ,in the strength of it we may drop our unfinished tasks1 and1 needful as we may seem to wider or narrower circles1 may be sure that ,god and ,his word live1 though we die4 ,no man is necessary4 ,israel was safe in ,egypt1 and sure to come out of it1 though ,joseph's powerful protection was withdrawn4 ,his career may teach another lesson2 namely1 that true faith does not detach us from strenuous interest and toil in the present4 ,though the great hope burned in his heart1 he did all his work as prime minister all the better because of it4 ,it should always be so4 ,life here is not worth living if there is not another4 ,the distance dignifies the foreground4 ,the highest importance and nobleness of the life that now is1 lie in its being preparation or apprenticeship for the greater future4 ,the ,egyptian vizier1 with ,canaan written on his heart1 and ,egypt administered by his hands1 is a type of what every ,christian should be4 ,possibly ,joseph's 'commandment concerning his bones may have been somewhat influenced by the ,egyptian belief which underlies their practice of embalming the body4 ,he1 too1 may have thought that1 in some mysterious way1 he would share in the possession of the land in which his bones were to be laid4 ,or he may simply have been yielding to natural sentiment4 ,it is noteworthy that ,jacob desired to be laid beside his ancestors1 and ,joseph to be kept in ,egypt for a time4 ,both had the same assurance as to future possession of ,canaan1 but it led to different wishes as to burial4 ,perhaps ,joseph felt that his position in ,egypt required that his embalmed body should for a while remain there4 ,perhaps he wished to leave with his people a silent witness of his own hope1 and a preacher1 eloquent in its dumbness1 of the duty of their keeping alive that hope1 whatever might come upon them4 ',in a coffin in ,egypt'--so the book ends4 ,it might seem that that mummy-case proclaimed rather the futility of the hope of restoration to the land1 and1 as centuries rolled away1 and the bondage became heavier1 no doubt many a wondering and doubting look was turned to it4 ,but there it lay1 perhaps neglected1 for more than three hundred years1 the visible embodiment of a hope which smiled at death and counted centuries as nothing4 ,at last the day came which vindicated the long-deferred confidence2 and1 as the fugitives in their haste shouldered the heavy sarcophagus1 and set out with it for the ,land of ,promise1 surely some thrill of trust would pass through their ranks1 and in some hearts would sound the exhortation1 ',if the vision tarry1 wait for it2 because it will surely come1 it will not tarry4' ,we have not a dead ,joseph to bid us wait with patience and never lose our firm grip of ,god's promises1 but we have a living ,jesus4 ,our march to the land of rest is headed1 not by the bones of a departed leader1 but by the ,forerunner1 'who is for us entered' whither ,he will bring all who trust in ,him4 ,therefore we should live1 as ,joseph lived1 with desires and trust reaching out beyond things seen to the land assured to us by ,god's promise1 doing our day's task all the more vigorously because we do not belong to the order of things in the midst of which we live2 and then1 when we lie down at the end of our life's work1 we shall not be saddened by disappointed hopes1 nor reluctantly close our eyes on good to come1 when we shall not be there to share it1 but be sure that we shall 'see the good of ,thy chosen1' and 'rejoice in the gladness of ,thy nation4' ,,joseph',s ,,faith ',joseph took an oath of the children of ,israel1 saying1 ,god will surely visit you1 and ye shall carry up my bones from hence4'--,,genesis l4 #be4 ,this is the one act of ,joseph's life which the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews selects as the sign that he too lived by faith4 ',by faith ,joseph1 when he died1 made mention of the departing of the children of ,israel2 and gave commandment concerning his bones4' ,it was at once a proof of how entirely he believed ,god's promise1 and of how earnestly he longed for its fulfilment4 ,it was a sign too of how little he felt himself at home in ,egypt1 though to outward appearance he had become completely one of its people4 ,the ancestral spirit was in him true and strong though he was 'separate from his brethren4' ,he bore an ,egyptian name1 a swelling title1 he married an ,egyptian woman1 he had an ,egyptian priest for father-in-law1 but he was an ,israelite in heart2 and in the midst of official cares and a surfeit of honours1 his desires turned away from them all towards the land promised by ,god to his fathers4 ,and when he lay dying1 he could not bear to think that his bones should moulder in the country where his life had been spent4 ',i know that this is not our land after all2 swear to me that when the promise that has tarried so long comes at last1 you will take me1 all that is left of me1 and carry it up1 and lay it in some corner of the blessed soil1 that ,i too may somehow share in the inheritance of ,his people4 ,god shall surely visit you4 ,carry my bones up hence4' ,perhaps there is in this wish a trace of something besides faith in ,god's promises4 ,of course1 there is a natural sentiment which no clearness of knowledge of a future state wholly dispels4 ,we all feel as if somehow our bodies remain a part of ourselves even after death1 and we have wishes where they shall lie4 ,but perhaps ,joseph had a more definite belief on the matter than that4 ,what theory of another life does an ,egyptian mummy express8 ,why all that sedulous care to preserve the poor relics8 ,was it not a consequence of the belief that somehow or other there could be no life without a body1 and that in some mysterious way the preservation of that contributed to the continuance of this8 ,and so ,joseph1 who was himself going to be embalmed and put into a mummy-case1 may have caught something of the tone of thought prevalent around him1 and have believed that to carry his bones to the land of promise was1 in some obscure manner1 to carry him thither4 ,be that as it may1 whether the wish came from a mistake about the relation of flesh and spirit1 or only from the natural desire which we too possess1 that our graves may not be among strangers1 but beside our father's and our mother's--that is not the main thing in this fact4 ,the main thing is that this dying man believed ,god's promise1 and claimed his share in it4 ,and on this the writer of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 whoever he was1 fastens4 ,neglecting the differences in knowledge between ,joseph and the ,christians whom he addresses1 and pointing back to the strong confidence in ,god and longing for participation in the promises which brightened the glazing eye and gave him 'hope in his death1' he declares that the principle of action which guided this man in the dim twilight of early revelation1 is that same faith which ought to guide us who live in the full light of the unsetting sun4 ,taking1 then1 this incident1 with the ,new ,testament commentary upon it1 it leads us to a truth which we often lose sight of1 but which is indispensable if we would understand the relations of the earlier and later days4 #a4 ,faith is always the same1 though knowledge varies4--,there is a vast difference between a man's creed and a man's faith4 ,the one may vary1 does vary within very wide limits2 the other remains the same4 ,the things believed have been growing from the beginning--the attitude of mind and will by which they have been grasped has been the same from the beginning1 and will be the same to the end4 ,and not only so1 but it will be substantially the same in heaven as it is on earth4 ,for there is but one bond which unites men to ,god2 and that emotion of loving trust is one and the same in the dim twilight of the world's morning1 and amid the blaze of the noonday of heaven4 ,the contents of faith1 that on which it relies1 the treasure it grasps1 changes2 the essence of faith1 the act of reliance1 the grasp which holds the treasure1 does not change4 ,it is difficult to decide how much ,joseph's gospel contained4 ,from our point of view it was very imperfect4 ,the spiritual life was nourished in him and in the rest of 'the world's grey fathers' on what looks to us but like seven basketsful of fragments4 ,they had promises1 indeed1 in which we1 looking at them with the light of fulfilment blazing upon them1 can see the broad outlines of the latest revelation1 and can trace the future flower all folded together and pale in the swelling bud4 ,but we shall err greatly if we suppose1 as we are apt to do1 that those promises were to them anything like what they are to us4 ,it requires a very vigorous exercise of very rare gifts to throw ourselves back to their position1 and to gain any vivid and approximately accurate notion of the theology of these ancient lovers of ,god4 ,this1 at any rate1 we may1 perhaps1 say3 they had a sure and clear knowledge of the living ,god1 who had talked with them as with a friend2 they knew ,his inspiring1 guiding presence2 they knew the forgiveness of sins2 they knew1 though they very dimly understood1 the promise1 ',in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed4' ,how far they looked across the gulf of death and beheld anything--even cloudland--on the other side1 is a question very hard to answer1 and about which confident dogmatism1 either affirmative or negative1 is unwarranted4 ,but it is to be remembered that1 whether they had any notion of a future state or no1 they had a promise which fulfilled for them substantially the same office as that does for us4 ,the promise of the land of ,canaan gleaming before them through the mists1 bare and 'earthly' as it seems to us when compared with our hope of an inheritance incorruptible in the heavens1 is1 by the author of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 identified with that hope of ours1 for he expressly says that1 whilst they were looking for an earthly ,canaan1 they were 'desiring a better country1 that is an heavenly4' ,so that1 whether they definitely expected a life after death or not1 the anticipation of the land promised to them and to their fathers held the same place in their creed1 and as a moral agent in their lives1 which the rest that remains for the people of ,god ought to do in ours4 ,and it is to be taken into account also that fellowship with ,god has in it the germ of the assurance of immortality4 ,it seems almost impossible to suppose a state of mind in which a man living in actual communion with ,god shall believe that death is to end it all4 ,christ's proof that immortal life was revealed in the ,pentateuch1 was the fact that ,god there called ,himself the ,god of ,abraham and of ,isaac and of ,jacob2 by which our ,lord meant us to learn that men who are brought into personal relations with ,god can never die1 that it is impossible that a soul which has looked up to the face of the unseen ,father with filial love should be left in the grave1 or that those who are separated to be ,his1 as ,he is theirs1 should see corruption4 ,the relation once established is eternal1 and some more or less definite expectation of that eternity seems inseparable from the consciousness of the relation4 ,but be that as it may1 and even taking the widest possible view of the contents of the patriarchal creed1 what a rude outline it looks beside ours6 ,can there be anything in common between us8 ,can they be in any way a pattern for us8 ,yes2 as ,i said1 faith is one thing1 creed is another4 ,joseph and his ancestors were joined to ,god by the very same bond which unites us to ,him4 ,there has never been but one path of life3 ',they trusted ,god and were lightened1 and their faces were not ashamed4' ,in that ,old ,covenant the one thing needful was trust in the living ,jehovah4 ,in the ,new1 the one thing needful is the very same emotion1 directed to the very same ,lord1 manifested now and incarnate in the divine ,son1 our ,saviour4 ,in this exercise of loving confidence1 in which reason and will and affection blend in the highest energy and holiest action1 ,joseph and we are one4 ,across the gulf of centuries we clasp hands2 and in despite of all superficial differences of culture and civilisation1 and all deeper differences in knowledge of ,god and ,his loving will1 ,pharaoh's prime minister1 and the ,english workman1 and the ,hindoo ryot1 may be alike in what is deepest--the faith which grasps ,god4 ,how all that mysterious ,egyptian life fades away as we think of the fundamental identity of religious emotion then and now6 ,it disguises our brother from us1 as it did from the wandering ,arabs who came to buy corn1 and could not recognise in the swarthy1 imperious ,egyptian1 with strange head-dress and unknown emblems hanging by chains of gold about his neck1 the fair boy whom they had sold to the merchants4 ,but beneath it all is the brother's heart1 fed by the same life-blood which feeds ours4 ,he trusts in ,god1 he expects a future because ,god has promised it1 and1 therefore1 he is separated from those among whom he dwells1 and knit to us in this far-off island of the sea1 who so many centuries after are partakers of like precious faith4 ,and incomplete as his creed was1 ,joseph may have been a better ,christian than some of us1 and was so1 if what he knew nourished his spiritual life more than what we know nourishes ours1 and if his heart and will twined more tenaciously round the fragments of revelation which he possessed1 and drew from them more support and strength than we do from the complete ,gospel which we have4 ,brethren1 what makes us ,christians is not the theology we have in our heads1 but the faith and love we have in our hearts4 ,we must1 indeed1 have a clear statement of truth in orderly propositions--that is1 a system of dogmas--to have anything to trust to at all4 ,there can be no saving faith in an unseen ,person1 except through the medium of thoughts concerning ,him1 which thoughts put into words are a creed4 ,the antithesis which is often eagerly urged upon us--not doctrines1 but ,christ--is a very incomplete and misleading one4 ',christ' is a mere name1 empty of all significance till it is filled with definite statements of who and what ,christ is4 ,but whilst ,i1 for my part1 believe that we must have doctrines to make ,christ a reality and an object of faith to grasp at all1 ,i would urge all the more earnestly1 because ,i thus believe1 that1 when we have these doctrines1 it is not the creed that saves1 but the faith4 ,we are united to ,christ1 not by the doctrine of ,his nature and work1 needful as that is1 but by trusting in ,him as that which the doctrine declares ,him to be--,redeemer1 ,friend1 ,sacrifice1 ,divine ,lover of our souls4 ,let us always remember that it is not the amount of religious knowledge which ,i have got1 but the amount which ,i use1 that determines my religious position and character4 ,most of us have in our creeds principles that have no influence upon our moral and active life2 and1 if so1 it matters not one whit how pure1 how accurate1 how comprehensive1 how consistent1 how scriptural my conceptions of the ,gospel may be4 ,if they are not powers in my soul1 they only increase my responsibility and my liability to condemnation4 ,the dry light of the understanding is of no use to anybody4 ,you must turn your creed into a faith before it has power to bless and save4 ,there are hosts of so-called ,christians who get no more good out of the most solemn articles of their orthodox belief than if they were heathens4 ,what in the use of your saying that you believe in ,god the ,father ,almighty1 when there is no child's love and happy confidence in your heart8 ,what the better are you for believing in ,jesus ,christ1 ,his divine nature1 ,his death and glory1 when you have no reliance on ,him1 nor any least flutter of trembling love towards ,him8 ,is your belief in the ,holy ,ghost of the smallest consequence1 if you do not yield to ,his hallowing power8 ,what does it matter that you believe in the forgiveness of sins1 so long as you do not care a rush whether yours are pardoned or no8 ,and is it anything to you or to ,god that you believe in the life everlasting1 if all your work1 and hopes1 and longings are confined to 'this bank and shoal of time'8 ,are you any more a ,christian because of all that intellectual assent to these solemn verities8 ,is not your life like some secularised monastic chamber1 with holy texts carved on the walls1 and saintly images looking down from glowing windows on revellers and hucksters who defile its floor8 ,your faith1 not your creed1 determines your religion4 ,many a 'true believer' is a real 'infidel4' ,thank ,god that the soul may be wedded to ,christ1 even while a very partial conception of ,christ is in the understanding4 ,the more complete and adequate the creed1 indeed1 the mightier and more fruitful in blessing will the faith naturally be2 and every portion of the full orb of the ,sun of ,righteousness which is eclipsed by the shadow of our intellectual misconceptions1 will diminish the light and warmth which falls upon our souls4 ,it is no part of our duty to pronounce what is the minimum of a creed which faith needs for its object4 ,for myself1 ,i confess that ,i do not understand how the spiritual life can be sustained in its freshness and fervour1 in its fulness and reality1 without a belief in the divinity and saving work of ,jesus ,christ4 ,but with that belief for the centre which faith grasps1 the rest may vary indefinitely4 ,all who stand around that centre1 some nearer1 some further off1 some mazed in errors which others have cast behind them1 some of them seeing and understanding more1 and some less of ,him and of ,his work--are ,his4 ,he loves them1 and will save them all4 ,knowledge varies4 ,the faith which unites to ,god remains the same4 #b4 ,we may gather from this incident another consideration1 namely1 that ,faith has its noblest office in detaching from the present4 ,all his life long1 from the day of his captivity1 ,joseph was an ,egyptian in outward seeming4 ,he filled his place at ,pharaoh's court1 but his dying words open a window into his soul1 and betray how little he had felt that he belonged to the order of things in the midst of which he had been content to live4 ,this man1 too1 surrounded by an ancient civilisation1 and dwelling among granite temples and solid pyramids and firm-based sphinxes1 the very emblems of eternity1 confessed that here he had no continuing city1 but sought one to come4 ,as truly as his ancestors who dwelt in tabernacles1 like ,abraham journeying with his camels and herds1 and pitching his tent outside the walls of ,hebron1 like ,isaac in the grassy plains of the ,south country1 like ,jacob keeping himself apart from the families of the land1 their descendant1 an heir with them of the same promise1 showed that he too regarded himself as a 'stranger and a sojourner4' ,dying1 he said1 ',carry my bones up from hence4 ,therefore we may be sure that1 living1 the hope of the inheritance must have burned in his heart as a hidden light1 and made him an alien everywhere but on its blessed soil4 ,and faith will always produce just such effects4 ,in exact proportion to its strength1 that living trust in ,god will direct our thoughts and desires to the ',king in ,his beauty1 and the land that is very far off4' ,in proportion as our thoughts and desires are thus directed1 they will be averted from what is round about us2 and the more longingly our eyes are fixed on the furthest horizon1 the less shall we see the flowers at our feet4 ,to behold ,god pales the otherwise dazzling lustre of created brightness4 ,they whose souls are fed with heavenly manna1 and who have learned that it is their necessary food1 will scent no dainties in the fleshpots of ,egypt1 for all their rank garlic and leeks4 ,it is simply a question as to which of two classes of ideas occupies the thoughts1 and which of two sets of affections engages the heart4 ,if vulgar brawling and rude merrymakers fill the inn1 there will be no room for the pilgrim thoughts which bear the ,christ in their bosom1 and have angels for their guard2 and if these holy wayfarers enter1 their serene presence will drive forth the noisy crowd1 and turn the place into a temple4 ,nothing but ,christian faith gives to the furthest future the solidity and definiteness which it must have1 if it is to be a breakwater for us against the fluctuating sea of present cares and thoughts4 ,if the unseen is ever to rule in men's lives1 it must be through their thoughts4 ,it must become intelligible1 clear1 real4 ,it must be brought out of the flickering moonlight of fancy and surmises1 into the sunlight of certitude and knowledge4 ,dreams1 and hopes1 and peradventures are too unsubstantial stuff to be a bulwark against the very real1 undeniable present4 ,and such certitude is given through faith which grasps the promises of ,god1 and twines the soul round the risen ,saviour so closely that it sits with ,him in heavenly places4 ,such certitude is given by faith alone4 ,if the unseen is ever to rule in men's lives1 it must become not only an object for certain knowledge1 but also for ardent wishes4 ,the vague sense of possible evils lurking in its mysteries must be taken out of the soul1 and there must come somehow an assurance that all it wraps in its folds is joy and peace4 ,it must cease to be doubtful1 and must seem infinitely desirable4 ,does anything but ,christian faith engage the heart to love1 and all the longing wishes to set towards1 the things that are unseen and eternal8 ,where besides1 then1 can there be found a counterpoise weighty enough to heave up the souls that are laden with the material1 and cleaving to the dust8 ,nowhere4 ,the only possible deliverance from the tyrannous pressure of the trifles amidst which we live is in having the thoughts familiarised with ,christ in heaven1 which will dwarf all that is on earth1 and in having the affections fixed on ,him1 which will emancipate them from the pains and sorrows that ever wait upon love of the mutable and finite creatures4 ,let us remember that such deliverance from the present is the condition of all noble1 joyous1 pure life4 ,it needs ,christianity to effect it indeed1 but it does not need ,christianity to see how desirable it is1 and how closely connected with whatever is lovely and of good report is this detachment from the near and the visible4 ,a man that is living for remote objects is1 in so far1 a better man than one who is living for the present4 ,he will become thereby the subject of a mental and moral discipline that will do him good4 ,and1 on the other hand1 a life which has no far-off light for its guiding star1 has none of the unity1 of the self-restraint1 of the tension1 of the conscious power which makes our days noble and strong4 ,whether he accomplish them or fail1 whether they be high or low1 the man who lets future objects rule present action is in advance of others4 ',to scorn delights and live laborious days1' which is the prerogative of the man with a future1 is always best4 ,he is rather a beast than a man1 who floats lazily on the warm1 sunny wavelets as they lift him in their roll1 and does not raise his head high enough above them to see and steer for the solid shore where they break4 ,but only he has found the full1 controlling1 blessing1 quickening power that lies in the thought of the future1 and in life directed by it1 to whom that future is all summed in the name of his ,saviour4 ,whatever makes a man live in the past and in the future raises him2 but high above all others stand those to whom the past is an apocalypse of ,god1 with ,calvary for its centre1 and all the future is fellowship with ,christ1 and joy in the heavens4 ,having these hopes1 it will be our own faults if we are not pure and gentle1 calm in changes and sorrows1 armed against frowning dangers1 and proof against smiling temptations4 ,they are our armour--',put on the breastplate of faith 444 and for an helmet the hope of salvation4' ,a very sharp test for us all lies in these thoughts4 ,this change of the centre of interest from earth to heaven is the uniform effect of faith4 ,what1 then1 of us8 ,on ,sundays we profess to seek for a city2 but what about the week1 from ,monday morning to ,saturday night8 ,what difference does our faith make in the current of our lives8 ,how far are they unlike--,i do not mean externally and in occupations1 but in principle--the lives of men who 'have no hope'8 ,are you living for other objects than theirs8 ,are you nurturing other hopes in your hearts1 as a man may guard a little spark of fire with both his hands1 to light him amid the darkness and the howling storm8 ,do you care to detach yourself from the world8 or are you really 'men of this world1 which have their portion in this life1' even while ,christians by profession8 ,a question which ,i have no right to ask1 and no power to answer but for myself2 a question which it concerns your souls to ask and to answer very definitely for yourselves4 ,there is no need to preach an exaggerated and impossible abstinence from work and enjoyment in the world where ,god has put us1 or to set up a standard 'too high for mortal life beneath the sky4' ,whatever call there may have sometimes been to protest against a false asceticism1 and withdrawing from active life for the sake of one's personal salvation1 times are changed now4 ,what we want to-day is3 ',come ye out and be ye separate1 and touch not the unclean thing4' ,in my conscience ,i believe that multitudes are having the very heart of the ,christian life eaten out by absorption in earthly pursuits and loves1 and by the effacing of all distinction in outward life1 in occupation1 in recreation1 in tastes and habits1 between people who call themselves ,christians1 and people who do not care at all whether there is another world or not4 ,there can be but little strength in our faith if it does not compel us to separation4 ,if it has any power to do anything at all1 it will certainly do that4 ,if we are naturalised as citizens there1 we cannot help being aliens here4 ',abraham1' says the ,new ,testament1 'dwelt in tabernacles1 for he looked for a city4' ,just so6 ,the tent life will always be the natural one for those who feel that their mother-country is beyond the stars4 ,we should be like the wandering ,swiss1 who hear in a strange land the rude1 old melody that used to echo among the ,alpine pastures4 ,the sweet1 sad tones kindle home-sickness that will not let them rest4 ,no matter where they are1 or what they are doing1 no matter what honour they have carved out for themselves with their swords1 they throw off the livery of the alien king which they have worn1 and turning their backs upon pomp and courts1 seek the free air of the mountains1 and find home better than a place by a foreign throne4 ,let us esteem the reproach of ,christ greater riches than the treasures of ,egypt1 and go forth to ,him without the camp1 for here have we no continuing city4 #c4 ,again1 we have here an instance that ,faith makes men energetic in the duties of the present4 ,the remarks which ,i have been making must be completed by that consideration1 or they become hurtful and one-sided4 ,you know that common sarcasm1 that ,christianity degrades this present life by making it merely the portal to a better1 and teaches men to think of it as only evil1 to be scrambled through anyhow4 ,i confess that ,i wish the sneer were a less striking contrast to what ,christian people really think4 ,but it is almost as gross a caricature of the teaching of ,christianity as it is of the practice of ,christians4 ,take this story of ,joseph as giving us a truer view of the effect on present action of faith in1 and longing for1 ,god's future4 ,he was1 as ,i said1 a true ,hebrew all his days4 ,but that did not make him run away from ,pharaoh's service4 ,he lived by hope1 and that made him the better worker in the passing moment1 and kept him tugging away all his life at the oar1 administering the affairs of a kingdom4 ,of course it is so4 ,the one thing which saves this life from being contemptible is the thought of another4 ,the more profoundly we feel the reality of the great eternity whither we are being drawn1 the greater do all things here become4 ,they are made less in their power to absorb or trouble1 but they are made infinitely greater in importance as preparations for what is beyond4 ,when they are first they are small1 when they are second they are great4 ,when the mist lifts1 and shows the snowy summits of the 'mountains of ,god1' the nearer lower ranges1 which we thought the highest1 dwindle indeed1 but gain in sublimity and meaning by the loftier peaks to which they lead up4 ,unless men and women live for eternity1 they are 'merely players1' and all their busy days 'like a tale told by an idiot1 full of sound and fury1 signifying nothing4' ,how absurd1 how monotonous1 how trivial it all is1 all this fret and fume1 all these dying joys and only less fleeting pains1 all this mill-horse round of work which we pace1 unless we are1 mill-horse-like1 driving a shaft that goes through the wall1 and grinds something that falls into 'bags that wax not old' on the other side4 ,the true ,christian faith teaches us that this world is the workshop where ,god makes men1 and the next1 the palace where ,he shows them4 ,all here is apprenticeship and training4 ,it is of no more value than the attitudes into which gymnasts throw themselves1 but as a discipline most precious4 ,the end makes the means important2 and if we believe that ,god is preparing us for immortal life with ,him by all our work1 then we shall do it with a will3 otherwise we may well be languid as we go on for thirty or forty years1 some of us1 doing the same trivial things1 and getting nothing out of them but food1 occupation of time1 and a mechanical aptitude for doing what is not worth doing4 ,it is the horizon that gives dignity to the foreground4 ,a picture without sky has no glory4 ,this present1 unless we see gleaming beyond it the eternal calm of the heavens1 above the tossing tree-tops with withering leaves1 and the smoky chimneys1 is a poor thing for our eyes to gaze at1 or our hearts to love1 or our hands to toil on4 ,but when we see that all paths lead to heaven1 and that our eternity is affected by our acts in time1 then it is blessed to gaze1 it is possible to love1 the earthly shadows of the uncreated beauty1 it is worth while to work4 ,remember1 too1 that faith will energise us for any sort of work1 seeing that it raises all to one level and brings all under one sanction1 and shows all as cooperating to one end4 ,look at that muster-roll of heroes of faith in the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 and mark the variety of grades of human life represented there--statesmen1 soldiers1 prophets1 shepherds1 widow women1 martyrs--all fitted for their tasks and delivered from the snare that was in their calling1 by that faith which raised them above the world1 and therefore fitted them to come down on the world with stronger strokes of duty4 ,this is the secret of doing with our might whatsoever our hand finds to do-to trust ,christ1 to live with ,him1 and by the hope of the inheritance4 ,then1 brethren1 let us see that our clearer revelation bears fruit in a faith in the great divine promises as calm and firm as this dying patriarch had4 ,then the same power will work not only the same detachment and energy in life1 but the same calmness and solemn light of hope in death4 ,it is very beautiful to notice how ,joseph dying almost overleaps the thought of death as a very small matter4 ,his brethren who stood by his bedside might well fear what might be the consequences to their people when the powerful protector1 the prime minister of the kingdom1 was gone4 ,but the dying man has firm hold of ,god's promises1 and he knows that these will be fulfilled1 whether he live or no4 ',i die1' says he1 'but ,god shall surely visit you4 ,he is not going to die2 and though ,i stand no more before ,pharaoh1 you will be safe4' ,thus we may contemplate our own going away1 or the departure of the dearest from our homes1 and of the most powerful for good in human affairs1 and in the faith of ,god's true promises may feel that no one is indispensable to our well-being or to the world's good4 ,god's chariot is self-moving4 ,one after another1 who lays his hand upon the ropes1 and hauls for a little space1 drops out of the ranks4 ,but it will go on1 and in ,his majesty ,he will ride prosperously4 ,and for himself1 too1 the dying man felt that death was a very small matter4 ',whether ,i live or die ,i shall have a share in the promise4 ,living1 perhaps my feet would stand upon its soil2 dying1 my bones will rest there4' ,and we1 who know a resurrection1 have in it that which makes ,joseph's fond fancy a reality1 and reduces the importance of that last enemy to nothing4 ,some will be alive and remain till the coming of the ,lord1 some will be laid in the grave till ,his voice calls them forth1 and carries their bones up from hence to the land of the inheritance4 ,but whether we be of generations that fell on sleep looking for the promise of ,his coming1 or whether of the generation that go forth to meet ,him when ,he comes1 it matters not4 ,all who have lived by faith will then be gathered at last4 ,the brightest hopes of the present will be forgotten4 ,then1 when we too shall stand in the latter day1 wearing the likeness of ,his glory1 and extricated wholly from the bondage of corruption and the dust of death1 we1 perfected in body1 soul1 and spirit1 shall enter the calm home1 where we shall change the solitude of the desert and the transitoriness of the tent and the dangers of the journey1 for the society and the stability and the security of the city which hath foundations1 whose builder and maker is ,god4 ,a ,,coffin ,,in ,,egypt ',they embalmed him1 and he was put in a coffin in ,egypt4' --,,genesis l4 #bf4 ,so closes the book of ,genesis4 ,all its recorded dealings of ,god with ,israel1 and all the promises and the glories of the patriarchal line1 end with 'a coffin in ,egypt'4 ,such an ending is the more striking1 when we remember that a space of three hundred years intervenes between the last events in ,genesis and the first in ,exodus1 or almost as long a time as parts the ,old ,testament from the ,new4 ,and1 during all that period1 ,israel was left with a mummy and a hope4 ,the elaborately embalmed body of ,joseph lay in its gilded and pictured case1 somewhere in ,goshen1 and was1 no doubt1 in the care of the ,israelites1 as is plain from the fact that they carried it with them at the exodus4 ,for three centuries1 that silent 'coffin in ,egypt' preached its impressive messages4 ,what did it say8 ,it spoke1 no doubt1 to ears often deaf1 but still some faint whispers of its speechless testimony would sound in some hearts1 and help to keep vivid some hopes4 ,first1 it was a silent reminder of mortality4 ,egyptian consciousness was much occupied with death4 ,the land was peopled with tombs4 ,but the corpse of ,joseph was perhaps not laid in one of these1 but remained housed somewhere in sight1 as it were1 of all ,israel4 ,many a passer-by would pause for a moment1 and think2 ,here is the end of dignity second only to ,pharaoh's1 to this has come that strong brain1 that true heart1 ,israel's pride and protection is shut up in that wooden case4 ',the glories of our birth and state ,are shadows1 not substantial things2 ,there is no armour against fate1 ,death lays his icy hand on kings4' ,yes1 but let us remember that while that silent sarcophagus enforced the old1 old lesson to the successive generations that looked on it and little heeded its stern1 sad teaching of mortality1 it had other brighter truths to tell4 ,for the shrivelled1 colourless lips that lay in it1 covered with many a fold of linen1 had left as their last utterance1 ',i die1 but ,god will surely visit you1' ,no man is necessary4 ,israel can survive the loss of the strongest and wisest4 ,god lives1 though a hundred ,josephs die4 ,it is pure gain to lose human helpers1 if thereby we become more fully conscious of our need of a divine arm and heart1 and more truly feel that we have these for our all-sufficient stay4 ,blessed is the fleeting of all that can pass1 if its withdrawal lets the calm light of the ,eternal1 which cannot pass1 stream in uninterrupted on us6 ,when the leaves fall1 we see more clearly the rock which their short-lived greenness in its pride veiled4 ,when the many-hued and ever-shifting clouds are swept out of the sky by the wind1 the sun that lent them all their colour shines the more brightly4 ,the message of every death-bed and grave is meant to be1 ',this and that man dies1 but ,god lives4' ,the last result of our contemplation of mortality1 as affecting our dearest and most needful ones1 and as sure to include ourselves in its far-reaching1 close-woven net1 ought to be to drive us to ,god's breast1 that there we may find a ,friend who does not pass1 and may dwell in 'the land of the living1' on whose soil the foot of all-conquering ,death dare never tread4 ,nor are these thoughts all the message of that 'coffin in ,egypt4' ,in the first verses of the next book1 that of ,exodus1 there is a remarkable juxtaposition of ideas1 when we read that ',joseph died and all his brethren and all that generation4' ,but was that the end of ,israel8 ,by no means1 for the narrative goes on immediately to say--linking the two things together by a simple 'and'--that 'the children of ,israel were fruitful1 and increased abundantly1 and multiplied and waxed exceeding mighty4' ,so life springs side by side with death4 ,there are cradles as well as graves4 ',the individual withers1 ,and the race is more and more4' ,leaves drop and new leaves come4 ,the ,april days are not darkened1 and the tender green of the fresh leaf-buds is all the more vigorous and luxuriant1 because it is fed from the decaying leaves that litter the roots of the long-lived oak4 ,thus through the ages the pathetic alternation goes on4 ,penelope's web is ever being woven and run down and woven again4 ,joseph dies2 ,israel grows4 ,let us not take half-views1 nor either fix our thoughts on the universal law of dissolution and decay1 nor on the other side of the process--the universal emergence of life from death1 reconstruction from dissolution4 ,in our individual histories and on the wider field of the world's history1 the same large law is at work1 which is expressed in the simplest terms by these old words1 ',joseph died1 and all his brethren and all that generation'--and 'the children of ,israel were fruitful and increased abundantly4' ,so the wholesome lesson of mortality is stripped of much of its sadness1 and retains all its pathos1 solemnity1 and power to purify the heart4 ,again1 that 'coffin in ,egypt' was a herald of ,hope4 ,the reason for ,joseph's dying injunction that his body should be preserved after the ,egyptian fashion1 and laid where it could be lifted and carried away1 when the long-expected deliverance was effected1 was the dying patriarch's firm confidence that1 though he died1 he had still somehow a share in ,god's faithful promise4 ,we do not know the precise shape which his thought of that share took4 ,it may have been merely the natural sentiment which desires that the unconscious frame shall moulder quietly beside the mouldering forms which once held our dear ones4 ,this naturalised ,egyptian did his work manfully in the land of his adoption1 and flung himself eagerly into its interests1 but his heart turned to the cave at ,machpelah1 and1 though he lived in ,egypt1 he could not bear to think of lying there for ever when dead1 especially of being left there alone4 ,there may have been some trace in his wish of the peculiar ,egyptian belief that the preservation of the body contributed in some way to the continuance of personal life1 and that a certain shadowy self hovered about the spot where the mummy was laid4 ,our knowledge of the large place filled by a doctrine of a future life in ,egyptian thought makes it most probable that ,joseph had at least some forecast of that hope of immortality1 which seems to us to be inseparable from the consciousness of present communion with ,god4 ,but1 in any case1 ,israel had charge of that coffin because the dead man that lay in it had1 on the very edge of the gulf of death1 believed that he had still a portion in ,israel's hope1 and that1 when he had taken the plunge into the great darkness1 he had not sunk below the reach of ,god's power to give him personal fulfilment of ,his yet unfulfilled promise4 ,his dying command was the expression of his unshaken faith that1 though he was dead1 ,god would visit him with ,his salvation1 and give him to see the prosperity of ,his chosen1 that he might rejoice in the gladness of the nation1 and glory with ,his inheritance4 ,he had lived1 trusting in ,god's bare promise1 and1 as he lived1 he died4 ,the ,epistle to the ,hebrews lays hold of the true motive power in the incident1 when it points to ,joseph's dying 'commandment concerning his bones' as a noble instance of ,faith4 ,thus1 through slow creeping centuries1 this silent preacher said--',hope on1 though the vision tarry1 wait for it1 for it will surely come4 ,god is faithful1 and will perform ,his word4' ,there was much to make hope faint4 ,to bring ,israel out of ,canaan seemed a strange way of investing it with the possession of ,canaan4 ,as the tardy years trickled away1 drop by drop1 and the promise seemed no nearer fulfilment1 some film of doubt must have crept over ,hope's bright eyes4 ,when new dynasties reigned1 and ,israel slowly sank into the state of bondage1 it must have been still harder to believe that the shortest road to the inheritance was round by ,goshen4 ,but through all the darkening course of ,israel in these sad centuries1 there stood the 'coffin1' the token of a triumphant faith which had leapt1 as a trifle1 over the barrier of death1 and grasped as real the good which lay beyond that frowning wall4 ,we have a better ,herald of hope than a mummy-case and a pyramid built round it4 ,we have an empty grave and an occupied ,throne1 by which to nourish our confidence in ,immortality and our estimate of the insignificance of death4 ,our ,joseph does not say--',i die1 but ,god will surely visit you1' but ,he gives us the wonderful assurance of identification with ,himself1 and consequent participation in ,his glory--',because ,i live1 ye shall live also4' ,therefore our hope should be as much brighter and more confirmed than this ancient one was as that on which it is based is better and more joyous4 ,but1 alas1 there is no invariable proportion between food supplied and strength derived4 ,an orchid can fling out gorgeous blooms1 though it grows on a piece of dry wood1 but plants set in rich soil often show poor flowers4 ,our hope will be worthy of its foundation1 only on condition of our habitually reflecting on the firmness of that foundation1 and cultivating familiarity with the things hoped for4 ,there are many ways in which the apostle's great saying that 'we are saved by hope' approves itself as true4 ,whatever leads us to grasp the future rather than the present1 even if it is but an earthly future1 and to live by hope rather than by fruition1 even if it is but a short-reaching hope1 lifts us in the scale of being1 ennobles1 dignifies1 and in some respects purifies us4 ,even men whose expectations have not wing-power enough to cross the dreadful ravine of ,death1 are elevated in the degree in which they work towards a distant goal4 ,short-sighted hopes are better than blind absorption in the present4 ,whatever puts the centre of gravity of our lives in the future is a gain1 and most of all is that hope blessed1 which bids us look forward to an eternal sitting with ,jesus at the right hand of ,god4 ,if such hope has any solidity in it1 it will certainly detach us from the order of things in which we dwell4 ,the world is always tempting us to 'forget the imperial palace' whither we go4 ,the ,israelites must have been swayed by many inducements to settle down for good and all in the low levels of fertile ,goshen1 and to think themselves better off there than if going out on a perilous enterprise to win no richer pastures than they already possessed4 ,in fact1 when the deliverance came1 it was not particularly welcome1 oven though oppression was embittering the peoples' lives4 ,but1 when hope had died down in them1 and desire had become languid1 and ignoble contentment with their flocks and herds had dulled their spirits1 ,joseph's silent coffin must have pealed in their ears--',this is not your rest2 arise and claim your inheritance4' ,in like manner1 the pressure of the apparently solid realities of to-day1 the growth of the 'scientific' temper of mind which confines knowledge to physical facts1 the drift of tendency among religious people to regard ,christianity mainly in its aspect of dealing with social questions and bringing present good1 powerfully reinforce our natural sluggishness of ,hope1 and have brought it about that the average ,christian of this day has fewer of his thoughts directed to the future life than his predecessors had1 or than it is good for him to have4 ,among the many truths which almost need to be rediscovered by their professed believers1 that of the rest that remains for the people of ,god is one4 ,for the test of believing a truth is its influence on conduct1 and no one can affirm that the conduct of the average ,christian of our times bears marks of being deeply influenced by that ,future1 or by the hope of winning it4 ,does he live as if he felt that he was an alien among the material things surrounding him8 ,does it look as if his true affinities were beyond the grave and above the stars8 ,if we did thus feel1 not at rare intervals1 when 'in seasons of calm weather1 our souls have sight of that immortal sea1' which lies glassy before the throne1 and on whose banks the minstrels stand singing the song of ,moses and of the ,lamb1 but habitually and with a vivid realisation1 which makes the things hoped for more solid than what we touch and handle1 our lives would be far other than they are4 ,we should not work less1 but more1 earnestly at our present duties1 whatever these may be1 for they would be seen in new importance as bearing on our place in that world of consequences4 ,the more our goal and prize are seen gleaming through the dust of the race-ground1 the more strenuous our effort here4 ,nothing ennobles the trifles of our lives in time like the streaming in on these of the light of eternity4 ,that vision ever present with us will not sadden4 ,the fact of mortality is grim enough1 if forced upon us unaccompanied by the other fact that ,death opens the gate of our ,home4 ,but when the else depressing thought that 'here we have no continuing city' is but the obverse and result of the fact that 'we seek one to come1' it is freed from its sadness1 and becomes powerful for good and even for joy4 ,we need1 even more than ,israel in its bondage did1 to realise that we are strangers and pilgrims4 ,it concerns the depth of our religion and the reality of our profiting by the discipline1 as well as of our securing the enjoyment of the blessings1 of the fleeting and else trivial present1 that we shall keep very clear in view the great future which dignifies and interprets this enigmatical earthly life4 ,further1 that 'coffin in ,egypt' was a preacher of patience4 ,as we have seen1 three centuries at least1 probably a somewhat longer period1 passed between the time when ,joseph's corpse was laid in it1 and the night when it was lifted out of it by the departing ,israelites4 ,no doubt1 hope deferred had made many a heart sick1 and the weary question1 ',where is the promise of ,his coming8' had in some cases changed into bitter disbelief that the promise would ever be fulfilled4 ,but1 for all these years1 the dumb monitor stood there proclaiming1 ',if the vision tarry1 wait for it4' ,surely we need the same lesson4 ,it is hard for us to acquiesce in the slow march of the divine purposes4 ,life is short1 and desire would fain see the great harvests reaped before death seals our eyes4 ,sometimes the very prospect of the great things that shall one day be accomplished in the world1 and we not there to see1 weighs heavily on us4 ,reformers1 philanthropists1 idealists of all sorts are constitutionally impatient1 and in their generous haste to see their ideals realised1 forget that 'raw haste' is 'half-sister to delay' and are indignant with man for his sluggishness and with ,god for ,his majestic slowness4 ,not less do we fret and fume and think the days drag with intolerable slowness1 before some eagerly expected good rises like a star on our individual lives4 ,but there is deep truth in ,paul's apparent paradox1 that 'if we hope for that we see not1 then do we with patience wait for it4' ,the more sure the confidence1 the more quiet the patient waiting4 ,it is uncertainty which makes earthly hope short of breath1 and impatient of delay4 ,but since a ,christian man's hope is consolidated into certainty1 and when it is set on ,god1 cannot only say1 ,i trust that it will be so and so1 but1 ,i know that it shall1 it may well be content to be patient for the fulfilment1 'as the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth1 and hath long patience for it4' ',one day is with the ,lord as a thousand years' in respect of the magnitude of the changes which may be wrought by the instantaneous operation of ,his hand when the appointed hour shall strike1 and therefore it should not strain our patience nor stagger our faith that 'a thousand years' should be 'as one day1' in respect of the visible approximation achieved in them1 towards the establishment of ,his purpose4 ,the world was prepared for man through countless millenniums4 ,man was prepared for the advent of ,christ through long centuries4 ,nineteen hundred years have effected comparatively little in incorporating the issues of ,christ's work in the consciousness and characters of mankind4 ,much of the slowness of that progress of ,christianity is due to the faithlessness and sloth of professing ,christians4 ,but it still remains true that ,god lifts ,his foot slowly1 and plants it firmly1 in ,his march through the world4 ,so1 both in regard to the progress of truth1 and the diffusion of the highest1 and of the secondary1 blessings of ,christianity through the nations1 and in respect to the reception of individual good gifts1 we shall do wisely to leave ,god to settle the 'when' since we are sure that ,he has bound ,himself to accomplish the fact4 ,finally1 that 'coffin in ,egypt' was a pledge of possession4 ,it lay long among the ,israelites to uphold fainting faith1 and at last was carried up before their host1 and reverently guarded during forty years' wanderings1 till it was deposited in the cave at ,machpelah1 beside the tombs of the fathers of the nation4 ,thus it became to the nation1 and remains for us1 a symbol of the truth that no hope based upon ,god's bare word is ever finally disappointed4 ,from all other anticipations grounded on anything less solid1 the element of uncertainty is inseparable1 and ,fear is ever the sister of ,hope4 ,with keen insight ,spenser makes these two march side by side1 in his wonderful procession of the attendants of earthly ,love4 ,there is always a lurking sadness in ,hope's smiles1 and a nameless dread in her eyes4 ,and all expectations busied with or based upon the contingencies of this poor life1 whether they are fulfilled or disappointed1 prove less sweet in fruition than in prospect1 and often turn to ashes in the eating1 instead of the sweet bread which we had thought them to be4 ,one basis alone is sure1 and that is the foundation on which ,joseph rested and risked everything--the plain promise of ,god4 ,he who builds on that rock will never be put to shame1 and when floods sweep away every refuge built on sand1 he will not need to 'make haste' to find1 amid darkness and storm1 some less precarious shelter1 but will look down serenely on the wildest torrent1 and know it to be impotent to wash away his fortress home4 ,there is no nobler example of victorious faith which prolonged confident expectation beyond the insignificant accident of death than ,joseph's dying 'commandment concerning his bones4' ,his confidence1 indeed1 grasped a far lower blessing than ours should reach out to clasp4 ,it was evoked by less clear and full promises and pledges than we have4 ,the magnitude and loftiness of the ,christian hope of ,immortality1 and the certitude of the fact on which it reposes1 the resurrection of ,jesus ,christ1 should result in a corresponding increase in the firmness and clearness of our hope1 and in its power in our lives4 ,the average ,christian of to-day may well be sent to school to ,joseph on his death-bed4 ,is our faith as strong as--,i will not ask if it is stronger than--that of this man who1 in the morning twilight of revelation1 and with a hope of an eternal possession of an earthly inheritance1 which1 one might have thought1 would be shattered by death1 was able to fling his anchor clean across the gulf when he gave injunction1 ',carry my bones up hence'8 ,we have a better inheritance1 and fuller1 clearer promises and facts on which to trust4 ,shame to us if we have a feebler faith4 ,,expositions ,,of ,,holy ,,scripture ,,alexander ,,maclaren1 ,d4 ,d41 ,litt4 ,d4 ,,exodus1 ,,leviticus ,,and ,,numbers ,,contents ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,exodus ,,four ,,shaping ,,centuries 7,exodus i4 #a-ad7 ,,death ,,and ,,growth 7,exodus i4 #f1 #g7 ,,the ,,ark ,,among ,,the ,,flags 7,exodus ii4 #a-aj7 ,,the ,,bush ,,that ,,burned1 ,,and ,,did ,,not ,,burn ,,out 7,exodus iii4 #b7 ,,the ,,call ,,of ,,moses 7,exodus iii4 #aj-bj7 ,a ,,last ,,merciful ,,warning 7,exodus xi4 #a-aj7 ,,the ,,passover3 ,,an ,,expiation ,,and ,a ,,feast1 ,a ,,memorial ,,and ,a ,,prophecy 7,exodus xii4 #a-ad7 ,,thought1 ,,deed1 ,,word 7,exodus xiii4 #i7 ,a ,,path ,,in ,,the ,,sea 7,exodus xiv4 #ai-ca7 ',,my ,,strength ,,and ,,song' 7,exodus xv4 #b7 ,,the ,,shepherd ,,and ,,the ,,fold 7,exodus xv4 #ac7 ,,the ,,ultimate ,,hope 7,exodus xv4 #ag7 ,,marah 7,exodus xv4 #bc-be7 ,,the ,,bread ,,of ,,god 7,exodus xvi4 #d-ab7 ,,jehovah ,,nissi 7,exodus xvii4 #ae7 ,,gershom ,,and ,,eliezer 7,exodus xviii4 #c1 #d7 ,,the ,,ideal ,,statesman 7,exodus xviii4 #ba7 ,,the ,,decalogue3--,i4 ,,man ,,and ,,god 7,exodus xx4 #a-aa7 ,,the ,,decalogue3--,,ii4 ,,man ,,and ,,man 7,exodus xx4 #ab-ba7 ,,the ,,feast ,,of ,,ingathering ,,in ,,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,year 7,exodus xxiii4 #af7 ',,the ,,love ,,of ,,thine ,,espousals' 7,exodus xxiv4 #a-ab7 ,,the ,,bread ,,of ,,the ,,presence 7,exodus xxv4 #cj7 ,,the ,,golden ,,lampstand 7,exodus xxv4 #ca7 ,,the ,,names ,,on ,,aaron',s ,,breastplate 7,exodus xxviii4 #ab1bi7 ,,three ,,inscriptions ,,with ,,one ,,meaning 7,exodus xxviii4 #cf2 ,zech4 xiv4 #bj2 ,rev4 xxii4 #d7 ,,the ,,altar ,,of ,,incense 7,exodus xxx4 #a7 ,,ransom ,,for ,,souls--,i4 7,exodus xxx4 #ab7 ,,ransom ,,for ,,souls--,,ii4 7,exodus xxx4 #ae7 ,,the ,,golden ,,calf 7,exodus xxxii4 #a-h1 #cj-ce7 ,,the ,,swift ,,decay ,,of ,,love 7,exodus xxxii4 #ae-bf7 ,,the ,,mediator',s ,,threefold ,,prayer 7,exodus xxxiii4 #ab-bc7 ,,god ,,proclaiming ,,his ,,own ,,name 7,exodus xxxiv4 #f7 ,,sin ,,and ,,forgiveness 7,exodus xxxiv4 #g7 ,,blessed ,,and ,,tragic ,,unconsciousness 7,exodus xxxiv4 #bi2 ,judges xvi4 #bj7 ,,an ,,old ,,subscription ,,list 7,exodus xxxv4 #ba7 ,,the ,,copies ,,of ,,things ,,in ,,the ,,heavens 7,exodus xl4 #a-af7 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,leviticus ,,the ,,burnt ,,offering ,a ,,picture ,,and ,a ,,prophecy 7,lev4 i4 #a-i7 ,,strange ,,fire 7,lev4 x4 #a-aa7 ,,the ,,first ,,stage ,,in ,,the ,,leper',s ,,cleansing 7,lev4 xiv #a-g7 ,,the ,,day ,,of ,,atonement 7,lev4 xvi4 #a-ai7 ',,the ,,scapegoat' 7,lev4 xvi4 #bb7 ,,the ,,consecration ,,of ,,joy 7,lev4 xxiii4 #cc-dd7 ,,sojourners ,,with ,,god 7,lev4 xxv4 #bc7 ,,god',s ,,slaves 7,lev4 xxv4 #db7 ,,the ,,kinsman ,,redeemer 7,lev4 xxv4 #dh7 ,,the ,,old ,,store ,,and ,,the ,,new 7,lev4 xxvi4 #aj7 ,,emancipated ,,slaves 7,lev4 xxvi4 #ac7 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,numbers ,,the ,,warfare ,,of ,,christian ,,service 7,num4 iv4 #bc7 ,,the ,,guiding ,,pillar 7,num4 ix4 #af7 ,,hobab 7,num4 x4 #bi7 ,,the ,,hallowing ,,of ,,work ,,and ,,of ,,rest 7,num4 x4 #ce1 #cf7 ,,moses ,,despondent 7,num4 xi4 #ad7 ,,afraid ,,of ,,giants 7,num4 xiii4 #ag-cc7 ,,weighed1 ,,and ,,found ,,wanting 7,num4 xiv4 #a-aj7 ,,moses ,,the ,,intercessor 7,num4 xiv4 #ai7 ,,service ,a ,,gift 7,num4 xviii4 #g7 ,,the ,,waters ,,of ,,meribah 7,num4 xx4 #a-ac7 ,,the ,,poison ,,and ,,the ,,antidote 7,num4 xxi4 #d-i7 ,,balaam 7,num4 xxii4 #e7 ,,an ,,unfulfilled ,,desire 7,num4 xxiii4 #aj2 xxxi4 #h7 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,exodus ,,four ,,shaping ,,centuries ',now these are the names of the children of ,israel1 which came into ,egypt3 every man and his household came with ,jacob4 #b4 ,reuben1 ,simeon1 ,levi1 and ,judah1 #c4 ,issachar1 ,zebulun1 and ,benjamin1 #d4 ,dan and ,naphtali1 ,gad and ,asher4 #e4 ,and all the souls that came out of the loins of ,jacob were seventy souls3 for ,joseph was in ,egypt already4 #f4 ,and ,joseph died1 and all his brethren1 and all that generation4 #g1 ,and the children of ,israel were fruitful1 and increased abundantly1 and multiplied1 and waxed exceeding mighty2 and the land was filled with them4 #h4 ,now there arose up a new king over ,egypt1 which knew not ,joseph4 #i4 ,and he said unto his people1 ,behold1 the people of the children of ,israel are more and mightier than we3 #aj4 ,come on1 let us deal wisely with them2 lest they multiply1 and it come to pass1 that1 when there falleth out any war1 they join also unto our enemies1 and fight against us1 and so get them up out of the land4 #aa4 ,therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens4 ,and they built for ,pharaoh treasure-cities1 ,pithom and ,raamses4 #ab4 ,but the more they afflicted them1 the more they multiplied and grew4 ,and they were grieved because of the children of ,israel4 #ac4 ,and the ,egyptians made the children of ,israel to serve with rigour3 #ad4 ,and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage1 in mortar1 and in brick1 and in all manner of service in the field3 all their service1 wherein they made them serve1 was with rigour4'--,,exodus i4 #a-ad4 ,the four hundred years of ,israel's stay in ,egypt were divided into two unequal periods1 in the former and longer of which they were prosperous and favoured1 while in the latter they were oppressed4 ,both periods had their uses and place in the shaping of the nation and its preparation for the ,exodus4 ,both carry permanent lessons4 ,i4 ,the long days of unclouded prosperity4 ,these extended over centuries1 the whole history of which is summed up in two words3 death and growth4 ,the calm years glided on1 and the shepherds in ,goshen had the happiness of having no annals4 ,all that needed to be recorded was that1 one by one1 the first generation died off1 and that the new generations 'were fruitful1 and increased abundantly1 and multiplied1 and waxed exceeding mighty4' ,the emphatic repetitions recall the original promises in ,genesis xii4 #b1 xvii4 #d1e1 xviii4 #ah4 ,the preceding specification of the number of the original settlers 7repeated from ,genesis xlvi4 #bg7 brings into impressive contrast the small beginnings and the rapid increase4 ,we may note that eloquent setting side by side of the two processes which are ever going on simultaneously1 death and birth4 ,one by one men pass out of the warmth and light into the darkness1 and so gradually does the withdrawal proceed that we scarcely are aware of its going on1 but at last 'all that generation' has vanished4 ,the old trees are all cleared off the ground1 and everywhere their place is taken by the young saplings4 ,the web is ever being woven at one end1 and run down at the other4 ',the individual withers1 but the race is more and more4' ,how solemn that continual play of opposing movements is1 and how blind we are to its solemnity6 ,that long period of growth may be regarded in two lights4 ,it effected the conversion of a horde into a nation by numerical increase1 and so was a link in the chain of the divine working4 ,the great increase1 of which the writer speaks so strongly1 was1 no doubt1 due to the favourable circumstances of the life in ,goshen1 but was none the less regarded by him1 and rightly so1 as ,god's doing4 ,as the ,psalmist sings1 ',he increased ,his people greatly4' ',natural processes' are the implements of a supernatural will4 ,so ,israel was being multiplied1 and the end for which it was peacefully growing into a multitude was hidden from all but ,god4 ,but there was another end1 in reference to which the years of peaceful prosperity may be regarded2 namely1 the schooling of the people to patient trust in the long-delayed fulfilment of the promise4 ,that hope had burned bright in ,joseph when he died1 and he being dead yet spake of it from his coffin to the successive generations4 ,delay is fitted and intended to strengthen faith and make hope more eager4 ,but that part of the divine purpose1 alas6 was not effected as the former was4 ,in the moral region every circumstance has two opposite results possible4 ,each condition has1 as it were1 two handles1 and we can take it by either1 and generally take it by the wrong one4 ,whatever is meant to better us may be so used by us as to worsen us4 ,and the history of ,israel in ,egypt and in the desert shows only too plainly that ease weakened1 if it did not kill1 faith1 and that ,goshen was so pleasant that it drove the hope and the wish for ,canaan out of mind4 ',while the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept4' ,is not ,israel in ,egypt1 slackening hold of the promise because it tarried1 a mirror in which the ,church may see itself8 and do we not know the enervating influence of ,goshen1 making us reluctant to shoulder our packs and turn out for the pilgrimage8 ,the desert repels more strongly than ,canaan attracts4 ,,ii4 ,the shorter period of oppression4 ,probably the rise of a 'new king' means a revolution in which a native dynasty expelled foreign monarchs4 ,the ,pharaoh of the oppression was1 perhaps1 the great ,rameses ,,ii41 whose long reign of sixty-seven years gives ample room for protracted and grinding oppression of ,israel4 ,the policy adopted was characteristic of these early despotisms1 in its utter disregard of humanity and of everything but making the kingdom safe4 ,it was not intentionally cruel1 it was merely indifferent to the suffering it occasioned4 ',let us deal wisely with them'--never mind about justice1 not to say kindness4 ,pharaoh's 'politics1' like those of some other rulers who divorce them from morality1 turned out to be impolitic1 and his 'wisdom' proved to be roundabout folly4 ,he was afraid that the ,israelites1 if they were allowed to grow1 might find out their strength and seek to emigrate2 and so he set to work to weaken them with hard bondage1 not seeing that that was sure to make them wish the very thing that he was blunderingly trying to prevent4 ,the only way to make men glad to remain in a community is to make them at home there4 ,the sense of injustice is the strongest disintegrating force4 ,if there is a 'dangerous class' the surest way to make them more dangerous is to treat them harshly4 ,it was a blunder to make 'lives bitter1' for hearts also were embittered4 ,so the people were ripened for revolt1 and ,goshen became less attractive4 ,god used ,pharaoh's foolish wisdom1 as ,he had used natural laws1 to prepare for the ,exodus4 ,the long years of ease had multiplied the nation4 ,the period of oppression was to stir them up out of their comfortable nest1 and make them willing to risk the bold dash for freedom4 ,is not that the explanation1 too1 of the similar times in our lives8 ,it needs that we should experience life's sorrows and burdens1 and find how hard the world's service is1 and how quickly our ,goshens may become places of grievous toil1 in order that the weak hearts1 which cling so tightly to earth1 may be detached from it1 and taught to reach upwards to ,god4 ',blessed is the man 444 in whose heart are thy ways1' and happy is he who so profits by his sorrows that they stir in him the pilgrim's spirit1 and make him yearn after ,canaan1 and not grudge to leave ,goshen4 ,our ease and our troubles1 opposite though they seem and are1 are meant to further the same end1--to make us fit for the journey which leads to rest and home4 ,we often misuse them both1 letting the one sink us in earthly delights and oblivion of the great hope1 and the other embitter our spirits without impelling them to seek the things that are above4 ,let us use the one for thankfulness1 growth1 and patient hope1 and the other for writing deep the conviction that this is not our rest1 and making firm the resolve that we will gird our loins and1 staff in hand1 go forth on the pilgrim road1 not shrinking from the wilderness1 because we see the mountains of ,canaan across its sandy flats4 ,,death ,,and ,,growth ',and ,joseph died1 and all his brethren1 and all that generation4 #g4 ,and the children of ,israel were fruitful1 and increased abundantly1 and multiplied1 and waxed exceeding mighty4444'--,,exodus i4 #f1 #g4 ,these remarkable words occur in a short section which makes the link between the ,books of ,genesis and of ,exodus4 ,the writer recapitulates the list of the immigrants into ,egypt1 in the household of ,jacob1 and then1 as it were1 having got them there1 he clears the stage to prepare for a new set of actors4 ,these few words are all that he cares to tell us about a period somewhat longer than that which separates us from the great ,protestant ,reformation4 ,he notes but two processes--silent dropping away and silent growth4 ',joseph died1 and all his brethren1 and all that generation4' ,plant by plant the leaves drop1 and the stem rots and its place is empty4 ,seed by seed the tender green spikelets pierce the mould1 and the field waves luxuriant in the breeze and the sunshine4 ',the children of ,israel were fruitful1 and increased abundantly4' ,i4 ,now1 then1 let us look at this twofold process which is always at work--silent dropping away and silent growth4 ,it seems to me that the writer1 probably unconsciously1 being profoundly impressed with certain features of that dropping away1 reproduces them most strikingly in the very structure of his sentence3 ',joseph died1 and all his brethren1 and all that generation4' ,the uniformity of the fate1 and the separate times at which it befell individuals1 are strongly set forth in the clauses1 which sound like the threefold falls of earth on a coffin4 ,they all died1 but not all at the same time4 ,they went one by one1 one by one1 till1 at the end1 they were all gone4 ,the two things that appeal to our imagination1 and ought to appeal to our consciences and wills1 in reference to the succession of the generations of men1 are given very strikingly1 ,i think1 in the language of my text--namely1 the stealthy assaults of death upon the individuals1 and its final complete victory4 ,if any of you were ever out at sea1 and looked over a somewhat stormy water1 you will have noticed1 ,i dare say1 how strangely the white crests of the breakers disappear1 as if some force1 acting from beneath1 had plucked them under1 and over the spot where they gleamed for a moment runs the blue sea4 ,so the waves break over the great ocean of time2 ,i might say1 like swimmers pulled under by sharks1 man after man1 man after man1 gets twitched down1 till at the end--',joseph died1 and all his brethren1 and all that generation4' ,there is another process going on side by side with this4 ,in the vegetable world1 spring and autumn are two different seasons3 ,may rejoices in green leaves and opening buds1 and nests with their young broods2 but winter days are coming when the greenery drops and the nests are empty1 and the birds flown4 ,but the singular and impressive thing 7which we should see if we were not so foolish and blind7 which the writer of our text lays his finger upon is that at the same time the two opposite processes of death and renewal are going on1 so that if you look at the facts from the one side it seems nothing but a charnel-house and a ,golgotha that we live in1 while1 seen from the other side1 it is a scene of rejoicing1 budding young life1 and growth4 ,you get these two processes in the closest juxtaposition in ordinary life4 ,there is many a house where there is a coffin upstairs and a cradle downstairs4 ,the churchyard is often the children's playground4 ,the web is being run down at the one end and woven at the other4 ,wherever we look-- ',every moment dies a man1 ,every moment one is born4' ',joseph died1 and all his brethren1 and all that generation4 ,and the children of ,israel 444 multiplied 444 exceedingly4' ,but there is another thought here than that of the contemporaneousness of the two processes1 and that is1 as it is written on ,john ,wesley's monument in ,westminster ,abbey1 ',god buries the workmen and carries on the work4' ,the great ,vizier who seemed to be the only protection of ,israel is lying in 'a coffin in ,egypt4' ,and all these truculent brothers of his that had tormented him1 they are gone1 and the whole generation is swept away4 ,what of that8 ,they were the depositories of ,god's purposes for a little while4 ,are ,god's purposes dead because the instruments that in part wrought them are gone8 ,by no means4 ,if ,i might use a very vulgar proverb1 ',there are as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it1' especially if ,god casts the net4 ,so when the one generation has passed away there is the other to take up the work4 ,thus the text is a fitting introduction to the continuance of the history of the further unfolding of ,god's plan which occupies the ,book of ,exodus4 ,,ii4 ,such being the twofold process suggested by this text1 let us next note the lessons which it enforces4 ,in the first place1 let us be quite sure that we give it its due weight in our thoughts and lives4 ,let us be quite sure that we never give an undue weight to the one half of the whole truth4 ,there are plenty of people who are far too much1 constitutionally and 7perhaps by reason of a mistaken notion of religion7 religiously1 inclined to the contemplation of the more melancholy side of these truths2 and there are a great many people who are far too exclusively disposed to the contemplation of the other4 ,but the bulk of us never trouble our heads about either the one or the other1 but go on1 forgetting altogether that swift1 sudden1 stealthy1 skinny hand that1 if ,i might go back to my former metaphor1 is put out to lay hold of the swimmer and then pull him underneath the water1 and which will clasp us by the ankles one day and drag us down4 ,do you ever think about it8 ,if not1 surely1 surely you are leaving out of sight one of what ought to be the formative elements in our lives4 ,and then1 on the other hand1 when our hearts are faint1 or when the pressure of human mortality--our own1 that of our dear ones1 or that of others--seems to weigh us down1 or when it looks to us as if ,god's work was failing for want of people to do it1 let us remember the other side--',and the children of ,israel 444 increased 444 and waxed exceeding mighty2 444 and the land was filled with them4' ,so we shall keep the middle path1 which is the path of safety1 and so avoid the folly of extremes4 ,but then1 more particularly1 let me say that this double contemplation of the two processes under which we live ought to stimulate us to service4 ,it ought to say to us1 ',do you cast in your lot with that work which is going to be carried on through the ages4 ,do you see to it that your little task is in the same line of direction as the great purpose which ,god is working out--the increasing purpose which runs through the ages4' ,an individual life is a mere little backwater1 as it were1 in the great ocean4 ,but its minuteness does not matter1 if only the great tidal wave which rolls away out there1 in the depths and the distance amongst the fathomless abysses1 tells also on the tiny pool far inland and yet connected with the sea by some narrow1 long fiord4 ,if my little life is part of that great ocean1 then the ebb and flow will alike act on it and make it wholesome4 ,if my work is done in and for ,god1 ,i shall never have to look back and say1 as we certainly shall say one day1 either here or yonder1 unless our lives be thus part of the divine plan1 ',what a fool ,i was6 ,seventy years of toiling and moiling and effort and sweat1 and it has all come to nothing2 like a long algebraic sum that covers pages of intricate calculations1 and the pluses and minuses just balance each other2 and the net result is a great round nought4' ,so let us remember the twofold process1 and let it stir us to make sure that 'in our embers' shall be 'something that doth live1' and that not ',nature1' but something better--,god--'remembers what was so fugitive4' ,it is not fugitive if it is a part of the mighty whole4 ,but further1 let this double contemplation make us very content with doing insignificant and unfinished work4 ,joseph might have said1 when he lay dying3 ',well6 perhaps ,i made a mistake after all4 ,i should not have brought this people down here1 even if ,i have been led hither4 ,i do not see that ,i have helped them one step towards the possession of the land4' ,do you remember the old proverb about certain people who should not see half-finished work8 ,all our work in this world has to be only what the physiologists call functional4 ,god has a great scheme running on through ages4 ,joseph gives it a helping hand for a time1 and then somebody else takes up the running1 and carries the purpose forward a little further4 ,a great many hands are placed on the ropes that draw the car of the ,ruler of the world4 ,and one after another they get stiffened in death2 but the car goes on4 ,we should be contented to do our little bit of the work4 ,never mind whether it is complete and smooth and rounded or not4 ,never mind whether it can be isolated from the rest and held up1 and people can say1 ',he did that entire thing unaided4' ,that is not the way for most of us4 ,a great many threads go to make the piece of cloth1 and a great many throws of the shuttle to weave the web4 ,a great many bits of glass make up the mosaic pattern2 and there is no reason for the red bit to pride itself on its fiery glow1 or the grey bit to boast of its silvery coolness4 ,they are all parts of the pattern1 and as long as they keep their right places they complete the artist's design4 ,thus1 if we think of how 'one soweth and another reapeth1' we may be content to receive half-done works from our fathers1 and to hand on unfinished tasks to them that come after us4 ,it is not a great trial of a man's modesty1 if he lives near ,jesus ,christ1 to be content to do but a very small bit of the ,master's work4 ,and the last thing that ,i would say is1 let this double process going on all round us lift our thoughts to ,him who lives for ever4 ,moses dies2 ,joshua catches the torch from his hand4 ,and the reason why he catches the torch from his hand is because ,god said1 ',as ,i was with ,moses so ,i will be with thee4' ,therefore we have to turn away in our contemplations from the mortality that has swallowed up so much wisdom and strength1 eloquence and power1 which the ,church or our own hearts seem so sorely to want3 and1 whilst we do1 we have to look up to ,jesus ,christ and say1 ',he lives6 ,he lives6 ,no man is indispensable for public work or for private affection and solace so long at there is a living ,christ for us to hold by4' ,dear brethren1 we need that conviction for ourselves often4 ,when life seems empty and hope dead1 and nothing is able to fill the vacuity or still the pain1 we have to look to the vision of the ,lord sitting on the empty throne1 high and lifted up1 and yet very near the aching and void heart4 ,christ lives1 and that is enough4 ,so the separated workers in all the generations1 who did their little bit of service1 like the many generations of builders who laboured through centuries upon the completion of some great cathedral1 will be united at the last2 'and he that soweth1 and he that reapeth1 shall rejoice together' in the harvest which was produced by neither the sower nor the reaper1 but by ,him who blessed the toils of both4 ',joseph died1 and all his brethren1 and all that generation'2 but ,jesus lives1 and therefore ,his people 'grow and multiply1' and ,his servants' work is blessed2 and at the end they shall be knit together in the common joy of the great harvest1 and of the day when the headstone is brought forth with shoutings of ',grace6 grace unto it4' ,,the ,,ark ,,among ,,the ,,flags ',and there went a man of the house of ,levi1 and took to wife a daughter of ,levi4 #b4 ,and the woman conceived1 and bare a son3 and when she saw him that he was a goodly child1 she hid him three months4 #c4 ,and when she could not longer hide him1 she took for him an ark of bulrushes1 and daubed it with slime and with pitch1 and put the child therein2 and she laid it in the flags by the river's brink4 #d4 ,and his sister stood afar off1 to wit what would be done to him4 #e4 ,and the daughter of ,pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river2 and her maidens walked along by the river's side2 and when she saw the ark among the flags1 she sent her maid to fetch it4 #f4 ,and when she had opened it1 she saw the child3 and1 behold1 the babe wept4 ,and she had compassion on him1 and said1 ,this is one of the ,hebrews' children4 #g4 ,then said his sister to ,pharaoh's daughter1 ,shall ,i go and call to thee a nurse of the ,hebrew women1 that she may nurse the child for thee8 #h4 ,and ,pharaoh's daughter said to her1 ,go4 ,and the maid went and called the child's mother4 #i4 ,and ,pharaoh's daughter said unto her1 ,take this child away1 and nurse it for me1 and ,i will give thee thy wages4 ,and the woman took the child1 and nursed it4 #aj4 ,and the child grew1 and she brought him unto ,pharaoh's daughter1 and he became her son4 ,and she called his name ,moses3 and she said1 ,because ,i drew him out of the water4'--,,exodus ii4 #a-aj4 ,i4 ,it is remarkable that all the persons in this narrative are anonymous4 ,we know that the names of 'the man of the house of ,levi' and his wife were ,amram and ,jochebed4 ,miriam was probably the anxious sister who watched what became of the little coffer4 ,the daughter of ,pharaoh has two names in ,jewish tradition1 one of which corresponds to that which ,brugsch has found to have been borne by one of ,rameses' very numerous daughters4 ,one likes to think that the name of the gentle-hearted woman has come down to us2 but1 whether she was called ',meri' or not1 she and the others have no name here4 ,the reason can scarcely have been ignorance4 ,but they are1 as it were1 kept in shadow1 because the historian saw1 and wished us to see1 that a higher ,hand was at work1 and that over all the events recorded in these verses there brooded the informing1 guiding ,spirit of ,god ,himself1 the sole actor4 ',each only as ,god wills ,can work--,god's puppets1 best and worst1 ,are we3 there is no last nor first4' ,,ii4 ,the mother's motive in braving the danger to herself involved in keeping the child is remarkably put4 ',when she saw that he was a goodly child1 she hid him4' ,it was not only a mother's love that emboldened her1 as it does all weak creatures1 to shelter her offspring at her own peril1 but something in the look of the infant1 as it lay on her bosom1 touched her with a dim hope4 ,according to the ,septuagint translation1 both parents shared in this4 ,and so the ,epistle to the ,hebrews unites them in that which is here attributed to the mother only4 ,stephen1 too1 speaks of ,moses as 'fair in ,god's sight4' ,as if the prescient eyes of the parents were not blinded by love1 but rather cleared to see some token of divine benediction resting on him4 ,the writer of the ,hebrews lifts the deed out of the category of instinctive maternal affection up to the higher level of faith4 ,so we may believe that the aspect of her child woke some prophetic vision in the mother's soul1 and that she and her husband were of those who cherished the hopes naturally born from the promise to ,abraham1 nurtured by ,jacob's and ,joseph's dying wish to be buried in ,canaan1 and matured by the tyranny of ,pharaoh4 ,their faith1 at all events1 grasped the unseen ,god as their helper1 and made ,jochebed bold to break the terrible law1 as a hen will fly in the face of a mastiff to shield her brood4 ,their faith perhaps also grasped the future deliverance1 and linked it in some way with their child4 ,we may learn how transfiguring and ennobling to the gentlest and weakest is faith in ,god1 especially when it is allied with unselfish human love4 ,these two are the strongest powers4 ,if they are at war1 the struggle is terrible3 if they are united1 'the weakest is as ,david1 and ,david as an angel of ,god4' ,let us seek ever to blend their united strength in our own lives4 ,will it be thought too fanciful if we suggest that we are taught another lesson1--namely1 that the faith which surrenders its earthly treasures to ,god1 in confidence of ,his care1 is generally rewarded and vindicated by receiving them back again1 glorified and sanctified by the altar on which they have been laid8 ,jochebed clasped her recovered darling to her bosom with a deeper gladness1 and held him by a surer title1 when ,miriam brought him back as the princess's charge1 than ever before4 ,we never feel the preciousness of dear ones so much1 nor are so calm in the joy of possession1 as when we have laid them in ,god's hands1 and have learned how wise and wonderful ,his care is4 ,,iii4 ,how much of the world's history that tiny coffer among the reeds held6 ,how different that history would have been if1 as might easily have happened1 it had floated away1 or if the feeble life within it had wailed itself dead unheard6 ,the solemn possibilities folded and slumbering in an infant are always awful to a thoughtful mind4 ,but1 except the manger at ,bethlehem1 did ever cradle hold the seed of so much as did that papyrus chest8 ,the set of opinion at present minimises the importance of the individual1 and exalts the spirit of the period1 as a factor in history4 ,standing beside ,miriam1 we may learn a truer view1 and see that great epochs require great men1 and that1 without such for leaders1 no solid advance in the world's progress is achieved4 ,think of the strange cradle floating on the ,nile2 then think of the strange grave among the mountains of ,moab1 and of all between1 and ponder the same lesson as is taught in yet higher fashion by ,bethlehem and ,calvary1 that ,god's way of blessing the world is to fill men with ,his message1 and let others draw from them4 ,whether it be 'law1' or 'grace and truth1' a man is needed through whom it may fructify to all4 ,,iv4 ,the sweet picture of womanly compassion in ,pharaoh's daughter is full of suggestions4 ,we have already noticed that her name is handed down by one tradition as ',merris1' and that ',meri' has been found as the appellation of a princess of the period4 ,a rabbinical authority calls her ',bithiah1' that is1 ',daughter of ,jehovah'2 by which was1 no doubt1 intended to imply that she became in some sense a proselyte4 ,this may have been only an inference from her protection of ,moses4 ,there is a singular and very obscure passage in ,i ,chronicles iv4 #ag1 #ah1 relating the genealogy of a certain ,mered1 who seems to have had two wives1 one 'the ,jewess1' the other ',bithiah1 the daughter of ,pharaoh4' ,we know no more about him or her1 but ,keil thinks that ,mered probably 'lived before the exodus'2 but it can scarcely be that the 'daughter of ,pharaoh1' his wife1 is our princess1 and that she actually became a 'daughter of ,jehovah1' and1 like her adopted child1 refused royal dignity and preferred reproach4 ,in any case1 the legend of her name is a tender and beautiful way of putting the belief that in her 'there was some good thing towards the ,god of ,israel4' ,but1 passing from that1 how the true woman's heart changes languid curiosity into tenderness1 and how compassion conquers pride of race and station1 as well as regard for her father's edict1 as soon as the infant's cry1 which touches every good woman's feelings1 falls on her ear6 ',one touch of nature makes the whole world kin4' ,all the centuries are as nothing2 the strange garb and the stranger mental and spiritual dress fade1 and we have here a mere woman1 affected1 as every true sister of hers to-day would be1 by the helpless wailing4 ,god has put that instinct there4 ,alas that it ever should be choked by frivolity or pride1 and frozen by indifference and self-indulgence6 ,gentle souls spring up in unfavourable soil4 ,rameses was a strange father for such a daughter4 ,how came this dove in the vulture's cage8 ,her sweet pity beside his cold craft and cruelty is like the lamb couching by the lion4 ,note1 too1 that gentlest pity makes the gentlest brave4 ,she sees the child is a ,hebrew4 ,her quick wit understands why it has been exposed1 and she takes its part1 and the part of the poor weeping parents1 whom she can fancy1 against the savage law4 ,no doubt1 as ,egyptologists tell us1 the princesses of the royal house had separate households and abundant liberty of action4 ,still1 it was bold to override the strict commands of such a monarch4 ,but it was not a self-willed sense of power1 but the beautiful daring of a compassionate woman1 to which ,god committed the execution of ,his purposes4 ,and that is a force which has much like work trusted to it in modern society too4 ,our great cities swarm with children exposed to a worse fate than the baby among the flags4 ,legislation and official charity have far too rough hands and too clumsy ways to lift the little life out of the coffer1 and to dry the tears4 ,we must look to ,christian women to take a leaf out of ',bithiah's' book4 ,first1 they should use their eyes to see the facts1 and not be so busy about their own luxury and comfort that they pass the poor pitch-covered box unnoticed4 ,then they should let the pitiful call touch their heart1 and not steel themselves in indifference or ease4 ,then they should conquer prejudices of race1 pride of station1 fear of lowering themselves1 loathing1 or contempt4 ,and then they should yield to the impulses of their compassion1 and never mind what difficulties or opponents may stand in the way of their saving the children4 ,if ,christian women knew their obligations and their power1 and lived up to them as bravely as this ,egyptian princess1 there would be fewer little ones flung out to be eaten by crocodiles1 and many a poor child1 who is now abandoned from infancy to the ,devil1 would be rescued to grow up a servant of ,god4 ,she1 there by the ,nile waters1 in her gracious pity and prompt wisdom1 is the type of what ,christian womanhood1 and1 indeed1 the whole ,christian community1 should be in relation to child life4 ,v4 ,the great lesson of this incident1 as of so much before1 is the presence of ,god's wonderful providence1 working out its designs by all the play of human motives4 ,in accordance with a law1 often seen in ,his dealings1 it was needful that the deliverer should come from the heart of the system from which he was to set his brethren free4 ,the same principle which sent ,saul of ,tarsus to be trained at the feet of ,gamaliel1 and made ,luther a monk in the ,augustinian convent at ,erfurt1 planted ,moses in ,pharaoh's palace and taught him the wisdom of ,egypt1 against which he was to contend4 ,it was a strange irony of ,providence that put him so close to the throne which he was to shake4 ,for his future work he needed to be lifted above his people1 and to be familiar with the ,egyptian court as well as with ,egyptian learning4 ,if he was to hate and to war against idolatry1 and to rescue an unwilling people from it1 he must know the rottenness of the system1 and must have lived close enough to it to know what went on behind the scenes1 and how foully it smelled when near4 ,he would gain influence over his countrymen by his connection with ,pharaoh1 whilst his very separation from them would at once prevent his spirit from being broken by oppression1 and would give him a keener sympathy with his people than if he had himself been crushed by slavery4 ,his culture1 heathen as it was1 supplied the material on which the divine ,spirit worked4 ,god fashioned the vessel1 and then filled it4 ,education is not the antagonist of inspiration4 ,for the most part1 the men whom ,god has used for ,his highest service have been trained in all the wisdom of their age4 ,when it has been piled up into an altar1 then 'the fire of the ,lord' falls4 ,our story teaches us that ,god's chosen instruments are immortal till their work is done4 ,no matter how forlorn may seem their outlook1 how small the probabilities in their favour1 how divergent from the goal may seem the road ,he leads them1 ,he watches them4 ,around that frail ark1 half lost among the reeds1 is cast the impregnable shield of ,his purpose4 ,all things serve that ,will4 ,the current in the full river1 the lie of the flags that stop it from being borne down1 the hour of the princess's bath1 the direction of her idle glance1 the cry of the child at the right moment1 the impulse welling up in her heart1 the swift resolve1 the innocent diplomacy of the sister1 the shelter of the happy mother's breast1 the safety of the palace1--all these and a hundred more trivial and unrelated things are spun into the strong cable wherewith ,god draws slowly but surely ,his secret purpose into act4 ,so ever ,his children are secure as long as ,he has work for them1 and ,his mighty plan strides on to its accomplishment over all the barriers that men can raise4 ,how deeply this story had impressed on devout minds the truth of the divine protection for all who serve ,him1 is shown by the fact that the word employed in the last verse of our lesson1 and there translated 'drawn1' of which the name ',moses' is a form1 is used on the only occasion of its occurrence in the ,old ,testament 7namely ,psalm xviii4 #af1 and in the duplicate in #b ,sam4 xxii4 #ag7 with plain reference to our narrative4 ,the ,psalmist describes his own deliverance1 in answer to his cry1 by a grand manifestation of ,god's majesty2 and this is the climax and the purpose of the earthquake and the lightning1 the darkness and the storm3 ',he sent from above1 ,he took me1 ,he drew me out of many waters4' ,so that scene by the margin of the ,nile1 so many years ago1 is but one transient instance of the working of the power which secures deliverance from encompassing perils1 and for strenuous1 though it may be undistinguished1 service to all who call upon ,him4 ,god1 who put the compassion into the heart of ,pharaoh's dusky daughter1 is not less tender of heart than she1 and when ,he hears us1 though our cry be but as of an infant1 'with no language but a cry1' ,he will come in ,his majesty and draw us from encompassing dangers and impending death4 ,we cannot all be lawgivers and deliverers2 but we may all appeal to ,his great pity1 and partake of deliverance like that of ,moses and of ,david4 ,,the ,,bush ,,that ,,burned1 ,,and ,,did ,,not ,,burn ,,out ',and1 behold1 the bush burned with fire1 and the bush was not consumed4' ,,exodus iii4 #a ,it was a very sharp descent from ,pharaoh's palace to the wilderness1 and forty years of a shepherd's life were a strange contrast to the brilliant future that once seemed likely for ,moses4 ,but ,god tests ,his weapons before ,he uses them1 and great men are generally prepared for great deeds by great sorrows4 ,solitude is 'the mother-country of the strong1' and the wilderness1 with its savage crags1 its awful silence1 and the unbroken round of its blue heaven1 was a better place to meet ,god than in the heavy air of a palace1 or the profitless splendours of a court4 ,so as this lonely shepherd is passing slowly in front of his flock1 he sees a strange light that asserted itself1 even in the brightness of the desert sunshine4 ',the bush' does not mean one single shrub4 ,rather1 it implies some little group1 or cluster1 or copse1 of the dry thorny acacias1 which are characteristic of the country1 and over which any ordinary fire would have passed like a flash1 leaving them all in grey ashes4 ,but this steady light persists long enough to draw the attention of the shepherd1 and to admit of his travelling some distance to reach it4 ,and then--and then--the ,lord speaks4 ,the significance of this bush1 burning but not consumed1 is my main subject now1 for ,i think it carries great and blessed lessons for us4 ,now1 first1 ,i do not think that the bush burning but not consumed1 stands as it is ordinarily understood to stand1 for the symbolical representation of the preservation of ,israel1 even in the midst of the fiery furnace of persecution and sorrow4 ,beautiful as that idea is1 ,i do not think it is the true explanation2 because if so1 this symbol is altogether out of keeping with the law that applies to all the rest of the symbolical accompaniments of divine appearances1 all of which1 without exception1 set forth in symbol some truth about ,god1 and not about ,his ,church2 and all of which1 without exception1 are a representation in visible and symbolical form of the same truth which was proclaimed in articulate words along with them4 ,the symbol and the accompanying voice of ,god in all other cases have one and the same meaning4 ,that1 ,i think1 is the case here also2 and we learn from the ,bush1 not something about ,god's ,church1 however precious that may be1 but what is a great deal more important1 something about ,god ,himself2 namely1 the same thing that immediately afterwards was spoken in articulate words4 ,in the next place1 let me observe that the fire is distinctly a divine symbol1 a symbol of ,god not of affliction1 as the ordinary explanation implies4 ,i need not do more than remind you of the stream of emblem which runs all through ,scripture1 as confirming this point4 ,there are the smoking lamp and the blazing furnace in the early vision granted to ,abraham4 ,there is the pillar of fire by night1 that lay over the desert camp of the wandering ,israelites4 ,there is ,isaiah's word1 ',the light of ,israel shall be a flaming fire4' ,there is the whole of the ,new ,testament teaching1 turning on the manifestation of ,god through ,his ,spirit4 ,there are ,john the ,baptist's words1 ',he shall baptize you with the ,holy ,ghost and with fire4' ,there is the day of ,pentecost1 when the 'tongues of fire sat upon each of them4' ,and what is meant by the great word of the ,epistle to the ,hebrews1 ',our ,god is a consuming fire'8 ,not ,israel only1 but many other lands--it would scarcely be an exaggeration to say1 all other lands--have used the same emblem with the same meaning4 ,in almost every religion on the face of the earth1 you will find a sacred significance attached to fire4 ,that significance is not primarily destruction1 as we sometimes suppose1 an error which has led to ghastly misunderstandings of some ,scriptures1 and of the ,god whom they reveal4 ,when1 for instance1 ,isaiah 7xxxiii4 #ad7 asks1 ',who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire8 who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings8' he has been supposed to be asking what human soul is there that can endure the terrors of ,god's consuming and unending wrath4 ,but a little attention to the words would have shown that 'the devouring fire' and the 'everlasting burnings' mean ,god and not hell1 and that the divine nature is by them not represented as too fierce to be approached1 but as the true dwelling-place of men1 which indeed only the holy can inhabit1 but which for them is life4 ,precisely parallel is the ,psalmist's question1 ',who shall ascend into the hill of the ,lord1 and who shall stand in ,his holy place8' ,fire is the source of warmth1 and so1 in a sense1 of life4 ,it is full of quick energy1 it transmutes all kinds of dead matter into its own ruddy likeness1 sending up the fat of the sacrifices in wreathes of smoke that aspire heavenward2 and changing all the gross1 heavy1 earthly dullness into flame1 more akin to the heaven into which it rises4 ,therefore1 as cleansing1 as the source of life1 light1 warmth1 change1 as glorifying1 transmuting1 purifying1 refining1 fire is the fitting symbol of the mightiest of all creative energy4 ,and the ,bible has consecrated the symbolism1 and bade us think of the ,lord ,himself as the central fiery ,spirit of the whole universe1 a spark from whom irradiates and vitalises everything that lives4 ,nor should we forget1 on the other side1 that the very felicity of this emblem is1 that along with all these blessed thoughts of life-giving and purifying1 there does come likewise the more solemn teaching of ,god's destructive power4 ',what maketh heaven1 that maketh hell'2 and the same ,god is the fire to quicken1 to sanctify1 to bless2 and resisted1 rejected1 neglected1 is the fire that consumes2 the savour of life unto life1 or the savour of death unto death4 ,and then1 still further1 notice that this flame is undying--steady1 unflickering4 ,what does that mean8 ,adopting the principle which ,i have already taken as our guide1 that the symbol and the following oral revelation teach the same truth1 there can be no question as to that answer4 ',i am the ,god of thy fathers1 the ,god of ,abraham1 of ,isaac1 and of ,jacob4 ',i ,,am ,,that ,i ,,am4' ,that is to say1 the fire that burns and does not burn out1 which has no tendency to destruction in its very energy1 and is not consumed by its own activity1 is surely a symbol of the one ,being whose being derives its law and its source from ,himself1 who only can say--',i ,,am ,,that ,i ,,am'--the law of ,his nature1 the foundation of ,his being1 the only conditions of ,his existence being1 as it were1 enclosed within the limits of ,his own nature4 ,you and ,i have to say1 ',i am that which ,i have become1' or ',i am that which ,i was born1' or ',i am that which circumstances have made me4' ,he says1 ',i ,,am ,,that ,i ,,am4' ,all other creatures are links2 this is the staple from which they all hang4 ,all other being is derived1 and therefore limited and changeful2 this ,being is underived1 absolute1 self-dependent1 and therefore unalterable for evermore4 ,because we live we die4 ,in living the process is going on of which death is the end4 ,but ,god lives for evermore1 a flame that does not burn out2 therefore ,his resources are inexhaustible1 ,his power unwearied4 ,he needs no rest for recuperation of wasted energy4 ,his gifts diminish not the store which ,he has to bestow4 ,he gives1 and is none the poorer2 ,he works1 and is never weary2 ,he operates unspent2 ,he loves1 and ,he loves for ever2 and through the ages the fire burns on1 unconsumed and undecayed4 ,o brethren6 is not that a revelation--familiar as it sounds to our ears now1 blessed be ,god6--is not that a revelation of which1 when we apprehend the depth and the preciousness1 we may well fix an unalterable faith upon it1 and feel that for us1 in our fleeting days and shadowy moments1 the one means to secure blessedness1 rest1 strength1 life1 is to grasp and knit ourselves to ,him who lives for ever1 and whose love is lasting as ,his life8 ',the eternal ,god1 the ,lord 444 fainteth not1 neither is weary4 ,they that wait upon ,him shall renew their strength4' ,the last thought suggested to me by this symbol is this4 ,regarding the lowly thorn-bush as an emblem of ,israel--which unquestionably it is1 though the fire be the symbol of ,god--in the fact that the symbolical manifestation of the divine energy lived in so lowly a shrine1 and flamed in it1 and preserved it by its burning1 there is a great and blessed truth4 ,it is the same truth which ,jesus ,christ1 with a depth of interpretation that put to shame the cavilling listeners1 found in the words that accompanied this vision3 ',i am the ,god of ,abraham1 the ,god of ,isaac1 and the ,god of ,jacob4' ,he said to the sneering ,sadducees1 who1 like all other sneerers1 saw only the surface of what they were sarcastic about1 ',did not ,moses teach you1' in the section about the bush1 'that the dead rise1 when he said3 ,i ,,am the ,god of ,abraham1 and of ,isaac1 and of ,jacob4' ,a man1 about whom it can once be said that ,god is his ,god1 cannot die4 ,such a bond can never be broken4 ,the communion of earth1 imperfect as it is1 is the prophecy of ,heaven and the pledge of immortality4 ,and so from that relationship which subsisted between the fathers and ,god1 ,christ infers the certainty of their resurrection4 ,it seems a great leap1 but there are intervening steps not stated by our ,lord1 which securely bridge the gulf between the premises and the conclusion4 ,such communion is1 in its very nature1 unaffected by the accident of death1 for it cannot be supposed that a man who can say that ,god is ,his ,god can be reduced to nothingness1 and such a bond be snapped by such a cause4 ,therefore ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob are still living1 'for all' those whom we call dead1 as well as those whom we call living1 'live unto ,him1' and though so many centuries have passed1 ,god still is1 not was1 their ,god4 ,the relation between them is eternal and guarantees their immortal life4 ,but immortality without corporeity is not conceivable as the perfect state1 and if the dead live still1 there must come a time when the whole man shall partake of redemption2 and in body1 soul1 and spirit the glorified and risen saints shall be 'for ever with the ,lord4' ,that is but the fuller working out of the same truth that is taught us in the symbol 'the bush burned and was not consumed4' ,god dwelt in it1 therefore it flamed2 ,god dwelt in it1 therefore though it flamed it never flamed out4 ,or in other words1 the ,church1 the individual in whom ,he dwells1 partakes of the immortality of the indwelling ,god4 ',every one shall be salted with fire1' which shall be preservative and not destructive2 or1 as ,christ has said1 ',because ,i live ye shall live also4' ,humble as was the little1 ragged1 sapless thorn-bush1 springing up and living its solitary life amidst the sands of the desert1 it was not too humble to hold ,god2 it was not too gross to burst into flame when ,he came2 it was not too fragile to be gifted with undying being2 like ,his that abode in it4 ,and for us each the emblem may be true4 ,if ,he dwell in us we shall live as long as ,he lives1 and the fire that ,he puts in our heart shall be a fountain of fire springing up into life everlasting4 ,,the ,,call ,,of ,,moses ',come now therefore1 and ,i will send thee unto ,pharaoh1 that thou mayest bring forth ,my people the children of ,israel1 out of ,egypt4 #aa4 ,and ,moses said unto ,god1 ,who am ,i1 that ,i should go unto ,pharaoh1 and that ,i should bring forth the children of ,israel out of ,egypt8 #ab4 ,and ,he said1 ,certainly ,i will be with thee2 and this shall be a token unto thee1 that ,i have sent thee3 ,when thou hast brought forth the people out of ,egypt1 ye shall serve ,god upon this mountain4 #ac4 ,and ,moses said unto ,god1 ,behold1 when ,i come unto the children of ,israel1 and shall say unto them1 ,the ,god of your fathers hath sent me unto you2 and they shall say to me1 ,what is ,his name8 what shall ,i say unto them8 #ad4 ,and ,god said unto ,moses1 ,i ,,am ,,that ,i ,,am3 and ,he said1 thus shalt thou say unto the children of ,israel1 ,i ,,am hath sent me unto you4 #ae4 ,and ,god said moreover unto ,moses1 ,thus shalt thou say unto the children of ,israel1 ,the ,lord ,god of your fathers1 the ,god of ,abraham1 the ,god of ,isaac1 and the ,god of ,jacob1 hath sent me unto you3 this is my name for ever1 and this is my memorial unto all generations4 #af4 ,go1 and gather the elders of ,israel together1 and say unto them1 ,the ,lord ,god of your fathers1 the ,god of ,abraham1 of ,isaac1 and of ,jacob1 appeared unto me1 saying1 ,i have surely visited you1 and seen that which is done to you in ,egypt3 #ag4 ,and ,i have said1 ,i will bring you up out of the affliction of ,egypt unto the land of the ,canaanites1 and the ,hittites1 and the ,amorites1 and the ,perizzites1 and the ,hivites1 and the ,jebusites1 unto a land flowing with milk and honey4 #ah4 ,and they shall hearken to thy voice3 and thou shalt come1 thou and the elders of ,israel1 unto the king of ,egypt1 and ye shall say unto him1 ,the ,lord ,god of the ,hebrews hath met with us3 and now let us go1 we beseech ,thee1 three days' journey into the wilderness1 that we may sacrifice to the ,lord our ,god4 #ai4 ,and ,i am sure that the king of ,egypt will not let you go1 no1 not by a mighty hand4 #bj4 ,and ,i will stretch out my hand1 and smite ,egypt with all ,my wonders which ,i will do in the midst thereof3 and after that he will let you go4' --,,exodus iii #aj-bj4 ,the 'son of ,pharaoh's daughter' had been transformed1 by nearly forty years of desert life1 into an ,arab shepherd4 ,the influences of the ,egyptian court had faded from him1 like colour from cloth exposed to the weather2 nor is it probable that1 after the failure of his early attempt to play the deliverer to ,israel1 he nourished further designs of that sort4 ,he appears to have settled down quietly to be ,jethro's son-in-law1 and to have lived a modest1 still life of humble toil4 ,he had flung away fair prospects1--and what had he made of it8 ,the world would say ',nothing1' as it ever does about those who despise material advantages and covet higher good4 ,looking after sheep in the desert was a sad downcome from the possibility of sitting on the throne of ,egypt4 ,yes1 but it was in the desert that the vision of the bush burning1 and not burning out1 came2 and it would not have come if ,moses had been in a palace4 ,this passage begins in the midst of the divine communication which followed and interpreted the vision4 ,we note1 first1 the divine charge and the human shrinking from the task4 ,it was a startling transition from verse #i1 which declares ,god's pitying knowledge of ,israel's oppression1 to verse #aj1 which thrusts ,moses forward into the thick of dangers and difficulties1 as ,god's instrument4 ',i will send thee' must have come like a thunder-clap4 ,the commander's summons which brings a man from the rear rank and sets him in the van of a storming-party may well make its receiver shrink4 ,it was not cowardice which prompted ,moses' answer1 but lowliness4 ,his former impetuous confidence had all been beaten out of him4 ,time was when he was ready to take up the rle of deliverer at his own hand2 but these hot days were past1 and age and solitude and communion with ,god had mellowed him into humility4 ,his recoil was but one instance of the shrinking which all true1 devout men feel when designated for tasks which may probably make life short1 and will certainly make it hard4 ,all prophets and reformers till to-day have had the same feeling4 ,men who can do such work as the ,jeremiahs1 ,pauls1 ,luthers1 ,cromwells1 can do1 are never forward to begin it4 ,self-confidence is not the temper which ,god uses for ,his instruments4 ,he works with 'bruised reeds1' and breathes ,his strength into them4 ,it is when a man says ',i can do nothing1' that he is fit for ,god to employ4 ',when ,i am weak1 then ,i am strong4' ,moses remembered enough of ,egypt to know that it was no slight peril to front ,pharaoh1 and enough of ,israel not to be particularly eager to have the task of leading them4 ,but mark that there is no refusal of the charge1 though there is profound consciousness of inadequacy4 ,if we have reason to believe that any duty1 great or small1 is laid on us by ,god1 it is wholesome that we should drive home to ourselves our own weakness1 but not that we should try to shuffle out of the duty because we are weak4 ,moses' answer was more of a prayer for help than of a remonstrance1 and it was answered accordingly4 ,god deals very gently with conscious weakness4 ',certainly ,i will be with thee4' ,moses' estimate of himself is quite correct1 and it is the condition of his obtaining ,god's help4 ,if he had been self-confident1 he would have had no longing for1 and no promise of1 ,god's presence4 ,in all our little tasks we may have the same assurance1 and1 whenever we feel that they are too great for us1 the strength of that promise may be ours4 ,god sends no man on errands which ,he does not give him power to do4 ,so ,moses had not to calculate the difference between his feebleness and the strength of a kingdom4 ,such arithmetic left out one element1 which made all the difference in the sum total4 ',pharaoh versus ,moses' did not look a very hopeful cause1 but ',pharaoh versus ,moses and ,another'--that other being ,god--was a very different matter4 ,god and ,i are always stronger than any antagonists4 ,it was needless to discuss whether ,moses was able to cope with the king4 ,that was not the right way of putting the problem4 ,the right way was1 ,is ,god able to do it8 ,the sign given to ,moses is at first sight singular1 inasmuch as it requires faith1 and can only be a confirmation of his mission when that mission is well accomplished4 ,but there was a help to present faith even in it1 for the very sacredness of the spot hallowed now by the burning bush was a kind of external sign of the promise4 ,one difficulty being solved1 ,moses raised another1 but not in the spirit of captiousness or reluctance4 ,god is very patient with us when we tell ,him the obstacles which we seem to see to our doing ,his work4 ,as long as these are presented in good faith1 and with the wish to have them cleared up1 ,he listens and answers4 ,the second question asked by ,moses was eminently reasonable4 ,he pictures to himself his addressing the ,israelites1 and their question1 ,what is the name of this ,god who has sent you8 ,apparently the children of ,israel had lost much of their ancestral faith1 and probably had in many instances fallen into idolatry4 ,we do not know enough to pronounce with confidence on that point1 nor how far the great name of ,jehovah had been used before the time of ,moses1 or had been forgotten in ,egypt4 ,the questions connected with these points and with the history of the name do not enter into our present purpose4 ,my task is rather to point out the religious significance of the self-revelation of ,god contained in the name1 and how it becomes the foundation of ,israel's deliverance1 existence1 and prerogatives4 ,whatever opinions are adopted as to the correct form of the name and other grammatical and philological questions1 there is no doubt that it mainly reveals ,god as self-existent and unchangeable4 ,he draws ,his being from no external source1 nor 'borrows leave to be4' ,creatures are what they are made or grow to be2 they are what they were not2 they are what they will some time not any more be4 ,but ,he is what ,he is4 ,lifted above time and change1 self-existing and self-determined1 ,he is the fountain of life1 the same for ever4 ,this underived1 independent1 immutable being is a ,person who can speak to men1 and can say ',i am4' ,being such1 ,he has entered into close covenant relations with men1 and has permitted ,himself to be called 'the ,god of ,abraham1 ,isaac1 and ,jacob4' ,the name ,jehovah lifts ,him high above all creatures2 the name 'the ,god of your fathers' brings ,him into tender proximity with men1 and1 in combination with the former designation1 guarantees that ,he will forever be what ,he has been1 even to all generations of children's children4 ,that mighty name is1 indeed1 ,his 'memorial to all generations1' and is as fresh and full of blessedness to us as to the patriarchs4 ,christ has made us understand more of the treasures for heart and mind and life which are stored in it4 ',our ,father which art in heaven' is the unfolding of its inmost meaning4 ,we may note that the bush burning but not consumed expressed in symbol the same truth which the name reveals4 ,it seems a mistake to take the bush as the emblem of ,israel surviving persecution4 ,rather the revelation to the eye says the same thing as that to the ear1 as is generally the case4 ,as the desert shrub flamed1 and yet did not burn away1 so that divine nature is not wearied by action nor exhausted by bestowing1 nor has its life any tendency towards ending or extinction1 as all creatural life has4 ,the closing verses of this passage 7vs4 #af-bj7 are a programme of ,moses' mission1 in which one or two points deserve notice4 ,first1 the general course of it is made known from the beginning4 ,therein ,moses was blessed beyond most of ,god's servants1 who have to risk much and to labour on1 not knowing which shall prosper4 ,if we could see1 as he did1 the lie of the country beforehand1 our journeys would be easier4 ,so we often think1 but we know enough of what shall be to enable us to have quiet hearts2 and it is best for us not to see what is to fail and what to succeed4 ,our ignorance stimulates effort1 and drives to clinging to ,god's hand4 ,then we may note the full assurances to be given to the 'elders of ,israel4' ,apparently some kind of civic organisation had been kept up1 and there were principal people among the slaves who had to be galvanised first into enthusiasm4 ,so they are to be told two things1--that ,jehovah has appeared to ,moses1 and that ,he1 not ,moses only1 will deliver them and plant them in the land4 ,the enumeration of the many tribes 7v4 #ag7 might discourage1 but it is intended to fire by the thought of the breadth of the land1 which is further described as fertile4 ,the more exalted our conceptions of the inheritance1 the more willing shall we be to enter on the pilgrimage towards it4 ,the more we realise that ,jehovah has promised to lead us thither1 the more willing shall we be to face difficulties and dangers4 ,the directions as to the opening of communications with ,pharaoh have often been made a difficulty1 as if there was trickery in the modest request for permission to go three days' journey into the wilderness4 ,but that request was to be made1 knowing that it would not be granted4 ,it was to be a test of ,pharaoh's willingness to submit to ,jehovah4 ,its very smallness made it so more effectually4 ,if he had any disposition to listen to the voice speaking through ,moses1 he would yield that small point4 ,it is useless to speculate on what would have happened if he had done so4 ,but probably the ,israelites would have come back from their sacrificing4 ,of more importance is it to note that the failure of the request was foreseen1 and yet the effort was to be made4 ,is not that the same paradox which meets us in all the divine efforts to win over hard-hearted men to ,his service8 ,is it not exactly what our ,lord did when ,he appealed to ,judas1 while knowing that all would be vain8 ,the expression in verse #ai1 'not by a mighty hand1' is very obscure4 ,it may possibly mean that ,pharaoh was so obstinate that no human power was strong enough to bend his will4 ,therefore1 in contrast to the 'mighty hand' of man1 which was not mighty enough for this work1 ,god will stretch out ,his hand1 and that will suffice to compel obedience from the proudest4 ,god can force men by ,his might to comply with ,his will1 so far as external acts go2 but ,he does not regard that as obedience1 nor delight in it4 ,we can steel ourselves against men's power1 but ,god's hand can crush and break the strongest will4 ',it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living ,god4' ,it is a blessed thing to put ourselves into them1 in order to be moulded by their loving touch4 ,the alternative is laid before every soul of man4 ,a ,,last ,,merciful ,,warning ',and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,yet will ,i bring one plague more upon ,pharaoh1 and upon ,egypt2 afterwards he will let you go hence3 when he shall let you go1 he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether4 #b4 ,speak now in the ears of the people1 and let every man borrow of his neighbour1 and every woman of her neighbour1 jewels of silver1 and jewels of gold4 #c4 ,and the ,lord gave the people favour in the sight of the ,egyptians4 ,moreover1 the man ,moses was very great in the land of ,egypt1 in the sight of ,pharaoh's servants1 and in the sight of the people4 #d4 ,and ,moses said1 ,thus saith the ,lord1 ,about midnight will ,i go out into the midst of ,egypt2 #e4 ,and all the first-born in the land of ,egypt shall die1 from the first-born of ,pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne1 even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill2 and all the first-born of beasts4 #f4 ,and there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of ,egypt1 such as there was none like it1 nor shall be like it any more4 #g4 ,but against any of the children of ,israel shall not a dog move his tongue1 against man or beast3 that ye may know how that the ,lord doth put a difference between the ,egyptians and ,israel4 #h4 ,and all these thy servants shall come down unto ,me1 and bow themselves unto ,me1 saying1 ,get ,thee out1 and all the people that follow ,thee3 and after that ,i will go out4 ,and he went out from ,pharaoh in a great anger4 #i4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,pharaoh shall not hearken unto you2 that ,my wonders may be multiplied in the land of ,egypt4 #aj4 ,and ,moses and ,aaron did all these wonders before ,pharaoh3 and the ,lord hardened ,pharaoh's heart1 so that he would not let the children of ,israel go out of his land4'--,,exodus xi4 #a-aj4 ,the first point to be noted in this passage is that it interposes a solemn pause between the preceding ineffectual plagues and the last effectual one4 ,there is an awful lull in the storm before the last crashing hurricane which lays every obstacle flat4 ',there is silence in heaven' before the final peal of thunder4 ,verses #a to #c seem1 at first sight1 out of place1 as interrupting the narrative1 since ,moses' denunciation and prophecy in verses #d to #h must have been spoken at the interview with ,pharaoh which we find going on at the end of the preceding chapter4 ,but it is legitimate to suppose that1 at the very moment when ,pharaoh was blustering and threatening1 and ,moses was bearding him1 giving back scorn for scorn1 the latter heard with the inward ear the voice which made ,pharaoh's words empty wind1 and gave him the assurances and commands contained in verses #a to #c1 and that thus it was given him in that hour what he should speak2 namely1 the prediction that follows in verses #d to #h4 ,such a view of the sequence of the passage makes it much more vivid1 dramatic1 and natural1 than to suppose that the first verses are either interpolation or an awkward break referring to a revelation at some indefinite previous moment4 ,when a ,pharaoh or a ,herod or an ,agrippa threatens1 ,god speaks to the heart of a ,moses or a ,paul1 and makes ,his servant's face 'strong against their faces4' ,the same purpose of parting off the preceding plagues from the past ones explains the introduction of verses #i and #aj1 which stand as a summary of the whole account of these1 and1 as it were1 draw a line across the page1 before beginning the story of that eventful day and night of ,israel's deliverance4 ,moses' conviction1 which he knew to be not his own thought but ,god's revelation of ,his purpose1 pointed first to the final blow which was to finish ,pharaoh's resistance4 ,he had been vacillating between compliance and refusal1 like an elastic ball which yields to compression and starts back to its swelling rotundity as soon as the pressure is taken off4 ,but at last he will collapse altogether1 like the same ball when a slit is cut in it1 and it shrivels into a shapeless lump4 ,weak people's obstinate fits end like that4 ,he will be as extreme in his eagerness to get rid of the ,israelites as he had been in his determination to keep them4 ,the sail that is filled one moment tumbles in a heap the next1 when the halyards are cut4 ,it is a poor affair when a man's actions are shaped mainly by fear of consequences4 ,fright always drives to extremes4 ',when he shall let you go1 he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether4' ,many a stout1 ,god-opposing will collapses altogether when ,god's finger touches it4 ',can thy heart endure in the days that ,i shall deal with thee8' ,verses #b and #c appear irrelevant here1 but the command to collect from the ,egyptians jewels1 which might be bartered for necessaries1 may well have been given to ,moses simultaneously with the assurance that he would lead forth the people after the next plague1 and the particulars of the people's favour and of ,moses' influence in the eyes of the native inhabitants1 come in anticipatively to explain why the request for such contributions was granted when made4 ,with the new divine command swelling in his heart1 ,moses speaks his last word to ,pharaoh1 towering above him in righteous wrath1 and dwindling his empty threats into nothingness4 ,what a contrast between the impotent rage of the despot1 with his vain threat1 ',thou shalt die1' and the unblenching boldness of the man with ,god at his back6 ,one cannot but note in ,moses' prediction of the last plague the solemn enlargement on the details of the widespread calamity1 which is not unfeeling gloating over an oppressor's misery1 but a yearning to save from hideous misery by timely and plain depicting of it4 ,there is a flash of national triumph in the further contrast between the universal wailing in ,egypt and the untouched security of the children of ,israel1 but that feeling merges at once into the higher one of 'the ,lord's' gracious action in establishing the 'difference' between them and their oppressors4 ,it is not safe to dwell on superiority over others1 either as to condition or character1 unless we print in very large letters that it is 'the ,lord' who has made it4 ,there is a flash1 too1 of natural triumph in the picture of the proud courtiers brought down to prostrate themselves before the shepherd from ,horeb1 and to pray him to do what their master and they had so long fought against his doing4 ,and there is a most natural assertion of non-dependence on their leave in that emphatic ',after that ,i will go out4' ,he is not asserting himself against ,god1 but against the cowering courtiers4 ',hot anger' was excusable1 but it was not the best mood in which to leave ,pharaoh4 ,better if he had gone out unmoved1 or moved only to 'great heaviness and sorrow of heart' at the sight of men setting themselves against ,god1 and rushing on the 'thick bosses of the ,almighty's buckler' to their own ruin4 ,moses' anger we naturally sympathise with1 ,christ's meekness we should try to copy4 ,the closing verses1 as we have already noticed1 are a kind of summing-up of the whole narrative of the plagues and their effects on ,pharaoh4 ,they open two difficult questions1 as to how and why it was that the effect of the successive strokes was so slight and transient4 ,they give the 'how' very emphatically as being that ',jehovah hardened ,pharaoh's heart4' ,does that not free ,pharaoh from guilt8 ,and does it not suggest an unworthy conception of ,god8 ,it must be remembered that the preceding narrative employs not only the phrase that ',jehovah hardened ,pharaoh's heart1' but also the expression that ,pharaoh hardened his own heart4 ,and it is further to be noted that the latter expression is employed in the accounts of the earlier plagues1 and that the former one appears only towards the close of the series4 ,so then1 even if we are to suppose that it means that there was a direct hardening action by ,god on the man's heart1 such action was not first1 but subsequent to obstinate hardening by himself4 ,god hardens no man's heart who has not first hardened it himself4 ,but we do not need to conclude that any inward action on the will is meant4 ,was not the accumulation of plagues1 intended1 as they were1 to soften1 a cause of hardening8 ,does not the ,gospel1 if rejected1 harden1 making consciences and wills less susceptible8 ,is it not a 'savour of death unto death1' as our fathers recognised in speaking of 'gospel-hardened sinners'8 ,the same fire softens wax and hardens clay4 ,whosoever is not brought near is driven farther off1 by the influences which ,god brings to bear on us4 ,the 'why' is stated in terms which may suggest difficulties1--'that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of ,egypt4' ,but we have to remember that the ,old ,testament writers are not wont to distinguish so sharply as more logical ,westerns do between the actual result of an event and its purpose4 ,with their deep faith in the all-ruling power of ,god1 whatever had come to pass was what ,he had meant to come to pass4 ,in fact1 ,pharaoh's obstinacy had not thwarted the divine purpose1 but had been the dark background against which the blaze of ,god's irresistible might had shone the brighter4 ,he makes the wrath of man to praise ,him1 and turns opposition into the occasion of more conspicuously putting forth ,his omnipotence4 ,,the ,,passover3 ,,an ,,expiation ,,and ,a ,,feast1 ,a ,,memorial ,,and ,a ,,prophecy ',and the ,lord spake unto ,moses and ,aaron in the land of ,egypt1 saying1 #b4 ,this month shall be unto you the beginning of months3 it shall be the first month of the year to you4 #c4 ,speak ye unto all the congregation of ,israel1 saying1 ,in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb1 according to the house of their fathers1 a lamb for an house3 #d4 ,and if the household be too little for the lamb1 let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls2 every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb4 #e4 ,your lamb shall be without blemish1 a male of the first year3 ye shall take it out from the sheep1 or from the goats3 #f4 ,and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month3 and the whole assembly of the congregation of ,israel shall kill it in the evening4 #g4 ,and they shall take of the blood1 and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses1 wherein they shall eat it4 #h4 ,and they shall eat the flesh in that night1 roast with fire1 and unleavened bread2 and with bitter herbs they shall eat it4 #i4 ,eat not of it raw1 nor sodden at all with water1 but roast with fire2 his head with his legs1 and with the purtenance thereof4 #aj4 ,and ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning2 and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire4 #aa4 ,and thus shall ye eat it2 with your loins girded1 your shoes on your feet1 and your staff in your hand2 and ye shall eat it in haste3 it is the ,lord's passover4 #ab4 ,for ,i will pass through the land of ,egypt this night1 and will smite all the firstborn in the land of ,egypt1 both man and beast2 and against all the gods of ,egypt ,i will execute judgment3 ,i am the ,lord4 #ac4 ,and the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are3 and when ,i see the blood1 ,i will pass over you1 and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you1 when ,i smite the land of ,egypt4 #ad4 ,and this day shall be unto you for a memorial2 and ye shall keep it a feast to the ,lord throughout your generations2 ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever4'--,,exodus xii4 #a-ad4 ,the ,passover ritual1 as appointed here1 divides itself into two main parts--the sprinkling of the sacrificial blood on the door-posts and lintels1 and the feast on the sacrifice4 ,these can best be dealt with separately4 ,they were separated in the later form of the ritual2 for1 when there was a central sanctuary1 the lambs were slain there1 and the blood sprinkled1 as in other expiatory sacrifices1 on the altar1 while the domestic feast remained unaltered4 ,the former was more especially meant to preserve the ,israelites from the destruction of their first-born2 the latter as a permanent memorial of their deliverance4 ,but both have perpetual fitness as prophetic of varying aspects of the ,christian redemption4 ,i4 ,the ritual of the protecting blood4 ,in the hurry and agitation of that eventful day1 it must have seemed strange to the excited people that they should be called upon to observe such a service4 ,but its institution at that crisis is in accordance with the whole tone of the story of the ,exodus1 in which man is nothing and ,god all4 ,surely1 never was national deliverance effected so absolutely without effort or blow struck4 ,if we try to realise the state of mind of the ,israelites on that night1 we shall feel how significant of the true nature of their deliverance this summons to an act of worship1 in the midst of their hurry1 must have been4 ,the domestic character of the rite is its first marked feature4 ,of course1 there were neither temple nor priests then2 but that does not wholly account for the provision that every household1 unless too few in number to consume a whole lamb1 should have its own sacrifice1 slain by its head4 ,the first purpose of the rite1 to provide for the safety of each house by the sprinkled blood1 partly explains it2 but the deepest reason is1 no doubt1 the witness which was thereby borne to the universal priesthood of the nation4 ,the patriarchal order made each man the priest of his house4 ,this rite1 which lay at the foundation of ,israel's nationality1 proclaimed that a restricted priestly class was a later expedient4 ,the primitive formation crops out here1 as witness that1 even where hid beneath later deposits1 it underlies them all4 ,we have called the ,passover a sacrifice4 ,that has been disputed1 but unreasonably4 ,no doubt1 it was a peculiar kind of sacrifice1 unlike those of the later ritual in many respects1 and scarcely capable of being classified among them4 ,but it is important to keep its strictly sacrificial character in view2 for it is essential to its meaning and to its typical aspect4 ,the proofs of its sacrificial nature are abundant4 ,the instructions as to the selection of the lamb2 the method of disposing of the blood1 which was sprinkled with hyssop--a peculiarly sacrificial usage2 the treatment of the remainder after the feast2 the very feast itself1--all testify that it was a sacrifice in the most accurate use of the word4 ,the designation of it as 'a passover to the ,lord1' and in set terms as a 'sacrifice1' in verse #bg and elsewhere1 to say nothing of its later form when it became a regular ,temple sacrifice1 or of ,paul's distinct language in #a ,corinthians v4 #g1 or of ,peter's quotation of the very words of verse #e1 applied to ,christ1 'a lamb without blemish1' all point in the same direction4 ,but if a sacrifice1 what kind of sacrifice was it8 ,clearly1 the first purpose was that the blood might be sprinkled on the door-posts and lintels1 and so the house be safe when the destroying angel passed through the land4 ,such is the explanation given in verse #ac1 which is the divine declaration of its meaning4 ,this is the centre of the rite2 from it the name was derived4 ,whether readers accept the doctrines of substitution and expiation or not1 it ought to be impossible for an honest reader of these verses to deny that these doctrines or thoughts are there4 ,they may be only the barbarous notions of a half-savage age and people4 ,but1 whatever they are1 there they are4 ,the lamb without blemish carefully chosen and kept for four days1 till it had become as it were part of the household1 and then solemnly slain by the head of the family1 was their representative4 ,when they sprinkled its blood on the posts1 they confessed that they stood in peril of the destroying angel by reason of their impurity1 and they presented the blood as their expiation4 ,in so far1 their act was an act of confession1 deprecation1 and faith4 ,it accepted the divinely appointed means of safety4 ,the consequence was exemption from the fatal stroke1 which fell on all homes from the palace to the slaves' hovel1 where that red streak was not found4 ,if any son of ,abraham had despised the provision for safety1 he would have been partaker of the plague4 ,all this refers only to exemption from outward punishment1 and we are not obliged to attribute to these terrified bondmen any higher thoughts4 ,but clearly their obedience to the command implied a measure of belief in the divine voice2 and the command embodied1 though in application to a transient judgment1 the broad principles of sacrificial substitution1 of expiation by blood1 and of safety by the individual application of that shed blood4 ,in other words1 the ,passover is a ,gospel before the ,gospel4 ,we are sometimes told that in its sacrificial ideas ,christianity is still dressing itself in ',hebrew old clothes4' ,we believe1 on the contrary1 that the whole sacrificial system of ,judaism had for its highest purpose to shadow forth the coming redemption4 ,christ is not spoken of as 'our ,passover1' because the ,mosaic ritual had happened to have that ceremonial2 but the ,mosaic ritual had that ceremonial mainly because ,christ is our ,passover1 and1 by ,his blood shed on the ,cross and sprinkled on our consciences1 does in spiritual reality that which the ,jewish ,passover only did in outward form4 ,all other questions about the ,old ,testament1 however interesting and hotly contested1 are of secondary importance compared with this4 ,is its chief purpose to prophesy of ,christ1 ,his atoning death1 ,his kingdom and church1 or is it not8 ,the ,new ,testament has no doubt of the answer4 ,the ,evangelist ,john finds in the singular swiftness of our ,lord's death1 which secured the exemption of ,his sacred body from the violence inflicted on ,his fellow-sufferers1 a fulfilment of the paschal injunction that not a bone should be broken2 and so1 by one passing allusion1 shows that he recognised ,christ as the true ,passover4 ,john the ,baptist's rapturous exclamation1 ',behold the ,lamb of ,god6' blends allusions to the ,passover1 the daily sacrifice1 and ,isaiah's great prophecy4 ,the day of the ,crucifixion1 regarded as fixed by divine ,providence1 may be taken as ,god's own finger pointing to the ,lamb whom ,he has provided4 ,paul's language already referred to attests the same truth4 ,and even the last lofty visions of the ,apocalypse1 where the old man in ,patmos so touchingly recurs to the earliest words which brought him to ,jesus1 echo the same conviction1 and disclose1 amidst the glories of the throne1 'a ,lamb as it had been slain4' ,,ii4 ,the festal meal on the sacrifice4 ,after the sprinkling of the blood came the feast4 ,only when the house was secure from the destruction which walked in the darkness of that fateful night1 could a delivered household gather round the board4 ,that which had become their safety now became their food4 ,other sacrifices were1 at a later period1 modelled on the same type2 and in all cases the symbolism is the same1 namely1 joyful participation in the sacrifice1 and communion with ,god based upon expiation4 ,in the ,passover1 this second stage received for future ages the further meaning of a memorial4 ,but on that first night it was only such by anticipation1 seeing that it preceded the deliverance which it was afterwards to commemorate4 ,the manner of preparing the feast and the manner of partaking of it are both significant4 ,the former provided that the lamb should be roasted1 not boiled1 apparently in order to secure its being kept whole2 and the same purpose suggested the other prescriptions that it was to be served up entire1 and with bones unbroken4 ,the reason for this seems to be that thus the unity of the partakers was more plainly shown4 ,all ate of one undivided whole1 and were thus1 in a real sense1 one4 ,so the ,apostle deduces the unity of the ,church from the oneness of the bread of which they in the ,christian ,passover partake4 ,it was to be eaten with the accompaniments of bitter herbs1 usually explained as memorials of the bondage1 which had made the lives bitter1 and the remembrance of which would sweeten their deliverance1 even as the pungent condiments brought out the savour of the food4 ,the further accompaniment of unleavened bread seems to have the same signification as the appointment that they were to eat with their garments gathered round their loins1 their feet shod1 and staves in hand4 ,all these were partly necessities in their urgent hurry1 and partly a dramatic representation for later days of the very scene of the first ,passover4 ,a strange feast indeed1 held while the beat of the pinions of the destroying angel could almost be heard1 devoured in hot haste by anxious men standing ready for a perilous journey1 the end whereof none knew6 ,the gladness would be strangely dashed with terror and foreboding4 ,truly1 though they feasted on a sacrifice1 they had bitter herbs with it1 and1 standing1 swallowed their portions1 expecting every moment to be summoned to the march4 ,the ,passover as a feast is a prophecy of the great ,sacrifice1 by virtue of whose sprinkled blood we all may be sheltered from the sweep of the divine judgment1 and on which we all have to feed if there is to be any life in us4 ,our propitiation is our food4 ',christ for us' must become ',christ in us1' received and appropriated by our faith as the strength of our lives4 ,the ,christian life is meant to be a joyful feast on the ,sacrifice1 and communion with ,god based upon it4 ,we feast on ,christ when the mind feeds on ,him as truth1 when the heart is filled and satisfied with ,his love1 when the conscience clings to ,him as its peace1 when the will esteems the 'words of ,his mouth more than' its 'necessary food1' when all desires1 hopes1 and inward powers draw their supplies from ,him1 and find their object in ,his sweet sufficiency4 ,nor will the accompaniments of the first ,passover be wanting4 ,here we feast in the night2 the dawn will bring freedom and escape4 ,here we eat the glad ,bread of ,god1 not unseasoned with bitter herbs of sorrow and memories of the bondage1 whose chains are dropping from our uplifted hands4 ,here we should partake of that hidden nourishment1 in such manner that it hinders not our readiness for outward service4 ,it is not yet time to sit at ,his table1 but to stand with loins girt1 and feet shod1 and hands grasping the pilgrim staff4 ,here we are to eat for strength1 and to blend with our secret hours of meditation the holy activities of the pilgrim life4 ,that feast was1 further1 appointed with a view to its future use as a memorial4 ,it was held before the deliverance which it commemorated had been accomplished4 ,a new era was to be reckoned from it4 ,the month of the ,exodus was thenceforward to be the first of the year4 ,the memorial purpose of the rite has been accomplished4 ,all over the world it is still observed1 so many hundred years after its institution1 being thus1 probably1 the oldest religious ceremonial in existence4 ,once more aliens in many lands1 the ,jewish race still1 year by year1 celebrate that deliverance1 so tragically unlike their homeless present1 and with indomitable hope1 at each successive celebration1 repeat the expectation1 so long cherished in vain1 ',this year1 here2 next year1 in the land of ,israel4 ,this year1 slaves2 next year1 freemen4' ,there can be few stronger attestations of historical events than the keeping of days commemorating them1 if traced back to the event they commemorate4 ,so this ,passover1 like ,guy ,fawkes' ,day in ,england1 or ,thanksgiving ,day in ,america1 remains for a witness even now4 ,what an incomprehensible stretch of authority ,christ put forth1 if ,he were no more than a teacher1 when ,he brushed aside the ,passover1 and put in its place the ,lord's ,supper1 as commemorating ,his own death6 ,thereby ,he said1 ',forget that past deliverance2 instead1 remember ,me4' ,surely this was either audacity approaching insanity1 or divine consciousness that ,he ,himself was the true ,paschal ,lamb1 whose blood shields the world from judgment1 and on whom the world may feast and be satisfied4 ,christ's deliberate intention to represent ,his death as expiation1 and to fix the reverential1 grateful gaze of all future ages on ,his ,cross1 cannot be eliminated from ,his founding of that memorial rite in substitution for the ,god-appointed ceremonial1 so hoary with age and sacred in its significance4 ,like the ,passover1 the ,lord's ,supper was established before the deliverance was accomplished4 ,it remains a witness at once of the historical fact of the death of ,jesus1 and of the meaning and power which ,jesus ,himself bade us to see in that death4 ,for us1 redeemed by ,his blood1 the past should be filled with ,his sacrifice4 ,for us1 fed on ,himself1 all the present should be communion with ,him1 based upon ,his death for us4 ,for us1 freed bondmen1 the memorial of deliverance begun by ,his ,cross should be the prophecy of deliverance to be completed at the side of ,his throne1 and the hasty meal1 eaten with bitter herbs1 the adumbration of the feast when all the pilgrims shall sit with ,him at ,his table in ,his kingdom4 ,past1 present1 and future should all be to us saturated with ,jesus ,christ4 ,memory should furnish hope with colours1 canvas1 and subjects for her fair pictures1 and both be fixed on ',christ our ,passover1 sacrificed for us4' ,,thought1 ,,deed1 ,,word ',it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand1 and for a memorial between thine eyes1 that the ,lord's law may be in thy mouth4'--,,exodus xiii4 #i4 ,the question may be asked1 whether this command is to be taken metaphorically or literally4 ,no doubt the remembrance of the great deliverance was intrusted to acts4 ,besides the annual ,passover feasts1 inscriptions on the door-posts and fringes on the dress were appointed for this purpose4 ,and the ,jews from a very early period1 certainly before our ,lord's time1 wore phylacteries fastened1 as this and other places prescribe1 on the left arm and on the forehead1 and alleged these words as the commandment which they therein obeyed4 ,but it seems more probable that the meaning is metaphorical1 and that what is enjoined is rather a constant remembrance of the great deliverance1 and a constant regulation of the practical life by it4 ,for what is it that is to be 'a sign'8 ,it is the ,passover feast4 ,and the 'therefore' of the next verse seems to say that keeping this ordinance in its season is the fulfilment of this precept4 ,besides1 the expression 'for a sign1' 'for a memorial1' may just as well mean 'it shall serve as1' or 'it shall be like1' as 'you shall wear4' ,so ,i think we must say that this is a figure1 not a fact2 the enjoining of an object for thought and a motive for life1 not of a formal observance4 ,and it is very characteristic of the ,jew1 and of the universal tendency to harden and lower religion into outward rites1 that a command so wide and profound was supposed to be kept by fastening little boxes with four slips of parchment containing extracts from the ,pentateuch on arm and forehead4 ,jewish rabbis are not the only people who treat ,god's law like that4 ,even if literal1 the injunction is for the purpose of remembering4 ,taking that meaning1 then1 the text sets forth principles that apply quite as much to us4 ,you will observe 'hand1' 'eyes1' 'mouth'2 the symbols of practice1 knowledge1 expression2 work1 thought1 and word4 ,observe also that there is a slight change in construction in the three clauses2 the two former are to be done in order that the latter may come to pass4 ,then the memorial of the great deliverance is to be 'on the hand' and 'before the eyes1' in order that 'the ,lord's law' may be 'in the mouth4' ,keeping these points in view-- ,i4 ,god's great deliverance should be constantly before our thoughts4 ,it is more than an accident that both ,judaism and ,christianity should begin with a great act of deliverance2 that that act of deliverance should constitute a community1 and that a memorial rite should be the centre of the ritual of both4 ,the ,lord's ,supper historically took the place of the ,passover4 ,it was instituted at the ,passover and instead of it4 ,it is precisely the same in design1 a memorial feast appointed to keep up the vivid remembrance of the historical fact to which redemption is traced2 and not only to keep up its remembrance1 but to proclaim the importance of extending that remembrance through all life4 ,notice the peculiarity of both the ,jewish and the ,christian rite1 that the centre point of both is a historical fact1 a redeeming act4 ,judaism and ,christianity are the only religions in regard to which this is true to anything like the same extent or in the same way4 ,christianity as a revelation is not so much the utterance in words of great religious thoughts as the history of a life and a death1 a fact wrought upon the earth1 which is at once the means of revelation and the means of redemption4 ,this is a feature unshared by other religions4 ,this characteristic determines the principal object of our religious thought4 ,the true object for religious thought is ,christ1 and ,his life and death4 ,all religious truth flows from and is wrapped up in that3 e4g4 theology1 or the nature of ,god2 anthropology1 or the nature of man2 soteriology1 morality1 etc4 ,all truth for the individual and for the race has its source in ,god's great redeeming act4 ,religious emotion is best fed at this source1 e4g4 thankfulness1 wonder1 love3 all these transcendent feelings which are melted together in adoration4 ,here is where they are kindled4 ,you cannot pump them up1 or bring them into existence by willing1 or scourge yourself into them1 any more than you can make a seed grow by pulling at the germ with a pair of pincers1 but this gives the warmth and moisture which make it germinate4 ,the clear perception of this truth is valuable1 as correcting false tendencies in religion1 e4g4 the tendency to be much occupied with the derived truths1 and to think of them almost to the exclusion of the great fact from which they come2 the tendency to substitute melancholy self-inspection for objective facts2 the tendency to run out into mere feeling4 ,the command requires of us a habitual occupation of mind with the great deliverance4 ,and the habitual presence of this thought will be best secured by specific times of occupation with it4 ,let every ,christian practise the habit of meditation1 which in an age of so many books1 newspapers1 and the distractions of our busy modern life1 is apt to become obsolete4 ,,ii4 ,the great deliverance is to be ever present in practical life4 ,the 'hand' is clearly the seat and home of power and practical effort4 ,so the remembrance is to be present and to preside over our practical work4 ,how it is fitted to do so4 7a7 ,it gives the law for all our activity4 ,the pattern4 ,the death as well as the life of ,christ teaches us what we ought to be4 ,the motive4 ,he died for me6 ,shall ,i not serve ,him who redeemed me8 7b7 ,that remembered deliverance arms us against temptations1 and lifts us above sinking into sin4 ,how blessed such a life would be6 ,how victorious over the small motives that rule one's life1 the deadening influence of routine1 the duties that are felt to be overwhelmingly great and those that are felt to be wearisomely and monotonously small6 ,how this unity of motive would give unity to life and simplify its problems6 ,how it would free us from many a perplexity6 ,there are so many things that seem doubtful because we do not bring the test of the highest motive to bear on them4 ,complications would fall away when we only wished to know and be like ,christ4 ,many a tempting amusement1 or occupation1 or speculation would start up in its own shape when this ,ithuriel spear touched it4 ,how it would save from distractions6 ,how strong it would make us1 like a belt round the waist bracing the muscles tighter6 ',this one thing ,i do' is always a strengthening principle4 ,how far is this possible8 ,not absolutely1 but we may approximate very closely and indefinitely towards it4 ,for there is the possibility of such thought blending with common motives1 like a finer perfume in the scentless air1 or some richer elixir in a cup4 ,there is the possibility of its doing to other motives what light does to landscape when a sudden sunbeam gleams across the plain1 and everything leaps into increased depth of colour4 ,let us try more and more to rescue life from the slavery of habit and the distractions of all these smaller forces1 and to bring it into the greatness and power of submission to the dominion of this sovereign1 unifying motive4 ,our lives would thus be greatened and strengthened1 even as ,germany and ,italy have been1 by being delivered from a rabble of petty dukes and brought under the sway of one emperor or king4 ,let us try to approach nearer and nearer to the fusion of action and contemplation1 and to the blending with all other motives of this supreme one4 ,this command supplies us with an easily applied and effective test4 ,is there any place where you cannot take it1 any act which you feel it would be impossible to do for ,his sake8 ,avoid such4 ,where the safety-lamp burns blue and goes out1 is no place for you4 ,it is a beautiful thought that ,jesus does for us what we are thus commanded to do for ,him4 ,the high priest bore the names of the tribes on his shoulders and in his heart4 ',i have graven thee on the palms of my hands4' ,we bear ,him in our hands and in our hearts4 ',i bear in my body the marks of the ,lord ,jesus4' ,,iii4 ,the great deliverance is to be ever on our lips4 ,the three regions here named are the inward thought1 the outward practice1 and the testimony of the lips4 ,note that that testimony is a consequence of thought and practice4 #a4 ,the purpose of the deliverance is to make 'prophets of ,his law4' ,such was the divine intention as to ,israel4 ,such is ,god's purpose as to all ,christians4 ,the very meaning of redemption is there4 ,he has 'opened our lips' that we 'should show forth ,his praise4' ,he has regard to ',his own name4' ,he desires to make us vocal1 for the same purpose for which a man strings a harp1 to bring sweet music out of it4 ,words of testimony are a form of love4 #b4 ,the other two are incomplete without this vocal testimony4 #c4 ,the utterance of the lips1 to be worth anything1 must rest on and follow the other two4 ,how noble1 then1 and blessed1 how strong and calm and simple our lives would be1 if we had this for the one great object of our thoughts1 of our practical endeavour1 of our words1 if all our being was sustained1 impelled1 made vocal1 by one thought1 one love6 ,o my brother1 see to it that you give yourself to ,him4 ,that great ,light will gladden your eyes1 will guide your activity1 and1 like the sunrise striking ,memnon's voiceless1 stony lips1 will bring music4 ,thought will have one boundless home of 'many mansions4' ,work will have one law1 one motive1 its consecration and strength2 and as in some solemn procession1 all our steps and all our movements will keep time to the music of our praise to ',him who loved us4' ,a ,,path ,,in ,,the ,,sea ',and the angel of ,god1 which went before the camp of ,israel1 removed and went behind them2 and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face1 and stood behind them3 #bj4 ,and it came between the camp of the ,egyptians and the camp of ,israel2 and it was a cloud and darkness to them1 but it gave light by night to these3 so that the one came not near the other all the night4 #ba4 ,and ,moses stretched out his hand over the sea2 and the ,lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night1 and made the sea dry land1 and the waters were divided4 #bb4 ,and the children of ,israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground3 and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand1 and on their left4 #bc4 ,and the ,egyptians pursued1 and went in after them to the midst of the sea1 even all ,pharaoh's horses1 his chariots1 and his horsemen4 #bd4 ,and it came to pass1 that in the morning watch the ,lord looked unto the host of the ,egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud1 and troubled the host of the ,egyptians1 #be4 ,and took off their chariot-wheels1 that they drave them heavily3 so that the ,egyptians said1 ,let us flee from the face of ,israel2 for the ,lord fighteth for them against the ,egyptians4 #bf4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,stretch out thine hand over the sea1 that the waters may come again upon the ,egyptians1 upon their chariots1 and upon their horsemen4 #bg4 ,and ,moses stretched forth his hand over the sea1 and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared2 and the ,egyptians fled against it2 and the ,lord overthrew the ,egyptians in the midst of the sea4 #bh4 ,and the waters returned1 and covered the chariots1 and the horsemen1 and all the host of ,pharaoh that came into the sea after them2 there remained not so much as one of them4 #bi4 ,but the children of ,israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea2 and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand1 and on their left4 #cj4 ,thus the ,lord saved ,israel that day out of the hand of the ,egyptians2 and ,israel saw the ,egyptians dead upon the sea-shore4 #ca4 ,and ,israel saw that great work which the ,lord did upon the ,egyptians3 and the people feared the ,lord1 and believed the ,lord1 and ,his servant ,moses4'--,,exodus xiv4 #ai-ca4 ,this passage begins at the point where the fierce charge of the ,egyptian chariots and cavalry on the straggling masses of the fugitives is inexplicably arrested4 ,the weary day's march1 which must have seemed as suicidal to the ,israelites as it did to their pursuers1 had ended in bringing them into a position where1 as ,luther puts it1 they were like a mouse in a trap or a partridge in a snare4 ,the desert1 the sea1 the enemy1 were their alternatives4 ,and1 as they camped1 they saw in the distance the rapid advance of the dreaded force of chariots1 probably the vanguard of an army4 ,no wonder that they lost heart4 ,moses alone keeps his head and his faith4 ,he is rewarded with the fuller promise of deliverance1 and receives the power accompanying the command1 to stretch forth his hand1 and part the sea4 ,then begins the marvellous series of incidents here recorded4 ,i4 ,the first step in the leisurely march of the divine deliverance is the provision for checking the ,egyptian advance and securing the safe breaking up of the ,israelitish camp4 ,the pursuers had been coming whirling along at full speed1 and would soon have been amongst the disorderly mass1 dealing destruction4 ,there was no possibility of getting the crossing effected unless they were held at bay4 ,when an army has to ford a river in the face of hostile forces1 the hazardous operation is possible only if a strong rearguard is left on the enemy's side1 to cover the passage4 ,this is exactly what is done here4 ,the pillar of fire and cloud1 the symbol of the divine presence1 passed from the van to the rear4 ,its guidance was not needed1 when but one path through the sea was possible4 ,its defence was needed when the foe was pressing eagerly on the heels of the host4 ,his people's needs determined then1 as they ever do1 the form of the divine presence and help4 ,long after1 the prophet seized the great lesson of this event1 when he broke into the triumphant anticipation of a yet future deliverance1--which should repeat in fresh experience the ancient victory1 ',the ,lord will go before you2 and the ,god of ,israel will be your rearward1' ,in the place where the need is sorest1 and in the form most required1 there and that will ,god ever be to those who trust ,him4 ,we can see here1 too1 a frequent characteristic of the miraculous element in ,scripture1 namely1 its reaching its end not by a leap1 but by a process4 ,once admit miracle1 and it appears as if adaptation of means to ends was unnecessary4 ,it would have been as easy to have transported the ,israelites bodily and instantaneously to the other side of the sea1 as to have taken these precautions and then cleft the ocean1 and made them march through it4 ,legendary miracle would have preferred the former way4 ,the ,bible miracle usually adapts methods to aims1 and is content to travel to its goal step by step4 ,nor can we omit to notice the double effect of the one manifestation of the divine presence4 ,the same pillar was light and darkness4 ,the side which was cloud was turned to the pursuers2 that which was light1 to ,israel4 ,the former were paralysed1 and hindered from advancing a step1 or from seeing what the latter were doing2 these1 on the other hand1 had light thrown on their strange path1 and were encouraged and helped to plunge into the mysterious road1 by the ruddy gleam which disclosed it4 ,so every revelation is either light or darkness to men1 according to the use they make of it4 ,the ark1 which slew ,philistines1 and flung ,dagon prone on his own threshold1 brought blessing to the house of ,obededom4 ,the ,child who was to be 'set for the fall1' was also for 'the rising of many4' ,the stone laid in ,zion is 'a sure foundation1' and 'a stone of stumbling4' ,the ,gospel is the savour of life unto life1 or of death unto death4 ,the same fire melts wax and hardens clay4 ,the same ,christ is salvation and destruction4 ,god is to each of us either our joy or our dread4 ,,ii4 ,the sudden march of the ,egyptians having thus been arrested1 there is leisure1 behind the shelter of the fiery barrier1 to take the next step in the deliverance4 ,the sea is not divided in a moment4 ,again1 we have a process to note1 and that brought about by two things1--,moses' outstretched rod1 and the strong wind which blew all night4 ,the chronology of that fateful night is difficult to adjust from our narrative4 ,it would appear1 from verse #bj1 that the ,egyptians were barred advancing until morning2 and1 from verse #ba1 that the wind which ploughed with its strong ploughshare a furrow through the sea1 took all night for its work4 ,but1 on the other hand1 the ,israelites must have been well across1 and the ,egyptians in the very midst of the passage1 'in the morning watch1' and all was over soon after 'the morning appeared4' ,probably the wind continued all the night1 so as to keep up the pressure which dammed back the waters1 but the path was passable some hours before the gale abated4 ,it must have been a broad way to admit of some two million frightened people with wives and children effecting a crossing in the short hours of part of one night4 ,but though ,god used the wind as ,his besom to sweep a road clear for ,his people1 the effect produced by ordinary means was extraordinary4 ,no wind that ever blew would blow water in two opposite directions at once1 as a man might shovel snow to right and left1 and heap it in mounds by the sides of the path that he dug4 ,that was what the text tells us was done4 ,the miracle is none the less a miracle because ,god employed physical agents1 just as ,christ's miracles were no less miraculous when ,he anointed blind eyes with moistened clay1 or sent men to wash in ,siloam1 than when ,his bare word raised the dead or stilled the ocean4 ,wind or no wind1 ,moses' rod or no rod1 the true explanation of that broad path cleared through the sea is--'the waters saw ,thee1 ,o ,god4' ,the use of natural means may have been an aid to feeble faith1 encouraging it to step down on to the untrodden and slippery road4 ,the employment of ,moses and his rod was to attest his commission to act as ,god's mouthpiece4 ,,iii4 ,then comes the safe passage4 ,it is hard to imagine the scene4 ,the vivid impression made by our story is all the more remarkable when we notice how wanting in detail it is4 ,we do not know the time nor the place4 ,we have no information about how the fugitives got across1 the breadth of the path1 or its length4 ,characteristically enough1 ,jewish legends know all about both1 and assure us that the waters were parted into twelve ways1 one for each tribe1 and that the length of the road was three hundred miles6 ,but ,scripture1 with characteristic reticence1 is silent about all but the fact4 ,that is enough4 ,we gather1 from the much later and poetical picture of it in ,psalm lxxvii41 that the passage was accomplished in the midst of crashing thunder and flashing lightnings2 though it may be doubted whether these are meant to be taken as real or ideal4 ,at all events1 we have to think of these two millions of people--women1 children1 and followers--plunging into the depths in the night4 ,what a scene6 ,the awestruck crowds1 the howling wind1 perhaps the thunderstorm1 the glow of the pillar glistening on the wet and slimy way1 the full paschal moon shining on the heaped waters6 ,how the awe and the hope must both have increased with each step deeper in the abyss1 and nearer to safety6 ,the ,epistle to the ,hebrews takes this as an instance of 'faith' on the part of the ,israelites2 and truly we can feel that it must have taken some trust in ,god's protecting hand to venture on such a road1 where1 at any moment1 the walls might collapse and drown them all4 ,they were driven to venture by their fear of ,pharaoh2 but faith1 as well as fear1 wrought in them4 ,our faith1 too1 is often called upon to venture upon perilous paths4 ,we may trust ,him to hold back the watery walls from falling4 ,the picture of the crossing carries eternal truth for us all4 ,the way of safety does not open till we are hemmed in1 and ,pharaoh's chariots are almost come up4 ,it often leads into the very thick of what we deem perils4 ,it often has to be ventured on in the dark1 and with the wind in our faces4 ,but if we tread it in faith1 the fluid will be made solid1 and the pathless passable1 or any other apparent impossibility be realised1 before our confidence shall be put to shame1 or one real evil reach us4 ,,iv4 ,the next stage is the hot pursuit and the panic of the ,egyptians4 ,the narrative does not mark the point at which the pillar lifted and disclosed the escape of the prey4 ,it must have been in the night4 ,the baffled pursuers dash after them1 either not seeing1 or too excited and furious to heed where they were going4 ,the rough sea bottom was no place for chariots1 and they would be hopelessly distanced by the fugitives on foot4 ,how long they stumbled and weltered we are not told1 but 'in the morning watch1' that is1 while it was yet dark1 some awful movement in the fiery pillar awed even their anger into stillness1 and drove home the conviction that they were fighting against ,god4 ,there is something very terrible in the vagueness1 if we may call it so1 of that phrase 'the ,lord looked 444 through the pillar4' ,it curdles the blood as no minuteness of narrative would do4 ,and what a thought that ,his look should be a trouble6 ',the steady whole of the judge's face' is awful1 and some creeping terror laid hold on that host of mad pursuers floundering in the dark1 as that more than natural light flared on their path4 ,the panic to which all bodies of soldiers in strange circumstances are exposed1 was increased by the growing difficulty of advance1 as the chariot wheels became clogged or the ground more of quicksand4 ,at last it culminates in a shout of ',sauve qui peut6' ,we may learn how close together lie daring rebellion against ,god and abject terror of ,him2 and how in a moment1 a glance of ,his face1 a turn of ,his hand1 bring the wildest blasphemer to cower in fear4 ,we may learn1 too1 to keep clear of courses which cannot be followed a moment longer1 if once a thought that ,god sees us comes in4 ,and we may learn the miserable result of all departure from ,him1 in making what ought to be our peace and blessing1 our misery and terror1 and turning the brightness of ,his face into a consuming fire4 ,v4 ,then comes1 at last1 the awful act of destruction1 of which a man is the agent and an army the victim4 ,we must suppose the ,israelites all safe on the ,arabian coast1 when the level sunlight streams from the east on the wild hurry of the fleeing crowd making for the ,egyptian shore4 ,what a solemn sight that young morning looked on6 ,the wind had dropped1 the rod is stretched out1 the sea returns to its strength2 and after a few moments' despairing struggle all is over1 and the sun1 as it climbs1 looks down upon the unbroken stretch of quiet sea1 bearing no trace of the awful work which it had done1 or of the quenched hatred and fury which slept beneath4 ,we can understand the stern joy which throbs so vehemently in every pulse of that great song1 the first blossom of ,hebrew poetry1 which the ransomed people sang that day4 ,we can sympathise with the many echoes in psalm and prophecy1 which repeated the lessons of faith and gratitude4 ,but some will be ready to ask1 ,was that triumphant song anything more than narrow national feeling1 and has ,christianity not taught us another and tenderer thought of ,god than that which this lesson carries8 ,we may ask in return1 ,was it divine providence that swept the ,spanish ,armada from the sea1 fulfilling1 as the medal struck to commemorate it bore1 the very words of ,moses' song1 ',thou didst blow with ,thy wind1 the sea covered them'8 ,was it ,god who overwhelmed ,napoleon's army in the ,russian snows8 ,were these1 and many like acts in the world's history1 causes for thankfulness to ,god8 ,is it not true that1 as has been well said1 ',the history of the world is the judgment of the world'8 ,and does ,christianity forbid us to rejoice when some mighty and ancient system of wrong and oppression1 with its tools and accomplices1 is cleared from off the face of the earth8 ',when the wicked perish1 there is shouting4' ,let us not forget that the love and gentleness of the ,gospel are accompanied by the revelation of divine judgment and righteous retribution4 ,this very incident has for its last echo in ,scripture that wonderful scene in the ,apocalypse1 where1 in the pause before the seven angels bearing the seven plagues go forth1 the seer beholds a company of choristers1 like those who on that morning stood on the ,red ,sea shore1 standing on the bank of the 'sea of glass mingled with fire1'--which symbolises the clear and crystalline depth of the stable divine judgments1 shot with fiery retribution1--and lifting up by anticipation a song of thanksgiving for the judgments about to be wrought4 ,that song is expressly called 'the song of ,moses' and 'of the ,lamb1' in token of the essential unity of the two dispensations1 and especially of the harmony of both in their view of the divine judgments4 ,its ringing praises are modelled on the ancient lyric4 ,it1 too1 triumphs in ,god's judgments1 regards them as means of making known ,his name1 as done not for destruction1 but that ,his character may be known and honoured by men1 to whom it is life and peace to know and love ,him for what ,he is4 ,that final victory over 'the beast1' whether he be a person or a tendency1 is to reproduce in higher fashion that old conquest by the ,red ,sea4 ,there is hope for the world that its oppressors shall not always tyrannise2 there is hope for each soul that1 if we take ,christ for our deliverer and our guide1 ,he will break the chains from off our wrists1 and bring us at last to the eternal shore1 where we may stand1 like the ransomed people1 and1 as the unsetting morning dawns1 see its beams touching with golden light the calm ocean1 beneath which our oppressors lie buried for ever1 and lift up glad thanksgivings to ,him who has 'led us through fire and through water1 and brought us out into a wealthy place4' ',,my ,,strength ,,and ,,song' ',the ,lord is my strength and song1 and ,he is become my salvation4444' ,,exodus xv4 #b4 ,these words occur three times in the ,bible3 here1 in ,isaiah xii4 #b1 and in ,psalm cxviii4 #ad4 ,i4 ,the lessons from the various instances of their occurrence4 ,the first and second teach that the ,mosaic deliverance is a picture-prophecy of the redemption in ,christ4 ,the third 7,psalm cxviii4 #ad71 long after1 and the utterance of some private person1 teaches that each age and each soul has the same mighty ,hand working for it4 ',as we have heard1 so have we seen4' ,,ii4 ,the lessons from the words themselves4 7a7 ,true faith appropriates ,god's universal mercy as a personal possession4 ',my ,lord and my ,god6' ',he loved me1 and gave ,himself for me4' 7b7 ,each single act of mercy should reveal ,god more clearly as ',my strength4' ,the 'and' in the second clause is substantially equivalent to 'for4' ,it assigns the reason for the assurance expressed in the first4 ,because of the experienced deliverance and ,god's manifestation of ,himself in it as the author of 'salvation1' my faith wins happy increase of confidence that ,he 'is the strength of my heart4' ,blessed they who bring that treasure out of all the sorrows of life6 7c7 ,the end of ,his deliverances is 'praise4' ',he is my song4' ,this is true for earth and for heaven4 ,the ',song of ,moses and the ,lamb4' ,,the ,,shepherd ,,and ,,the ,,fold '444 ,thou hast guided them in ,thy strength unto ,thy holy habitation4' ,,exodus ,,xv4 #ac4 ,what a grand triumphal ode6 ,the picture of ,moses and the children of ,israel singing1 and ,miriam and the women answering3 a gush of national pride and of worship6 ,we belong to a better time1 but still we can feel its grandeur4 ,the deliverance has made the singer look forward to the end1 and his confidence in the issue is confirmed4 ,i4 ,the guiding ,god3 or the picture of the leading4 ,the original is 'lead gently4' ,cf4 ,isaiah xl4 #aa1 ,psalm xxiii4 #b4 ,the emblem of a flock underlies the word4 ,there is not only guidance1 but gentle guidance4 ,the guidance was gentle1 though accompanied with so tremendous and heart-curdling a judgment4 ,the drowned ,egyptians were strange examples of gentle leading4 ,but ,god's redemptive acts are like the guiding pillar of fire1 in that they have a side that reveals wrath and evokes terror1 and a side that radiates lambent love and kindles happy trust4 ',in ,thy strength4' ,cf4 ,isaiah xl4 #aj1 'with strong hand4' ',he shall gently lead4' ,note the combination with gentleness4 ,that divine strength is the only power which is able to guide4 ,we are so weak that it takes all ,his might to hold us up4 ,it is ,his strength1 not ours4 ',my strength is made perfect in 7thy7 weakness4' ',to the resting-place of ,thy holiness4' ,the word is used for pasture1 or resting-places for cattle4 ,here it meant ,canaan2 for us it means ,heaven--'the green pastures' of real participation in ,his holiness4 ,,ii4 ,the triumphant confidence as to the future based upon the deliverance of the past4 ',hast1' a past tense4 ,it is as good as done4 ,the believing use of ,god's great past1 and initial mercy1 to make us sure of ,his future4 7a7 ,in that ,he will certainly accomplish it4 7b7 ,in that even now there is a foretaste--rest in toil4 ,he guides to the 'waters of resting4' ,a rest now 7,heb4 iv4 #c72 a rest 'that remaineth' 7,heb4 iv4 #c1 #i74 ,,iii4 ,the warning against confidence in self4 ,these people who sang thus perished in the wilderness6 ,they let go hold of ,god's hand1 so they 'sank like lead4' ,so ,he will fulfil begun work 7,philippians i4 #f74 ,let us cleave to ,him4 ,in ,hebrews iii4 and iv4 lessons are drawn from the ,israelites not 'entering in4' ,see also ,psalm xcv4 ,,the ,,ultimate ,,hope ',thou shalt bring them in and plant them in the mountain of ,thine inheritance4444'--,,exodus xv4 #ag4 ,i4 ,the lesson taught by each present deliverance and kindness is that we shall be brought to ,his rest at last4 7a7 ,daily mercies are a pledge and a pattern of ,his continuous acts4 ,the confidence that we shall be kept is based upon no hard doctrine of final perseverance1 but on the assurance that ,god is always the same1 like the sunshine which has poured out for all these millenniums and still rushes on with the same force4 ,consider-- ,the inexhaustibleness of the divine resources4 ,the steadfastness of the divine purposes4 ,the long-suffering of the divine patience4 7b7 ,thus daily mercies should lead on our thoughts to heavenly things4 ,they should not prison us in their own sweetness4 ,we should see the great ,future shining through them as a transparent1 not an opaque medium4 7c7 ,that ultimate future should be the great object of our hope4 ,surely it is chiefly in order that we may have the light of that great to-morrow brightening and magnifying our dusty to-days1 that we are endowed with the faculty of looking forward and 'calling things that are not as though they were4' ,so we should engage and enlarge our minds with it4 ,,ii4 ,the form which that ultimate future assumes4 ,the ,israelites thought of ,canaan1 and in particular of ',zion1' its centre-point4 7a7 ,perpetual rest4 ',bring in and plant'--a contrast to the desert nomad life4 7b7 ,perpetual safety4 ',the sanctuary which ,thy hands have established1' i4e4 made firm4 7c7 ,perpetual dwelling in ,god4 ',thy dwelling1' ',thy mountain1' ',thy holy habitation' 7ver4 #ac71 rather than 'our land4' ,for ,israel their communion with ,jehovah was perfected on ,zion by the ,temple and the sacrifices1 including the revelation of 7priestly7 national service4 7d7 ,perpetual purity4 ',thy sanctuary4' ',without' holiness 'no man shall see the ,lord4' ,,marah ',and when they came to ,marah1 they could not drink of the waters of ,marah1 for they were bitter3 therefore the name of it was called ,marah4 #bd4 ,and the people murmured against ,moses1 saying1 ,what shall we drink8 #be4 ,and he cried unto the ,lord2 and the ,lord showed him a tree1 which when he had cast into the waters1 the waters were made sweet4444'--,,exodus xv4 #bc-be4 ,i4 ,the time of reaching ,marah--just after the ,red ,sea4 ,the ,israelites were encamped for a few days on the shore to shake themselves together1 and then at this1 their very first station1 they began to experience the privations which were to be their lot for forty years4 ,their course was like that of a ship that is in the stormy ,channel as soon as it leaves the shelter of the pier at ,dover1 not like that of one that glides down the ,thames for miles4 ,after great moments and high triumphs in life comes ,marah4 ,marah was just before ,elim--the alternation1 how blessed6 ,the shade of palms and cool water of the wells1 one for each tribe and one for each 'elder4' ,so we have alternations in life and experience4 ,,ii4 ,the wrong and the right ways of taking the bitter experience4 ,the people grumbled3 ,moses cried to the ,lord4 ,the quick forgetfulness of deliverances4 ,the true use of speech is not complaint1 but prayer4 ,,iii4 ,the power that changes bitter to sweet4 ,the manner of the miracle is singular4 ,god hides ,himself behind ,moses1 and ,his miraculous power behind the material agent4 ,perhaps the manner of the miracle was intended to suggest a parallel with the first plague4 ,there the rod made the ,nile water undrinkable4 ,there is a characteristic economy in the miraculous1 and outward things are used1 as ,christ used the pool and the saliva and the touch1 to help the weak faith of the deaf and dumb man4 ,what changes bitter to sweet for us8--the ,cross1 the remembrance of ,christ's death4 ',consider ,him that endured4' ,the ,cross is the true tree which1 when 'cast into the waters1 the waters were made sweet4' ,recognition of and yielding to ,god's will3 that is the one thing which for us changes all4 ,the one secret of peace and of getting sweetness out of bitterness is loving acceptance of the will of ,god4 ,discernment of purpose in ,god's 'bitter' dealings--'for our profit4' ,the dry rod 'budded4' ,the ,prophet's roll was first bitter1 then sweet4 ,affliction 'afterwards yieldeth the peaceable fruit4' ,,the ,,bread ,,of ,,god ',then said the ,lord unto ,moses1 ,behold1 ,i will rain bread from heaven for you2 and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day1 that ,i may prove them1 whether they will walk in ,my law1 or no4 #e4 ,and it shall come to pass1 that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in2 and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily4 #f4 ,and ,moses and ,aaron said unto all the children of ,israel1 ,at even1 then ye shall know that the ,lord hath brought you out from the land of ,egypt3 #g4 ,and in the morning1 then ye shall see the glory of the ,lord2 for that ,he heareth your murmurings against the ,lord3 and what are we1 that ye murmur against us8 #h4 ,and ,moses said1 ,this shall be1 when the ,lord shall give you in the evening flesh to eat1 and in the morning bread to the full2 for that the ,lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against ,him3 and what are we8 your murmurings are not against us1 but against the ,lord1 #i4 ,and ,moses spake unto ,aaron1 ,say unto all the congregation of the children of ,israel1 ,come near before the ,lord3 for ,he hath heard your murmurings4 #aj4 ,and it came to pass1 as ,aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of ,israel1 that they looked toward the wilderness1 and1 behold1 the glory of the ,lord appeared in the cloud4 #aa4 ,and the ,lord spake unto ,moses1 saying1 #ab4 ,i have heard the murmurings of the children of ,israel3 speak unto them1 saying1 ,at even ye shall eat flesh1 and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread2 and ye shall know that ,i am the ,lord your ,god4'--,,exodus xvi4 #d-ab4 ,unbelief has a short memory4 ,the ,red ,sea is forgotten in a month4 ,the ,israelites could strike their timbrels and sing their lyric of praise1 but they could not believe that to-day's hunger could be satisfied4 ,discontent has a slippery memory4 ,they wish to get back to the flesh-pots1 of which the savour is in their nostrils1 and they have forgotten the bitter sauce of affliction4 ,when they were in ,egypt1 they shrieked about their oppression1 and were ready to give up anything for liberty2 when they have got it1 they are ready to put their necks in the yoke again1 if only they can have their stomachs filled4 ,men do not know how happy they are till they cease to be so4 ,our present miseries and our past blessings are the themes on which unbelief harps4 ,let him that is without similar sin cast the first stone at these grumbling ,israelites4 ,without following closely the text of the narrative1 we may throw together the lessons of the manna4 ,i4 ,observe ,god's purpose in the gift1 as distinctly expressed in the promise of it4 ',that ,i may prove them1 whether they will walk in ,my law or no4' ,how did the manna become a test of this8 ,by means of the law prescribed for gathering it4 ,there was to be a given quantity daily1 and twice as much on the sixth day4 ,if a man trusted ,god for to-morrow1 he would be content to stop collecting when he had filled his omer1 tempting as the easily gathered abundance would be4 ,greed and unbelief would masquerade then as now1 under the guise of prudent foresight4 ,the old ,egyptian parallels to 'make hay while the sun shines1' and suchlike wise sayings of the philosophy of distrust1 would be solemnly spoken1 and listened to as pearls of wisdom4 ,when experience had taught that1 however much a man gathered1 he had no more than his omer full1 after all1--and is not that true yet8--then the next temptation would be to practise economy1 and have something over for to-morrow4 ,only he who absolutely trusted ,god to provide for him would eat up his portion1 and lie down at night with a quiet heart1 knowing that ,he who had fed him would feed4 ,when experience had taught that what was saved rotted1 then laziness would come in and say1 ',what is the use of gathering twice as much on the sixth day8 ,don't we know that it will not keep8' ,so the whole of the gift was a continual training of1 and therefore a continual test for1 faith4 ,god willed to let ,his gifts come in this hand-to-mouth fashion1 though ,he could have provided at once what would have obviously lasted them all their wilderness life1 in order that they might be habituated to cling to ,him1 and that their daily bread might be doubly for their nourishment1 feeding their bodies and strengthening that faith which1 to them as to us1 is the condition of all blessedness4 ,god lets our blessings1 too1 trickle to us drop by drop1 instead of pouring them in a flood all at once upon us1 for the same reason4 ,he does so1 not because of any good to ,him from our faith1 except that the ,infinite love loves infinitely to be loved2 but for our sakes1 that we may taste the peace and strength of continual dependence1 and the joy of continual receiving4 ,he could give us the principal down2 but ,he prefers to pay us the interest1 as we need it4 ,christianity does not absolutely forbid laying up money or other resources for future wants4 ,but the love of accumulating1 which is so strong in many professing ,christians1 and the habit of amassing beyond all reasonable future wants1 is surely scarcely permitted to those who profess to believe that incarnate wisdom forbade taking anxious care for the morrow1 and sent its disciples to lilies and birds to learn the happy immunities of faith4 ,we too get our daily mercies to prove us4 ,the letter of the law for the manna is not applicable to us who gain our bread by ,god's blessing on our labour4 ,but the spirit is1 and the members of great commercial nations have surely little need to be reminded that still the portion put away is apt to breed worms4 ,how often it vanishes1 or1 if it lasts1 tortures its owner1 who has more trouble keeping it than he had in getting it2 or fatally corrupts his own character1 or ruins his children6 ,all ,god's gifts are tests1 which--thanks be to ,him--is the same as to say that they are means of increasing faith1 and so adding to joy4 ,,ii4 ,the manna was further a disclosure of the depth of patient long-suffering in ,god4 ,very strikingly the 'murmurings' of the children of ,israel are four times referred to in this context1 and on each occasion are stated as the reason for the gift of the manna4 ,it was ,god's answer to the peevish complaints of greedy appetites4 ,when they were summoned to come near to the ,lord1 with the ominous warning that ',he hath heard your murmurings1' no doubt many a heart began to quake2 and when the ,glory flashed from the ,shechinah cloud1 it would burn lurid to their trembling consciences4 ,but the message which comes from it is sweet in its gentleness1 as it promises the manna because they have murmured1 and in order that they may know the ,lord4 ,a mother soothes her crying infant by feeding it from her own bosom4 ,god does not take the rod to ,his whimpering children1 but rather tries to win them by patience1 and to shame their unbelief by ,his swift and over-abundant answers to their complaints4 ,when ,he must1 ,he punishes2 but when ,he can1 ,he complies4 ,faith is the condition of our receiving ,his highest gifts2 but even unbelief touches ,his heart with pity1 and what ,he can give to it1 ,he does1 if it may be melted into trust4 ,the farther men stray from ,him1 the more tender and penetrating ,his recalling voice4 ,we multiply transgressions1 ,he multiplies mercies4 ,,iii4 ,the manna was a revelation in miraculous and transient form of an eternal truth4 ,the ,god who sent it sends daily bread4 ,the words which ,christ quoted in ,his wilderness hunger are the explanation of its meaning as a witness to this truth3 ',man doth not live by bread alone1 but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of ,god4' ,to a ,christian1 the divine power is present and operative in all natural processes as really as in those which we call miraculous4 ,god is separable from the universe1 but the universe is not separable from ,god4 ,if it were separated1 it would cease4 ,so far as the reality of the divine operation is concerned1 it matters not whether ,he works in the established fashion1 through material things1 or whether ,his will acts directly4 ,the chain which binds a phenomenon to the divine will may be long or short2 the intervening links may be many1 or they may be abolished1 and the divine cause and the visible effect may touch without anything between4 ,but in either case the power is of ,god4 ,bread made out of flour grown on the other side of the world1 and fashioned by the baker1 and bought by the fruits of my industry1 is as truly the gift of ,god as was the manna4 ,for once1 ,he showed these men ,his hand at work1 that we all might know that it was at work1 when hidden4 ,the lesson of the 'angel's food' eaten in the wilderness is that men are fed by the power of ,god's expressed and active will1--for that is the meaning of 'the word that proceedeth out of the mouth of ,god1'--in whatever fashion they get their food4 ,the gift of it is from ,him2 its power to nourish is from ,him4 ,it is as true to-day as ever it was3 ',thou openest ,thine hand1 and satisfiest the desire of every living thing4' ,the manna ceased when the people came near cornfields and settled homes4 ,miracles end when means are possible4 ,but the ,god of the miracle is the ,god of the means4 ,commentators make much of what is supposed to be a natural substratum for the manna1 in a certain vegetable product1 found in small quantities in parts of the ,arabian peninsula4 ,no doubt1 we are to recognise in the plagues of ,egypt1 and in the dividing of the ,red ,sea1 the extraordinary action of ordinary causes2 and there is no objection in principle to doing so here4 ,but that an exudation from the bark of a shrub1 which has no nutritive properties at all1 is found only in one or two places in ,arabia1 and that only at certain seasons and in infinitesimal quantity1 seems a singularly thin 'substratum' on which to build up the feeding of two millions of people1 more or less exclusively and continuously for forty years1 by means of a substance which has nothing to do with tamarisk-trees1 and is like the natural product in nothing but sweetness and name4 ,whether we admit connection between the two1 or not1 the miraculous character of the manna of the ,israelites is unaffected4 ,it was miraculous in its origin--'rained from heaven1' in its quantity1 in its observance of times and seasons1 in its putrefaction and preservation1--as rotting when kept for greed1 and remaining sweet when preserved for the ,sabbath4 ,it came straight from the creative will of ,god1 and whether its name means ',what is it8' or ',it is a gift1' the designation is equally true and appropriate1 pointing1 in the one case1 to the mystery of its nature2 in the other1 to the love of the ,giver1 and in both referring it directly to the hand of ,god4 ,,iv4 ,the manna was typical of ,christ4 ,our ,lord ,himself has laid ,his hand upon it1 and claimed it as a faint foreshadowing of what ,he is4 ,the ,jews1 not satisfied with the miracle of the loaves1 demand from ,him a greater sign1 as the condition of what they are pleased to call 'belief'--which is nothing but accepting the testimony of sense4 ,they quote ,moses as giving the manna1 and imply that ,messiah is expected to repeat the miracle4 ,christ accepts the challenge1 and goes on to claim that ,he not only gives1 but ,himself is1 for all men's souls1 all and more than all which the manna had been to the bodies of that dead generation4 ,like it1 ,he came--but in how much more profound a sense6--from heaven4 ,like it1 ,he was food4 ,but unlike it1 ,he could still for ever the craving of the else famishing soul2 unlike it1 ,he not only nourished a bodily life already possessed1 but communicated a spiritual life which never dies2 and1 unlike it1 ,he was meant to be the food of the whole world4 ,his teaching passed beyond the symbolism of the manna1 when ,he not only declared ,himself to be the 'true bread from heaven which gives life to the world1' but opened a glimpse into the solemn mystery of ,his atoning death by the startling and apparently repulsive paradox that ',his flesh was food indeed and ,his blood drink indeed4' ,the manna does not typically teach ,christ's atonement1 but it does set ,him forth as the true sustenance and life-giver1 sweet as honey to the soul1 sent from heaven for us each1 but needing to be made ours by the act of our faith4 ,an ,israelite would have starved1 though the manna lay all round the camp1 if he did not go forth and secure his portion2 and he might no less have starved1 if he did not eat what ,heaven had sent4 ',crede et manducasti1' ',believe1 and thou hast eaten1'--as ,st4 ,augustine says4 ,the personal appropriating act of faith is essential to our having ,christ for the food of our souls4 ,the bread that nourishes our bodies is assimilated to their substance1 and so becomes sustenance4 ,this bread of ,god1 entering into our souls by faith1 transforms them into its substance1 and so gives and feeds an immortal life4 ,the manna was for a generation2 this bread is 'the same yesterday1 and to-day1 and for ever4' ,that was for a handful of men2 this is for the world4 ,nor is the prophetic value of the manna exhausted when we recognise its witness to ,christ4 ,the food of the wilderness is the food of the city4 ,the bread that is laid on the table1 'spread in the presence of the enemy1' is the bread that makes the feast in the king's palace4 ,the ,christ who feeds the pilgrim soldiers is the ,christ on whom the conquerors banquet4 ',to him that overcometh will ,i give to eat of the hidden manna4' ,,jehovah ,,nissi ',and ,moses built an altar1 and called the name of it ,jehovah ,nissi that is1 the ,lord is my ,banner4' --,,exodus xvii4 #ae4 ,we are all familiar with that picturesque incident of the conflict between ,israel and ,amalek1 which ended in victory and the erection of this memorial trophy4 ,moses1 as you remember1 went up on the mount whilst ,joshua and the men of war fought in the plain4 ,but ,i question whether we usually attach the right meaning to the symbolism of this event4 ,we ordinarily1 ,i suppose1 think of ,moses as interceding on the mountain with ,god4 ,but there is no word about prayer in the story1 and the attitude of ,moses is contrary to the idea that his occupation was intercession4 ,he sat there1 with the rod of ,god in his hand1 and the rod of ,god was the symbol and the vehicle of divine power4 ,when he lifted the rod ,amalek fled before ,israel2 when the rod dropped ,israel fled before ,amalek4 ,that is to say1 the uplifted hand was not the hand of intercession1 but the hand which communicated power and victory4 ,and so1 when the conflict is over1 ,moses builds this memorial of thanksgiving to ,god1 and piles together these great stones--which1 perhaps1 still stand in some of the unexplored valleys of that weird desert land--to teach ,israel the laws of conflict and the conditions of victory4 ,these laws and conditions are implied in the name which he gave to the altar that he built--,jehovah ,nissi1 'the ,lord is my ,banner4' ,now1 then1 what do these stones1 with their significant name1 teach us1 as they taught the ancient ,israelites8 ,let me throw these lessons into three brief exhortations4 ,i4 ,first1 realise for whose cause you fight4 ,the ,banner was the symbol of the cause for which an army fought1 or the cognizance of the king or commander whom it followed4 ,so ,moses1 by that name given to the altar1 would impress upon the minds of the cowardly mob that he had brought out of ,egypt--and who now had looked into an enemy's eyes for the first time--the elevating and bracing thought that they were ,god's soldiers1 and that the warfare which they waged was not for themselves1 nor for the conquest of the country for their own sake1 nor for mere outward liberty1 but that they were fighting that the will of ,god might prevail1 and that ,he might be the ,king now of one land--a mere corner of the earth--and thereby might come to be ,king of all the earth4 ,that rude altar said to ,israel3 ',remember1 when you go into the battle1 that the battle is the ,lord's2 and that the standard under which you war is the ,god for whose cause you contend--none else and none less than ,jehovah ,himself4 ,you are consecrated soldiers1 set apart to fight for ,god4' ,such is the destination of all ,christians4 ,they have a battle to fight1 of which they do not think loftily enough1 unless they clearly and constantly recognise that they are fighting on ,god's side4 ,i need not dwell upon the particulars of this conflict1 or run into details of the way in which it is to be waged4 ,only let us remember that the first field upon which we have to fight for ,god we carry about within ourselves2 and that there will be no victories for us over other enemies until we have1 first of all1 subdued the foes that are within4 ,and then let us remember that the absorbing importance of inward conflict absolves no ,christian man from the duty of strenuously contending for all things that are 'lovely and of good report1' and from waging war against every form of sorrow and sin which his influence can touch4 ,there is no surer way of securing victory in the warfare within and conquering self than to throw myself into the service of others1 and lose myself in their sorrows and needs4 ,there is no possibility of my taking my share in the merciful warfare against sin and sorrow1 the tyrants that oppress my fellows1 unless ,i conquer myself4 ,these two fields of the ,christian warfare are not two in the sense of being separable from one another1 but they are two in the sense of being the inside and the outside of the same fabric4 ,the warfare is one1 though the fields are two4 ,let us remember1 on the other hand1 that whilst it is our simple bounden duty1 as ,christian men and women1 to reckon ourselves as anointed and called for the purpose of warring against sin and sorrow1 wherever we can assail them1 there is nothing more dangerous1 and few things more common1 than the hasty identification of fighting for some whim1 or prejudice1 or narrow view1 or partial conception of our own1 with contending for the establishment of the will of ,god4 ,how many wicked things have been done in this world for ,god's glory6 ,how many obstinate men1 who were really only forcing their own opinions down people's throats because they were theirs1 have fancied themselves to be pure-minded warriors for ,god6 ,how easy it has been1 in all generations1 to make the sign of the ,cross over what had none of the spirit of the ,cross in it2 and to say1 ',the cause is ,god's1 and therefore ,i war for it'2 when the reality was1 ',the cause is mine1 and therefore ,i take it for granted that it is ,god's4' ,let us beware of the 'wolf in sheep's clothing1' the pretence of sanctity which is only selfishness with a mask on4 ,and1 above all1 let us beware of the uncharitableness and narrowness of view1 the vehemence of temper1 the fighting for our own hands1 the enforcing of our own notions and whims and peculiarities1 which have often done duty as being true ,christian service for the ,master's sake4 ,we are ,god's host1 but we are not to suppose that every notion that we take into our heads1 and for which we may contend1 is part of the cause of ,god4 ,and then remember what sort of men the soldiers in such an army ought to be4 ',be ye clean that bear the vessels of the ,lord4' ,these bearers may either be regarded as a solemn procession of priests carrying the sacrificial vessels2 or1 as is more probable from the context of the original1 as the armour-bearers of the great ,king4 ,they must be pure who bear ,his weapons1 for these are ,his righteous love1 ,his loving purity4 ,if our camp is the camp of the ,lord1 no violence should be there4 ,what sanctity1 what purity1 what patience1 what long-suffering1 what self-denial1 and what enthusiastic confidence of victory there should be in those who can say1 ',we are the ,lord's host1 ,jehovah is our ,banner6' ,he always wins who sides with ,god4 ,and he only worthily takes his place in the ranks of the sacramental host of the ,most ,high who goes into the warfare knowing that1 because ,he is ,god's soldier1 he will come out of it1 bringing his victorious shield with him1 and ready for the laurels to be twined round his undinted helmet4 ,that is the first of the thoughts1 then1 that are here4 ,,ii4 ,the second of the exhortations which come from the altar and its name is1 ,remember whose commands you follow4 ,the banner in ancient warfare1 even more than in modern1 moved in front of the host1 and determined the movements of the army4 ,and so1 by the stones that he piled and the name which he gave them1 ,moses taught ,israel and us that they and we are under the command of ,god1 and that it is the movements of ,his staff that are to be followed4 ,absolute obedience is the first duty of the ,christian soldier1 and absolute obedience means the entire suppression of my own will1 the holding of it in equilibrium until ,he puts ,his finger on the side that ,he desires to dip and lets the other rise4 ,they only understand their place as ,christ's servants and soldiers who have learned to hush their own will until they know their ,captain's4 ,in order to be blessed1 to be strong1 to be victorious1 the indispensable condition is that our inmost desire shall be1 ',not my will1 but ,thine be done4' ,sometimes1 and often1 there will be perplexities in our daily lives1 and conflicts very hard to unravel4 ,we shall often be brought to a point where we cannot see which way the ,banner is leading us4 ,what then8 ',it is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait' for the salvation and for the guidance of his ,god4 ,and we shall generally find that it is when we are looking too far ahead that we do not get guidance4 ,you will not get guidance to-day for this day next week4 ,when this day next week comes1 it will bring its own enlightenment with it4 ',lead1 kindly ,light1 444 444 ,one step enough for me4' ,let us take short views both of duty and of hope1 and we shall not so often have to complain that we are left without knowing what the ,commander's orders are4 ,sometimes we are so left1 and that is a lesson in patience1 and is generally ,god's way of telling us that it is not ,his will that we should do anything at all just yet4 ,sometimes we are so left in order that we may put our hand out through the darkness1 and hold on by ,him1 and say1 ',i know not what to do1 but mine eyes are towards ,thee4' ,and be sure of this1 brethren1 that ,he will not desert ,his own promise1 and that they who in their inmost hearts can say1 ',the ,lord is my ,banner1' will never have to complain that ,he led them into a 'pathless wilderness where there was no way4' ,it is sometimes a very narrow track1 it is often a very rough one1 it is sometimes a dreadfully solitary one2 but ,he always goes before us1 and they who hold ,his hand will not hold it in vain4 ',the ,lord is my ,banner'2 obey ,his orders and do not take anybody else's2 nor1 above all1 the suggestions of that impatient1 talkative heart of yours1 instead of ,his commandments4 ,,iii4 ,lastly1 the third lesson that these grey stones preach to us is1 ,recognise by whose power you conquer4 ,the banner1 ,i suppose1 to us ,english people1 suggests a false idea4 ,it suggests the notion of a flag1 or some bit of flexible drapery which fluttered and flapped in the wind2 but the banner of old-world armies was a rigid pole1 with some solid ornament of bright metal on the top1 so as to catch the light4 ,the banner-staff spoken of in the text links itself with the preceding incident4 ,i said that ,moses stood on the mountain-top with the rod in his hand4 ,now that rod was exactly a miniature banner1 and when he lifted it1 victory came to ,israel2 and when it fell1 victory deserted their arms4 ,so by the altar's name he would say1 ,do not suppose that it was ,moses that won the battle1 nor that it was the rod that ,moses carried in his hand that brought you strength4 ,the true ,victor was ,jehovah1 and it was ,he who was ,moses' ,banner4 ,it was by ,him that the lifted rod brought victory2 as for ,moses1 he had nothing to do with it2 and the people had to look higher than the hill-top where he sat4 ,this thought puts stress on the first word of the phrase instead of on the last1 as in my previous remarks4 ',the ,lord is my ,banner1'--no ,moses1 no outward symbol1 no man or thing1 but only ,he ,himself4 ,therefore1 in all our duties1 and in all our difficulties1 and in all our conflicts1 and for all our conquests1 we are to look away from creatures1 self1 externals1 and to look only to ,god4 ,we are all too apt to trust in rods instead of in ,him1 in ,moses instead of in ,moses' ,lord4 ,we are all too apt to trust in externals1 in organisations1 sacraments1 services1 committees1 outside aids of all sorts1 as our means for doing ,god's work1 and bringing power to us and blessing to the world4 ,let us get away from them all1 dig deeper down than any of these1 be sure that these are but surface reservoirs1 but that the fountain which fills them with any refreshing liquid which they may bear lies in ,god ,himself4 ,why should we trouble ourselves about reservoirs when we can go to the ,fountain8 ,why should we put such reliance on churches and services and preaching and sermons and schemes and institutions and organisations when we have the divine ,lord ,himself for our strength8 ',jehovah is my ,banner1' and ,moses' rod is only a symbol4 ,at most it is like a lightning-conductor1 but it is not the lightning4 ,the lightning will come without the rod1 if our eyes are to the heaven1 for the true power that brings ,god down to men is that forsaking of externals and waiting upon ,him which ,he never refuses to answer4 ,in like manner we are too apt to put far too much confidence in human teachers and human helpers of various kinds4 ,and when ,god takes them away we say to ourselves that there is a gap that can never be filled4 ,ay6 but the great sea can come in and fill any gap1 and make the deepest and the driest of the excavations in the desert to abound in sweet water4 ,so let us turn away from everything external1 gather in our souls and fix our hopes on ,him2 let us recognise the imperative duty of the ,christian warfare which is laid upon us2 let us docilely submit ourselves to ,his sweet commands1 and trust in ,his sufficient and punctual guidance1 and not expect from any outward sources that which no outward sources can ever give1 but which ,he ,himself will give--strength to our fingers to fight1 and weapons for the warfare1 and covering for our heads in the day of battle4 ,and then1 when our lives are done1 may the only inscription on the stone that covers us be ',jehovah ,nissi3 the ,lord is my banner'6 ,the trophy that commemorates the ,christian's victory should bear no name but ,his by whose grace we are more than conquerors4 ',thanks be to ,god who giveth us the victory through our ,lord ,jesus ,christ4' ,,gershom ,,and ,,eliezer ',the name of the one of ,moses' sons was ,gershom 444 and the name of the other was ,eliezer4444'--,,exodus xviii4 #c1 #d4 ,in old times parents often used to give expression to their hopes or their emotions in the names of their children4 ,very clearly that was the case in ,moses' naming of his two sons1 who seem to have been the whole of his family4 ,the significance of each name is appended to it in the text4 ,the explanation of the first is1 ',for he said1 ,i have been an alien in a strange land'2 and that of the second1 ',for the ,god of my fathers1 said he1 was mine help1 and delivered me from the sword of ,pharaoh4' ,these two names give us a pathetic glimpse of the feelings with which ,moses began his exile1 and of the better thoughts into which these gradually cleared4 ,the first child's name expresses his father's discontent1 and suggests the bitter contrast between ,sinai and ,egypt2 the court and the sheepfold2 the gloomy1 verdureless1 gaunt peaks of ,sinai1 blazing in the fierce sunshine1 and the cool1 luscious vegetation of ,goshen1 the land for cattle4 ,the exile felt himself all out of joint with his surroundings1 and so he called the little child that came to him ',gershom1' which1 according to one explanation1 means 'banishment1' and1 according to another 7a kind of punning etymology71 means 'a stranger here'2 in the other case expressing the same sense of homelessness and want of harmony with his surroundings4 ,but as the years went on1 ,moses began to acclimatise himself1 and to become more reconciled to his position and to see things more as they really were4 ,so1 when the second child is born1 all his murmuring has been hushed1 and he looks beyond circumstances1 and lays his hand upon ,god4 ',and the name of the second was ,eliezer1 for1 he said1 the ,god of my fathers was my help4' ,now1 there are the two main streams of thought that filled these forty years2 and it was worth while to put ,moses into the desert for all that time1 and to break off the purposes and hopes of his life sharp and short1 and to condemn him to comparative idleness1 or work that was all unfitted to bring out his special powers1 for that huge scantling out of his life1 one-third of the whole of it1 in order that there might be burnt into him1 not either of these two thoughts separately1 but the two of them in their blessed conjunction2 ',i am a stranger here'2 ',god is my ,help4' ,and so these are the thoughts which1 in like juxtaposition1 ought to be ours2 and in higher fashion with regard to the former of them than was experienced by ,moses4 ,let me say a word or two about each of these two things4 ,let us think of the strangers1 and of the divine helper that is with the strangers4 ,i4 ',a stranger here4' ,now1 that is true1 in the deepest sense1 about all men2 for the one thing that makes the difference between the man and the beast is that the beast is perfectly at home in his surroundings1 and gets all that he needs out of them1 and finds in them a field for all that he can do1 and is fully developed to the very highest point of his capacity by what people nowadays call the 'environment' in which he is put4 ,but the very opposite is the case in regard to us men4 ',foxes have holes1' and they are quite comfortable there2 'and the birds of the air have roosting-places1' and tuck their heads under their wings and go to sleep without a care and without a consciousness4 ',but the ,son of man1' the ideal ,humanity as well as the realised ideal in the person of ,jesus ,christ1 'hath not where to lay ,his head4' ,no2 because ,he is so 'much better than they4' ,their immunity from care is not a prerogative--it is an inferiority4 ,we are plunged into the midst of a scene of things which obviously does not match our capacities4 ,there is a great deal more in every man than can ever find a field of expression1 of work1 or of satisfaction in anything beneath the stars4 ,and no man that understands1 even superficially1 his own character1 his own requirements1 can fail to feel in his sane and quiet moments1 when the rush of temptation and the illusions of this fleeting life have lost their grip upon him3 ',this is not the place that can bring out all that is in me1 or that can yield me all that ,i desire4' ,our capacities transcend the present1 and the experiences of the present are all unintelligible1 unless the true end of every human life is not here at all1 but in another region1 for which these experiences are fitting us4 ,but1 then1 the temptations of life1 the strong appeals of flesh and sense1 the duties which in their proper place are lofty and elevating and refining1 and put out of their place1 are contemptible and degrading1 all come in to make it hard for any of us to keep clearly before us what our consciousness tells us when it is strongly appealed to1 that we are strangers and sojourners here and that this is not 'our rest1 because it is polluted4' ,therefore it comes to be the great glory and blessedness of the ,christian ,revelation that it obviously shifts the centre for us1 and makes that future1 and not this present1 the aim for which1 and in the pursuit of which1 we are to live4 ,so1 ,christian people1 in a far higher sense than ,moses1 who only felt himself 'a stranger there1' because he did not like ,midian as well as ,egypt1 have to say1 ',we are strangers here'2 and the very aim1 in one aspect1 of our ,christian discipline of ourselves is that we shall keep vivid1 in the face of all the temptations to forget it1 this consciousness of being away from our true home4 ,one means of doing that is to think rather oftener than the most of us do1 about our true home4 ,you have heard1 ,i dare say1 of half-reclaimed gipsies1 who for a while have been coaxed out of the free life of the woods and the moors1 and have gone into settled homes4 ,after a while there has come over them a rush of feeling1 a remembrance of how blessed it used to be out in the open and away from the squalor and filth where men 'sit and hear each other groan' and they have flung off 'as if they were fetters' the trappings of 'civilisation1' and gone back to liberty4 ,that is what we ought to do--not going back from the higher to the lower1 but smitten with what the ,germans call the heimweh1 the home-sickness1 that makes us feel that we must get clearer sight of that land to which we truly belong4 ,do you think about it1 do you feel that where ,jesus ,christ is1 is your home8 ,i have no doubt that most of you have1 or have had1 dear ones here on earth about whom you could say that1 ',where my husband1 my wife is2 where my beloved is1 or my children are1 that is my home1 wherever my abode may be4' ,are you1 ,christian people1 saying the same thing about heaven and ,jesus ,christ8 ,do you feel that you are strangers here1 not only because you1 reflecting upon your character and capacities and on human life1 see that all these require another life for their explanation and development1 but because your hearts are knit to ,him1 and 'where your treasure is there your heart is also'2 and where your heart is there you are8 ,we go home when we come into communion with ,jesus ,christ4 ,do you ever1 in the course of the rush of your daily work1 think about the calm city beyond the sea1 and about its ,king1 and that you belong to it8 ',our citizenship is in heaven' and here we are strangers4 ,,ii4 ,now let me say a word about the other child's name4 ',god is ,helper4' ,we do not know what interval of time elapsed between the birth of these two children4 ,there are some indications that the second of them was in years very much the junior4 ,perhaps the transition from the mood represented in the one name to that represented in the other1 was a long and slow process4 ,but be that as it may1 note the connection between these two names4 ,you can never say ',we are strangers here' without feeling a little prick of pain1 unless you say too ',god is my ,helper4' ,there is a beautiful variation of the former word which will occur to many of you1 ,i have no doubt1 in one of the old psalms3 ',i am a stranger with ,thee1 and a sojourner1 as were all my fathers4' ,there is the secret that takes away all the mourning1 all the possible discomfort and pain1 out of the thought3 ',here we have no continuing city1' and makes it all blessed4 ,it does not matter whether we are in a foreign land or no1 if we have that ,companion with us4 ,his presence will make blessedness in ,midian1 or in ,thebes4 ,it does not matter whether it is ,goshen or the wilderness1 if the ,lord is by our side4 ,so sweetness is breathed into the thought1 and bitterness is sucked out of it1 when the name of the second child is braided into the name of the first2 and we can contemplate quietly all else of tragic and limiting and sad that is involved in the thought that we are sojourners and pilgrims1 when we say ',yes6 we are2 but the ,lord is my ,helper4' ,then1 on the other hand1 we shall never say and feel 'the ,lord is my ,helper1' as we ought to do1 until we have got deep in our hearts1 and settled in our consciousness1 the other conviction that we are strangers here4 ,it is only when we realise that there is no other permanence for us that we put out our hands and grasp at the ,eternal1 in order not to be swept away upon the dark waves of the rushing stream of ,time4 ,it is only when all other props are stricken from us that we rest our whole weight upon that one strong central pillar1 which can never be moved4 ,learn that ,god helps1 for that makes it possible to say ',i am a stranger1' and not to weep4 ,learn that you are strangers1 for that stimulates to take ,god for out help4 ,just as when the floods are out1 men are driven to the highest ground to save their lives2 so when the billows of the waters of time are seen to be rolling over all creatural things1 we take our flight to the ,rock of ,ages4 ,put the two together1 and they fit one another and strengthen us4 ,this second conviction was the illuminating light upon a perplexed and problematic past4 ,moses1 when he fled from ,egypt1 thought that his life's work was rent in twain4 ,he had believed that his brethren would have seen that it was ,god's purpose to use him as the deliverer4 ,for the sake of being such1 he had surrendered the court and its delights4 ,but on his young ambition and innocent enthusiasm there came this douche of cold water1 which lasted for forty years1 and sent him away into the wilderness1 to be a shepherd under an ,arab sheikh1 with nothing to look forward to4 ,at first he said1 ',this is not what ,i was meant for2 ,i am out of my element here4' ,but before the forty years were over he said1 ',the ,god of my father was my help1 and ,he delivered me from the sword of ,pharaoh4' ,what had looked a disaster turned out to be a deliverance1 a manifestation of divine help1 and not a hindrance4 ,he had got far enough away from that past to look at it sanely1 that is to say gratefully4 ,so we1 when we get far enough away from our sorrows1 can look back at them1 sometimes even here on earth1 and say1 ',the mercy of the ,lord compassed me about4' ,here is the key that unlocks all the perplexities of providence1 ',the ,lord was my ,helper4' ,and that conviction will steady and uphold a man in a present1 however dark4 ,it was no small exercise of his faith and patience that the great lawgiver should for so many years have such unworthy work to do as he had in ,midian4 ,but even then he gathered into his heart this confidence1 and brought summer about him into the mid-winter of his life1 and light into the midst of darkness2 'for he said'--even then1 when there was no work for him to do that seemed much to need a divine help--'the ,lord is my ,helper4' ,and so1 however dark may be our present moment1 and however obscure or repulsive our own tasks1 let us fall back upon that old word1 ',thou hast been my ,help2 leave me not1 neither forsake me1 ,o ,god of my salvation4' ,when ,moses named his boy1 his gratitude was allied with faith in favours to come2 and when he said 'was1' he meant also 'will be4' ,and he was right4 ,he dreamt very little of what was coming1 but this confidence that was expressed in his second child's name was warranted by that great future that lay before him1 though he did not know it4 ,when the pinch came his confidence faltered4 ,it was easy to say ',the ,lord is my ,helper1' when there was nothing very special for which ,god's help was needed1 and nothing harder to do than to look after a few sheep in the wilderness4 ,but when ,god said to him1 ',go and stand before ,pharaoh1' ,moses for the moment forgot all about ,god's being his helper1 and was full of all manner of cowardly excuses1 which1 like the excuses of a great many more of us for not doing our plain duty1 took the shape of a very engaging modesty and diffidence as to his capacities4 ,but ,god said to him1 ',surely ,i will be with thee4' ,he gave him back ',eliezer' in a little different form4 ',you used to say that ,i was your helper4 ,what has become of your faith now8 ,has it all evaporated when the trial comes8 ,surely ,i will be with thee4' ,if we will set ourselves to our tasks1 not doubting ,god's help1 we shall have occasion in the event to be sure that ,god did help us4 ,so1 brethren1 let us cherish these two thoughts1 and never keep them apart1 and ,god will be1 as our good old hymn has it-- ',our help while troubles last1 ,and our eternal home4' ,,the ,,ideal ,,statesman ,footnote3 ,preached on occasion of ,mr4 ,gladstone's death4 ',thou shalt provide out of all the people able men1 such as fear ,god1 men of truth1 hating covetousness2 and place such over them4'--,,exodus xviii4 #ba4 ,you will have anticipated my purpose in selecting this text4 ,i should be doing violence to your feelings and mine if ,i made no reference to the event which has united the ,empire and the world in one sentiment4 ,the great tree has fallen1 and the crash has for the moment silenced all the sounds of the forest4 ,wars abroad and controversies at home are hushed4 ,all men1 of all schools of opinion1 creeds1 and parties1 see now1 in the calm face of the dead1 'the likeness to the great of old'2 and it says something1 with all our faults1 for the soundness of the heart of ,english opinion1 that all sorts and conditions of men have brought their sad wreaths to lay them on that coffin4 ,but1 whilst much has been said1 far more eloquently and authoritatively than ,i can say it1 about the many aspects of that many-sided life1 surely it becomes us1 as ,christian people1 to look at it from the distinctively ,christian point of view1 and to gather some of the lessons which1 so regarded1 it teaches us4 ,my text is part of the sagacious advice which ,jethro1 the father-in-law of ,moses1 gave him about the sort of men that he should pick out to be his lieutenants in civic government4 ,its old-fashioned1 simple phraseology may hide from some of us the elevation and comprehensiveness of the ideal that it sets forth4 ,but it is a grand ideal2 and amongst the great names of ,englishmen who have guided the destinies of this land1 none have approached more nearly to it than he whose death has taken away the most striking personality from our public life4 ,so let me ask you to look with me1 first1 at the ideal of a politician that is set forth here4 ,the free life of the desert1 far away from the oppressions of surrounding military despotisms1 that remarkable and antique constitution of the clan1 with all its beautiful loyalty1 had given this ,arab sheikh a far loftier conception of what a ruler of men was than he could have found exemplified at ,pharaoh's court2 or than1 alas6 has been common in many so-called ,christian countries4 ,the field upon which he intended that these great qualities should be exercised was a very limited one1 to manage the little affairs of a handful of fugitives in the desert4 ,but the scale on which we work has nothing to do with the principles by which we work1 and the laws of perspective and colouring are the same1 whether you paint the minutest miniature or a gigantic fresco4 ,so what was needed for managing the little concerns of ,moses' wanderers in the wilderness is the ideal of what is needed for the men who direct the public affairs of world-wide empires4 ,let me run over the details4 ,they must be 'able men1' or1 as the original has it1 'men of strength4' ,there is the intellectual basis1 and especially the basis of firm1 brave1 strongly-set will which will grasp convictions1 and1 whatever comes1 will follow them to their conclusions4 ,the statesman is not one that puts his ear down to the ground to hear the tramp of some advancing host1 and then makes up his mind to follow in their paths2 he is not sensitive to the varying winds of public opinion1 nor does he trim his sails to suit them1 but he comes to his convictions by first-hand approach to1 and meditation on1 the great principles that are to guide1 and then holds to them with a strength that nothing can weaken1 and a courage that nothing can daunt4 ',men of strength' is what democracies like ours do most need in their leaders2 a 'strong man1 in a blatant land1' who knows his own mind1 and is faithful to it for ever4 ,that is a great demand4 ',such as fear ,god'--there is the secret of strength1 not merely in reference to the intellectual powers which are not dependent for their origin1 though they may be for the health and vigour of their work1 upon any religious sentiment1 but in regard to all true power4 ,he that would govern others must first be lord of himself1 and he only is lord of himself who is consciously and habitually the servant of ,god4 ,so that whatever natural endowment we start with1 it must be heightened1 purified1 deepened1 enlarged1 by the presence in our lives of a deep and vital religious conviction4 ,that is true about all men1 leaders and led1 large and small4 ,that is the bottom-heat in the greenhouse1 as it were1 that will make riper and sweeter all the fruits which are the natural result of natural capacities4 ,that is the amulet and the charm which will keep a man from the temptations incident to his position and the weaknesses incident to his character4 ,the fear of ,god underlies the noblest lives4 ,that is not to-day's theory4 ,we are familiar with the fact1 and familiar with the doctrine formulated out of it1 that there may be men of strong and noble lives and great leaders in many a department of human activity without any reference to the ,unseen4 ,yes1 there may be1 but they are all fragments1 and the complete man comes only when the fear of the ,lord is guide1 leader1 impulse1 polestar1 regulator1 corrector1 and inspirer of all that he is and all that he does4 ',men of truth'--that1 of course1 glances at the crooked ways which belong not only to ,eastern statesmanship1 but it does more than that4 ,he that is to lead men must himself be led by an eager haste to follow after1 and to apprehend1 the very truth of things4 ,and there must be in him clear transparent willingness to render his utmost allegiance1 at any sacrifice1 to the dawning convictions that may grow upon him4 ,it is only fools that do not change4 ,freshness of enthusiasm1 and fidelity to new convictions opening upon a man1 to the end of his life1 are not the least important of the requirements in him who would persuade and guide individuals or a nation4 ',hating covetousness'2 or1 as it might be rendered1 'unjust gain4' ,that reference to the 'oiling of the palms' of ,eastern judges may be taken in a loftier signification4 ,if a man is to stand forth as the leader of a people1 he must be clear1 as old ,samuel said that he was1 from all suspicion of having been following out his career for any form of personal advantage4 ',clean hands1' and that not only from the vulgar filth of wealth1 but from the more subtle advantages which may accrue from a lofty position1 are demanded of the leader of men4 ,such is the ideal4 ,the requirements are stern and high1 and they exclude the vermin that infest 'politics1' as they are called1 and cause them to stink in many nostrils4 ,the self-seeking schemer1 the one-eyed partisan1 the cynic who disbelieves in ideals of any sort1 the charlatan who assumes virtues that he does not possess1 and mouths noble sentiments that go no deeper than his teeth1 are all shut out by them4 ,the doctrine that a man may do in his public capacity things which would be disgraceful in private life1 and yet retain his personal honour untarnished1 is blown to atoms by this ideal4 ,it is much to be regretted1 and in some senses to be censured1 that so many of our wisest1 best1 and most influential men stand apart from public life4 ,much of that is due to personal bias1 much more of it is due to the pressure of more congenial duties1 and not a little of it is due to the disregard of ,jethro's ideal1 and to the degradation of public life which has ensued thereby4 ,but there have been great men in our history whose lives have helped to lift up the ideal of a statesman1 who have made such a sketch as ,jethro outlined1 though they may not have used his words1 their polestar2 and amongst the highest of these has been the man whose loss we to-day lament4 ,let me try to vindicate that expression of opinion in a word or two4 ,i cannot hope to vie in literary grace1 or in completeness1 with the eulogies that have been abundantly poured out2 and ,i should not have thought it right to divert this hour of worship from its ordinary themes1 if ,i had had no more to say than has been far better said a thousand times in these last days4 ,but ,i cannot help noticing that1 though there has been a consensus of admiration of1 and a practically unanimous pointing to1 character as after all the secret of the spell which ,mr4 ,gladstone has exercised for two generations1 there has not been1 as it seems to me1 equal and due prominence given to what was1 and what he himself would have said was1 the real root of his character and the productive cause of his achievements4 ,and so ,i venture now to say a word or two about the religion of the man that to his own consciousness underlay all the rest of him4 ,it is not for me to speak1 and there is no need to speak1 about the marvellous natural endowments and the equally marvellous1 many-sided equipment of attainment which enriched the rich1 natural soil4 ,intermeddling as he did with all knowledge1 he must necessarily have been but an amateur in many of the subjects into which he rushed with such generous eagerness4 ,but none the less is the example of all but omnivorous acquisitiveness of everything that was to be known1 a protest1 very needful in these days1 against the possible evils of an excessive specialising which the very progress of knowledge in all departments seems to make inevitable4 ,i do not need to speak1 either1 of the flow1 and sometimes the torrent1 of eloquence ever at his command1 nor of the lithe and sinewy force of his extraordinarily nimble1 as well as massive1 mind2 nor need ,i say more than one word about the remarkable combination of qualities so generally held and seen to be incompatible1 which put into one personality a genius for dry arithmetical figures and a genius for enthusiasm and sympathy with all the oppressed4 ,all these things have been said far better than ,i can say them1 and ,i do not repeat them4 ,but ,i desire to hammer this one conviction into your hearts and my own1 that the inmost secret of that noble life1 of all that wealth of capacity1 all that load of learning1 which he bore lightly like a flower1 was the fact that the man was1 to the very depths of his nature1 a devout ,christian4 ,he would have been as capable1 as eloquent1 and all the rest of it1 if he had been an unbeliever4 ,but he would never have been nor done what he was and did1 and he would never have left the dint of an impressive and lofty personality upon a whole nation and a world1 if beneath the intellect there had not been character1 and beneath character ,christianity4 ,he was far removed1 in ecclesiastical connections1 from us ,nonconformists1 and he held opinions in regard to some very important ecclesiastical questions which cut straight across some of our deepest convictions4 ,we never had to look for much favour from his hands1 because his intellectual atmosphere removed him far from sympathy with many of the truths which are dearest to the members of the ,free ,evangelical ,churches4 ,but none the less we recognise in him a brother in ,jesus ,christ1 and rejoice that there1 on the high places of a careless and sceptical generation1 there stood a ,christian man4 ,in this connection ,i cannot but1 though ,i have no right to do so1 express how profoundly thankful ,i1 for one1 was to the present ,prime ,minister of ,england that in his brief eulogium on1 ,i was going to say1 his great rival1 he ended all by the emphatic declaration that ,mr4 ,gladstone was1 first and foremost1 a great ,christian man4 ,yes2 and there was the secret1 as ,i have already said1 not of his merely political eminence1 but of the universal reverence which a nation expresses to-day4 ,all detraction is silenced1 and all calumnies have dropped away1 as filth from the white wings of a swan as it soars1 and with one voice the ,empire and the world confess that he was a great and a good man4 ,i need not dwell in detail on the thoughts of how1 by reason of this deep underlying fear of ,god1 the other qualifications which are sketched in our ideal found their realisation in him2 how those who1 all through his career1 smiled most at the successive enthusiasms which monopolised his mind1 and sometimes at the contrasts between these1 are now ready to admit that1 whether the enthusiasms were right or wrong1 there is something noble in the spectacle of a man ever keeping his mind1 even when its windows were beginning to be dimmed by the frosts of age1 open to the beams of new truth4 ,and the greatest1 as some people think1 of his political blunders1 as we are beginning1 all of us1 to recognise1 now that party strife is hushed1 was the direct consequence of that ever fresh and youthful enthusiasm for new thoughts and new lines of action4 ,innovators aged eighty are not too numerous4 ,nor need ,i say more than one word about the other part of the ideal1 'hating covetousness4' ,the giver of peerages by the bushel died a commoner4 ,the man that had everything at his command made no money1 nor anything else1 out of his long years of office1 except the satisfaction of having been permitted to render what he believed to be the highest of service to the nation that he loved so well4 ,like our whilom neighbour1 the other great commoner1 ,john ,bright1 he lived among his own people2 and like ,samuel1 of whom ,i have already spoken1 he could stretch out his old hands and say1 ',they are clean4' ,one scarcely feels as if1 to such a life1 a ,state funeral in ,westminster ,abbey was congruous4 ,one had rather have seen him laid among the humble villagers who were his friends and companions1 and in the quiet churchyard which his steps had so often traversed4 ,but at all events the ideal was realised1 and we all know what it was4 ,might ,i say one word more8 ,as this great figure passes out of men's sight to nobler work1 be sure1 on widened horizons corresponding to his tutored and exercised powers1 does he leave no lessons behind for us8 ,he leaves one very plain1 homely one1 and that is1 ',work while it is called to-day4' ,no opulence of endowment tempted this man to indolence1 and no poverty of endowment will excuse us for sloth4 ,work is the law of our lives2 and the more highly we are gifted1 the more are we bound to serve4 ,he leaves us another lesson4 ,follow convictions as they open before you1 and never think that you have done growing1 or have reached your final stage4 ,he leaves another lesson4 ,do not suppose that the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ cannot satisfy the keenest intellect1 nor dominate the strongest will4 ,it has come to be a mark of narrowness and fossilhood to be a devout believer in ,christ and ,his ,cross4 ,some of you young men make an easy reputation for cleverness and advanced thought by the short and simple process of disbelieving what your mother taught you4 ,here is a man1 probably as great as you are1 with as keen an intellect1 and he clung to the ,cross of ,christ1 and had for his favourite hymn-- ',rock of ,ages1 cleft for me1 ,let me hide myself in ,thee4' ,he leaves another lesson4 ,if you desire to make your characters all that it is in them to be made1 you must1 like him1 go to ,jesus ,christ1 and get your teaching and your inspiration from that great ,lord4 ,we cannot all be great men4 ,never mind4 ,it is character that tells2 we can all be good men1 and we can all be ,christian men4 ,and whether we build cottages or palaces1 if we build on one foundation1 and only if we do1 they will stand4 ,moses leaves another lesson1 as he glides into the past4 ',this man1 having served his generation by the will of ,god1 fell on sleep1 and was gathered to his fathers1 and saw corruption'2 but ,he 'whom ,god hath raised up saw no corruption4' ,the lamps are quenched1 the sun shines4 ,moses dies1 ',the prophets1 do they live for ever8' but when ,moses and ,elias faded from the ,mount of ,transfiguration 'the apostles saw no man any more1 save ,jesus only1' and the voice said1 ',this is ,my beloved ,son2 hear ye ,him4' ,,the ,,decalogue3 ,i--,,man ,,and ,,god ',and ,god spake all these words1 saying1 #b4 ,i am the ,lord thy ,god1 which have brought thee out of the land of ,egypt1 out of the house of bondage4 #c4 ,thou shalt have no other gods before me4 #d4 ,thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image1 or any likeness of any thing that is in the heaven above1 or that is in the earth beneath1 or that is in the water under the earth3 #e4 ,thou shalt not bow down thyself to them1 nor serve them3 for ,i the ,lord thy ,god am a jealous ,god1 visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me2 #f4 ,and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me1 and keep my commandments4 #g4 ,thou shalt not take the name of the ,lord thy ,god in vain3 for the ,lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain4 #h4 ,remember the sabbath-day1 to keep it holy4 #i4 ,six days shalt thou labour1 and do all thy work3 #aj4 ,but the seventh day is the sabbath of the ,lord thy ,god3 in it thou shalt not do any work1 thou1 nor thy son1 nor thy daughter1 thy man-servant1 nor thy maid-servant1 nor thy cattle1 nor thy stranger that is within thy gates3 #aa4 ,for in six days the ,lord made heaven and earth1 the sea1 and all that in them is1 and rested the seventh day3 wherefore the ,lord blessed the sabbath-day1 and hallowed it4' --,,exodus xx4 #a-aa4 ,an obscure tribe of ,egyptian slaves plunges into the desert to hide from pursuit1 and emerges1 after forty years1 with a code gathered into 'ten words1' so brief1 so complete1 so intertwining morality and religion1 so free from local or national peculiarities1 so close fitting to fundamental duties1 that it is to-day1 after more than three thousand years1 authoritative in the most enlightened peoples4 ,the voice that spoke from ,sinai reverberates in all lands4 ,the ,old ,world had other lawgivers who professed to formulate their precepts by divine inspiration3 they are all fallen silent4 ,but this voice1 like the trumpet on that day1 waxes louder and louder as the years roll4 ,whose voice was it8 ,the only answer explaining the supreme purity of the commandments1 and their immortal freshness1 is found in the first sentence of this paragraph1 ',god spake all these words4' ,i4 ,we have first the revelation1 which precedes and lays the foundation for the commandments2 ',i am the ,lord thy ,god1 which have brought thee out of the land of ,egypt4' ,god speaks to the nation as a whole1 establishing a special relation between ,himself and them1 which is founded on ,his redeeming act1 and is reciprocal1 requiring that they should be ,his people1 as ,he is their ,god4 ,the manifestation in act of ,his power and of ,his love precedes the claim for reverence and obedience4 ,this is a universal truth4 ,god gives before ,he asks us to give4 ,he is not a hard taskmaster1 'gathering where ,he has not strawn4' ,even in that system which is eminently 'the law1' the foundation is a divine act of deliverance1 and only when ,he has won the people for ,himself by redeeming them from bondage does ,he call on them for obedience4 ,his rule is built on benefits4 ,he urges no mere right of the mightier1 nor cares for service which is not the glad answer of gratitude4 ,the flashing flames which ran as swift heralds before ,his descending chariot wheels1 the quaking mountain1 the long-drawn blasts of the trumpet1 awed the gathered crowd4 ,but the first articulate words made a tenderer appeal1 and sought to found ,his right to command on ,his love1 and their duty to obey on their gratitude4 ,the great gospel principle1 that the ,redeemer is the lawgiver1 and the redeemed are joyful subjects because their hearts are touched with love1 underlies the apparently sterner system of the ,old ,testament4 ,god opens ,his heart first1 and then asks for men's4 ,this prelude certainly confines the ,decalogue to the people of ,israel4 ,their deliverance is the ground on which the law is rested1 therefore1 plainly1 the obligation can be no wider than the benefit4 ,but though we are not bound to obey any of the ,ten ,commandments1 because they were given to ,israel1 they are all1 with one exception1 demonstrably1 a transcript of laws written on the heart of mankind2 and this fact carries with it a strong presumption that the law of the ,sabbath1 which is the exception referred to1 should be regarded as not an exception1 but as a statute of the primeval law1 witnessed to by conscience1 republished in wondrous precision and completeness in these venerable precepts4 ,the ,ten ,commandments are binding on us2 but they are not binding as part1 though the fundamental part1 of the ,jewish law4 ,two general observations may be made4 ,one is on the negative character of the commandments as a whole4 ,law prohibits because men are sinful4 ,but prohibitions pre-suppose as their foundation positive commands4 ,we are forbidden to do something because we are inclined to do it1 and because we ought to do the opposite4 ,every 'thou shalt not' implies a deeper 'thou shalt4' ,the cold negation really rests on the converse affirmative command4 ,the second remark on the law as a whole is as to the relation which it establishes between religion and morality1 making the latter a part of the former1 but regarding it as secured only by the prior discharge of the obligations of the former4 ,morality is the garb of religion2 religion is the animating principle of morality4 ,the attempts to build up a theory of ethics without reference to our relations to ,god1 or to secure the practice of righteousness without such reference1 or to substitute1 with a late champion of unbelief1 'the service of man' for the worship of ,god1 are all condemned by the deeper and simpler wisdom of this law4 ,christians should learn the lesson1 which the most ,jewish of the ,new ,testament writers had drawn from it1 that1 'pure and undefiled service' of ,god is the service of man1 and should beware of putting asunder what ,god has joined so closely4 ,,ii4 ,the first commandment bears in its negative form marks of the condition of the world when it was spoken1 and of the strong temptation to polytheism which the ,israelites were to resist4 ,everywhere but in that corner among the wild rocks of ,sinai1 men believed in 'gods many4' ,egypt swarmed with them2 and1 no doubt1 the purity of ,abraham's faith had been sadly tarnished in his sons4 ,we cannot understand the strange fascination of polytheism4 ,it is a disease of humanity in an earlier stage than ours4 ,but how strong it was and is1 all history shows4 ,all these many gods were on amicable terms with one another1 and ready to welcome newcomers4 ,but the monotheism1 which was here laid at the very foundation of ,israel's national life1 parted it by a deep gulf from all the world1 and determined its history4 ,the prohibition has little force for us2 but the positive command which underlies it is of eternal force4 ,we should rather think of it as a revelation and an invitation than as a mere command4 ,for what is it but the declaration that at the centre of things is throned1 not a rabble of godlings1 nor a stony impersonal somewhat1 nor a hypothetical unknowable entity1 nor a shadowy abstraction1 but a living ,person1 who can say ',me1' and whom we can call on as ',thou1' and be sure that ,he hears8 ,no accumulation of finite excellences1 however fair1 can satisfy the imagination1 which feels after one ,being1 the personal ideal of all perfectness4 ,the understanding needs one ultimate ,cause on which it can rest amid the dance of fleeting phenomena2 the heart cannot pour out its love to be shared among many4 ,no string of goodly pearls will ever give the merchantman assurance that his quest is complete4 ,only when human nature finds all in ,one1 and that ,one a living ,person1 the ,lover and ,friend of all souls1 does it fold its wings and rest as a bird after long flight4 ,the first commandment enjoins1 or rather blesses us by showing us that we may cherish1 supreme affection1 worship1 trust1 self-surrender1 aspiration1 towards one ,god4 ,after all1 our ,god is that which we think most precious1 for which we are ready to make the greatest sacrifices1 which draws our warmest love2 which1 lost1 would leave us desolate2 which1 possessed1 makes us blessed4 ,if we search our hearts with this 'candle of the ,lord1' we shall find many an idol set up in their dark corners1 and be startled to discover how much we need to bring ourselves to be judged and condemned by this commandment ,it is the foundation of all human duty4 ,obedience to it is the condition of peace and blessedness1 light and leading for mind1 heart1 will1 affections1 desires1 hopes1 fears1 and all the world within1 that longs for one living ,person even when it least knows the meaning of its longings and the reason of its unrest4 ,,iii4 ,the second commandment forbids all representations1 whether of the one ,god or of false deities4 ,the golden calf1 which was a symbol of ,jehovah1 is condemned equally with the fair forms that haunted the ,greek ,olympus1 or the half-bestial shapes of ,egyptian mythology4 ,the reasons for the prohibition may be considered as two1--the impossibility of setting forth the glory of the ,infinite ,spirit in any form1 and the certainty that the attempt will sink the worshipper deeper in the mire of sense4 ,an image degrades ,god and damages men4 ,by it religion reverses its nature1 and becomes another clog to keep the soul among the things seen1 and an ally of all fleshly inclinations4 ,we know how idolatry seemed to cast a spell over the ,israelites from ,egypt to ,babylon1 and how their first relapse into it took place almost before the voice which 'spake all these words' had ceased4 ,in its grosser form1 we have no temptation to it4 ,but there are other ways of breaking the commandment than setting up an image4 ,all sensuous worship in which the treacherous aid of art is called in to elevate the soul1 comes perilously near to contradicting its spirit1 if not its letter4 ,the attempt to make of the senses a ladder for the soul to climb to ,god by1 is a great deal more likely to end in the soul's going down the ladder than up it4 ,the history of public worship in the ,christian ,church teaches that the less it has to do with such slippery help the better4 ,there is a strong current running in ,england1 at all events1 in the direction of bringing in a more artistic1 or1 as it is called1 a 'less bare1' form of service4 ,we need to remember that the ,god who is a ,spirit is worshipped 'in spirit1' and that outward forms may easily choke1 and outward aids hinder1 that worship4 ,the especial difficulty of obedience to this commandment is marked by the reason or sanction annexed4 ,that opens a wide field1 on which it would be folly to venture here4 ,there is a glimpse of ,god's character1 and a statement of a law of ,his working4 ,he is a 'jealous' ,god1 ,we need not be afraid of the word4 ,it means nothing but what is congruous with the loftiest conception of a loving ,god4 ,it means that ,he allows of no rival in our hearts' affection1 or in our submission for love's sake to ,him4 ,a half trust in ,god is no trust4 ,how can worship be shared1 or love be parted out1 among a pantheon8 ,our poor hearts ask of one another and get from one another1 wherever a man and a woman truly love1 just what ,god asks1--',all in all1 or not at all4' ,his jealousy is but infinite love seeking to be known as such1 and asking for a whole heart4 ,the law of ,his providence sounds hard1 but it is nothing more than stating in plain words the course of the world's history1 which cannot be otherwise if there is to be any bond of human society at all4 ,we hear a great deal in modern language about solidarity 7and sometimes it is spelled with a final 'e1' to look more philosophical7 and heredity4 ,the teaching of this commandment is simply a statement of the same facts1 with the addition that the ,lawgiver is visible behind the law4 ,the consequences of conduct do not die with the doers4 ',the evil that men do1 lives after them4' ,the generations are so knit together1 and the full results of deeds are often so slow-growing1 that one generation sows and another reaps4 ,who sowed the seed that fruited in misery1 and was gathered in a bitter harvest of horrors and crimes in the ,french ,revolution8 ,who planted the tree under which the citizens of the ,united ,states sit8 ,did not the seedling go over in the ,mayflower8 ,as long as the generations of men are more closely connected than those of sheep or birds1 this solemn word must be true4 ,let us see that we sow no tares to poison our children when we are in our graves4 ,the saying had immediate application to the consequences of idolatry in the history of ,israel1 and was a forecast of their future4 ,but it is true evermore and everywhere4 ,,iv4 ,the third commandment must be so understood as to bring it into line with the two preceding1 as of equal breadth and equally fundamental4 ,it cannot1 therefore1 be confined to the use of the name of ,god in oaths1 whether false or trivial4 ,no doubt1 perjury and profane swearing are included in the sweep of the prohibition2 but it reaches far beyond them4 ,the name of ,god is the declaration of ,his being and character4 ,we take ,his name 'in vain' when we speak of ,him unworthily4 ,many a glib and formal prayer1 many a mechanical or self-glorifying sermon1 many an erudite controversy1 comes under the lash of this prohibition4 ,professions of devotion far more fervid than real1 confessions in which the conscience is not stricken1 orthodox teachings with no throb of life in them1 unconscious hypocrisies of worship1 and much besides1 are gibbeted here4 ,the most vain of all words are those which have become traditional stock in trade for religious people1 which once expressed deep convictions1 and are now a world too wide for the shrunk faith which wears them4 ,the positive side underlying the negative is the requirement that our speech of ,god shall fit our thought of ,god1 and our thought of ,him shall fit ,his ,name2 that our words shall mirror our affections1 and our affection be a true reflection of ,his beauty and sweetness2 that cleansed lips shall reverently utter the ,name above every name1 which1 after all speech1 must remain unspoken2 and that we shall feel it to be not the least wonderful or merciful of ,his condescensions that ,he 'is extolled with our tongues4' ,v4 ,the series of commandments referring to ,israel's relations with ,god is distinctly progressive from the first to the fourth1 which deals with the ,sabbath4 ,the fact that it appears here1 side by side with these absolutely universal and first principles of religion and worship1 clearly shows that the giver of the code regarded it as of equal comprehensiveness4 ,if we believe that the giver of the code was ,god1 we seem shut up to the conclusion that1 though the ,sabbath is a positive institution1 and in so far unlike the preceding commandments1 it is to be taken as not merely a temporary or ,jewish ordinance4 ,the ground on which it is rested here points to the same conclusion4 ,the version of the ,decalogue in ,deuteronomy bases it on the ,egyptian deliverance1 but this1 on the divine rest after creation4 ,as we have already said1 we do not regard the ,decalogue as binding on us because given to ,israel2 but we do regard it as containing laws universally binding1 which are written by ,god's finger1 not on tables of stone1 but on 'the fleshly tables of the heart4' ,all the others are admittedly of this nature4 ,is not the ,sabbath law likewise8 ,it is not1 indeed1 inscribed on the conscience1 but is the need for it not stamped on the physical nature8 ,the human organism requires the seventh-day rest1 whether men toil with hand or brain4 ,historically1 it is not true that the ,sabbath was founded by this legislation4 ,the traces of its observance in ,genesis are few and doubtful2 but we know from the inscriptions that the seventh1 fourteenth1 twenty-first1 and twenty-eighth days of the moon were set apart by the ,assyrians1 and scholars can supply other instances4 ,the ',remember' of this commandment can scarcely be urged as establishing this1 for it may quite as naturally be explained to mean ',remember1 as each successive seventh day comes round1 to consecrate it4' ,but apart from that1 the law written on body1 mind1 and soul says plainly to all men1 ',rest on the seventh day4' ,body and mind need repose2 the soul needs quiet communion with ,god4 ,no vigorous physical1 intellectual1 or religious life will long be kept up1 if that need be disregarded4 ,the week was meant to be given to work1 which is blessed and right if done after the pattern of ,god's4 ,the ,sabbath was meant to lift to a share in ,his rest1 to bring eternity into time1 to renew wasted strength 'by a wise passiveness1' and to draw hearts dissipated by contact with fleeting tasks back into the stillness where they can find themselves in fellowship with ,god4 ,we have not the ,jewish ,sabbath1 nor is it binding on us4 ,but as men we ought to rest1 and resting1 to worship1 on one day in the week4 ,the unwritten law of ,christianity1 moulding all outward forms by its own free spirit1 gradually1 and without premeditation1 slid from the seventh to the first day1 as it had clear right to do4 ,it was the day of ,christ's resurrection1 probably of ,his ascension1 and of ,pentecost4 ,it is 'the ,lord's ,day4' ,in observing it1 we unite both the reasons for the ,sabbath given in ,exodus and ,deuteronomy1--the completion of a higher creation in the resurrection rest of the ,son of ,god1 and the deliverance from a sorer bondage by a better ,moses4 ,the ,christian ,sunday and its religious observance are indispensable to the religious life of individuals and nations4 ,the day of rest is indispensable to their well-being4 ,our hard-working millions will bitterly rue their folly1 if they are tempted to cast it away on the plea of obtaining opportunities for intellectual culture and enjoyment4 ,it is ',the couch of time1 care's balm and bay1' and we shall be wise if we hold fast by it2 not because the ,jews were bid to hallow the seventh day1 but because we need it for repose1 and we need it for religion4 ,,the ,,decalogue3 ,,ii4--,,man ,,and ,,man ',honour thy father and thy mother2 that thy days may be long upon the land which the ,lord thy ,god giveth thee4 #ac4 ,thou shalt not kill4 #ad4 ,thou shalt not commit adultery4 #ae4 ,thou shalt not steal4 #af4 ,thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour4 #ag4 ,thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house1 thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife1 nor his man-servant1 nor his maid-servant1 nor his ox1 nor his ass1 nor any thing that is thy neighbour's4 #ah4 ,and all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings1 and the noise of the trumpet1 and the mountain smoking2 and1 when the people saw it1 they removed1 and stood afar off4 #ai4 ,and they said unto ,moses1 ,speak thou with us1 and we will hear3 but let not ,god speak with us1 lest we die4 #bj4 ,and ,moses said unto the people1 ,fear not3 for ,god is come to prove you1 and that ,his fear may be before your faces1 that ye sin not4 #ba4 ,and the people stood afar off3 and ,moses drew near unto the thick darkness where ,god was4' --,,exodus xx4 #ab-ba4 ,i4 ,the broad distinction between the two halves of the ,decalogue is that the former deals with man's relations to ,god1 and the latter with ,his relations to men4 ,this double division is recognised in the ,new ,testament summary of 'all the law1' as found in two commandments1 and is probably implied in the two tables on which it was inscribed4 ,commentators have been much exercised1 however1 about how to divide the commandments between these two parts4 ,the fifth1 which is the first in this division1 belongs in substance to the second half1 but its form connects it with the first table4 ,it is like the preceding ones in having a reason appended1 and in naming 'the ,lord thy ,god'2 while the following are all bare1 curt prohibitions4 ,the fact seems to be that it is a transition commandment1 and meant to cast special sacredness round the parental relationship1 by paralleling it1 in some sense1 with that to ,god1 of which it is a reflection4 ,other duties to other men stand on a different level from duties to parents4 ',honour1' which is to be theirs1 is not remote from the reverence due to ,god4 ,they are1 as it were1 ,his shadows to the child4 ,the fatherhood of ,god is dimly revealed in that parting off the commandment from the second table1 and assimilating it in form to the laws of the first4 ,,ii4 ,the connection of the two halves of the ,decalogue teaches some important truth4 ,josephus said a wise thing when he remarked that1 'whereas other legislators had made religion a department of virtue1 ,moses made virtue a department of religion4' ,no theory of morals is built upon the deepest foundation which does not recognise the final ground of the obligation of duty in the voice of ,god4 ,duty is debitum-debt4 ,who is the creditor8 ,myself8 ,an impersonal law8 ,society8 ,no1 ,god4 ,the practice of morality depends1 like its theory1 on religion4 ,in the long-run1 and on the wide scale1 nations and periods which have lost the latter will not long keep the former in any vigour or purity4 ,he who begins by erasing the first commandment will sooner or later make a clean sweep of all the ten4 ,and1 on the other hand1 wherever there is true worship of the one ,god1 there all fair charities between man and man will flourish and fruit4 ,the two tables are one law4 ,duties to ,god come first1 and those to man1 who is made in the image of ,god1 flow from these4 ,,iii4 ,the order of these human duties is significant4 ,we have1 next after the law of parental reverence1 three commandments1 which1 in a descending series of importance1 forbid crimes against life1 marriage1 and property4 ,then the law passes from deeds to the more subtle1 and1 as men think1 less grave1 offences of the tongue4 ,next it crosses the boundary which divides human from divine law1 and crimes from sins1 to take cognisance of unspoken and unacted desires4 ,so the order of progress in the first table is exactly the reverse of that in the second4 ,there we begin with inward devotion1 and travel outwards by deed and word to the sabbatical institution2 here we begin with overt acts1 and travel inwards1 through words1 to the hidden desire4 ,the end touches the beginning4 ,for that which we 'covet' is our ,god2 and the first commandment is only obeyed when our hearts hunger after ,him1 and not after earth4 ,the sequence here corresponds to the order of progress in our knowledge and practice of our human duties4 ,the first thing that the rudest state of society has to do is to establish some kind of security for life and property and woman's honour4 ,the worst men know that much as their duty1 however foul may be their lips1 and hot their passions4 ,then the recognition of the sanctity of the great gift of speech1 and the supreme obligations of veracity1 grow upon men as they get above the earlier stage4 ,most children pass through a phase when they tell lies as pastime1 and most rude societies and half-moralised men have a similar epoch4 ,last of all1 when actions have been bridled and the tongue taught the law of truth1 comes the full recognition that the work is not done till the silent longing of a hungry heart is stilled1 and that unselfish love of our neighbour is only perfect when we can rejoice in his good and wish none of it for ourselves4 ,the second table is a chart of moral progress4 ,,iv4 ,the scope of these laws has often been violently stretched so as to include all human duty2 but without tugging at them so as to make them cover everything1 we may note briefly how far they extend4 ,we are scarcely warranted in taking any of them but the last1 as going deeper than overt acts1 for1 though our ,lord has taught in the ,sermon on the ,mount that hatred is murder1 and impure desire adultery1 that is ,his deepening of the commandment4 ,but it is quite fair to bring out the positive precept which1 in each case1 underlies the stern1 short prohibition4 ,the fifth commandment shares with the fourth the distinction of being a positive command4 ,it enjoins 'honour1' not 'love1' partly because1 in olden times1 the father was a prince in his house in a sense that has long since ceased to be true1 partly because there was less need to enjoin the affection which is in some degree instinctive1 than the submission and respect which the children are tempted to withhold1 partly in order to suggest the analogy with reverence to ,god4 ,a strange change has passed over the relations of parents and children1 even within a generation4 ,there is more1 perhaps1 of frank familiar intercourse1 which1 no doubt1 is an improvement on the old style4 ,but there is a great deal less of what the commandment enjoins4 ,city life1 education1 the general impairing of the idea of authority1 which we see everywhere1 have told upon many families2 and many a father who1 by indulgence or by too much engrossment in business1 lets the children twitch the reins out of his hands1 might lament1 as his grown-up children spurn control1 ',if then ,i be a father1 where is mine honour8' ,there is no one of the commandments which it is more needful to preach in ,england than this4 ,the promise attached to it has another side of threatening4 ,it is a plain fact that when the paternal relation is corrupted1 a powerful solvent has been introduced which rapidly tends to disintegrate society4 ,the most ancient empire in the world today1 ,china1 has1 amid many vices and follies1 been preserved mainly by the profound reverence to ancestors which is largely its real working religion4 ,the most vigorous power in the old world1 ,rome1 owed its iron might not only to its early simplicity of life and its iron tenacity1 but to the strength of paternal authority and the willingness of filial obedience4 ,no more serious damage can be inflicted on society or on individuals than the weakening of the honour paid to fathers and mothers4 ',thou shalt not kill' forbids not only the act of murder1 but all that endangers life4 ,it enjoins all care1 diligence1 and effort to preserve it4 ,a man who looks on while another drowns1 or who sends a ship out half manned and overloaded1 breaks it as really as a red-handed murderer4 ,but the commandment was not intended to touch the questions of capital punishment or of war4 ,these were allowed under the ,jewish code1 and cannot therefore be supposed to be prohibited here4 ,how far either is consistent with the deepest meaning of the law1 as expanded and reconsecrated in ,christianity1 is another question4 ,their defenders have to execute some startling feats of gymnastics to harmonise either with the ,new ,testament4 ',curus kind o' ,christian dooty1 ,this 'ere cuttin' folks's throats4' ,the ground of the commandment is not given1 seeing that conscience is expected to admit its force as soon as stated4 ,but its place at the head of the second table brings it into connection with the first commandment1 and suggests that man's life is sacred because he is the image of ,god4 ,as ,christians1 we are bound to interpret it on the lines which ,christ has laid down2 according to which1 hatred is murder1 and love is the fulfilling of this as of all other laws4 ,so ,luther's comprehensive summing up of the duties enjoined may be accepted3 ',patience1 gentleness1 kindliness1 peaceableness1 pity1 and1 of all things1 a sweet1 friendly heart1 without any hate1 anger1 bitterness1 toward any1 even enemies4' ,in like manner1 the seventh commandment sanctifies wedded life1 and is the first step in that true reverence of woman which marked the ,jewish people through all their history1 and was in such contrast to her position in all other ancient societies4 ,purity in all the relations of the sexes1 the control of passion1 the reverence for marriage1 are subjects difficult to speak of in public4 ,but modern society sorely needs some plain speaking on these subjects--abundance of bread and idleness1 facilities for divorce1 the filth which newspapers lay down on every breakfast-table1 the insidious sensuality of much fiction and art1 the licence of the stage4 ,the opportunities for secret profligacy in great cities conspire to loosen the bonds of morality4 ,i would venture to ask public teachers seriously to consider their duty in this matter1 and to seek for opportunities wisely to warn budding youth of the pitfalls in its path4 ,what is 'stealing'8 ,as ,luther says1 ',it is the smallest part of the thieves that are hung4 ,if we are to hang them all1 where shall we get rope enough8 ,we must make all our belts and straps into halters4' ,theft is the taking or keeping what is not 'mine4' ,but what do we mean by 'mine'8 ,communists tell us that 'property is theft4' ,but that is the exaggeration of the scriptural teaching that all property is trust property1 that possessions are 'mine' on conditions and for purposes1 that ,i cannot 'do what ,i will with mine own1' but am a steward1 set to dispense it to those who want4 ,the ,christian doctrine of stewardship extends this commandment over much ground which we seldom think of as affected by it4 ,all sharp practice in business1 the shopkeeper's false weights and the merchant's equivalents of these1 adulterations1 pirating trademarks1 imitating a rival's goods1 infringing patents1 and the like1 however disguised by fine names1 are neither more nor less than stealing4 ,many a prosperous gentleman says solemnly every ,sunday of his life1 ',incline our hearts to keep this law1' who would have to live in a much more modest fashion if his prayer were1 by any unfortunate accident1 answered4 ,false witness is not only given in court4 ,the sins of the tongue against the law of love are more subtle and common than those of act4 ',come1 let us enjoy ourselves1 and abuse our neighbours1' is the real meaning of many an invitation to social intercourse4 ,if some fairy could treat our newspapers as the ,russian censors do1 and erase all the lies about the opposite side1 which they report and coin1 how many blank columns there would be6 ,if all the words of ill-natured calumny1 of uncharitable construction of their friends which people speak1 could be made inaudible1 what stretches of silence would open out in much animated talk6 ',a man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul1 and a sword1 and a sharp arrow4' ,but deed and word will not be right unless the heart be right2 and the heart will be wrong unless it be purged of the bitter black drop of covetousness4 ,the desire to make my neighbour's goods mine is the parent of all breaches of neighbourly duty1 even as its converse 'love' is the fulfilling of it all2 for such desire implies that ,i am ruled by selfishness1 and that ,i would willingly deprive another of goods1 for my own gratification4 ,such a temper1 like a wild boar among vineyards1 will trample down all the rich clusters in order to slake its own thirst4 ,find a man who yields to his desires after his neighbour's goods1 and you find a man who will break all commandments like a hornet in a spider's web4 ,be he a ,napoleon1 and glorified as a conqueror and hero1 or be he some poor thief in a jail1 he has let his covetousness get the upper hand1 and so all wrong-doing is possible4 ,nor is it only the second table which covetousness dashes to fragments4 ,it serves the first in the same fashion2 for1 as ,st4 ,paul puts it1 the covetous man 'is an idolater1' and is as incapable of loving ,god as of loving his neighbour4 ,this final commandment1 overleaping the boundary between conduct and character1 and carrying the light of duty into the dark places of the heart1 where deeds are fashioned1 sets the whole flock of bats and twilight-loving creatures in agitation4 ,it does what is the main work of the law1 in compelling us to search our hearts1 and in convincing of sin4 ,it is the converse of the thought that all the law is contained in love2 for it closes the list of sins with one which begets them all1 and points us away from actions and words which are its children to selfish desire as in itself the transgression of all the law1 whether it be that which prescribes our relations to ,god or that which enjoins our duties to man1 ,,the ,,feast ,,of ,,ingathering ,,in ,,the ,,end ,,of ,,the ,,year ',and the feast of harvest1 the first-fruits of thy labours1 which them hast sown ,in thy field3 and the feast of ingathering1 which is in the end of the year1 when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field4' --,,exodus xxiii4 #af4 ,the ,israelites seem to have had a double beginning of the year--one in spring1 one at the close of harvest2 or it may only be that here the year is regarded from the natural point of view--a farmer's year4 ,this feast was at the gathering in of the fruits1 which was the natural close of the agricultural year4 ,this festival of ingathering was the ,feast of ,tabernacles4 ,it is remarkable that the three great sacred festivals1 the ,passover1 ,pentecost1 ,tabernacles1 had all a reference to agriculture1 though two of them also received a reference to national deliverances4 ,this fact may show that they were in existence before ,moses1 and that he simply imposed a new meaning on them4 ,be that as it may1 ,i take these words now simply as a starting-point for some thoughts naturally suggested by the period at which we stand4 ,we have come to the end of another year--looked for so long1 passed so swiftly1 and now seeming to have so utterly departed6 ,i desire to recall to you and to myself the solemn real sense in which for us too the end of the year is a 'time of ingathering' and 'harvest4' ,we too begin the new year with the accumulated consequences of these past days in our 'barns and garners4' ,now1 in dealing with this thought1 let me put it in two or three forms4 ,i4 ,think of the past as still living in and shaping the present4 ,it is a mere illusion of sense that the past is gone utterly4 ',thou carriest them away1 as with a flood4' ,we speak of it as irrevocable1 unalterable1 that dreadful past4 ,it is solemnly true that 'ye shall no more return that way4' ,but there is a deeper truth in the converse thought that the apparently transient is permanent1 that nothing human ever dies1 that the past is present4 ',the grass withereth1 the flower fadeth1'--yes1 but only its petals drop1 and as they fall1 the fruit which they sheltered swells and matures4 ,the thought of the present as the harvest from the past brings out in vivid and picturesque form two solemn truths4 ,the first is the passing away of all the external1 but of it only4 ,it has all gone where the winter's cold1 the spring rains1 the summer's heats have gone4 ,but just as these live in the fruitful results that have accrued from them1 just as the glowing sunshine of the departed ardent summer is in the yellow1 bending wheat-ear or glows in the cluster1 so1 in a very solemn sense1 'that which hath been is now' in regard to every life4 ,the great law of continuity makes the present the inheritor of the past4 ,that law operates in national life1 in which national characteristics are largely precipitates1 so to speak1 from national history4 ,but it works even more energetically1 and with yet graver consequences1 in our individual lives4 ',the child is father of the man4' ,what we are depends largely on what we have been1 and what we have been powerfully acts in determining what we shall be4 ,life is a mystic chain1 not a heap of unconnected links4 ,and there is another very solemn way in which the past lives on in each of us4 ,for not only is our present self the direct descendant of our past selves1 but that past still subsists in that we are responsible for it1 and shall one day have to answer for it4 ,the writer of ,ecclesiastes followed the statement just now quoted as to the survival of the past1 with another1 which is impressive in its very vagueness3 ',god seeketh again that which is passed away4' ,so the undying past lives in its results in ourselves1 and in our being answerable for it to ,god4 ,this metaphor is insufficient in one respect4 ,there is not one epoch for sowing and another for reaping1 but the two processes are simultaneous1 and every moment is at once a harvest and a seed-time4 ,this fact masks the reality of the reaping here1 but it points on to the great harvest when ,god shall say1 ',gather the wheat into ,my barns6' ,,ii4 ,notice some specific forms of this reaping and ingathering4 7#a7 ,memory4 ,it is quite possible that in the future it may embrace all the life4 ',chambers of imagery4' 7#b7 ,habits and character4 ,like the deposit of a flood4 ',habitus' means clothing1 and cloth is woven from single threads4 7#c7 ,outward consequences1 position1 reputation1 etc4 ,,iii4 ,make a personal reference to ourselves4 ,what sort of harvest are we carrying over from this year8 ,lay this to heart as certain1 that we enter on no new year--or new day--empty-handed1 but always 'bearing our sheaves with us4' ',be not deceived6 ,god is not mocked4 ,whatsoever a man soweth1 that shall he also reap4' ,but remember1 that while this law remains1 there is also the law of forgiveness1 ',go in peace6' and there may be a new beginning1 ',sin no more6' ',,the ,,love ,,of ,,thine ,,espousals' ',and ,he said unto ,moses1 ,come up unto the ,lord1 thou1 and ,aaron1 ,nadab and ,abihu1 and seventy of the elders of ,israel2 and worship ye afar off4 #b4 ,and ,moses alone shall come near the ,lord2 but they shall not come nigh1 neither shall the people go up with him4 #c4 ,and ,moses came and told the people all the words of the ,lord1 and all the judgments3 and all the people answered with one voice1 and said1 ,all the words which the ,lord hath said will we do4 #d4 ,and ,moses wrote all the words of the ,lord1 and rose up early in the morning1 and builded an altar under the hill1 and twelve pillars1 according to the twelve tribes of ,israel4 #e4 ,and he sent young men of the children of ,israel1 which offered burnt-offerings1 and sacrificed peace-offerings of oxen unto the ,lord4 #f4 ,and ,moses took half of the blood1 and put it in basons2 and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar4 #g4 ,and he took the book of the covenant1 and read in the audience of the people3 and they said1 ,all that the ,lord hath said will we do1 and be obedient4 #h4 ,and ,moses took the blood1 and sprinkled it on the people1 and said1 ,behold the blood of the covenant1 which the ,lord hath made with you concerning all these words4 #i4 ,then went up ,moses and ,aaron1 ,nadab and ,abihu1 and seventy of the elders of ,israel2 #aj4 ,and they saw the ,god of ,israel3 and there was under ,his feet as it were a pared work of a sapphire-stone1 and as it were the body of heaven in ,his clearness4 #aa4 ,and upon the nobles of the children of ,israel ,he laid not ,his hand3 also they saw ,god1 and did eat and drink4 #ab4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,come up to ,me into the mount1 and be there3 and ,i will give thee tables of stone1 and a law1 and commandments which ,i have written2 that thou mayest teach them1'--,,exodus xxiv4 #a-ab4 ,an effort is needed to feel what a tremendous and unique fact is narrated in these words4 ,next to the incarnation1 it is the most wonderful and far-reaching moment in history4 ,it is the birthday of a nation1 which is ,god's son4 ,it is the foundation stone of all subsequent revelation4 ,its issues oppress that ancient people to-day1 and its promises are not yet exhausted4 ,it is history1 not legend1 nor the product of later national vanity4 ,whatever may come of analysing 'sources' and of discovering 'redactors1' ,israel held a relation to ,god all its own2 and that relation was constituted thus4 ,i4 ,note the preliminaries of the covenant4 ,the chapter begins with the command to ,moses to come up to the mount1 with ,aaron and other representatives of the people4 ,but he was already there when the command was given1 and a difficulty has been found 7or1 shall we say1 made7 out of this4 ,the explanation seems reasonable and plain enough1 that the long section extending from ,exodus xx4 #bb1 and containing the fundamental laws as spoken by ,god1 is closed by our verses #a and #b1 which imply1 in the very order to ,moses to come up with his companions1 that he must first go down to bring them4 ,god dismisses him as a king might end an audience with his minister1 by bidding him return with attendants4 ,the singular use of the third person in reference to ,moses in the third verse is not explained by supposing another writer2 for1 whoever wrote it1 it would be equally anomalous4 ,so he comes down from the stern cloud-encircled peak to that great plain where the encampment lay1 and all eyes watch his descent4 ,the people gather round him1 eager and curious4 ,he recounts 'all the judgments1' the series of laws1 which had been lodged in his mind by ,god1 and is answered by the many-voiced shout of too swiftly promised obedience4 ,glance over the preceding chapters1 and you will see how much was covered by 'all that the ,lord hath spoken4' ,remember that every lip which united in that lightly made vow drew its last breath in the wilderness1 because of disobedience1 and the burst of homage becomes a sad witness to human weakness and changefulness4 ,the glory of ,god flashed above them on the barren granite1 the awful voice had scarcely died into desert silence1 nerves still tingled with excitement1 and wills were bowed before ,jehovah1 manifestly so near4 ,for a moment1 the people were ennobled1 and obedience seemed easy4 ,they little knew what they were saying in that brief spasm of devotion4 ,it was high-water then1 but the tide soon turned1 and all the ooze and ugliness1 covered now1 lay bare and rotting4 ',better is it that thou shouldest not vow1 than that thou shouldest vow and not pay4' ,we may take the lesson to ourselves1 and see to it that emotion consolidates into strenuous persistency1 and does not die in the very excitement of the vow4 ,the pledge of obedience was needed before the ,covenant could be made1 and1 as we shall find1 was reiterated in the very centre of the ceremonial ratification4 ,for the present1 it warranted ,moses in preparing for the morrow's ritual4 ,his first step was to prepare a written copy of the laws to which the people had sworn4 ,here we come across an old1 silenced battery from which a heavy fire used to be directed against the historical accuracy of the ,pentateuch4 ,alphabetic writing was of a later date4 ,there could not have been a written code4 ,the statement was a mere attempt of a later age to claim antiquity for comparatively modern legislation4 ,it was no more historical than similar traditions in other countries1 ,sibylline books1 etc4 ,all that is out of court now4 ,perhaps some other guns will be spiked in due time1 that make a great noise just at present4 ,then comes the erection of a rude altar1 surrounded by twelve standing stones1 just as on the east of ,jordan we may yet see dolmens and menhirs4 ,the altar represents the divine presence2 and the encircling stones1 ,israel gathered around its ,god4 ,the group is a memorial and a witness to the people1--and a witness against them1 if disobedient4 ,thus two permanent records were prepared1 the book and the monument4 ,the one which seemed the more lasting has perished2 the more fragile has endured1 and will last to the world's end4 ,,ii4 ,note the rite of ratification of the covenant4 ,the ceremonial is complex and significant4 ,we need not stay on the mere picture1 impressive and1 to our eyes1 strange as it is1 but rather seek to bring out the meaning of these smoking offerings1 and that blood flung on the altar and on the crowd4 ,first came two sorts of sacrifices1 offered not by priests1 but by selected young men1 probably one for each tribe1 whose employment in sacrificial functions shows the priestly character of the whole nation1 according to the great words of ,exodus xix4 #f4 ,burnt-offerings and peace-offerings differed mainly in the use made of the sacrifice1 which was wholly consumed by fire in the former1 while it was in part eaten by the offerer in the latter4 ,the one symbolised entire consecration2 the other1 communion with ,god on the basis of sacrifice4 ,the sin-offering does not appear here1 as being of later origin1 and the product of the law1 which deepened the consciousness of transgression4 ,but these sacrifices1 at the threshold of the covenant1 receive an expiatory character by the use made of the blood1 and witness to the separation between ,god and man1 which renders amity and covenant friendship impossible1 without a sacrifice4 ,they must have yielded much blood4 ,it is divided into two parts1 corresponding to the two parties to the covenant1 like the cloven animals in ,abraham's covenant4 ,one half is 'sprinkled' on the altar1 or1 as the word means1 'swung1'--which suggests a larger quantity and a more vehement action than 'sprinkling' does4 ,that drenching of the altar with gore is either a piece of barbarism or a solemn symbol of the central fact of ,christianity no less than of ,judaism1 and a token that the only footing on which man can be received into fellowship with ,god is through the offering of a pure life1 instead of the sinner1 which1 accepted by ,god1 covers or expiates sin4 ,there can be no question that the idea of expiation is at the very foundation of the ,old ,testament ritual4 ,it is fashionable to regard the expiatory element of ,christianity as ',hebrew old clothes1' but the fact is the other way about4 ,it is not that ,christianity has not been able to rid itself of a rude and false conception1 but that ',judaism' had its sacrifices appointed by ,god1 in order to prepare the way for the true offering1 which takes away sin4 ,the expiation by blood having been thus made1 the hindrances to the nation's entering into covenant are removed4 ,therefore follows in logical order the next step1 their formal 7alas6 how purely formal it proved to be7 taking on themselves its obligations4 ,the freshly written 'book' is produced1 and read there1 to the silent people1 before the bloody altar1 beneath the peak of ,sinai4 ,again the chorus of assent from a thousand throats echoes among the rocks4 ,they accept the conditions4 ,they had done so last night2 but this is the actual contract on their part1 and its place in the whole order of the ceremony is significant4 ,it follows expiation1 without which man cannot enter into friendship with ,god1 without the acceptance of which man will not yield himself in obedience4 ,the vows which ,god approves are those of men whose sins are covered4 ,the final step was the sprinkling of the people with the blood4 ,the division of the blood into two portions signifies that it had an office in regard to each party to the covenant4 ,if it had been possible to pour it all on the altar1 and then all on the people1 that would have been done4 ,the separation into two portions was inevitable2 but in reality it is the same blood which1 sprinkled on the altar1 expiates1 and on the worshipper1 consecrates1 cleanses1 unites to ,god1 and brings into covenant with ,him4 ,hence ,moses accompanies the sprinkling of the people with the explanation1 ',this is the blood of the covenant1 which the ,lord hath made with you1 upon all these conditions' 7,rev4 ,ver4 margin74 ,it ratifies the compact on both sides4 ,god 'hath made' it1 in accepting the sprinkled blood2 they have made it1 in being sprinkled therewith4 ,but while the rite sets forth the great gospel truth of expiation1 the ,covenant moves within the region of law4 ,it is made 'on the basis of all these words1' and is voidable by disobedience4 ,it is the ,magna ,charta of the nation1 and its summing up is 'this do1 and thou shalt live4' ,its promises are mainly of outward guardianship and national blessings4 ,and these are suspended by it1 as they were in fact contingent1 on the national observance of the national vow4 ,the general idea of a covenant is that of a compact between two parties1 each of whom comes under obligations contingent on the other's discharge of his4 ,theologians have raised the question whether ,god's covenant is of this kind4 ,surely it is4 ,his promises to ,israel had an 'if1' and the fulfilment of the conditions necessarily secured the accomplishment of the promises4 ,the ritual of the first covenant transcends the strictly retributive compact which it ratified1 and shadows a gospel beyond law1 even the new covenant which brings better gifts1 and does not turn on 'do1' but simply on the sprinkling with the blood of ,jesus4 ,the words of ,moses were widened to carry a blessing beyond his thoughts1 which was disclosed when1 in an upper chamber1 a dying man said to the twelve representatives of the true ,israel1 ',this is the new covenant in ,my blood1 drink ye all of it4' ,the blood which ,moses sprinkled gave ritual cleansing1 but it remained outside the man4 ,the blood of ,jesus gives true purification1 and passes into our veins to become our life4 ,the covenant by ,moses was 'do and live'2 that in ,christ is 'believe and live4' ,moses brought commandments1 and on them his covenant was built2 ,christ brings gifts1 and ,his covenant is all promises1 which are ours on the simple condition of taking them4 ,,iii4 ,note the vision and feast on the basis of the covenant4 ,the little company that climbed the mountain1 venturing within the fence1 represented the whole people4 ,aaron and his sons were the destined priests4 ,the elders were probably seventy1 because that number is the product of the two perfect numbers1 and perhaps with allusion to the seventy souls who went down into ,egypt with ,jacob4 ,it is emphatically said that they saw 'the ,god of ,israel1' for that day's covenant had made him so in a new closeness of relationship4 ,in token of that new access to and possession in ,him1 which was henceforth to be the prerogative of the obedient people1 some manifestation of ,his immediate presence was poured on their astonished eyes4 ,it is needless to inquire its nature1 or to ask how such a statement is consistent with the spirituality of the divine nature1 or with what this same book of ,exodus says1 ',there shall no man see ,me1 and live4' ,the plain intention is to assert that there was a visible manifestation of the divine presence1 but no attempt is made to describe it4 ,our eyes are stayed at the pavement beneath ,his feet1 which was blue as sapphire1 and bright as the cloudless sky gleaming above ,sinai4 ,it is enough to learn that 'the secret of the ,lord is with them' to whom ,he shows ',his covenant'2 that1 by the power of sacrifice1 a true vision of ,god may be ours1 which is 'in a mirror1 darkly1' indeed1 but yet is real and all sufficing4 ,before the covenant was made1 ,israel had been warned to keep afar lest ,he should break through on them1 but now ',he laid not ,his hand' upon them2 for only blessing can stream from ,his presence now1 and ,his hand does not crush1 but uphold4 ,nor is this all which we learn of the intercourse with ,god which is possible on the ground of ,his covenant4 ,they 'did eat and drink4' ,that may suggest that the common enjoyments of the natural life are in no way inconsistent with the vision of ,god2 but more probably it is meant to teach a deeper lesson4 ,we have remarked that the ritual of the peace-offering included a feast on the sacrifice 'before the ,lord1' by which was signified communion with ,him1 as at ,his table1 and this meal has the same meaning4 ,they who stand in covenant relations with ,god1 feed and feast on a sacrifice1 and thereby hold fellowship with ,him1 since ,he too has accepted the sacrifice which nourishes them4 ,so that strange banquet on ,sinai taught a fact which is ever true1 prophesied the deepest joys of ,christian experience1 which are realised in the soul that eats the flesh and drinks the blood of ,christ1 the ,mediator of the new covenant1 and dimly shadowed the yet future festival1 when1 cleansed and consecrated by ,his blood1 they who have made a covenant with ,him by ,his sacrifice1 shall be gathered unto ,him in the heavenly mount1 where ,he makes a 'feast of fat things and wines on the lees well refined1' and there shall sit1 for ever beholding ,his glory1 and satisfied with the provisions of ,his house4 ,,the ,,bread ,,of ,,the ,,presence ',thou shalt set upon the table shew-bread before ,me alway4'--,,exodus xxv4 #cj4 ,i suspect that to many readers the term 'shew-bread' conveys little more meaning than if the ,hebrew words had been lifted over into our version4 ,the original expression1 literally rendered1 is 'bread of the face'2 or1 as the ,revised ,version has it in the margin1 'presence bread1' and the meaning of that singular designation is paraphrased and explained in my text3 ',thou shalt set upon the table1 bread of the presence before ,me always4' ,it was bread1 then1 which was laid in the presence of ,god4 ,the directions with regard to it may be very briefly stated4 ,every ,sabbath the priests laid upon the table which stood on one side of the ,altar of ,incense1 in the ,inner ,court1 two piles of loaves1 on each of which piles was placed a pan of incense4 ,they lay there for a week1 being replaced by fresh ones on the coming ,sabbath4 ,the ,altar of ,incense in the middle symbolised the thought that the priestly life1 which was the life of the nation1 and is the life of the ,christian both individually and collectively1 is to be centrally and essentially a life of prayer4 ,on one side of it stood the great golden lamp which1 in like manner1 declared that the activities of the priestly life1 which was the life of ,israel1 and is the life of the ,christian individually and collectively1 is to be1 in its manward aspect1 a light for the world4 ,on the other side of the ,altar of ,incense stood this table with its loaves4 ,what does it say about the life of the priest1 the ,church1 and the individual ,christian8 ,that is the question that ,i wish to try to answer here2 and in doing so let me first ask you to look at the thing itself1 and then to consider its connection with the other two articles in connection with which it made a threefold oneness4 ,i4 ,let me deal with this singular provision of the ancient ritual by itself alone4 ,bread is a product at once of ,god's gift and of man's work4 ,in the former aspect1 ,he 'leaves not ,himself without witness1 in that1' in the yearly miracle of the harvest1 ',he gives us bread from ,heaven1 and fruitful seasons1 filling our hearts with food and gladness'2 in the latter1 considered as a product of man's activity1 agriculture is1 if not the first1 at all events in settled communities the prime1 form of human industry4 ,the farmer and the baker begin the series of man's industries4 ,so that these loaves were fitly taken as representatives of all kinds of human industry and their products1 and as such were consecrated to ,god4 ,that is the broad significance of this institution1 which1 as we shall have to see1 links itself with the other two conceptions of the priestly life in its ,godward and in its manward aspect4 ,now the first thing that is suggested1 therefore1 is the plain obligation1 which is also a blessed privilege1 for all men who are priests of ,god by faith in1 and union with1 the great ,high ,priest1 that they lay all their activities as an offering before ,god4 ,the loaves in their very place on that table1 right in front of the veil that parted the ,inner ,court from the inmost of all1 where the ,shekinah shone1 and the ,cherubim bowed in worship1 tell us that in some sense they1 too1 were an offering1 and that the table was an altar4 ,their sacrificial character is emphasised by the fact that upon the top of each of the piles there was laid a pan of incense4 ,so1 then1 the whole was an offering of ,israel's activities and its results to ,god4 ,and we1 ,christian men and women1 have to make an offering of all our active life1 and all its products4 ,that thought opens up many considerations1 one or two of which ,i ask leave to touch briefly4 ,first1 then1 if my active life is to be an offering to ,god1 that means that ,i am to surrender myself4 ,and that surrender means three things3 first that in all my daily work ,i am to set ,him before me as my end2 second1 that in all my daily work ,i am to set ,him before me as my law2 third1 that in all my daily work ,i am to set ,him before me as my power4 ,as for the first1 whatever a man does for any motive other1 and with any end less1 than ,god and ,his ,glory1 that act1 beautiful as it may be in other respects1 loses its supreme beauty1 and falls short of perfect nobleness1 just in the measure in which other motives1 or other ends1 than this supreme one1 are permitted to dominate it4 ,i do not contend for such an impossible suppression of myself as that my own blessedness and the like shall be in no manner my end1 but ,i do maintain this1 that in good old language1 ',man's chief end is to glorify ,god1' and that anything which ,i do1 unless it is motived by this regard to ,him as its 'chief end1' loses its noblest consecration1 and is degraded from its loftiest beauty4 ,the ,altar sanctifies1 and not only sanctifies but ennobles1 the gift4 ,that which has in it the taint of self-regard so pronouncedly and dominantly as that ,god is shut out1 is like some vegetation down in low levels at the bottom of a vale1 which never has the sun to shine upon it4 ,but let it rise as some tree above the brushwood until its topmost branches are in the light1 and then it is glorified4 ,to live to self is ignoble and mean2 to live for others is higher and nobler4 ,but highest and noblest of all is to offer the loaves to ,god1 and to make ,him the end of all our activities4 ,again1 there is another consideration1 bearing on another region in which the assertive self is only too apt to spoil all work4 ,and that is1 that if our activities are offerings to ,god1 this means that ,his supreme ,will is to be our law1 and that we obey ,his commands and accept ,his appointments in quiet submission4 ,the tranquillity of heart1 the accumulation of power1 which come to men when they1 from the depths1 say1 ',not my will but ,thine be done'2 ',speak1 ,lord6 for ,thy servant heareth1' cannot be too highly stated4 ,there is no such charm to make life quiet and strong as the submission of the will to ,god's providences1 and the swift obedience of the will to ,god's commandments4 ,and whilst to make self my end mars what else is beautiful1 making self my law mars it even more4 ,further1 we offer our activities to ,god when we fall back upon ,him as our one power1 and say1 ',perfect ,thy strength in my weakness4' ,he that goes out into the world to do his daily work1 of whatsoever sort it is--you in your little sphere1 or ,i in mine--in dependence upon himself1 is sure to be defeated4 ,he that says 'we have no strength against this great multitude that cometh against us1 but our eyes are unto ,thee1' will1 sooner or later1 be able to go back with joy1 and say1 'the ,lord hath done great things for us1 whereof we are glad4' ,the man that goes into the fight like that foolish prime minister of ,france under the ,empire1 'with a light heart4' will very soon find his ,sedan1 and have shamefully to surrender4 ,brethren1 these three things1 making ,god the end of my work2 making ,god's will the law of my work2 making ,god's strength the power of my work2 these are the ways by which we1 too1 can bring our little pile of barley bread1 and lay it upon that table4 ,again1 this consecration of life's activities is to be carried out by treating their products1 as well as themselves1 as offerings to ,god4 ,the loaves were the results of human activity4 ,they were also the products of divine gifts elaborated by human effort4 ,and both things are true about all the bread that you and ,i have been able to make for the satisfaction of our desires1 or the sustenance of our strength--it comes ultimately from the gift of ,god4 ,in regard to this consecration of the product of our activities1 as well as of our activities themselves1 ,i have but two words to offer1 and the one is1 let us see to it that we consecrate our enjoyment of ,god's gifts by bringing that enjoyment1 as well as the activities which ,he has blessed to produce it1 into ,his presence4 ,that table bore the symbols of the grateful recognition of ,god's mercies by the people4 ,and when our hearts are glad1 and our 'bosom's lord sits lightly on his throne1' we have special need to take care that our joy be not godless1 nor our enjoyment of ,his gifts be without reference to ,himself4 ',ah1' you say1 'that is a threadbare commonplace4' ,yes1 it is1 dear friends2 it is a commonplace just because it is needful at every turn1 if we are to make our lives what they ought to be4 ,may ,i say another thing8 and that is1 that the loaves that were laid within the ,sanctuary were not intended to be separated from the others that were eaten in the tents1 nor were they meant to be a kind of purchasing of an indulgence1 or of a right1 by surrendering a little1 to the godless and selfish enjoyment of the rest of the batch1 or of the rest of the harvest4 ,let us apply that to our money1 which is one of the products of our activities2 and not fancy1 as a great many people do1 that what we give as a subscription to some benevolent or religious institution buys for us the right to spend all the rest selfishly4 ,that is another commonplace1 very threadbare and very feeble1 when we speak it1 but with claws and teeth in it that will lay hold of us1 when we try to put it in practice4 ,the enjoyments and the products of our daily activities are to be offered to ,god4 ,still further1 this table with its burden has suggestions that as ,christians we are bound to bring all our work to ,him for ,his judgment upon it4 ,the loaves were laid right in front of the veil1 behind which blazed the light of ,his presence4 ,and that meant that they were laid before 'those pure eyes and perfect judgment of all-judging' ,god4 ,whether we bring our activities there or no1 of course in a very real and solemn sense they are there4 ,but what ,i desire to insist upon now is how important1 for the nobleness and purity of our daily lives1 it is that we should be in the continual habit of realising to ourselves the thought that whatever we do1 we do before ,his ,face4 ,the ,roman ,catholics talk about 'the practice of the presence of ,god4' ,one does not like the phrase1 but all true religion will practise what is meant by it4 ,and for us it should be as joyous to think1 ',thou ,god seest me1' as it is for a child to play or work with a quiet heart1 because it knows that its mother is sitting somewhere not very far off and watching that no harm comes to it4 ,that thought of being in ,his presence would be for us a tonic1 and a test4 ,how it would pull us up in many a meanness1 and keep our feet from wandering into many forbidden ways1 if there came like a blaze of light into our hearts the thought3 ',thou ,god seest me6' ,there are many of our activities1 ,i am afraid1 which we should not like to put down on that table4 ,can you think of any in your lives that you would be rather ashamed to lay there1 and say to ,him1 ',judge ,thou this'8 ,then do not do it4 ,that is a brief1 but a very stringent1 easily applied1 and satisfactory test of a great many doubtful things4 ,if you cannot take them into the ,inner ,court1 and lay them down there1 and say1 ',look1 ,lord6 this is my baking1' be sure that they are made1 not of wholesome flour1 but of poisoned grain1 and that there is death in them4 ,further1 this table1 with its homely burden of twelve poor loaves1 may suggest to us how the simplest1 smallest1 most secular of our activities is a fit offering to ,him4 ,the loaves were not out of place amidst the sanctities of the spot1 nor did they seem to be incongruous with the golden altar and the golden lamp-stand1 and yet they were but twelve loaves4 ,the poorest of our works is fit to be carried within the shrine1 and laid upon ,his altar4 ,we may be sure that ,he delights even in the meanest and humblest of them1 if only we take them to ,him and say3 ',all things come of ,thee1 and of ,thine own have we given ,thee4' ,ah6 there are a great many strange things in ,christ's treasury4 ,mothers will hoard up trifles that belonged to their children1 which everybody else thinks worthless4 ,jesus ,christ has in ,his storehouse a 'cup of cold water1' the widows' mites1 and many another thing that the world counts of no value1 and ,he recognises as precious4 ,there is an old story about some great emperor making a progress through his dominions1 where he had been receiving precious gifts from cities and nobles1 and as the gay cortge was passing a poor cottage1 the peasant-owner came out with a coarse earthenware cup filled with spring water in his hand1 and offered it to his overlord as the only gift that he could give4 ,the king accepted it1 and ennobled him on the spot4 ,take your barley loaves to ,christ1 and ,he will lay them up in ,his storehouse4 ,,ii4 ,now ,i need only say a word or two about the other aspect of this table of shew-bread1 taken with the other two articles in conjunction with which it formed a unity4 ,the lamp and the table go together4 ,they are both offshoots from the altar in the middle4 ,that is to say1 your lives will not shine before men unless your activities are offered to ,god4 ,the smallest taint of making self your end1 your law1 or your strength1 mingling with your lives1 and manifest in their actions1 will dim the light which shines from them1 and men will be very quick to find out and say1 ',he calls himself a ,christian2 but he lives for himself4' ,neither the light1 which is the radiance of a ,christian life manwards1 can be sustained without the offering of the life in its depths to ,god1 nor can the activities of the life be acceptably offered to ,him1 unless the man that offers them 'lets his light shine before men4' ,the lamp and the table must go together4 ,the lamp and the table must together be offshoots from the altar4 ,if there be not in the centre of the life aspiration after ,him in the depths of the heart1 communion with ,him in the silent places of the soul1 then there will be little brightness in the life to ray out amongst men1 and there will be little consecration of the activities to be laid before ,god4 ,the reason why the manifold bustle and busy-ness of the ,christian ,church today sows so much and reaps so little1 lies mainly here1 that they have forgotten to a large extent how the altar in the centre must give the oil for the lamp to shine1 and the grain to be made into the loaves4 ,and1 on the other hand1 the altar in the middle needs both its flanking accompaniments4 ,for the ,christian life is to be no life of cloistered devotion and heavenward aspiration only or mainly1 but is to manifest its still devotion and its heavenward aspiration by the consecration of its activities to ,god1 and the raying of them out into a darkened world4 ,the service of man is the service of ,god1 for lamp and table are offshoots of the altar4 ,but the service of ,god is the basis of the best service of man1 for the altar stands between the lamp and the table4 ,so1 brethren1 let us blend these three aspects into a unity1 the ,altar1 the ,lamp1 the ,table1 and so shall we minister aright1 and men will call us the 'priests of the ,most ,high ,god1' till we pass within the veil where1 better than the best of us here can do1 we shall be able to unite still communion and active service1 and shine as the sun in the ,kingdom of our ,father4 ',his servants shall serve ,him' with priestly ministrations1 'and shall see ,his face1 and ,his name shall be in their foreheads4' ,,the ,,golden ,,lampstand ',thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold4444' --,,exodus xxv4 #ca4 ,if we could have followed the ,jewish priest as he passed in his daily ministrations into the ,inner ,court1 we should have seen that he first piled the incense on the altar which stood in its centre1 and then turned to trim the lamps of the golden candlestick which flanked it on one side4 ,of course it was not a candlestick1 as our versions misleadingly render the word4 ,that was an article of furniture unknown in those days4 ,it was a lampstand2 from a central upright stem branched off on either side three arms decorated with what the ,book calls 'beaten work1' and what we in modern jewellers' technicality call rpouss work1 each of which bore on its top1 like a flower on its stalk1 a shallow cup filled with oil1 in which a wick floated4 ,there were thus seven lamps in all1 including that on the central stem4 ,the material was costly1 the work adorning it was artistic1 the oil with which it was fed was carefully prepared1 the number of its lamps expressed perfection1 it was daily trimmed by the priest1 and there1 all through the night1 it burned1 the one spot of light in a dark desert4 ,now1 this ,inner ,court of the ,tabernacle or ,temple was intended1 with its furniture1 to be symbolical of the life of ,israel1 the priestly nation4 ,the ,altar of ,incense1 which was the main article of ecclesiastical equipment there1 and stood in the central place1 represented the life of ,israel in its ,godward aspect1 as being a life of continual devotion4 ,the ,candlestick on the one hand1 and the ,table of ,shew-bread on the other1 were likewise symbolical of other aspects of that same life4 ,i have to deal now with the meaning and lessons of this golden lampstand1 and it teaches us-- ,i4 ,the office manwards of the ,church and of the individual ,christian4 ,let me just for a moment recall the various instances in which this symbol reappears in ,scripture4 ,we have1 in the vision of the prophet who sustained and animated the spirits of ,israel in their ,restoration1 the repetition of the emblem1 in the great golden candlestick which ,zechariah saw1 fed by two 'olive trees1' one on either side of it2 and in the last book of ,scripture we have that most significant and lovely variation of it1 the reappearance1 not of the one golden candlestick or lampstand1 but of seven4 ,the formal unity is at an end1 but the seven constitute a better1 more vital unity1 because ,christ is in the midst4 ,we may learn the lesson that the ,christian conception of the oneness of the ,church towers above the ,jewish conception of the oneness of ,israel by all the difference that there is between a mere mechanical1 external unity1 and a vital oneness--because all are partakers of the one ,christ4 ,i may recall1 also1 how our ,lord1 in that great programme of the ,kingdom which ,matthew has gathered together in what we call 'the ,sermon on the ,mount1' immediately after the ,beatitudes1 goes on to speak of the office of ,his people under the two metaphors of 'the salt of the earth' and 'the light of the world1' and immediately connects with the latter of the two a reference to a lamp lit and set upon its stand2 and clinches the whole by the exhortation1 ',let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works1 and glorify your ,father which is in ,heaven4' ,a remarkable and beautiful variation of that exhortation is found in one of the ,apostolic writings when ,paul1 instead of saying1 ',ye are the light of the world1' says1 ',shine as lights in the world1' and so gives us the individual1 as well as the collective and ecclesiastical1 aspect of these great functions4 ,that is a hint that is very much needed4 ,christian people are quite willing to admit that the ,church1 the abstraction1 the generalisation1 is 'the light of the world4' ,but they are wofully apt to slip their own necks out from under the yoke of the obligation1 and to forget that the collective light is only the product of the millions of individual lights rushing together--just as in some gas-lights you have a whole series of minute punctures1 each of which gives out its own little jet of radiance1 and all run together into one brilliant circle4 ,so do not let us escape the personal pressure of this office1 or lay it all on the broad shoulders of that generalised abstraction 'the ,church4' ,but1 since the collective light is but the product of the individual small shinings1 let us take the two lessons3 first1 contribute our part to the general lustre2 second1 be content with having our part lost in the general light4 ,but now let me turn for a little while to the more specific meaning of this symbol4 ,the life which1 by the central position of the ,altar of ,incense1 was symbolised as being centrally1 essentially in its depths and primarily1 a life of habitual devotion and communion with ,god1 in its manward aspect is a life that shines 'to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of ,god in the face of ,jesus ,christ4' ,that is the solemn obligation1 the ideal function1 of the ,christian ,church and of each individual who professes to belong to it4 ,now1 if you recur to our ,lord's own application of this metaphor1 to which ,i have already referred1 you will see that the first and foremost way by which ,christian communities and individuals discharge this function is by conduct4 ',let your light so shine before men'--that they may hear your eloquent proclamation of the ,gospel8 ,no6 ',let your light so shine before men'--that you may convince the gainsayers by argument1 or move the hard-hearted by appeals and exhortations2 that you may preach and talk8 ,no6 ',that they may see your good works1 and glorify your ,father which is in ,heaven4' ,we may say of the ,christian community1 and of the ,christian individual1 with all reverence1 what the ,scripture in an infinitely deeper and more sacred sense says of ,jesus ,christ ,himself1 'the life was the light4' ,it is conduct1 whereby most effectually1 most universally1 and with the least risk of rousing antagonism and hostile feelings1 ,christian people may 'shine as lights in the world4' ,for we all know how the inconsistencies of a ,christian man block the path of the ,gospel far more than a hundred sermons or talks further it4 ,we all know how there are people1 plenty of them1 who1 however illogically yet most naturally1 compare our lives in their daily action with oar professed beliefs1 and1 saying to themselves1 ',i do not see that there is much difference between them and me1' draw the conclusion that it matters very little whether a man is a ,christian or not1 seeing that the conduct of the men who profess to be so is little more radiant1 bright with purity and knowledge and joy1 than is the conduct of others4 ,dear brethren1 you can do far more to help or hinder the spread of ,christ's ,kingdom by the way in which you do common things1 side by side with men who are not partakers of the 'like precious faith' with yourselves1 than ,i or my fellow-preachers can do by all our words4 ,it is all very well to lecture about the efficiency of a machine2 let us see it at work1 and that will convince people4 ,we preach2 but you preach far more eloquently1 and far more effectively1 by your lives4 ',in all labour1' says the ,book of ,proverbs1 'there is profit'--which we may divert from its original meaning to signify that in all ,christian living there is force to attract--'but the talk of the lips tendeth only to poverty4' ,oh6 if the ,christian men and women of ,england would live their ,christianity1 they would do more to convert the unconverted1 and to draw in the outcasts1 than all of us preachers can do4 ',from you1' said the ,apostle once to a church very young1 and just rescued from the evils of heathenism--'from you sounded out1' as if blown from a trumpet1 'the ,word of the ,lord1 so that we need not to speak anything4' ,live the life1 and thereby you diffuse the light4 ,nor need we forget that this most potent of all weapons is one that can be wielded by all ,christian people4 ,our gifts differ4 ,some of us cannot speak for ,jesus2 some of us who think we can had often better hold our tongues4 ,but we can all live like and for ,him4 ,and this most potent and universally diffused possibility is also the weapon that can be wielded with least risk of failure4 ,there is a certain assumption1 which it is often difficult to swallow1 in a ,christian man's addressing another on the understanding that he1 the speaker1 possesses something which the other lacks4 ,by words we may often repel1 and often find that the ears that we seek to enter with our message close themselves against us and are unwilling to hear4 ,but there is no chance of offending anybody1 or of repelling anybody1 by living ,christlike4 ,we can all do that1 and it is the largest contribution that any of us can make to the collective light which shines out from the ,christian ,church4 ,but1 brethren1 we have to remember that there are dangers attending the life that reveals its hidden principles as being faith in ,christ and obedience to ,him4 ,did you ever notice how1 in the ,sermon on the ,mount1 there are two sets of precepts which seem diametrically opposite to one another8 ,there is a whole series of illustrations of the one commandment1 ',take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men1 to be seen of them1' and then there ,is the precept1 ',let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works4' ,so that whilst1 on the one hand1 there is to be the manifestation in daily conduct of the inner principles that animate us1 on the other hand1 if there comes in the least taint or trace of ostentation1 everything is spoiled1 and the light is darkness4 ,the light of the sun makes all things visible and hides itself4 ,we do not see the sunbeams1 but we see what the sunbeams illuminate4 ,it is the coarser kinds of light which are themselves separately visible1 and they are so only because they have not power enough to make everything around them as brilliant as they themselves are4 ,so our light is to be silent1 our light is--if ,i might use such a phrase--to hide itself in 'a glorious privacy1' whilst it enables men to see1 even through our imperfect ministration1 the face of our ,father in ,heaven4 ,but let me remind you that the same variation by ,paul of our ,lord's words to which ,i have already referred as bringing out the difference between the collective and the individual function1 also brings out another difference2 for ,paul says1 ',ye shine as lights in the world1 holding forth the word of life4' ,he slightly varies the metaphor4 ,we are no longer regarded as being ourselves illuminants1 but simply as being the stands on which the light is placed4 ,and that means that whilst the witness by life is the mightiest1 the most universally possible1 and the least likely to offend1 there must also be1 as occasion shall serve1 without cowardice1 without shamefaced reticence1 the proclamation of the great ,gospel which has made us 'lights in the world4' ,and that is a function which every ,christian man can discharge too1 though ,i have just been saying that they cannot all preach and speak2 for every ,christian soul has some other soul to whom its word comes with a force that none other can have4 ,so the one office that is set forth here is the old familiar one1 the obligation of which is fully recognised by us all1 and pitifully ill-discharged by any of us1 to shine by our daily life1 and to shine by the actual communication by speech of 'the ,name that is above every name4' ,that is the ideal2 alas for the reality6 ',ye are the light of the world4' ,what kind of light do we--the ,church of ,christ that gathers here--ray out into the darkness of ,manchester8 ,socially1 intellectually1 morally1 in the civic life1 in the national life1 are ,christian people in the van8 ,they ought to be4 ,there is a church clock in our city which has a glass dial that professes to be illuminated at night1 so that the passer-by may tell the hour2 but it is generally burning so dimly that nobody can see on its grimy face what o'clock it is4 ,that is like a great many of our churches1 and ,i ask you to ask yourselves whether it is like you or not--a dark lantern1 a most imperfectly illuminated dial1 which gives no guidance and no information to anybody4 ,this golden lampstand teaches us-- ,,ii4 ,how this office is to be discharged4 ,remember simply these two points4 ,it stood1 as ,i have already said1 on one side of the ,altar of ,incense which was central to everything4 ,it was daily tended by the priests1 and fed with fresh oil4 ,hence we may derive some important practical lessons4 ,to begin with1 we note that our light is a derived light1 and therefore can only be kept bright when we keep close to the source from whence it is derived4 ',that was the true ,light1 which coming into the world lighteth every man'--there is the source of all illumination1 in ,jesus ,christ ,himself4 ,he alone is the ,light1 and as for all others we must say of them what was said of ,his great forerunner1 ',not that light1 but sent to bear witness of that light'2 and again1 'he was a light kindled1' and therefore 'shining1' and so his shining was but 'for a season4' ,but ,jesus is for ever the light of the world1 and all our illumination comes from ,him4 ,as ,paul says1 ',now are ye light in the ,lord1' therefore only in the measure in which we are 'in the ,lord1' shall we be light4 ,keep near to ,him and you will shine2 break the connection with ,him1 and you are darkness1 darkness for yourselves1 and darkness for the world4 ,switch off1 and the light is darkness4 ,change the metaphor1 and instead of saying 'derived light' say 'reflected light4' ,there is a pane of glass in a cottage1 miles away across the moor4 ,it was invisible a moment ago1 and suddenly it gleams like a diamond4 ,why8 ,the sun has struck it2 and in a moment after it will be invisible again4 ,as long as ,jesus ,christ is shining on my heart1 so long1 and not a moment longer1 shall ,i give forth the light that will illumine the world4 ,astronomers have a contrivance by which they can keep a photographic film on which they are seeking to get the image of a star1 moving along with the movement of the heavens1 so that on the same spot the star shall always shine4 ,we have to keep ourselves steady beneath the white beam from ,jesus1 and then we1 too1 shall be 'light in the ,lord4' ,our light is fed light4 ,daily came the priest1 daily the oil that had been exhausted by shining was replenished4 ,we all know what that oil means and is2 the ,divine ,spirit which comes into every heart which is open by faith in ,christ1 and which abides in every heart where there are desire1 obedience1 and the following of ,him2 which can be quenched by my sin1 by my negligence1 by my ceasing to wish it1 by my not using its gifts when ,i have them2 which can be grieved by my inconsistencies1 and by the spots of darkness that so often take up more of the sphere of my life than the spots of illumination4 ,but we can have as much of that oil of the ,divine ,spirit1 the 'unction from the ,holy ,one1' as we desire1 and expect1 and use4 ,and unless we have1 dear brethren1 there is no shining for us4 ,this generation in its abundant activities tends to a ,christianity which has more spindles than power1 which is more surface than depth1 which is so anxious to do service that it forgets the preliminary of all right service1 patient1 solitary1 silent communion with ,god4 ,suffer the word of exhortation--let shining be second1 let replenishing with the oil be first4 ,first the ,altar of ,incense1 then the ,candlestick4 ,,iii4 ,this golden lampstand tells us of the fatal effect of neglecting the ,church's and the individual's duty4 ,where is the seven-branched candlestick of the second ,temple8 ,no one knows4 ,possibly1 according to one statement1 it lies at the bottom of the ,mediterranean4 ,certainly we know that it is pictured on that sad panel in the conqueror's arch at ,rome1 and that it became a trophy of the insolent victor4 ,it disappeared1 and the ,israel whom it vainly endeavoured through the centuries to stir to a consciousness of its vocation1 has never since had a gleam of light to ray out into the world4 ,where are the seven candlesticks1 which made a blessed unity because ,christ walked in their midst8 ,where are the churches of ,ephesus1 ,smyrna1 ,philadelphia1 ,thyatira1 and the rest8 ,where they stood the mosque is reared1 and from its minaret day by day rings out--not the proclamation of the ,name1 but--',there is no ,god but ,god1 and ,mahomet is ,his ,prophet4' ,the ,pharos that ought to have shone out over stormy seas has been seized by wreckers1 and its light is blinded1 and false lights lure the mariner to the shoals and to shipwreck4 ',take heed lest ,he also spare not thee4' ,o brethren6 is it not a bitter irony to call us 'lights of the world'8 ,let us penitently recognise the inconsistencies of our lives1 and the reticence of our speech4 ,let us not lose sight of the high ideal1 that we may the more penitently recognise the miserable falling short of our reality4 ,and let us be thankful that the ,priest is tending the lamps4 ',he will not quench the smoking wick1' but will replenish it with oil1 and fan the dying flame4 ,only let us not resist ,his ministrations1 which are always gentle1 even when ,he removes the charred blacknesses that hinder our being what we should be1 and may be1 if we will--lights of the world4 ',arise6 shine1 for thy light is come1 and the glory of the ,lord is risen upon thee4' ,,the ,,names ,,on ,,aaron',s ,,breastplate ,aaron shall bear their names before the ,lord1 upon his two shoulders1 for a memorial4444 ,and ,aaron shall bear the names of the ,children of ,israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart1 when he goeth in unto the ,holy ,place4'--,,exodus xxviii4 #ab1bi4 ,every part of the elaborately prescribed dress of the high priest was significant4 ,but the significance of the whole was concentrated in the inscription upon his mitre1 ',holiness to the ,lord1' and in those others upon his breastplate and his shoulder4 ,the breastplate was composed of folded cloth1 in which were lodged twelve precious stones1 in four rows of three1 each stone containing the name of one of the tribes4 ,it was held in position by the ephod1 which consisted of another piece of cloth1 with a back and front part1 which were united into one on the shoulders4 ,on each shoulder it was clasped by an onyx stone bearing the names of six of the tribes4 ,thus twice1 on the shoulders1 the seat of power1 and on the heart1 the organ of thought and of love1 ,aaron1 entering into the presence of the ,most ,high1 bore 'the names of the tribes for a memorial continually4' ,now1 ,i think we shall not be indulging in the very dangerous amusement of unduly spiritualising the externalities of that old law if we see here1 in these two things1 some very important lessons4 ,i4 ,the first one that ,i would suggest to you is--here we have the expression of the great truth of representation of the people by the priest4 ,the names of the tribes laid upon ,aaron's heart and on his shoulders indicated the significance of his office--that he represented ,israel before ,god1 as truly as he represented ,god to ,israel4 ,for the moment the personality of the official was altogether melted away and absorbed in the sanctity of his function1 and he stood before ,god as the individualised nation4 ,aaron was ,israel1 and ,israel was ,aaron1 for the purposes of worship4 ,and that was indicated by the fact that here1 on the shoulders from which1 according to an obvious symbol1 all acts of power emanate1 and on the heart from which1 according to most natural metaphor1 all the outgoings of the personal life proceed1 were written the names of the tribes4 ,that meant1 ',this man standing here is the ,israel of ,god1 the concentrated nation4' ,the same thought works the other way4 ,the nation is the diffused priest1 and all its individual components are consecrated to ,god4 ,all this was external ceremonial1 with no real spiritual fact at the back of it4 ,but it pointed onwards to something that is not ceremonial4 ,it pointed to this1 that the true priest must1 in like manner1 gather up into himself1 and in a very profound sense be1 the people for whom he is the priest2 and that they1 in their turn1 by the action of their own minds and hearts and wills1 must consent to and recognise that representative relation1 which comes to the solemn height of identification in ,christ's relation to ,his people4 ',i am the ,vine1 ye are the branches1' says ,he1 and also1 ',that they all may be one in us as ,thou1 ,father1 art in ,me1 and ,i in ,thee4' ,so ,paul says1 ',i live1 yet not ,i1 but ,christ liveth in me4' ',the life which ,i live in the flesh1 ,i live by the faith of the ,son of ,god1' ,so ,christ gathers us all1 if we will let ,him1 into ,himself2 and our lives may be hid with ,him--in a fashion that is more than mere external and formal representation1 or as people have a member of ,parliament to represent them in the councils of the nation--even in a true union with ,him in whom is the life of all of us1 if we live in any real sense4 ,aaron bore the names of the tribes on shoulder and heart1 and ,israel was ,aaron1 and ,aaron was ,israel4 ,,ii4 ,further1 we see here1 in these eloquent symbols1 the true significance of intercession4 ,now1 that is a word and a thought which has been wofully limited and made shallow and superficial by the unfortunate confining of the expression1 in our ordinary language1 to a mere action by speech4 ,intercession is supposed to be verbal asking for some good to be bestowed on1 or some evil to be averted from1 some one in whom we are interested4 ,but the ,old ,testament notion of the priest's intercession1 and the ,new ,testament use of the word which we so render1 go far beyond any verbal utterances1 and reach to the very heart of things4 ,intercession1 in the true sense of the word1 means the doing of any act whatsoever before ,god for ,his people by ,jesus ,christ4 ,whensoever1 as in the presence of ,god1 ,he brings to ,god anything which is ,his1 that is intercession4 ,he undertakes for them1 not by words only1 though ,his mighty word is1 ',i will that they whom ,thou hast given ,me be with ,me where ,i am1' but by acts which are more than even the words of the ,incarnate ,word4 ,if we take these two inscriptions upon which ,i am now commenting1 we shall get1 ,i think1 what covers the whole ground of the intercession on which ,christians are to repose their souls4 ,for1 with regard to the one of them1 we read that the high priest's breastplate was named 'the breastplate of judgment'2 and what that means is explained by the last words of the verse following that from which my text is taken3 ',aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of ,israel upon his heart before the ,lord4' ,judgment means a judicial sentence2 in this case a judicial sentence of acquittal4 ,and that ,aaron stood before ,god in the ,holy ,place1 ministering with this breastplate upon his heart1 is explained by the writer of these regulations to mean that he carried there the visible manifestation of ,israel's acquittal1 based upon his own sacrificial function4 ,now1 put that into plain ,english1 and it is just this--,jesus ,christ's sacrifice ensures1 for all those whose names are written on these gems on ,his heart1 their acquittal in the judgment of ,heaven4 ,or1 in other words1 the first step in the intercession of our great ,high ,priest is the presenting before ,god for ever and ever that great fact that ,he1 the ,sinless1 has died for the love of sinful men1 and thereby has secured that the judgment of ,heaven on them shall now be 'no condemnation4' ,brethren1 there is the root of all our hope in ,christ1 and of all that ,christ is to individuals and to society--the assurance that the breastplate of judgment is on ,his heart1 as a sign that all who trust ,him are acquitted by the tribunal of ,heaven4 ,the other side of this great continual act of intercession is set forth by the other symbol--the names written on the shoulders1 the seat of power4 ,there is a beautiful parallel1 which yet at first sight does not seem to be one1 to the thought that lies here1 in the ,book of the ,prophet ,isaiah1 where1 addressing the restored and perfected ,israel1 he says1 speaking in the person of ,jehovah3 ',i have graven thee upon the palms of ,my hands4' ,that has precisely the same meaning that ,i take to be conveyed by this symbol in the text4 ,the names of the tribes are written on ,his shoulders2 and not until that arm is wearied or palsied1 not till that strong hand forgets its cunning1 will our defence fail4 ,if our names are thus written on the seat of power1 that means that all the divine authority and omnipotence which ,jesus ,christ1 the ,eternal ,son of the ,father1 wields in ,his state of royal glory1 are exercised on behalf of1 or at all events on the side of1 those whose names ,he thus bears upon ,his shoulders4 ,that is the guarantee for each of us that our hands shall be made strong1 according to the ancient prophetic blessing1 'by the hands of the mighty ,god of ,jacob4' ,just as a father or a mother will take their child's little tremulous hand in theirs and hold it1 that it may be strengthened for some small task beyond its unbacked1 uninvigorated power2 so ,jesus ,christ will give us strength within1 and also will order the march of ,his ,providence and send the gift of ,his ,spirit1 for the succour and the strengthening of all whose names are written on ,his ephod4 ,he has gone within the veil4 ,he has left us heavy tasks1 but our names are on ,his shoulders1 and we 'can do all things in ,christ who strengthened us4' ,,iii4 ,still further1 this symbol suggests to us the depth and reality of ,christ's sympathy4 ,the heart is1 in our language1 the seat of love4 ,it is not so in the ,old ,testament4 ,affection is generally allocated to another part of the frame2 but here the heart stands for the organ of care1 of thought1 of interest4 ,for1 according to the ,old ,testament view of the relation between man's body and man's soul1 the very seat and centre of the individual life is in the heart4 ,i suppose that was because it was known that1 somehow or other1 the blood came thence4 ,be that as it may1 the thought is clear throughout all the ,old ,testament that the heart is the man1 and the man is the heart4 ,and so1 if ,jesus bears our names upon ,his heart1 that does not express merely representation nor merely intercession1 but it expresses also personal regard1 individualising knowledge4 ,for ,aaron wore not one great jewel with ',israel' written on it1 but twelve little ones1 with ',dan1' ',benjamin1' and ',ephraim1' and all the rest of them1 each on his own gem4 ,so we can say1 ',such a ,high ,priest became us1 who could have compassion upon the ignorant1 and upon them that are out of the way'2 and we can fall back on that old-fashioned but inexhaustible source of consolation and strength3 ',in all their affliction ,he was afflicted'2 and though the noise of the tempests which toss us can scarcely be supposed to penetrate into the veiled place where ,he dwells on high1 yet we may be sure--and take all the peace and consolation and encouragement out of it that it is meant to give us--that 'we have not a ,high ,priest that cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities1' but that ,himself1 having known miseries1 'is able to succour them that are tempted4' ,our names are on ,christ's heart4 ,,iv4 ,then1 lastly1 we have here a suggestion of how precious to ,aaron ,israel is4 ,jewels were chosen to symbolise the tribes4 ,bits of tin1 potsherds1 or anything else that one could have scratched letters upon1 would have done quite as well4 ,but 'the precious things of the everlasting mountains' were chosen to bear the dear names4 ',the ,lord's portion is ,his people'2 and precious in the eyes of ,christ are the souls for whom ,he has given so much4 ,they are not only precious1 but lustrous1 flashing back the light in various colours indeed1 according to their various laws of crystallisation1 but all receptive of it and all reflective of it4 ,i said that the names on the breastplate of judgment expressed the acquittal and acceptance of ,israel4 ,but does ,christ's work for us stop with simple acquittal8 ,oh no6 ',whom ,he justified them ,he also glorified1' ,and if our souls are 'bound in the bundle of life1' and our names are written on the heart of the ,christ1 be sure that mere forgiveness and acquittal is the least of the blessings which ,he intends to give1 and that ,he will not be satisfied until in all our nature we receive and flash back the light of ,his own glory4 ,it is very significant in this aspect that the names of the twelve tribes are described as being written on the precious stones which make the walls of the ,new ,jerusalem4 ,thus borne on ,christ's heart whilst ,he is within the veil and we are in the outer courts1 we may hope to be carried by ,his sustaining and perfecting hand into the glories1 and be made participant of the glories4 ,let us see to it that we write ,his name on our hearts1 on their cares1 their thought1 their love1 and on our hands1 on their toiling and their possessing2 and then1 ,god helping us1 and ,christ dwelling in us1 we shall come to the blessed state of those who serve ,him1 and bear ,his name flaming conspicuous for ever on their foreheads4 ,,three ,,inscriptions ,,with ,,one ,,meaning ',thou shalt make a plate of pure gold1 and grave upon it 444 ,,holiness ,,to ,,the ,,lord4'--,,exodus xxviii4 #cf4 ',in that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses1 ,,holiness ,,unto ,,the ,,lord4'--,,zech4 xiv4 #bj4 ',his name shall be in their foreheads4'--,,rev4 xxii4 #d4 ,you will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely separated texts together4 ,they all speak of inscriptions1 and they are all obviously connected with each other4 ,the first of them comes from the ancient times of the institution of the ceremonial ritual1 and describes a part of the high priest's official dress4 ,in his mitre was a thin plate of gold on which was written1 ',holiness to the ,lord4' ,the second of them comes from almost the last portion recorded of the history of ,israel in the ,old ,testament1 and is from the words of the great ,prophet of the ,restoration--his ideal presentation of the ,messianic period1 in which he recognises as one feature1 that the inscription on the mitre of the high priest shall be written on 'the bells of the horses4' ,and the last of them is from the closing vision of the celestial kingdom1 the heavenly and perfected form of the ,christian ,church4 ,john1 probably remembering the high priest and his mitre1 with its inscription upon the forehead1 says3 ',his servants shall do ,him priestly service'--for that is the meaning of the word inadequately translated 'serve ,him'--'and see ,his face1 and ,his name shall be in their foreheads4' ,these three things1 then--the high priest's mitre1 the horses' bells1 the foreheads of the perfected saints--present three aspects of the ,christian thought of holiness4 ,take them one by one4 ,i4 ,the high priest's mitre4 ,the high priest was the official representative of the nation4 ,he stood before ,god as the embodied and personified ,israel4 ,for the purposes of worship ,israel was the high priest1 and the high priest was ,israel4 ,and so1 on his forehead1 not to distinguish him from the rest of the people1 but to include all the people in his consecration1 shone a golden plate with the motto1 ',holiness to the ,lord4' ,so1 at the very beginning of ,jewish ritual there stands a protest against all notions that make 'saint' the designation of any abnormal or exceptional sanctity1 and confine the name to the members of any selected aristocracy of devoutness and goodness4 ,all ,christian men1 ex officio1 by the very fact of their ,christianity1 are saints1 in the true sense of the word4 ,and the representative of the whole of ,israel stood there before ,god1 with this inscription blazing on his forehead1 as a witness that1 whatsoever holiness may be1 it belongs to every member of the true ,israel4 ,and what is it8 ,it is a very unfortunate thing--indicating superficiality of thought--that the modern popular notion of 'holiness' identifies it with purity1 righteousness1 moral perfection4 ,now that idea is in it1 but is not the whole of it4 ,for1 not to spend time upon mere remarks on words1 the meaning of the word thus rendered is in ,hebrew1 as well as in ,greek and in our own ,english1 one and the same4 ,the root-meaning is 'separated1' 'set apart1' and the word expresses primarily1 not moral character1 but relation to ,god4 ,that makes all the difference2 and it incalculably deepens the conception1 as well as puts us on the right track for understanding the only possible means by which there can ever be realised that moral perfection and excellence which has unfortunately monopolised the meaning of the word in most people's minds4 ,the first thought is 'set apart to ,god4' ,that is holiness1 in its root and germ4 ,and how can we be set apart for ,god8 ,you may devote a dead thing for certain uses easily enough4 ,how can a man be separated and laid aside8 ,well1 there is only one way1 brethren1 and that is by self-surrender4 ',yield yourselves to ,god' is but the other side1 or1 rather1 the practical shape1 of the ,old and the ,new ,testament doctrine of holiness4 ,a man becomes ,god's when he says1 ',lord1 take me and mould me1 and fill me and cleanse me1 and do with me what ,thou wilt4' ,in that self-surrender1 which is the tap-root of all holiness1 the first and foremost thing to be offered is that most obstinate of all1 the will that is in us4 ,and when we yield our wills in submission both to commandments and providences1 both to gifts and to withdrawals1 both to gains and to losses1 both to joys and to sorrows1 then we begin to write upon our foreheads ',holiness to the ,lord4' ,and when we go on to yield our hearts to ,him1 by enshrining ,him sole and sovereign in their innermost chamber1 and turning to ,him the whole current of our lives and desires1 and hopes and confidences1 which we are so apt to allow to run to waste and be sucked up in the desert sands of the world1 then we write more of that inscription4 ,and when we fill our minds with joyful submission to ,his truth1 and occupy our thoughts with ,his mighty ,name and ,his great revelation1 and carry ,him with us in the hidden corners of our consciousness1 even whilst we are busy about daily work1 then we add further letters to it4 ,and when the submissive will1 and the devoted heart1 and the occupied thoughts are fully expressed in daily life and its various external duties1 then the writing is complete4 ',holiness to the ,lord' is self-surrender of will and heart and mind and everything4 ,and that surrender is of the very essence of ,christianity4 ,what is a saint8 ,some man or woman that has practised unheard-of austerities8 ,somebody that has lived an isolated and self-regarding life in convent or monastery or desert8 ,no6 a man or woman in the world who1 moved by the mercies of ,god1 yields self to ,god as 'a living sacrifice4' ,so the ,new ,testament writers never hesitate to speak even of such very imperfect ,christians as were found in abundance in churches like ,corinth and ,galatia as being all 'saints1' every man of them4 ,that is not because the writers were minimising their defects1 or idealising their persons1 but because1 if they are ,christians at all1 they are saints2 seeing that no man is a ,christian who has not been drawn by ,christ's great sacrifice for him to yield himself a sacrifice for ,christ4 ,of course that intrusive idea which has1 in popular apprehension1 so swallowed up the notion of holiness--viz4 that of perfection of moral character or conduct--is included in this other1 or rather is developed from it4 ,for the true way to conquer self is to surrender self2 and the more entire our giving up of ourselves1 the more certainly shall we receive ourselves back again from ,his hands4 ',by the mercies of ,god1 ,i beseech you1 yield yourselves living sacrifices4' ,,ii4 ,i come to my next text--the horses' bells4 ,zechariah has a vision of the ideal ,messianic times1 and1 of course1 as must necessarily be the case1 his picture is painted with colours laid upon his palette by his experience1 and he depicts that distant future in the guise suggested to him by what he saw around him4 ,so we have to disentangle from his words the sentiment which he expresses1 and to recognise the symbolic way in which he puts it4 ,his thought is this1--the inscription on the high priest's mitre will be written on the bells which ornament the harness of the horses1 which in ,israel were never used as with us1 but only either for war or for pomp and display1 and the use of which was always regarded with a certain kind of doubt and suspicion4 ,even these shall be consecrated in that far-off day4 ,and then he goes on with variations on the same air1 ',in that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses1 ,holiness unto the ,lord1' and adds that 'the pots in the ,lord's house'--the humble vessels that were used for the most ordinary parts of the ,temple services--'shall be like the bowls before the altar1' into which the sacred blood of the offerings was poured4 ,the most external and secular thing bearing upon religion shall be as sacred as the sacredest4 ,but that is not all4 ',yea6 every pot in ,jerusalem and in ,judah shall be holiness unto the ,lord of hosts1 and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them1' and put their offerings therein4 ,that is to say1 the coarse pottery vessels that were in every poverty-stricken house in the city shall be elevated to the rank of the sacred vessels of the ,temple4 ,domestic life with all its secularities shall be hallowed4 ,the kitchens of ,jerusalem shall be as truly places of worship as is the inner shrine of the ,most ,high4 ,on the whole1 the prophet's teaching is that1 in the ideal state of man upon earth1 there will be an entire abolition of the distinction between 'sacred' and 'secular'2 a distinction that has wrought infinite mischief in the world1 and in the lives of ,christian people4 ,let me translate these words of our prophet into ,english equivalents4 ,every cup and tumbler in a poor man's kitchen may be as sacred as the communion chalice that passes from lip to lip with the 'blood of ,jesus ,christ' in it4 ,every common piece of service that we do1 down among the vulgarities and the secularities and the meannesses of daily life1 may be lifted up to stand upon precisely the same level as the sacredest office that we undertake4 ,the bells of the horses may jingle to the same tune as the trumpets of the priests sounded within the shrine1 and on all1 great and small1 may be written1 ',holiness to the ,lord4' ,but let us remember that that universally diffused sanctity will need to have a centre of diffusion1 else there will be no diffusion1 and that all life will become sacred when the man that lives it has ',holiness to the ,lord' written on his forehead1 and not else4 ,if that be the inscription on the driver's heart1 the horses that he drives will have it written on their bells1 but they will not have it unless it be4 ,holy men make all things holy4 ',to the pure all things are pure1' but unto them that are unclean and disobedient there is nothing pure4 ,hallow thyself1 and all things are clean unto thee4 ,,iii4 ,and so ,i come to my third text--the perfected saints' foreheads4 ,the connection between the first and the last of these texts is as plain and close as between the first and the second4 ,for ,john in his closing vision gives emphasis to the priestly idea as designating in its deepest relations the redeemed and perfected ,christian ,church4 ,therefore he says1 as ,i have already explained1 ',his servants shall do ,him priestly service1 and ,his name shall be in their foreheads4' ,the old official dress of the high priest comes into his mind1 and he paints the future1 just as ,zechariah did1 under the forms of the past1 and sees before the throne the perfected saints1 each man of them with that inscription clear and conspicuous4 ,but there is an advance in his words which ,i think it is not fanciful to note4 ,it is only the name that is written in the perfected saint's forehead4 ,not the ',holiness unto the ,lord1' but just the bare name4 ,what does that mean8 ,well1 it means the same as your writing your name in one of your books does1 or as when a man puts his initials on the back of his oxen1 or as the old practice of branding the master's mark upon the slave did4 ,it means absolute ownership4 ,but it means something more4 ,the name is the manifested personality1 the revealed ,god1 or1 as we say in an abstract way1 the character of ,god4 ,that ,name is to be in the foreheads of ,his perfected people4 ,how does it come to be there8 ,read also the clause before the text--',his servants shall see ,his face1 and ,his name shall be in their foreheads4' ,that is to say1 the perfected condition is not reached by surrender only1 but by assimilation2 and that assimilation comes by contemplation4 ,the faces that are turned to ,him1 and behold ,him1 are smitten with the light and shine1 and those that look upon them see 'as it had been the face of an angel1' as the ,sanhedrim saw that of ,stephen1 when he beheld the ,son of ,man 'standing at the right hand of ,god4' ,my last text is but a picturesque way of saying what the writer of it says in plain words when he declares1 ',we shall be like ,him1 for we shall see ,him as ,he is4' ,the name is to be 'in their foreheads1' where every eye can see it4 ,alas6 alas6 it is so hard for us to live out our best selves1 and to show to the world what is in us4 ,cowardice1 sheepishness1 and a hundred other reasons prevent it4 ,in this poor imperfect state no emotion ever takes shape and visibility without losing more or less of its beauty4 ,but yonder the obstructions to self-manifestation will be done away2 and 'when ,he shall be manifested1 we also shall be manifested with ,him in glory4' ',then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in ,my heavenly ,father's ,kingdom4' ,but the beginning of it all is ',holiness to the ,lord' written on our hearts2 and the end of that is the vision which is impossible without holiness1 and which leads on to the beholder's perfect likeness to his ,lord4 ,,the ,,altar ,,of ,,incense ',thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon4' --,,exodus xxx4 #a4 ,ceremonies are embodied thoughts4 ,religious ceremonies are moulded by1 and seek to express1 the worshipper's conception of his ,god1 and his own relation to ,him2 his aspirations and his need4 ,of late years scholars have been busy studying the religions of the more backward races1 and explaining rude and repulsive rites by pointing to the often profound and sometimes beautiful ideas underlying them4 ,when that process is applied to ,australian and ,fijian savages1 it is honoured as a new and important study2 when we apply it to the ,mosaic ,ritual it is pooh-poohed as 'foolish spiritualising4' ,now1 no doubt1 there has been a great deal of nonsense talked in regard to this matter1 and a great deal of ingenuity wasted in giving a ,christian meaning--or1 may ,i say1 a ,christian twist8--to every pin of the ,tabernacle1 and every detail of the ritual4 ,of course1 to exaggerate a truth is the surest way to discredit a truth1 but the truth remains true all the same1 and underneath that elaborate legislation1 which makes such wearisome and profitless reading for the most of us1 in the ,pentateuch1 there lie1 if we can only grasp them1 great thoughts and lessons that we shall all be the better for pondering4 ,to one item of these1 this altar of incense1 ,i call attention now1 because it is rich in suggestions1 and leads us into very sacred regions of the ,christian life which are by no means so familiar to many of us as they ought to be4 ,let me just for one moment state the facts with which ,i wish to deal4 ,the ,jewish ,tabernacle1 and subsequently the ,temple1 were arranged in three compartments3 the outermost court1 which was accessible to all the people2 the second1 which was trodden by the priests alone2 and the third1 where the ,shechinah dwelt in solitude1 broken only once a year by the foot of the ,high ,priest4 ,that second court we are concerned with now4 ,there are three pieces of ecclesiastical furniture in it3 an altar in the centre1 flanked on either side by a great lampstand1 and a table on which were piled loaves4 ,it is to that central piece of furniture that ,i ask your attention now1 and to the thoughts that underlie it1 and the lessons that it teaches4 ,i4 ,this altar shows us what prayer is4 ,suppose we had been in that court when in the morning or in the evening the priest came with the glowing pan of coals from another altar in the outer court1 and laid it on this altar1 and heaped upon it the sticks of incense1 we should have seen the curling1 fragrant wreaths ascending till 'the ,house was filled with smoke1' as a prophet once saw it4 ,we should not have wanted any interpreter to tell us what that meant4 ,what could that rising cloud of sweet odours signify but the ascent of the soul towards ,god8 ,put that into more abstract words1 and it is just the old1 hackneyed commonplace which ,i seek to try to freshen a little now1 that incense is the symbol of prayer4 ,that that is so is plain enough1 not only from the natural propriety of the case1 but because you find the identification distinctly stated in several places in ,scripture1 of which ,i quote but two instances4 ,in one psalm we read1 ',let my prayer come before ,thee as incense4' ,in the ,book of the ,apocalypse we read of 'golden bowls full of odours1 which are the prayers of saints4' ,and that the symbolism was understood by1 and modified the practice of1 the nation1 we are taught when we read that whilst ,zechariah the priest was within the court offering incense1 as it was his lot to do1 'the whole multitude of the people were without praying1' doing that which the priest within the court symbolised by his offering4 ,so then we come to this1 dear friends1 that we fearfully misunderstand and limit the nobleness and the essential character of prayer when1 as we are always tempted to do by our inherent self-regard1 we make petition its main feature and form4 ,of course1 so long as we are what we shall always be in this world1 needy and sinful creatures2 and so long as we are what we shall ever be in all worlds1 creatures absolutely dependent for life and everything on the will and energy of ,god1 petition must necessarily be a very large part of prayer4 ,but the more we grow into ,his likeness1 and the more we understand the large privileges and the glorious possibilities which lie in prayer1 the more will the relative proportions of its component parts be changed1 and petition will become less1 and aspiration will become more4 ,the essence of prayer1 the noblest form of it1 is thus typified by the cloud of sweet odours that went up before ,god4 ,in all true prayer there must be the lowest prostration in reverence before the ,infinite ,majesty4 ,but the noblest prayer is that which lifts 'them that are bowed down' rather than that which prostrates men before an inaccessible ,deity4 ,and so1 whilst we lie low at ,his feet1 that may be the prayer of a mere theist1 but when our hearts go out towards ,him1 and we are drawn to ,himself1 that is the prayer that befits ,christian aspiration2 the ascent of the soul toward ,god is the true essence of prayer4 ,as one of the non-,christian philosophers--seekers after ,god1 if ever there were such1 and who1 ,i doubt not1 found ,him whom they sought--has put it1 'the flight of the lonely soul to the only ,god'2 that is prayer4 ,is that my prayer8 ,we come to ,him many a time burdened with some very real sorrow1 or weighted with some pressing responsibility1 and we should not be true to ourselves1 or to ,him1 if our prayer did not take the shape of petition4 ,but1 as we pray1 the blessing of the transformation of its character should be realised by us1 and that which began with the cry for help and deliverance should always be1 and it always will be1 if the cry for help and deliverance has been of the right sort1 sublimed into ',thy face1 ,lord1 will ,i seek4' ,the ,book of ,ecclesiastes describes death as the 'return of the spirit to ,god who gave it4' ,that is the true description of prayer1 a going back to the fountain's source4 ,flames aspire2 to the place 'whence the rivers came thither they return again4' ,the homing pigeon or the migrating bird goes straight through many degrees of latitude1 and across all sorts of weather1 to the place whence it came4 ,ah6 brethren1 let us ask ourselves if our spirits thus aspire and soar4 ,do we know what it is to be1 if ,i might so say1 like those captive balloons that are ever yearning upwards1 and stretching to the loftiest point permitted them by the cord that tethers them to earth8 ,now another thought that this altar of incense may teach us is that the prayer that soars must be kindled4 ,there is no fragrance in a stick of incense lying there4 ,no wreaths of ascending smoke come from it4 ,it has to be kindled before its sweet odour can be set free and ascend4 ,that is why so much of our prayer is of no delight to ,god1 and of no benefit to us1 because it is not on fire with the flame of a heart kindled into love and thankfulness by the great sacrifice of ,jesus ,christ4 ,the cold vapours lie like a winding-sheet down in the valleys until the sun smites them1 warms them1 and draws them up4 ,and our desires will hover in the low levels1 and be dank and damp1 until they are drawn up to the heights by the warmth of the ,sun of righteousness4 ,oh6 brethren1 the formality and the coldness1 to say nothing of the inconsecutiveness and the interruptedness by rambling thoughts that we all know in our petitions1 in our aspirations1 are only to be cured in one way3-- ',come6 shed abroad a ,saviour's love1 ,and that will kindle ours4' ,it is the stretched string that gives out musical notes2 the slack one is dumb4 ,and if we desire that we may be able to be sure1 as our ,master was1 when ,he said1 ',i know that ,thou hearest me always1' we must pray as ,he did1 of whom it is recorded that ',he prayed the more earnestly1' and 'was heard in that ,he feared4' ,the word rendered 'the more earnestly' carries in it a metaphor drawn from that very fact that ,i have referred to4 ,it means 'with the more stretched-out extension and intensity4' ,if our prayers are to be heard as music in heaven1 they must come from a stretched string4 ,once more1 this altar of incense teaches us that kindled prayer delights ,god4 ,that emblem of the sweet odour is laid hold of with great boldness by more than one ,old and ,new ,testament writer1 in order to express the marvellous thought that there is a mutual joy in the prayer of faith and love1 and that it rises as 'an odour of a sweet smell1 a sacrifice acceptable1 well pleasing to ,god4' ,the cuneiform inscriptions give that thought with characteristic vividness and grossness when they speak about the gods being 'gathered like flies round the steam of the sacrifice4' ,we have the same thought1 freed from all its grossness1 when we think that the curling wreaths going up from a heart aspiring and enflamed1 come to ,him as a sweet odour1 and delight ,his soul4 ,people say1 'that is anthropomorphism--making ,god too like a man4' ,well1 man is like ,god1 at any rate1 and surely the teaching of that great name ',father' carries with it the assurance that just as fathers of flesh are glad when they see that their children like best to be with them1 so there is something analogous in that joy before the angels of heaven which the ,father has1 not only because of the prodigal who comes back1 but because of the child who has long been with ,him1 and is ever seeking to nestle closer to ,his heart4 ,the ,psalmist was lost in wonder and thankfulness that he was able to say ',he was extolled with my tongue4' ,surely it should be a gracious1 encouraging1 strengthening thought to us all1 that even our poor aspirations may minister to the divine gladness4 ,now let us turn to another thought4 ,,ii4 ,this altar shows us where prayer stands in the ,christian life4 ,there are two or three points in regard to its position which it is no fanciful spiritualising1 but simply grasping the underlying meaning of the institution1 if we emphasise4 ,first1 let me remind you that there was another altar in the outer court1 whereon was offered the daily sacrifice for the sins of the people4 ,that altar came first1 and the sacrifice had to be offered on it first1 before the priest came into the inner court with the coals from that altar1 and the incense kindled by them4 ,what does that say to us8 ,the altar of incense is not approached until we have been to the altar of sacrifice4 ,it is no mere arbitrary appointment1 nor piece of evangelical narrowness1 which says that there is no real access to ,god1 in all the fullness and reality of ,his revealed character for us sinful men1 until our sins have been dealt with1 taken away by the ,lamb of ,god1 sacrificed for us4 ,and it is simply the transcript of experience which declares that there will be little inclination or desire to come to ,god with the sacrifice of praise and prayer until we have been to ,christ1 the sacrifice of propitiation and pardon4 ,brethren1 we need to be cleansed1 and we can only be delivered from the unholiness which is the perpetual and necessary barrier to our vision of ,god by making our very own1 through simple faith1 the energy and the blessedness of that great ,sacrifice of propitiation4 ,then1 and then only1 do we properly come to the altar of incense4 ,its place in the ,christian life is second1 not first4 ',first be reconciled to thy' ,father1 'then lay' the incense 'on the altar4' ,again1 great and deep lessons are given to us in the place of our altar in regard to the other articles that stood in that inner court4 ,i have said that there were three of them4 ,in the centre this altar of incense2 on the one hand the great lampstand2 on the other hand the table with loaves thereon4 ,the one symbolised ,israel's function in the world to be its light1 which in our function too1 and the other with loaves thereon symbolised the consecration to ,god of ,israel's activities1 and their results4 ,but between the two1 central to both1 stood the altar of incense4 ,what does that say as to the place of prayer1 defined as ,i have defined it1 in the ,christian life8 ,it says this1 that the light will burn dim and go out1 and the loaves1 the expression and the consequences of our activities1 will become mouldy and dry1 unless both are hallowed and sustained by prayer4 ,and that lesson is one which we all need1 and which ,i suppose this generation needs quite as much as1 if not more than1 any that has gone before it4 ,for life has become so swift and rushing1 and from all sides1 the ,church1 the world1 society1 there come such temptations1 and exhortations1 and necessities1 for strenuous and continuous work1 that the basis of all wholesome and vigorous work1 communion with ,god1 is but too apt to be put aside and relegated to some inferior position4 ,the carbon points of the electric arc-light are eaten away with tremendous rapidity in the very act of giving forth their illumination1 and they need to be continually approximated and to be frequently renewed4 ,the oil is burned away in the act of shining1 and the lamp needs to be charged again4 ,if we are to do our work in the world as its lights1 and if we are to have any activities fit to be consecrated to ,god and laid on the ,table before the ,veil1 it can only be by our making the altar of incense the centre1 and these others subsidiary4 ,one last thought--the place of prayer in the ,christian life is shadowed for us by the position of this altar in reference to 'the secret place of the ,most ,high1' that mysterious inner court which was dark but for the ,shechinah's light1 and lonely but for the presence of the worshipping cherubim and the worshipped ,god4 ,it stood1 as we are told a verse or two after my text1 'before the veil4' ,a straight line drawn from the altar of sacrifice would have bisected the altar of incense as it passed into the mercy-seat and the glory4 ,and that just tells us that the place of prayer in the ,christian lift is that it is the direct way of coming close to ,god4 ,dear brother1 we shall never lift the veil1 and stand in 'the secret place of the ,most ,high1' unless we take the altar of incense on our road4 ,there is one more thought here-- ,,iii4 ,the altar of incense shows us how prayer is to be cultivated4 ,twice a day1 morning and evening1 came the officiating priest with his pan of coals and incense1 and laid it there2 and during all the intervening hours between the morning and the evening the glow lay half hidden in the incense1 and there was a faint but continual emission of fragrance from the smouldering mass that had been renewed in the morning1 and again in the evening4 ,and does not that say something to us8 ,there must be definite times of distinct prayer if the aroma of devotion is to be diffused through our else scentless days4 ,i ask for no pedantic adherence1 with monastic mechanicalness1 to hours and times1 and forms of petitions4 ,these are needful crutches to many of us4 ,but what ,i do maintain is that all that talk which we hear so much of in certain quarters nowadays as to its not being necessary for us to have special times of prayer1 and as to its being far better to have devotion diffused through our lives1 and of how laborare est orare--to labour is to pray--all that is pernicious nonsense if it is meant to say that the incense will be fragrant and smoulder unless it is stirred up and renewed night and morning4 ,there must be definite times of prayer if there is to be diffused devotion through the day4 ,what would you think of people that said1 ',run your cars by electricity4 ,get it out of the wires2 it will come6 ,never mind putting up any generating stations'8 ,and not less foolish are they who seek for a devotion permeating life which is not often concentrated into definite and specific acts4 ,but the other side is as true4 ,it is bad to clot your religion into lumps1 and to leave the rest of the life without it4 ,there must be the smouldering all day long4 ',rejoice evermore2 pray without ceasing4' ,you can pray thus4 ,not set prayer1 of course2 but a reference to ,him1 a thought of ,him1 like some sweet melody1 'so sweet we know not we are listening to it1' may breathe its fragrance1 and diffuse its warmth into the commonest and smallest of our daily activities4 ,it was when ,gideon was threshing wheat that the angel appeared to him4 ,it was when ,elisha was ploughing that the divine inspiration touched him4 ,it was when the disciples were fishing that they saw the ,form on the shore4 ,and when we are in the way of our common life it is possible that the ,lord may meet us1 and that our souls may be aspiring to ,him4 ,then work will be worship2 then burdens will be lightened2 then our lamps will burn2 then the fruits of our daily lives will ripen2 then our lives will be noble2 then our spirits will rest as well as soar1 and find fruition and aspiration perpetually alternating in stable succession of eternal progress4 ,,ransom ,,for ,,souls--,i4 ',then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul4' --,,exodus xxx4 #ab4 ,this remarkable provision had a religious intention4 ,connect it with the tax-money which ,peter found in the fish's mouth4 ,i4 ,its meaning4 ,try to realise an ,israelite's thoughts at the census4 ',i am enrolled among the people and army of ,god3 am ,i worthy8 ,what am ,i1 to serve so holy a ,god8' ,the payment was meant-- 7a7 ,to excite the sense of sin4 ,this should be present in all approach to ,god1 in all service2 accompanying the recognition of our ,christian standing4 ,our sense of sin is far too slight and weak2 this defect is at the root of much feebleness in popular religion4 ,the sense of sin must embrace not outward acts only1 but inner spirit also4 7b7 ,to suggest the possibility of expiation4 ,it was 'ransom' i4e4 'covering1' something paid that guilt might be taken away and sin regarded as non-existent4 ,this is1 of course1 obviously1 only a symbol4 ,no tax could satisfy ,god for sin4 ,the very smallness of the amount shows that it is symbolical only4 ',not with corruptible things as silver' is man redeemed4 ,,ii4 ,its identity for all4 ,rich or poor1 high or low1 all men are equal in sin4 ,there are surface differences and degrees1 but a deep identity beneath4 ,so on the same principle all souls are of the same value4 ,here is the true democracy of ,christianity4 ,so there is one ransom for all1 for the need of all is identical4 ,,iii4 ,its use4 ,it was melted down for use in the sanctuary1 so as to be a 'memorial' permanently present to ,god when ,his people met with ,him4 ,the greater portion was made into bases for the boards of the sanctuary4 ,that is1 ,god's dwelling with men and our communion with ,him all rest on the basis of ransom4 ,we are 'brought nigh by the blood of ,christ4' ,,ransom ,,for ,,souls--,,ii4 ',the rich shall not give more1 and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel4444'--,,exodus xxx4 #ae4 ,this tax was exacted on numbering the people4 ,it was a very small amount1 about fifteen pence1 so it was clearly symbolical in its significance4 ,notice-- ,i4 ,the broad principle of equality of all souls in the sight of ,god4 ,contrast the reign of caste and class in heathendom with the democracy of ,judaism and of ,christianity4 ,,ii4 ,the universal sinfulness4 ,payment of the tax was a confession that all were alike in this3 not that all were equally sinful1 but all were sinful1 whatever variations of degree might exist4 ',there is no difference1 for all have sinned and come short of the glory of ,god4' ,,iii4 ,the one ransom4 ,it was a prophecy of which we know the meaning4 ,recall the incident of the 'stater' in the fish's mouth4 ,christ declares ,his exemption from the tax4 ,yet ,he voluntarily comes under it1 and ,he provides the payment of it for ,himself and for ,peter4 ,he does so by a miracle4 ,the ,apostle has to 'take and give it'2 so faith is called into exercise4 ,thus there is but one ,sacrifice for all2 and the poorest can exercise faith and the richest can do no more4 ',none other name4' ,,the ,,golden ,,calf ',and when the people saw that ,moses delayed to come down out of the mount1 the people gathered themselves together unto ,aaron1 and said unto him1 ,up1 make us gods1 which shall go before us2 for as for this ,moses1 the man that brought us up out of the land of ,egypt1 we wot not what is become of him4 #b4 ,and ,aaron said unto them1 ,break off the golden earrings1 which are in the ears of your wives1 of your sons1 and of your daughters1 and bring them unto me4 #c4 ,and all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears1 and brought them unto ,aaron4 #d4 ,and he received them at their hand1 and fashioned it with a graving-tool1 after he had made it a molten calf3 and they said1 ,these be thy gods1 ,o ,israel1 which brought thee up out of the land of ,egypt4 #e4 ,and when ,aaron saw it1 he built an altar before it2 and ,aaron made proclamation1 and said1 ,to-morrow is a feast to the ,lord4 #f4 ,and they rose up early on the morrow1 and offered burnt offerings1 and brought peace offerings2 and the people sat down to eat and to drink1 and rose up to play4 #g4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,go1 get thee down2 for thy people1 which thou broughtest out of the land of ,egypt1 have corrupted themselves3 #h4 ,they have turned aside quickly out of the way which ,i commanded them3 they have made them a molten calf1 and have worshipped it1 and have sacrificed thereunto1 and said1 ,these be thy gods1 ,o ,israel1 which have brought thee up out of the land of ,egypt4444 #cj4 ,and it came to pass on the morrow1 that ,moses said unto the people1 ,ye have sinned a great sin3 and now ,i will go up unto the ,lord2 peradventure ,i shall make an atonement for your sin4 #ca4 ,and ,moses returned unto the ,lord1 and said1 ,oh6 this people have sinned a great sin1 and have made them gods of gold4 #cb4 ,yet now1 if ,thou wilt forgive their sin--2 and if not1 blot me1 ,i pray thee1 out of ,thy book which ,thou hast written4 #cc4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,whosoever hath sinned against ,me1 him will ,i blot out of ,my book4 #cd4 ,therefore now go1 lead the people unto the place of which ,i have spoken unto thee4 ,behold1 ,mine ,angel shall go before thee3 nevertheless in the day when ,i visit ,i will visit their sin upon them4 #ce4 ,and the ,lord plagued the people1 because they made the calf1 which ,aaron made4'--,,exodus xxxii4 #a-h2 #cj-ce4 ,it was not yet six weeks since the people had sworn1 ',all that the ,lord hath spoken will we do1 and be obedient4' ,the blood of the covenant1 sprinkled on them1 was scarcely dry when they flung off allegiance to ,jehovah4 ,such short-lived loyalty to ,him can never have been genuine4 ,that mob of slaves was galvanised by ,moses into obedience2 and since their acceptance of ,jehovah was in reality only yielding to the power of one strong will and its earnest faith1 of course it collapsed as soon as ,moses disappeared4 ,we have to note1 first1 the people's universal revolt4 ,the language of verse #a may easily hide to a careless reader the gravity and unanimity of the apostasy4 ',the people gathered themselves together4' ,it was a national rebellion1 a flood which swept away even some faithful1 timid hearts4 ,no voices ventured to protest4 ,what were the elders1 who shortly before 'saw the ,god of ,israel1' doing to be passive at such a crisis8 ,was there no one to bid the fickle multitude look up to the summit overhead1 where the red flames glowed1 or to remind them of the hosts of ,egypt lying stark and dead on the shore8 ,was ,miriam cowed too1 and her song forgotten8 ,we need not cast stones at these people2 for we also have short memories for either the terrible or the gracious revelations of ,god in our own lives4 ,but we may learn the lesson that ,god's lovers have to set themselves sometimes dead against the rush of popular feeling1 and that there are times when silence or compliance is sin4 ,it would have been easy for the rebels to have ignored ,aaron1 and made gods for themselves4 ,but they desired to involve him in their apostasy1 and to get 'official sanction' for it4 ,he had been left by ,moses as his lieutenant1 and so to get him implicated was to stamp the movement as a regular and entire revolt4 ,the demand 'to make gods' 7or1 more probably1 'a god'7 flew in the face of both the first and second commandments4 ,for ,jehovah1 who had forbidden the forming of any image1 was denied in the act of making it4 ,to disobey ,him was to cast ,him off4 ,the ground of the rebellion was the craving for a visible object of trust and a visible guide1 as is seen by the reason assigned for the demand for an image4 ,moses was out of sight2 they must have something to look at as their leader4 ,moses had disappeared1 and1 to these people who had only been heaved up to the height of believing in ,jehovah by ,moses1 ,jehovah had disappeared with him4 ,they sank down again to the level of other races as soon as that strong lever ceased to lift their heavy apprehensions4 ,how ridiculous the assertion that they did not know what had become of ,moses6 ,they knew that he was up there with ,jehovah4 ,the elders could have told them that4 ,the fire on the mount might have burned in on all minds the confirmation4 ,note1 too1 the black ingratitude and plain denial of ,jehovah in 'the man that brought us up out of the land of ,egypt4' ,they refuse to recognise ,god's part4 ,it was ,moses only who had done it2 and now that he is gone they must have a visible god1 like other nations4 ,still sadder than their sense-bound wish is ,aaron's compliance4 ,he knew as well as we do what he should have said1 but1 like many another man in influential position1 when beset by popular cries1 he was frightened1 and yielded when he should have 'set his face like a flint4' ,his compliance has in essentials been often repeated1 especially by priests and ministers of religion who have lent their superior abilities or opportunities to carry out the wishes of the ignorant populace1 and debased religion or watered down its prohibitions1 to please and retain hold of them4 ,the ,church has incorporated much from heathenism4 ,roman ,catholic missionaries have permitted 'converts' to keep their old usages4 ,protestant teachers have acquiesced in1 and been content to find the brains to carry out1 compromises between sense and soul1 ,god's commands and men's inclinations4 ,we need not discuss the metallurgy of verse #d4 ,but clearly ,aaron asked for the earrings1 not1 as some would have it1 hoping that vanity and covetousness would hinder their being given1 but simply in order to get gold for the bad work which he was ready to do4 ,the reason for making the thing in the shape of a calf is probably the ,egyptian worship of ,apis in that form1 which would be familiar to the people4 ,we must note that it was the people who said1 ',these be thy gods1 ,o ,israel6' ,aaron seems to keep in the rear1 as it were4 ,he makes the calf1 and hands it over1 and leaves them to hail it and worship4 ,like all cowards1 he thought that he was lessening his guilt by thus keeping in the background4 ,feeble natures are fond of such subterfuges1 and deceive themselves by them2 but they do not shift their sin off their shoulders4 ,then he comes in again with an impotent attempt to diminish the gravity of the revolt4 ',when he saw this1' he tried to turn the flood into another channel1 and so proclaimed a 'feast to ,jehovah'6--as if ,he could be worshipped by flagrant defiance of ,his commandments1 or as if ,he had not been disavowed by the ascription to the calf1 made that morning out of their own trinkets1 of the deliverance from ,egypt4 ,a poor1 inconsequential attempt to save appearances and hallow sin by writing ,god's name on it6 ,the 'god' whom the ,israelites worshipped under the image of a calf1 was no less another 'god before ,me1' though it was called by the name of ,jehovah4 ,if the people had their idol1 it mattered nothing to them1 and it mattered as little to ,jehovah1 what 'name' it bore4 ,the wild orgies of the morrow were not the worship which ,he accepts4 ,what a contrast between the plain and the mountain6 ,below1 the shameful feast1 with its parody of sacrifice and its sequel of lust-inflamed dancing2 above1 the awful colloquy between the all-seeing righteous ,judge and the intercessor6 ,the people had cast off ,jehovah1 and ,jehovah no more calls them ',my1' but 'thy people4' ,they had ascribed their ,exodus first to ,moses1 and next to the calf4 ,jehovah speaks of it as the work of ,moses4 ,a terrible separation of ,himself from them lies in 'thy people1 which thou broughtest up1' and ,moses' bold rejoinder emphasises the relation and act which ,jehovah seems to suppress 7verse #aa74 ,observe that the divine voice refuses to give any weight to ,aaron's trick of compromise4 ,these are no worshippers of ,jehovah who are howling and dancing below there4 ,they are 'worshipping it1 and sacrificing to it1' not to ,him4 ,the cloaks of sin may partly cover its ugliness here1 but they are transparent to ,his eyes1 and many a piece of worship1 which is said to be directed to ,him1 is1 in ,his sight1 rank idolatry4 ,we do not deal with the magnificent courage of ,moses1 his single-handed arresting of the wild rebellion1 and the severe punishment by which he trampled out the fire4 ,but we must keep his severity in mind if we would rightly judge his self-sacrificing devotion1 and his self-sacrificing devotion if we would rightly judge his severity4 ,no words of ours can make more sublime his utter self-abandonment for the sake of the people among whom he had just been flaming in wrath1 and smiting like a destroying angel4 ,that was a great soul which had for its poles such justice and such love4 ,the very words of his prayer1 in their abruptness1 witness to his deep emotion4 ',if ,thou wilt forgive their sin' stands as an incomplete sentence1 left incomplete because the speaker is so profoundly moved4 ,sometimes broken words are the best witnesses of our earnestness4 ,the alternative clause reaches the high-water mark of passionate love1 ready to give up everything for the sake of its objects4 ,the 'book of life' is often spoken of in ,scripture1 and it is an interesting study to bring together the places where the idea occurs 7see ,ps4 lxix4 #bh2 ,dan4 xii4 #a2 ,phil4 iv4 #c2 ,rev4 iii4 #e74 ,the allusion is to the citizens' roll 7,ps4 lxxxvii4 #f74 ,those whose names are written there have the privileges of citizenship1 and1 as it is the 'book of life' 7or 'of the living'71 life in the widest sense is secured to them4 ,to blot out of it1 therefore1 is to cut a man off from fellowship in the city of ,god1 and from participation in life4 ,moses was so absorbed in his vocation that his life was less to him than the well-being of ,israel4 ,how far he saw into the darkness beyond the grave we cannot say2 but1 at least1 he was content1 and desirous to die on earth1 if thereby ,israel might continue to be ,god's people4 ,and probably he had some gleam of light beyond1 which enhanced the greatness of his offered sacrifice4 ,to die1 whatever loss of communion with ,god that involved here or hereafter1 would be sweet if thereby he could purchase ,israel's restoration to ,god's favour4 ,we cannot but think of ,paul willing to be separated from ,christ for his brethren's sake4 ,we may well think of a greater than ,moses or ,paul1 who did bear the loss which they were willing to bear1 and died that sin might be forgiven4 ,moses was a true type of ,christ in that act of supreme self-sacrifice2 and all the heroism1 the identification of himself with his people1 the love which willingly accepts death1 that makes his prayer one of the greatest deeds on the page of history1 are repeated in infinitely sweeter1 more heart-subduing fashion in the story of the ,cross4 ,let us not omit duly to honour the servant2 let us not neglect to honour and love infinitely more the ,lord4 ',this man was counted worthy of more glory than ,moses4' ,let us see that we render ,him ',thanks never ceasing1 ,and infinite love4' ,,the ,,swift ,,decay ,,of ,,love ',and ,moses turned1 and went down from the mount1 and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand3 the tables were written on both their sides2 on the one side and on the other were they written4 #af4 ,and the tables were the work of ,god1 and the writing was the writing of ,god1 graven upon the tables4 #ag4 ,and when ,joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted1 he said unto ,moses1 ,there is a noise of war in the camp4 #ah4 ,and he said1 ,it is not the voice of them that shout for mastery1 neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome3 but the noise of them that sing do ,i hear4 #ai4 ,and it came to pass1 as soon as he came nigh unto the camp1 that he saw the calf1 and the dancing3 and ,moses' anger waxed hot1 and he cast the tables out of his hands1 and brake them beneath the mount4 #bj4 ,and he took the calf which they had made1 and burnt it in the fire1 and ground it to powder1 and strawed it upon the water1 and made the children of ,israel drink of it4 #ba4 ,and ,moses said unto ,aaron1 ,what did this people unto thee1 that thou hast brought so great a sin upon them8 #bb4 ,and ,aaron said1 ,let not the anger of my lord wax hot3 thou knowest the people1 that they are set on mischief4 #bc4 ,for they said unto me1 ,make us gods1 which shall go before us3 for as for this ,moses1 the man that brought us up out of the land of ,egypt1 we wot not what is become of him4 #bd4 ,and ,i said unto them1 ,whosoever hath any gold1 let them break it off4 ,so they gave it me3 then ,i cast it into the fire1 and there came out this calf4 #be4 ,and when ,moses saw that the people were naked2 7for ,aaron had made them naked unto their shame among their enemies37 #bf4 ,then ,moses stood in the gate of the camp1 and said1 ,who is on the ,lord's side8 let him come unto me4 ,and all the sons of ,levi gathered themselves together unto him4'--,,exodus xxxii4 #ae-bf4 ,moses and ,joshua are on their way down from the mountain1 the former carrying the tables in his hands and a heavier burden in his heart1--the thought of the people's swift apostasy4 ,joshua's soldierly ear interprets the shouts which are borne up to them as war-cries2 ',he snuffeth the battle afar off1 and saith ,aha6' ,but ,moses knew that they meant worse than war1 and his knowledge helped his ear to distinguish a cadence and unison in the noise1 unlike the confused mingling of the victors' yell of triumph and the shriek of the conquered4 ,if we were dealing with fiction1 we should admire the masterly dramatic instinct which lets the ear anticipate the eye1 and so prepares us for the hideous sight that burst on these two at some turn in the rocky descent4 ,i4 ,note1 then1 what they saw4 ,the vivid story puts it all in two words1--'the calf and the dancing4' ,there in the midst1 perhaps on some pedestal1 was the shameful copy of the ,egyptian ,apis2 and whirling round it in mad circles1 working themselves into frenzy by rapid motion and frantic shouts1 were the people1--men and women1 mingled in the licentious dance1 who1 six short weeks before1 had sworn to the ,covenant4 ,their bestial deity in the centre1 and they compassing it with wild hymns1 were a frightful contradiction of that grey altar and the twelve encircling stones which they had so lately reared1 and which stood unregarded1 a bowshot off1 as a silent witness against them4 ,note the strange1 irresistible fascination of idolatry4 ,clearly the personal influence of ,moses was the only barrier against it4 ,the people thought that he had disappeared1 and1 if so1 ,jehovah had disappeared with him4 ,we wonder at their relapses into idolatry1 but we forget that it was then universal1 that ,israel was at the beginning of its long training1 that not even a divine revelation could produce harvest in seedtime1 and that to look for a final and complete deliverance from the 'veil that was spread over all nations1' at this stage1 is like expecting a newly reclaimed bit of the backwoods to grow grass as thick and velvety as has carpeted some lawn that has been mown and cared for for a century4 ,grave condemnation is the due of these short-memoried rebels1 who set up their 'abomination' in sight of the fire on ,sinai2 but that should not prevent our recognising the evidence which their sin affords of the tremendous power of idolatry in that stage of the world's history4 ,israel's proneness to fall back to heathenism makes it certain that a supernatural revelation is needed to account for their possession of the loftier faith which was so far above them4 ,that howling1 leaping crowd tells what sort of religion they would have 'evolved' if left to themselves4 ,where did ',thou shalt have none other gods beside ,me' come from8 ,note the confusion of thought1 so difficult for us to understand1 which characterises idolatry4 ,what a hopelessly inconsequential cry that was1 ',make us gods1 which shall go before us6' and what a muddle of contradictions it was that men should say ',these be thy gods1' though they knew that the thing was made yesterday out of their own earrings6 ,it took more than a thousand years to teach the nation the force of the very self-evident argument1 as it seems to us1 'the workman made it1 therefore it is not ,god4' ,the theory that the idol is only a symbol is not the actual belief of idolaters4 ,it is a product of the study1 but the worshipper unites in his thought the irreconcilable beliefs that it was made and is divine4 ,a goldsmith will make and sell a ,madonna1 and when it is put in the cathedral1 will kneel before it4 ,note what was the sin here4 ,it is generally taken for granted that it was a breach of the second1 not of the first1 commandment1 and ,aaron's proclamation of 'a feast to the ,lord' is taken as proving this4 ,aaron was probably trying to make an impossible compromise1 and to find some salve for his conscience2 but it does not follow that the people accepted the half-and-half suggestion4 ,leaders who try to control a movement which they disapprove1 by seeming to accept it1 play a dangerous game1 and usually fail4 ,but whether the people call the calf ',jehovah' or ',apis' matters very little4 ,there would be as complete apostasy to another god1 though the other god was called by the same name1 if all that really makes his 'name' was left out1 and foreign elements were brought in4 ,such worship as these wild dances1 offered to an image1 broke both the commandments1 no matter by what name the image was invoked4 ,the roots of idolatry are in all men4 ,the gross form of it is impossible to us2 but the need for aid from sense1 the dependence on art for wings to our devotion1 which is a growing danger to-day1 is only the modern form of the same dislike of a purely spiritual religion which sent these people dancing round their calf4 ,,ii4 ,mark ,moses' blaze of wrath and courageous1 prompt action4 ,he dashes the tables on the rock1 as if to break the record of the useless laws which the people have already broken1 and1 with his hands free1 flings himself without pause into the midst of the excited mob4 ,verses #ai and #bj bear the impression of his rapid1 decisive action in their succession of clauses1 each tacked on to the preceding by a simple 'and4' ,stroke followed stroke4 ,his fiery earnestness swept over all obstacles1 the base riot ceased1 the ashamed dancers slunk away4 ,some true hearts would gather about him1 and carry out his commands2 but he did the real work1 and1 single-handed1 cowed and controlled the mob4 ,no doubt1 it took more time than the brief narrative1 at first sight1 would suggest4 ,the image is flung into the fire from which it had come out4 ,the fire made it1 and the fire shall unmake it4 ,we need not find difficulty in 'burning' a golden idol4 ,that does not mean 'calcined1' and the writer is not guilty of a blunder1 nor needed to be taught that you cannot burn gold4 ,the next clause says that after it was 'burned1' it was still solid2 so that1 plainly1 all that is meant is1 that the metal was reduced to a shapeless lump4 ,that would take some time4 ,then it was broken small2 there were plenty of rocks to grind it up on4 ,that would take some more time1 but not a finger was lifted to prevent it4 ,then the more or less finely broken up fragments are flung into the brook1 and1 with grim irony1 the people are bid to drink4 ',you shall have enough of your idol1 since you love him so4 ,here1 down with him6 ,you will have to take the consequences of your sin4 ,you must drink as you have brewed4' ,it is at once a contemptuous demonstration of the idol's impotence1 and a picture of the sure retribution4 ,but we may learn two things from this figure of the indignant lawgiver4 ,one is1 that the temper in which to regard idolatry is not one of equable indifference nor of scientific investigation1 but that some heat of moral indignation is wholesome4 ,we are all studying comparative mythology now1 and getting much good from it2 but we are in some danger of forgetting that these strange ideas and practices1 which we examine at our ease1 have spread spiritual darkness and moral infection over continents and through generations4 ,let us understand them1 by all means2 let us be thankful to find fragments of truth in1 or innocent origins of1 repulsive legends2 but do not let the student swallow up the ,christian in us1 nor our minds lose their capacity of wholesome indignation at the systems1 blended with ,christ-like pity and effort for the victims4 ,we may learn1 further1 how strong a man is when he is all aflame with true zeal for ,god4 ,the suddenness of ,moses' reappearance1 the very audacity of his act1 the people's habit of obedience1 all helped to carry him through the crisis2 but the true secret of his swift victory was his own self-forgetting faith4 ,there is contagion in pure religious enthusiasm4 ,it is the strongest of all forces4 ,one man1 with ,god at his back1 is always in the majority4 ,he whose whole soul glows with the pure fire1 will move among men like flame in stubble4 ',all things are possible to him that believeth4' ,consecrated daring1 animated by love and fed with truth1 is all-conquering4 ,,iii4 ,note the weaker nature of ,aaron1 taking refuge in a transparent lie4 ,probably his dialogue with his brother came in before the process described in the former verses was accomplished4 ,but the narrative keeps all that referred to the destruction of the idol together1 and goes by subject rather than by time4 ,we do not learn how ,moses had come to know ,aaron's share in the sin1 but his question is one of astonishment4 ,had they bewitched him anyhow8 or what inducement had led him so far astray8 ,the stronger and devouter soul cannot conceive how the weaker had yielded4 ,aaron's answer puts the people's wish forward4 ',they said1 ,make us gods'2 that was all which they had 'done4' ,a poor excuse1 as ,aaron feels even while he is stammering it out4 ,what would ,moses have answered if the people had 'said' so to him8 ,did he1 standing there1 with the heat of his struggle on him yet1 look like a man that would acknowledge any demand of a mob as a reason for a ruler's compliance8 ,it is the coward's plea4 ,how many ecclesiastics and statesmen since then have had no better to offer for their acts6 ,such fear of the ,lord as shrivelled before the breath of popular clamour could have had no deep roots4 ,one of the first things to learn1 whether we are in prominent or in private positions1 is to hold by our religious convictions in supreme indifference to all surrounding voices1 and to let no threats nor entreaties lead us to take one step beyond or against conscience4 ,aaron feels the insufficiency of the plea1 when he has to put it into plain words to such a listener1 and so he flies to the resource of timid and weak natures1 a lie4 ,for what did he ask the gold1 and put it into the furnace1 unless he meant to make a god8 ,perhaps he had told the people the same story1 as priests in all lands have been apt to claim a miraculous origin for idols4 ,and he repeats it now1 as if1 were it true1 he would plead the miracle as a vindication of the worship as well as his absolution4 ,but the lie is too transparent to deserve even an answer1 and ,moses turns silently from him4 ,aaron's was evidently the inferior nature1 and was less deeply stamped with the print of heaven than his brother's4 ,his feeble compliance is recorded as a beacon for all persons in places of influence or authority1 warning them against self-interested or cowardly yielding to a popular demand1 at the sacrifice of the purity of truth and the approval of their own consciences4 ,he was not the last priest who has allowed the supposed wishes of the populace to shape his representations of ,god1 and has knowingly dropped the standard of duty or sullied the clear brightness of truth in deference to the many-voiced monster4 ,,iv4 ,note the rallying of true hearts round ,moses4 ,the ,revised ,version reads 'broken loose' instead of 'naked1' and the correction is valuable4 ,it explains the necessity for the separation of those who yet remained bound by the restraints of ,god's law1 and for the terrible retribution that followed4 ,the rebellion had not been stamped out by the destruction of the calf2 and though ,moses' dash into their midst had cowed the rebels for a time1 things had gone too far to settle down again at once4 ,the camp was in insurrection4 ,it was more than a riot1 it was a revolution4 ,with the rapid eye of genius1 ,moses sees the gravity of the crisis1 and1 with equally swift decisiveness1 acts so as to meet it4 ,he 'stood in the gate of the camp1' and made the nucleus for the still faithful4 ,his summons puts the full seriousness of the moment clearly before the people4 ,they have come to a fork in the road4 ,they must be either for ,jehovah or against ,him4 ,there can be no mixing up of the worship of ,jehovah and the images of ,egypt1 no tampering with ,god's service in obedience to popular clamour4 ,it must be one thing or other4 ,this is no time for the family of ',mr4 ,facing-both-ways'2 the question for each man is1 ',under which ,king8' ,moses' unhesitating confidence that he is ,god's soldier1 and that to be at his side is to be on ,god's side1 was warranted in him1 but has often been repeated with less reason by eager contenders1 as they believed themselves to be1 for ,god4 ,no doubt1 it becomes us to be modest and cautious in calling all true friends of ,god to rank themselves with us4 ,but where the issue is between foul wrong and plain right1 between palpable idolatry1 error1 or unbridled lust1 and truth1 purity1 and righteousness1 the ,christian combatant for these is entitled to send round the fiery cross1 and proclaim a crusade in ,god's name4 ,there will always be plenty of people with cold water to pour on enthusiasm4 ,we should be all the better for a few more1 who would venture to feel that they are fighting for ,god1 and to summon all who love ,him to come to their and ,his help4 ,moses' own tribe responded to the summons4 ,and1 no doubt1 ,aaron was there too1 galvanised into a nobler self by the courage and fervour of his brother1 and1 let us hope1 urged by penitence1 to efface the memory of his faithlessness by his heroism now4 ,we do not go on to the dreadful retribution1 which must be regarded1 not as massacre1 but as legal execution4 ,it is folly to apply to it1 or to other analogous instances1 the ideas of this ,christian century4 ,we need not be afraid to admit that there has been a development of morality4 ,the retributions of a stern age were necessarily stern4 ,but if we want to understand the heart of ,moses1 or of ,moses' ,god1 we must not look only at the ruler of a wild people trampling out a revolt at the sacrifice of many lives1 but listen to him1 as the next section of the narrative shows him1 pleading with tears for the rebels1 and offering even to let his own name be blotted out of ,god's book if their sin might be forgiven4 ,so1 coupling the two parts of his conduct together1 we may learn a little more clearly a lesson1 of which this age has much need1--the harmony of retributive justice and pitying love2 and may come to understand that ,moses learned both the one and the other by fellowship with the ,god in whom they both dwell in perfection and concord4 ,,the ,,mediator',s ,,threefold ,,prayer ',and ,moses said unto the ,lord1 ,see1 ,thou sayest unto me1 ,bring up this people3 and ,thou hast not let me know whom ,thou wilt send with me4 ,yet ,thou hast said1 ,i know thee by name1 and thou hast also found grace in ,my sight4 #ac4 ,now therefore1 ,i pray ,thee1 if ,i have found grace in ,thy sight1 show me now ,thy way1 that ,i may know ,thee1 that ,i may find grace in ,thy sight3 and consider that this nation is ,thy people4 #ad4 ,and ,he said1 ,my presence shall go with thee1 and ,i will give thee rest4 #ae4 ,and he said unto ,him1 ,if ,thy presence go not with me1 carry us not up hence4 #af4 ,for wherein shall it be known here that ,i and ,thy people have found grace in ,thy sight8 ,is it not in that ,thou goest with us6 ,so shall we be separated1 ,i and ,thy people1 from all the people that are upon the face of the earth1 #ag4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,i will do this thing also that thou hast spoken3 for thou hast found grace in ,my sight1 and ,i know thee by name4 #ah4 ,and he said1 ,i beseech ,thee1 show me ,thy glory4 #ai4 ,and ,he said1 ,i will make all ,my goodness pass before thee1 and ,i will proclaim the name of the ,lord before thee2 and will be gracious to whom ,i will be gracious1 and will shew mercy on whom ,i will shew mercy4 #bj4 ,and he said1 ,thou canst not see ,my face3 for there shall no man see ,me1 and live4 #ba4 ,and the ,lord said1 ,behold1 there is a place by ,me1 and thou shalt stand upon a rock3 #bb4 ,and it shall come to pass1 while ,my glory passeth by1 that ,i will put thee in a clift of the rock1 and will cover thee with ,my hand while ,i pass by3 #bc4 ,and ,i will take away ,mine hand1 and thou shall see ,my back parts2 but ,my face shall not be seen4'--,,exodus xxxiii4 #ab-bc4 ,the calf worship broke the bond between ,god and ,israel4 ,instead of ,his presence1 'an angel' is to lead them1 for ,his presence could only be destruction4 ,mourning spreads through the camp1 in token of which all ornaments are laid aside4 ,the fate of the nation is in suspense1 and the people wait1 in sad attire1 till ,god knows 'what to do unto' them4 ,the ,tabernacle is carried beyond the precincts of the camp1 in witness of the breach1 and all the future is doubtful4 ,the preceding context describes 7vs4 #g-aa7 not one event1 but the standing order of these dark days1 when the camp had to be left if ,god was to be found1 and when ,moses alone received tokens of ,god's friendship1 and the people stood wistfully and tremblingly gazing from afar1 while the cloudy pillar wavered down to the ,tabernacle door4 ,duty brought ,moses back from such communion2 but ,joshua did not need to come near the tents of the evil-doers1 and1 in the constancy of devout desire1 made his home in the ,tabernacle4 ,in one of these interviews1 so close and familiar1 the wonderful dialogue here recorded occurred4 ,it turns round three petitions1 to each of which the ,lord answers4 ,i4 ,we have the leader's prayer for himself1 with the over-abundant answer of ,god4 ,in the former chapter1 we had the very sublimity of intercession1 in which the stern avenger of idolatry poured out his self-sacrificing love for the stiff-necked nation whom he had had to smite1 and offered himself a victim for them4 ,here his first prayer is mainly for himself1 but it is not therefore a selfish prayer4 ,rather he prays for gifts to himself1 to fit him for his service to them4 ,we may note separately the prayer1 and the pleas on which it is urged4 ',show me now ,thy way 7or ways71 that ,i may know ,thee4' ,the desire immediately refers to the then condition of things4 ,as we have pointed out1 it was a time of suspense4 ,in the strong metaphor of the context1 ,god was making up ,his mind on ,his course1 and ,israel was waiting with hushed breath for the dnouement4 ,it was not the entrance of the nation into the promised land which was in doubt1 but the manner of their guidance1 and the penalties of their idolatry4 ,these things ,moses asked to know1 and especially1 as verse #ab shows1 to receive some more definite communication as to their leader than the vague 'an angel4' ,but the specific knowledge of ,god's 'way' was yearned for by him1 mainly1 as leading on to a deeper and fuller and more blessed knowledge of ,god ,himself1 and that again as leading to a fuller possession of ,god's favour1 which1 as already in some measure possessed1 lay at the foundation of the whole prayer4 ,the connection of thought here goes far beyond the mere immediate blessing1 which ,moses needed at the moment4 ,that cry for insight into the purposes and methods of ,him whom the soul trusts1 amid darkness and suspense1 is the true voice of sonship4 ,the more deeply it sees into these1 the more does the devout soul feel the contrast between the spot of light in which it lives and the encircling obscurity1 and the more does it yearn for the further setting back of the boundaries4 ,prayer does more than effort1 for satisfying that desire4 ,nor is it mere curiosity or the desire for intellectual clearness that moves the longing4 ,for the end of knowing ,god's ways is1 for the devout man1 a deeper1 more blessed knowledge of ,god ,himself1 who is best known in ,his deeds2 and the highest1 most blessed issue of the ,god-given knowledge of ,god1 is the conscious sunshine of ,his favour shining ever on ,his servant4 ,that is not a selfish religion which1 beginning with the assurance that we have found grace in ,his sight1 seeks to climb1 by happy paths of growing knowledge of ,him as manifested in ,his ways1 to a consciousness of that favour which is made stable and profound by clear insight into the depths of ,his purposes and acts4 ,the pleas on which this prayer is urged are two3 the suppliant's heavy tasks1 and ,god's great assurances to him4 ,he boldly reminds ,god of what ,he has set him to do1 and claims that he should be furnished with what is needful for discharging his commission4 ,how can he lead if he is kept in the dark8 ,when we are as sure as ,moses was of ,god's charge to us1 we may be as bold as he in asking the needful equipment for it4 ,god does not send ,his servants out to sow without seed1 or to fight without a sword4 ,his command is ,his pledge4 ,he smiles approval when ,his servants' confidence assumes even bold forms1 which sound like remonstrance and a suspicion that ,he was forgetting1 for ,he discerns the underlying eagerness to do ,his will1 and the trust in ,him4 ,the second plea is built on ,god's assurances of intimate and distinguishing knowledge and favour4 ,he had said that ,he knew ,moses 'by name1' by all these calls and familiar interviews which gave him the certainty of his individual relation to1 and his special appointment from1 the ,lord4 ,such prerogative was inconsistent with reserve4 ,the test of friendship is confidence4 ,so pleads ,moses1 and ,god recognises the plea4 ',i call you not servants2 for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth2 but ,i have called you friends2 for all things that ,i have heard of my ,father ,i have made known unto you4' ,the plea based upon the relation of the people to ,god is subordinate in this first prayer4 ,it is thrown in at the end almost as an afterthought2 it boldly casts responsibility off ,moses on to ,god1 and does so to enforce the prayer that he should be equipped with all requisites for his work1 as if he had said1 ',it is more ,thy concern than mine1 that ,i should be able to lead them4' ,the divine answer is a promise to go not with the people1 but with ,moses4 ,it is therefore not yet a full resolving of the doubtful matter1 nor directly a reply to ,moses' prayer4 ,in one aspect it is less1 and in another more1 than had been asked4 ,it seals to the man and to the leader the assurance that for himself he shall have the continual presence of ,god1 in his soul and in his work1 and that1 in all the weary march1 he will have rest1 and will come to a fuller rest at its end4 ,thus ,god ever answers the true hearts that seek to know ,him1 and to be fitted for their tasks4 ,whether the precise form of desire be fulfilled or no1 the issue of such bold and trustful pleading is always the inward certainty of ,god's face shining on us1 and the experience of repose1 deep and untroubled in the midst of toil1 so that we may be at once pilgrims towards1 and dwellers in1 'the house of the ,lord1' ,,ii4 ,we have the intercessor's prayer for the people1 with the answer 7vs4 #ae-ag74 ,if the promise of verse #ad is taken as referring to the people1 there is nothing additional asked in this second stage1 and the words of verse l#g1 'this thing also1' are inexplicable4 ,observe that 'with me' in verse #ae is a supplement1 and that the 'us' of the next clause1 as well as the whole cast of verse #af1 suggests that we should rather supply 'with us1' ,the substance1 then1 of the second petition1 is the extension of the promise1 already given to ,moses for himself1 to the entire nation4 ,observe how he identifies himself with them1 making them 'partakers' in his grace1 and reiterating ',i and ,thy people1' as if he would have no blessing which was not shared by them4 ,he seeks that the withdrawal of ,god's presence1 which had been the consequence of ,israel's withdrawal from ,god1 should be reversed1 and that not he alone1 but all the rebels1 might still possess ,his presence4 ,the plea for this prayer is ,god's honour1 which was concerned in making it plain even in the remote wilderness1 to the wandering tribes there1 that ,his hand was upon ,israel4 ,moses expands the argument which he had just touched before4 ,the thought of ,his own glory as the motive of ,god's acts1 may easily be so put at to be repulsive2 but at bottom it is the same as to say that ,his motive is love--for the glory which ,he seeks is the communication of true thoughts concerning ,his character1 that men may be made glad and like ,himself thereby4 ,moses has learned that ,god's heart must long to reveal its depth of mercy1 and therefore he pleads that even sinful ,israel should not be left by ,god1 in order that some light from ,his face may strike into a dark world4 ,there is wide benevolence1 as well as deep insight into the desires of ,god1 in the plea4 ,the divine answer yields unconditionally to the request1 and rests the reason for so doing wholly on the relation between ,god and ,moses4 ,the plea which he had urged in lowly boldness as the foundation of both his prayers is endorsed1 and1 for his sake1 the divine presence is again granted to the people4 ,can we look at this scene without seeing in it the operation on a lower field of the same great principle of intercession1 which reaches its unique example in ,jesus ,christ8 ,it is not arbitrary forcing of the gospel into the history1 but simply the recognition of the essence of the history1 when we see in it a foreshadowing of our great ,high-priest4 ,he1 too1 knits ,himself so closely with us1 both by the assumption of our manhood and by the identity of loving sympathy1 that ,he accepts nothing from the ,father's hand for ,himself alone4 ,he1 too1 presents ,himself before ,god1 and says ',i and ,thy people4' ,the great seal of proof for the world that ,he is the beloved of ,god1 lies in the divine guardianship and guidance of ,his servants4 ,his prayer for them prevails1 and the reason for its prevalence is ,god's delight in ,him4 ,the very sublime of self-sacrificing love was in the lawgiver1 but the height of his love1 measured against the immeasurable altitude of ,christ's1 is as a mole-hill to the ,andes4 ,,iii4 ,we have the last soaring desire which rises above the limits of the present4 ,these three petitions teach the insatiableness1 if we may use the word1 of devout desires4 ,each request granted brings on a greater4 ',the gift doth stretch itself as 'tis received4' ,enjoyment increases capacity1 and increase of capacity is increase of desire4 ,god being infinite1 and man capable of indefinite growth1 neither the widening capacity nor the infinite supply can have limits4 ,this is not the least of the blessings of a devout life1 that the appetite grows with what it feeds on1 and that1 while there is always satisfaction1 there is never satiety4 ,moses' prayer sounds presumptuous1 but it was heard unblamed1 and granted in so far as possible4 ,it was a venial error--if error it may be called--that a soul1 touched with the flame of divine love1 should aspire beyond the possibilities of mortality4 ,at all events1 it was a fault in which he has had few imitators4 ,our desires keep but too well within the limits of the possible4 ,the precise meaning of the petition must be left undetermined4 ,only this is clear1 that it was something far beyond even that face-to-face intercourse which he had had1 as well as beyond that vision granted to the elders4 ,if we are to take 'glory' in its usual sense1 it would mean the material symbol of ,god's presence1 which shone at the heart of the pillar1 and dwelt afterwards between the cherubim1 but probably we must attach a loftier meaning to it here1 and rather think of what we should call the uncreated and infinite divine essence4 ,only do not let us make ,moses talk like a metaphysician or a theological professor4 ,rather we should hear in his cry the voice of a soul thrilled through and through with the astounding consciousness of ,god's favour1 blessed with love-gifts in answered prayers1 and yearning for more of that light which it feels to be life4 ,and if the petition be dark1 the answer is yet more obscure 'with excess of light4' ,mark how it begins with granting1 not with refusing4 ,it tells how much the loving desire has power to bring1 before it speaks of what in it must be denied4 ,there is infinite tenderness in that order of response4 ,it speaks of a heart that does not love to say 'no1' and grants our wishes up to the very edge of the possible1 and wraps the bitterness of any refusal in the sweet envelope of granted requests4 ,a broad distinction is drawn between that in ,god which can be revealed1 and that which cannot4 ,the one is 'glory1' the other 'goodness1' corresponding1 we might almost say1 to the distinction between the 'moral' and the 'natural' attributes of ,god4 ,but1 whatever mysterious revelation under the guise of vision may be concealed in these words1 and in the fulfilment of them in the next chapter1 they belong to the 'things which it is impossible for a man to utter1' even if he has received them4 ,we are on more intelligible ground in the next clause of the promise1 the proclamation of 'the ,name4' ,that expression is1 in ,scripture1 always used as meaning the manifested character of ,god4 ,it is a revelation addressed to the spirit1 not to the sense4 ,it is the translation1 so far as it is capable of translation1 of the vision which it accompanied2 it is the treasure which ,moses bore away from ,sinai1 and has shared among us all4 ,the reason for his prayer was probably his desire to have his mediatorial office confirmed and perfected2 and it was so1 by that proclamation of the ,name4 ,the reason for this marvellous gift is next set forth as being ,god's own unconditional grace and mercy4 ,he is ,his own motive1 ,his own reason4 ,just as the independent and absolute fullness of ,his being is expressed by the name ',i am that ,i am1' so the independent and absolute freeness of ,his mercy1 whether in granting ,moses' prayer or in pardoning the people1 is expressed by ',i will shew mercy on whom ,i will shew mercy4' ,not till all this exuberance of gracious answer has smoothed the way does the denial of the impossible request come2 and even then it is so worded as to lay all the emphasis on what is granted1 and to show that the refusal is but another phase of love4 ,the impossibility of beholding the ,face is reiterated1 and then the careful provisions which ,god will make for the fulfilment of the possible part of the bold wish are minutely detailed4 ,the distinction between the revealable and unrevealable1 which has been already expressed by the contrast of 'glory' and 'grace1' now appears in the distinction between the 'face' which cannot be looked on1 and the 'back' which may be4 ,human language and thought are out of their depth here4 ,we must be content to see a dim splendour shining through the cloudy words1 to know that there was granted to one man a realisation of ,god's presence1 and a revelation of ,his character1 so far transcending ordinary experiences as that it was fitly called sight1 but yet as far beneath the glory of ,his being as the comparatively imperfect knowledge of a man's form1 when seen only from behind1 is beneath that derived from looking him in the face4 ,but whatever was the singular prerogative of the lawgiver1 as he gazed from the cleft of the rock at the receding glory1 we see more than he ever did2 and the ,christian child1 who looks upon the 'glory of ,god in the face of ,jesus ,christ1' has a vision which outshines the flashing radiance that shone round ,moses4 ,it deepened his convictions1 confirmed his faith1 added to his assurance of his divine commission1 but only added to his knowledge of ,god by the proclamation of the ,name1 and that ,name is more fully proclaimed in our ears4 ,sinai1 with all its thunders1 is silent before ,calvary4 ,and he who has ,jesus ,christ to declare ,god's ,name to him need not envy the lawgiver on the mountain1 nor even the saints in heaven4 ,,god ,,proclaiming ,,his ,,own ,,name ',the ,lord passed by before him1 and proclaimed1 ,the ,lord1 the ,lord ,god1 merciful and gracious1 longsuffering1 and abundant in goodness and truth4'--,,exodus xxxiv4 #f4 ,this great event derives additional significance and grandeur from the place in which it stands4 ,it follows the hideous act of idolatry in which the levity and sinfulness of ,israel reached their climax4 ,the trumpet of ,sinai had hardly ceased to peal1 and there in the rocky solitudes1 in full view of the mount 'that burned with fire1' while the echoes of the thunder and the ,voice still lingered1 one might say1 among the cliffs1 that mob of abject cowards were bold enough to shake off their allegiance to ,god1 and1 forgetful of all the past1 plunged into idolatry1 and wallowed in sensuous delights4 ,what a contrast between ,moses on the mount and ,aaron and the people in the plain6 ,then comes the wonderful story of the plague and of ,moses' intercession1 followed by the high request of ,moses1 so strange and yet so natural at such a time1 for the vision of ,god's 'glory4' ,into all the depths of that ,i do not need to plunge4 ,enough that he is told that his desire is beyond the possibilities of creatural life4 ,the mediator and lawgiver cannot rise beyond the bounds of human limitations4 ,but what can be shall be4 ,god's 'goodness' will pass before him4 ,then comes this wonderful advance in the progress of divine revelation4 ,if we remember the breach of the ,covenant1 and then turn to these words1 considered as evoked by the people's sin1 they become very remarkable4 ,if we consider them as the answer to ,moses' desire1 they are no less so4 ,taking these two thoughts with us1 let us consider them in-- ,i4 ,the answer to the request for a sensuous manifestation4 ,the request is 'show me1' as if some visible manifestation were desired and expected1 or1 if not a visible1 at least a direct perception of ,jehovah's glory4' ,moses desires that he1 as mediator and lawgiver1 may have some closer knowledge4 ,the answer to his request is a word1 the articulate proclamation of the ',name' of the ,lord4 ,it is higher than all manifestation to sense1 which was what ,moses had asked4 ,here there is no symbol as of the ,lord in the 'cloud4' ,the divine manifestation is impossible to sense1 and that1 too1 not by reason of man's limitations1 but by reason of ,god's nature4 ,the manifestation to spirit in full immediate perception is impossible also4 ,it has to be maintained that we know ,god only 'in part'2 but it does not follow that our knowledge is only representative1 or is not of ,him 'as ,he is4' ,though not whole it is real1 so far as it goes4 ,but this is not the highest form4 ,words and propositions can never reveal so fully1 nor with such certitude1 as a personal revelation4 ,but we have ,christ's life1 ',god manifest'3 not words about ,god1 but the manifestation of the very divine nature itself in action4 ',merciful'3--and we see ,jesus going about 'doing good4' ',gracious1' and we see ,him welcoming to ,himself all the weary1 and ever bestowing of the treasures of ,his love4 ',longsuffering'3--',father6 forgive them6' ,god is 'plenteous in mercy and in truth1' forgiving transgression and sin3--',thy sins be forgiven thee4' ,how different it all is when we have deeds1 a human life1 on which to base our belief6 ,how much more certain1 as well as coming closer to our hearts6 ,merely verbal statements need proof1 they need warming4 ,in ,christ's showing us the ,father they are changed as from a painting to a living being2 they are brought out of the region of abstractions into the concrete4 ',and so the word had breath1 and wrought ,with human hands the creed of creeds4' ',show us the ,father and it sufficeth us4' ',he that hath seen ,me1 hath seen the ,father4' ,is there any other form of manifestation possible8 ,yes2 in heaven there will be a closer vision of ,christ--not of ,god4 ,our knowledge of ,christ will there be expanded1 deepened1 made more direct4 ,we know not how4 ,there will be bodily changes3 ',like unto the body of ,his glory4' etc4 ',we shall be like ,him4' ',changed from glory to glory4' ,,ii4 ,the answer to the desire to see ,god's glory4 ,the ',glory' was the technical name for the lustrous cloud that hung over the ,mercy-seat1 but here it probably means more generally some visible manifestation of the divine presence4 ,what ,moses craved to see with his eyes was the essential divine light4 ,that vision he did not receive1 but what he did receive was partly a visible manifestation1 though not of the dazzling radiance which no human eye can see and live1 and still more instructive and encouraging1 the communication in words of that shining galaxy of attributes1 'the glories that compose ,thy name4' ,in the name specially so-called1 the name ,jehovah1 was revealed absolute eternal ,being1 and in the accompanying declaration of so-called 'attributes' were thrown into high relief the two qualities of merciful forgiveness and retributive justice4 ,the 'attributes' which separate ,god from us1 and in which vulgar thought finds the marks of divinity1 are conspicuous by their absence4 ,nothing is said of omniscience1 omnipresence1 and the like1 but forgiveness and justice1 of both of which men carry analogues in themselves1 are proclaimed by the very voice of ,god as those by which ,he desires that ,he should be chiefly conceived of by us4 ,the true 'glory of ,god' is ,his pardoning ,love4 ,that is the glowing heart of the divine brightness4 ,if so1 then the very heart of that heart of brightness1 the very glory of the ',glory of ,god1' is the ,christ1 in whom we behold that which was at once 'the glory as of the only begotten of the ,father' and the ',glory of the ,father4' ,in ,jesus these two elements1 pardoning love and retributive justice1 wondrously meet1 and the mystery of the possibility of their harmonious co-operation in the divine government is solved1 and becomes the occasion for the rapturous gratitude of man and the wondering adoration of principalities and powers in heavenly places4 ,jesus has manifested the divine mercifulness2 ,jesus has borne the burden of sin and the weight of the divine ,justice4 ,the lips that said ',be of good cheer1 thy sins be forgiven thee1' also cried1 ',why hast ,thou forsaken ,me8' ,the tenderest manifestation of the ,god 'plenteous in mercy 444 forgiving iniquity1' and the most awe-kindling manifestation of the ,god 'that will by no means clear the guilty1' are fused into one1 when we 'behold that ,lamb of ,god that taketh away the sin of the world4' ,,iii4 ,the answer to a great sin4 ,this ,revelation is the immediate issue of ,israel's great apostasy4 ,sin evokes ,his pardoning mercy4 ,this insignificant speck in ,creation has been the scene of the wonder of the ,incarnation1 not because its magnitude was great1 but because its need was desperate4 ,men1 because they are sinners1 have been subjects of an experience more precious than the 'angels which excel in strength' and hearken 'to the voice of ,his word' have known or can know4 ,the wilder the storm of human evil roars and rages1 the deeper and louder is the voice that peals across the storm4 ,so for us all ,christ is the full and final revelation of ,god's grace4 ,the last1 because the perfect embodiment of it2 the sole1 because the sufficient manifestation of it4 ',see that ye refuse not ,him that speaketh4' ,,sin ,,and ,,forgiveness '444 ,forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin1 and that will by no means clear the guilty4444'--,,exodus xxiv4 #g4 ,the former chapter tells us of the majesty of the divine revelation as it was made to ,moses on 'the mount of ,god4' ,let us notice that1 whatever was the visible pomp of the external ,theophany to the senses1 the true revelation lay in the proclamation of the ',name'2 the revelation to the conscience and the heart2 and such a revelation had never before fallen on mortal ears4 ,it is remarkable that the very system which was emphatically one of law and retribution should have been thus heralded by a word which is perfectly 'evangelical' in its whole tone4 ,that fact should have prevented many errors as to the relation of ,judaism and ,christianity4 ,the very centre of the former was ',god is love1' 'merciful and gracious1' and if there follows the difficult addition 'visiting the iniquities1' etc41 the ,new ,testament adds its ',amen' to that4 ,true1 the harmony of the two and the great revelation of the means of forgiveness lay far beyond the horizon of ,moses and his people1 but none the less was it the message of ,judaism that 'there is forgiveness with ,thee that ,thou mayest be feared4' ,the law spoke of retribution1 justice1 duty1 and sin1 but side by side with the law was another institution1 the sacrificial worship1 which proclaimed that ,god was full of love1 and that the sinner was welcomed to ,his side4 ,and it is the root of many errors to transfer ,new ,testament language about the law to the whole ,old ,testament system4 ,but1 passing away from this1 ,i wish to look at two points in these words4 ,i4 ,the characteristics of human sins4 ,,ii4 ,the divine treatment of them4 ,i4 ,the characteristics of human sins4 ,observe the threefold form of expression--iniquity and transgression and sin4 ,it seems natural that in the divine proclamation of ,his own holy character1 the sinful nature of men should be characterised with all the fervid energy of such words2 for the accumulation even of synonyms would serve a moral purpose1 expressive at once of the divine displeasure against sin1 and of the free full pardon for it in all its possible forms4 ,but the words are very far from all meaning the same thing4 ,they all designate the same actions1 but from different points of view1 and with reference to different phases and qualities of sin4 ,now these three expressions are inadequately represented by the ,english translation4 ',iniquity' literally means 'twisting1' or 'something twisted1' and is thus the opposite of 'righteousness1' or rather of what is 'straight4' ,it is thus like our own 'right' and 'wrong1' or like the ,latin 'in-iquity' 7by which it is happily enough rendered in our version74 ,so looking at this word and the thoughts which connect themselves with it1 we come to this3-- 7#a7 ,all sin of every sort is deviation from a standard to which we ought to be conformed4 ,note the graphic force of the word as giving the straight line to which our conduct ought to run parallel1 and the contrast between it and the wavering curves into which our lives meander1 like the lines in a child's copy-book1 or a rude attempt at drawing a circle at one sweep of the pencil4 ,herbert speaks of ',the crooked wandering ways in which we live4' ,there is a path which is 'right' and one which is 'wrong1' whether we believe so or not4 ,there are hedges and limitations for us all4 ,this law extends to the ordering of all things1 whether great or small4 ,if a line be absolutely straight1 and we are running another parallel to it1 the smallest possible wavering is fatal to our copy4 ,and the smallest deflection1 if produced1 will run out into an ever-widening distance from the straight line4 ,there is nothing which it is more difficult to get into men's belief than the sinfulness of little sins2 nothing more difficult to cure ourselves of than the habit of considering quantity rather than quality in moral questions4 ,what a solemn thought it is1 that of a great absolute law of right rising serene above us1 embracing everything6 ,and this is the first idea that is here in our text--a grave and deep one4 ,but the second of these expressions for sin literally means 'apostasy1' 'rebellion1' not 'transgression1' and this word brings in a more solemn thought yet1 viz43-- 7#b7 ,every sin is apostasy from or rebellion against ,god4 ,the former word dealt only with abstract thought of a 'law1' this with a ',lawgiver4' ,our obligations are not merely to a law1 but to ,him who enacted it4 ,so it becomes plain that the very centre of all sin is the shaking off of obedience to ,god4 ,living to 'self' is the inmost essence of every act of evil1 and may be as virulently active in the smallest trifle as in the most awful crime4 ,how infinitely deeper and darker this makes sin to be6 ,when one thinks of our obligations and of our dependence1 of ,god's love and care1 what an 'evil and a bitter thing' every sin becomes6 ,urge this terrible contrast of a loving ,father and a disobedient child4 ,this idea brings out the ingratitude of all sin4 ,but the third word here used literally means 'missing an aim1' and so we come to 7#c7 ,every sin misses the goal at which we should aim4 ,there may be a double idea here--that of failing in the great purpose of our being1 which is already partially included in the first of these three expressions1 or that of missing the aim which we proposed to ourselves in the act4 ,all sin is a failure4 ,by it we fall short of the loftiest purpose4 ,whatever we gain we lose more4 ,every life which has sin in it is a 'failure4' ,you may be prosperous1 brilliant1 successful1 but you are 'a failure4' ,for consider what human life might be3 full of ,god and full of joy4 ,consider what the 'fruits' of sin are4 ',apples of ,sodom4' ,how sin leads to sorrow4 ,this is an inevitable law4 ,sin fails to secure what it sought for4 ,all 'wrong' is a mistake1 a blunder4 ',thou fool6' ,so this word suggests the futility of sin considered in its consequences4 ',these be thy gods1 ,o ,israel6' ',the end of these things is death4' ,,ii4 ,the divine treatment of sins4 ',forgiving1' and yet not suffering them to go unpunished4 7#a7 ,god forgives1 and yet ,he does not leave sin unpunished1 for ,he will 'by no means clear the guilty4' ,the one word refers to ,his love1 ,his heart2 the other to the retributions which are inseparable from the very course of nature4 ,forgiveness is the flow of ,god's love to all1 and the welcoming back to ,his favour of all who come4 ,forgiveness likewise includes the escape from the extreme and uttermost consequences of sin in this life and in the next1 the sense of ,god's displeasure here1 and the final separation from ,him1 which is eternal death4 ,forgiveness is not inconsistent with retribution4 ,there must needs be retribution1 from-- 7a7 ,the very constitution of our nature4 ,conscience1 our spiritual nature1 our habits all demand it4 7b7 ,the constitution of the world4 ,in it all things work under ,god1 but only for 'good' to them who love ,god4 ,to all others1 sooner or later1 the ,nemesis comes4 ',ye shall eat of the fruit of your doings4' 7#b7 ,god forgives1 and therefore ,he does not leave sin unpunished4 ,it is divine mercy that strikes4 ,the end of ,his chastisement is to separate us from our sins4 7#c7 ,divine forgiveness and retributive justice both centre in the revelation of the ,cross4 ,to us this message comes4 ,it was the hidden heart of the ,mosaic system4 ,it was the revelation of ,sinai4 ,to ,israel it was 'proclaimed' in thunder and darkness1 and the way of forgiveness and the harmony of righteousness and mercy were veiled4 ,to us it is proclaimed from ,calvary4 ,there in full light the ,lord passes before us and proclaims1 ',i am the ,lord1 the ,lord ,god merciful and gracious4' ',ye are come 444 unto ,jesus4' ',see that ye refuse not ,him that speaketh4' ',this is my ,beloved ,son1 hear ,him6' ,,blessed ,,and ,,tragic ,,unconsciousness '444 ,moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with ,him4'--,,exodus xxxiv4 #bi4 '444 ,and ,samson wist not that the ,lord had departed from him4'--,,judges xvi4 #bj4 ,the recurrence of the same phrase in two such opposite connections is very striking4 ,moses1 fresh from the mountain of vision1 where he had gazed on as much of the glory of ,god as was accessible to man1 caught some gleam of the light which he adoringly beheld2 and a strange radiance sat on his face1 unseen by himself1 but visible to all others4 ,so1 supreme beauty of character comes from beholding ,god and talking with ,him2 and the bearer of it is unconscious of it4 ,samson1 fresh from his coarse debauch1 and shorn of the locks which he had vowed to keep1 strides out into the air1 and tries his former feats2 but his strength has left him because the ,lord has left him2 and the ,lord has left him because1 in his fleshly animalism1 he has left the ,lord4 ,like1 but most unlike1 ,moses1 he knows not his weakness4 ,so strength1 like beauty1 is dependent upon contact with ,god1 and may ebb away when that is broken1 and the man may be all unaware of his weakness till he tries his power1 and ignominiously fails4 ,these two contrasted pictures1 the one so mysteriously grand and the other so tragic1 may well help to illustrate for us truths that should be burned into our minds and our memories4 ,i4 ,note1 then1 the first thought which they both teach us1 that beauty and strength come from communion with ,god4 ,in both the cases with which we are dealing these were of a merely material sort4 ,the light on ,moses' face and the strength in ,samson's arm were1 at the highest1 but types of something far higher and nobler than themselves4 ,but still1 the presence of the one and the departure of the other alike teach us the conditions on which we may possess both in nobler form1 and the certainty of losing them if we lose hold of ,god4 ,moses' experience teaches us that the loftiest beauty of character comes from communion with ,god4 ,that is the use that the ,apostle makes of this remarkable incident in #b ,cor4 iii1 where he takes the light that shone from ,moses' face as being the symbol of the better lustre that gleams from all those who 'behold 7or reflect7 the glory of the ,lord' with unveiled faces1 and1 by beholding1 are 'changed into the likeness' of that on which they gaze with adoration and longing4 ,the great law to which1 almost exclusively1 ,christianity commits the perfecting of individual character is this3 ,look at ,him till you become like ,him1 and in beholding1 be changed4 ',tell me the company a man keeps1 and ,i will tell you his character1' says the old proverb4 ,and what is true on the lower levels of daily life1 that most men become assimilated to the complexion of those around them1 especially if they admire or love them1 is the great principle whereby worship1 which is desire and longing and admiration in the superlative degree1 stamps the image of the worshipped upon the character of the worshipper4 ',they followed after vanity1 and have become vain1' says one of the prophets1 gathering up into a sentence the whole philosophy of the degradation of humanity by reason of idolatry and the worship of false gods4 ',they that make them are like unto them2 so is every one that trusteth in them4' ,the law works upwards as well as downwards1 for whom we worship we declare to be infinitely good2 whom we worship we long to be like2 whom we worship we shall certainly imitate4 ,thus1 brethren1 the practical1 plain lesson that comes from this thought is simply this3 ,if you want to be pure and good1 noble and gentle1 sweet and tender2 if you desire to be delivered from your own weaknesses and selfish1 sinful idiosyncrasies1 the way to secure your desire is1 ',look unto ,me and be ye saved1 all the ends of the earth4' ,contemplation1 which is love and longing1 is the parent of all effort that succeeds4 ,contemplation of ,god in ,christ is the master-key that opens this door1 and makes it possible for the lowliest and the foulest amongst us to cherish unpresumptuous hopes of being like ,him' if we see ,him as ,he is revealed here1 and perfectly like ,him when yonder we see ,him 'as ,he is4' ,there have been in the past1 and there are today1 thousands of simple souls1 shut out by lowliness of position and other circumstances from all the refining and ennobling influences of which the world makes so much1 who yet in character and bearing1 ay1 and sometimes in the very look of their meek faces1 are living witnesses how mighty to transform a nature is the power of loving gazing upon ,jesus ,christ4 ,all of us who have had much to do with ,christians of the humbler classes know that4 ,there is no influence to refine and beautify men like that of living near ,jesus ,christ1 and walking in the light of that ,beauty which is 'the effulgence of the divine glory and the express image of ,his ,person4' ,and in like manner as beauty so strength comes from communion with ,god and laying hold on ,him4 ,we can only think of ,samson as a 'saint' in a very modified fashion1 and present him as an example in a very limited degree4 ,his dependence upon divine power was rude1 and divorced from elevation of character and morality1 but howsoever imperfect1 fragmentary1 and ,i might almost say to our more trained eyes1 grotesque1 it looks1 yet there was a reality in it2 and when the man was faithless to his vow1 and allowed the crafty harlot's scissors to shear from his head the token of his consecration1 it was because the reality of the consecration1 rude and external as that consecration was1 both in itself and in its consequences1 had passed away from him4 ,and so we may learn the lesson1 taught at once by the flashing face of the lawgiver and the enfeebled force of the hero1 that the two poles of perfectness in humanity1 so often divorced from one another--beauty and strength--have one common source1 and depend for their loftiest position upon the same thing4 ,god possesses both in supremest degree1 being the ,almighty and the ,all-fair2 and we possess them in limited1 but yet possibly progressive1 measure1 through dependence upon ,him4 ,the true force of character1 and the true power for work1 and every real strength which is not disguised weakness1 'a lath painted to look like iron1' come on condition of our keeping close by ,god4 ,the ,fountain is open for you all2 see to it that you resort thither4 ,,ii4 ,and now the second thought of my text is that the bearer of the radiance is unconscious of it4 ',moses wist not that the skin of his face shone4' ,in all regions of life1 the consummate apex and crowning charm of excellence is unconsciousness of excellence4 ,whenever a man begins to imagine that he is good1 he begins to be bad2 and every virtue and beauty of character is robbed of some portion of its attractive fairness when the man who bears it knows1 or fancies1 that he possesses it4 ,the charm of childhood is its perfect unconsciousness1 and the man has to win back the child's heritage1 and become 'as a little child1' if he would enter into and dwell in the ',kingdom of ,heaven4' ,and so in the loftiest region of all1 that of the religious life1 you may be sure that the more a man is like ,christ1 the less he knows it2 and the better he is1 the less he suspects it4 ,the reasons why that is so1 point1 at the same time1 to the ways by which we may attain to this blessed self-oblivion4 ,so let me put just in a word or two some simple1 practical thoughts4 ,let us1 then1 try to lose ourselves in ,jesus ,christ4 ,that way of self-oblivion is emancipation and blessedness and power4 ,it is safe for us to leave all thoughts of our miserable selves behind us1 if instead of them we have the thought of that great1 sweet1 dear ,lord1 filling mind and heart4 ,a man walking on a tight-rope will be far more likely to fall1 if he is looking at his toes1 than if he is looking at the point to which he is going4 ,if we fix our eyes on ,jesus1 then we can safely look1 neither to our feet nor to the gulfs2 but straight at ,him gazing1 we shall straight to ,him advance4 ',looking off' from ourselves 'unto ,jesus' is safe2 looking off anywhere else is peril4 ,seek that self-oblivion which comes from self being swallowed up in the thought of the ,lord4 ,and again1 ,i would say1 think constantly and longingly of the unattained4 ',brethren6 ,i count not myself to have apprehended4' ,endless aspiration and a stinging consciousness of present imperfection are the loftiest states of man here below4 ,the beholders down in the valley1 when they look up1 may see our figures against the skyline1 and fancy us at the summit1 but our loftier elevation reveals untrodden heights beyond2 and we have only risen so high in order to discern more clearly how much higher we have to rise4 ,dissatisfaction with the present is the condition of excellence in all pursuits of life1 and in the ,christian life even more eminently than in all others1 because the goal to be attained is in its very nature infinite2 and therefore ensures the blessed certainty of continual progress1 accompanied here1 indeed1 with the sting and bite of a sense of imperfection1 but one day to be only sweetness1 as we think of how much there is yet to be won in addition to the perfection of the present4 ,so1 dear friends1 the best way to keep ourselves unconscious of present attainments is to set our faces forward1 and to make 'all experience' as 'an arch wherethro' gleams that untraveiled world to which we move4' ',moses wist not that the skin of his face shone4' ,the third practical suggestion that ,i would make is1 cultivate a clear sense of your own imperfections4 ,we do not need to try to learn our goodness4 ,that will suggest itself to us only too clearly2 but what we do need is to have a very clear sense of our shortcomings and failures1 our faults of temper1 our faults of desire1 our faults in our relations to our fellows1 and all the other evils that still buzz and sting and poison our blood4 ,has not the best of us enough of these to knock all the conceit out of us8 ,a true man will never be so much ashamed of himself as when he is praised1 for it will always send him to look into the deep places of his heart1 and there will be a swarm of ugly1 creeping things under the stones there1 if he will only turn them up and look beneath4 ,so let us lose ourselves in ,christ1 let us set our faces to the unattained future1 let us clearly understand our own faults and sins4 ,,iii4 ,thirdly1 the strong man made weak is unconscious of his weakness4 ,i do not mean here to touch at all upon the general thought that1 by its very nature1 all evil tends to make us insensitive to its presence4 ,conscience becomes dull by practice of sin and by neglect of conscience1 until that which at first was as sensitive as the palm of a little child's hand becomes as if it were 'seared with a hot iron4' ,the foulness of the atmosphere of a crowded hall is not perceived by the people in it4 ,it needs a man to come in from the outer air to detect it4 ,we can accustom ourselves to any mephitic and poisonous atmosphere1 and many of us live in one all our days1 and do not know that there is any need of ventilation or that the air is not perfectly sweet4 ,the 'deceitfulness' of sin is its great weapon4 ,but what ,i desire to point out is an even sadder thing than that--namely1 that ,christian people may lose their strength because they let go their hold upon ,god1 and know nothing about it4 ,spiritual declension1 all unconscious of its own existence1 is the very history of hundreds of nominal ,christians amongst us1 and1 ,i dare say1 of some of us4 ,the very fact that you do not suppose the statement to have the least application to yourself is perhaps the very sign that it does apply4 ,when the lifeblood is pouring out of a man1 he faints before he dies4 ,the swoon of unconsciousness is the condition of some professing ,christians4 ,frost-bitten limbs are quite comfortable1 and only tingle when circulation is coming back4 ,i remember a great elm-tree1 the pride of an avenue in the south1 that had spread its branches for more years than the oldest man could count1 and stood1 leafy and green4 ,not until a winter storm came one night and laid it low with a crash did anybody suspect what everybody saw in the morning--that the heart was eaten out of it1 and nothing left but a shell of bark4 ,some ,christian people are like that2 they manage to grow leaves1 and even some fruit1 but when the storm comes they will go down1 because the heart has been out of their religion for years4 ',samson wist not that the ,lord was departed from him4' ,and so1 brother1 because there are so many things that mask the ebbing away of a ,christian life1 and because our own self-love and habits come in to hide declension1 let me earnestly exhort you and myself to watch ourselves very narrowly4 ,unconsciousness does not mean ignorant presumption or presumptuous ignorance4 ,it is difficult to make an estimate of ourselves by poking into our own sentiments and supposed feelings and convictions1 and the estimate is likely to be wrong4 ,there is a better way than that4 ,two things tell what a man is--one1 what he wants1 and the other1 what he does4 ,as the will is1 the man is4 ,where do the currents of your desires set8 ,if you watch their flow1 you may be pretty sure whether your religious life is an ebbing or a rising tide4 ,the other way to ascertain what we are is rigidly to examine and judge what we do4 ',let us search and try our ways1 and turn again to the ,lord4' ,actions are the true test of a man4 ,conduct is the best revelation of character1 especially in regard to ourselves4 ,so let us 'watch and be sober'--sober in our estimate of ourselves1 and determined to find every lurking evil1 and to drag it forth into the light4 ,again1 let me say1 let us ask ,god to help us4 ',search me1 ,o ,god6 and try me4' ,we shall never rightly understand what we are1 unless we spread ourselves out before ,him and crave that ,divine ,spirit1 who is 'the candle of the ,lord1' to be carried ever in our hands into the secret recesses of our sinful hearts4 ',anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see1' and get the eye salve by communion with ,god1 who will supply thee a standard by which to try thy poor1 stained1 ragged righteousness4 ,the collyrium1 the eye salve1 may be1 will be1 painful when it is rubbed into the lids1 but it will clear the sight2 and the first work of ,him1 whose dearest name is ,comforter1 is to convince of sin4 ,and1 last of all1 let us keep near to ,jesus ,christ1 near enough to ,him to feel ,his touch1 to hear ,his voice1 to see ,his face1 and to carry down with us into the valley some radiance on our countenances which may tell even the world1 that we have been up where the ,light lives and reigns4 ',because thou sayest1 ,i am rich and increased with goods1 and have need of nothing1 and knowest not that thou art wretched1 and miserable1 and poor1 and blind1 and naked1 ,i counsel thee to buy of ,me gold tried in the fire1 that thou mayest be rich2 and white raiment1 that thou mayest be clothed1 and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear2 and anoint thine eyes with eye salve1 that thou mayest see1' ,,an ,,old ,,subscription ,,list ',and they came1 every one whose heart stirred him up1 and every one whom his spirit made willing1 and they brought the ,lord's offering to the work4444' --,,exodus xxxv4 #ba4 ,this is the beginning of the catalogue of contributions towards the erection of the ,tabernacle in the wilderness4 ,it emphasises the purely spontaneous and voluntary character of the gifts4 ,there was plenty of compulsory work1 of statutory contribution1 in the ,old ,testament system of worship4 ,sacrifices and tithes and other things were imperative1 but the ,tabernacle was constructed by means of undemanded offerings1 and there were parts of the standing ritual which were left to the promptings of the worshipper's own spirit4 ,there was always a door through which the impulses of devout hearts could come in1 to animate what else would have become dead1 mechanical compliance with prescribed obligations4 ,that spontaneous surrender of precious things1 not because a man must give them1 but because he delights in letting his love come to the surface and find utterance in giving which is still more blessed than receiving1 had but a narrow and subordinate sphere of action assigned to it in the legal system of the ,old ,covenant1 but it fills the whole sphere of ,christianity1 and becomes the only kind of offering which corresponds to its genius and is acceptable to ,christ4 ,we may look1 then1 not merely at the words of our text1 but at the whole section of which they form the introduction1 and find large lessons for ourselves1 not only in regard to the one form of ,christian service which is pecuniary liberality1 but in reference to all which we have to do for ,jesus ,christ1 in the picture which it gives us of that eager crowd of willing givers1 flocking to the presence of the lawgiver1 with hands laden with gifts so various in kind and value1 but all precious because freely and delightedly brought1 and all needed for the structure of ,god's house4 ,i4 ,we have set forth here the true motive of acceptable service4 ',they came1 every one whose heart stirred him up1 and every one whom his spirit made willing4' ,there is a striking metaphor in that last word4 ,wherever the spirit is touched with the sweet influences of ,god's love1 and loves and gives back again1 that spirit is buoyant1 lifted1 raised above the low1 flat levels where selfishness feeds fat and then rots4 ,the spirit is raised by any great and unselfish emotion4 ,there is buoyancy and glad consciousness of elevation in all the self-sacrifice of love1 which dilates and lifts the spirit as the light gas smoothes out the limp folds of silk in a balloon1 and sends it heavenwards1 a full sphere4 ,only service or surrender1 which is thus cheerful because it is the natural expression of love1 is true service in ,god's sight4 ,whosoever1 then1 had his spirit raised and made buoyant by a great glad resolve to give up some precious thing for ,god's sanctuary1 came with his gift in his hand1 and he and it were accepted4 ,that trusting of men's giving to spontaneous liberality was exceptional under the law4 ,it is normal under the ,gospel1 and has filled the whole field1 and driven out the other principle of statutory and constrained service and sacrifice altogether4 ,we have its feeble beginnings in this incident4 ,it is sovereign in ,christ's ,church4 ,there are no pressed men on board ,christ's ship4 ,none but volunteers make up ,his army4 ',thy people shall be willing in the day of ,thy might4' ,he cares nothing for any service but such as it would be pain to keep back2 nothing for any service which is not given with a smile of glad thankfulness that we are able to give it4 ,and for the true acceptableness of ,christian service1 that motive of thankful love must be actually present in each deed4 ,it is not enough that we should determine on and begin a course of sacrifice or work under the influence of that great motive1 unless we renew it at each step4 ,we cannot hallow a row of actions in that wholesale fashion by baptizing the first of them with the cleansing waters of true consecration1 while the rest are done from lower motives4 ,each deed must be sanctified by the presence of the true motive1 if it is to be worthy of ,christ's acceptance4 ,but there is a constant tendency in all ,christian work to slide off its only right foundation1 and having been begun 'in the spirit1' to be carried on 'in the flesh4' ,constant watchfulness is needed to resist this tendency1 which1 if yielded to1 destroys the worth and power1 and changes the inmost nature1 of apparently devoted and earnest service4 ,not the least subtle and dangerous of these spurious motives which steal in surreptitiously to mar our work for ,christ is habit4 ,service done from custom1 and representing no present impulse of thankful devotion1 may pass muster with us1 but does it do so with ,god8 ,no doubt a habit of godly service is1 in some aspects1 a good1 and it is well to enlist that tremendous power of custom which sways so much of our lives1 on the side of godliness4 ,but it is not good1 but1 on the contrary1 pure loss1 when habit becomes mechanical1 and1 instead of making it easier to call up the true motive1 excludes that motive1 and makes it easy to do the deed without it4 ,i am afraid that if such thoughts were applied as a sieve to sift the abundant so-called ,christian work of the present day1 there would be an alarming and1 to the workers1 astonishing quantity of refuse that would not pass the meshes4 ,let us1 then1 try to bring every act of service nominally done for ,christ into conscious relation with the motive which ought to be its parent2 for only the work that is done because our spirits lift us up1 and our hearts are willing1 is work that is accepted by ,him1 and is blessed to us4 ,and how is that to be secured8 ,how is that glad temper of spontaneous and cheerful consecration to be attained and maintained8 ,i know of but one way4 ',brethren1' said the ,apostle1 when he was talking about a very little matter--some small collection for a handful of poor people--'ye know the grace of our ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 how that1 though ,he was rich1 yet for our sakes ,he became poor1 that we1 through ,his poverty1 might become rich4' ,let us keep our eyes fixed upon that great pattern of and motive for surrender2 and our hearts will become willing1 touched with the fire that flamed in ,his4 ,there is only one method of securing the gladness and spontaneousness of devotion and of service1 and that is1 living very near to ,jesus ,christ1 and drinking in for ourselves1 as the very wine that turns to blood and life in our veins1 the spirit of that dear ,master4 ,every one whose heart is lifted up will have it lifted up because it holds on by ,him who hath ascended up1 and who1 being 'lifted up1 draws all men to ,him4' ,the secret of consecration is communion with ,jesus ,christ4 ,the appeal to lower motives is often tempting1 but always a mistake4 ,continual contact with ,jesus ,christ1 and realisation of what ,he has done for us1 are sure to open the deep fountains of the heart1 and to secure abundant streams4 ,if we can tap these perennial reservoirs they will yield like artesian wells1 and need no creaking machinery to pump a scanty and intermittent supply4 ,we cannot trust this deepest motive too much1 nor appeal to it too exclusively4 ,let me remind you1 too1 that ,christ's appeal to this motive leaves no loophole for selfishness or laziness4 ,responsibility is all the greater because we are left to assess ourselves4 ,the blank form is sent to us1 and ,he leaves it to our honour to fill it up4 ,do not tamper with the paper1 for remember there is a ,returning ,officer that will examine your schedule1 who knows all about your possessions4 ,so1 when ,he says1 ',give as you like2 and ,i do not want anything that you do not like1' remember that ',give as you like' ought to mean1 ',give as you1 who have received everything from ,me1 are bound to give4' ,,ii4 ,we get here the measure of acceptable work4 ,we have a long catalogue1 very interesting in many respects1 of the various gifts that the people brought4 ,such sentences as these occur over and over again--',and every man with whom was found' so-and-so 'brought it'2 ',and all the women did spin with their hands1 and brought that which they had spun'2 ',and the rulers brought' so-and-so4 ,such statements embody the very plain truism that what we have settles what we are bound to give4 ,or1 to put it into grander words1 capacity is the measure of duty4 ,our work is cut out for us by the faculties and opportunities that ,god has given us4 ,that is a very easy thing to say1 but it is an uncommonly hard thing honestly to apply4 ,for there are plenty of people that are smitten with very unusual humility whenever you begin to talk to them about work4 ',it is not in my way1' ',i am not capable of that kind of service1' and so on1 and so on4 ,one would believe in the genuineness of the excuse more readily if there were anything about which such people said1 ',well1 ,i can do that1 at all events'2 but such an all-round modesty1 which is mostly observable when service is called for1 is suspicious4 ,it might be well for some of these retiring and idle ,christians to remember the homely wisdom of ',you never know what you can do till you try4' ,on the other hand1 there are many ,christians who1 for want of honest looking into their own power1 for want of what ,i call sanctified originality1 are content to run in the ruts that other people's vehicles have made1 without asking themselves whether that is the gauge that their wheels are fit for4 ,both these sets of people flagrantly neglect the plain law that what we have settles what we should give4 ,the form as well as the measure of our service is determined thereby4 ',she hath done what she could1' said ,jesus ,christ about ,mary4 ,we often read that1 as if it were a kind of apology for a sentimental and useless gift1 because it was the best that she could bestow4 ,i do not hear that tone in the words at all4 ,i hear1 rather1 this1 that duty is settled by faculty1 and that nobody else has any business to interfere with that which a ,christian soul1 all aflame with the love of ,god1 finds to be the spontaneous and natural expression of its devotion to the ,master4 ,the words are the vindication of the form of loving service2 but let us not forget that they are also a very stringent requirement as to its measure1 if it is to please ,christ4 ',what she could'2 the engine must be worked up to the last ounce of pressure that it will stand4 ,all must be got out of it that can be got out of it4 ,is that the case about us8 ,we talk about hard work for ,christ4 ,have any of us ever1 worked up to the edge of our capacity8 ,i am afraid that if the principles that lie in this catalogue were applied to us1 whether about our gold and silver1 or about our more precious spiritual and mental possessions1 we could not say1 ',every man with whom was found' this1 that1 and the other1 'brought it for the work4' ,,iii4 ,notice1 again1 how in this list of offerings there comes out the great thought of the infinite variety of forms of service and offering1 which are all equally needful and equally acceptable4 ,the list begins with 'bracelets1 and earrings1 and rings1 and tablets1 all jewels of gold4' ,and then it goes on to 'blue1 and purple1 and scarlet1 and fine linen1 and red skins of rams1 and badgers' skins1 and shittim wood4' ,and then we read that the 'women did spin with their hands1 and brought that which they had spun'--namely1 the same things as have been already catalogued1 'the blue1 and purple1 and scarlet1 and fine linen4' ,that looks as if the richer gave the raw material1 and the women gave the labour4 ,poor women6 they could not give1 but they could spin4 ,they had no stores1 but they had ten fingers and a distaff1 and if some neighbour found the stuff1 the ten fingers joyfully set the distaff twirling1 and spun the yarn for the weavers4 ,then there were others who willingly undertook the rougher work of spinning1 not dainty thread for the rich soft stuffs whose colours were to glow in the sanctuary1 but the coarse black goat's hair which was to be made into the heavy covering of the roof of the tabernacle4 ,no doubt it was less pleasant labour than the other1 but it got done by willing hands4 ,and then1 at the end of the whole enumeration1 there comes1 ',and the rulers brought precious stones1 and spices1 and oil1' and all the expensive things that were needed4 ,the large subscriptions are at the bottom of the list1 and the smaller ones are in the place of honour4 ,all this just teaches us this--what a host of things of all degrees of preciousness in men's eyes go to make ,god's great building6 ,so various were the requirements of the work on hand4 ,each man's gift was needed1 and each in its place was equally necessary4 ,the jewels on the high-priest's breastplate were no more nor less essential than the wood that made some peg for a curtain1 or than the cheap goat's-hair yarn that was woven into the coarse cloth flung over the roof of the ,tabernacle to keep the wet out4 ,all had equal consecration1 because all made one whole4 ,all was equally precious1 if all was given with the same spirit4 ,so there is room for all sorts of work in ,christ's great house1 where there are not only 'vessels of gold and of silver1 but also of wood and of earth1' and all 'unto honour 444 meet for the ,master's use4' ,the smallest deed that co-operates to a great end is great4 ',the more feeble are necessary4' ,every one may find a corner where his special possession will work into the general design4 ,if ,i have no jewels to give1 ,i can perhaps find some shittim wood1 or1 if ,i cannot manage even that1 ,i can at least spin some other person's yarn1 even though ,i have only a distaff1 and not a loom to weave it in4 ,many of us can do work only when associated with others1 and can render best service by helping some more highly endowed4 ,but all are needed1 and welcomed1 and honoured1 and rewarded4 ,the owner of all the slaves sets one to be a water-carrier1 and another to be his steward4 ,it is of little consequence whether the servant be ,paul or ,timothy1 the ,apostle or the ,apostle's helper4 ',he worketh the work of the ,lord1 as ,i also do1' said the former about the latter4 ,all who are associated in the same service are on one level4 ,i remember once being in the treasury of a royal palace4 ,there was a long gallery in which the ,crown valuables were stored4 ,in one compartment there was a great display of emeralds1 and diamonds1 and rubies1 and ,i know not what1 that had been looted from some ,indian rajah or other4 ,and in the next case there lay a common quill pen1 and beside it a little bit of discoloured coarse serge4 ,the pen had signed some important treaty1 and the serge was a fragment of a flag that had been borne triumphant from a field where a nation's destinies had been sealed4 ,the two together were worth a farthing at the outside1 but they held their own among the jewels1 because they spoke of brain-work and bloodshed in the service of the king4 ,many strangely conjoined things lie side by side in ,god's jewel-cases4 ,things which people vulgarly call large and valuable1 and what people still more vulgarly call small and worthless1 have a way of getting together there4 ,for in that place the arrangement is not according to what the thing would fetch if it were sold1 but what was the thought in the mind and the emotion in the heart which gave it4 ,jewels and camel's hair yarn and gold and silver are all massed together4 ,wood is wanted for the ,temple quite as much as gold and silver and precious stones4 ,so1 whatever we have1 let us bring that2 and whatever we are1 let us bring that4 ,if we be poor and our work small1 and our natures limited1 and our faculties confined1 it does not matter4 ,a man is accepted 'according to that he hath1 and not according to that he hath not4' ,god does not ask how much we have given or done1 if we have given or done what we could4 ,but ,he does ask how much we have kept back1 and takes strict account of the unsurrendered possessions1 the unimproved opportunities1 the unused powers4 ,he gives much who gives all1 though his all be little2 he gives little who gives a part1 though the part be much4 ,the motive sanctifies the act1 and the completeness of the consecration magnifies it4 ',great' and 'small' are not words for ,god's ,kingdom1 in which the standard is not quantity but quality1 and quality is settled by the purity of the love which prompts the deed1 and the consequent thoroughness of self-surrender which it expresses4 ,whoever serves ,god with a whole heart will render to ,him a whole strength1 and will thus bring ,him the gifts which ,he most desires4 ,,the ,,copies ,,of ,,things ,,in ,,the ,,heavens ',and the ,lord spake unto ,moses1 saying1 #b4 ,on the first day of the first month shalt thou set up the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation4 #c4 ,and thou shalt put therein the ark of the testimony1 and cover the ark with the vail4 #d4 ,and thou shalt bring in the table1 and set in order the things that are to be set in order upon it2 and thou shalt bring in the candlestick1 and light the lamps thereof4 #e4 ,and thou shalt set the altar of gold for the incense before the ark of the testimony1 and put the hanging of the door to the tabernacle4 #f4 ,and thou shalt set the altar of the burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation4 #g4 ,and thou shalt set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar1 and shalt put water therein4 #h4 ,and thou shalt set up the court round about1 and hang up the hanging at the court gate4 #i4 ,and thou shalt take the anointing oil1 and anoint the tabernacle1 and all that is therein1 and shalt hallow it1 and all the vessels thereof3 and it shall be holy4 #aj4 ,and thou shalt anoint the altar of the burnt offering1 and all his vessels1 and sanctify the altar3 and it shall be an altar most holy4 #aa4 ,and thou shalt anoint the laver and his foot1 and sanctify it4 #ab4 ,and thou shalt bring ,aaron and his sons unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation1 and wash them with water4 #ac4 ,and thou shalt put upon ,aaron the holy garments1 and anoint him1 and sanctify him2 that he may minister unto me in the priest's office4 #ad4 ,and thou shalt bring his sons1 and clothe them with coats3 #ae4 ,and thou shalt anoint them1 as thou didst anoint their father1 that they may minister unto me in the priest's office2 for their anointing shall surely be an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations4 #af4 ,thus did ,moses3 according to all that the ,lord commanded him1 so did he4'--,,exodus xl4 #a-af4 ,the ,exodus began on the night after the fourteenth day of the first month4 ,the ,tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month2 that is1 one year1 less a fortnight1 after the ,exodus4 ,exodus xix4 #a shows that the march to ,sinai took nearly three months2 and if to this we add the eighty days of ,moses' seclusion on the mountain1 we get about six months as occupied in preparing the materials for the ,tabernacle4 ',setting it up' was a short process1 done in a day4 ,the time specified was ample to get ready a wooden framework of small dimensions1 with some curtains and coverings of woven stuffs4 ,what a glad stir there would be in the camp on that ,new ,year's day1 when the visible token of ,god's dwelling in its midst first stood there6 ,our present purpose is simply to try to bring out the meaning of the ,tabernacle and its furniture4 ,it was both a symbol and a type2 that is1 it expressed in material form certain great religious needs and truths2 and1 just because it did so1 it pointed onwards to the full expression and satisfaction of these in ,christ ,jesus and ,his gifts4 ,in other words1 it was a parable of the requisites for1 and the blessings of1 communion with ,god4 ,note1 then1 first1 the general lesson of the ,tabernacle as a whole4 ,its name declares its meaning1 'the tent of meeting' 7,rev4 ,ver474 ,it was the meeting-place of ,god with man1 as the name is explained in ,exodus xxix4 #db1 'where ,i will meet with you1 to speak there unto thee4' ,it is also named simply 'the dwelling'2 that is1 of ,god4 ,it was pitched in the midst of the camp1 like the tent of the king with his subjects clustered round him4 ,other nations had temples1 like the solemn structures of ,egypt2 but this slight1 movable sanctuary was a new thing1 and spoke of the continual presence of ,israel's ,god1 and of ,his loving condescension in sharing their wandering lives1 and1 like them1 dwelling 'within curtains4' ,it was a visible representation of a spiritual fact for the then present2 it was a parable of the inmost reality of communion between man and ,god2 and it was1 therefore1 a prophecy both of the full realisation of ,his presence among men1 in the temple of ,christ's body1 and of the yet future communion of ,heaven1 which is set before us by the 'great voice 444 saying1 ,behold1 the tabernacle of ,god is with men4' ,the threefold division into court of the worshippers1 holy place for the priests1 and holiest of all1 was not peculiar to the ,tabernacle4 ,it signifies the separation which1 after all nearness1 must still exist4 ,god is unrevealed after all revelation2 afar off1 however near2 shrouded in the utter darkness of the inmost shrine1 and only approached by the priestly intercessor with the blood of the sacrifice4 ,like all the other arrangements of the ,sanctuary1 the division of its parts declares a permanent truth1 which has impressed itself on the worship of all nations2 and it reveals ,god's way of meeting the need by outward rites for the then present1 and by the mediation of the great ,high-,priest in the time to come1 whose death rent the veil1 and whose life will1 one day1 make the holiest place in the heavens patent to our feet4 ,the enumeration of the furniture of the ,tabernacle starts from the innermost shrine1 and goes outward4 ,it was fit that it should begin with ,god's special abode4 ,the 'holy of holies' was a tiny chamber1 closed in from light1 the form1 dimensions1 materials1 and furniture of which were all significant4 ,it measured ten cubits1 or fifteen feet1 every way1 thereby expressing1 in its cubical form and in the predominance of the number ten1 stability and completeness4 ,it will be remembered that the same cubical form is given to the heavenly city1 in the ,apocalypse1 for the same reason4 ,there1 in the thick darkness1 unseen by mortals except for the one approach of the high-priest on the day of atonement1 dwelt the 'glory' which made light in the darkness1 and flashed on the gold which covered all things in the small shrine4 ,our lesson does not speak of cherubim or mercy-seat1 but specifies only the ark of the testimony4 ,this was a small chest of acacia wood1 overlaid with gold1 and containing the two tables of the law1 which were called the testimony1 as bearing witness to ,israel of ,god's will concerning their duty1 and as therein bearing witness1 too1 of what ,he is4 ,nor must the other part of the witness-bearing of the law be left out of view1--that it testifies against the transgressors of itself4 ,the ark was the centre-point of the divine revelation1 the very throne of ,god2 and it is profoundly significant that its sole contents should be the tables of stone4 ,egyptian arks contained symbols of their gods1 degrading1 bestial1 and often impure2 but the true revelation was a revelation1 to the moral sense1 of a ,being who loves righteousness4 ,other faiths had their mysteries1 whispered in the inmost shrine1 which shunned the light of the outer courts2 but here the revelation within the veil was the same as that spoken on the house-tops4 ,our lesson does not refer to the 'mercy seat1' which covered the ark above1 and spoke the need for1 and the provision of1 a means whereby the witness of the law against the worshipper's sins should be1 as it were1 hid from the face of the enthroned ,god4 ,the veil which is referred to in verse #c was that which hung between the holy of holies and the holy place4 ,it did not 'cover the ark1' as the ,authorised ,version unfortunately renders1 but 'screened' it1 as the ,revised ,version correctly gives it4 ,it blazed with colour and embroidered figures of cherubim4 ,no doubt1 the colours were symbolical2 but it is fancy1 rather than interpretation1 which seeks meanings beyond splendour in the blue and purple and crimson and white which were blended in its gorgeous folds4 ,what is it which hangs1 in ever-shifting hues1 between man and ,god8 ,the veil of creation1 embroidered by ,his own hand with beauty and life1 which are symbolised in the cherubim1 the types of the animate creation4 ,the two divisions of the ,tabernacle1 thus separated by the veil1 correspond to earth and heaven2 and that application of the symbol is certainly intended1 though not exclusively4 ,we step1 then1 from the mystery of the inner shrine out to the comparatively inferior sacredness of the 'holy place1' daily trodden by the priests4 ,three articles stand in it3 the table for the so-called shew-bread1 the great lampstand1 and the golden altar of incense4 ,of these1 the altar was in the midst1 right in the path to the holiest place2 and on the right1 looking to the veil1 the table of shew-bread2 while on the left was the lampstand4 ,these three pieces of furniture were intimately connected with each other1 and represented various aspects of the spiritual character of true worshippers4 ,the holy place was eminently the people's1 just as the most holy place was eminently ,god's4 ,true1 only the priests entered it2 but they did so on behalf of the nation4 ,we may expect1 therefore1 to find special reference to the human side of worship in its equipments2 and we do find it4 ,of the three articles1 the altar of incense was in idea1 as in locality1 the centre2 and we consider it first1 though it stands last in our list1 suggesting that1 in coming from the most holy place1 the other two would be first encountered4 ,the full details of its construction and use are found in ,exodus xxx4 ,twice a day sweet incense was burned on it1 and no other kind of sacrifice was permitted2 but once a year it was sprinkled1 by the high priest1 with expiatory blood4 ,the meaning is obvious4 ,the symbolism of incense as representing prayer in frequent in ,scripture1 and most natural4 ,what could more beautifully express the upward aspirations of the soul1 or the delight of ,god in these1 than the incense sending up its wreaths of fragrant smoke8 ,incense gives no fragrance nor smoke till it is kindled2 and the censer has to be constantly swung to keep up the glow1 without which there will be no 'odour of a sweet smell4' ,so cold prayers are no prayers1 but are scentless1 and unapt to rise4 ,the heart must be as a coal of fire1 if the prayer is to come up before ,god with acceptance4 ,twice a day the incense was kindled2 and all day long1 no doubt1 it smouldered1 'a perpetual incense before the ,lord4' ,so1 in the life of true communion1 there should be daily seasons of special devotion1 and a continual glow4 ,the position of the altar of incense was right in the line between the altar of burnt offering1 in the outer court1 and the entrance to the holiest place2 by which we are taught that acceptable prayer follows on reconciliation by sacrifice1 and leads into 'the secret place of the ,most ,high4' ,the yearly atonement for the altar taught that evil imperfection cleaves to all our devotion1 which needs and receives the sprinkling of the blood of the great sacrifice4 ,the great seven-branched candlestick1 or lampstand1 stood on the right of the altar1 as the priest looked to the most holy place4 ,its meaning is plain4 ,it is an emblem of the ,church as recipient and communicative of light1 in all the applications of that metaphor1 to a dark world4 ,as the sacred lamps streamed out their hospitable rays into the desert all the night1 so ,god's servants are lights in the world4 ,the lamps burned with derived light1 which had to be fed as well as kindled4 ,so we are lighted by the touch of the great ,aaron1 and ,his gentle hand tends the smoking wick1 and nourishes it to a flame4 ,we need the oil of the ,spirit to sustain the light4 ,the lamp was a clustered light1 representing in its metal oneness the formal and external unity of ,israel4 ,the ,new ,testament unity is of a better kind4 ,the seven candlesticks are made one because ,he walks in the midst1 not because they are welded on to one stem4 ,consistency of symbolism requires that the table of shew-bread should1 like the altar and the candlestick1 express some phase of true worship4 ,its interpretation is less obvious than that of the other two4 ,the name means literally 'bread of the face'2 that is1 bread presented to1 and ever lying before1 ,god4 ,there are two explanations of the meaning4 ,one sees in the offering only a devout recognition of ,god as the author of material blessing1 and a rendering to ,him of ,his gifts of outward nourishment4 ,in this case1 the shew-bread would be anomalous1 a literality thrust into the midst of symbolism4 ,the other explanation keeps up the congruity1 by taking the material bread1 which is the result of ,god's blessing on man's toil1 as a symbol of the spiritual results of ,god's blessing on man's spiritual toil1 or1 in other words1 of practical righteousness or good works1 and conceives that these are offered to ,god1 by a strong metaphor1 as acceptable food4 ,it is a bold representation1 but we may quote ',i will sup with him' as proof that it is not inadmissible2 and it is not more bold than the declaration that our obedience is 'an odour of a sweet smell4' ,so the three pieces of furniture in the holy place spoke of the true ,israel1 when cleansed by sacrifice and in communion with ,god1 as instant in prayer1 continually raying out the light derived from ,him1 and zealous of good works1 well-pleasing to ,god4 ,we pass outwards1 through another veil1 and stand in the court1 which was always open to the people4 ,there1 before the door of the ,tabernacle1 was the altar of burnt offering4 ,the order of our chapter brings us to it last1 but the order of worship brought the worshipper to it first4 ,its distinctive character was that on it the blood of the slain sacrifices was offered4 ,it was the place where sinful men could begin to meet with ,god1 the foundation of all the communion of the inner sanctuary4 ,we need not discuss mere details of form and the like4 ,the great lesson taught by the altar and its place1 is that reconciliation is needed1 and is only possible by sacrifice4 ,as a symbol it taught every ,israelite what his own conscience1 once awakened1 endorsed1 that sin must be expiated before the sinner and ,god can walk in concord4 ,as prophecy1 it assured those whose hearts were touched with longing1 that ,god would ,himself 'provide the lamb for the burnt offering1' in some way as yet unknown4 ,for us it is an intended prefiguration of the great work of ,jesus ,christ4 ',we have an altar4' ,we need that altar at the beginning of our fellowship with ,god1 as much as ,israel did4 ,a ,christianity which does not start from the altar of burnt offering will never get far into the holy place1 nor ever reach that innermost shrine where the soul lives and adores1 silent before the manifest ,god between the cherubim4 ,the laver1 or basin1 was intended for the priests' use1 in washing hands and feet before ministering at the altar or entering the tabernacle4 ,it teaches the necessity for purity1 in order to priestly service4 ,thus these three divisions of the ,tabernacle and its court set forth the stages in the approach of the soul to ,god1 beginning with the reconciling sacrifice and cleansing water1 advancing to closer communion by prayer1 impartation of light received1 and offering of good works to ,god1 and so entering within the veil into secret sweetnesses of union with ,god1 which attains its completeness only when we pass from the holy place on earth to the most holy in the heavens4 ,the remainder of the text can only be glanced at in a sentence or two4 ,it consists of two parts3 the consecration of the ,tabernacle and its vessels by the anointing oil which1 when applied to inanimate objects1 simply devoted them to sacred uses1 and the consecration of ,aaron and his sons4 ,a fuller account is given in ,leviticus viii41 from which we learn that it was postponed to a later period1 and accompanied with a more elaborate ritual than that prescribed here4 ,that consists of three parts3 washing1 as emblematic of communicated purity2 robing1 and anointing1--the last act signifying1 when applied to men1 their endowment with so much of the divine ,spirit as fitted them for their theocratic functions4 ,these three things made the 'sanctifying1' or setting apart for ,god's service1 of ,aaron and his sons4 ,he is consecrated alone1 in order that his primacy may be clearly indicated4 ,he is consecrated by ,moses as the higher2 then the sons are consecrated with the same ceremonial1 to indicate the hereditary priesthood1 and the equality of ,aaron's successors with himself4 ',they truly were many priests1 because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death1' and provision for their brief tenure of office was embodied in the consecration of the sons by the side of the father4 ,their priesthood was only 'everlasting' by continual succession of short-lived holders of the office4 ,but the prediction which closes the text has had a fulfilment beyond these fleeting1 shadowy priests1 in ,him whose priesthood is 'everlasting' and 'throughout all generations4' because ',he ever liveth to make intercession' 7,heb4 vii4 #be74 ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,leviticus ,,the ,,burnt ,,offering ,a ,,picture ,,and ,a ,,prophecy ',and the ,lord called unto ,moses1 and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation1 saying1 #b4 ,speak unto the children of ,israel1 and say unto them1 ,if any man of you bring an offering unto the ,lord1 ye shall bring your offering of the cattle1 even of the herd1 and of the flock4 #c4 ,if his offering be a burnt-sacrifice of the herd1 let him offer a male without blemish3 he shall offer it of his own voluntary will1 at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the ,lord4 #d4 ,and he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt-offering2 and it shall be accepted for him1 to make atonement for him4 #e4 ,and he shall kill the bullock before the ,lord3 and the priests1 ,aaron's sons1 shall bring the blood1 and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation4 #f4 ,and he shall flay the burnt offering1 and cut it into his pieces4 #g4 ,and the sons of ,aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar1 and lay the wood in order upon the fire3 #h4 ,and the priests1 ,aaron's sons1 shall lay the parts1 the head1 and the fat1 in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar3 #i4 ,but his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water3 and the priest shall burn all on the altar1 to be a burnt sacrifice1 an offering made by fire1 of a sweet savour unto the ,lord4' --,,lev4 i4 #a-i4 ,in considering the ,jewish sacrificial system1 it is important to distinguish the symbolical from the typical value of the sacrifices4 ,the former could scarcely be quite unnoticed by the offerers2 but the latter was only gradually made plain1 was probably never very generally seen1 and is a great deal clearer to us1 in the light of ,christ1 the ,antitype1 than it could ever have been before ,his coming4 ,as symbols1 the sacrifices expressed great eternal truths as to spiritual worship and communion1 its hindrances1 requisites1 manner1 and blessings4 ,they were ,god's picture-book for these children in religious development4 ,as types1 they shadowed the work of ,jesus ,christ and its results4 ,the value of the sacrifices in either aspect is independent of modern questions as to their ,mosaic origin2 for at whatever period the ,priest's ,code was promulgated1 it equally bears witness to the ruling ideas of the offerings1 and1 in any case1 it was long before ,christ came1 and therefore its prophecy of ,him is as supernatural1 whether ,moses or ,ezra were its author4 ,i make this remark1 not as implying that the new theory is not revolutionary1 but simply as absolving a student of the religious significance of the sacrificial system from entering here on questions of date4 ,the 'burnt offering' stands first in ,leviticus for several reasons4 ,it was derived from patriarchal times2 it was offered twice daily1 besides frequently on other occasions2 and in its significance it expressed the complete consecration which should be the habitual state of the true worshipper4 ,its name literally means 'that which ascends1' and refers1 no doubt1 to the ascent of the transformed substance of the sacrifice in fire and smoke1 as to ,god4 ,the central idea of this sacrifice1 then1 as gathered from its name and confirmed by its manner1 is that of the yielding of the whole being in self-surrender1 and borne up by the flame of intense consecration to ,god4 ,very beautiful is the variety of material which was permitted4 ,the poor man's pair of pigeons went up with as sweet an odour as the rich man's young bull4 ,god delights in the consecration to ,him of ourselves and our powers1 no matter whether they be great or small1 if only the consecration be thorough1 and the whole being be wrapped in the transforming blaze4 ,it is worth while to try to realise the strange and to our eyes repulsive spectacle of the burnt offering1 which is veiled from us by its sacred associations4 ,the worshipper leads up his animal by some rude halter1 and possibly resisting1 to the front of the ,tabernacle1 the courts of which he dared not tread1 but which was to him the dwelling-place of ,god4 ,there by the altar he stands1 and1 first pressing his hand with force on the victim's head1 he then1 with one swift cut1 kills it1 and as the warm blood spouts from the mangled throat1 the attendant priest catches it in a basin1 and1 standing at the two diagonally opposite corners of the altar in turn1 dashes1 with one dexterous twist1 half of the contents against each1 so as to wet two sides of the altar with one throw1 and the other two with the other4 ,the offerer then flays the reeking carcase1 tossing the gory hide to the priest as his perquisite1 and cuts up the sacrifice according to a fixed method4 ,his part of the work is done1 and he stands by with bloody hands while the priests arrange the pieces on the pile on the altar2 and soon the odour of burning flesh and the thick smoke hanging over the altar tell that the rite is complete4 ,what a scene it must have been when1 as on some great occasions1 hundreds of burnt offerings were offered in succession6 ,the place and the attendants would look to us liker shambles and butchers than ,god's house and worshippers4 ,now1 if we inquire into the significance of the offering1 it turns on two points--expiation and burning4 ,the former it has in common with other bloody sacrifices1 though it presents features of its own1 even in regard to expiation4 ,but the latter is peculiar to it1 and must therefore be taken to be its special teaching4 ,the stages in the whole process are five3 the presentation1 laying on of hands1 slaughter1 sprinkling of blood1 and burning of the whole carcase4 ,the first three are alike in this and other sacrifices1 the fourth is modified here1 and the last is found here only4 ,each has its lesson4 ,the offerer has himself to bring the animal to the door of the ,tabernacle1 that he may show his willing surrender of a valuable thing4 ,as he stands there with his offering1 his thoughts would pass into the inner shrine1 where ,god dwelt2 and he would1 if he were a true worshipper1 feel that while ,god1 on ,his part1 already dwelt in the midst of the people1 he1 on the other hand1 can only enter into the enjoyment of ,his presence by sacrifice4 ,the offering was to be 'a male without blemish'2 for bodily defect symbolising moral flaw could not be tolerated in the offerings to a holy ,god1 who requires purity1 and will not be put off with less than a man's best1 be it ox or pigeon4 ',the torn and the lame and the sick1' which ,malachi charged his generation with bringing1 are neither worthy of ,god to receive nor of us to offer4 ,when he pressed his hand on the head of the sacrifice1 what was the worshipper meant to think8 ,in all other instances where hands are laid on1 some transference or communication of gifts or qualities is implied2 and it is natural to suppose that the same meaning attaches to the act here1 with such modifications as the case requires4 ,we find that it was done in other bloody sacrifices1 accompanied with confession4 ,nothing is said of confession here2 but we cannot dismiss the idea that the offerer laid his sins on the victim by that striking act1 especially as the very next clause says 'it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him4' ,the atonement was made1 as we shall see1 by the application of the blood to the altar2 but the possibility of the victim's blood atoning for the offerer depended on his having laid his hands on its head4 ,we may perhaps go farther than 'transference of sins4' ,might we not widen the expression1 and say 'identification1' or1 to use a word which has become so worn by religious controversy that it slips through our fingers unnoticed1 'substitution'8 ,did not the offerer say in effect1 by that act1 ',this is ,i8 ,this animal life shall die1 as ,i ought to die4 ,it shall go up as a sweet savour to ,jehovah1 as my being should4' ,the animal invested with this representative character is next to be slain by the offerer1 not by the priest1 who only performed that part of the ritual in the case of national or public sacrifices4 ,that was distinctly a vicarious death2 and1 as inflicted by the hand of the person represented by the animal1 he thereby acknowledged that its death was the wages of his sin1 and allowed the justice of his condemnation1 while he presented this innocent life--innocent because not that of a moral being--as his substitute4 ,so far the worshipper's part goes4 ,but now1 when the act of expiation is to be symbolically represented1 and1 so far as outward sacrifice could1 is to be accomplished1 another actor appears4 ,the priest comes forward as mediator between ,god and man1 and applies the blood to the altar4 ,the difference between the sprinkling of the blood1 in the burnt offerings and in the other sacrifices1 which had expiation for their principal object1 in some of which it was smeared on the horns of the altar1 and1 in the most solemn of all1 was carried into the holiest place1 and sprinkled on the mercy-seat1 suggests that the essential character of the burnt offering was not expiatory1 though expiation was the foundation on which alone the essential character could be reared4 ,the application of the blood was the formal act by which atonement was made4 ,the word rendered 'to make atonement' means 'to cover'2 and the idea conveyed is that the blood1 which is the life of the sacrifice1 covers the sins of the offerer1 so as to make them powerless to dam back the love or to precipitate the wrath of ,god4 ,with this act the expiatory portion of the ritual ends1 and we may here pause to look back for a moment on it as a whole4 ,we have pointed out the double bearings of the ,mosaic ritual as symbolical and as typical or prophetic4 ,in the former aspect1 the emphatic teaching of this rite is that 'the wages of sin is death1' that 'without shedding of blood there is no remission1' that ,god has appointed sacrifice as the means of entering into fellowship with ,him1 and that substitution and vicarious penalty are facts in ,his government4 ,we may like or dislike these thoughts2 we may call them gross1 barbarous1 immoral1 and the like1 but1 at all events1 we ought not to deny that they are ingrained in the ,mosaic sacrificial system1 which becomes unmeaning elaboration of empty and often repulsive ceremonies1 if they are not recognised as its very centre4 ,of course1 the meaning of the sacrifices was hidden from many a worshipper4 ,they became opaque instead of transparent1 and hid the great truth which they were meant to reveal4 ,all forms labour under that disadvantage2 but that they were significant in design1 and largely so to devout hearts in effect1 admits of no reasonable doubt4 ,that which they signified was chiefly the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of innocent life1 which stood in the place of the guilty4 ,of course1 too1 their benefit was symbolical1 and the blood of bulls and goats could never put away sin2 but1 under the shelter of the outward forms1 a more spiritual insight gradually grew up1 such as breathes in many a psalm1 and such as1 we cannot doubt1 filled the heart of many a worshipper1 as he stood by the bleeding sacrifice on which his own hands had laid the burden that had weighed so heavy on himself4 ,how far the prophetic aspect of the sacrifices was discerned1 is a more difficult question4 ,but this at least we know--that the highest level of evangelical prophecy1 in ,isaiah's wonderful fifty-third chapter1 is reached from this vantage-ground4 ,it is the flower of which these ordinances are the root4 ,we need not enlarge upon the prophetic aspect of the sacrifice4 ,the mere negative sinlessness of the victim points to the ',lamb without blemish and without spot1' on whom1 as ,isaiah says1 in language dyed through and through with sacrificial references1 'the ,lord hath made to meet the iniquity of us all1' and who ,himself makes ',his soul an offering for sin4' ,the modern tendency to bring down the sacrificial system to a late date surely sins against the sacred and all-explaining law of evolution1 in the name of which it is attempted1 inasmuch as it is an unheard-of thing for the earlier stages of a religion to be less clogged with ceremonial than the later4 ,psalmist and prophet first1 and priest afterwards1 is not the order of development4 ,the remaining part of the ritual was1 as we have pointed out1 peculiar to the burnt offering4 ,in it alone the whole of the sacrifice was consumed on the altar1 with the exceptions of the skin1 which was given to the priest1 and of the contents of the intestines4 ,hence it was sometimes called 'a whole burnt offering4' ,the meaning of this provision may be apprehended if we note that the word rendered 'burn1' in verse #i1 is not that which simply implies destruction by fire1 but is a peculiar word1 reserved for sacrificial burnings1 and meaning 'to cause to ascend in smoke or vapour4' ,the gross flesh was1 as it were1 refined into vapour and odour1 and went up to ,god as 'a sweet savour4' ,it expressed1 therefore1 the transformation of the sinful human nature of the worshipper1 by the refining power of the fire of ,god1 into something more ethereal and kindred with the heaven to which it rose4 ,or1 to put the thought in plainer words1 on the basis of expiation1 the glad surrender of the whole being is possible and will ensue2 and when a man yields himself in joyful self-surrender to the ,god who has forgiven his sins1 then the fire of the divine ,spirit is shed abroad in his heart1 and kindles a flame which lays hold on all the gross1 earthly elements of his being1 and changes them into fire1 kindred with itself1 which aspires1 in ruddy tongues of upward-leaping light1 to the ,god to whom the heart has been surrendered1 and to whom the whole being tends4 ,this is the purpose of expiation2 this is the summit of all religion4 ,one man has realised to the full1 in his life1 what the burnt offering taught as the goal for all worshippers4 ,jesus has lived in the constant exercise of perfect self-surrender1 and in the constant unmeasured possession of 'the ,spirit of burning1' with which ,he has come to baptize us all4 ,if we look to ,him as our expiation1 we should also find in ,him the power to yield ourselves 'living sacrifices1' and draw from ,him the sacred and refining fire1 which shall transform our grossness into ,his likeness1 and make even us 'acceptable to ,god1 through ,jesus ,christ4' ,,strange ,,fire ',and ,nadab and ,abihu1 the sons of ,aaron1 took either of them his censer1 and put fire therein1 and put incense thereon1 and offered strange fire before the ,lord1 which ,he commanded them not4 #b4 ,and there went out fire from the ,lord1 and devoured them1 and they died before the ,lord4 #c4 ,then ,moses said unto ,aaron1 ,this is it that the ,lord spake1 saying1 ,i will be sanctified in them that come nigh ,me1 and before all the people ,i will be glorified4 ,and ,aaron held his peace4 #d4 ,and ,moses called ,mishael and ,elzaphan1 the sons of ,uzziel the uncle of ,aaron1 and said unto them1 ,come near1 carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp4 #e4 ,so they went near1 and carried them in their coats out of the camp2 as ,moses had said4 #f4 ,and ,moses said unto ,aaron1 and unto ,eleazar and unto ,ithamar1 his sons4 ,uncover not your heads1 neither rend your clothes2 lest ye die1 and lest wrath come upon all the people3 but let your brethren1 the whole house of ,israel1 bewail the burning which the ,lord hath kindled4 #g4 ,and ye shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation1 lest ye die3 for the anointing oil of the ,lord is upon you4 ,and they did according to the word of ,moses4 #h4 ,and the ,lord spake unto ,aaron1 saying1 #i4 ,do not drink wine nor strong drink1 thou1 nor thy sons with thee1 when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation1 lest ye die3 it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations2 #aj4 ,and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy1 and between unclean and clean2 #aa4 ,and that ye may teach the children of ,israel all the statutes which the ,lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of ,moses4'--,,lev4 x4 #a-aa4 ,this solemn story of sin and punishment is connected with the preceding chapter by a simple 'and4' ,probably1 therefore1 ,nadab and ,abihu 'offered strange fire1' immediately after the fire from ,jehovah had consumed the appointed sacrifice4 ,their sin was aggravated by the time of its being committed4 ,but a week had passed since the consecration of their father and themselves as priests4 ,the first sacrifices had just been offered1 and here1 in the very blossoming time1 came a vile canker4 ,if such licence in setting aside the prescriptions of the newly established sacrificial order asserted itself then1 to what lengths might it not run when the first impression of sanctity and of ,god's commandment had been worn by time and custom8 ,the sin was further aggravated by the sinners being priests1 who were doubly obliged to punctilious adherence to the instituted ritual4 ,if they set the example of contempt1 would not the people better 7or1 rather1 worsen7 their instruction8 ,unquestionably1 their punishment was awfully severe4 ,but we shall entirely misconceive their sin if we judge it by our standards4 ,we are not dependent on forms as ,israel was1 but the spiritual religion of ,christianity was only made possible by the externalism of the older system4 ,the sweet kernel would not have softened and become juicy without the shelter of the hard shell4 ,scaffolding is needed to erect a building2 and he is not a wise man who either despises or would keep permanently standing the scaffold poles4 ,we draw a broad distinction between positive commandments and moral or religious obligations4 ,but in the ,mosaic legislation that distinction does not exist4 ,there1 all precepts are ,god's uttered will1 and all disobedience is rebellion against ,him4 ,nor could it be otherwise at the stage of development which ,israel had reached4 ,what1 then1 was the crime of these two rash sons of ,aaron8 ,that involves two questions3 ,what did they do8 and ,what was the sin of doing it8 ,the former question may be answered in various ways4 ,certainly the designation of 'strange fire' seems best explained by the usual supposition that it means fire not taken from the altar4 ,the other explanations1 which make the sin to have been offering at an unauthorised time1 or offering incense not compounded according to the prescription1 give an unnatural meaning to the phrase4 ,it was the 'fire' which was wrong1--that is1 it was 'fire which they had kindled1' caught up from some common culinary hearth1 or created by themselves in some way4 ,what was their sin in thus offering it8 ,plainly1 the narrative points to the essence of the crime in calling it 'fire which ,he had not commanded4' ,so this was their crime1 that they were tampering with the appointed order which but a week before they had been consecrated to conserve and administer2 that they were thus thrusting in self-will and personal caprice1 as of equal authority with the divine commandment2 that they were arrogating the right to cut and carve ,god's appointments1 as the whim or excitement of the moment dictated2 and that they were doing their best to obliterate the distinction on the preservation of which religion1 morality1 and the national existence depended2 namely1 the distinction between holy and common1 clean and unclean4 ,to plough that distinction deep into the national consciousness was no small part of the purpose of the law2 and here were two of its appointed witnesses disregarding it1 and flying in its face4 ,the flash of holy fire consuming the sacrifices had scarcely faded off their eyeballs when they thus sinned4 ,they have had many successors1 not only in ,israel1 while a ritual demanding punctilious conformity lasted1 but in ,christendom since4 ,alas6 our censers are often flaming with 'strange fire4' ,how much so-called ,christian worship glows with self-will or with partisan zeal6 ,when we seek to worship ,god for what we can get1 when we rush into ,his presence with hot1 eager desires which we have not subordinated to ,his will1 we are burning 'strange fire which ,he has not commanded4' ,the only fire which should kindle the incense in our censers1 and send it up to heaven in fragrant wreaths1 is fire caught from the altar of sacrifice4 ,god must kindle the flame in our hearts if we are to render these else cold hearts to ,him4 ',the prayers ,i bring will then be sweet indeed ,if ,thou the ,spirit give1 by which ,i pray4' ,the swift1 terrible punishment does indeed bear marks of the severity of that earlier stage of revelation4 ,but it was not disproportioned to the offence1 and it was not the cruelty of a martinet who avenged ceremonial lapses with penalties which should have been kept for moral offences4 ,the surface of the sin was ceremonial impropriety3 the heart of it was flouting ,jehovah and ,his law4 ,it was better that two men should die1 and the whole nation perish not1 as it would have done if their example had been followed4 ,it is mercy to trample out the first sparks beside a powder-barrel4 ,there is a very striking parallel between verse #b and the last verse of the preceding chapter4 ,in both the same expression is used1 ',there came forth fire from before the ,lord1 and consumed' 7the word rendered devoured in verse #b is the same in ,hebrew as consumed74 ,so1 then1 the same divine fire1 which had graciously signified ,god's acceptance of the appointed sacrifice1 now flashed out with lightning-like power of destruction1 and killed the two rebel priests4 ,there is dormant potency of destruction in the ,god who reveals ,himself as gracious4 ,the 'wrath of the ,lamb' is as real as ,his gentleness4 ,the ,gospel is 'the savour of life unto life' and 'of death unto death4' ,moses' word to the stunned father is of a piece with the severity of the whole incident4 ,no voice of condolence or sympathy comes from him4 ,the brother is swallowed up in the lawgiver4 ,he puts into words the meaning of the terrible stroke1 and expects ,aaron to acquiesce1 though his heart bleeds4 ,what was his interpretation8 ,he saw in it ,god's purpose to be 'sanctified in them that come nigh ,him4' ,the priests were these4 ,nadab and ,abihu had been consecrated for the purpose of enforcing the truth of ,god's holiness4 ,they had done the very opposite1 by breaking down the distinction between sacred and common4 ,but their nearness to ,god brought with it not only corresponding obligations1 but corresponding criminality and penalty1 if these obligations were not discharged4 ,if ,god is not 'sanctified' by ,his servants1 ,he will sanctify ,himself on them4 ,if ,his people do not set forth ,his infinite separation from all evil and elevation above all creatures1 ,he will proclaim these truths in lightning that kills and thunder that roars4 ,it is a universal law which ,moses sternly spoke to ,aaron instead of comfort1 bidding him recognise the necessity of the fearful blow to his paternal heart4 ',you only have ,i known of all the families of the earth1 therefore ,i will punish you for all your iniquities4' ,the prohibition to ,aaron and his sons to show signs of mourning is as stern as the rest of the story1 and serves to insist upon the true point of view from which to regard it4 ,for the official representatives of the divine order of worship to mourn the deaths of its assailants would have seemed to indicate their murmuring at ,god's judgments1 and might have led them to participate in the sin while they lamented its punishment4 ,it is hard to mourn and not to repine4 ,affection blinds to the ill-desert of its objects4 ,nadab's and ,abihu's stark corpses lying in the forecourt of the sanctuary1 and ,aaron's dry eyes and undisturbed attire1 proclaim the same truths1--the gravity of the dead men's sin1 and the righteous judgment of ,god4 ,but the people might sorrow1 for their mourning would help to imprint on them more deeply the lessons of the dread event4 ,while the victims' cousins carried their bodies to their graves in the sand1 their father and brothers had to remain in the ,tabernacle1 because 'the anointing oil of ,jehovah is upon you4' ,that oil1 as the symbol of the ,spirit1 separates those on whom it is poured from all contact with death1 from participation in sin1 from the weight of sorrow4 ,what have immortality1 righteousness1 joy in the ,holy ,ghost1 to do with these dark shadows8 ,those whom ,god has called to ,his immediate service must hold themselves apart from earthly passions1 and must control natural affection1 if indulging it imperils their clear witness to ,god's righteous will4 ,the prohibition 7verses #h-aa7 of wine and strong drink during the discharge of the priestly functions seems to suggest that ,nadab and ,abihu had committed their sin while in some degree intoxicated4 ,be that as it may1 the prohibition is rested upon the necessity of preserving1 in all its depth and breadth1 the distinction between common and holy which ,nadab and ,abihu had broken down4 ,that distinction was to be very present to the priest in his work1 and how could he have the clearness of mind1 the collectedness and composure1 the sense of the sanctity of his office1 and ministrations which it requires and gives1 if he was under the influence of strong drink8 ,nothing has more power to blur the sharpness of moral and religious insight than even a small amount of alcohol4 ,god must be worshipped with clear brain and naturally beating heart4 ,not the fumes of wine1 in which there lurks almost necessarily the tendency to 'excess1' but the being 'filled with the ,spirit' supplies the only legitimate stimulus to devotion4 ,besides the personal reason for abstinence1 there was another1--namely1 that only so could the priests teach the people 'the statutes' of ,jehovah4 ,lips stained from the wine-cup would not be fit to speak holy words4 ,words spoken by such would carry no power4 ,god's servants can never impress on the sluggish conscience of society their solemn messages from ,god1 unless they are conspicuously free from self-indulgence1 and show by their example the gulf1 wide as between heaven and hell1 which parts cleanness from uncleanness4 ,our lives must witness to the eternal distinction between good and evil1 if we are to draw men to 'abhor that which is evil1 and cleave to that which is good4' ,,the ,,first ,,stage ,,in ,,the ,,leper',s ,,cleansing ',and the ,lord spake unto ,moses1 saying1 #b4 ,this shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing3 ,he shall be brought unto the priest3 #c4 ,and the priest shall go forth out of the camp2 and the priest shall look1 and1 behold1 if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper2 #d4 ,then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean1 and cedar-wood1 and scarlet1 and hyssop3 #e4 ,and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water3 #f4 ,as for the living bird1 he shall take it1 and the cedar-wood1 and the scarlet1 and the hyssop1 and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water3 #g4 ,and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times1 and shall pronounce him clean1 and shall let the living bird loose into the open field4'--,,lev4 xiv4 #a-g4 ,the whole treatment of leprosy is parabolic4 ,leprosy itself is a 'parable of death4' ,the horrible loathsomeness1 the contagiousness1 the non-curableness1 etc4 ,so the man was shut out from camp and from sanctuary4 ,there was a double process in the cleansing rite1 restoring to each4 ,i4 ,sketch the ceremonial4 ,two birds1 one slain over a vessel of water so that its blood drained in4 ,then the living bird was to be dipped into this water and blood1 along with cedar1 scarlet1 and hyssop1 and the man sprinkled seven times and the living bird set loose4 ,,ii4 ,the significance4 ,this elaborate symbolism was partly intelligible even then4 ,two birds1 like the two goats on the ,atonement ,day4 ,did both in some sense symbolise the man8 ,the first one was not exactly a sacrifice4 ,its death points to the physical death which was the end of the disease1 but also in some sense its death symbolised the death by which cleansing was secured4 7a7 ,the purifying water is made by blood added to it1 i4e4 cleansing by sacrifice4 ',by water and by blood4' 7b7 ,the sevenfold sprinkling4 ,the cedar1 symbol of incorruptibility2 the scarlet1 of full vital energy2 the hyssop1 of purifying4 ,so the thought was suggested of the communication of cleansing1 full health and incorruption1 undecaying strength2 all physical contrasts to leprosy sevenfold4 7c7 ,the free1 glad activity4 ,the freed bird4 ,the restored leper4 ,,the ,,day ,,of ,,atonement ',and the ,lord spake unto ,moses after the death of the two sons of ,aaron when they offered before the ,lord1 and died2 #b4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,speak unto ,aaron thy brother1 that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the mercy-seat1 which is upon the ark2 that he die not3 for ,i will appear in the cloud upon the mercy-seat4 #c4 ,thus shall ,aaron come into the holy place2 with a young bullock for a sin offering1 and a ram for a burnt offering4 #d4 ,he shall put on the holy linen coat1 and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh1 and shall be girded with a linen girdle1 and with the linen mitre shall he be attired3 these are holy garments2 therefore shall he wash his flesh in water1 and so put them on4 #e4 ,and he shall take of the congregation of the children of ,israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering1 and one ram for a burnt offering4 #f4 ,and ,aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering1 which is for himself1 and make an atonement for himself1 and for his house4 #g4 ,and he shall take the two goats1 and present them before the ,lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation4 #h4 ,and ,aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats2 one lot for the ,lord1 and the other lot for the scapegoat4 #i4 ,and ,aaron shall bring the goat upon which the ,lord's lot fell1 and offer him for a sin offering3 #aj4 ,but the goat1 on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat1 shall be presented alive before the ,lord1 to make an atonement with ,him1 and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness4 #aa4 ,and ,aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself1 and shall make an atonement for himself1 and for his house1 and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself4 #ab4 ,and he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the ,lord1 and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small1 and bring it within the vail3 #ac4 ,and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the ,lord1 that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy-seat that is upon the testimony1 that he die not3 #ad4 ,and he shall take of the blood of the bullock1 and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy-seat eastward2 and before the mercy-seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times4 #ae4 ,then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering1 that is for the people1 and bring his blood within the vail1 and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock1 and sprinkle it upon the mercy-seat1 and before the mercy-seat4 #af4 ,and he shall make an atonement for the holy place1 because of the uncleanness of the children of ,israel1 and because of their transgressions in all their sins3 and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation1 that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness4 #ag4 ,and there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place1 until he come out1 and have made an atonement for himself1 and for his household1 and for all the congregation of ,israel4 #ah4 ,and he shall go out unto the altar that is before the ,lord1 and make an atonement for it2 and shall take of the blood of the bullock1 and of the blood of the goat1 and put it upon the horns of the altar round about4 #ai4 ,and he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times1 and cleanse it1 and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of ,israel4'--,,lev4 xvi4 #a-ai4 ,the ,talmudical treatise on the ritual of the day of atonement is entitled ',yoma1' the day1 which sufficiently expresses its importance in the series of sacrificial observances4 ,it was the confession of the incompleteness of them all1 a ceremonial proclamation that ceremonies do not avail to take away sin2 and it was also a declaration that the true end of worship is not reached till the worshipper has free access to the holy place of the ,most ,high4 ,thus the prophetic element is the very life-breath of this supreme institution of the old covenant1 which therein acknowledges its own defects1 and feeds the hopes of a future better thing4 ,we do not here consider the singular part of the ritual of the ,day of ,atonement which is concerned with the treatment of the so-called 'scapegoat' but confine ourselves to the consideration of that part of it which was observed in the ,tabernacle and was intended to expiate the sins of the priesthood and of the people4 ,the chapter connects the rites of the ,day of ,atonement with the tragic death of the sons of ,aaron1 which witnessed to the sanctity of the inner shrine1 as not to be trodden but with the appointed offerings by the appointed priest2 and so makes the whole a divinely given instruction as to the means by which1 and the objects for which1 ,aaron may enter within the veil4 ,i4 ,in verses #c-aj we have the preliminaries of the sacrifices and a summary of the rites4 ,first1 ,aaron was to bathe1 and then to robe himself in pure white4 ,the dress is in singular contrast to the splendour of his usual official costume1 in which he stood before men as representing ,god1 and evidently signifies the purity which alone fits for entrance into the awful presence4 ,thus vested1 he brings the whole of the animals to be sacrificed to the altar1--namely1 for himself and his order1 a bullock and a ram2 for the people1 two goats and a ram4 ,the goats are then taken by him to the door of the tent1--and it is to be observed that they are spoken of as both constituting one sin offering 7v4 #e74 ,they therefore both belong to the ,lord1 and are1 in some important sense1 one1 as was recognised by the later ,rabbinical prescription that they should be alike in colour1 size1 and value4 ,the appeal to the lot was an appeal to ,god to decide the parts they were respectively to sustain in a transaction which1 in both parts1 was really one4 ,the consideration of the meaning of the ritual for the one which was led away may be postponed for the present4 ,the preliminaries end with the casting of the lots1 and in later times1 with tying the ominous red fillet on the head of the dumb creature for which so weird a fate was in store4 ,,ii4 ,the first part of the ritual proper 7vs4 #aa-ad7 is the expiation for the sins of ,aaron and the priesthood1 and his entrance into the most holy place4 ,the bullock was slain in the usual manner of the sin offering1 but its blood was destined for a more solemn use4 ,the white-robed priest took a censer of burning embers from the altar before the tent-door1 and two hands full of incense1 and1 thus laden1 passed into the ,tabernacle4 ,how the silent crowd in the outer court would watch the last flutter of the white robe as it was lost in the gloom within6 ,he passed through the holy place1 which1 on every day but this1 was the limit of his approach2 but1 on this one day1 he lifted the curtain1 and entered the dark chamber1 where the glory flashed from the golden walls and rested above the ark4 ,would not his heart beat faster as he laid his hand on the heavy veil1 and caught the first gleam of the calm light from the ,shechinah8 ,as soon as he entered1 he was to cast the incense into the censer1 that the fragrant cloud might cover the mercy-seat4 ,incense is the symbol of prayer1 and that curling cloud is a picture of the truth that the purest of men1 even the anointed priest1 robed in white1 who has offered sacrifices daily all the year round1 and today has anxiously obeyed all the commands of ceremonial cleanliness1 can yet only draw near to ,god as a suppliant1 not entering there as having a right of access1 but beseeching entrance as undeserved mercy4 ,the incense did not cover 'the glory' that ,aaron might not gaze upon it1 but it covered him that ,jehovah might not look on his sin4 ,it would appear that1 between verse #ac and verse #ad1 ,aaron's leaving the most holy place to bring the blood of the sacrifice must be understood4 ,if so1 we can fancy the long-drawn sigh of relief with which the waiting worshippers saw him return1 and carry back into the shrine the expiating blood4 ,the 'most holy place' would still be filled and its atmosphere thick with the incense fumes when he returned to perform the solemn expiation for himself and the whole priestly order4 ,once the blood was sprinkled on the mercy-seat1 and seven times1 apparently1 on the ground in front of it4 ,the former act was intended1 as seems probable1 to make atonement for the sins of the priesthood2 the latter1 to cleanse the sanctuary from the ideal defilements arising from their defective and sinful ministrations4 ,this completed the part of the ceremonial which belonged immediately to ,aaron and the priests4 ,it carries important lessons4 ,could there be a more striking exhibition of their imperfect realisation of the idea of the priestly office8 ,observe the anomaly inherent in the very necessity of the case4 ,aaron was dressed in the white robes emblematic of purity2 he had partaken in the benefit of1 and had himself offered1 sacrifices all the year round4 ,so far as ritual could go1 he was pure1 and yet so stained with sin that he dared not enter into the divine presence without that double safeguard of the incense and the blood4 ,the priest who cleanses others is himself unclean1 and he and his fellows have tainted the sanctuary by the very services which were meant to atone and to purify4 ,that solemn ritual is intended to teach priest and people alike1 that every priest 'taken from among men' fails in his office1 and pollutes the temple instead of purifying the worshipper4 ,but the office was ,god's appointment1 and therefore would not always be filled by men too small and sinful for its requirements4 ,there must somewhere and somewhen be a priest who will be one indeed1 fulfilling the divine ideal of the functions1 and answering the deep human longings which have expressed themselves in all lands1 for one1 pure with no ceremonial but a real purity1 to bring us to ,god and ,god to us1 to offer sacrifice which shall need no after atonement to expiate its defects1 and to stand without incense or blood of sprinkling for himself in the presence of ,god for us4 ,the imperfections of the human holders of the ,old ,testament offices1 whether priest1 prophet1 or king1 were no less prophecies than their positive qualifications were4 ,therefore1 when we see ,aaron passing into the holy place1 we see the dim shadow of ,christ1 who 'needeth not to make atonement' for ,his own sins1 and is our priest 'for ever4' ,,iii4 ,the ritual for the atonement of the sins of the people follows4 ,the two goats had been1 during all this time1 standing at the door of the ,tabernacle4 ,we have already pointed out that they are to be considered as one sacrifice4 ,there are two of them1 for the same reason1 as has been often remarked1 as there were two birds in the ritual of cleansing the leper2 namely1 because one animal could not represent the two parts of the one whole truth which they are meant to set forth4 ,the one was sacrificed as a sin offering1 and the other led away into a solitary land4 ,here we consider the meaning of the former only1 which presents no difficulty4 ,it is a sin offering for the people1 exactly corresponding to that just offered for the priests4 ,the same use is made of the blood1 which is once sprinkled by ,aaron on the mercy-seat and seven times on the ground before it1 as in the former case4 ,it is not1 however1 all employed there1 but part of it is carried out into the other divisions of the ,tabernacle2 and first1 the holy place1 which the priests daily entered and which is called in verse #af 'the tent of meeting1' and next1 the altar of burnt offering in the outer court1 are in like manner sprinkled seven times with the blood1 to 'hallow' them 'from the uncleanness of the children of ,israel' 7verse #ai74 ,the teaching of this rite1 in its bearing upon the people1 is similar to that of the previous priestly expiation4 ,the insufficiency of sacrificial cleansing is set forth by this annual atonement for sins which had all been already atoned for4 ,the defects of a ritual worship are proclaimed by the ritual which cleanses the holy places from the uncleanness contracted by them from the worshippers4 ,if the altar1 the seat of expiation1 itself needed expiation1 how imperfect its worth must be6 ,if the cleansing fountain is foul1 how shall it be cleansed1 or how shall it cleanse the offerers8 ,the bearing of the blood of expiation into the most holy place1 where no ,israelite ever entered1 save the high priest1 taught that the true expiation could only be effected by one who should pass into the presence of ,god1 and leave the door wide open for all to enter4 ,for surely the distance between the worshippers and the mercy-seat was a confession of imperfection2 and the entrance there of the representative of the sinful people was the holding out of a dim hope that in some fashion1 yet unknown1 the veil would be rent1 and true communion be possible for the humble soul4 ,the ,epistle to the ,hebrews tells us where we are to look for the realities of which these ceremonies were the foreshadowings4 ,the veil was rent at the crucifixion4 ,christ has gone into 'the secret place of the ,most ,high1' and if we love ,him1 our hearts have gone with ,him1 and our lives are 'hid with ,him1 in ,god4' ',,the ,,scapegoat' ',and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited4444'-,,lev4 xvi4 #bb4 ,the import of the remarkable treatment of this goat does not depend on the interpretation of the obscure phrase rendered in the ,authorised ,version 'for the scapegoat4' ,leaving that out of sight for the moment1 we observe that the two animals were one sacrifice1 and that the transaction with the living one was the completion of that with the slain4 ,the sins of the congregation1 which had been already expiated by the sacrifice1 were laid by the high priest on the head of the goat1 which was then sent away into the wilderness that he might 'bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited' 7v4 #bb74 ,nothing depends on the fate of the goat1 though1 in after times1 it was forced over a precipice and so killed4 ,the carrying away of expiated sin1 and not the destruction of unexpiated sinners1 is the meaning of the impressive rite1 and1 had it been possible1 the same goat that was sacrificed would have been sent into the desert4 ,as that could not be done1 an ideal unity was established between the two3 the one sacrificed represented the fact of expiation1 the one driven away represented the consequences of expiation in the complete removal of sin4 ,the expiation was made 'within the veil'2 but a visible token of its completeness was given to help feeble faith1 in the blessed mystery of the unseen propitiation4 ,what was divided in the symbol between the twin goats is all done by the one ,sacrifice1 who has entered into the holiest of all1 at once ,priest and ,sacrifice1 and with ,his own blood made expiation for sin1 and has likewise carried away the sin of the world into a land of forgetfulness1 whence it never can return4 ,the clear meaning of the rite is thus obtained1 whatever be the force of the difficult phrase already referred to4 ',scapegoat' is certainly wrong4 ,but it may be questioned whether the ,revised ,version is right in retaining the ,hebrew word untranslated1 and1 by putting a capital letter to it1 marking it as a proper name 7'for ,azazel'74 ,the word occurs only here1 so that we have no help from other passages4 ,it seems to come from a root meaning 'to drive away1' and those who take it to be a proper name1 generally suppose it to refer to some malignant spirit1 or to ,satan1 and interpret it as meaning 'a fiend whom one drives away1' or1 sometimes1 'who drives away4' ,the vindication of such an interpretation is supposed to lie in the necessity of finding a complete antithesis in the phrase to the 'for ,jehovah' of the previous clause in verse #h4 ,but it is surely sacrificing a good deal to rhetorical propriety to drag in an idea so foreign to the ,pentateuch1 and so opposed to the plain fact1 that both goats were one sin offering 7v4 #e71 in order to get a pedantically correct antithesis4 ,in the absence of any guidance from usage1 certainty as to the meaning of the word is unattainable4 ,but there seems no reason1 other than that of the said antithesis1 against taking it to mean removal or dismissal1 rather than 'a remover4' ,the ,septuagint translates it in both ways3 as a person in verse #h1 and as 'sending away' in verse #aj4 ,if the latter meaning be adopted1 then the word just defines the same purpose as is given more at length in verse #bb1 namely1 the carrying away of the sins of the congregation4 ,the logical imperfection of the opposition in verse #h would then be simply enough solved by the fact that while both goats were 'for the ,lord1' one was destined to be actually offered in sacrifice1 and the other to be 'for dismissal4' ,the incomplete contrast testifies to the substantial unity of the two1 and needs no introduction1 into the most sacred rite of the old covenant1 of a ceremony which looks liker demon-worship than a parable of the great expiation for a world's sins4 ,the question for us is1 ,what spiritual ideas are contained in this ,levitical symbolism8 ,there is signified1 surely1 the condition of approach to ,god4 ,remember how the ,israelites had impressed on their minds the awful sanctity of 'within the veil4' ,the inmost shrine was trodden once a year only by the high priest1 and only after anxious lustrations and when clothed in pure garments1 he entered 'with sacrifice and incense lest he die4' ,this ritual was for a gross and untutored age1 but the men of that age were essentially like ourselves1 and we have the same sins and spiritual necessities as they had4 ,the two goats are regarded as one sacrifice4 ,they are a 'sin offering4' ,hence1 to show how unimportant and non-essential is the distinction between them1 the 'lot' is employed2 also1 while the one is being slain1 the other stands before the 'door of the ,tabernacle4' ,this shows that both are parts of one whole1 and it is only from the impossibility of presenting both halves of the truth to be symbolised in one that two are taken4 ,the one which is slain represents the sacrifice for sin4 ,the other represents the effects of that sacrifice4 ,it is never heard of more4 ',the ,lamb of ,god taketh away the sins of the world4' ',as far as the east is from the west1 so far hath ,he removed our transgressions from us4' ,i4 ,the perfect removal of all sin is thus symbolised4 ,notice 7#a7 the vivid consciousness of sin which marked ,judaism4 ,was it exaggerated or right8 ,the same consciousness is part of all of us1 but how overlaid6 how stifled6 ,that consciousness once awakened has in it these elements--a bitter sense of sin as mine1 involving guilt2 despair as to whether ,i can ever overcome it2 and fearful thoughts of my relation to ,god which conscience itself brings4 7#b7 ,the futility of all attempts to remove these fears4 ,false religions have next to nothing to say about forgiveness4 ,sacrifices and lustrations they have1 but no assurance of absolution4 ,systems of philosophy and morals have nothing to say but that the universe goes crashing on1 and if you have broken its laws you must suffer4 ,that is all1 or only the poor cheer of ',well6 you have fallen1 get up and go on again6' ,so men often drug themselves into forgetfulness4 ,they turn away from the unwelcome subject1 and forget it at the price of all moral earnestness and often of all happiness2 a lethargic sleep or a gaiety1 as little real as that of the ,girondins singing in their prison the night before being led out to the guillotine4 ,it is only ,god's authoritative revelation that can ensure the cure1 only ,he can assure us of pardon1 and of the removal of all barriers between ourselves and ,his love4 ,only ,his word can ensure1 and ,his power can effect1 the removal of the consequences of our sins4 ,only ,his word can ensure1 and ,his power effect1 the removal of the power of evil on our characters4 7#c7 ,still the question1 ,can guilt ever be cancelled8 often assumes a fearful significance4 ,doubtless much seems to say that it cannot be4 7a7 ,the irrevocableness of the past4 7b7 ,the rigid law of consequences in this world4 7c7 ,the indissoluble unity of an individual life and moral nature1 confirmed by the experience of failure in all attempts at reformation of self4 7d7 ,the consciousness of disturbed relations with ,god1 and the prophecy of judgment4 ,all this that ancient symbol suggested4 ,the picture of the goat going away1 and away1 and away1 a lessening speck on the horizon1 and never heard of more is the divine symbol of the great fact that there is full1 free1 everlasting forgiveness1 and on ,god's part1 utter forgetfulness4 ',though your sins be as scarlet1 they shall be white as snow4' ',i will remember them no more at all for ever4' ,,ii4 ,the bearing away of sin is indissolubly connected with sacrifice4 ,two goats were provided1 of which one was offered for a sin offering1 indicating that sacrifice came first2 then the removal of sin was symbolised by the sending away of the second goat4 ,there is an evident reference to this sequence in the words 'without shedding of blood there is no remission4' ,the two goats represent ,christ's work2 the one in its essence1 the other in its effect4 ,the one teaches that sacrifice is a necessary condition of pardon4 ,forgiveness was not given because the offerer confessed his guilt or because ',god was merciful1' but because the goat had been slain as a sin offering4 ,there is deep spiritual truth for us in this symbolism4 ,we do not need to enter on the philosophy of atonement1 but simply to rest on the fact--that the only authority on which we can be sure of forgiveness at all indissolubly associates the two things1 sacrifice and pardon4 ,we have no reason to believe in forgiveness except from the ,bible record and assurance4 ,was the ,mosaic ritual a divinely appointed thing8 ,if so1 its testimony is conclusive4 ,but even if it were only the embodiment of human aspirations and wants1 it would be a strong evidence of the necessity of some such thing as forgiveness4 ,the shallow dream that ,god's forgiveness can be extended without a sacrifice having been offered does not exalt but detracts from the divine character4 ,it invariably leads to an emasculated abhorrence of evil1 and detracts from the holiness of ,god1 as well as introduces low thoughts of the greatness of forgiveness and of the infinite love of ,god4 ,,iii4 ,the bearing away of sin is associated with man's laying of his sins on the sacrifice appointed by ,god4 ,we have seen that the two goats must be regarded as together making one whole4 ,the one which was slain made 'atonement 444 because of the uncleannesses of the children of ,israel1 and because of their transgressions1 even all their sins1' but that expiation was not actually effective till ,aaron had 'laid his hands on the head of the live goat1 and confessed over him all the iniquities of the children of ,israel1 444 and put them on the head of the live goat1 and sent him away into the wilderness4' ,the sacrifice of the slain goat did not accomplish the pardon or removal of the people's sins1 but made it possible that their sins should be pardoned and removed4 ,then the method by which that possibility is realised is the laying hands on the scapegoat and confessing the sins upon it4 ,the sins which are actually forgiven1 by virtue of the atonement made for all sins1 are those which it bears away to the wilderness4 ,this answers1 point for point1 to repentance and faith4 ,by these the possibility is turned into an actuality for as many as believe on ,christ4 ,christ has died for sin4 ,christ has made atonement by which all sin may be forgiven2 whether any shall actually be forgiven depends on something else4 ,it is conceivable that though ,christ died1 no sin might be pardoned1 if no man believed4 ,his blood would not1 even then1 have been shed in vain1 for the purpose of it would have been fully effected in providing a way by which any and all sin could be forgiven4 ,so that the whole question whether any man's sin is pardoned turns on this1 ,has he laid his hand on ,christ8 ,faith is only a condition of forgiveness1 not a cause1 or in itself a power4 ,there was no healing in the mere laying of the hand on the head of the goat4 ,it was not faith which was the reason for forgiveness1 but ,god's love which had provided the sacrifice4 ,god's will is not a bare will to pardon1 nor a bare will to pardon for ,christ's sake1 but for ,christ's sake to pardon them who believe4 ',behold the ,lamb of ,god which taketh away the sins of the world4' ',dost thou believe on the ,son of ,god8' ',through this ,man is preached the remission of sins4' ,,the ,,consecration ,,of ,,joy ',and the ,lord spake unto ,moses1 saying1 #cd4 ,speak unto the children of ,israel1 saying1 ,the fifteenth day of this seventh month shall be the feast of tabernacles for seven days unto the ,lord4 #ce4 ,on the first day shall be an holy convocation3 ye shall do no servile work therein4 #cf4 ,seven days ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the ,lord2 on the eighth day shall be an holy convocation unto you2 and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the ,lord3 it is a solemn assembly2 and ye shall do no servile work therein4 #cg4 ,these are the feasts of the ,lord1 which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations1 to offer an offering made by fire unto the ,lord1 a burnt offering1 and a meat offering1 a sacrifice1 and drink offerings1 every thing upon his day3 #ch4 ,beside the sabbaths of the ,lord1 and beside your gifts1 and beside all your vows1 and beside all your freewill offerings1 which ye give unto the ,lord4 #ci4 ,also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month1 when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land1 ye shall keep a feast unto the ,lord seven days3 on the first day shall be a sabbath1 and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath4 #dj4 ,and ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees1 branches of palm-trees1 and the boughs of thick trees1 and willows of the brook2 and ye shall rejoice before the ,lord your ,god seven days4 #da4 ,and ye shall keep it a feast unto the ,lord seven days in the year4 ,it shall be a statute for ever in your generations3 ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month4 #db4 ,ye shall dwell in booths seven days2 all that are ,israelites born shall dwell in booths3 #dc4 ,that your generations may know that ,i made the children of ,israel to dwell in booths1 when ,i brought them out of the land of ,egypt3 ,i am the ,lord your ,god4 #dd4 ,and ,moses declared unto the children of ,israel the feasts of the ,lord4' --,,lev4 xxiii4 #cc-dd4 ,these directions for the observance of the great festival at the close of harvest are singularly arranged4 ,verses #cc-cf give part of the instructions for the ,feast1 verses #cg and #ch interrupt these with a summary of the contents of the chapter1 and verses #ci to the end pick up the broken thread1 and finish the regulations for the feast4 ,naturally1 this apparent afterthought has been pointed out as clear evidence of diversity of authorship4 ,but a reasonable explanation may be given on the hypothesis of the unity of the section1 by observing that verses #cc-cf deal only with the sacrificial side of the feast1 as worship proper1 and thus come into line with the previous part of the chapter1 which is occupied with an enumeration of the annual 'feasts of the ,lord' 7v4 #d74 ,it was natural1 therefore1 that1 when the list had been completed by the sacrificial prescriptions for the last of the series1 the close of the catalogue should be marked1 in verses #cg1 #ch1 and that then the other parts of the observances connected with this feast1 which are not sacrificial1 nor1 properly speaking1 worship1 should be added4 ,there is no need to invoke the supposition of two authors1 and a subsequent stitching together1 in order to explain the arrangement4 ,the unity is all the more probable because1 otherwise1 the first half would give the name of the feast as that of 'tabernacles1' and would not contain a word to account for the name4 ,we need not1 then1 include the separating wedge1 in verses #cg1 #ch1 in our present consideration4 ,the ritual of the feast is broadly divided by it1 and we may consider the two portions separately4 ,the first half prescribes the duration of the feast as seven days 7the perfect number71 with an eighth1 which is named1 like the first1 'an holy convocation1' on which no work was to be done1 but is also called 'a solemn assembly1' or rather1 as the ,revised ,version reads1 in margin1 'a closing festival1' inasmuch as it closed1 not only that particular feast1 but the whole series for the year4 ,the observances enjoined1 then1 are the public assembly on the first and eighth days1 with cessation from labour1 and a daily offering4 ,we learn more about the offering from ,numbers xxix4 #ab et seq41 which appoints a very peculiar arrangement4 ,on each day there was to be1 as on other feast days1 one goat for a sin offering2 but the number of rams and lambs for the burnt offering was doubled1 and1 during the seven days of the feast1 seventy bullocks were offered1 arranged in a singular diminishing scale1--thirteen on the first day1 and falling off by one a day till the seventh day1 when seven were sacrificed4 ,the eighth day was marked as no part of the feast proper1 by the number of sacrifices offered on it1 dropping to one bullock1 one ram1 and seven lambs4 ,no satisfactory account of this regulation has been suggested4 ,it may possibly have meant no more than to mark the first day as the chief1 and to let the worshippers down gradually from the extraordinary to the ordinary4 ,the other half of the regulations deals with the more domestic aspect of the festival4 ,observe1 as significant of the different point of view taken in it1 that the first and eighth days are there described1 not as 'holy convocations1' but as 'sabbaths1' or1 as the ,revised ,version gives it better1 'a solemn rest4' ,observe1 also1 that these verses connect the feast with the ingathering of the harvest1 as does ,exodus xxiii4 #af4 ,it is quite possible that ,moses grafted the more commemorative aspect of the feast on an older 'harvest home'2 but that is purely conjectural1 however confidently affirmed as certain4 ,to tumble down cartloads of quotations about all sorts of nations that ran up booths and feasted in them at vintage-time does not help us much4 ,the 'joy of harvest' was unquestionably blended with the joy of remembered national deliverance1 but that the latter idea was superadded to the former at a later time is1 to say the least1 not proven4 ,would it matter very much if it were8 ,three kinds of trees are specified from which 'the fruit1' that is branches with fruit on them1 if the tree bore fruit1 were to be taken3 palms1 'thick trees1' that is thick foliaged1 which could give leafy shade1 and willows of the brook1 which the ,rabbis say were used for binding the others together4 ,verse #dj does not tell what is to be done with these branches1 but the later usage was to carry some of them in the hand as well as to use them for booths4 ,the keynote of the whole feast is struck in verse #dj3 ',ye shall rejoice before the ,lord your ,god4' ,the leafy spoils come into view here as tokens of jubilation1 which certainly suggests their being borne in the hand2 but they were also meant to be used in building the booths in which the whole nation was to live during the seven days1 in commemoration of ,god's having made them 'dwell in booths1 when ,i brought them out of the land of ,egypt4' ,this is all that is enjoined by ,moses4 ,later additions to the ceremonial do not concern us here1 however interesting some of these are4 ,the true intention of the feast is best learned from the original simple form4 ,what1 then1 was its intention8 ,it was the commemoration of the wilderness life as the ground of rejoicing 'before the ,lord4' ,but we must not forget that1 according to ,leviticus1 it was appointed while the wilderness life was still present1 and so was not to be observed then4 ,was it1 then1 a dead letter1 or had the appointment a message of joy even to the weary wanderers who lived in the veritable booths1 which after generations were to make a feast of mimicking8 ,how firm the confidence of entering the land must have been1 which promulgated such a law6 ,it would tend to hearten the fainting courage of the pilgrims4 ,a divinely guaranteed future is as certain as the past1 and the wanderers whom ,he guides may be sure of coming to the settled home4 ,all words which ,he speaks beforehand concerning that rest and the joyful worship there are pledges that it shall one day be theirs4 ,the present use of the prospective law was to feed faith and hearten hope2 and1 when ,canaan was reached1 its use was to feed memory and brighten godly gladness4 ,the feast of tabernacles was the consecration of joy4 ,other religions have had their festivals1 in which wild tumult and foul orgies have debased the worshippers to the level of their gods4 ,how different the pure gladness of this feast 'before the ,lord'6 ,no coarse and sensuous delights of passion could live before the 'pure eyes and perfect witness' of ,god4 ,in ,his 'presence' must be purity as well as 'fullness of joy4' ,if this festival teaches us1 on the one hand1 that they wofully misapprehend the spirit of godliness who do not find it full of gladsomeness1 it teaches us no less1 on the other1 that they wofully misapprehend the spirit of joy1 who look for it anywhere but 'before the ,lord4' ,the ritual of the feast commanded gladness4 ,joy is a duty to ,god's children4 ,there were mourners in ,israel each year1 as the feast came round1 who would rather have shrunk into a corner1 and let the bright stream of merriment flow past them2 but they1 too1 had to open their heavy hearts1 and to feel that1 in spite of their private sorrows1 they had a share in the national blessings4 ,no grief should unfit us for feeling thankful joy for the great common gift of 'a common salvation4' ,the sources of religious joy1 open to all ,christians1 are deeper than the fountains of individual sorrow1 deep as life though these sometimes seem4 ,the wilderness life came into view in the feast as a wandering life of privation and change4 ,the booths reminded of frail and shifting dwellings1 and so made the contrast with present settled homes the sweeter4 ,they were built1 not of such miserable scrub as grew in the desert1 and could scarcely throw shade enough to screen a lizard1 but of the well-foliaged branches of trees grown by the rivers of water1 and so indicated present abundance4 ,the remembrance of privations and trials past1 of which the meaning is understood1 and the happy results in some degree possessed1 is joy4 ,prosperous men like to talk of their early struggles and poverty4 ,this feast teaches that such remembrance ought always to trace the better present to ,god1 and that memory of conquered sorrows and trials is wholesome only when it is devout1 and that the joy of present ease is bracing1 not when it is self-sufficient1 but when it is thankful4 ,the past1 rightly looked at1 will yield for us all materials for a feast of tabernacles2 and it is rightly looked at only when it is all seen as ,god's work1 and as tending to settled peace and abundance4 ,therefore the regulations end with that emphatic seal of all ,his commands1 to impress which on our hearts is the purpose of all ,his dealings with us as with ,israel1 ',i am the ,lord your ,god4' ,,iii4 ,we may note our ,lord's allusions to the feast4 ,there are probably two1 both referring to later additions to the ceremonies4 ,one is in ,john vii4 #cg4 ,we learn from the ,talmud that on each of the seven days 7and according to one ,rabbi on the eighth also7 a priest went down to ,siloam and drew water in a golden pitcher1 which he brought back amid the blare of trumpets to the altar1 and poured into a silver basin while the joyous worshippers chanted the ',great ,hallel' 7,psa4 cxiii4-cxviii471 and thrice waved their palm branches as they sang4 ,we may venture to suppose that this had been done for the last time2 that the shout of song had scarcely died away when a stir in the crowd was seen1 and a ,galilean peasant stood forth1 and there1 before the priests with their empty vessels1 and the hushed multitude1 lifted up ,his voice1 so as to be heard by all1 and cried1 saying3 ',if any man thirst1 let him come unto ,me1 and drink4' ,what increased force is given to the extraordinary self-assertion of such words1 if we picture this as the occasion of their utterance6 ,leviticus gives no preeminence to any one day1 but ,john's expression1 'that great day of the feast1' may well have been warranted by later developments4 ,the other allusion is less certain1 though it is probable4 ,it is found in the saying at ,john viii4 #ab3 ',i am the ,light of the world1' etc4 ,the ,talmud gives a detailed account of the illuminations accompanying the feast4 ,four great golden lamps were set up in the court1 each tended by four young priests4 ',there was not a court in ,jerusalem that was not lit up by the lights of the water-drawing4' ,bands of grave men with flashing torches danced before the people1 while ,levites 'accompanied them with harps1 psalteries1 cymbals1 and numberless musical instruments1' and another band of ,levites standing on the fifteen steps which led to the women's court1 chanted the fifteen so-called 'songs of degrees1' and yet others marched through the courts blowing their trumpets as they went4 ,it must have been a wild scene1 dangerously approximating to the excitement of heathen nocturnal festivals1 and our ,lord may well have sought to divert the spectators to higher thoughts4 ,but the existence of the allusion is doubtful4 ,we have one more allusion to the feast1 considered as a prophecy of the true rest and joy in the true ,canaan4 ,the same ,john1 who has preserved ,christ's references1 gives one of his own in ,revelation vii4 #i1 when he shows us the great multitude out of every nation 'with palms in their hands4' ,these are not the ,gentile emblems of victory1 as they are often taken to be4 ,there are no heathen emblems in the ,apocalypse1 but all moved within the circle of ,jewish types and figures4 ,so we are to think of that crowd of 'happy palmers' as joyously celebrating the true feast of tabernacles in the settled home above1 and remembering1 with eyes made clear by heaven1 the struggles and fleeting sorrows of the wilderness4 ,the emblem sets forth heaven as a festal assembly1 as the ingathering of the results of the toils of earth1 as settled life after weary pilgrimage1 as glad retrospect of the meaning and triumphant possession of the issues of ,god's patient guidance and wise discipline4 ,here we dwell in 'the earthly house of this tabernacle'2 there1 in a 'building of ,god 444 eternal4' ,here we are agitated by change1 and wearied by the long road2 there1 changeless but increasing joy will be ours1 and the backward look of thankful wonder will enhance the sweetness of the blessed present1 and confirm the calm and sure hope of an ever-growing glory stretching shoreless and bright before us4 ,,sojourners ,,with ,,god ',the land shall not be sold for ever3 for the land is ,mine2 for ye are strangers and sojourners with ,me4' --,,lev4 xxv4 #bc4 ,the singular institution of the ,jubilee year had more than one purpose4 ,as a social and economical arrangement it tended to prevent the extremes of wealth and poverty4 ,every fiftieth year the land was to revert to its original owners1 the lineal descendants of those who had 'come in with the conqueror1' ,joshua4 ,debts were to be remitted1 slaves emancipated1 and so the mountains of wealth and the valleys of poverty were to be somewhat levelled1 and the nation carried back to its original framework of a simple agricultural community of small owners1 each 'sitting under his own vine and fig-tree' and1 like ,naboth1 sturdily holding the paternal acres4 ,as a ceremonial institution it was the completion of the law of the ,sabbath4 ,the seventh day proclaimed the need for weekly rest from labour1 and as was the sabbath in the week1 so was the seventh year among the years--a time of quiet1 when the land lay fallow and much of the ordinary labour was suspended4 ,nor were these all2 when seven weeks of years had passed1 came the great ,jubilee year1 charged with the same blessed message of ,rest1 and doubtless showing dimly to many wearied and tearful eyes some gleams of a better repose beyond4 ,besides these purposes1 it was appointed to enforce1 and to make the whole fabric of the national wealth consciously rest upon1 this thought contained in our text4 ,the reason why the land was not to pass out of the hauls of the representatives of those to whom ,god had originally given it1 was that ,he had not really given it to them at all4 ,it was not theirs to sell--they had only a beneficiary occupation4 ,while they held it1 it was still ,his1 and neither they1 nor any one to whom they might sell the use of it for a time1 were anything more than tenants at will4 ,the land was ,his1 and they were only like a band of wanderers1 squatting for a while by permission of the owner1 on his estate4 ,their camp-fires were here today1 but to-morrow they would be gone4 ,they were 'strangers and sojourners4' ,that may sound sad1 but all the sadness goes when we read on--'with ,me4' ,they are ,god's guests1 so though they do not own a foot of soil1 they need not fear want4 ,all this is as true for us4 ,we can have no better ,new ,year's thoughts than those which were taught by the blast of the silver trumpets that proclaimed liberty to the slaves1 and restored to the landless pauper his alienated heritage4 ,i4 ,here is the lesson of ,god's proprietorship and our stewardship4 ',the land is ,mine' was of course true in a special sense of the territory which ,god gave by promise and miracle1 which was kept by obedience1 and lost by rebellion4 ,but it is as really true about our possessions1 and that not only because of our transient stay here4 ,it would be as true if we were to live in this world for ever4 ,it will be as true in heaven4 ,length of time makes no difference in this tenure4 ,undisturbed possession for ever so long does not constitute ownership here4 ,god is possessor of all1 by virtue of ,his very nature1 by ,his creation and preservation of us and of all things4 ,so that when we talk about 'mine' and 'thine1' we are only speaking a half truth4 ,there is a great sovereign ',his' behind both4 ,so then let us take that thought with us for use1 as we pass into another year4 ,what lessons does it give8 ,it should nurture constant thankfulness4 ,to-day looking back over whatever dark1 dreary1 sunless days1 we all have bright ones too4 ,does any thought of ,god as the ,fountain of all our joys and goods rise in our souls8 ,have we learned to associate a divine hand and a ,father's will with them8 ,do we congratulate ourselves on our own cleverness1 tact1 and skill1 saying1 'mine hand hath done it1' or do we hug ourselves on our own good fortune1 and burn incense to chance and 'circumstances'8--or1 sadder still1 are we generously grateful to every human friend that helps us1 and unthankful only to ,god--or does the glad thought come1 to gild the finest gold of our possessions with new brilliance and worth1 and to paint and perfume the whitest lily of our joys with new delightsomeness1 ',all things come of ,thee'2 ',thou makest us drink of the river of ,thy pleasures'8 ,blessed are they who1 by the magic glass of a thankful heart1 see all things in ,god1 and ,god in all things4 ,to them life is tenfold brighter1 as a light plunged in oxygen flames more intensely than in common air4 ,the darkest night is filled with light1 and the loneliest place blazes with angel faces1 and the stoniest pillar is soft1 to him who sees everywhere the ladder that knits earth with heaven1 and to whom all ,his blessings are as the messengers that descend by it on errands of mercy1 whose long shining ranks lead up the eye and the heart to the loving ,god from whom they come4 ,here too is the ground for constant thankful submission4 ',the ,lord gave1 and the ,lord hath taken away4' ,we have no right to murmur1 however we may regret1 if the ,landowner takes back a bit of the land which ,he has let us occupy4 ,it was the condition of our occupation that ,he should be at liberty to do so whenever ,he saw that it would be best for us4 ,he does not give us our little patches for ,his advantage1 but for ours1 nor does ,he take them away at ,his own whim1 but 'for our profit4' ,we get more than full value for all the work and capital we have expended1 and ,his only reason for ever disturbing us is that we may be driven to claim a better inheritance in ,himself than we can find even in the best of ,his gifts4 ,so ,he sometimes gives1 that we may be led by our possessions to think lovingly of ,him2 and ,he sometimes takes1 that we may be led1 in the hour of emptiness and loss1 to recognise whose hand it was that pulled up the props round which our poor tendrils clung4 ,but the opposite actions have the same purpose1 and like the up-and-down stroke of a piston1 or the contrary motion of two cogged wheels that play into each other1 are meant to impel us in one direction1 even to the heart of ,god who is our home4 ,a landowner stops up a private road one day in a year1 in order to assert his right1 and to remind the neighbourhood that he could stop it altogether if he liked4 ,so ,god reminds us by our losses and sorrows1 of what we are so apt to forget1 and what it is such a joy to us to remember--,his possession of them all4 ,blessed be ,god6 ,he teaches us in that fashion far seldomer than in the other4 ,let joy teach us the lesson1 and we shall the less need 'the sternest' teacher 'and the best1' even sorrow4 ,better to learn it by gladness than by tears2 better to see it written in 'laughing flowers' than in desolate gardens and killing frost4 ,so1 too1 there should be a constant sense of responsibility in the use of all which we have4 ,all is ,his1 and ,he has given all to us1 for a purpose4 ,so1 plainly1 we are but stewards1 or trustees1 and are bound to employ everything1 not according to our own inclination or notion of what is right1 but according to what1 in the exercise of our best and most impartial judgment1 we believe to be the owner's will4 ,trusteeship means that we take directions as to the employment of the property from its owner4 ,it means too that we employ it not for our own satisfaction and well-being alone1 though that is included1 and is a part of ,his purpose who 'delights in the prosperity of ,his servants4' ,thoughts of others1 thoughts of the owner's claims1 and of bringing back to ,him all that ,he has given to us1 increased by our diligence1 must be uppermost in our minds1 if we are to live nobly or happily here4 ',it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful4' ,and this applies to all we have in mind1 body1 and estate4 ,a thoughtful expenditure and use of all ,his gifts1 on principles drawn from our knowledge of ,his will1 and for objects not terminating with self1 is the duty that corresponds to the great fact of ,god's ownership of all4 ,if we use ,his gifts to minister to our own vanity or frivolity1 or love of ease1 or display2 if an 'intolerable deal' of all we have is used for ourselves1 and a poor ha'porth' for others2 if our gifts are grudging2 if we possess without sense of responsibility1 and enjoy without thankfulness1 and lose with murmuring2 if our hearts are more set on material prosperity than on love and peace1 knowledge and purity1 noble lives and a ,father ,god2 if higher desires and hopes are dying out as we 'get on' in the world1 and religious occupations which used to be pleasant are stale2 then for all our outward ,christianity the stern old woe applies1 ',your riches are corrupted1 and the rust of them shall be a witness against you1' and we need the shrill note of the trumpet of ,jubilee to be blown in our ears1 ',the land is ,mine4' ,,ii4 ,we have the teaching of the transiency of our stay here4 ',ye are strangers and sojourners'--pilgrims who make a brief halt in a foreign country4 ,the image has in it an allusion to the nomad life of ,abraham and his son and grandson1 as well as to the desert-wanderings of the people1 and suggests the thought1 ',you are homeless wanderers1 not having where to lay your heads1 as truly when you have been settled for generations on your ancestral lands1 as when you plodded wearily in the wilderness4' ,it is a universal truth1 ever acknowledged and forgotten1 wholesome though sometimes sad to feel1 and preached to even frivolous natures by the change in our calendar which a ,new ,year brings4 ,how vividly this word of our text brings out the contrast between the permanence of the external world and our brief stay in it6 ,in ,israel there would be few vineyards or olive-grounds held by the same man at two1 and none at three1 successive jubilees4 ,the hoary twisted olives yielded their black berries1 say1 to ,simeon1 the son of ,joseph1 to-day1 as they did fifty years ago to ,joseph1 the son of ,reuben1 and as they will do fifty years hence to ,judas1 the son of ,simeon4 ,so is it with us all4 ,there is nothing more pathetic than the thought of how generations come and go1 and empires rise and fall1 while the scene on which they play their brief parts remains the same4 ',the mountains look on ,marathon1 ,and ,marathon looks on the sea4' to-day as they did more than two millenniums ago1 only the grass was for a while a little ranker on the plain4 ,olivet lifts the same outline against the pale morning twilight as when ,david went up its slope a weeping exile4 ,the pebble that we kick out of our path had thousands of years of existence ere we were born1 and may lie there unaltered to all appearance for centuries after we are dead4 ',one generation cometh and another goeth1 but the earth abideth for ever4' ,and how much more lasting our possessions are than their possessors6 ,where are the strong hands that clutched the rude weapons that lie now quietly ticketed in our museums8 ,how dim and dark the bright brave eyes that once flashed through the bars of these helmets1 hanging just a little rusted1 over the tombs in ,westminster ,abbey6 ,other men will live in our houses1 read our books1 own our mills1 use our furniture1 preach in our pulpits1 sit in our pews3 we are but lodgers in this abiding nature1 'like a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night1' and to-morrow morning vacates his rooms for a new arrival1 and goes away unregretted and is forgotten in an hour4 ,the constant change and progression of life are enforced1 too1 in this metaphor4 ,the old threadbare emblem of a journey which is implied in the text suggests how1 moment by moment1 we hurry on and how everything is slipping past us1 as fields and towns do to a traveller in a train4 ,only our journey is smooth and noiseless1 like the old-fashioned canal boat travelling1 where1 if you shut your eyes1 you could not tell that you were moving4 ,we glide on and never know it1 and so gradually and silently is the scene 'changed by still degrees1' that it is only now and then that men have any vivid consciousness that the 'fashion of this world is' ever 'in the act of passing1' like the canvas of a panorama ever winding and unwinding on its twin rollers with slow1 equable motion4 ,it needs an effort of attention and will to discern the movement1 and it is worth while to make the effort1 for that clear and poignant sense of the constant flux and mutation of all things around us1 and of the ebbing away of our own lives1 is fundamental to all elevation of thought1 to all nobleness of deed1 to all worthy conception of duty and of joy4 ,everything that is1 stands poised1 like ,fortune1 on a rolling ball4 ,the solid earth is a movable sphere1 for ever spinning on its axis and rushing on its path among the stars4 ,ever some star is sinking in mist1 or dipping below the horizon2 ever new constellations are climbing to the zenith4 ,a long1 patient discipline is needed to keep fresh in our hearts the sense of this transiency4 ,let us set ourselves consciously to deepen our convictions of it1 and amidst all the illusions of these solid-seeming shows of things1 keep firm hold of the assurance that they are but fleeting shadows that sweep across the solemn mountain's side1 and that only ,god and the doing of ,his will lasts4 ,so shall our life pierce down with its seeking roots to the abiding ground of all ,being1 and1 looking to the 'things that are eternal1' we shall be able to make what is but for a moment contribute to the everlasting ennobling of our character and enrichment of our life yonder4 ,surely these words1 too1 tell of the true home4 ',ye are strangers'--because your native land is elsewhere4 ,it is not merely the physical facts of death and change that make us strangers here1 but the direction of our desires1 and the true affinities of our nature4 ,if by these we belong to heaven and ,god1 then here we shall feel that we have not where to lay our heads1 and shall 'dwell in tabernacles' because 'we look for the city4' ,what a contrast between the perishable tents of the wilderness and the rock-built mansions of that city4 ,and how short this phase of being must look when seen from above6 ,you remember how long a year1 a week1 seemed to you when a child--what do the first ten years of your life look to you now8 ,what must the earthly life of ,abel1 the first who died1 look to him even now1 when he contrasts its short twenty or thirty years with the thousands since8 and1 after thousands and thousands more1 how it will dwindle6 ,so to us1 if we reach that safe shore1 and look back upon the sea that brought us thither1 as it stretches to the horizon1 miles of billows once so terrible will seem shrunken to a line of white foam4 ,cherish1 then1 constant consciousness of that solemn eternity1 and let your eyes be ever directed to it1 like a man who sees some great flush of light on the horizon1 and is ever turning from his work to look4 ,use the transient as preparation for the eternal1 the fleeting days as those which determine the undying ',day' and its character4 ,keep your cares and interests in the present rigidly limited to necessary things4 ,why should travellers burden themselves8 ,the less luggage1 the easier marching4 ,the accommodation and equipment in the desert do not matter much4 ,the wise man will say1 ',oh1 it will do4 ,i shall soon be home4' ',ye are strangers and sojourners4' ,,iii4 ,we have here also the teaching of trust4 ,some of us think that such thoughts as the preceding are sad4 ,why should they be so8 ,they need not be4 ,our text adds a little word which takes all the sadness out of them4 ',with ,me'2 that gives the true notion of our earthly life4 ,we are strangers indeed1 passing through a country which is not ours1 but whilst we are sojourners1 we are 'sojourners' with the king of the land4 ,in the antique hospitable times1 the chief of the tribe would take the travellers to his own tent1 and charge himself with their safety and comfort4 ,so we are ,god's guests on our travels4 ,he will take care of us4 ,the visitor has no need to trouble himself about the housekeeping1 he may safely leave that with the master of the house4 ,if the king has taken us in charge1 we may be quite sure that no harm will come to us in his country4 ,so for ourselves and for those we love1 and for all the wide interests of church and world1 there are peace and strength in the thought that we are the guests of ,god here1 'strangers and sojourners with ,him4' ,will ,he invite us to ,his table and let us hunger8 ,will ,he call us to be ,his guests1 and then1 like some traitorous ,arab sheikh1 break the laws of hospitality and harm ,his too-confiding guests8 ,impossible for evermore4 ,so we are safe1 and our bread shall be given us1 for we are sojourners with ,god4 ,true1 we are strangers1 and in our constant movement we lose many of the companions of our march1 and the track of the caravan may be traced by the graves on either side4 ,but1 since we are 'with ,him1' we have companionship even when most solitary1 and even in a strange land shall not be lonely4 ,seek then to cultivate as a joy and strength that consciousness that the ,lord of all the land is ever with you1 ,whoever goes1 ,he abides4 ,whatever rushes past us like a phantasmagoria1 ,he passes not4 ,whatever and whoever change1 ,he changes never4 ,where thou goest1 ,he will go4 ,he will be 'thy shield at thy right hand1' and thy 'keeper from all evil4' ,so1 looking forward to the unknown days of another ,new ,year1 we may be of good cheer4 ,so will it be while we live2 and if this year we should die--well1 the ,king of this land1 where we are strangers1 is the ,king of the other land beyond the sea1 where we are at home4 ,so we shall only be the nearer to ,him for the change4 ,death the separator shall but unite us to the ,king1 whose presence indeed fills this subject-province of ,his empire with all its good1 but who dwells in more resplendent 'beauty1' and is felt in greater nearness in the other 'land that is very far off4' ,whether here or there1 we may have ,god with us1 if we will4 ,with ,him for our ,host and companion1 let us peacefully go on our road1 while the life of strangers and sojourners shall last4 ,it will bring us to the fatherland where we shall be at home with the ,king1 and find in ,him our 'sure dwelling1 and quiet resting-place1 and peaceful habitation for ever4' ,,god',s ,,slaves ',for they are ,my servants1 which ,i brought forth out of the land of ,egypt2 they shall not be sold as bondmen4' --,,lev4 xxv4 #db4 ,this is the basis of the ,mosaic legislation as to slavery4 ,it did not suppress but regulated that accursed system4 ,certainly ,hebrew slavery was a very different thing from that of other nations4 ,in the first place1 no ,jew was to be a slave4 ,to that broad principle there were exceptions1 such as the case of the man who voluntarily gave himself up to his creditor4 ,but even he was not to be treated as a slave1 but as a 'hired servant1' and at the jubilee was to be set free4 ,there were also other regulations of various kinds in other circumstances on which we do not need to dwell4 ,the slaves of alien blood were owned and used1 but under great mitigations and restrictions4 ,of course we have here an instance of the incompleteness of the ,mosaic law1--or rather we may more truly say of its completeness1 regard being had to the state of the world at the time4 ,all social change hangs together4 ,institutions cannot be altered at a blow1 without altering the stage of civilisation1 of which they are the expression4 ',raw haste' is 'half-sister to delay4' ,what is good and necessary for one era is out of place in another4 ,so ,god works slowly1 and lets bad things die out1 by changing the atmosphere in which they flourish4 ,all servitude to men was an infraction of ,god's rights over ,israel4 ,god was the ,israelites' ',master'2 they were ,his 'slaves4' ,he was so1 because ,he had 'broken the bands of their yoke1 and set them free4' ,there is1 then1 here-- ,i4 ,the ground of ,god's rights4 ',i brought you forth4' ,,ii4 ,our servitude because of our redemption4 ',ye are ,my servants4' ,,iii4 ,our consequent freedom from all other masters4 ',ye shall not be sold as bondmen4' ,,the ,,kinsman ,,redeemer ',after that he is sold he may be redeemed again2 one of his brethren may redeem him4'--,,lev4 xxv4 #dh4 ,there are several of the institutions and precepts of the ,mosaic legislation which1 though not prophetic1 nor typical1 have yet remarkable correspondences with lofty ,christian truth4 ,they may be used as symbols1 if only we remember that we are diverting them from their original purpose4 ,how singularly these words lend themselves to the statement of the very central truths of ,christianity--a slavery which is not necessarily perpetual and a redemption effected by a kinsman6 ,that institution of the ',goel' is of a very remarkable kind1 and throws great light on ,christian verities4 ,i wish1 in dealing with it1 to guard against any idea that it was meant to be prophetic or typical4 ,i4 ,the kinsman redeemer under the old law4 ,the strength of the family tie in the ,israelitish polity was great4 ,the family was the unit--hence there were certain duties devolving on the nearest male relative4 ,these1 so far as we are at present concerned1 were three4 7a7 ,the redemption of a slave4 ,the ,mosaic legislation about slavery was very remarkable4 ,it did not nominally prohibit it1 but it fenced it round and modified it1 so as to make it another thing4 ,israelites were allowed to hold ,gentile slaves1 but under careful restrictions4 ,israelites were allowed to sell themselves as slaves4 ,if the sale was to ,israelites1 the slavery was ended in six years or at the jubilee1 whichever period came first--unless the slave had his ear bored to the doorpost to intimate his contentment in service 7,exod4 xxi4 #e1f74 ,this is not slavery in our sense of the word1 but only a six years' engagement4 ,if sold to a heathen in ,israel1 then the ,goel had to redeem him2 and the reason for this was that all ,israelites belonged to ,god4 7b7 ,the redemption of an inheritance4 ,this was the task of the kinsman-goel4 ,the land belonged to the tribe4 ,pauperism was thus kept off4 ,there could be no 'submerged tenth4' ,the theocratic reason was1 'the land shall not be sold at all for ever for it is ,mine6' 7c7 ,the avenging of murder4 ,blood feuds were thus checked1 though not abolished4 ,the remarkable institution of 'cities of refuge' gave opportunity for deliberate investigation into each case4 ,if wilful murder was proved1 the murderer was given up to the ,goel for retribution2 if death had been by misadventure1 the slayer was kept in the city of refuge till the high-priest's decease4 ,this is the germ of the figure of the ,redeemer-,kinsman in later ,scripture4 ,notice how higher ideas began to gather round the office4 ,the prophets felt that in some way ,god was their ',goel4' ,in ,isaiah the application of the name to ,him is frequent and1 we might almost say1 habitual4 ,so in ,psalm xlix4 #g1 ',none can be ,goel to his brother'2 verse #ae1 ',god will be ,goel to my soul from the power of the grave4' ,job xix4 #be1 ',i know that my ,goel liveth4444' ,,ii4 ,our ,kinsman-,redeemer4 ,the ,new ,testament metaphor of ',redemption' or buying back with a ransom is distinctly drawn from the ,hebrew ,goel's office4 ,christ is the ,kinsman4 ,the brotherhood of ,christ with us was voluntarily assumed1 and was for the purpose of redeeming ,his brethren4 ,he is the ,kinsman-,redeemer from slavery1--a slavery which is voluntary4 ,the soul is self-delivered to evil and sin2 but blessed be ,god6 this slavery is terminable4 ,the kinship of ,christ was needful for our redemption4 ',it behoved ,him to be made like unto ,his brethren4' ,he thus gave ,his life a 'ransom' for many4 ,note the objective value of ,his atonement1 and its subjective power as setting us free4 ,he is the ,kinsman-,redeemer of our inheritance4 ,god is the inheritance here4 ,the manhood of ,jesus brings ,god back to us for our--7#a7 ,knowledge2 7#b7 ,love2 7#c7 ,possession4 ,heaven is our inheritance hereafter4 ,his manhood secures it for us4 ',i go to prepare a place for you4' ',an inheritance incorruptible4' ',the redemption of the purchased possession4' ,the ,kinsman-,avenger of blood4 ,it is only in a modified sense that we can transfer this part of the ,goel's office to ,jesus4 ,the old ,kinsman-,avenger of blood avenged it by shedding the shedder's blood in retribution4 ,but that was not the kind of vindication 7for ,goel means also ,vindicator7 for which ,job looked when he used the expression4 ,resurrection to the vision of ,god was to come to him 'at the last1' by the standing of his ,goel on the earth1 and that was to be the true avenging of his death1 and his vindication4 ,the great murderer ,death is to die1 and his victims are to be wrested from him1 and their death be proved to be the means of their fuller life4 ',precious shall their blood be in ,his sight1' and when their slayer is slain they will live for ever1 partakers of their ,kinsman-,redeemer's glory1 because they had been partakers of ,his death1 and ,his blood had been precious in their sight4 ,let us cling to our ,kinsman-,redeemer in all our life that ,he may give us freedom and an inheritance among ,his brethren1 and1 closing our eyes in death1 we may commend our spirits to the ',angel that redeemed us from all evil1' and be sure that ,he will 'redeem' our 'souls from the power of the grave4' ,,the ,,old ,,store ,,an ,,the ,,new ',ye shall eat old store1 and bring forth the old because of the new4' ,,lev4 xxvi4 #aj4 ,this is one of the blessings promised to obedience4 ,no doubt it1 like the other elements of that 'prosperity' which 'is the blessing of the ,old ,testament1' presupposes a supernatural order of things1 in which material well-being was connected with moral good far more closely and certainly than we see to be the case4 ,but the spirit and heart of the promise remain1 however the form of it may have passed away4 ,it is a picturesque way of saying that the harvest shall be more than enough for the people's wants4 ,all through the winter1 and the spring1 and the ripening summer1 their granaries shall yield supplies4 ,there will be no season of scarcity such as often occurs in countries whose communications are imperfect1 just before harvest1 when the last year's crop is exhausted1 and it is hard to get anything to live on till this year's is ready4 ,but when the new wheat comes in they will have still much of the old1 and will have to 'bring it forth' to empty their barns1 to make room for the fresh supplies which the blessing of ,god has sent before they were needed4 ,the same idea of superabundant yield from the fields is given under another form in a previous verse of this chapter 7ver4 #e73 ',your threshing shall reach unto the vintage1 and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time1 and ye shall eat your bread to the full'3 which reminds one of the striking prophecy of ,amos3 ',behold1 the days come1 saith the ,lord1 that the plowman shall overtake the reaper1 and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed4' ,so rapid the growth1 and so large the fruitfulness1 that the gatherer shall follow close on the heels of the sower1 and will not have accomplished his task before it is again time to sow4 ,the prophet clearly has in his mind the old promise of the law1 and applies it to higher matters1 even to the fields white to harvest1 where 'he that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice together4' ,in the same way we may take these words1 and gather from them better promises and larger thoughts than they originally carried4 ,there is in them a promise as to the fullness of the divine gifts1 which has a far wider reach and nobler application than to the harvests and granaries of old ,palestine4 ,we may take the words in that aspect1 first1 as containing ,god's pledge that these outward gifts shall come in unbroken continuity4 ,and have they not so come to us all1 for all these long years8 ,has there ever been a gap left yawning8 has there ever been a break in the chain of mercies and supplies8 has it not rather been that 'one post ran to meet another1' that before one of the messengers had unladed all his budget1 another's arrival has antiquated and put aside his store8 ,true1 we are often brought very low2 there may not be much in the barn but sweepings1 and a few stray grains scattered over the floor4 ,we may have but a handful of meal in the barrel1 and be ready to dress it 'that we may eat it1 and die4' ,but it never really comes to that4 ,the new ever comes before the old is all eaten up2 or if it be delayed even beyond that time1 it comes before the hunger reaches inanition4 ,it may be good that we should have to trust ,him1 even when the storehouse is empty2 it may be good for us to know something of want1 but that discipline comes seldom1 and is never carried very far4 ,for the most part ,he anticipates wants by gifts1 and ,his good gifts overlap each other in our outward lives as slates on a roof1 or scales on a fish4 ,we wonder at the smooth working of the machinery for feeding a great city2 and how1 day by day1 the provisions come at the right time1 and are parted out among hundreds of thousands of homes4 ,but we seldom think of the punctual love1 the perfect knowledge1 the profound wisdom which cares for us all1 and is always in time with its gifts4 ,it was that quality of punctuality extended over a whole universe which seemed so wonderful to the ,psalmist3 ',the eyes of all wait upon ,thee1 and ,thou givest them their meat in due season4' ,god's machinery for distribution is perfect1 and its very perfection1 with the constancy of the resulting blessings1 robs ,him of ,his praise1 and hinders our gratitude4 ,by assiduity ,he loses admiration4 ',things grown common lose their dear delight4' ',if in ,his gifts and benefits ,he were more sparing and close-handed1' said ,luther1 'we should learn to be thankful4' ,but let us learn it by the continuity of our joys1 that we may not need to be taught it by their interruption2 and let us still all tremulous anticipation of possible failure or certain loss by the happy confidence which we have a right to cherish1 that ,his mercies will meet our needs1 continuous as they are1 and be strung so close together on the poor thread of our lives that no gap will be discernible in the jewelled circle4 ,may we not apply that same thought of the unbroken continuity of ,god's gifts to the higher region of our spiritual experience8 ,his supplies of wisdom1 love1 joy1 peace1 power1 to our souls are always enough and more than enough for our wants4 ,if ever men complain of languishing vitality in their religious emotions1 or of a stinted supply of food for their truest self1 it is their own fault1 not ,his4 ,he means that there should be no parentheses of famine in our ,christian life4 ,it is not ,his doing if times of torpor alternate with seasons of quick energy and joyful fullness of life4 ,so far as ,he is concerned the flow is uninterrupted1 and if it come to us in jets and spurts as from an intermittent well1 it is because our own fault has put some obstacle to choke the channel and dam out ,his ,spirit from our spirits4 ,we cannot too firmly hold1 or too profoundly feel1 that an unbroken continuity of supplies of ,his grace--unbroken and bright as a sunbeam reaching in one golden shaft all the way from the sun to the earth--is ,his purpose concerning us4 ,here1 in this highest region1 the thought of our text is most absolutely true2 for ,he who gives is ever pouring forth ,his own self for us to take1 and there is no limit to our reception but our capacity and our desire2 nor any reason for a moment's break in our possession of love1 righteousness1 peace1 but our withdrawal of our souls from beneath the ,niagara of ,his grace4 ,as long as we keep our poor vessels below that constant downpour they will be full4 ,it is all our own blame if they are empty4 ,why should ,christian people have these dismal times of deadness1 these parentheses of paralysis8 as if their growth must be like that of a tree with its alternations of winter sleep and summer waking8 ,in regard to outward blessings we are1 as it were1 put upon rations1 and 'that ,he gives' us we 'gather4' ,there ,he sometimes does1 in love and wisdom1 put us on very short allowance1 and even now and then causes 'the fields to yield no meat4' ,but never is it so in the higher region4 ,there ,he puts the key of the storehouse into our own hands1 and we may take as much as we will1 and have as much as we take4 ,there the bread of ,god is given for evermore1 and ,he wills that in uninterrupted abundance 'the meek shall eat and be satisfied4' ,the source is full to overflowing1 and there are no limits to the supply4 ,the only limit is our capacity1 which again is largely determined by our desire4 ,so after all ,his gifts there is more yet unreceived to possess4 ,after all ,his ,self-revelation there is more yet unspoken to declare4 ,great as is the goodness which ,he has 'wrought before the sons of men for them that trust in ,him1' there are far greater treasures of goodness 'laid up' in the deep mines of ,god 'for them that fear ,him4' ,bars of uncoined treasure and ingots of massy gold lie in ,his storehouses1 to be put into circulation as soon as we need1 and can use1 them4 ,hence we have the right to look for an endless increase in our possession of ,god2 and from the consideration of an ,infinite ,spirit that imparts ,himself1 and of finite but indefinitely expansible spirits that receive1 the certainty arises of an endless life for us of growing glory2 a heaven of ceaseless advance1 where in constant alternation desire shall widen capacity1 and capacity increase fruition1 and fruition lead in1 not satiety1 but quickened appetite and deeper longing4 ,but we may also see in this text the prescription of a duty as well as the announcement of a promise4 ,there is direction here as to our manner of receiving ,god's gifts1 as well as large assurance as to ,his manner of bestowing them4 ,it is ,his to substitute the new for the old4 ,it is ours gladly to accept the exchange1 a task not always easy or pleasant4 ,no doubt there is a natural love of change deep in us all1 but that is held in check by its opposite1 and all poetry and human life itself are full of the sadness born of mutation4 ,our ,lord laid bare a deep tendency1 when ,he said1 ',no man having tasted old wine1 straightway desireth new2 because he saith the old is better4' ,we cling to what is familiar1 in the very furniture of our houses2 and yet we are ever being forced to accept what is strange and new1 and1 like some fresh article in a room1 is out of harmony with the well-worn things that we have seen standing in their corners for years4 ,it takes some time for the raw look to wear off1 and for us to 'get used to it1' as we say4 ,so is it1 though often for deeper reasons1 in far more important things4 ,a man1 for instance1 has been engaged in some kind of business for years1 and at last ,god shows him1 by clear indications1 that he must turn to something else4 ,how slow he is to see it1 how reluctant to do it6 ,how he cleaves to the 'old store'6 ,how he shrinks from clearing out the barn1 to bring in the new6 ,or a household has been going on for many days unbroken1 and at last a time comes when some of its members have to pass out into new circumstances2 a son to push his way in the world1 a daughter to brighten another fireside4 ,it is hard for the parents to enter fully into the high hopes of their children1 and to accept the new condition1 without many vain longings for the old days that can never come back any more4 ,so1 all through our lives1 wisdom and faith say1 ',bring forth the old because of the new4' ,accept cheerfully the law of constant change under which ,god's love has set us4 ,do not let the pleasant bonds of habit tie down your hearts so tightly to the familiar possessions that you shrink from the introduction of fresh elements4 ,be sure that the new comes from the same loving hand which sent the old in its season1 and that change is meant to be progress4 ,do not confine yourselves within any mill-horse round of associations and occupations4 ,front the vicissitudes of life1 not merely with brave patience1 but with happy confidence1 for they all come from ,him whose love is older than your oldest blessings1 and whose mercies1 new every morning1 express themselves afresh through every change4 ,welcome the new1 treasure the old1 and in both see the purpose of that loving ,father who1 ,himself unchanged1 changeth all things1 and '444 fulfils ,himself in many ways1 ,lest one good custom should corrupt the world4' ,in higher matters than these our text may give us counsel as to our duty4 ',god hath more light yet to break forth from ,his holy word4' ,we are bound to welcome new truth1 so soon as to our apprehensions it has made good its title1 and not to refuse it lodgment in our minds because it needs the displacement of their old contents4 ,in the regions of our knowledge and of our ,christian life1 most chiefly1 are we under solemn obligations to 'bring forth the old store because of the new'2 if we would not be unfaithful to ,god's great educational process that goes on through all our lives4 ,it is often difficult to adjust the relations of our last lesson with our previous possessions4 ,there is always a temptation to make too much of a new truth1 and to fancy that it will produce more change in our whole mental furniture than it really will do4 ,no man is less likely to come to the knowledge of the truth than he who is always deep in love with some new thought1 'the ,cynthia of the minute1' and ever ready to barter 'old lamps for new ones4' ,but all these things admitted1 still it remains true that we are here to learn1 that our education is to go on all our days1 and that here on earth it can only be carried out by our parting with the old store1 which may have become musty by long lying in the granaries1 to make room for the new1 just gathered in the ripened field4 ,the great central truths of ,god in ,christ are to be kept for ever2 but we shall come to grasp them in their fullness only by joyfully welcoming every fresh access of clearer light which falls upon them2 and gladly laying aside our inadequate thoughts of ,god's permanent revelation of ,himself in ,jesus ,christ1 to house and garner in heart and spirit the fuller knowledge which it may please ,him to impart4 ,so the law for life is thankful enjoyment of the old store1 and openness of mind and freedom of heart which permit its unreluctant surrender when newer harvests ripen4 ,and the highest form of the promise of our text will be when we pass into another world1 and its rich abundance is poured out into our laps4 ,blessed are they who can willingly put away the familiar blessings of earth1 and stretch out1 willingly emptied1 expectant hands to meet the 'new store' of ,heaven6 ,,emancipated ,,slaves ',i am the ,lord your ,god1 which brought you forth out of the land of ,egypt1 that ye should not be their bondmen2 and ,i have broken the bands of your yoke1 and made you go upright4'--,,lev4 xxvi4 #ac4 ,the history of ,israel is a parable and a prophecy as well as a history4 ,the great central word of the ,new ,testament has been drawn from it1 viz4 'redemption1' i4e4 a buying out of bondage4 ,the ,hebrew slaves in ,egypt were 'delivered4' ,the deliverance made them a nation4 ,god acquired them for ,himself1 and they became ,his servants4 ,the great truths of the gospel are all there4 ,henceforth the fact of their deliverance became the basis of all ,his appeals to them2 the ground of ,his law2 the reason for their obedience4 ,in the previous context it has shaped the institution of slavery4 ,here it is the foundation of a general exhortation to obedience4 ,the emphatic picture of the men stooping beneath the yoke1 and then straightening themselves up1 erect1 illustrates the joyful freedom which ,christ gives4 ,that freedom is our subject4 ,i4 ,jesus gives freedom from the slavery of sin4 ,freedom consists in power to follow unhindered the law of our being4 ,so sin is slavery because it is contrary to that law4 ,when ,jesus promised freedom through the truth1 the ,jews indignantly spurned the offer with the proud boast1 which the presence of a ,roman garrison in ,jerusalem should have made to stick in their throats3 ',we were never in bondage to any man4' ,a like hardy shutting of eyes to plain facts characterises the attitude of multitudes to the ,christian view of man's condition4 ,jesus answered the ,jews by the deep saying3 ',he that committeth sin is the servant of sin4' ,a man fancies himself showing off his freedom by throwing off the restraints of morality or law1 and by 'doing as he likes1' but he is really showing his servitude4 ,self-will looks like liberty1 but it is serfdom4 ,the libertine is a slave4 ,that slavery under sin takes two forms4 ,the man who sins is a slave to the power of sin4 ,will and conscience are meant to guide and impel us1 and we never sin without first coercing or silencing them and subjecting them to the upstart tyranny of desires and senses which should obey and not command4 ,the 'beggars' are on horseback1 and the 'princes' walking4 ,there is a servile revolt1 and we know what horrors accompany that4 ,but that slavery under sin is shown also by the terrible force with which any sin1 if once committed1 appeals to the doer to repeat it4 ,it is not only in regard to sensual sins that the awful insistence of habit grips the doer1 and makes it the rarest thing that evil once done is done only once4 ,but he who sins is also a slave to the guilt of sin4 ,true1 that sense of guilt is for the most part and in most men dormant1 but the snake is but hibernating1 and often wakes and stings at most unexpected moments4 ',the deceitfulness of sin' lies to the sinner1 so that for the most part he 'wipes his mouth1 saying ,i have done no harm1' but some chance incident may at any time1 and certainly something will at some time1 dissipate the illusion1 as a stray sunbeam might scatter a wisp of mist and show startled eyes the grim fact that had always been there4 ,and even while not consciously felt1 guilt hampers the soul's insight into divine realities1 clips its wings so that it cannot soar1 paralyses its efforts after noble aims1 and inclines it to ignoble grovelling as far away from thoughts of ,god and goodness as may be4 ,christ makes the man bound and tied by the cords of his sins lift himself up and stand erect4 ,by ,his death ,he brings forgiveness which removes guilt and the consciousness of it4 ,by ,his inbreathed life ,he gives a new nature akin to ,his own1 and brings into force a new motive1 even transforming love1 which is stronger than the death with which sin has cursed its doers4 ',the law of the ,spirit of ,life in ,christ ,jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death4' ,,ii4 ,jesus gives freedom from a slavish relation to ,god4 ,apart from ,him1 ,god1 if recognised at all1 is for the most part thought of as 'austere1 reaping where ,he did not sow1' and ,his commandments as grievous4 ,men may sullenly recognise that they cannot resist1 but they do not submit4 ,they may obey in act1 but there is no obedience in their wills1 nor any cheerfulness in their hearts4 ,the elder brother in the parable could say1 ',neither transgressed ,i at any time thy commandment1' but his service had been joyless1 and he never remembered having received gifts that made him 'merry with his friends4' ,but from all such slavish1 and therefore worthless1 obedience1 and all such reluctant1 and therefore unreal1 submission1 ,jesus liberates those who believe on ,him and abide in ,his word4 ,he declares ,god as our loving ,father1 and through ,him we have authority to become sons of ,god4 ,he 'sends forth the ,spirit of ,his ,son into our hearts1' and that makes us to be no more slaves but sons4 ,sullen obedience becomes glad choice1 and it is the inmost desire1 and the deepest delight1 of the loving child to do always the things that please the loving ,father4 ',i ought' and ',i will' coalesce1 and so there is no slavery1 but perfect freedom1 in recognising and bowing to the great ',i must' which sweetly rules the life4 ,,iii4 ,christ gives deliverance from servility to men4 ,we need not touch on the historical connection1 plain as that is1 between modern conceptions of individual freedom and the influence of ,christ's teaching4 ,modern democracy is rooted in ,christ1 though it is often unaware of its genesis1 and blindly attacks the force to which it owes its existence4 ,because all men are redeemed by ,christ1 because by that redemption all stand in the same relation to ,him1 because all have equal access to ,him1 and are taught and guided by ,his ,spirit1 because 'we must all appear before the judgment-seat of ,christ1' therefore class prerogatives and subject classes fade away1 and there is 'neither bond nor free1' but 'all are one in ,christ ,jesus4' ,but there are other ways in which men tyrannise over men and in which ,christ's redemption sets us free4 ,there is the undue authority of favourite teachers and examples4 ,there is the tyranny of public opinion4 ,there is undue regard to human approbation4 ,there is the sway of priestcraft4 ,how does ,christianity deliver from these8 ,it makes ,christ's law our unconditional duty4 ,it makes ,his approbation our highest joy4 ,it gives legitimate scope to the instinct of loyalty1 submission1 and imitation1 and of subjection to authority4 ,it reduces to insignificance men's judgment1 and all their loud voices to a babble of nothings4 ',with me it is a very small matter to be judged of man's judgment4' ,it brings the soul into direct communion with ,god1 and sweeps away all intermediaries4 ',not for that we have dominion over your faith but are helpers of your joy2 for by faith ye stand4' ,so personal independence and individuality of character are the result of ,christianity4 ',i have made you go upright4 ,,iv4 ,christ gives us freedom from the power of circumstances4 ,most men are made by these4 ,we need not here enter on questions of the influence of their environment on all men's development4 ,but ,christ gives us-- 7a7 ,a great aim for our lives high above these4 7b7 ,a foothold in ,him outside of them4 ,we are not the slaves of our circumstances1 but their masters4 7c7 ,the power to utilise them4 ,so ,christians are 'free' in all senses of the word4 ,the great ,act of ,emancipation has been passed for us all4 ,only ,christ has rule over us1 and we have our perfect freedom in ,his service4 ,we have been sitting in the prison-house1 and ,he has come and declared ',the ,spirit of the ,lord is upon ,me to proclaim liberty to the captives4' ,,the ,,book ,,of ,,numbers ,,the ,,warfare ,,of ,,christian ,,service ',all that enter in to perform the service1 to do the work in the tabernacle4' ,,num4 iv4 #bc4 ,these words occur in the series of regulations as to the functions of the ,levites in the ,tabernacle worship4 ,the words 'to perform the service' are1 as the margin tells us1 literally1 to 'war the warfare4' ,although it may be difficult to say why such very prosaic and homely work as carrying the materials of the ,tabernacle and the sacrificial vessels was designated by such a term1 the underlying suggestion is what ,i desire to fix upon now--viz41 that work for ,god1 of whatever kind it be1 which ,christian people are bound to do1 and which is mainly service for men for ,god's sake1 will never be rightly done until we understand that it is a warfare1 as well as a work4 ,the phrase on which ,i am commenting occurs again and again in the regulations as to the ,levitical service1 and is applied1 not only as in my text to those who were told off to bear the burdens on the march1 but also to the whole body of ,levites1 who did the inferior services in connection with the ritual worship4 ,they were not1 as it would appear1 sacrificing priests1 but they belonged to the same tribe as these1 and they had sacred functions to discharge4 ,so we come to this principle1 that ,christian service is to be looked at as warfare4 ,now1 that is a principle which ought to be applied to all ,christians4 ,for there is no such thing as designating a portion of ,christ's ,church to service which others have not to perform4 ,the distinction of 'priest' and 'layman' existed in the ,old ,testament2 it does not exist under the ,new ,covenant1 and there is no obligation upon any one ,christian man to devote himself for ,christ's sake to ,christ's service and man's help 7which is ,christ's service71 that does not lie equally upon all ,christian people4 ,the function is the same for all2 the methods of discharging it may be widely different4 ,within the limits of the priestly tribe there may still be those whose office it is to carry the vessels1 and those whose office it is to act more especially as ministering priests2 but they are all 'of the tribe of ,levi4' ,we1 if we are ,christian people at all1 are all bound to do this work of 'the tabernacle1' and war this warfare4 ,it is important that we ,christian people should elevate our thoughts of our duties in the world to the height of this great metaphor4 ,the metaphor of the ,christian life as being a 'warfare' is familiar enough1 but that is not exactly the point which ,i wish to dwell upon now4 ,when we speak about 'fighting the good fight of faith1' we generally mean our wrestle and struggle with our own evils and with the things that hinder us from developing a ,christlike character1 and 'growing in the grace and knowledge of our ,lord and ,saviour ,jesus ,christ4' ,but it is another sort of warfare about which ,i am now speaking1 the warfare which every ,christian man has to wage who flings himself into the work of diminishing the world's miseries and sins1 and tries to make people better1 and happier because they are better4 ,that is a fight1 and will always be so1 if it is rightly done4 ,i4 ,think of the foes4 ,speaking generally1 society is constituted upon a non-,christian basis4 ,we talk about ',christian' nations4 ,there is not one on the face of the earth4 ,there is not a nation whose institutions and maxims and politics and the practices of its individual members are ruled and moulded predominantly by the ,gospel of ,jesus ,christ4 ,so every man that has come into personal touch with that ,lord1 and has felt that ,his commandments are the supreme authority in his own individual life1 when he goes out into society1 comes full tilt against a whole host of things that are in pronounced antagonism1 or in real though unacknowledged contradiction1 to the principles by which a ,christian has to live for himself1 and to commend to his brethren4 ,so we have to fight4 ,there are two things to be done--the imparting of good which will increase the sum of the world's happiness1 and the destruction of evil1 which will subtract some of the world's sorrows4 ,the latter is always a conflict1 for there are arrayed in defence of the evil vested interests1 and the influence of habit1 and the lowered vitality and sensitiveness of conscience which has come from breathing the polluted atmosphere which evil has vitiated4 ,so that if we set ourselves1 in humble1 quiet1 out-and-out dependence on ,jesus ,christ and submission to ,his will1 to lead other people to submit to ,his will1 there is nothing in the world more certain than that we shall find against us1 starting up1 as it were1 out of the mist and taking form suddenly1 a whole host of enemies4 ,so we ,christian men1 as individuals1 as members of a community and able to bring some influence to bear upon the conscience of society1 have to fight against popular social evils1 and to war for righteousness' sake4 ,there is another foe4 ,there is nothing that men dislike more than being lifted up into a clearer atmosphere and made to see truths which they do not see or care for4 ,when we first become ,christians we are all hot to go and teach and preach2 and we fancy that we have only to stand up1 with a ,bible in our hand1 and read two or three texts1 and our fellows will grasp them as gladly as we have done4 ,but soon we find out that it is not so easy to draw men to ,christ as we thought it would be4 ,we have to fight against gravitation and unwillingness1 when we would lift a poor brother into the liberty and the light that we are in4 ,we have to struggle with the men that we are trying to help4 ,we have to war1 in order to bring 'the peace of ,god which passes understanding' into their hearts4 ,but the worst of all our foes1 in doing ,christian service1 is our own miserable selves1 with our laziness1 and our vanity1 and our wondering what ,a1 ,b1 and ,c will think about us1 and the mingling of impure motives with nobler ones1 and our being angry with people because they are so insensible1 not so much to ,christ's love as to our words and pleadings4 ,unless we can purge all that devil's leaven out of ourselves1 we have little chance of working 'the work of the tabernacle1' or warring the warfare of ,god4 ,ah6 brethren1 to do anything for this world of unbelief and sin1 of which we ourselves are part1 is a struggle4 ,and ,i know of no work that needs more continual putting a firm heel upon self1 in all its subtle manifestations1 than the various forms of ,christian service4 ,not only we preachers1 but ,sunday-school teachers1 mothers in their nurseries1 teaching their children1 and all of us1 if we are trying to do anything for men1 for ,christ's sake1 must feel1 if we are honest with ourselves and about our work1 that the first condition of success in it is to fight down self1 and that only then1 being emptied of ourselves1 are we ready to be filled with the ,spirit1 by which we are made mighty to pull down the strongholds of sin4 ,,ii4 ,the weapons of this warfare4 ,there are two great passages in the ,new ,testament1 both of which deal with the ,christian life under this metaphor of warfare4 ,one of these is the detailed description of the ,christian armour in the ,epistle to the ,ephesians4 ,there we have described the equipment for that phase of the fight of the ,christian life which has to do mainly with the perfecting of the individual character4 ,but somewhat different is the armour which is to be worn1 when the ,christian man goes out into the world to labour and to wage war there for ,jesus ,christ4 ,we may turn1 then1 rather to the other of the two passages in question for the descriptions of the equipment1 armour1 and weapons of the ,christian in his warfare for the spread of truth and goodness in the world4 ,the passage to which ,i refer is in #b ,cor4 vi4 ,what are the weapons that ,paul specifies in that place8 ,i venture to alter their order1 because he seems to have put them down just as they came into his mind1 and we can put some kind of logical sequence into them4 ',by the ,word of ,god'--that is the first one4 ',by the ,holy ,ghost1' which is otherwise given as 'by the power of ,god1' is the next4 ,get your minds and hearts filled with the truth of the ,gospel1 and dwell in fellowship with ,god1 baptized with ,his ,holy ,spirit2 and then you will be clothed 'as with a vesture down to your heels' with the power of ,god4 ,these are the divine side1 the weapons given us from above--'the ,word of ,god' which is 'the sword of the ,spirit1' and the indwelling ,holy ,ghost manifesting ,himself in power4 ,then follow a series of human qualities which1 though they are 'the fruit of the ,spirit1' are yet not produced in us without our own co-operation4 ,we have to forge and sharpen these weapons1 though the fire in which they are forged is from above1 and the metal of which they are made is given from heaven1 like meteoric iron4 ,these are 'kindness1 long-suffering1 love unfeigned4' ,we have to dismiss from our minds the ordinary characteristics of warfare in thinking of that which ,christians are to wage4 ,like the old ,knights ,templars1 we must carry a sword which has a cross for its hilt1 and must be clad in gentleness1 and long-suffering1 and unfeigned love4 ',the wrath of men worketh not the righteousness of ,god4' ,you cannot bully people into ,christianity1 you cannot scold them into goodness4 ,there must be sweetness in order to attract1 and he imperfectly echoes the music of the voice that came from 'the lips into which grace was poured1' whose words are harsh and rough1 and who preaches the ,gospel as if he were thundering damnation into people's ears4 ,brethren1 whatever be our warfare against sin1 we must never lose our tempers4 ,harsh words break no bones indeed1 but neither do they break hearts4 ,a character like ,jesus ,christ--that is the victorious weapon4 ,let a man go and live in the world with these weapons that ,i have been naming1 the truth of ,god in his heart1 the ,holy ,spirit in his spirit1 the power that comes therefrom animating his deadness and strengthening his weakness1 and himself an emblem and an embodiment of the redeeming love of ,christ--and though he spoke no word he would be sure to preach ,christ2 and though he struck no blow he would be a formidable antagonist to the hosts of evil1 and the icebergs of sin and godlessness would run down into water before his silent and omnipotent shining4 ,these are the weapons4 ,,iii4 ,note the temper1 or disposition1 of the ,christian warrior-servant4 ,courage goes without saying4 ,if a man expects to be beaten1 and to do nothing by his ,christian witness but clear his conscience1 he deserves nothing else than what he will get--viz4 that his expectation will be fulfilled and he will do nothing else but clear his conscience1 and that imperfectly4 ,that is why so many preachers and ,sunday-school teachers never see any conversions in their congregation or classes--because they do not expect any2 because they go to their work without the enthusiastic boldness which would give power to their utterances4 ,i suppose concentration1 too1 goes without saying4 ,when a man is on the battlefield with the swords whirling about his head1 and the bayonets an inch from his breast1 he does not go dreaming of scenes a hundred miles off1 or think anything else than the one thing1 how to keep a whole skin and wound an enemy4 ,if ,christian men will do their work in the dawdling1 half-interested1 and half-indifferent way in which so many of us promenade through our ,christian service as if it was a review and not a fight1 they are not likely to bring back many trophies of victory4 ,you must put your whole selves into the battle4 ,i said we must subdue ourselves ere we begin to fight4 ,that is no contradiction to what ,i am saying now1 for1 as we all know1 there is a distinction between the two selves in us--the self-centred self1 which is to be crucified1 and the ,god-centred self1 which is to be nourished4 ,you must put your whole selves into the battle4 ,there must1 too1 be discipline4 ,one difference between a mob and an army is that the mob has as many wills as there are heads in it1 and the army has only one will1 that of the commander4 ,he says to one man ',go6' and he goes1 and gets shot2 and to another one ',come6' and he comes2 and to a third one ',do this6' and1 no matter what it is1 straightway he goes and does it4 ,so if we are soldiers we have to take orders from headquarters1 and to be sure that we pay no attention to any other commands4 ,suppose a man is set at a certain post by his captain1 and a corporal comes and says1 ',you go and do this other thing2 never mind your post1 ,i will look after that1' to obey that is mutiny4 ,if ,jesus ,christ tells you to do anything1 and any others say ',do not do it just yet6' neglect them1 and obey ,him4 ,if your own heart says1 ',stop a little while and try something other and easier before you tackle that task1' be sure of the ,captain's voice1 and then1 whatever happens1 obey1 and obey at once4 ,warfare is a diabolical thing1 but there is a divine beauty in one aspect of it-- ,their's not to make reply1 ,their's not to reason why1 ,their's but to do-- even if it mean 'to die4' ,thus let us wage warfare4 ,,iv4 ,the ,relieving ,guard4 ,this metaphor of warfare is used in the ,book of ,job1 in a passage where our ,english ,version does not show it4 ,so ,i venture to substitute the right translation for the one in the ,authorised ,version1 ',all the days of my warfare will ,i wait till my change comes4' ,the guard will be relieved some day1 and the private that has been tramping up and down in the dark or the snow1 perhaps within rifle's length of the enemy1 will shoulder his gun and go into the comfortable guardhouse1 and hang up his knapsack1 and fling off his dirty boots1 and sit down by the fire1 and make himself comfortable4 ,there is a 'heavenly manner of relieving guard4' ,soon it will be the end of the sentry's time1 and then1 as one of those that had done a good day's work1 and a long one1 said with a sigh of relief1 ',i have fought a good fight4' ,henceforth the helmet is put off1 which is 'the hope of salvation1' and the crown is put on1 which is salvation in its fullness4 ',all the days of my warfare will ,i wait'--till my ,captain relieves the guard4 ,,the ,,guiding ,,pillar ',so it was alway3 the cloud covered the tabernacle by day1 and the appearance of fire by night4'--,num4 ix4 #af4 ,the children of ,israel in the wilderness1 surrounded by miracle1 had nothing which we do not possess4 ,they had some things in an inferior form2 their sustenance came by manna1 ours comes by ,god's blessing on our daily work1 which is better4 ,their guidance came by this supernatural pillar2 ours comes by the reality of which that pillar was nothing but a picture4 ,and so1 instead of fancying that men thus led were in advance of us1 we should learn that these1 the supernatural manifestations1 visible and palpable1 of ,god's presence and guidance were the beggarly elements3 ',god having provided some better thing for us that they without us should not be made perfect4' ,with this explanation of the relation between the miracle and symbol of the ,old1 and the reality and standing miracle of the ,new1 ,covenants1 let us look at the eternal truths1 which are set before us in a transitory form1 in this cloud by day and fiery pillar by night4 ,i4 ,note1 first1 the double form of the guiding pillar4 ,the fire was the centre1 the cloud was wrapped around it4 ,the former was the symbol1 making visible to a generation who had to be taught through their senses1 the inaccessible holiness and flashing brightness and purity of the divine nature2 the latter tempered and veiled the too great brightness for feeble eyes4 ,the same double element is found in all ,god's manifestations of ,himself to men4 ,in every form of revelation are present both the heart and core of light1 which no eye can look upon1 and the merciful veil which1 because it veils1 unveils2 because it hides1 reveals2 makes visible because it conceals2 and shows ,god because it is 'the hiding of ,his power4' ,so1 through all the history of ,his dealings with men1 there has ever been what is called in ,scripture language the 'face1' or the 'name of ,god'2 the aspect of the divine nature on which the eye can look2 and manifested through it1 there has always been the depth and inaccessible abyss of that ,infinite ,being4 ,we have to be thankful that in the cloud is the fire1 and that round the fire is the cloud4 ,for only so can our eyes behold and our hands grasp the else invisible and remote central ,sun of the universe4 ,god hides to make better known the glories of ,his character4 ,his revelation is the flashing of the uncreated and intolerable light of ,his infinite ,being through the encircling clouds of human conceptions and words1 or of deeds which each show forth1 in forms fitted to our apprehension1 some fragment of ,his lustre4 ,after all revelation1 ,he remains unrevealed4 ,after ages of showing forth ,his glory1 ,he is still 'the ,king invisible1 whom no man hath seen at any time nor can see4' ,the revelation which ,he makes of ,himself is 'truth and is no lie4' ,the recognition of the presence in it of both the fire and the cloud does not cast any doubt on the reality of our imperfect knowledge1 or of the authentic participation in the nature of the central light1 of the sparkles of it which reach us4 ,we know with a real knowledge what we know of ,him4 ,what ,he shows us is ,himself1 though not ,his whole self4 ,this double aspect of all possible revelation of ,god1 which was symbolised in comparatively gross external form in the pillar that led ,israel on its march1 and lay stretched out and quiescent1 a guarding covering above the ,tabernacle when the weary march was still1 recurs all through the history of ,old ,testament revelation by type and prophecy and ceremony1 in which the encompassing cloud was comparatively dense1 and the light which pierced it relatively faint4 ,it reappears in both elements in ,christ1 but combined in new proportions1 so as that 'the veil1 that is to say1 ,his flesh1' is thinned to transparency and all aglow with the indwelling lustre of manifest ,deity4 ,so a light1 set in some fair alabaster vase1 shines through its translucent walls1 bringing out every delicate tint and meandering vein of colour1 while itself diffused and softened by the enwrapping medium which it beautifies by passing through its purity4 ,both are made visible and attractive to dull eyes by the conjunction4 ',he that hath seen ,christ hath seen the ,father1' and he that hath seen the ,father in ,christ hath seen the man ,christ1 as none see ,him who are blind to the incarnate deity which illuminates the manhood in which it dwells4 ,but we have to note also the varying appearance of the pillar according to need4 ,there was a double change in the pillar according to the hour1 and according as the congregation was on the march or encamped4 ,by day it was a cloud1 by night it glowed in the darkness4 ,on the march it moved before them1 an upright pillar1 as gathered together for energetic movement2 when the camp rested it 'returned to the many thousands of ,israel' and lay quietly stretched above the ,tabernacle like one of the long-drawn1 motionless clouds above the setting summer sun1 glowing through all its substance with unflashing radiance reflected from unseen light1 and 'on all the glory' 7shrined in the ,holy ,place beneath7 was 'a defence4' ,both these changes of aspect symbolise for us the reality of the ,protean capacity of change according to our ever-varying needs1 which for our blessing we may find in that ever-changing1 unchanging1 divine ,presence which will be our companion1 if we will4 ,it was not only by a natural process that1 as daylight declined1 what had seemed but a column of smoke in the fervid desert sunlight1 brightened into a column of fire1 blazing amid the clear stars4 ,but we may well believe in an actual admeasurement of the degree of light1 correspondent to the darkness and to the need for certitude and cheering sense of ,god's protection1 which the defenceless camp would feel as they lay down to rest4 ,when the deceitful brightness of earth glistens and dazzles around us1 our vision of ,him may be 'a cloudy screen to temper the deceitful ray'2 and when 'there stoops on our path1 in storm and shade1 the frequent night1' as earth grows darker1 and life becomes greyer and more sombre1 and verges to its eventide1 the pillar blazes brighter before the weeping eye1 and draws nearer to the lonely heart4 ,we have a ,god who manifests ,himself in the pillar of cloud by day1 and in flaming fire by night4 ,,ii4 ,note the guidance of the pillar4 ,when it lifts the camp marches2 when it glides down and lies motionless the march is stopped1 and the tents are pitched4 ,the main point which is dwelt upon in this description of the ,god-guided pilgrimage of the wandering people is the absolute uncertainty in which they were kept as to the duration of their encampment1 and as to the time and circumstances of their march4 ,sometimes the cloud tarried upon the ,tabernacle many days2 sometimes for a night only2 sometimes it lifted in the night4 ',whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up1 they journeyed4 ,or whether it were two days1 or a month1 or a year that the cloud tarried upon the ,tabernacle1 remaining thereon1 the children of ,israel abode in their tents1 and journeyed not3 but when it was taken up they journeyed4' ,so never1 from moment to moment1 did they know when the moving cloud might settle1 or the resting cloud might soar4 ,therefore1 absolute uncertainty as to the next stage was visibly represented before them by that hovering guide which determined everything1 and concerning whose next movement they knew absolutely nothing4 ,is not that all true about us8 ,we have no guiding cloud like this4 ,so much the better4 ,have we not a more real guide8 ,god guides us by circumstances1 ,god guides us by ,his word1 ,god guides us by ,his ,spirit1 speaking through our common-sense and in our understandings1 and1 most of all1 ,god guides us by that dear ,son of ,his1 in whom is the fire and round whom is the cloud4 ,and perhaps we may even suppose that our ,lord implies some allusion to this very symbol in ,his own great words1 ',i am the ,light of the world4 ,he that followeth ,me shall not walk in darkness1 but shall have the light of life4' ,for the conception of 'following' the light seems to make it plain that our ,lord's image is not that of the sun in the heavens1 or any such supernal light1 but that of some light which comes near enough to a man to move before him1 and behind which he can march4 ,so1 ,i think1 that ,christ ,himself laid ,his hand upon this ancient symbol1 and in these great words said in effect1 ',i am that which it only shadowed and foretold4' ,at all events1 whether in them ,he was pointing to our text or no1 we must feel that ,he is the reality which was expressed by this outward symbol4 ,and no man who can say1 ',jesus ,christ is the ,captain of my salvation1 and after ,his pattern ,i march2 at the pointing of ,his guiding finger ,i move2 and in ,his footsteps1 ,he being my helper1 ,i try to tread1' need feel or fancy that any possible pillar1 floating before the dullest eye1 was a better1 surer1 or diviner guide than he possesses4 ,they whom ,christ guides want none other for leader1 pattern1 counsellor1 companion1 reward4 ,this ,christ is our ,christ 'for ever and ever1 ,he will be our guide even unto death' and beyond it4 ,the pillar that we follow1 which will glow with the ruddy flame of love in the darkest hours of life--blessed be ,his name6--will glide in front of us through the 'valley of the shadow of death1' brightest then when the murky midnight is blackest4 ,nor will the pillar which guides us cease to blaze1 as did the guide of the desert march1 when ,jordan has been crossed4 ,it will still move before us on paths of continuous and ever-increasing approach to infinite perfection4 ,they who here follow ,christ afar off and with faltering steps shall there 'follow the ,lamb whithersoever ,he goeth4' ,in like manner1 the same absolute uncertainty which was intended to keep the ,israelites 7though it failed often to do so7 in the attitude of constant dependence1 is the condition in which we all have to live1 though we mask it from ourselves4 ,that we do not know what lies before us is a commonplace4 ,the same long tracts of monotonous continuance in the same place and doing the same duties befall us that befell these men4 ,years pass1 and the pillar spreads itself out1 a defence above the unmoving sanctuary4 ,and then1 all in a flash1 when we are least thinking of change1 it gathers itself together1 is a pillar again1 shoots upwards1 and moves forwards2 and it is for us to go after it4 ,and so our lives are shuttlecocked between uniform sameness which may become mechanical monotony1 and agitation by change which may make us lose our hold of fixed principles and calm faith1 unless we recognise that the continuance and the change are alike the will of the guiding ,god1 whose will is signified by the stationary or moving pillar4 ,,iii4 ,that leads me to the last thing that ,i would note--viz4 the docile following of the ,guide4 ,in the context1 the writer does not seem to be able to get away from the thought that whatever the pillar indicated1 immediate prompt obedience followed4 ,he says so over and over and over again4 ',as long as the cloud abode they rested1 and when the cloud tarried long they journeyed not'2 and 'when the cloud was a few days on the ,tabernacle they abode'2 and 'according to the commandment they journeyed'2 and 'when the cloud abode until the morning they journeyed'2 and 'whether it were two days1 or a month1 or a year that the cloud tarried they journeyed not1 but abode in their tents4' ,so1 after he has reiterated the thing half a dozen times or more1 he finishes by putting it all again in one verse1 as the last impression which he would leave from the whole narrative--'at the commandment of the ,lord they rested in their tents1 and at the commandment of the ,lord they journeyed4' ,obedience was prompt2 whensoever and for whatsoever the signal was given1 the men were ready4 ,in the night1 after they had had their tents pitched for a long period1 when only the watchers' eyes were open1 the pillar lifts1 and in an instant the alarm is given1 and all the camp is in a bustle4 ,that is what we have to set before us as the type of our lives4 ,we are to be as ready for every indication of ,god's will as they were4 ,the peace and blessedness of our lives largely depend on our being eager to obey1 and therefore quick to perceive1 the slightest sign of motion in the resting1 or of rest in the moving1 pillar which regulates our march and our encamping4 ,what do we need in order to cultivate and keep such a disposition8 ,we need perpetual watchfulness lest the pillar should lift unnoticed4 ,when ,nelson was second in command at ,copenhagen1 the admiral in command of the fleet hoisted the signal for recall1 and ,nelson put his telescope to his blind eye and said1 ',i do not see it4' ,that is very like what we are tempted to do4 ,when the signal for unpleasant duties that we would gladly get out of is hoisted1 we are very apt to put the telescope to the blind eye1 and pretend to ourselves that we do not see the fluttering flags4 ,we need still more to keep our wills in absolute suspense1 if ,his will has not declared itself4 ,do not let us be in a hurry to run before ,god4 ,when the ,israelites were crossing the ,jordan1 they were told to leave a great space between themselves and the guiding ark1 that they might know how to go1 because they had 'not passed that way heretofore4' ,impatient hurrying at ,god's heels is apt to lead us astray4 ,let ,him get well in front1 that you may be quite sure which way ,he desires you to go1 before you go4 ,and if you are not sure which way ,he desires you to go1 be sure that ,he does not at that moment desire you to go anywhere4 ,we need to hold the present with a slack hand1 so as to be ready to fold our tents and take to the road1 if ,god will4 ,we must not reckon on continuance1 nor strike our roots so deep that it needs a hurricane to remove us4 ,to those who set their gaze on ,christ1 no present1 from which ,he wishes them to remove1 can be so good for them as the new conditions into which ,he would have them pass4 ,it is hard to leave the spot1 though it be in the desert1 where we have so long encamped that it has come to feel like home4 ,we may look with regret on the circle of black ashes on the sand where our little fire glinted cheerily1 and our feet may ache1 and our hearts ache more1 as we begin our tramp once again1 but we must set ourselves to meet the ,god-appointed change cheerfully1 in the confidence that nothing will be left behind which it is not good to lose1 nor anything met which does not bring a blessing1 however its first aspect may be harsh or sad4 ,we need1 too1 to cultivate the habit of prompt obedience4 ,it is usually reluctance which puts the drag on4 ,slow obedience is often the germ of incipient disobedience4 ,in matters of prudence and of intellect1 second thoughts are better than first1 and third thoughts1 which often come back to first ones1 better than second2 but in matters of duty1 first thoughts are generally best4 ,they are the instinctive response of conscience to the voice of ,god1 while second thoughts are too often the objections of disinclination1 or sloth1 or cowardice4 ,it is easiest to do our duty when we are at first sure of it4 ,it then comes with an impelling power which carries us over obstacles as on the crest of a wave1 while hesitation and delay leave us stranded in shoal water4 ,if we would follow the pillar1 we must follow it at once4 ,a heart that waits and watches for ,god's direction1 that uses common-sense as well as faith to unravel small and great perplexities1 and is willing to sit loose to the present1 however pleasant1 in order that it may not miss the indications which say1 ',arise1 this is not your rest1' fulfils the conditions on which1 if we keep them1 we may be sure that ,he will guide us by the right way1 and bring us at last to 'the city of habitation4' ,,hobab ',and ,moses said unto ,hobab 444 ,come thou with us1 and we will do thee good3 for the ,lord hath spoken good concerning ,israel4'--,,num4 x4 #bi4 ,there is some doubt with regard to the identity of this ,hobab4 ,probably he was a man of about the same age as ,moses1 his brother-in-law1 and a son of ,jethro1 a wily ,kenite1 a ,bedouin ,arab4 ,moses begs him to join himself to his motley company1 and to be to him in the wilderness 'instead of eyes4' ,what did ,moses want a man for1 when he had the cloud8 ,what do we want common-sense for1 when we have ,god's ,spirit8 ,what do we want experience and counsel for1 when we have divine guidance promised to us8 ,the two things work in together4 ,the cloud led the march1 but it was very well to have a man that knew all about the oases and the wells1 the situation of which was known only to the desert-born tribes1 and who could teach the helpless slaves from ,goshen the secrets of camp life4 ,so ,moses pressed ,hobab to change his position1 to break with his past1 and to launch himself into an altogether new and untried sort of life4 ,and what does he plead with him as the reason8 ',we will do thee good1 for the ,lord hath spoken good concerning ,israel4' ,probably ,hobab looked rather shy at the security1 for ,i suppose he was no worshipper of ,jehovah1 and he said1 ',no2 ,i had rather go home to my own people and my own kindred and my father's house where ,i fit in1 and keep to my own ways1 and have something a little more definite to lay hold of than your promise1 or the promise of your ,jehovah that lies behind it4 ,these are not solid1 and ,i am going back to my tribe4' ,but ,moses pressed and he at last consented1 and the following verses suggest that the arrangement was made satisfactorily1 and that the journeyings began prosperously4 ,in the ,book of ,judges we find traces of the presence of ,hobab's descendants as incorporated among the people of ,israel4 ,one of them came to be somebody1 the ,jael who struck the tent-peg through the temples of the sleeping ,sisera1 for she is called 'the wife of ,heber the ,kenite4' ,probably1 then1 in some sense ,hobab must have become a worshipper of ,jehovah1 and have cast in his lot with his brother-in-law and his people4 ,i do not set ,hobab up as a shining example4 ,we do not know much about his religion4 ,but it seems to me that this little glimpse into a long-forgotten and unimportant life may teach us two or three things about the venture of faith1 the life of faith1 and the reward of faith4 ,i4 ,the venture of faith4 ,i have already said that ,hobab had nothing in the world to trust to except ,moses' word1 and ,moses' report of ,god's ,word4 ',we will do you good2 ,god has said that ,he will do good to us1 and you shall have your share in it4' ,it was a grave thing1 and1 in many circumstances1 would have been a supremely foolish thing1 credulous to the verge of insanity1 to risk all upon the mere promise of one in ,moses' position1 who had so little in his own power with which to fulfil the promise2 and who referred him to an unseen divinity1 somewhere or other2 and so drew bills upon heaven and futurity1 and did not feel himself at all bound to pay them when they fell due1 unless ,god should give him the cash to do it with4 ,but ,hobab took the plunge1 he ventured all upon these two promises--,moses' word1 and ,god's word that underlay it4 ,now that is just what we have to do4 ,for1 after all talking about reasons for belief1 and evidences of religion1 and all the rest of it1 it all comes to this at last--will you risk everything on ,jesus ,christ's bare word8 ,there are plenty of reasons for doing so1 but what ,i wish to bring out is this1 that the living heart and root of true ,christianity is neither more nor less than the absolute and utter reliance upon nothing else but ,christ1 and therefore on ,his word4 ,he did not even condescend to give reasons for that reliance1 for ,his most solemn assurance was just this1 ',verily1 verily1 ,i say unto you4' ,that is as much as to say1 ',if you do not see in ,me1 without any more argument1 reason enough for believing ,me1 you do not see ,me at all4' ,christ did not argue--,he asserted1 and in default of all other proof1 if ,i might venture to say so1 ,he put ,his own personality into the scales and said1 ',there1 that will outweigh everything4' ,so no wonder that 'they were astonished at ,his doctrine1'--not so much at the substance of it as at the tone of it1 'for ,he taught them with authority4' ,but what right had ,he to teach them with authority8 ,what right has ,he to present ,himself there in front of us and proclaim1 ',i say unto you1 and there is an end of it'8 ,the heart and essence of ,christian faith is doing1 in a far sublimer fashion1 precisely what this wild ,arab did1 when he uprooted himself from the conditions in which his life had grown up1 and flung himself into an unknown future1 on bare trust in a bare word4 ,jesus ,christ asks us to do the same by ,him4 ,whether ,his word comes to us revealing1 or commanding1 or promising1 it is absolute1 and1 for ,his true followers1 ends all controversy1 all hesitation1 all reluctance4 ,when ,he commands it is ours to obey and live4 ,and when ,he promises it is for us to twine all the tendrils of our expectations round that faithful word1 and by faith to make 'the anchor of the soul1 sure and steadfast4' ,the venture of faith takes a word for the most solid thing in the universe1 and the ,incarnate ,word of ,god for the basis of all our hope1 the authority for all our conduct1 'the ,master-light of all our seeing4' ,,ii4 ,hobab suggests to us1 secondly-- ,the sort of life that follows the venture of faith4 ,the hindrances to his joining ,moses were plainly put by himself4 ,he said in effect1 ',i will not come2 ,i will depart to mine own land and to my kindred4 ,why should ,i attach myself to a horde of strangers1 and go wandering about the desert for the rest of my life1 looking out for encampments for them1 when ,i can return to where ,i have been all my days2 and be surrounded by the familiar atmosphere of friends and relatives8' ,but he bethought himself that there was a nobler life to live than that1 and because he was stirred by the impulse of reliance on ,moses and his promise1 and perhaps by some germ of reliance on ,moses' ,god1 he finally said1 ',the die is cast4 ,i choose my side4 ,i will break with the past4 ,i turn my back on kindred and home4 ,here ,i draw a broad line across the page1 and begin over again in an altogether new kind of life4 ,i identify myself with these wanderers2 sharing their fortunes1 hoping to share their prosperity1 and taking their ,god for my ,god4' ,he had perhaps not been a nomad before1 for there still are permanent settlements as well as nomad encampments in ,arabia1 as there were in those days1 and he and his relatives1 from the few facts that we know of them1 seem to have had a fixed home1 with a very narrow zone of wandering round it4 ,so ,hobab1 an old man probably1 if he was anything like the age of his connection by marriage1 ,moses1 who was eighty at this time1 makes up his mind to begin a new career4 ,now that is what we have to do4 ,if we have faith in ,christ and ,his promise1 we shall not say1 ',i am going back to my kindred and to my home4' ,we shall be prepared to accept the conditions of a wanderer's life4 ,we shall recognise and feel1 far more than we ever have done1 that we are indeed 'pilgrims and sojourners' here4 ,dear ,christian friends1 we have no business to call ourselves ,christ's men1 unless the very characteristic of our lives is that we are drawn ever forward by the prospect of future good1 and unless that future is a great deal more solid and more operative upon us1 and tells more on our lives1 than this intrusive1 solid-seeming present that thrusts itself between us and our true home4 ,that is a sure saying4 ,the ,christian obligation to live a life of detachment1 even while diligent in duty1 is not to be brushed aside as pulpit rhetoric and exaggeration1 but it is the plainest teaching of the ,new ,testament4 ,i wish it was a little more exemplified in the daily life of the people who call themselves ,christians4 ,if ,i am not living for the unseen and the future1 what right have ,i to say that ,i am ,christ's at all8 ,if the shadows are more than the substance to me2 if this condensed vapour and fog that we call reality has not been to our apprehension thinned away into the unsubstantial mist that it is1 what have the principles of ,christianity done for us1 and what worth is ,christ's word to us8 ,if ,i believe ,him1 the world is--,i do not say1 as the sentimental poet put it1 'but a fleeting show1 for man's illusion given'2--but as ,paul puts it1 a glass which may either reveal or obscure the realities beyond2 and according as we look at1 or look through1 'the things seen and temporal1' do we see1 or miss1 'the things unseen and eternal4' ,so1 then1 the life of faith has for its essential characteristic--because it is a life of reliance on ,christ's bare word--that future good is consciously its supreme aim4 ,that will detach us1 as it did ,hobab1 from home and kindred1 and make us feel that we are 'pilgrims and sojourners4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 our story suggests to us-- ,the rewards of faith4 ',come with us1' says ,moses2 'we are journeying unto the place of which the ,lord said1 ,i will give it you4 ,come thou with us1 and we will do thee what goodness the ,lord shall do unto us4' ,he went1 and neither he nor ,moses ever saw the land1 or at least never set their feet on it4 ,moses saw it from ,pisgah1 but probably ,hobab did not even get so much as that4 ,so he had all his tramping through the wilderness1 and all his work1 for nothing1 had he8 ,had he not better have gone back to ,midian1 and made use of the present reality1 than followed a will-of-the-wisp that led him into a bog1 if he got none of the good that he set out expecting to get8 ,then1 did he make a mistake8 ,would he have been a wiser man if he had stuck to his first refusal8 ,surely not4 ,it seems to me that the very fact of this great promise being given to this old--dare ,i call ,hobab a 'saint'8--to this old saint1 and never being fulfilled at all in this world1 compels us to believe that there was some gleam of hope1 and of certainty1 of a future life1 even in these earliest days of dim and partial revelation4 ,to me it is very illuminative1 and very beautiful1 that the dying ,jacob bursts in his song into a sudden exclamation1 ',i have waited for ,thy salvation1 ,o ,lord6' ,it is as if he had felt that all his life long he had been looking for what had never come1 and that it could not be that ,god was going to let him go down to the grave and never grasp the good that he had been waiting for all his days4 ,we may apply substantially the same thoughts to ,hobab1 and to all his like1 and may turn them to our own use1 and argue that the imperfections of the consequences of our faith here on earth are themselves evidences of a future1 where all that ,christ has said shall be more than fulfilled1 and no man will be able to say1 ',thou didst send me out1 deluding me with promises which have all gone to water and have failed4' ,hobab dying there in the desert had made the right choice1 and if we will trust ourselves to ,christ and ,his faithful word1 and1 trusting to ,him1 will feel that we are detached from the present and that it is but as the shadow of a cloud1 whatever there may be wanting in the results of our faith here on earth1 there will be nothing wanting in its results at the last4 ,hobab did not regret his venture1 and no man ever ventures his faith on ,christ and is disappointed4 ',he that believeth shall not be confounded4' ,,the ,,hallowing ,,of ,,work ,,and ,,of ,,rest ',and it came to pass1 when the ark set forward1 that ,moses said1 ,rise up1 ,lord1 and let ,thine enemies be scattered2 and let them that hate ,thee flee before ,thee4 #cf4 ,and when it rested1 he said1 ,return1 ,o ,lord1 unto the many thousands of ,israel4'--,num4 x4 #ce1 #cf4 ,the picture suggested by this text is a very striking and vivid one4 ,we see the bustle of the morning's breaking up of the encampment of ,israel4 ,the pillar of cloud1 which had lain diffused and motionless over the ,tabernacle1 gathers itself together into an upright shaft1 and moves1 a dark blot against the glittering blue sky1 the sunshine masking its central fire1 to the front of the encampment4 ,then the priests take up the ark1 the symbol of the divine ,presence1 and fall into place behind the guiding pillar4 ,then come the stir of the ordering of the ranks1 and a moment's pause1 during which the leader lifts his voice--',rise1 ,lord1 and let ,thine enemies be scattered1 and let them that hate ,thee flee before ,thee4' ,then1 with braced resolve and confident hearts1 the tribes set forward on the day's march4 ,long after those desert days a psalmist laid hold of the old prayer and offered it1 as not antiquated yet by the thousand years that had intervened4 ',let ,god arise1 and let ,his enemies be scattered1' prayed one of the later psalmists2 'let them that hate ,him flee before ,him4' ,we1 too1 in circumstances so different1 may take up the immortal though ancient words1 on which no dimming rust of antiquity has encrusted itself1 and may1 at the beginnings and the endings of all our efforts and of each of our days1 and at the beginning and ending of life itself1 offer this old prayer--the prayer which asked for a divine presence in the incipiency of our efforts1 and the prayer which asked for a divine presence in the completion of our work and in the rest that remaineth4 ,i4 ,so1 then1 if we put these two petitions together1 ,i think we shall see in them first1 a pattern of that realisation of1 and aspiration after1 the divine ,presence1 which ought to fill all our lives4 ',rise1 ,lord1 let ,thine enemies be scattered4' ,but was not that moving pillar the token that ,god had risen8 ,and was not the psalmist who reiterated ,moses' prayer asking for what had been done before he asked it8 ,was not the ark the symbol of the divine ,presence1 and was not its movement after the pillar a pledge to the whole host of ,israel that the petition which they were offering1 through their leader's lips1 was granted ere it was offered8 ,yes4 ,and yet the present ,god would not manifest ,his ,presence except in response to the desire of ,his servants2 and just because the ark was the symbol1 and that moving column was the guarantee of ,god's being with the host as their defence1 therefore there rose up with confidence this prayer1 ',rise1 ,lord1 and let ,thine enemies be scattered4' ,that twofold attitude1 the realisation of1 and therefore the aspiration after1 the divine gifts1 which are given before they are desired1 but are not appropriated and brought into operation in our lives unless they are desired1 is precisely the paradox of the ,christian life4 ,having1 we long for1 and longing1 we have1 and because we possess ,god we pray1 ',oh6 that we might possess ,thee4' ,the more we long1 the more we receive4 ,but unless ,he gave ,himself in anticipation of our longing1 there would be neither longing nor reception4 ,only on condition of our desiring to have ,him does ,he flow into our lives1 victorious and strength-giving1 and the more we experience that omnipotent might and calming1 guiding nearness1 the more assuredly we shall long for it4 ,let us then1 dear brethren1 blend these two things together1 for indeed they are inseparable one from the other1 and there can be no real experience in any depth of the one of them without the other4 ,blessed be ,god6 there need be no long interval of waiting between sowing the seed of supplication and reaping the harvest of fruition4 ,that process of growth and reaping goes on with instantaneous rapidity4 ',before they call ,i will answer1' for pillar and ark were there ere ,moses opened his lips2 and 'while they are yet speaking ,i will hear1' for1 in response to the cry1 the host moved triumphantly1 guarded through the wilderness4 ,so it may be1 and ought to be1 with each of us4 ,in like manner1 coupling these two petitions together1 and taking them as unitedly covering the whole field of life in their great antitheses of work and rest1 effort and accomplishment1 beginning and ending1 morning and evening1 we may say that here is an example1 to be appropriated in our own lives1 of that continuous longing and realisation which will encircle all life as with a golden ring1 and make every part of it uniform and blessed4 ,to begin1 continue1 and end with ,god is the secret of joyful beginning1 of patient continuance1 and of triumphant ending4 ,there is no reason in heaven1 though there are hosts of excuses on earth1 why there should not be1 in the case of each of us1 an absolutely continuous and uninterrupted sense of being with ,god4 ,o brethren6 that is a stage of ,christian experience high above the one on which most of us stand4 ,but that is our fault1 and not the necessity of our condition4 ,let us lay this to heart1 that it is possible to have the pillar always guiding our march1 and possible to have it stretching1 calm and motionless1 over all our hours of rest4 ,,ii4 ,now1 if1 turning from the lessons to be drawn from these two petitions1 taken in conjunction1 we look at them separately1 we may say that we have here an example of the spirit in which we should set ourselves1 day by day1 and at each new epoch and beginning1 be it greater or smaller1 to every task4 ,there are truths that underlie that first prayer1 ',rise up1 ,lord1 and let ,thine enemies be scattered1' which are of perennial validity1 and apply to us as truly as to these warriors of ,god in the wilderness long centuries ago4 ,the first of them is that the divine ,presence is the source of all energy1 and of successful endeavour after1 and accomplishment of1 any duty4 ,the second of them is that that presence is1 as ,i have been saying1 granted1 in its operative power1 only on condition of its being sought4 ,and the third of them is that ,i have a right to identify my enemies with ,god's only on condition that ,i have made ,his cause mine4 ,when ,moses prayed1 ',let ,thine enemies be scattered1' he meant by these the hostile nomad tribes that might ring ,israel round1 and come down like a sandstorm upon them at any moment4 ,what right had he to suppose that the people whose lances and swords threatened the motley host that he was leading through the wilderness were ,god's enemies8 ,only this right1 that his host had consented to be ,god's soldiers1 and that they having thus made ,his enemies theirs1 ,he1 on ,his part1 was sure to make their enemies ,his4 ,we are often tempted to identify our foes with ,god's1 without having taken the preliminary step of having so yielded ourselves to be ,his servants and instruments for carrying forward ,his will1 as that our own wills have become a vanishing quantity1 or rather have been ennobled and greatened in proportion as they have been moulded in submission to ,his4 ,we must take ,god's cause for ours1 in all the various aspects of that phrase4 ,and that means1 first of all1 that we make our own perfecting into the likeness of ,jesus ,christ the main aim of our own lives and efforts4 ,it means1 further1 the putting ourselves bravely and manfully on the side of right and truth and justice1 in all their forms4 ,above all1 it means that we give ourselves to be ,god's instruments in carrying on ,his great purposes for the salvation of the world through ,jesus ,christ4 ,if we do these things1 whatever obstacles may arise in our paths1 we may be sure that these are ,god's antagonists1 because they are antagonists to ,god's work in and by us4 ,only in so far as they are such1 can you pray1 ',let them flee before ,thee6' ,many of the things that we call our enemies come to us disguised1 and are mistaken by our superficial sight1 and we do not know that they are friends4 ',all things work together for good to them that love ,god4' ,and1 when we desire ,his ,presence1 the hindrances to doing ,his will--which are the only real enemies that we have to fight--will melt away before ,his power1 'as wax melteth' before the ardours of the fire2 and1 for the rest1 the distresses1 the difficulties1 the sorrows1 and all the other things that we so often think are our foes1 we shall find out to have been our friends4 ,make ,god's cause yours1 and ,he will make your cause ,his4 ,that applies to the great things of life1 and to the little things4 ,i begin my day's work some morning1 perhaps wearied1 perhaps annoyed with a multiplicity of trifles which seem too small to bring great principles to bear upon them4 ,but do you not think there would be a strange change wrought in the petty annoyances of every day1 and in the small trifles of which all our lives1 of whatever texture they are1 must largely be composed1 if we began each day and each task with that old prayer1 ',rise1 ,lord1 and let ,thine enemies be scattered'8 ,do you not think there would come a quiet into our hearts1 and a victorious peace to which we are too much strangers8 ,if we carried the assurance that there is ,one that fights for us1 into the trifles as well as into the sore struggles of our lives1 we should have peace and victory4 ,most of us will not have many large occasions of trial and conflict in our career2 and1 if ,god's fighting for us is not available in regard to the small annoyances of home and daily life1 ,i know not for what it is available4 ',many littles make a mickle1' and there are more deaths in skirmishes than in the field of a pitched battle4 ,more ,christian people lose their hold of ,god1 their sense of ,his presence1 and are beaten accordingly1 by reason of the little enemies that come down on them1 like a cloud of gnats in a summer evening1 than are defeated by the shock of a great assault or a great temptation1 which calls out their strength1 and sends them to their knees to ask for help from ,god4 ,so we may learn from this prayer the spirit of expectance of victory which is not presumption1 and of consecration1 which alone will enable us to pass through life victorious4 ',be of good cheer1' said the ,master1 as if in answer to this prayer in its ,christian form--',i have overcome the world4' ,we turn to the helmed and sworded ,figure that stands mysteriously beside us whilst we are all unaware of ,his coming1 and the swift question that ,joshua put rises to our lips1 ',art ,thou for us or for our adversaries8' ,the reply comes1 ',nay6 but as ,captain of the ,lord's host am ,i come up4' ,that is ,christ's answer to the prayer1 ',rise1 ,lord1 let ,thine enemies be scattered4' ,,iii4 ,lastly1 we have here a pattern of the temper for hours of repose4 ',when the ark rested1 he said1 ,return1 ,o ,lord1 unto the many thousands of ,israel4' ,as ,i said at the beginning of these remarks1 the pillar of cloud seems to have taken two forms1 braced together upright when it moved1 diffused and stretched as a shelter and a covering over the host of ,israel when it and they were at rest4 ,in like manner1 that divine ,presence is ,protean in its forms1 and takes all shapes1 according to the moment's necessities of the ,christian trusting heart4 ,when we are to brace ourselves for the march it condenses itself into an upright and moving guide4 ,when we lay ourselves down with relaxed muscles for repose1 it softly expands itself and 'covers our head' in the hours of rest1 'as in the day of battle4' ,ah6 brother1 we have more need of ,god in times of repose than in times of effort4 ,it is harder to realise ,his ,presence in the brief hours of relaxation than even in the many hours of strenuous toil4 ,every one who goes for a holiday knows that4 ,you have only to look at the sort of amusements that most people fly to when they have not anything to do1 to see that there is quite as much1 if not more1 peril to communion of soul with ,god in times when the whole nature is somewhat relaxed1 and the strings are loosened1 like those of a violin screwed down a turn or two of the peg1 than there is in times of work4 ,so let us take special care of our hours of repose1 and be quite sure that they are so spent as that we can ask when the day's work is done1 and we have come to slippered ease1 in preparation for nightly rest1 ',return1 ,o ,lord1 unto ,thy waiting servant4' ,work without ,god unfits for rest with ,him4 ,rest without ,god unfits for work for ,him4 ,we may take these two petitions as tests of the allowableness of any occupation1 or of any relaxation4 ,dare ,i ask ,him to come with me into that field of work8 ,if ,i dare not1 it is no place for me4 ,dare ,i ask ,him to come with me into this other chamber of rest8 ,if ,i dare not1 ,i had better never cross its threshold4 ,take these two prayers1 and where you cannot pray them1 do not risk yourself4 ,but the highest form of the contrast between the two waits still to be realised4 ,for life as a whole is a fight1 and beyond it there is the 'rest that remaineth1' where there will be not merely ,god's 'return unto the thousands of ,israel1' but the realisation of ,his fuller presence1 and of deeper rest1 which shall be wondrously associated with more intense work1 though in that work there will be no conflict4 ,the two petitions will flow together then1 for whilst we labour we shall rest2 and whilst we rest we shall labour1 according to the great sayings1 'they rest from their labours1' and yet 'they rest not day nor night4' ,,moses ,,despondent ',i am not able to bear all this people alone1 because it is too heavy for me4' ,,num4 xi4 #ad4 ,detail the circumstances4 ,the leader speaks the truth in his despondency4 ,he is pressed with the feeling of his incapacity for his work4 ,we may take his words here as teaching us what men need in him who is to be their guide1 and how impossible it is to find what they need in mere men4 ,i4 ,what men need in their guide4 ,these ,israelites were wandering in the wilderness2 they were without natural supplies for their daily necessities2 they had a long hard journey before them1 an unknown road1 at the terminus of which was a land where they should rest4 ,we have precisely the same necessities as those which ,moses despairingly said that they had4 ,like them1 we wander hungry1 and need a ,leader who can satisfy our desires and evermore give us bread for our souls even more than for our bodies4 ,we need ,one to whom we can 'weep1' as the ,israelites did to ,moses1 and not weep in vain4 ,we need ,one who can do for us what ,moses felt that the ,israelites needed1 and that he could not give them1 when he almost indignantly put to ,god the despairing question1 ',can ,i carry them in my bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child8' ,our weakness1 our ignorance1 our heart-hunger1 cry out for ,one who can 'bear all this people alone4' who in his single ,self has resources of strength1 wisdom1 and sufficiency to meet not only the wants of one soul but those of the world4 ,for ,he who can satisfy the poorest single soul must be able to satisfy all men4 ,,ii4 ,the impossibility of finding this in men4 ,moses' experience here is that of all leaders and great men4 ,he is overwhelmed with the work2 feels his own utter impotence2 has himself to be strengthened2 loathes his work2 longs for release from it4 ,see how he confesses ,his human dependence4 ,his incapacity to do and be what is needed4 ,his impatience with the people4 ,his longing to be rid of it all4 ,that is a true picture of the experience of the best of men--a true picture of the limitations of the noblest leaders4 ,but it is not only the leaders who confess their inadequacy1 but the followers feel it1 for even the most enthusiastic of them come sooner or later to find that their ,oracle had not learned all wisdom1 nor was fit to be taken as sole guide1 much less as sole defence or satisfaction4 ,he who looks to find all that he needs in men must take many men to find it1 and no multiplicity of men will bring him what he seeks4 ,the ,milky ,way is no substitute for the sun4 ,our hearts cry out for ,one great light1 for ,one spacious home4 ,endless strings of pearls do not reach the preciousness of ,one pearl of price4 ,,iii4 ,the failures of human leaders prophesy the true ,leader4 ,moses was prophetic of ,christ by his failures as by his successes4 ,he could not do what the people clamoured to have done1 and what he in the mood of despair in which the text shows him1 sadly owned that he could not4 ,in that very confession he becomes an unconscious prophet4 ,for that he should have so vividly set forth the qualifications of a leader of men1 as defined by the people's cries1 and should have so bitterly felt his incapacity to supply them1 is a witness1 if there is a ,god at all1 that somewhere the needed ,ideal will be realised in 'a ,leader and ,commander of the people1' ,god-sent and 'worthy of more glory than ,moses4' ,the best service that all human leaders1 helpers or lovers1 can do us1 is to confess their own insufficiency1 and to point us to ,jesus4 ,all that men need is found in ,him and in ,him alone4 ,all that men have failed1 and must always fail1 to be1 ,he is4 ,those eyes are blessed that 'see no man any more save ,jesus only4' ,we need ,one who can satisfy our desires and fill our hungry souls1 and ,jesus speaks a promise1 confirmed by the experience of all who have tested it when ,he declares3 ',he that cometh unto ,me shall never hunger4' ,we need ,one who will dry our tears1 and ,jesus1 when ,he says ',weep not1' wipes them away and stanches their sources1 giving 'the oil of joy for mourning4' ,we need ,one who can hold us up in our journey1 and minister strength to fainting hearts and vigour to weary feet1 and ,jesus 'strengthens us with might in the inner man4' ,we need ,one who will bring us to the promised land of rest1 and ,jesus brings many sons to glory1 and wills that they be 'with ,him where ,he is4' ,so let us turn away from the multiplicity of human insufficiencies to ,him who is our one only help and hope1 because ,he is all-sufficient and eternal4 ,,afraid ,,of ,,giants ',and ,moses sent them to spy out the land of ,canaan1 and said unto them1 ,get you up this way southward1 and go up into the mountain2 #ah4 ,and see the land1 what it is2 and the people that dwelleth therein1 whether they be strong or weak1 few or many2 #ai4 ,and what the land is that they dwell in1 whether it be good or bad2 and what cities they be that they dwell in1 whether in tents1 or in strong holds2 #bj4 ,and what the land is1 whether it be fat or lean1 whether there be wood therein1 or not4 ,and be ye of good courage1 and bring of the fruit of the land4 ,now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes4 #ba4 ,so they went up1 and searched the land from the wilderness of ,zin unto ,rehob1 as men come to ,hamath4 #bb4 ,and they ascended by the south1 and came unto ,hebron2 where ,ahiman1 ,sheshai1 and ,talmai1 the children of ,anak1 were4 7,now ,hebron was built seven years before ,zoan in ,egypt47 #bc4 ,and they came unto the brook of ,eshcol1 and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes1 and they bare it between two upon staff2 and they brought of the pomegranates1 and of the figs4 #bd4 ,the place was called the brook ,eshcol1 because of the cluster of grapes which the children of ,israel cut down from thence4 #be4 ,and they returned from searching of the land after forty days4 #bf4 ,and they went and came to ,moses1 and to ,aaron1 and to all the congregation of the children of ,israel1 unto the wilderness of ,paran1 to ,kadesh2 and brought back word unto them1 and unto all the congregation1 and shewed them the fruit of the land4 #bg4 ,and they told him1 and said1 ,we came unto the land whither thou sentest us1 and surely it floweth with milk and honey2 and this is the fruit of it4 #bh4 ,nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land1 and the cities are walled1 and very great3 and1 moreover1 we saw the children of ,anak there4 #bi4 ,the ,amalekites dwell in the land of the south2 and the ,hittites1 and the ,jebusites1 and the ,amorites1 dwell in the mountains2 and the ,canaanites dwell by the sea1 and by the coast of ,jordan4 #cj4 ,and ,caleb stilled the people before ,moses1 and said1 ,let us go up at once1 and possess it2 for we are well able to overcome it4 #ca4 ,but the men that went up with him said1 ,we be not able to go up against the people2 for they are stronger than we4 #cb4 ,and they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of ,israel1 saying1 ,the land1 through which we have gone to search it1 is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof2 and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature4 #cc4 ,and there we saw the giants1 the sons of ,anak1 which come of the giants3 and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers1 and so we were in their sight4' --,,num4 xiii4 #ag-cc4 ,we stand here on the edge of the ,promised ,land4 ,the discussion of the true site of ,kadesh need not concern us now4 ,wherever it was1 the wanderers had the end of their desert journey within sight2 one bold push forward1 and their feet would tread on their inheritance4 ,but1 as is so often the case1 courage oozed out at the decisive moment1 and cowardice1 disguised as prudence1 called for 'further information1'--that cuckoo-cry of the faint-hearted4 ,there are three steps in this narrative3 the despatch of the explorers1 their expedition1 and the two reports brought back4 ,i4 ,we have the despatch and instructions of the explorers4 ,a comparison with ,deuteronomy i4 shows that the project of sending the spies originated in the people's terror at the near prospect of the fighting which they had known to be impending ever since they left ,egypt4 ,faith finds that nearness diminishes dangers1 but sense sees them grow as they approach4 ,the people answered ,moses' brave words summoning them to the struggle with this feeble petition for an investigation4 ,they did not honestly say that they were alarmed1 but defined the scope of the exploring party's mission as simply to 'bring us word again of the way by which we must go up1 and the cities into which we shall come4' ,had they not the pillar blazing there above them to tell them that8 ,the request was not fathomed in its true faithlessness by ,moses1 who thought it reasonable and yielded4 ,so far ,deuteronomy goes2 but this narrative puts another colour on the mission1 representing it as the consequence of ,god's command4 ,the most eager discoverer of discrepancies in the component parts of the ,pentateuch need not press this one into his service1 for both sides may be true3 the one representing the human feebleness which originated the wish2 the other1 the divine compliance with the desire1 in order to disclose the unbelief which unfitted the people for the impending struggle1 and to educate them by letting them have their foolish way1 and taste its bitter results4 ,putting the two accounts together1 we get1 not a contradiction1 but a complete view1 which teaches a large truth as to ,god's dealings2 namely1 that ,he often lovingly lets us have our own way to show us by the issues that ,his is better1 and that daring1 which is obedience1 is the true prudence4 ,the instructions given to the explorers turn on two points3 the eligibility of the country for settlement1 and the military strength of its inhabitants4 ,they alternate in a very graphic way from the one of these to the other1 beginning1 in verse #ah1 with the land1 and immediately going on to the numbers and power of the inhabitants2 then harking back again1 in verse #ai1 to the fertility of the land1 and passing again to the capacity of the cities to resist attack2 and finishing up1 in verse #bj1 with the land once more1 both arable and forest4 ,the same double thought colours the parting exhortation to 'be bold1' and to 'bring of the produce of the land4' ,now the people knew already both points which the spies were despatched to find out4 ,over and over again1 in ,egypt1 in the march1 and at ,sinai1 they had been told that the land was 'flowing with milk and honey1' and had been assured of its conquest4 ,what more did they want8 ,nothing1 if they had believed ,god4 ,nothing1 if they had been all saints1--which they were not4 ,their fears were very natural4 ,a great deal might be said in favour of their wish to have accurate information4 ,but it is a bad sign when faith1 or rather unbelief1 sends out sense to be its scout1 and when we think to verify ,god's words by men's confirmation4 ,not to believe ,him unless a jury of twelve of ourselves says the same thing1 is surely much the same as not believing ,him at all2 for it is not ,he1 but they1 whom we believe after all4 ,there is no need to be too hard on the people4 ,they were a mob of slaves1 whose manhood had been eaten out by four centuries of sluggish comfort1 and latterly crushed by oppression4 ,so far as we know1 ,abraham's midnight surprise of the ,eastern kings was the solitary bit of fighting in the national history thus far2 and it is not wonderful that1 with such a past1 they should have shrunk from the prospect of bloodshed1 and caught at any excuse for delay at least1 even if not for escape4 ',we have all of us one human heart1' and these cowards were no monsters1 but average men1 who did very much what average men1 professing to be ,christians1 do every day1 and for doing get praised for prudence by other average professing ,christians4 ,how many of us1 when brought right up to some task involving difficulty or danger1 but unmistakably laid on us by ,god1 shelter our distrustful fears under the fair pretext of 'knowing a little more about it first1' and shake wise heads over rashness which takes ,god at ,his word1 and thinks that it knows enough when it knows what ,he wills8 ,,ii4 ,we have the exploration 7verses #ba-be74 ,the account of it is arranged on a plan common in the ,old ,testament narratives1 the observation of which would1 in many places1 remove difficulties which have led to extraordinary hypotheses4 ,verse #ba gives a general summary of what is then taken up1 and told in more detail4 ,it indicates the completeness of the exploration by giving its extreme southern and northern points1 the desert of ,zin being probably the present depression called the ,arabah1 and ',rehob as men come to ,hamath' being probably near the northern ,dan1 on the way to ,hamath1 which lay in the valley between the ,lebanon and the ,anti-,lebanon4 ,the account then begins over again1 and tells how the spies went up into 'the ,south4' ,the ,revised ,version has done wisely in printing this word with a capital1 and thereby showing that it is not merely the name of a cardinal point1 but of a district4 ,it literally means 'the dry1' and is applied to the arid stretch of land between the more cultivated southern parts of ,canaan and the northern portion of the desert which runs down to ,sinai4 ,it is a great chalky plateau1 and might almost be called a steppe or prairie4 ,passing through this1 the explorers next would come to ,hebron1 the first town of importance1 beside which ,abraham had lived1 and where the graves of their ancestors were4 ,but they were in no mood for remembering such old stories4 ,living ,anaks were much more real to them than dead patriarchs4 ,so the only thing mentioned1 besides the antiquity of the city1 is the presence in it of these giants4 ,they were probably the relics of the aboriginal inhabitants1 and some strain of their blood survived till late days4 ,they seem to have expelled the ,hittites1 who held ,mamre1 or ,hebron1 in ,abraham's time4 ,their name is said to mean 'long-necked1' and the three names in our lesson are probably tribal1 and not personal1 names4 ,the whole march northward and back again comes in between verses #bb and #bc2 for ,eshcol was close to ,hebron1 and the spies would not encumber themselves with the bunch of grapes on their northward march4 ,the details of the exploration are given more fully in the spies' report1 which shows that they had gone up north from ,hebron1 through the hills1 and possibly came back by the valley of the ,jordan4 ,at any rate1 they made good speed1 and must have done some bold and hard marching1 to cover the ground out and back in six weeks4 ,so they returned with their pomegranates and figs1 and a great bunch of the grapes for which the valley identified with ,eshcol is still famous1 swinging on a pole1--the easiest way of carrying it without injury4 ,,iii4 ,we have next the two reports4 ,the explorers are received in a full assembly of the people1 and begin their story with an object-lesson1 producing the great grape cluster and the other spoils4 ,but while honesty compelled the acknowledgment of the fertility of the land1 cowardice slurred that over as lightly as might be1 and went on to dilate on the terrors of the giants and the strength of the cities1 and the crowded population that held every corner of the country4 ,truly1 the eye sees what it brings with it4 ,they really had gone to look for dangers1 and of course they found them4 ,whatever ,moses might lay down in his instructions1 they had been sent by the people to bring back reasons for not attempting the conquest1 and so they curtly and coldly admit the fertility of the soil1 and fling down the fruit for inspection as undeniably grown there1 but they tell their real mind with a great 'nevertheless4' ,their report is1 no doubt1 quite accurate4 ,the cities were1 no doubt1 some of them walled1 and to eyes accustomed to the desert1 very great2 and there were1 no doubt1 ,anaks at ,hebron1 at any rate1 and the 'spies' had got the names of the various races and their territories correctly4 ,as to these1 we need only notice that the ,hittites were an outlying branch of the great nation1 which recent research has discovered1 as we might say1 the importance and extent of which we scarcely yet know2 that the ,jebusites held ,jerusalem till ,david's time2 that the ',amorites1' or ',highlanders1' occupied the central block of mountainous country in conjunction with the two preceding tribes2 and that the ',canaanites1' or ',lowlanders1' held the lowlands east and west of that hilly nucleus1 namely1 the deep gorge of the ,jordan1 and the strip of maritime plain4 ,a very accurate report may be very one-sided4 ,the spies were not the last people who1 being sent out to bring home facts1 managed to convey very decided opinions without expressing any4 ,a grudging and short admission to begin with1 the force of which is immediately broken by sombre and minute painting of difficulty and danger1 is more powerful as a deterrent than any dissuasive4 ,it sounds such an unbiassed appeal to common-sense1 as if the reporter said1 ',there are the facts2 we leave you to draw the conclusions4' ,an 'unvarnished account of the real state of the case1' in which there is not a single misstatement nor exaggeration1 may be utterly false by reason of wrong perspective and omission1 and1 however true1 is sure to act as a shower-bath to courage1 if it is unaccompanied with a word of cheer4 ,to begin a perilous enterprise without fairly facing its risks and difficulties is folly4 ,to look at them only is no less folly1 and is the sure precursor of defeat4 ,but when on the one side is ,god's command1 and on the other such doleful discouragements1 they are more than folly1 they are sin4 ,it is bracing to turn from the creeping prudence which leaves ,god out of the account1 to the cheery ring of ,caleb's sturdy confidence4 ,his was 'a minority report1' signed by only two of the ',commission4' ,these two had seen all that the others had1 but everything depends on the eyes which look4 ,the others had measured themselves against the trained soldiers and giants1 and were in despair4 ,these two measured ,amalekites and ,anaks against ,god1 and were jubilant4 ,they do not dispute the facts1 but they reverse the implied conclusion1 because they add the governing fact of ,god's help4 ,how differently the same facts strike a man who lives by faith1 and one who lives by calculation6 ,israel might be a row of ciphers1 but with ,god at the head they meant something4 ,caleb's confidence that 'we are well able to overcome' was religious trust1 as is plain from ,god's eulogium on him in the next chapter 7,num4 xiv4 #bd74 ,the lessons from it are that faith is the parent of wise courage2 that where duty1 which is ,god's voice1 points1 difficulties must not deter2 that when we have ,god's assurance of support1 they are nothing4 ,caleb was wise to counsel going up to the assault 'at once1' for there is no better cure for fear than action4 ,old soldiers tell us that the trying time is when waiting to begin the fight4 ',the native hue of resolution' gets 'sicklied o'er' with the paleness that comes from hesitation4 ,am ,i sure that anything is ,god's will8 ,then the sooner ,i go to work at doing it1 the better for myself and for the vigour of my work4 ,this headstrong rashness1 as they thought it1 brings up the other 'spies' once more4 ,notice how the gloomy views are the only ones in their second statement4 ,there is nothing about the fertility of the land1 but1 instead1 we have that enigmatical expression about its 'eating up its inhabitants4' ,no very satisfactory explanation of this is forthcoming4 ,it evidently means that in some way the land was destructive of its inhabitants1 which seems to contradict their former reluctant admission of its fertility4 ,perhaps in their eagerness to paint it black enough1 they did contradict themselves1 and try to make out that it was a barren soil1 not worth conquering4 ,fear is not very careful of consistency4 ,note1 too1 the exaggerations of terror4 ',all the people' are sons of ,anak now4 ,the size as well as the number of the giants has grown2 'we were in our own sight as grasshoppers4' ,no doubt they were gigantic1 but fear performed the miracle of adding a cubit to their stature4 ,when the coward hears that 'there is a lion without1'--that is1 in the open country1--he immediately concludes1 ',i shall be slain in the streets1' where it is not usual for lions to disport themselves4 ,thus exaggerated and one-sided is distrust of ,god's promises4 ,such a temper is fatal to all noble life or work1 and brings about the disasters which it foresees4 ,if these cravens had gone up to fight with men before whom they felt like grasshoppers1 of course they would have been beaten2 and it was much better that their fears should come out at ,kadesh than when committed to the struggle4 ,therefore ,god lovingly permitted the mission of the spies1 and so brought lurking unbelief to the surface1 where it could be dealt with4 ,let us beware of the one-eyed 'prudence' which sees only the perils in the path of duty and enterprise for ,god1 and is blind to the all-sufficient presence which makes us more than conquerors1 when we lean all our weight on it4 ,it is well to see the ,anakim in their full formidableness1 and to feel that we are 'as grasshoppers in our own sight' and in theirs1 if the sight drives us to lift our eyes to ,him who 'sitteth upon the circle of the earth1 and the inhabitants thereof1' however huge and strong1 'are as grasshoppers4' ,,weighed1 ,,and ,,found ,,wanting ',and all the congregation lifted up their voice1 and cried2 and the people wept that night4 #b4 ,and all the children of ,israel murmured against ,moses and against ,aaron2 and the whole congregation said unto them1 ,would ,god that we had died in the land of ,egypt6 or would ,god we had died in this wilderness6 #c4 ,and wherefore hath the ,lord brought us unto this land1 to fall by the sword1 that our wives and our children should be a prey8 were it not better for us to return into ,egypt8 #d4 ,and they said one to another1 ,let us make a captain1 and let us return into ,egypt #e4 ,then ,moses and ,aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of ,israel4 #f4 ,and ,joshua the son of ,nun1 and ,caleb the son of ,jephunneh1 which were of them that searched the land1 rent their clothes4 #g4 ,and they spake unto all the company of the children of ,israel1 saying1 ,the land1 which we passed through to search it1 is an exceeding good land4 #h4 ,if the ,lord delight in us1 then ,he will bring us into this land1 and give it us2 a land which floweth with milk and honey4 #i4 ,only rebel not ye against the ,lord1 neither fear ye the people of the land2 for they are bread for us3 their defence is departed from them1 and the ,lord is with us3 fear them not4 #aj4 ,but all the congregation bade stone them with stones4 ,and the glory of the ,lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of ,israel4' --,,num4 xiv4 #a-aj4 ,terror is more contagious than courage1 for a mob is always more prone to base than to noble instincts4 ,the gloomy report of the spies jumped with the humour of the people1 and was at once accepted4 ,its effect was to throw the whole assembly into a paroxysm of panic1 which was expressed in the passionate ,eastern manner by wild1 ungoverned shrieking and tears4 ,what a picture of a frenzied crowd the first verse of this chapter gives6 ,that is not the stuff of which heroes can be made4 ,weeping endured for a night1 but to such weeping there came no morning of joy4 ,when day dawned1 the tempest of emotion settled down into sullen determination to give up the prize which hung within reach of a bold hand1 ripe and ready to drop4 ,it was one of the moments which come once at least in the lives of nations as of individuals1 when a supreme resolve is called for1 and when to fall beneath the stern requirement1 and refuse a great attempt because of danger1 is to pronounce sentence of unworthiness and exclusion on themselves4 ,not courage only1 but belief in ,god1 was tested in this crucial moment1 which made a turning-point in the nation's history4 ,our text brings before us with dramatic vividness and sharpness of contrast1 three parties in this decisive hour--the faithless cowards1 the faithful four1 and the ,all-seeing presence4 ,i4 ,note the faithless cowards4 ,the gravity of the revolt here is partly in its universality1 which is emphasised in the narrative at every turn3 'all the congregation' 7v4 #a71 'all the children of ,israel1' the whole congregation' 7v4 #b71 'all the assembly of the congregation' 7which implies a solemn formal convocation71 'all the company' 7v1 #g71 'all the congregation1' 'all the children of ,israel' 7v4 #aj74 ,it was no sectional discontent1 but full-blown and universal rebellion4 ,the narrative draws a distinction between the language addressed to ,moses1 and the whisperings to one another4 ,publicly1 the unanimous voice suggested the return to ,egypt as an alternative for discussion1 and put it before ,moses2 to one another they muttered the proposal1 which no man had yet courage to speak out1 of choosing a new leader1 and going back1 whatever became of ,moses4 ,that could only mean murder as well as mutiny4 ,the whispers would soon be loud enough4 ,in the murmurs to ,moses1 observe the distinct and conscious apostacy from ,jehovah4 ,they recognise that ,god 'has brought' them there1 and they slander ,him by the assertion that ,his malignant1 deliberate purpose was to kill them all1 and make slaves of their wives and children4 ,that was how they read the past1 and thought of ,him6 ,he had enticed them into ,his trap1 as a hunter might some foolish animal1 by dainties strewed along the path1 and now they were in the toils1 and their only chance of life was to break through4 ,often1 already1 had they raised that mad cry--'back to ,egypt6' but there had never been such a ring of resolve in it1 nor had it come from so many throats1 nor had any serious purpose to depose ,moses been entertained4 ,if we add the fact that they were now on the very frontier of ,canaan1 and that the decision now taken was necessarily final1 we get the full significance of the incident from the mere secular historian's point of view4 ,but its bearing on the people's relation to ,jehovah gives a darker colouring to it4 ,it is not merely faint-hearted shrinking from a great opportunity1 but it is wilful and deliberate rejection of ,his rule1 based upon utter distrust of ,his word4 ,so ,scripture treats this event as the typical example of unbelief 7,psa4 xcv42 ,heb4 iii4 and iv474 ,so regarded1 it presents1 as in a mirror1 some of the salient characteristics of that master sin4 ,bad as it is1 it is not out of the range of possibility that it should be repeated1 and we need the warning to 'take heed lest any of us should fall after the same example of unbelief4' ,we may learn from it the essentials of faith and its opposite4 ,the trust which these cowards failed to exercise was reliance on ,jehovah1 a personal relation to a ,person4 ,in externals and contents1 their trust was very unlike the ,new ,testament faith1 but in object and essence it was identical4 ,they had to trust in ,jehovah2 we1 in ',god manifest in the flesh4' ,their creed was much less clear and blessed than ours1 but their faith1 if they had had it1 would have been the same4 ,faith is not the belief of a creed1 whether man-made or ,god-revealed1 but the cleaving to the ,person whom the creed makes known4 ,he may be made known more or less perfectly2 but the act of the soul1 by which we grasp ,him1 does not vary with the completeness of the revelation4 ,that act was one for 'the world's grey fathers' and for us4 ,in like manner1 unbelief is the same black and fatal sin1 whatever be the degree of light against which it turns4 ,to depart from the living ,god is its essence1 and that is always rebellion and death4 ,note the short memory and churlish unthankfulness of unbelief4 ,it has been often objected to the story of the ,exodus1 that such extremity of folly as is ascribed to the ,israelites is inconceivable in such circumstances4 ,how could men1 with all these miracles in mind1 and manna falling daily1 and the pillar blazing every night1 and the roll of ,sinai's thunders scarcely out of their ears1 behave thus8 ,but any one who has honestly studied his own heart1 and known its capacity for neglecting the plainest indications of ,god's presence1 and forgetting the gifts of ,his love1 will believe the story1 and see brethren in these ,israelites4 ,miracles were less wonderful to them1 because they knew less about nature and its laws4 ,any miracles constantly renewed become commonplace4 ,habit takes the wonder out of everything4 ,the heart that does not 'like to retain ,god in its knowledge' will find easy ways of forgetting ,him1 and revolting from ,him1 though the path be strewed with blessings1 and tokens of ,his presence flame on every side4 ,true1 it is strange that all the wonders and mercies of the past two years had made no deeper impression on these people's hearts2 but if they had not done so1 it is not unnatural that they had made so slight an impression on their wills4 ,their ingratitude and forgetfulness are inexplicable1 as all sin is1 for its very essence is that it has no sufficient reason4 ,but neither is inconceivable1 and both are repeated by us every day4 ,note the credulity of unbelief4 ,the word of ,jehovah had told them that the land 'flowed with milk and honey1' and that they were sure to conquer it4 ,they would not believe ,him unless they had verification of ,his promises4 ,and when they got their own fears reflected in the multiplying mirror of the spies' report1 they took men's words for gospel1 and gave to them a credence without examination or qualification1 which they had never given to ,god4 ,i think that ,i have heard of people who inveigh against ,christians for their slavish acceptance of the absolute authority of ,jesus ,christ1 and who pin their faith to some man's teaching with a credulity quite as great as and much less warrantable than ours4 ,note the bad bargain which unbelief is ready to make4 ,they contemplated a risky alternative to the brave dash against ,canaan4 ,there would be quite as much peril in going back as forward4 ,the march from ,egypt had not been so easy2 but what would it be when there were no ,moses1 no ,jethro1 no manna1 no pillar8 ,and what sort of reception would wait them in ,egypt1 and what fate befall them there8 ,in front1 there were perils2 but ,god would be with them4 ,they would have to fight their way1 but with the joyous feeling that victory was sure1 and that every blow struck1 and every step marched1 brought them nearer triumphant peace4 ,if they turned1 every step would carry them farther from their hopes1 and nearer the dreary putting on of the old yoke1 which 'neither they nor their fathers were able to bear4' ,they would buy slavery at as dear a price as they would have to pay for freedom and wealth4 ,yet they elected the baser course1 and thought themselves prudent and careful of themselves in doing so4 ,is the breed of such miscalculators extinct8 ,far greater hardships and pains are met on the road of departure from ,god1 than any which befall ,his servants4 ,to follow ,him involves a conflict1 but to shirk the battle does not bring immunity from strife4 ,the alternatives are not warfare or peace1 ,god's service or liberty4 ,the most prudent self-love would coincide with the most self-sacrificing heroic consecration1 and no man can worse consult his own well-being than in seeking escape from the dangers and toil of enlisting in ,god's army1 by running back through the desert to put his neck in chains in ,egypt4 ,as ,moses said3 ',because then servedst not the ,lord thy ,god with joyfulness1 and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things1 therefore thou shalt serve thine enemies1 in hunger1 and in thirst1 and in want of all things4' ,,ii4 ,the faithful four4 ,moses and ,aaron1 ,caleb and ,joshua1 are the only ,abdiels in that crowd of unbelieving dastards4 ,their own peril does not move them2 their only thought is to dissuade from the fatal refusal to advance4 ,the leader had no armed force with which to put down revolt1 and stood wholly undefended and powerless4 ,it was a cruel position for him to see the work of his life crumbling to pieces1 and every hope for his people dashed by their craven fears4 ,is there anywhere a nobler piece of self-abnegation than his prostrating himself before them in the eagerness of his pleading with them for their own good8 ,if anything could have kindled a spark of generous enthusiasm1 that passionate gesture of entreaty would have done it4 ,it is like3 ',we beseech you1 in ,his stead1 be ye reconciled to ,god4' ,men need to be importuned not to destroy themselves1 and he will have most success in such ,god-like work who1 as ,moses1 is so sure of the fatal issues1 and so oblivious of all but saving men from self-inflicted ruin1 that he sues as for a boon with tears in his voice1 and dignity thrown to the winds4 ,caleb and ,joshua had a different task1--to make one more attempt to hearten the people by repeating their testimony and their confidence4 ,tearing their dresses1 in sign of mourning1 they bravely ring out once more the cheery note of assured faith4 ,they first emphatically reiterate that the land is fertile1--or1 as the words literally run1 'good exceedingly1 exceedingly4' ,it is right to stimulate for ,god's warfare by setting forth the blessedness of the inheritance4 ',the recompense of the reward' is not the motive for doing ,his will1 but it is legitimately used as encouragement1 in spite of the overstrained objection that virtue for the sake of heaven is spurious virtue4 ,if 'for the sake of heaven1' it is spurious2 but it is not spurious because it is heartened by the hope of heaven4 ,in ,caleb's former report there was no reason given for his confidence that 'we are well able to overcome4' ,thus far all the discussion had been about comparative strength1 as any heathen soldier would have reckoned it4 ,but the two heroes speak out the great ,name at last1 which ought to scatter all fears like morning mist4 ,the rebels had said that ,jehovah had 'brought us into this land to fall by the sword4' ,the two give them back their words with a new turn3 ',he will bring us into this land1 and give it us4' ,that is the only antidote to fear4 ,calculations of comparative force are worse than useless1 and their results depend on the temper of the calculator2 but1 if once ,god is brought into the account1 the sum is ended4 ,when ,his sword is flung into the scale1 whatever is in the other goes up4 ,so ,caleb and ,joshua brush aside the terrors of the ,anaks and all the other bugbears4 ',they are bread for us1' we can swallow them at a mouthful2 and this was no swaggering boast1 but calm1 reasonable confidence1 because it rested on this1 'the ,lord is with us4' ,true1 there was an 'if1' but not an 'if' of doubt1 but a condition which they could comply with1 and so make it a certainty1 'only rebel not against the ,lord1 and fear not the people of the land4' ,loyalty to ,him would give courage1 and courage with ,his presence would be sure of victory4 ,obedience turns ,god's 'ifs' into 'verilys4' ,there1 then1 we have an outline picture of the work of faith pleading with the rebellious1 heartening them and itself by thoughts of the fair inheritance1 grasping the assurance of ,god's omnipotent help1 and in the strength thereof wisely despising the strongest foes1 and settling itself immovable in the posture of obedience4 ,,iii4 ,the sudden appearance of the all-seeing ,lord4 ,the bold remonstrance worked the people into a fury1 and fidelity was about to reap the reward which the crowd ever gives to those who try to save it from its own base passions4 ,nothing is more hateful to resolute sinners than good counsel which is undeniably true4 ,but just as the stones were beginning to fly1 the 'glory of the ,lord1' that wondrous light which dwelt above the ark in the inmost shrine1 came forth before all the awestruck crowd4 ,the stones would be dropped fast enough1 and a hush of dread would follow the howling rage of the angry crowd4 ,our text does not go on to the awful judgment which was proclaimed2 but we may venture beyond its bounds to point out that the sentence of exclusion from the land was but the necessary consequence of the temper and character which the refusal to advance had betrayed4 ,such people were not fit for the fight4 ,a new generation1 braced by the keen air and scant fare of the desert1 with firmer muscles and hearts than these enervated slaves had1 was needed for the conquest4 ,the sentence was mercy as well as judgment2 it was better that they should live in the wilderness1 and die there by natural process1 after having had more education in ,god's loving care1 than that they should be driven unwillingly to a conflict which1 in their state of mind1 would have been but their butchery4 ,none the less1 it is an awful condemnation for a man to be brought by ,god's providence face to face with a great possibility of service and of blessing1 and then to show himself such that ,god has to put him aside1 and look for other instruments4 ,the ,israelites were excluded from ,canaan by no arbitrary decree1 but by their own faithless fears1 which made their victory impossible4 ',they could not enter in because of unbelief4' ,in like manner our unbelief shuts us out from salvation1 because we can only enter in by faith2 and the 'rest that remains' is of such a nature that it is impossible for even ,his love to give it to the unbelieving4 ',let us labour1 therefore1 to enter into that rest1 lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief4' ,,moses ,,the ,,intercessor ',pardon1 ,i beseech ,thee1 the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of ,thy mercy1 and as ,thou hast forgiven this people1 from ,egypt even until now4' --,,num4 xiv4 #ai4 ,see how in this story a divine threat is averted and a divine promise is broken1 thus revealing a standing law that these in ,scripture are conditional4 ,this striking incident of ,moses' intercession suggests to us some thoughts as to ,i4 ,the ground of the divine forgiveness4 ,the appeal is not based on anything in the people4 ,god is not asked to forgive because of their repentance or their faith4 ,true1 these are the conditions on which ,his pardon is received by us1 but they are not the reasons why it is given by ,him4 ,nor does ,moses appeal to any sacrifices that had been offered and were conceived to placate ,god4 ,but he goes deeper than all such pleas1 and lays hold1 with sublime confidence1 on ,god's own nature as his all-powerful plea4 ',the greatness of ,thy mercy' is the ground of the divine forgiveness1 and the mightiest plea that human lips can urge4 ,it suggests that ,his very nature is pardoning love2 that 'mercy' is proper to ,him1 that it is the motive and impulse of ,his acts4 ,he forgives because ,he is mercy4 ,that is the foundation truth4 ,it is the deep spring from which by inherent impulse all the streams of forgiveness well up4 ,what was true when ,moses prayed for the rebels is true to-day4 ,christ's work is the consequence1 not the cause1 of ,god's pardoning love4 ,it is the channel through which the waters reach us1 but the waters made the channel for themselves4 ,,ii4 ,the persistency of the divine pardon4 ',as thou hast forgiven 444 even until now4' ,his past is the guarantee of ,his future4 ,this is true of every one of ,his attributes4 ,there is no limitation to the divine forgiveness2 you cannot exhaust it4 ,sometimes there may be long tracts of almost utter godlessness1 or times of apathy4 ,sometimes there may be bursts of great and unsanctified evil after many professions of fidelity1 as in ,david's case4 ,sometimes there may be but a daily experience in which there is little apparent progress1 little consciousness of growing mastery over sin1 little of deepening holiness and spiritual power4 ,be it so6 ,to all such1 and to every other form of ,christian unfaithfulness1 this blessed thought applies4 ,we are apt to think as if our many pardons in the past made future pardons less likely1 whereas the truth is that we have received forgiveness so often in the past that we may be quite sure that it will never fail us in the future4 ,god has established a precedent in ,his dealings with us4 ,he binds ,himself by ,his past4 ,as in ,his creative energy1 the forces that flung the whole universe forth were not exhausted by the act1 but subsist continually to sustain it1 as ',he fainteth not1 neither is weary1' so in the works of ,his providence1 and more especially of ,his grace1 there is nothing in the exercise of any of ,his attributes to exhaust that attribute1 nothing in the constant appeal which we make to ,his forgiving grace to weary out that grace4 ,and thus we may learn1 even from the unfading glories of the heavens and the undimmed splendours of ,his creative works1 the lesson that1 in the holier region of ,his love1 and ,his pardoning mercy1 there is no exhaustion1 and that all the past instances of ,his pardoning grace only make the broader1 firmer ground of certainty as to ,his continuous present and future forgiveness for all our iniquity4 ,he who has proposed to us the 'seventy times seven' as the number of our forgivenesses will not let ,his own fall short of that tale4 ,our iniquities may be 'more than the hairs of our heads1' but as the psalmist who found his to be so comforted himself with thinking1 ,god's 'thoughts which are to usward' were 'more than can be numbered4' ,there would be a pardoning thought for every sin1 and after all sins had been forgiven1 there would be 'multitudes of redemptions' still available for penitent souls4 ,there is but one thing that limits the divine pardon1 and that is continuous rejection of it4 ,whoever seeks to be pardoned is pardoned4 ,,iii4 ,the manner of the divine forgiveness4 ,he pardoned1 but ,he also inflicted punishment1 and in both ,he loves equally4 ,the worst1 that is the spiritual1 consequences 7which are the punishments7 of sin1 namely separation and alienation from ,god1 ,he removes in the very act of forgiveness1 but ,his pardon does not affect the natural consequences4 ',thou wast a ,god that forgavest them and tookest vengeance of their inventions1' says a psalmist in reference to this very incident4 ,thank ,god that ,he loves us too wisely and well not to let us by experience 'know that it is a bitter thing to forsake the ,lord4' ,it is a blessing that ,he does so1 and a sign that we are pardoned1 if we rightly use it4 ,,iv4 ,the vehicle of the divine forgiveness4 ,the ,mediator4 ,moses here may be taken as a dim shadow of ,christ4 ',moses was faithful in all his house' but ,jesus is the true ,mediator1 whose intercession consists in presenting the constant efficacy of ,his sacrifice1 and to whom ,god ever says1 ',i have pardoned according to ,thy word4' ,trust utterly to ,him4 ,you cannot weary out the forgiving love of ,god4 ',christ ever liveth to make intercession'2 with ,god is 'plenteous redemption4' ',he shall redeem ,israel out of all his iniquities4' ,,service ,a ,,gift '444 ,i have given your priest's office unto you as a service of gift4'--,,num4 xviii4 #g4 ,all ,christians are priests--to offer sacrifices1 alms1 especially prayers2 to make ,god known to men4 ,i4 ,our priesthood is a gift of ,god's love4 ,we are apt to think of our duties as burdensome4 ,they are an honour and a mark of ,god's grace4 #a4 ,they are ,his gift-- 7a7 ,the power to do4 ,all capacities and possessions from ,him4 7b7 ,the wish to do4 ',worketh in you to will4' 7c7 ,the right to do1 through ,christ4 #b4 ,they are a blessing4 7a7 ,note the good effects on ourselves--the increase of fellowship with ,him1 the strengthening of all holy desires4 7b7 ,the future benefits4 ,apply this to prayer and to effort on behalf of our fellow-men4 ,,ii4 ,our priesthood is to be done as a service--under a sense of obligation to a master1 with diligence 7an ,greek3 ergon1 not a ,greek3 parergon74 ,,iii4 ,our priesthood is to be done as a gift to ,god--to be done joyfully1 giving ourselves back to ,him3 ',yield yourselves unto ,god'--'your reasonable service4' ,then only do we really possess ourselves1 and 'all things are ours1 for we are ,christ's1 and ,christ is ,god's4' ,,the ,,waters ,,of ,,meribah ',then came the children of ,israel1 even the whole congregation1 into the desert of ,zin in the first month3 and the people abode in ,kadesh2 and ,miriam died there1 and was buried there4 #b4 ,and there was no water for the congregation3 and they gathered themselves together against ,moses and against ,aaron4 #c4 ,and the people chode with ,moses1 and spake1 saying1 ,would ,god that we had died when our brethren died before the ,lord6 #d4 ,and why have ye brought up the congregation of the ,lord into this wilderness1 that we and our cattle should die there8 #e4 ,and wherefore have ye made us to come up out of ,egypt1 to bring us in unto this evil place8 ,it is no place of seed1 or of figs1 or of vines1 or of pomegranates2 neither is there any water to drink4 #f4 ,and ,moses and ,aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation1 and they fell upon their faces3 and the glory of the ,lord appeared unto them4 #g4 ,and the ,lord spake unto ,moses1 saying1 #h4 ,take the rod1 and gather thou the assembly together1 thou1 and ,aaron thy brother1 and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes2 and it shall give forth his water1 and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock3 so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink4 #i4 ,and ,moses took the rod from before the ,lord1 as ,he commanded him4 #aj4 ,and ,moses and ,aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock1 and he said unto them1 ,hear now1 ye rebels2 must we fetch you water out of this rock8 #aa4 ,and ,moses lifted up his hand1 and with his rod he smote the rock twice3 and the water came out abundantly1 and the congregation drank1 and their beasts also4 #ab4 ,and the ,lord spake unto ,moses and ,aaron1 ,because ye believed ,me not1 to sanctify ,me in the eyes of the children of ,israel1 therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which ,i have given them4 #ac4 ,this is the water of ,meribah2 because the children of ,israel strove with the ,lord1 and ,he was sanctified in them4'--,,num4 xx4 #a-ac4 ,kadesh had witnessed the final trial and failure of the generation that came out of ,egypt2 now we see the first trial and failure of the new generation1 thirty-seven years after1 on the same spot4 ,deep silence shrouds the history of these dreary years2 but1 probably1 the congregation was broken up1 and small parties roamed over the country1 without purpose or hope1 while ,moses and a few of the leaders kept by the tabernacle4 ,there is a certain emphasis in the phrase of the first verse of this chapter1 'the children of ,israel1 even the whole congregation1' which suggests that this was the first reassembling of the scattered units since the last act of the 'whole congregation4' ',the first month' was1 then1 the first of the fortieth year1 and the gathering was either in obedience to the summons of ,moses1 who knew that the fixed time had now come1 or was the result of common knowledge of the fact4 ,in any case1 we have here the first act of a new epoch1 and the question to be tried is whether the new men are any better than the old4 ,it is this which gives importance to the event1 and explains the bitterness of ,moses at finding the old spirit living in the children4 ,it was his trial as well as theirs4 ,he resumed the functions which had substantially been in abeyance for a generation1 and by his conduct showed that he had become unfit for the new form which the leadership must take with the invasion of ,canaan4 ,i4 ,we note the old murmurings on the lips of the new generation4 ,the lament of a later prophet fits these hereditary grumblers1--',in vain have ,i smitten your children2 they received no correction4' ,the place where they reassembled might have taught them the sin of unbelief2 their parents' graves should have enforced the lesson4 ,but the long years of wandering1 and two millions of deaths1 had been useless4 ,the weather-beaten but sturdy strength of the four old men1 the only survivors1 might have preached the wisdom of trust in the ,god in whose 'favour is life4' ,but the people 'had learned nothing and forgotten nothing4' ,the old cuckoo-cry1 which had become so monotonous from their fathers1 is repeated1 with differences1 not in their favour4 ,they do not1 indeed1 murmur directly against ,god1 because they regard ,moses and ,aaron as responsible4 ',why1' say they1 'have ye brought up the congregation of the ,lord8' ,they seem to use that name with a touch of pride in their relation to ,god1 while destitute of any real obedience1 and so they show the first traces of the later spirit of the nation4 ,they have acquired cattle while living in the oases of the wilderness1 and they are anxious about them4 ,they acknowledge the continuity of national life in their question1 ',wherefore have ye made us to come up out of ,egypt8' though most of them had been born in the wilderness4 ,the fear that moved their fathers to unbelief was more reasonable and less contemptible than this murmuring1 which ignores ,god all but utterly1 and is ready to throw up everything at the first taste of privation4 ,it is a signal instance of the solemn law by which the fathers' sins are inherited by the children who prove themselves heirs to their ancestors by repeating their deeds4 ,it is fashionable now to deny original sin1 and equally fashionable to affirm 'heredity1' which is the same thing1 put into scientific language4 ,there is such a thing as national character persistent through generations1 each unit of which adds something to the force of the tendencies which he receives and transmits1 but which never are so omnipotent as to destroy individual guilt1 however they may lighten it4 ,note1 too1 the awful power of resistance to ,god's educating possessed by our wills4 ,the whole purpose of these men's lives1 thus far1 had been to fit them for being ,god's instruments1 and for the reception of ,his blessing4 ,the desert was ,his school for body and mind1 where muscles and wills were to be braced1 and solitude and expectation might be nurses of lofty thoughts1 and in the silence ,god's voice might sound4 ,what better preparation of a hardy race of ,god-trusting heroes could there have been1 and what came of it all8 ,failure all but complete6 ,the instrument tempered with so much care has its edge turned at the first stroke4 ,the old sore breaks out at the old spot4 ,man's will has an awful power to thwart ,god's training2 and of all the sad mysteries of this sad mysterious world1 this is the saddest and most mysterious1 and is the root of all other sadness and mystery1--that a man can set his pin-point of a will against that great ,will which gives him all his power1 and when ,god beckons can say1 ',i will not1' and can render ,his most sedulous discipline ineffectual4 ,note1 too1 that trivial things are large enough to hide plain duties and bright possibilities4 ,these men knew that they had come to ,kadesh for the final assault1 which was to recompense all their hardships4 ,their desert training should have made them less resourceless and desperate when water failed2 but the hopes of conquest and the duty of trust cannot hold their own against present material inconvenience4 ,they even seem to make bitter mockery of the promises1 when they complain that ,kadesh is 'no place of seed1 or of figs1 or of vines1 or of pomegranates1' which were the fruits brought by the spies1--as if they had said1 ',so this stretch of waterless sand is the fertile land you talked of1 is it8 ,this is all that we have got by reassembling here4' ,do we not often feel that the drought of ,kadesh is more real than the grapes of ,eshcol8 ,are we not sometimes tempted to bitter comparisons of the fair promises with the gloomy realities8 ,does our courage never flag1 nor our faith falter1 nor swirling clouds of doubt hide the inheritance from our weary and tear-filled eyes8 ,he that is without sin may cast the first stone at these men2 but whoever knows his own weak heart will confess that1 if he had been among that thirsty crowd1 he would1 most likely1 have made one of the murmurers4 ,,ii4 ,note ,god's repetition of ,his old gift to the new generation4 ,moses makes no attempt to argue with the people1 but casts himself in entreaty before the door of the ,tabernacle1 as if crushed and helpless in face of this heart-breaking proof of the persistent obstinacy of the old faults4 ,god's answer recalls the former miracle at ,rephidim 7,exodus xvii4 #a-g7 in the early days of the march1 when the same cries had come from lips now silent1 and the rock1 smitten at ,god's command by the rod which had parted the sea1 yielded water4 ,the only differences are that here ,moses is bid to speak1 not to smite2 and that the miracle is to be done before all the congregation1 instead of before the elders only4 ,both variations seem to have the common purpose of enhancing the wonder1 and confirming the authority of ,moses1 to a generation to whom the old deliverances were only hearsay1 and many of whom were in contact with the leader for the first time4 ,the fact that we have here the beginning of a new epoch1 and a new set of people1 goes far to explain the resemblance of the two incidents1 without the need of supposing1 with many critics1 that they are but different versions of one 'legend4' ,the repetition of scarcity of water is not wonderful2 the recurrence of the murmurings is the sad proof of the unchanged temper of the people1 and the repetition of the miracle is the merciful witness of the patience of ,god4 ,his charity 'is not easily provoked1 is not soon angry1' but stoops to renew gifts which had been so little appreciated that the remembrance of them failed to cure distrust4 ,unbelief is obstinate1 but ,his loving purpose is more persistent still4 ,rephidim should have made the murmuring at ,kadesh impossible2 but1 if it does not1 then ,he will renew the mercy1 though it had been once wasted1 and will so shape the second gift that it shall recall the first1 if haply both may effect what one had failed to do4 ,when need is repeated1 the supply is forthcoming1 even when it is demanded by sullen and forgetful distrust4 ,we can wear out men's patience1 but ,god's is inexhaustible4 ,the same long-suffering ,hand that poured water from the rock for two generations of distrustful murmurers still lavishes its misused gifts on us1 to win us to late repentance1 'and upbraideth not' for our slowness to learn the lessons of ,his mercies4 ,,iii4 ,note the breaking down at last of the long-tried leader's patience4 ,it is in striking contrast with the patience of ,god4 ,psalm cvi4 #cb1 #cc1 describes the sin of ,moses as twofold2 namely1 anger and speaking 'unadvisedly4' ,his harsh words1 so unlike his pleadings on the former occasion of rebellion at ,kadesh1 have a worse thing than an outburst of temper in them4 ',must we fetch you water out of the rock8' arrogates to himself the power of working miracles4 ,he forgets that he was as much an instrument1 and as little a force1 as his own rod4 ,his angry scolding betrays wounded personal importance1 and annoyance at rebellion against his own authority1 rather than grief at the people's distrust of ,god1 and also a distinct clouding over of his own consciousness of dependence for all his power on ,god1 and an impure mingling of thoughts of self4 ,the same turbid blending of anger and self-regard impelled his arm to the passionately repeated strokes1 which1 in his heat1 he substituted for the quiet words that he was bidden to speak4 ,the ,palestinian ,tar gum says very significantly1 that at the first stroke the rock dropped blood1 thereby indicating the tragic sinfulness of the angry blow4 ,how unworthy a representative of the long-suffering ,god was this angry man6 ',the servant of the ,lord must not strive1' nor give the water with which he is entrusted1 with contempt or anger in his heart4 ,that gift requires meek compassion in its stewards4 ,but the failure of ,moses' patience was only too natural4 ,the whole incident has to be studied as the first of a new era1 in which both leader and led were on their trial4 ,during the thirty-seven years of waiting1 ,moses had had but little exercise of that part of his functions1 and little experience of the people's temper4 ,he must have looked forward anxiously to the result of the desert hardening2 he must have felt more remote from and above the children than he did to their parents1 his contemporaries who had come with him from ,egypt1 and so his disappointment must have been proportionately keen1 when the first difficulty that rose revealed the old spirit in undiminished force4 ,for forty years he had been patient1 and ready to swallow mortifications and ignore rebellion against himself1 and to offer himself for his people2 but now1 when men whom he had seen in their swaddling-clothes showed the same stiff-necked distrust as had killed their fathers1 the breaking-point of his patience was reached4 ,that burst of anger is a grave symptom of lessened love for the sinful murmurers2 and lessened love always means lessened power to guide and help4 ,the people are not changed1 but ,moses is4 ,he has no longer the invincible patience1 the utter self-oblivion1 the readiness for self-sacrifice1 which had borne him up of old1 and so he fails4 ,we may learn from his failure that the prime requisite for doing ,god's work is love1 which cannot be moved to anger nor stirred to self-assertion1 but meets and conquers murmuring and rebellion by patient holding forth of ,god's gift1 and is1 in some faint degree1 an echo of ,his endless long-suffering4 ,he who would serve men must1 sleeping or waking1 carry them in his heart1 and pity their sin4 ,they who would represent ,god to men1 and win men for ,god1 must be 'imitators of ,god 444 and walk in love4' ,if the bearer of the water of life offers it with ',hear1 ye rebels1' it will flow untasted4 ,,iv4 ,note the sentence on the leader1 and the sad memorial name4 ,moses is blamed for not believing nor sanctifying ,god4 ,his self-assertion in his unadvised speech came from unbelief1 or forgetfulness of his dependence4 ,he who claims power to himself1 denies it to ,god4 ,moses put himself between ,god and the people1 not to show but to hide ,god2 and1 instead of exalting ,god's holiness before them by declaring ,him to be the giver1 he intercepted the thanks and diverted them to himself4 ,but was his momentary failure not far too severely punished8 ,to answer that question1 we must recur to the thought of the importance of this event as beginning a new chapter1 and as a test for both ,moses and ,israel4 ,his failure was a comparatively small matter in itself2 and if the sentence is regarded merely as the punishment of a sin1 it appears sternly disproportionate to the offence4 ,were eighty years of faithful service not sufficient to procure the condonation of one moment's impatience8 ,is not that harsh treatment8 ,but a tiny blade above-ground may indicate the presence of a poisonous root1 needing drastic measures for its extirpation2 and the sentence was not only punishment for sin1 but kind1 though punitive1 relief from an office for which ,moses had no longer1 in full measure1 his old qualifications4 ,the subsequent history does not show any withdrawal of ,god's favour from him1 and certainly it would be no very sore sorrow to be freed from the heavy load1 carried so long4 ,there is disapprobation1 no doubt1 in the sentence2 but it treats the conduct of ,moses rather as a symptom of lessened fitness for his heavy responsibility than as sin2 and there is as much kindness as condemnation in saying to the wearied veteran1 who has stood at his post so long and has taken up arms once more1 ',you have done enough4 ,you are not what you were4 ,other hands must hold the leader's staff4 ,enter into rest4' ,note that ,moses was condemned for doing what ,jesus always did1 asserting his power to work miracles4 ,what was unbelief and a sinful obtrusion of himself in ,god's place when the great lawgiver did it1 was right and endorsed by ,god when the ,carpenter of ,nazareth did it4 ,why the difference8 ,a greater than ,moses is here1 when ,he says to us1 ',what will ye that ,i should do unto you8' ,the name of ,meribah-,kadesh is given to suggest the parallel and difference with the other miraculous flow of water4 ,the two incidents are thus brought into connection1 and yet individualised4 ',meribah1' which means 'strife1' brands the murmuring as sinful antagonism to ,god3 ',kadesh1' which means 'holy1' brings both the miracle and the sentence under the common category of acts by which ,god manifested ,his holiness to the new generation2 and so the double name is a reminder of sin that they may be humble1 and of mingled mercy and judgment that they may 'trust and obey4' ,,the ,,poison ,,and ,,the ,,antidote ',and they journeyed from mount ,hor by the way of the ,red ,sea1 to compare the land of ,edom3 and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way4 #e4 ,and the people spake against ,god1 and against ,moses1 ,wherefore have ye brought us up out of ,egypt to die in the wilderness8 for there is no bread1 neither is there any water2 and our soul loatheth this light bread4 #f4 ,and the ,lord sent fiery serpents among the people1 and they bit the people2 and much people of ,israel died4 #g4 ,therefore the people came to ,moses1 and said1 ,we have sinned1 for we have spoken against the ,lord1 and against thee2 pray unto the ,lord1 that ,he take away the serpents from us4 ,and ,moses prayed for the people4 #h4 ,and the ,lord said unto ,moses1 ,make thee a fiery serpent1 and set it upon a pole3 and it shall come to pass1 that every one that is bitten1 when he looketh upon it1 shall live4 #i4 ,and ,moses made a serpent of brass1 and put it upon a pole1 and it came to pass1 that if a serpent had bitten any man1 when he beheld the serpent of brass1 he lived4' --,,num4 xxi4 #d-i4 ,the mutinous discontent of the ,israelites had some excuse when they had to wheel round once more and go southwards in consequence of the refusal of passage through ,edom4 ,the valley which stretches from the ,dead ,sea to the head of the eastern arm of the ,red ,sea1 down which they had to plod in order to turn the southern end of the mountains on its east side1 and then resume their northern march outside the territory of ,edom1 is described as a 'horrible desert4' ,certainly it yielded neither bread nor water4 ,so the faithless pilgrims broke into their only too familiar murmurings1 utterly ignoring their thirty-eight years of preservation4 ',there is no bread4' ,no2 but the manna had fallen day by day4 ',our soul loatheth this light bread4' ,yes2 but it was bread all the same4 ,thus coarse tastes prefer garlic and onions to ,heaven's food1 and complain of being starved while it is provided4 ',there is no water4' ,no2 but the 'rock that followed them' gushed out abundance1 and there was no thirst4 ,murmuring brought punishment1 which was meant for amendment4 ',the ,lord sent fiery serpents4' ,that statement does not necessarily imply a miracle4 ,scripture traces natural phenomena directly to ,god's will1 and often overleaps intervening material links between the cause which is ,god and the effect which is a physical fact4 ,the neighbourhood of ,elath at the head of the gulf is still infested with venomous serpents1 'marked with fiery red spots1' from which1 or possibly from the inflammation caused by their poison1 they are here called 'fiery4' ,god made the serpents1 though they were hatched by eggs laid by mothers2 ,he brought ,israel to the place2 ,he willed the poisonous stings4 ,if we would bring ordinary events into immediate connection with the ,divine hand1 and would see in all calamities fatherly chastisement 'for our profit1' we should understand life better than we often do4 ,the swift stroke had fallen without warning or voice to interpret it1 but the people knew in their hearts whence and why it had come4 ,their quick recognition of its source and purpose1 and their swift repentance1 are to be put to their credit4 ,it is well for us when we interpret for ourselves ,god's judgments1 and need no ,moses to urge us to humble ourselves before ,him4 ,conscious guilt is conscious of unworthiness to approach ,god1 though it dares to speak to offended men4 ,the request for ,moses' intercession witnesses to the instinct of conscience1 requiring a mediator1--an instinct which has led to much superstition and been terribly misguided1 but which is deeply true1 and is met once for all in ,jesus ,christ1 our ,advocate before the throne4 ,the request shows that the petitioners were sure of ,moses' forgiveness for their distrust of him1 and thus it witnesses to his 'meekness4' ,his pardon was a kind of pledge of ,god's4 ,was the servant likely to be more gracious than the ,master8 ,a good man's readiness to forgive helps bad men to believe in a pardoning ,god4 ,it reflects some beam of ,heaven's mercy4 ,moses had often prayed for the people when they had sinned1 and before they had repented4 ,it was not likely that he would be slow to do so when they asked him1 for the asking was accompanied with ample confession4 ,the serpents had done their work1 and the prayer that the chastisement should cease would be based on the fact that the sin had been forsaken4 ,but the narrative seems to anticipate that1 after the prayer had been offered and answered1 ,israelites would still be bitten4 ,if they were1 that confirms the presumption that the sending of the serpents was not miraculous4 ,it also brings the whole facts into line with the standing methods of ,providence1 for the outward consequences of sin remain to be reaped after the sin has been forsaken2 but they change their character and are no longer destructive1 but only disciplinary4 ',serpents' still 'bite' if we have 'broken down hedges1' but there is an antidote4 ,the command to make a brazen or copper serpent1 and set it on some conspicuous place1 that to look on it might stay the effect of the poison1 is remarkable1 not only as sanctioning the forming of an image1 but as associating healing power with a material object4 ,two questions must be considered separately1--,what did the method of cure say to the men who turned their bloodshot1 languid eyes to it8 and ,what does it mean for us1 who see it by the light of our ,lord's great words about it8 ,as to the former question1 we have not to take into account the ,old ,testament symbolism which makes the serpent the emblem of ,satan or of sin4 ,serpents had bitten the wounded4 ,here was one like them1 but without poison1 hanging harmless on the pole4 ,surely that would declare that ,god had rendered innocuous the else fatal creatures4 ,the elevation of the serpent was simply intended to make it visible from afar2 but it could not have been set so high as to be seen from all parts of the camp1 and we must suppose that the wounded were in many cases carried from the distant parts of the wide-spreading encampment to places whence they could catch a glimpse of it glittering in the sunshine4 ,we are not told that trust in ,god was an essential part of the look1 but that is taken for granted4 ,why else should a half-dead man lift his heavy eyelids to look8 ,such a one knew that ,god had commanded the image to be made1 and had promised healing for a look4 ,his gaze was fixed on it1 in obedience to the command involved in the promise1 and was1 in some measure1 a manifestation of faith4 ,no doubt the faith was very imperfect1 and the desire was only for physical healing2 but none the less it had in it the essence of faith4 ,it would have been too hard a requirement for men through whose veins the swift poison was burning its way1 and who1 at the best1 were so little capable of rising above sense1 to have asked from them1 as the condition of their cure1 a trust which had no external symbol to help it4 ,the singularity of the method adopted witnesses to the graciousness of ,god1 who gave their feebleness a thing that they could look at1 to aid them in grasping the unseen power which really effected the cure4 ',he that turned himself to it1' says the ,book of ,wisdom1 'was not saved by the thing which he saw1 but by ,thee1 that art the ,saviour of all4' ,our ,lord has given us the deepest meaning of the brazen serpent4 ,taught by ,him1 we are to see in it a type of ,himself1 the significance of which could not be apprehended till ,calvary had given the key4 ,three distinct points of parallel are suggested by ,his use of the incident in ,his conversation with ,nicodemus4 ,first1 ,he takes the serpent as an emblem of ,himself4 ,now it is clear that it is so1 not in regard to the saving power that dwells in ,him1 but in regard to ,his sinless manhood1 which was made 'in the likeness of sinful flesh1' yet 'without sin4' ,the symbolism which takes the serpent as the material type of sin comes into view now1 and is essential to the full comprehension of the typical significance of the incident4 ,secondly1 ,jesus laid stress on the 'lifting up' of the serpent4 ,that 'lifting up' has two meanings4 ,it primarily refers to the ,crucifixion1 wherein1 just as the death-dealing power was manifestly triumphed over in the elevation of the brazen serpent1 the power of sin is exhibited as defeated1 as ,paul says1 'triumphing over them in it' 7,col4 ii4 #ad1ae74 ,but that lifting up on the ,cross draws after it the elevation to the throne1 and to that1 or1 rather1 to both considered as inseparably united1 our ,lord refers when ,he says1' ,i1 if ,i be lifted up from the earth1 will draw all men unto ,me4' ,thirdly1 the condition of healing is paralleled4 ',when he looked unto the serpent of brass1 he lived4' ',that whosoever believeth may in ,him have eternal life4' ,from the serpent no healing power flowed2 but our eternal life is 'in ,him1' and from ,him it flows into our poisoned1 dying nature4 ,the sole condition of receiving into ourselves that new life which is free from all taint of sin1 and is mighty enough to arrest the venom that is diffused through every drop of blood1 is faith in ,jesus lifted on the ,cross to slay the sin that is slaying mankind1 and raised to the throne to bestow ,his own immortal and perfect life on all who look to ,him4 ,the bitten ,israelite might be all but dead4 ,the poison wrought swiftly2 but if he from afar lifted his glazing eyeballs to the serpent on the pole1 a swifter healing overtook the death that was all but conqueror1 and cast it out1 and he who was borne half unconscious to the foot of the standard went away a sound man1 'walking1 and leaping1 and praising ,god4' ,so it may be with any man1 however deeply tainted with sin1 if he will trust himself to ,jesus1 and from 'the ends of the earth' 'look unto' ,him 'and be saved1' ,his power knows no hopeless cases4 ,he can cure all4 ,he will cure our most ingrained sin1 and calm the hottest fever of our poisoned blood1 if we will let ,him4 ,the only thing that we have to do is to gaze1 with our hearts in our eyes and faith in our hearts1 on ,him1 as ,he is lifted on the ,cross and the throne4 ,but we must so gaze1 or we die1 for none but ,he can cast out the coursing venom4 ,none but ,he can arrest the swift-footed death that is intertwined with our very natures4 ,,balaam ',he sent messengers therefore unto ,balaam the son of ,beor to ,pethor1 which is by the river of the land of the children of his people1 to call him1 saying1 ,behold there is a people come out from ,egypt3 behold1 they cover the face of the earth1 and they abide over against me4'--,,num4 xxii4 #f4 ,give a general outline of the history4 ,see ,bishop ,butler's great sermon4 ,i4 ,how much knowledge and love of good there may be in a bad man4 ,balaam was a prophet3 7a7 ,he knew something of the divine character1 7b7 ,he knew what righteousness was 7,micah v4 #h74 7c7 ,he knew of a future state1 and longed for 'the last end of the righteous4' ,he would not break the law of ,god1 and curse by word of mouth3 ,but yet for all that he wanted to curse4 ,he wanted to do the wrong thing1 and that made him bad4 ,and when he durst not do it in one way1 he did it in another4 ,so he is a picture of the universal blending and mixture that there is even in bad men4 ,it is not knowledge that makes a man good4 ,it is not aspirations after righteousness4 ,these dwell more or less in all souls4 ,it is not desire 'to go to heaven'--everybody has that desire4 ,perfectly vicious men are devils4 ,there is always the blending4 ,many of us are trusting to these vagrant wishes1 but my friends1 it is not what a man would sometimes like1 but what the whole set and tenor of his life tends towards1 that makes him4 ,there may be plenty of backwater eddies and cross-currents in the sea1 but the tide goes on all the same4 ',all these fancies and their whole array ,one cunning bosom sin blows quite away1' ',let no man deceive you2 he that doeth righteousness is righteous4' ,do not trust your convictions2 they are powerless in the fight4 ,,ii4 ,how men may deceive themselves about their condition1 or the self-illusions and compromises of sin4 ,these convictions will never1 by themselves1 keep a man from evil1 but they may lead men to try to compromise1 just as ,balaam did4 ,he would go1 but he would not1 for the life of him1 curse2 and he evidently thought that he was a hero in firmness and a martyr to duty4 ,he would not curse in words1 but he did it in another way--by means of ,baal-peor4 ,so we find men making compromises between duty and inclination2 keeping the letter and breaking the spirit2 obeying in some respects and indemnifying themselves for their obedience by their disobedience in others2 very devout1 attentive to all religious observances1 and yet sinning on4 ,and we find such men playing tricks upon themselves1 and really deluding themselves into the idea that they are very good men6 ,this is the great characteristic of sin1 its deceitfulness4 ,it always comes as an 'angel of light1' like some of those weird stories in which we read about a strange guest at a banquet who discloses a skeleton below the wedding garment6 ',father of lies4' ',nihil imbecillius denudato diabolo4' ,the more one sins1 the less capable he becomes of discerning evil4 ,conscience becomes sophisticated1 and it is always possible to refine away its judgments4 ',by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern4' ',take heed lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin4' ,,iii4 ,the absurdity and unreasonableness of unrighteousness4 ,we look at ,balaam1 and think1 how could a man purpose anything so foolish as to go on seeking for an opportunity to break a law which he knew to be irrevocable6 ,yet what did he do but what every sinner does8 ,all sin is the breach of law which at the very moment of breaking is known to be imperative4 ,all sin is thus the overbearing of conscience1 or the sophistication of conscience1 and all sin is the incurring voluntarily of consequences which at the moment are or might be known to be certain1 and far overbalancing any fancied 'wages of unrighteousness4' ,thus all sin is the overbearing of reason or the sophisticating of reason by passion4 ,men know the absurdity of sin1 and yet men will go on sinning4 ',a rogue is a roundabout fool4' ,all wrongdoing is a mighty blunder4 ,it is only righteousness which is congruous with a man's reason1 with a man's conscience1 with a man's highest happiness4 ',the fear of the ,lord1' that is wisdom4 ,,iv4 ,the wages of unrighteousness4 ,how ,balaam's experiment ended--his death4 ,he tried to make the 'best of both worlds1' so he ran with the hare and hunted with the hounds1 and this was how it ended1 as it always does1 as it always will4 ,how death ends all the illusions1 sternly breaks down all the compromises1 reveals all the absurdities6 ,men are one thing or the other4 ,learn1 then1 the lesson that no gifts1 no talents1 no convictions1 no aspirations will avail4 ,let this sad figure which looks out upon us with grey streaming hair and uplifted hands from beside the altar on ,pisgah speak to us4 ,how near the haven it is possible to be cast away6 ,like ,bunyan's way to hell from near the gate of the celestial city4 ,balaam said1 ',let me die the death of the righteous6' and his death was thus3--',balaam they slew with the sword1' and his epitaph is ',balaam the son of ,beor1 who loved the wages of unrighteousness1' got them1 and perished6 ,,an ,,unfulfilled ,,desire '444 ,let me die the death of the righteous1 and let my last end be like his6'--,,num4 xxiii4 #aj4 '444 ,balaam also the son of ,beor they slew with the sword4'--,,num4 xiii4 #h4 ,ponder these two pictures4 ,take the first scene4 ,a prophet1 who knows ,god and ,his will1 is standing on the mountain top1 and as he looks down over the valley beneath him1 with its acacia-trees and swift river1 there spread the tents of ,israel4 ,he sees them1 and knows that they are 'a people whom the ,lord hath blessed4' ,brought there to curse1 'he blesses them altogether'2 and as he gazes upon their ordered ranks and sees somewhat of the wondrous future that lay before them1 his mind is filled with the thought of all the blessedness of that righteous nation1 and the sigh of longing comes to his lips1 ',may ,i be with them in life and death2 may ,i have no higher honour1 no calmer end1 than to lie down and die as one of the chosen people1 with memories of a divine hand that has protected me all through the past1 and quiet hopes of the same hand holding me up in the great darkness6' ,a devout aspiration1 a worthy desire6 ,look at the other picture4 ,midian has seduced ,israel to idolatry and its constant companion1 sensual sin4 ,the old lawgiver has for his last achievement to punish the idolater4 ',avenge the children of ,israel of the ,midianites1 afterwards thou shalt be gathered to thy people4' ,so each tribe gives its contingent to the fight1 and under the fierce and prompt ,phinehas1 whose javelin had already smitten one of the chief offenders1 they go forth4 ,fire and sword1 devastation and victory1 mark their track4 ,the princes of ,midian fall before the swift rush of the desert-born invaders4 ,and--sad1 strange company6--among them is the 'man who saw the vision of the ,almighty1 and knew the knowledge of the ,most ,high'6 he who had taught ,moab the purest lessons of morality1 and ,midian1 alas6 the practice of the vilest profligacy2 he who saw from afar 'the sceptre arise out of ,israel and the ,star from ,jacob'2 he who longed to 'die the death of the righteous'6 ,the onset of the avenging host1 with the 'shout of a king' in their midst2 the terror of the flight1 the riot of havoc and bloodshed1 and1 finally1 the quick thrust of the sharp ,israelite sword in some strong hand1 and the grey hairs all dabbled with his blood--these were what the man came to who had once breathed the honest desire1 ',let me die the death of the righteous1 and let my last end be like his'6 ,i4 ,there is surely a solemn lesson for us all here--as touching the danger of mere vague religious desires and convictions which we do not allow to determine our conduct4 ,balaam had evidently much knowledge4 ,look at these points-- 7a7 ,his knowledge of the covenant-name of ,god4 7b7 ,his knowledge of a pure morality and a spiritual worship far beyond sacrificial notions1 and in some respects higher than the then ,old ,testament standpoint4 7c7 ,the knowledge 7which is implied in the text7 of a future state1 which had gone far into the background1 even if it had not been altogether lost1 among the ,israelites4 ,is it not remarkable that the religious ideas of this man were in advance of ,israel's at this time2 that there seems to have lingered among these 'outsiders' more of a pure faith than in ,israel itself8 ,what a lesson here as to the souls led by ,god and enlightened by ,him beyond the pale of ,judaism6 ,but all this knowledge1 of what use was it to ,balaam8 ,he knows about ,god3 does he seek to serve ,him8 ,he preaches morality to ,moab1 and he teaches ,midian to 'teach the children of ,israel to commit fornication4' ,he knows something of the blessedness of a 'righteous man's' death1 and perhaps sees faintly the shining gates beyond--but how does it all end8 ,what a gulf between knowledge and life6 ,what is the use of correct ideas about ,god8 ,they may be the foundations of holy thoughts1 and they are meant to be so4 ,i am not setting up emotion above principle1 or fancying that there can be religion without theology2 but for what are all our thoughts about ,god given us8 7a7 ,that they may influence our hearts4 7b7 ,that they may subdue our wills4 7c7 ,that they may mould our practical life4 ,if they do not do that--then what do they do8 ,they constitute a positive hindrance--like the dead lava-blocks that choke the mouth of a crater1 or the two deposits on the bottom of a boiler1 soot outside and crust inside1 which keep the fire from getting at the water4 ,they have lost their power because they are so familiar4 ,they are weakened by not being practised4 ,the very organs of intelligence are1 as it were1 ossified4 ,self-complacency lays hold on the possession of these ideas and shields itself against all appeals with the fact of possessing them4 ,many a man mistakes1 in his own case1 the knowledge of the truth for obedience to the truth4 ,all this is seen in everyday life1 and with reference to all manner of convictions1 but it is most apparent and most fatal about ,christian truth4 ,i appeal to the many who hear and know all about 'the word1' ,what more is needed8 ,that you should do what you know 7',be not hearers only'72 that you should yield your whole being to ,christ1 the living ,word4 ,,ii4 ,balaam is an example of convictions which remain inefficacious4 ,it was not without some sense of his own character1 and some forebodings of what was possibly brooding over him1 that he uttered these words of the text4 ,but they were transitory emotions1 and they passed away4 ,i suppose that every man who hears the gospel proclaimed is1 at some time or other1 conscious of dawning thoughts which1 if followed1 would lead him to decision for ,christ4 ,i suppose that every man among us is conscious of thoughts visiting him many a time when he least expects them1 which1 if honestly obeyed1 would work an entire revolution in his life4 ,i do not wish to speak as if unbelieving men were the only people who were unfaithful to their consciences1 but rather to deal with what is a besetting sin of us all1 though it reaches its highest aggravation in reference to the gospel4 ,such stings of conviction come to us all1 but how are they deadened8 7a7 ,by simple neglect4 ,pay no attention to them2 do not do anything in consequence1 and they will gradually disappear4 ,the voice unheard will cease to speak4 ,non-obedience to conscience will in the end almost throttle conscience4 7b7 ,by angry rejection4 7c7 ,by busy occupation with the outer world4 7d7 ,by sinful occupation with it4 ,then consider that such dealing with our convictions leaves us far worse men than before1 and if continued will end in utter insensibility4 ,what should we do with such convictions8 ,reverently follow them4 ,and in so doing they will grow and increase1 and lead us at last to ,god and peace4 ,special application of all this to our attitude towards ,christian truth4 ,,iii4 ,balaam is an instance of wishes that are never fulfilled4 ,he wished to die 'as the righteous4' ,how did he die8 miserably2 and why8 7#a7 ,because his wish was deficient in character4 ,it was one among a great many1 feeble and not predominant1 occasioned by circumstances1 and so fading when these disappeared4 ,like many men's relation to the gospel who would like to be ,christians1 and are not4 ,these vagrant wishes are nothing2 mere 'catspaws' of wind1 not a breeze4 ,they are not real1 even while they last1 and so they come to nothing4 7#b7 ,because it was partially wrong in its object4 ,he was willing to die the death1 but not to live the life1 of the righteous2 like many men who would be very glad to 'go to heaven when they die1' but who will not be ,christians while they live4 ,now1 ,god forbid that ,i should say that his wish was wrong6 ,but only it was not enough4 ,such a wish led to no action4 ,now1 ,god hears the faintest wish2 ,he does not require that we should will strongly1 but ,he does require that we should desire1 and that we should act according to our desires4 ,let the close be a brief picture of a righteous death4 ,and oh6 if you feel that it is blessed1 then let that desire lead you to ,christ1 and all will be well4 ,remember that ,bunyan saw a byway to hell at the door of the celestial city4 ,remember how ,balaam ended1 and stands gibbeted in the ,new ,testament as an evil man1 and the type of false teachers4 ,finally1 beware of knowledge which is not operative in conduct1 of convictions which are neglected and pass away1 of vague desires which come to nought4