DEUTERONOMY, Section 5 of 6. (Deut. 14 - 19).
C H Mackintosh

Deuteronomy 14
"Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any
baldness between your eyes for the dead: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy
God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the
nations that are upon the earth." (Vers. 1, 2.)

The opening clause of this chapter sets before us the basis of all the privileges and
responsibilities of the Israel of God. It is a familiar thought amongst us that we must
be in a relationship before we can know the affections or discharge the duties which
belong to it. This is a plain and undeniable truth. If a man were not a father, no
amount of argument or explanation, could make him understand the feelings or
affections of a father's heart; but the very moment he enters upon the relationship, he
knows all about them.

Thus it is as to every relationship and position; and thus it is in the things of God. We
cannot understand the affections or the duties of a child of God until we are on the
ground. We must be Christians before we can perform Christian duties. Even when
we are Christians, it is only by the gracious aid of the Holy Ghost that we can walk as
such; but clearly if we are not on Christian ground, we can know nothing of Christian
affections or Christian duties. This is so obvious, that argument is needless.

Now, most evidently, it is God's prerogative to declare how His children ought to
conduct themselves, and it is their high privilege and holy responsibility to seek, in all
things, to meet His gracious approval. "Ye are the children of the Lord your God: ye
shall not cut yourselves." They were not their own; they belonged to Him, and
therefore they had no right to cut themselves or disfigure their faces for the dead.
Nature, in its pride and self-will, might say, "Why may we not do like other people?
What harm can there be in cutting ourselves, or making a baldness between our eyes?
It is only an expression of grief, an affectionate tribute to our loved departed ones.
Surely there can be nothing morally wrong in such a suited expression of sorrow!

To all this there was one simple but conclusive answer, "Ye are the children of the
Lord your God" This face altered everything. The poor ignorant and uncircumcised
Gentiles around them might cut and disfigure themselves, inasmuch as they knew not
God, and were not in relationship to Him. But as for Israel, they were on the high and
holy ground of nearness to God, and this one fact was to give tone and character to all
their habits. They were not called upon to adopt or refrain from any particular habit or
custom, in order to be the children of God. This would be, as we say, beginning at the
wrong end; but, being His children, they were to act as such.

"Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God." He does not say, "Ye ought to be an
holy people." How could they ever make themselves an holy people, or a peculiar
people unto Jehovah? Utterly impossible. If they were not His people, no effort of
theirs could ever make them such. But God, in His sovereign grace, in pursuance of
His covenant with their fathers, had made them His children, made them a peculiar
people above all the nations that were upon the earth. Here was the solid foundation
of Israel's moral edifice. All their habits and customs, all their doings and ways, their
food and their clothing, what they did and what they did not do—all was to flow out
of the one grand fact, with which they had no more to do than with their natural birth,
namely, that they actually were the children of God, the people of His choice, the
people of His own special possession.

Now, we cannot but acknowledge it to be a privilege of the very highest order to have
the Lord so near to us, and so interested in all our habits and ways. To mere nature, no
doubt, to one who does not know the Lord, is not in relationship to Him, the very idea
of His holy presence, or of nearness to Him would be simply intolerable. But to every
true believer, every one who really loves God, it is a most delightful thought to have
Him near us, and to know that He interests Himself in all the most minute details of
our personal history, and most private life; that He takes cognisance of what we eat
and what we wear; that He looks after us by day and by night, sleeping and waking, at
home and abroad; in short, that His interest in and care for us go far beyond those of
the most tender, loving mother for her babe.

All this is perfectly wonderful; and surely if we only realised it more fully we should
live a very different sort of life, and have a very different tale to tell. What a holy
privilege, what a precious reality to know that our loving Lord is about our path by
day, and about our bed by night; that His eye rests upon us when we are dressing in
the morning, when we sit down to our meals, when we go about our business, and in
all our intercourse, from morning till night. May the sense of this be a living and
abiding power in the heart of every child of God on the face of the earth!

From verse 3 to 20, we have the law as to clean and unclean beasts, fishes and fowls.
The leading principles as to all these have already come under our notice in Leviticus
11.* But there is a very important difference between the two scriptures. The
instructions in Leviticus are given primarily to Moses and Aaron; in Deuteronomy
they are given directly to the people. This is perfectly characteristic of the two books.
Leviticus may be specially termed, the priest's guide book. In Deuteronomy the priests
are almost entirely in the background, and the people are prominent. This is strikingly
apparent all through the book, so that there is not the slightest foundation for the idea
that Deuteronomy merely repeats Leviticus. Nothing can be further from the truth.
Each book has its own peculiar province, its own design, its own work. The devout
student sees and owns this with deep delight. Infidels are wilfully blind, and can see
nothing.
{*As we have given in our "Notes on the Book of Leviticus," chapter 11, what we
believe to be the scriptural import of Verses 4-20 of our chapter, we must refer the
reader to what is there advanced.}

In verse 21 of our chapter, the marked distinction between the Israel of God and the
stranger is strikingly presented. " Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself; thou
shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates; that he may eat it; or thou mayest
sell it unto an alien; for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God" The grand fact
of Israel's relationship to Jehovah marked them off from all the nations under the sun.
It was not that they were, in themselves, a whit better or holier than others; but
Jehovah was holy, and they were His people. "Be ye holy, for I am holy."

Worldly people often think that Christians are very Pharisaic in separating themselves
from other people, and refusing to take part in the pleasures and amusements of the
world; but they do not really understand the question. The fact is, for a Christian to
participate in the vanities and follies of a sinful world would be, to use a typical
phrase, like an Israelite eating that which had died of itself. The Christian, thank God,
has gotten something better to feed upon than the poor dead things of this world. He
has the living bread that came down from heaven, the true manna; and not only so,
but he eats of "the old corn of the land of Canaan," type of the risen and glorified Man
in the heavens. Of these most precious things the poor unconverted worldling knows
absolutely nothing and, hence, he must feed upon what the world has to offer him. It
is not a question of the right or the wrong of things looked at in themselves. No one
could possibly have known ought about the wrong of eating of anything that had died
of itself, if God's word had not settled it.

This is the all-important point for us. We cannot expect the world to see or feel with
us as to matters of right and wrong. It is our business to look at things from a divine
standpoint. Many things may be quite consistent for a worldly man to do which a
Christian could not touch at all, simply because he is a Christian. The question which
the true believer has to ask as to everything which comes before him is simply, "Can I
do this to the glory of God? Can I connect the Name of Christ with it?" If not, he must
not touch it.

In a word, the Christian's standard and test for everything is Christ. This makes it all
so simple. Instead of asking, Is such a thing consistent with our profession, our
principles, our character or our reputation? we have to ask, Is it consistent with
Christ? This makes all the difference. Whatever is unworthy of Christ is unworthy of
a Christian. If this be thoroughly understood and laid hold of it will furnish a great
practical rule which may be applied to a thousand details. If the heart be true to
Christ, if we walk according to the instincts of the divine nature, as strengthened by
the ministry of the Holy Ghost, and guided by the authority of holy scripture, we shall
not be much troubled with questions of right or wrong in our daily life.

Before proceeding to quote for the reader the lovely paragraph which closes our
chapter, we would very briefly call his attention to the last clause of verse 21. "Thou
shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk." The fact that this commandment is given
three times, in various connections, is sufficient to mark it as one of special interest
and practical importance. The question is, what does it mean? what are we to learn
from it? We believe it teaches very plainly that the Lord's people must carefully avoid
everything contrary to nature. Now, it was, manifestly, contrary to nature that what
was intended for a creature's nourishment should be used to seethe it.

We find, all through the word of God, great prominence given to what is according to
nature—what is comely. "Does not even nature itself teach you?" says the inspired
apostle, to the assembly at Corinth. There are certain feelings and instincts implanted
in nature, by the Creator, which must never be outraged. We may set it down as a
fixed principle, an axiom in Christian ethics, that no action can possibly be of God
that offers violence to the sensibilities proper to nature. The Spirit of God may, and
often does, lead us beyond and above nature, but never against it.

We shall now turn to the closing verses of our chapter, in which we shall find some
uncommonly fine Practical instruction. "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy
seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy
God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn,
of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou
mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. And if the way be too long for thee, so
that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord
thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee;
then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go
unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose; and thou shalt bestow that money
for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine or for strong
drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth; and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy
God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, and the Levite that is within
thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee. At
the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same
year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates And the Levite (because he hath no part nor
inheritance with thee) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are
within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat, and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may
bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest." (Vers. 22-29.)

This is a deeply interesting and most important passage, setting before us, with
special simplicity, the basis, the centre and practical features of Israel's national and
domestic religion. The grand foundation of Israel's worship was laid in the fact that
both they themselves and their land belonged to Jehovah. The land was His, and they
held as tenants under Him. To this precious truth they were called, periodically, to
bear testimony by faithfully tithing their land. "Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase
of thy seed, that thy field bringeth forth year by year." They were to own, in this
practical way, the proprietorship of Jehovah, and never lose sight of it. They were to
own no other landlord but the Lord their God. All they were and all they had belonged
to Him. This was the solid groundwork of their national worship—their national
religion.

And then as to the centre, it is set forth with equal clearness. They were to gather to
the place where Jehovah recorded His Name. Precious privilege for all who truly
loved that glorious Name! We see in this passage, as also in many other portions of
the word of God, what importance He attached to the periodical gatherings of His
people around Himself. Blessed be His Name, He delighted to see His beloved people
assembled in His presence, happy in Him and in one another; rejoicing together in
their common portion, and feeding in sweet and loving fellowship on the fruit of
Jehovah's land. "Thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which He shall
choose, to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn ....that thou mayest learn to fear
the Lord thy God always."

There was—there could be, no other place like that, in the judgement of every faithful
Israelite, every true lover of Jehovah. All such would delight to flock to the hallowed
spot where that beloved and revered Name was recorded. It might seem strange and
unaccountable to those who knew not the God of Israel, and cared nothing about Him,
to see the people travelling—many of them—a long distance from their homes, and
carrying their tithes to one particular spot. They might feel disposed to call in
question the needs-be for such a custom. "Why not eat at home? they might say. But
the simple fact is, such persons knew nothing whatever about the matter, and were
wholly incapable of entering into the preciousness of it. To the Israel of God, there
was the one grand moral reason for journeying to the appointed place, and that reason
was found in the glorious motto—Jehovah Shammah—" the Lord is there." If an
Israelite had wilfully determined to stay at home, or to go to some place of his own
choosing, he would neither have met Jehovah there, nor his brethren, and hence he
would have eaten alone. Such a course would have incurred the judgement of God; it
would have been an abomination. There was but one centre, and that was not of man's
choosing, but of God's. The godless Jeroboam, for his own selfish political ends,
presumed to interfere with the divine order, and set up his calves at Bethel and Dan;
but the worship offered there was offered to demons and not to God. It was a daring
act of wickedness which brought down upon him and upon his house the righteous
judgement of God; and we see, in Israel's after history, that "Jeroboam the son of
Nebat" is used as the terrible model of iniquity for all the wicked kings.

But all the faithful in Israel were sure to be found at the one divine centre, and
nowhere else. You would not find such making all sorts of excuses for staying at
home; neither would you find them running hither and thither to places of their own
or other people's choosing; no, you would find them gathered to Jehovah Shammah,
and there alone. Was this narrowness and bigotry? Nay, it was the fear and love of
God. If Jehovah had appointed a place where He would meet His people, assuredly
His people should meet Him there.

And not only had He appointed the place, but in His abounding goodness, He devised
a means of making that place as convenient as possible for His worshipping people.
Thus we read, "And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry
it; or if the place be too far from thee which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his
name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee; then thou shalt turn it into
money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the
Lord thy God shall choose.... And thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and
thou shalt rejoice, thou and thy household."

This is perfectly beautiful. The Lord, in His tender care and considerate love, took
account of everything. He would not leave a single difficulty in the way of His
beloved people, in the matter of their assembling round Himself. He had His own
special joy in seeing His redeemed people happy in His presence; and all who loved
His Name would delight to meet the loving desire of His heart by being found at the
divinely appointed centre.

If any Israelite were found neglecting the blessed occasion of assembling with his
brethren, at the divinely chosen place and time, it would have simply proved that he
had no heart for God or for His people, or, what was worse, that he was wilfully
absent. He might reason as he pleased about his being happy at home, happy
elsewhere; it was a false happiness, inasmuch as it was happiness found in the path of
disobedience, the path of wilful neglect of the divine appointment.

All this is full of most valuable instruction for the church of God now. It is the will of
God now, no less than of old, that His people should assemble in His presence, on
divinely appointed ground, and to a divinely appointed centre. This, we presume, will
hardly be called in question by any one having a spark of divine light in his soul. The
instincts of the divine nature, the leadings of the Holy Ghost, and the teachings of
holy scripture, do all, most unquestionably, lead the Lord's people to assemble
themselves together for worship, communion, and edification. However dispensations
may differ, there are certain great principles and leading characteristics which always
hold good; and the assembling of ourselves together is, most assuredly, one of these.
Whether under the old economy or under the new, the assembling of the Lord's people
is a divine institution.

Now, this being so, it is not a question of our happiness, one way or the other; though
we may be perfectly sure that all true Christians will be happy in being found in their
divinely appointed place. There is ever deep joy and blessing in the assembly of God's
people. It is impossible for us to find ourselves together in the Lord's presence and not
be truly happy. It is simply heaven upon earth for the Lord's dear people—those who
love His Name, love His Person, love one another, to be together, round His table,
around Himself. What can exceed the blessedness of being allowed to break bread
together in remembrance of our beloved and adorable Lord, to show forth His death
until He come; to raise, in holy concert, our anthems of praise to God and the Lamb;
to edify, exhort and comfort one another, according to the gift and grace bestowed
upon us by the risen and glorified Head of the church; to pour out our hearts, in sweet
fellowship, in prayer, supplication, intercession and giving of thanks for all men, for
kings and all in authority, for the whole household of faith, the church of God, the
body of Christ, for the Lord's work and workmen all over the earth.

Where, we would ask, with all possible confidence, is there a true Christian, in a right
state of soul, who would not delight in all this, and say, from the very depths of his
heart, that there is nothing this side the glory to be compared with it?

But, we repeat, our happiness is not the question; it is less than secondary. We are to
be ruled, in this, as in all beside, by the will of God as revealed in His holy word. The
question for us is simply this, Is it according to the mind of God that His people
should assemble themselves together for worship and mutual edification? If this be
so, woe be to all who wilfully refuse, or indolently neglect to do so, on any ground
whatsoever; they not only suffer serious loss, in their own souls, but they are offering
dishonour to God, grieving His Spirit, and doing injury to the assembly of His people.

These are very weighty consequences, and they demand the serious attention of all the
Lord's people. It must be obvious to the reader that it is according to the revealed will
of God that His people should assemble themselves together, in His presence. The
inspired apostle exhorts us, in the tenth chapter of his Epistle to the Hebrews, not to
forsake the assembling of ourselves together. There is special value, interest and
importance attaching to the assembly. The truth as to this begins to dawn upon us in
the opening pages of the New Testament. Thus, in Matt. 18: 20, we read the words of
our blessed Lord, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I
in the midst of them." Here we have the divine centre. "My Name." This answers to
"The place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there," so
constantly named, and so strongly insisted upon in the book of Deuteronomy. It was
absolutely essential that Israel should gather at that one place. It was not a matter as
to which people might choose for themselves. Human choice was absolutely and
rigidly excluded. It was "The place which the Lord thy God shall choose," and no
other. This we have seen distinctly. It is so plain that we have only to say, "How
readest thou?"

Nor is it otherwise with the church of God. It is not human choice, or human
judgement, or human opinion, or human reason, or human anything. It is absolutely
and entirely divine. The ground of our gathering is divine, for it is accomplished
redemption. The centre round which we are gathered is divine, for it is the Name of
Jesus. The power by which we are gathered is divine, for it is the Holy Ghost. And the
authority for our gathering is divine, for it is the word of God.

All this is as clear as it is precious; and all we need is the simplicity of faith to take it
in and act upon it. If we begin to reason about it, we shall be sure to get into darkness;
and if we listen to human opinions, we shall be plunged in hopeless perplexity
between the conflicting claims of Christendom's sects and parties. Our only refuge,
our only resource, our only strength, our only comfort, our only authority is the
precious word of God. Take away that, and we have absolutely nothing. Give us that,
and we want no more.

This is what makes it all so real and so solid for our souls. Yes; reader, and so
consolatory and tranquillising, too. The truth as to our assembly is as clear, and as
simple, and as unquestionable as the truth in reference to our salvation. It is the
privilege of all Christians to be as sure that they are gathered on God's ground, around
God's centre, by God's power, and on God's authority, as that they are within the
blessed circle of God's salvation.

And, then, if we be asked, "How can we be certain of being round God's centre?" We
reply, simply by the word of God. How could Israel of old be sure as to God's chosen
place for their assembly? By His express commandment. Were they at any loss for
guidance? Surely not; His word was as clear and as distinct as to their place of
worship as it was in reference to everything else. It left not the slightest ground for
uncertainty. It was so plainly set before them that, for any one to raise a question,
could only be regarded as wilful ignorance or positive disobedience.

Now, the question is, Are Christians worse off than Israel in reference to the great
subject of their place of worship, the centre and ground of their assembly? Are they
left in doubt and uncertainty? Is it an open question? Is it a matter as to which, every
man is left to do what is right in his own eyes? Has God given us no positive, definite
instruction on a question so intensely interesting, and so vitally important? Could we
imagine, for a moment, that the One who graciously condescended to instruct His
people of old in matters which we, in our fancied wisdom, would deem unworthy of
notice, would leave His church now without any definite guidance as to the ground,
centre, and characteristic features of our worship? Utterly impossible! Every spiritual
mind must reject, with decision and energy, any such idea.

No, beloved Christian reader, you know it would not be like our gracious God to deal
thus with His heavenly people. True, there is no such thing now as a particular place
to which all Christians are to betake themselves periodically for worship. There was
such a place, for God's earthly people; and there will be such a place for restored
Israel and for all nations by-and-by. "It shall come to pass in the last days, that the
mountain of the Lord's house shall be established m the top of the mountains, and
shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people
shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house
of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths;
for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa.
2) And again, "It shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which
came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King the
Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be that whoso will not
come up of all the families of the earth, unto Jerusalem, to worship the King, the Lord
of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain." (Zech. 14: 16, 17.)

Here are two passages culled, one from the first, and the other from the last but one,
of the divinely inspired prophets, both pointing forward to the glorious time when
Jerusalem shall be God's centre for Israel and for all nations. And we may assert, with
all possible confidence, that the reader will find all the prophets, with one consent, in
full harmony with Isaiah and Zechariah, on this profoundly interesting subject. To
apply such passages to the church, or to heaven, is to do violence to the clearest
grandest utterances that ever fell on human ears; it is to confound things heavenly and
earthly, and to give a flat contradiction to the divinely harmonious voices of prophets
and apostles.

It is needless to multiply quotations. All scripture goes to prove that Jerusalem was
and will yet be God's earthly centre for His people, and for all nations. But, just now,
that is to say, from the day of Pentecost, when God the Holy Ghost came down, to
form the church of God, the body of Christ, until the moment when our Lord Jesus
Christ shall come to take His people away out of this world, there is no place, no city,
no sacred locality, no earthly centre for the Lord's people. To talk to Christians about
holy places or consecrated ground is as thoroughly foreign to them—at least it ought
to be—as it would have been to talk to a Jew about having his place of worship in
heaven. The idea is wholly out of place, wholly out of character.

If the reader will turn, for a moment, to the fourth chapter of John, he will find, in our
Lord's marvellous discourse with the woman of Sychar, the most blessed teaching on
this subject. "The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our
fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where
men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, woman, believe me, the hour cometh,
when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye
worship ye know not what; we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father
in spirit and in truth; for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit; and
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (Vers. 19-24.)

This passage entirely sets aside the thought of any special place of worship now.
There really is no such thing. "The Most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet, Heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool: what
house will ye build me? saith the Lord; or what is the place of my rest? Hath not my
hand made all these things?" (Acts 7.48-50.) And again, "God that made the world,
and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in
temples made with hands; neither is worshipped with man's hands, as though he
needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." (Acts 17: 24,
25.)

The teaching of the New Testament, from beginning to end, is clear and decided as to
the subject of worship; and the Christian reader is solemnly bound to give heed to that
teaching, and to seek to understand and submit his whole moral being to its authority.
There has ever been, from the very earliest ages of the church's history, a strong and
fatal tendency to return to Judaism, not only on the subject of righteousness, but also
on that of worship. Christians have not only been put under the law for life and
righteousness, but also under the Levitical ritual for the order and character of their
worship. We have dealt with the former of these in chapters 4 and 5 of these "Notes;"
but the latter is hardly less serious in its effect upon whole tone and character of
Christian life and conduct.

We have to bear in mind that Satan's great object is to cast the church of God down
from her excellency, in reference to her standing, her walk and her worship. No
sooner was the church set up on the day of Pentecost than he commenced his
corrupting and undermining process, and for eighteen long centuries he has carried it
on with diabolical persistency. In the face of these plain passages quoted above, in
reference to the character of worship which the Father is now seeking, and as to the
fact that, God does not dwell in temples made with hands, we have seen, in all ages,
the strong tendency to return to the condition of things under the Mosaic economy.
Hence the desire for great buildings, imposing rituals, sacerdotal orders, choral
services, all of which are in direct opposition to the mind of Christ and to the plainest
teachings of the New Testament. The professing church has entirely departed from
the spirit and authority of the Lord in all these things; and yet, strange and sad to say,
these very things are continually appealed to as proofs of the wonderful progress of
Christianity. We are told by some of our public teachers and guides that the blessed
Apostle Paul had little idea of the grandeur to which the church was to attain; but if
he could only see one of our venerable cathedrals, with its lofty aisles and painted
windows, and listen to the peals of the organ and the voices of the choristers, he
would see what an advance had been made upon the upper room at Jerusalem!

Ah! reader, be assured it is all a most thorough delusion. It is true, indeed, the church
has made progress, but it is in the wrong direction; it is not upward but downward. It
is away from Christ, away from the Father, away from the Spirit, away from the word.

We should like to ask the reader this one question, If the Apostle Paul were to come
to London for next Lord's day? where could he find what he found in Troas, eighteen
hundred years ago, as recorded in Acts 20: 7? Where could he find a company of
disciples gathered simply by the Holy Ghost, to the Name of Jesus, to break bread in
remembrance of Him, and to show forth His death till He come? Such was the divine
order then, and such must be the divine order now. We cannot for a moment, believe
that the apostle would accept anything else. He would look for the divine thing; he
would have that or nothing. Now, where could He find it? Where could he go and find
the table of his Lord as appointed by Himself, the same night in which He was
betrayed?

Mark, reader, we are bound to believe that the apostle Paul would insist upon having
the table and the supper of his Lord, as he had received them direct from Himself in
the glory, and given them by the Spirit, in the tenth and eleventh chapter of his epistle
to the Corinthians—an epistle addressed to all that in every place call on the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, both theirs and ours." We cannot believe that he would teach
God's order, in the first century and accept man's disorder in the nineteenth. Man has
no right to tamper with a divine institution. He has no more authority to alter a single
jot or tittle connected with the Lord's supper than Israel had to interfere with the order
of the Passover.

Now, we repeat the question—and earnestly entreat the reader to ponder and answer
it in the divine presence, and in the light of scripture—Where could the apostle find
this in London, or anywhere else in Christendom on next Lord's day? Where could he
go and take his seat at the table of his Lord, in the midst of a company of disciples
gathered simply on the ground of the one body, to the one centre, the Name of Jesus,
by the power of the Holy Ghost, and on the authority of the word of God? Where
could he find a sphere in which he could exercise his gifts without human authority,
appointment, or ordination? We ask these questions in order to exercise the heart and
conscience of the reader. We are fully convinced that there are places, here and there,
where Paul could find these things carried out, though in weakness and failure; and
we believe the Christian reader is solemnly responsible to find them out. Alas! alas!
they are few and far between, compared with the mass of Christians meeting
otherwise.

We may perhaps be told that if people knew that it was the apostle Paul, they would
willingly allow him to minister. But then he would neither seek nor accept their
permission, inasmuch as he tells us plainly, in the first chapter of Galatians, that his
ministry was "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father,
who raised him from the dead."

And not only so, but we may rest assured that the blessed apostle would insist upon
having the Lord's table spread upon the divine ground of the one body; and he could
only consent to eat the Lord's Supper according to its divine order as laid down in the
New Testament. He could not accept, for a moment, anything but the divine reality.
He would say, "Either that or nothing." He could not admit any human interference
with a divine institution; neither could He accept any new ground of gathering, or any
new principle of organisation. He would repeat his Own inspired statements, "There
is one body and one Spirit;" and "We being many, are one bread, one body; for we are
all partakers of that one bread." These words apply to "all that in every place call on
the name of Jesus Christ our Lord; and they hold good in all ages of the church's
existence on earth.

The reader must be very clear and distinct as to this. God's principle of gathering and
unity must, on no account, be surrendered. The moment men begin to organise, to
form societies, churches or associations, they act in direct opposition to the word of
God, the mind of Christ, and the present action of the Holy Ghost. Man might as well
set about to form a world as to form a church. It is entirely a divine work. The Holy
Ghost came down, on the day of Pentecost, to form the church of God, the body of
Christ; and this is the only church, the only body that scripture recognises; all else is
contrary to God, even though it may be sanctioned and defended by thousands of true
Christians.

Let not the reader misunderstand us. We are not speaking of salvation, of eternal life,
or of divine righteousness, but of the true ground of gathering the divine principle on
which the Lord's table should be spread, and the Lord's supper celebrated. Thousands
of the Lord's beloved people have lived and died in the communion of the church of
Rome; but the church of Rome is not the church of God, but a horrible apostasy; and
the sacrifice of the mass is not the Lord's supper, but a marred, mutilated and
miserable invention of the devil. If the question in the mind of the reader be merely
what amount of error he can sanction without forfeiting his soul's salvation, it is
useless to proceed with the grand and important subject before us.

But where is the heart that loves Christ that could be content to take such miserably
low ground as this? What would have been thought of an Israelite of old who could
content himself with being a child of Abraham, and could enjoy his vine and his fig-
tree, his flocks and his herds, but never think of going to worship at the place where
Jehovah had recorded His Name? Where was the faithful Jew who did not love that
sacred spot? "Lord, I have loved the habitation of thine house, and the place where
thine honour dwelleth"

And when, by reason of Israel's sin, the national polity was broken up, and the people
were in captivity, we hear the true-hearted exiles amongst them Pouring forth their
lament in the following touching and eloquent strain, "By the rivers of Babylon, there
we sat down; yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion, We hanged our harps upon
the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required
of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the
songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O
Jerusalem,"—God's centre for His earthly people—"let my right hand forget her
cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I
prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy." (Ps. 137.)

And again, in Daniel 6, we find that beloved exile opening his window, three times a
day, and praying toward Jerusalem, although he knew that the lions' den was the
penalty. But why insist upon praying toward Jerusalem? Was it a piece of Jewish
superstition? Nay; it was a magnificent display of divine principle; it was an unfurling
of the divine standard amid the depressing and humiliating consequences of Israel's
folly and sin. True, Jerusalem was in ruins; but God's thoughts respecting Jerusalem
were not in ruins. It was His centre for His earthly people. "Jerusalem is builded as a
city that is compact together, whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the
testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of Lord. For there are set thrones of
judgement, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; they
shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy
palaces. For my brethren and companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within
thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good." (Ps. 122)

Jerusalem was the centre for Israel's twelve tribes, in days gone by, and it will be so in
the future. To apply the above and similar passages to the church of God here or
hereafter, on earth or in heaven, is simply turning things upside down, confounding
things essentially different, and thus doing an incalculable amount of damage both to
scripture and the souls of men. We must not allow ourselves to take such
unwarrantable liberties with the word of God.

Jerusalem was and will be God's earthly centre; but, now, the church of God should
own no centre but the glorious and infinitely precious Name of Jesus. "Where two or
three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." Precious
centre! To this alone the New Testament points, to this alone the Holy Ghost gathers.
It matters not where we are gathered, in Jerusalem or Rome, London, Paris or Canton.
It is not where but how.

But be it remembered, it must be a divinely real thing It is of no possible use to
profess to be gathered in or to the blessed Name of Jesus, if we are not really so. The
apostle's word as to faith may apply with equal force to the question of our centre of
gathering. 'What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say "he is gathered to the
Name of Jesus? God deals in moral realities; and while it is perfectly clear that a man
who desires to be true to Christ cannot possibly consent to own any other centre or
any other ground of gathering but His Name, yet it is quite possible—alas! alas! how
very possible—for people to profess to be on that blessed and holy ground, while their
spirit and conduct, their habits and ways, their whole course and character go to prove
that they are not in the power of their profession.

The apostle said to the Corinthians that he would "know not the speech but the
power." A weighty word, most surely, and much needed at all times, but specially
needed in reference to the important subject now before us. We would lovingly, yet
most solemnly press upon the conscience of the Christian reader his responsibility to
consider this matter in the holy retirement of the Lord's presence, and in the light of
the New Testament. Let him not set it aside on the plea of its not being essential. It is,
in the very highest degree, essential, inasmuch as it concerns the Lord's glory, and the
maintenance of His truth. This is the only standard by which to decide what is
essential and what is not. Was it essential for Israel to gather at the divinely appointed
centre? Was it left an open question? Might every man choose a centre for himself?
Let the answer be weighed in the light of Deuteronomy 14. It was absolutely essential
that the Israel of God should assemble round the centre of the God of Israel. This is
unquestionable. Woe be to the man who presumed to turn his back on the place where
Jehovah had set His Name. He would, very speedily, have been taught his mistake.
And if this was true for God's earthly people, is it not equally true for the church, and
the individual Christian? Assuredly it is. We are bound, by the very highest and most
sacred obligations, to refuse every ground of gathering but the one body; every centre
of gathering but the Name of Jesus; every power of gathering but the Holy Ghost;
every authority of gathering but the word of God. May all the Lord's beloved people,
everywhere, be led to consider those things in the fear and love of His holy Name!

We shall now close this section by quoting the last paragraph of our chapter, in which
we shall find some most valuable practical teaching.

"At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same
year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates; and the Levite, (because he hath no part nor
inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are
within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat, and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God
may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest."

Here we have a lovely home-scene, a most touching display of the divine character, a
beautiful outshining of the grace and kindness of the God of Israel. It does the heart
good to breath the fragrant air of such a passage as this. It stands in vivid and striking
contrast with the cold selfishness of the scene around us. God would teach His people
to think of, and care for, all who were in need. The tithe belonged to Him, but He
would give them the rare and exquisite privilege of devoting it to the blessed object of
making hearts glad.

There is peculiar sweetness in the words, "shall come"—"shall eat"—"and be
satisfied." So like our own ever Gracious God! He delights to meet the need of all. He
opens His hand, and satisfies the desire of every living thing. And not only so, but it is
His joy to make His people the channel through which the grace, the kindness and the
sympathy of His heart may flow forth to all. How precious is this! What a privilege to
be God's almoners, the dispensers of His bounty, the exponents of His goodness!
Would that we entered more fully into the deep blessedness of all this! May we
breathe more the atmosphere of the divine presence, and then we shall more faithfully
reflect the divine character!

As the deeply interesting and practical subject presented in verses 28 and 29 will
come before us in another connection, in our study of chapter 26, we shall not dwell
further upon it here.

Deuteronomy 15
"At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And this is the manner of
the release. Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he
shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord's
release. Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again; but that which is thine with thy
brother thine hand shall release. Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the
Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an
inheritance to possess it; only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy
God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. For
the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee; and thou shalt lend unto many
nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt reign over many nations, but they
shall not reign over you." (Vers. 1-6.)

It is truly edifying to mark the way in which the God of Israel was ever seeking to
draw the hearts of His people to Himself by means of the various sacrifices,
solemnities and institutions of the Levitical ceremonial. There was the morning and
evening lamb, every day; there was the holy Sabbath, every week; there was the new
moon, every month; there was the Passover, every year; there was the tithing, every
three years; there was the release, every seven years; and there was the jubilee, every
fifty years.

All this is full of deepest interest. It tells its own sweet tale, and teaches its own
precious lesson to the heart. The morning and evening lamb, as we know, pointed
ever to "the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world" The Sabbath was
the lovely type of the rest that remaineth to the people of God. The new moon
beautifully pre-figured the time when restored Israel shall reflect back the beams of
the Sun of righteousness upon the nations. The Passover was the standing memorial
of the nation's deliverance from Egyptian bondage. The year of tithing set forth the
fact of Jehovah's proprietorship of the land, as also the lovely way in which His rents
were to be expended in meeting the need of His workmen and of His poor. The
sabbatic year gave promise of a bright time when all debts would be cancelled, all
loans disposed of, all burdens removed. And, finally, the jubilee was the magnificent
type of the times of the restitution of all things, when the captive shall be set free,
when the exile shall return to his long lost home and inheritance; and when the land
of Israel and the whole earth shall rejoice beneath the beneficent, government of the
Son of David.

Now, in all these lovely institutions we notice two prominent characteristic features,
namely, glory to God, and blessing to man These two things are linked together by a
divine and everlasting bond. God has so ordained that His full glory and the creature's
full blessing should be indissolubly bound up together. This is deep joy to the heart,
and it helps us to understand, more fully, the force and beauty of that familiar
sentence: "We rejoice in hope of the glory of God." When that glory shines forth in its
full lustre, then, assuredly, human blessedness, rest and felicity shall reach their full
and eternal consummation.

We see a lovely pledge and foreshadowing of all this in the seventh year. It was "The
Lord's release," and therefore its blessed influence was to be felt by every poor debtor
from Dan to Beersheba. Jehovah would grant unto His people the high and holy
privilege of having fellowship with Him in causing the debtor's heart to sing for joy.
He would teach them, if they would only learn, the deep blessedness of frankly
forgiving all. This is what He Himself delights in, blessed for ever be His great and
glorious Name!

But alas! the poor human heart is not up to this lovely mark. It is not fully prepared to
tread this heavenly road. It is sadly cramped and hindered, by a low and miserable
selfishness, in grasping and carrying out the divine principle of grace. It is not quite at
home in this heavenly atmosphere. It is but ill-prepared for being the vessel and
channel of that royal grace which shines so brightly in all the ways of God. This will
only too fully account for the cautionary clauses of the following passage. "If there be
among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates, in thy land,
which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine
hand from thy poor brother; but thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and surely
lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Beware that there be not a
thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand:
and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry
unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee. Thou shalt surely give him, and
thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him; because that for this thing
the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all that thou puttest thine
hand unto. For the poor shall never cease out of thy land; therefore I command thee,
saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy
needy, in thy land." (verses. 7-11.)

Here the deep springs of the poor selfish heart are discovered and judged. There is
nothing like grace for making manifest the hidden roots of evil in human nature. Man
must be renewed in the very deepest springs of his moral being ere he can be the
vehicle of divine love; and even those who are thus through grace renewed, have to
watch continually against the hideous forms of selfishness in which our fallen nature
clothes itself. Nothing but grace can keep the heart open wide to every form of human
need. We must abide hard by the fountain of heavenly love if we would be channels
of blessing in the midst of a scene of misery and desolation like that in which our lot
is cast.

How lovely are those words, "Thou shalt open thine hand wide!" They breathe the
very air of heaven. An open heart and a wide hand are like God. "The Lord loveth a
cheerful giver. because that is precisely what He is Himself. "He giveth to all
liberally, and upbraideth not." And He would grant unto us the rare and most
exquisite privilege of being imitators of Him. Marvellous grace! The very thought of
it fills the heart with wonder, love and praise. We are not only saved by grace, but we
stand in grace, live under the blessed reign of grace, breathe the very atmosphere of
grace, and are called to be the living exponents of grace, not only to our brethren but
to the whole human family. "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto
all, especially unto them which are of the household of faith."

Christian reader, let us diligently apply our hearts to all this divine instruction. It is
most precious; but its real preciousness can only be tasted in the practical carrying out
of it. We are surrounded by ten thousand forms of human misery, human sorrow,
human need. There are broken hearts, crushed spirits, desolate homes, around us, on
every side. The widow, the orphan and the Stranger meet us, daily, in our walks. How
do we carry ourselves in reference to all these? Are we hardening our hearts and
closing our hands against them? Or are we seeking to act in the lovely spirit of "the
Lord's release"? We must bear in mind that we are called to be reflectors of the divine
nature and character, to be direct channels of communication between our Father's
loving heart and every form of human need. We are not to live for ourselves; to do so
is a most miserable denial of every feature and principle of that morally glorious
Christianity which we profess. It is our high and holy privilege, yea, it is our special
mission, to shed around us the blessed light of that heaven to which we belong.
wherever we are, in the family, in the field, in the mart or the manufactory, in the
shop or in the counting house, all who come in contact with us should see the grace of
Jesus shining out in our ways, our words, our very looks. And then if any object of
need come before us, if we can do nothing more, we should drop a soothing word into
the ear, or shed a tear or heave a sigh of genuine heartfelt sympathy.

Reader, is it thus with us? Are we so living near the fountain of divine love, and so
breathing the very air of heaven that the blessed fragrance of these things shall be
diffused around us? Or are we displaying the odious selfishness of nature, the unholy
temper and dispositions of our fallen and corrupt humanity? What an unsightly object
is a selfish Christian. He is a standing contradiction, a living, moving lie. The
Christianity which he professes throws out into dark and terrible relief the unholy
selfishness which governs his heart and comes out in his life.

The Lord grant that all who profess and call themselves Christians may so carry
themselves, in daily life, as to be an unblotted epistle of Christ, known and read of all
men! In this way, infidelity will, at least, be deprived of one of its weightiest
arguments, its gravest objections. Nothing affords a stronger plea to the infidel than
the inconsistent lives of professing Christians.

Not that such a plea will stand for a moment, or even be urged before the judgement-
seat of Christ, inasmuch as each one who has within his reach a copy of the holy
scriptures will be judged by the light of those scriptures, even though there were not a
single consistent Christian on the face of the earth. Nevertheless, Christians are
solemnly responsible to let their light so shine before men that they may see their
good works and glorify our Father in heaven. We are solemnly bound to exhibit and
illustrate in daily life the heavenly principles unfolded in the word of God. We should
leave the infidel without a shred of a plea or an argument; we are responsible so to do.

May we lay these things to heart, and then we shall have occasion to bless God for our
meditation on the delightful institution of "The Lord's release."

We shall now quote for the reader the touching and beautiful institution in reference
to the Hebrew servant. We increasingly feel the importance of giving the veritable
language of the Holy Ghost; for albeit it may be said that the reader has his Bible to
refer to, yet we know, as a fact, that when passages of scripture are referred to, there
is, in many cases, a reluctance to lay down the volume which we hold in our hand in
order to read the reference. And beside, there is nothing like the word of God; and as
to any remarks which we may offer, their object is simply to help the beloved
Christian reader to understand and appreciate the scriptures which we quote.

"If thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve
thee six years, then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. And when
thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty; thou shalt
furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress;
of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him."

How perfectly beautiful, how like our own ever gracious God is all this! He would not
have the brother go away empty. Liberty and poverty would not be in moral harmony.
The brother was to be sent on his way free and full, emancipated and endowed, not
only with his liberty but with a liberal fortune to start with.

Truly, this is divine. We do not want to be told the school where such exquisite ethics
are taught. They have the very ring of heaven about them; they emit the fragrant
odour of the very paradise of God. Is it not in this way that our God has dealt with us?
All praise to His glorious Name! He has not only given us life and liberty, but He has
furnished us liberally with all we can possibly want for time and eternity. He has
opened the exhaustless treasury of heaven for us; yea, He has given the Son of His
bosom for us, and to us—for us, to save; to us, to satisfy. He has given us all things
that pertain to life and godliness; all that pertains to the life that now is, and to that
which is to come, is fully and perfectly secured by our Father's liberal hand.

And is it not deeply affecting to mark how the heart of God expresses itself in the
style in which the Hebrew servant was to be treated? "Thou shalt furnish him
liberally." Not grudgingly or of necessity. It was to be done in a manner worthy of
God. The actings of His people are to be the reflection of Himself. We are called to
the high and holy dignity of being His moral representatives. It is marvellous; but thus
it is, through His infinite grace. He has not only delivered us from the flames of an
everlasting hell, but He calls us to act for Him, and to be like Him in the midst of a
world that crucified His Son. And not only has He conferred this lofty dignity upon
us, but He has endowed us with a princely fortune to support it. The inexhaustible
resources of heaven are at our disposal. "All things are ours," through His infinite
grace. Oh! that we may more fully realise our privileges, and thus more faithfully
discharge our holy responsibilities!

At verse 15 of our chapter, we have a very touching motive presented to the heart of
the people, one eminently calculated to stir their affections and sympathies. "And
thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy
God redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing today. The remembrance of
Jehovah's grace in redeeming them out of Egypt was to be the ever-abiding and all-
powerful motive-spring of their actings towards the poor brother. This is a never
failing principle; and nothing lower than this will ever stand. If we look for our
motive-springs anywhere but in God Himself, and in His dealings with us, we shall
soon break down in our practical career. It is only as we keep before our hearts the
marvellous grace of God displayed toward us, in the redemption which is in Christ
Jesus, that we shall be able to pursue a course of true, active benevolence, whether
toward our brethren or those outside. Mere kindly feelings bubbling up in our own
hearts, or drawn out by the sorrows and distresses and necessities of others, will prove
evanescent. It is only in the living God Himself we can find perennial springs.

At verse 16, a case is contemplated in which a servant might prefer remaining with
his master. "And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, because
he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee, then thou shalt take an
awl, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever"

In comparing this passage with Exodus 21: 1-6, we observe a marked difference
arising, as we might expect, from the distinctive character of each book. In Exodus,
the typical feature is prominent; in Deuteronomy, the moral, Hence, in the latter, the
inspired writer omits all about the wife and the children, as foreign to his purpose
here, though so essential to the beauty and perfectness of the type in Exodus 21. We
merely notice this as one of the many striking proofs that Deuteronomy is very far
indeed from being a barren repetition of its pre-decessors. There is neither repetition,
on the one hand, nor contradiction, on the other but lovely variety in perfect
accordance with the divine object and scope of each book. So much for the
contemptible shallowness and ignorance of those infidels who have had the impious
temerity to level their shafts at this magnificent portion of the oracles of God.

In our chapter, then, we have the moral aspect of this interesting institution. The
servant loved his master and was happy with him. He preferred perpetual slavery and
the mark thereof, with a master whom he loved, to liberty and a liberal portion away
from him. This, of course, would argue well for both parties. It is ever a good sign for
both master and servant when the connection is of long standing. Perpetual changing
may, as a general rule, be taken as a proof of moral wrong somewhere. No doubt,
there are exceptions; and not only so, but in the relation of master and servant, as in
everything else, there are two sides to be considered. For instance, we have to
consider whether the master is perpetually changing his servants, or the servant
perpetually changing his masters. In the former case, appearances would tell against
the master; in the latter, against the servant.

The fact is, we have all to judge ourselves in this matter. Those of us who are masters
have to consider how far we really seek the comfort, happiness and solid profit of our
servants. We should bear in mind that we have very much more to think of, in
reference to our servants, than the amount of work we can get out of them. Even upon
the low-level principle of "live and let live," we are bound to in every possible way, to
make our servants happy and comfortable; to make them feel that they have a home
under our roof; that we are not content with the labour of their hands, but that we
want the love of their hearts. We remember once asking the head of a very large
establishment, How many hearts do you employ?" He shook his head, and owned with
real sorrow how little heart there is in the relation of master and servant. Hence, the
common heartless phrase of "employing hands."

But the Christian master is called to stand upon a higher level altogether; he is
privileged to be an imitator of his Master, Christ. The remembrance of this will
regulate all his actings towards the servant; it will lead him to study, with ever-
deepening interest and solid profit, his divine model, in order to reproduce Him, in all
the practical details of daily life.

So also, in reference to the Christian servant, in his position and line of action. He, as
well as the master, has to study the great example set before :him in the path and
ministry of the only true Servant that ever trod this earth. He is called to walk in His
blessed footsteps, to drink into His spirit, to study His word. It is not a little
remarkable that the Holy Ghost has devoted more attention to the instruction of
servants than to all the other relationships put together. This the reader can see at a
glance, in the Epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians, and Titus. The Christian servant
can adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour, by not purloining and not answering again.
He can serve the Lord Christ, in the most common-place duties of domestic life, just
as effectually as the man who is called to address thousands on the grand realities of
eternity.

Thus when both master and servant are mutually governed by heavenly principles,
both seeking to serve and glorify the one Lord, they will get on happily together. The
master will not be severe, arbitrary and exacting; and the servant will not be self-
seeking, heady and high-minded; each will contribute, by the faithful discharge of
their relative duties, to the comfort and happiness of the other, and to the peace and
happiness of the whole domestic circle. Would that it were more after this heavenly
fashion, in every Christian household on the face of the earth! Then indeed would the
truth of God be vindicated, His word honoured, and His Name glorified in our
domestic relations and practical ways.

In verse 18, we have an admonitory word which reveals to us, very faithfully, but with
great delicacy, a moral root in the poor human heart. " It shall not seem hard unto
thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double
hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years; and the Lord thy God shall bless thee
in all that thou doest."

This is very affecting. Only think of the most High God condescending to stand
before the human heart—the heart of a master, to plead the cause of a poor servant,
and set forth his claims! It is as if He were asking a favour for Himself. He leaves
nothing unsaid in order to strengthen the case. He reminds the master of the value of
six years' service, and encourages him by the promise of enlarged blessing as a reward
for his generous acting. It is perfectly beautiful. The Lord would not only have the
generous thing done, but done in such a way as to gladden the heart of the one to
whom it was done; He thinks not only of the substance of an action, but also of the
style. We may, at times, brace ourselves up to the business of doing a kindness; we do
it as a matter of duty; and, all the while, it may "seem hard" that we should have to do
it; thus the act will be robbed of all its charms. It is the generous heart that adorns the
generous act. We should so do a kindness as to assure the recipient that our own heart
is made glad by the act. This is the divine way: "When they had nothing to pay, he
frankly forgave them both." "It is meet that we should make merry, and be glad."
"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth" Oh! to be a brighter reflection
of the precious grace of our Father's heart!

Ere closing our remarks on this deeply interesting chapter, we shall quote for the
reader its last paragraph. "All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy
flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work with the
firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep; thou shalt eat it before the
Lord thy God year by year, in the place which, the Lord shall choose, thou and thy
household. And if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any
ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt eat it within
thy gates, the unclean the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, as the hart.
Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof. Thou shalt pour it upon the ground as
water." (Vers 19-23)

Only that which was perfect was to be offered to God. The first-born, unblemished
male, the apt figure of the spotless Lamb of God, offered upon the cross for us, the
imperishable foundation of our peace, and the precious food of our souls, in the
presence of God. This was the divine thing; the assembly gathered together, around
the divine centre, feasting in the presence of God, on that which was the appointed
type of Christ, who is, at once, our sacrifice, our centre, and our feast. Eternal and
universal homage to His most precious and glorious Name!

Deuteronomy 16.
We now approach one of the most profound and comprehensive sections of the Book
of Deuteronomy, in which the inspired writer presents to our view what we may call
the three great cardinal feasts of the Jewish year, namely, the Passover, Pentecost, and
Tabernacles; or redemption, the Holy Ghost, and the glory. We have here a more
condensed view of lovely institutions than that given in Leviticus 23 where we have,
if we count the Sabbath, eight feasts but if we view the Sabbath as distinct, and
having its own special place as the type of God's own eternal rest, then there are seven
feasts, namely, the Passover; the feast of unleavened bread; the feast first-fruits;
Pentecost; trumpets; the day of atonement; and tabernacles.

Such is the order of feasts in the Book of which, as we have ventured to remark in our
studies on that most marvellous book, may be called "The priests guide book" But in
Deuteronomy, which is pre-eminently the people's book, we have less of ceremonial
detail, and the lawgiver confines himself to those great moral and national landmarks
which, in the very simplest manner, as adapted to the people, present the past, the
present, and the future.

"Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God; for in the
month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. Thou shalt
therefore sacrifice the Passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and the herd, in
the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. Thou shalt eat no
leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the
bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste; that thou
mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days
of thy life. And there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coasts seven
days; neither shall there anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at
even, remain all night until the morning. Thou mayest not sacrifice the Passover
within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee"—as if it were a matter of
no importance where, provided the feast were kept—"but at the place which the Lord
thy God shall choose to place his name in, there"—and nowhere else "thou shalt
sacrifice the Passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou
camest forth out of Egypt. And thou shalt roast and eat it in the place which the Lord
thy God shall choose; and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. Six
days thou shalt eat unleavened bread; and on the seventh day shall be a solemn
assembly to the Lord thy God; thou shalt do no work therein" (vers. 1-8.)

Having, in our "Notes on Exodus," gone, somewhat fully, into the great leading
principles of this foundation feast, we must refer the reader to that volume, if he
desires to study the subject. But there are certain features peculiar to Deuteronomy to
which we feel it our duty to call his special attention. And, in the first place, we have
to notice the remarkable emphasis laid upon "the place" where the feast was to be
kept. This is full of interest and practical moment. The people were not to choose for
themselves. It might, according to human thinking, appear a very small matter how or
where the feast was kept provided it was kept at all. But—be it carefully noted and
deeply pondered by the reader—human thinking had nothing whatever to do in the
matter; it was divine thinking and divine authority altogether. God had a right to
prescribe and definitively settle where He would meet His people; and this He does in
the most distinct and emphatic manner, in the above passage, where, three times over,
He inserts the weighty clause, "In the place which the Lord thy God shall choose."

Is this vain repetition? Let no one dare to think, much less to assert it. It is most
necessary emphasis; Why most necessary? Because of our ignorance, our
indifference, and our wilfulness. God, in His infinite goodness, takes special pains to
impress upon the heart, the conscience and the understanding of His people, that He
would have one place, in particular, where the memorable and most significant feast
of the Passover was to be kept.

And be it remarked that it is only in Deuteronomy that the place of celebration is
insisted upon. We have nothing about it in Exodus, because there it was kept in
Egypt. We have nothing about it in Numbers, because there it was kept in the
wilderness. But, in Deuteronomy, it is authoritatively and definitively settled, because
there we have the instructions for the land. Another striking proof that Deuteronomy
is very far indeed from being a barren repetition of its predecessors.

The all-important point, in reference to "the place" so prominently and so
peremptorily insisted upon in all the three great solemnities recorded in our chapter,
is this, God would gather His beloved people around Himself, that they might feast
together in His presence; that He might rejoice in them, and they in Him and in one
another. All this could only be in the one special place of divine appointment. All
who desired to meet Jehovah and to meet His people, all who desired worship and
communion according to God, would thankfully betake themselves to the divinely
appointed centre. Self-will might say, "Can we not keep the feast in the bosom of our
families? What need is there of a long journey? Surely if heart is right, it cannot
matter very much as to place." To all this we reply that the clearest, and best proof of
the heart being right would be found in the simple, earnest desire to do the will of
God. It was quite sufficient for every one who loved and feared God that He had
appointed a Place where He would meet His people; there they would be found and
nowhere else. His presence it was that could alone impart joy, comfort, strength and
blessing to all their great national reunions. It was not the mere fact of a large number
of people gathering together, three times a year, to feast and rejoice together; this
might minister to human pride, self complacency and excitement. But to flock
together to meet Jehovah, to assemble in His blessed presence, to own the place
where He had recorded His Name, this would be the deep joy of every truly loyal
heart throughout the twelve tribes of Israel. For any one, wilfully, to abide at home, or
to go anywhere else than to the one divinely appointed place, would not only be to
neglect and insult Jehovah, but actually to rebel against His supreme authority.

And now, having briefly spoken of the place, we may, for a moment, glance at the
mode of celebration This, too, is, as we might expect, quite characteristic of our book.
The leading feature here is "the unleavened bread." But the reader will specially note
the interesting fact that this bread is "the bread of affliction." Now what is the
meaning this? We all understand that unleavened bread is the type of that holiness of
heart and life so absolutely essential to the enjoyment of true communion with God.
We are not saved by personal holiness but, thank God, we are saved to it. It is not the
ground of our salvation; but it is an essential element in our communion. Allowed
leaven is the death-blow to communion and worship.

We must never, for one moment, lose sight of this great cardinal principle in that life
of personal holiness and Practical godliness which, as redeemed by the blood of the
Lamb, we are called, bound and privileged to live from day to day, in the midst of the
scenes and circumstances through which we are journeying home to our eternal rest in
the heavens. To speak of communion and worship while living in known sin is the
melancholy proof that we know nothing of either the one or the other In order to
enjoy communion with God or the communion of saints, and in order to worship God
in spirit and in truth, we must be living a life of personal holiness, a life of separation
from all known evil. To take our place in the assembly of God's people, and appear to
take part in the holy fellowship and worship pertaining thereto, while living in secret
sin, or allowing evil in others, is to defile the assembly, grieve the Holy Ghost, sin
against Christ, and bring down upon us the judgement of God, who is now judging
His house and chastening His children in order that they may not ultimately be
condemned with the world.

All this is most solemn, and calls for the earnest attention of all who really desire: to
walk with God, and serve Him with reverence and godly fear It is one thing to have
the doctrine of the type in the region of our understanding, and another thing
altogether to have its great, moral lesson engraved on heart and worked out in the life.
May all who profess to have the blood of the Lamb sprinkled on their conscience seek
to keep the feast of unleavened bread. "Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the
whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are
unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the
feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with
the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." (1 Cor. 5: 6-8.)

But what are we to understand by "the bread of affliction"? Should we not rather look
for joy, praise and triumph, in connection with a feast in memory of deliverance from
Egyptian bondage and misery? No doubt, there is very deep and real joy, thankfulness
and praise in realising the blessed truth of our full deliverance from our former
condition, with all its accompaniments and all its consequences. But it is very plain
that these were not the prominent features of the paschal feast; indeed, they are not
even named. We have "the bread of affliction," but not a word about joy, praise or
triumph.

Now, why is this? What great moral lesson is conveyed to our hearts by the bread of
affliction? We believe it sets before as those deep exercises of heart which the Holy
Ghost produces by bringing powerfully before us what it cost our adorable Lord and
Saviour to deliver us from our sins and from the judgement which those sins
deserved. Those exercises are also typified by the "bitter herbs" of Exodus 12, and
they are illustrated, again and again, in the history of God's people of old who were
led, under the powerful action of the word and Spirit of God to chasten themselves
and "afflict their souls" in the divine presence.

And be it remembered that there is not a tinge of the legal element, or of unbelief in
these holy exercises; far from it. When an Israelite partook of the bread of affliction
with the roasted flesh of the Passover, did it express a doubt or a fear as to his full
deliverance? Impossible! How could it? He was in the land; he was gathered to God's
own centre, His own very presence. How could he then doubt his full and final
deliverance from the land of Egypt? The thought is simply absurd.

But although he had no doubts or fears as to his deliverance, yet had he to eat the
bread of affliction; it was an essential element in his paschal feast, "For thou camest
forth out of the land of Egypt in haste, that thou mayest remember the day when thou
camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

This was very deep and real work. They were never to forget their Exodus out of
Egypt; but to keep up the remembrance of it, in the promised land throughout all
generations. They were to commemorate their deliverance by a feast emblematic of
those holy exercises which ever characterise true, practical Christian piety.

We would, very earnestly, commend to the serious attention of the Christian reader
the whole line of truth indicated by "that bread of affliction." We believe it is much
needed by those who profess great familiarity with what are called the doctrines of
grace. There is very great danger, especially to young professors, while seeking to
avoid legality and bondage, of running into the opposite extreme of levity—a most
terrible snare. Aged and experienced Christians are not so liable to fall into this sad
evil; it is the young amongst us who so need to be most solemnly warned against it.
They hear, it may be, a great deal about salvation by grace, justification by faith,
deliverance from the law, and all the peculiar privileges of the Christian position.

Now, we need hardly say that all these are of cardinal importance; and it would be
utterly impossible for any one to hear too much about them Would they mere more
spoken about, written about, and preached about. Thousands of the Lord's beloved
people spend all their days in darkness, doubt and legal bondage, through ignorance
of those great foundation truths.

But, while all this is perfectly true, there are, on the other hand, many—alas! too
many who have a merely intellectual familiarity with the principles of grace but—if
we are to judge from their habits and manners, their style and deportment—the only
way we have of judging—who know but little of the sanctifying power of those great
principles—their power in the heart and in the life.

Now, to speak according to the teaching of the paschal feast, it would not have been
according to the mind of God for any one to attempt to keep that feast without the
unleavened bread, even the bread of affliction. Such a thing would not have been
tolerated in Israel of old. It was an absolutely essential ingredient. And so, we may
rest assured, it is an integral part of that feast which we, as Christians, are exhorted to
keep, to cultivate personal holiness and that condition of soul which is so aptly
expressed by the "bitter herbs" of Exodus 12 or the Deuteronomic ingredient, "the
bread of affliction," which latter would seem to be the permanent figure for the land.

In a word, then, we believe there is a deep and urgent need amongst us of those
spiritual feelings and affections, those profound exercises of soul which the Holy
Ghost would produce by unfolding to our hearts the sufferings of Christ—what it cost
Him to put away our sins namely—what He endured for us when passing under the
billows and waves of God's righteous wrath against our sins. We are sadly lacking—if
one may be permitted to speak for others—in that deep contrition of heart which
flows from spiritual occupation with the sufferings and death of our precious Saviour.
It is one thing to have the blood of Christ sprinkled on the conscience, and another
thing to have the death of Christ brought home, in a spiritual way, to the heart, and
the cross of Christ applied, in a practical way, to our whole course and character.

How is it that we can so lightly commit sin, in thought, word and deed? How is it that
there is so much levity, so much unsubduedness, so much self-indulgence, so much
carnal ease, so much that is merely frothy and superficial? Is it not because that
ingredient typified by "the bread of affliction" is lacking in our feast? we cannot doubt
it. We fear there is a very deplorable lack of depth and seriousness in our Christianity.
There is too much flippant discussion of the profound mysteries of the Christian faith,
too much head knowledge without the inward power.

All this demands the serious attention of the reader. We cannot shake off the
impression that not a little of this melancholy condition of things is but too justly
traceable to a certain style of preaching the gospel, adopted, no doubt, with The very
best intentions, but none the less pernicious in its moral effect. It is all right to preach
a simple Gospel It cannot, by any possibility, be put more simply than God the Holy
Ghost has given it to us in scripture.

All this is fully admitted; but, at the same time we are persuaded there is a very
serious defect in the preaching of which we speak. There is a want of spiritual depth,
a lack of holy seriousness. In the effort to counteract legality, there is that which tends
to levity. Now, while legality is a great evil, levity is much greater. We must guard
against both. We believe grace is the remedy for the former, truth for the latter; but
spiritual wisdom is needed to enable us rightly to adjust and apply these two. If we
find a soul, deeply exercised, under the powerful action of truth, thoroughly ploughed
up by the mighty ministry of the Holy Ghost, we should pour in the deep consolation
of the pure and precious grace of God, as set forth in the divinely efficacious sacrifice
of Christ. This is the divine remedy for a broken heart, a contrite spirit, a convicted
conscience. When the deep furrow has been made by the spiritual ploughshare, we
have only to cast in the incorruptible seed of the gospel of God, in the assurance that
it will take root, and bring forth fruit in due season.

But, on the other hand, if we find a person going on in a light, airy, unbroken
condition, using very high-flown language about grace, talking loudly against legality,
and seeking, in a merely human way to set forth an easy way of being saved, we
consider this to be a case calling for a very solemn application of truth to the heart
and conscience.

Now, we greatly fear there is a vast amount of this last named element abroad in the
professing church. To speak according to the language of our type, there is a tendency
to separate the Passover from the feast of unleavened bread—to rest in the fact of
being delivered from judgement and forget the roasted lamb, the bread of holiness,
and the bread of affliction. In reality, they never can be separated, inasmuch as God
has bound them together; and, hence, we do not believe that any soul can be really in
the enjoyment of the precious truth that "Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us," who
is not seeking to "keep the feast." When the Holy Spirit unfolds to our hearts
something of the deep blessedness, preciousness, and efficacy of the death of our
Lord Jesus Christ, He leads us to meditate upon the soul-subduing mystery of His
sufferings, to ponder in our hearts all that He passed through for us, all that it cost
Him to save us from the eternal consequences of that which we, alas! so often lightly
commit.

Now this is very deep and holy work, and leads the soul into those exercises which
correspond with "the bread of affliction" in the feast of unleavened bread. There is a
wide difference between the feelings produced by dwelling upon our sins and those
which flow from dwelling upon the sufferings of Christ to put those sins away.

True, we can never forget our sins, never forget, the hole of the pit from whence we
were digged. But it is one thing to dwell upon the pit, and another and a deeper thing
altogether to dwell upon the grace that digged us out of it, and what it cost our
precious Saviour to do it. It is this latter we so much need to keep continually in the
remembrance of the thoughts of our hearts. We are so terribly volatile, so ready to
forget.

We need to look, very earnestly, to God to enable us to enter more deeply and
practically into the sufferings of Christ, and into the application of the cross to all that
in us which is contrary to Him. This will impart depth of tone, tenderness of spirit, an
intense breathing after holiness of heart and life, practical separation from the world,
in its every phase, a holy subduedness, jealous watchfulness over ourselves, our
thoughts, our words, our ways, our whole deportment in daily life. In a word, it would
lead to a totally different type of Christianity from what we see around us, and what,
alas! we exhibit in our own personal history. May the Spirit of God graciously unfold
to our hearts, by His own direct and powerful ministry, more and more of what is
meant by "the roasted lamb," the "unleavened bread," and "the bread of affliction"!*
We shall now briefly consider the feast of Pentecost which stands next in order to the
Passover. "Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee; begin to number the seven
weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn. And thou shalt
keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of
thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy
God hath blessed thee; and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy
son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is
within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among
you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there. And
thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt; and thou shalt observe and
do these statutes." (Vers. 9-12.)
{*For further remarks on the Passover and the feast of unleavened bread, the reader is
referred to Exodus 12, and Numbers 9. Specially, in the latter, the connection
between the Passover and the Lord's supper. This is a point of deepest interest, and
immense practical importance. The Passover looked forward to the death of Christ;
the Lord's supper looks back to it. What the former was to a faithful Israelite, the
latter is to the church. If this were more fully seen it would greatly tend to meet the
prevailing laxity, indifference and error as to the table and supper of the Lord.
To any one who lives habitually in the holy atmosphere of scripture, it must seem
strange indeed to mark the confusion of thought and the diversity of practice in
reference to a subject so very important, and one so simply and clearly presented in
the word of God.
It can hardly be called in question by any one who bows to scripture, that the apostles
and the early church assembled on the first day of the week to break bread. There is
not a shadow of warrant, in the New Testament, for confining that most precious
ordinance to once a month, once a quarter, or once in six months. This can only be
viewed as a human interference with a divine institution. We are aware that much is
sought to be made of the words, "as oft as ye do it;" but we do not see how any
argument based on this clause can stand, for a moment, in the face of apostolic
precedent, in Acts 20: 7. The first day of the week is, unquestionably, the day for the
church to celebrate the Lord's supper.
Does the Christian reader admit this? If so, does he act upon it? It is a perilous thing
to neglect a special ordinance of Christ, and one appointed by Him the same night in
which He was betrayed, under circumstances so deeply affecting. Surely all who love
the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity would desire to remember Him in this special way,
according to His own word, "This do in remembrance of me." Can we understand any
true lover of Christ living in the habitual neglect of this precious memorial? If an
Israelite of old neglected the Passover, he would have been "cut off." But this was
law, and we are under grace. True; but is that a reason for neglecting our Lord's
commandment?
We would commend this subject to the reader's careful attention. There is much more
involved in it than most of us are aware. We believe the entire history of the Lord's
supper, for the last eighteen centuries, is full of interest and instruction. We may see
in the way in which the Lord's table has been treated, a striking moral index of the
church's real condition. In proportion as the church departed from Christ and His
word, did she neglect and pervert the precious institution of the Lord's supper. And,
on the other hand, just as the Spirit of God wrought, at any time, with special power
in the church, the Lord's supper has found its true place in the hearts of His people.
But we cannot pursue this subject further in a footnote; we have ventured to suggest it
to the reader, and we trust he may be led to follow it up for himself. We believe he
will find it a most profitable and suggestive study.}

Here we have the well-known and beautiful type of the day of Pentecost. The
Passover sets forth the death of Christ. The sheaf of first-fruits is the striking figure of
a risen Christ. And, in the feast of weeks, we have prefigured before us the descent of
the Holy Ghost, fifty days after the resurrection.

We speak, of course, of what these feasts convey to us, according to the mind of God,
irrespective altogether of the question of Israel's apprehension of their meaning. It is
our privilege to look at all these typical institutions in the light of the New Testament;
and when we so view them we are filled with wonder and delight at the divine
perfectness, beauty and order of all those marvellous types.

And not only so, but—what is of immense value to us—we see how the scriptures of
the New Testament dovetail, as it were, into those of the Old; we see the lovely unity
of the divine Volume, and how manifestly it is one Spirit that breathes through the
whole, from beginning to end. In this way we are inwardly strengthened in our
apprehension of the precious truth of the divine inspiration of the holy scriptures, and
our hearts are fortified against all the blasphemous attacks of infidel writers. Our
souls are conducted to the top of the mountain where the moral glories of the Volume
shine upon us in all their heavenly lustre, and from whence we can look down and see
the clouds and chilling mists of infidel thought rolling beneath us. These clouds and
mists cannot affect us, inasmuch as they are far away below the level on which,
through infinite grace, we stand. Infidel writers know absolutely nothing of the moral
glories of scripture; but one thing is awfully certain, namely, that one moment in
eternity will completely revolutionise the thoughts of all the infidels and atheists that
have ever raved or written against the Bible and its Author.

Now, in looking at the deeply interesting feast of weeks or Pentecost, we are at once
struck with the difference between it and the feast of unleavened bread. In the first
place, we read of "a freewill offering" Here we have a figure of the church, formed by
the Holy Ghost and presented to God as "a kind of first-fruits of his creatures."

We have dwelt upon this feature of the type in the "Notes on Leviticus," chapter 23,
and shall not therefore enter upon it here, but confine ourselves to what is purely
Deuteronomic. The people were to present a tribute of a freewill offering of their
hand, according as the Lord their God had blessed them. There was nothing like this
at the Passover, because that sets forth Christ offering Himself for us, as a sacrifice,
and not our offering anything. We remember our deliverance from sin and Satan, and
what that deliverance cost. We meditate upon the deep and varied sufferings of our
precious Saviour as prefigured by the roasted lamb. We remember that it was our sins
that were laid upon Him. He was bruised for our iniquities, judged in our stead, and
this leads to deep and hearty contrition, or, what we may call, true Christian
repentance. For we must never forget that repentance is not a mere transient emotion
of a sinner when his eyes are first opened, but an abiding moral condition of the
Christian, in view of the cross and passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. If this were better
understood, and more fully entered into, it would impart a depth and solidity to the
Christian life and character in which the great majority of us are lamentably deficient.

But, in the feast of Pentecost, we have before us the power of the Holy Ghost, and the
varied effects of His blessed presence in us and with us. He enables us to present our
bodies and all that we have as a freewill offering unto our God, according as He hath
blessed us. This, we need hardly say, can only be done by the power of the Holy
Ghost; and hence the striking type of it is presented, not in the Passover which
prefigures the death of Christ; not in the feast of unleavened bread, which sets forth
the moral effect of that death upon us, in repentance, self-judgment and practical
holiness; but in Pentecost, which is the acknowledged type of the precious gift of the
Holy Ghost.

Now, it is the Spirit who enables us to enter into the claims of God upon us—claims
which are to be measured only by the extent of the divine blessing. He gives us to see
and understand that all we are and all we have belong to God. He gives us to delight
in consecrating ourselves, spirit, soul and body, to God. It is truly "a freewill
offering." It is not of constraint, but willingly. There is not an atom of bondage, for
"where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.

In short we have here the lovely spirit and moral character of the entire Christian life
and service. A soul under law cannot understand the force and beauty of this. Souls
under the law never received the Spirit. The two things are wholly incompatible. Thus
the apostle says to the poor misguided assemblies of Galatia, "This only would I learn
of you, Received ye the Spirit by works of law, or by the hearing of faith?... He
therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth
he it by works of law, or by the hearing of faith?" The precious gift of the Spirit is
consequent upon the death, resurrection, ascension, and glorification of our adorable
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and consequently can have nothing whatever to do
with "works of law" in any shape or form. The presence of the Holy Ghost on earth,
His dwelling with and in all true believers is a grand characteristic truth of
Christianity. It was not, and could not be known in Old Testament times. It was not
even known by the disciples in our Lord's life time. He Himself said to them, on the
eve of His departure, "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient [or
profitable—sumfevrei] for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him Unto you." (John 16: 7.)

This proves, in the most conclusive manner, that even the very men who enjoyed the
high and precious privilege of personal companionship with the Lord Himself, were
to be put in an advanced position by His going away, and the coming of the
Comforter. Again, we read, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him
not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you and shall be in
you."

We cannot, however, attempt to go elaborately into this immense subject here. Our
space does not admit of it, much as we should delight in it. We must just confine
ourselves to one or two points suggested by the feast of weeks, as presented in our
chapter.

We have referred to the very interesting fact that the Spirit of God is the living spring
and power of the life of personal devotedness and consecration beautifully prefigured
by "the tribute of a freewill offering." The sacrifice of Christ is the ground, the
presence of the Holy Ghost, is the power of the Christian's dedication of himself,
spirit, soul and body, to God. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of
God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which
is your reasonable service." (Romans 12: 1.)

But there is another point of deepest interest presented in verse 11 of our chapter,
"And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God." We have no such word in the
paschal feast, or in the feast of unleavened bread. It would not be in moral keeping
with either of these solemnities. True it is, the Passover lies at the very foundation of
all the joy we can or ever shall realise here or hereafter; but, we must ever think of the
death of Christ, His sufferings, His sorrows—all that He passed through, when the
waves and billows of God's righteous wrath passed His soul It is upon these profound
mysteries that our hearts are, or ought to be mainly fixed, when we surround the
Lord's table and keep that feast by which we show the Lord's death until He come.

Now, it is plain to the spiritual and thoughtful reader that the feelings proper to such a
holy and solemn institution are not of a jubilant character. We certainly can and do
rejoice that the sorrows and sufferings of our blessed Lord are over, and over for ever;
that those terrible hours are passed never to return. But what we recall in the feast is
not simply their being over, but their being gone through—and that for us. "Ye do
show the Lord's death," and we know that, whatever may accrue to us from that
precious death, yet when we are called to meditate upon it, our joy is chastened by
those profound exercises of soul which the Holy Spirit produces by unfolding to us
the sorrows, the sufferings, the cross and passion of our blessed Saviour. Our Lord's
words are, "This do in remembrance of me but what we especially remember in the
Supper is Christ suffering and dying for us; what we show is His death; and with these
solemn realities before our souls, in the power of the Holy Ghost, there will—there
must be holy subduedness and seriousness.

We speak, of course, of what becomes the immediate occasion of the celebration of
the Supper—the suited feelings and affections of such a moment. But these must be
produced by the powerful ministry of the Holy Ghost. It can be of no possible use to
seek, by any pious efforts of our own, to work ourselves up to a suitable state of mind.
This would be ascending by steps to the altar, a thing most offensive to God. It is only
by the Holy Spirit's ministry that we can worthily celebrate the holy Supper of the
Lord. He alone can enable us to put away all levity, all formality, all mere routine, all
wandering thoughts, and to discern the body and blood of the Lord in those memorials
which, by His own appointment, are laid on His table.

But, in the feast of Pentecost, rejoicing was a prominent feature. We hear nothing of
"bitter herbs" or "bread of affliction," on this occasion, because it is the type of the
coming of the other Comforter, the descent of the Holy Ghost, Proceeding from the
Father, and sent down by the risen, ascended and glorified Head in the heavens, to fill
the hearts of His people with praise, thanksgiving and triumphant joy, yea to lead
them into full and blessed fellowship with their glorified Head, in His triumph over
sin, death, hell, Satan and all the powers of darkness. The Spirit's presence is
connected with liberty, light, power and joy. Thus we read, "The disciples were filled
with joy, and with the Holy Ghost." Doubts, fears, and legal bondage flee away before
the precious ministry of the Holy Ghost.

But we must distinguish between His work and indwelling—His quickening and His
sealing. The very first dawn of conviction in the soul is the fruit of the Spirit's work. It
is His blessed operation that leads to all true repentance, and this is not joyful work; it
is very good, very needful, absolutely essential; but it is not joy, nay, it is deep sorrow.
But when, through grace, we are enabled to believe in a risen and glorified Saviour,
then the Holy Ghost comes and takes up His abode in us, as the seal of our acceptance
and the earnest of our inheritance.

Now this fills us with joy unspeakable and full of glory; and being thus filled
ourselves, we become channels of blessing to others. "He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he
of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was
not yet; because that Jesus was not yet glorified." The Spirit is the spring of power
and joy in the heart of the believer. He fits, fills and uses us as His vessels in
ministering to poor thirsty, needy souls around us. He links us with the Man in the
glory, maintains us in living communion with Him, and enables us to be, in our feeble
measure, the expression of what He is. Every movement of the Christian should be
redolent with the fragrance of Christ. For one who professes to be a Christian to
exhibit unholy tempers, selfish ways, a grasping, covetous, worldly spirit, envy and
jealousy, pride and ambition, is to belie his profession, dishonour the holy Name of
Christ, and bring reproach upon that glorious Christianity which he professes, and of
which we have the lovely type in the feast of weeks—a feast pre-eminently
characterised by a joy which had its source in the goodness of God, and which flowed
out far and wide, and embraced in its hallowed circle every object of need: "Thou
shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy
manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the
stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you."

How lovely! How perfectly beautiful! Oh! that its antitype were more faithfully
exhibited amongst us! Where are those streams of refreshing which ought to flow
from the church of God? Where those unblotted epistles of Christ known and read of
all men? Where can we see a practical exhibition of Christ in the ways of His
people—something to which we could point and say, "There is true Christianity"? Oh!
may the Spirit of God stir up our hearts to a more intense desire after conformity to
the image of Christ, in all things. May He clothe with His own mighty power the word
of God which we have in our hands and in our homes; that it may speak to our hearts
and consciences, and lead us to judge ourselves, our ways, and our associations by its
heavenly light, so that there may be a thoroughly devoted band of witnesses gathered
out to His Name, to wait for His appearing! Will the reader join us in asking for this?

We shall now turn for a moment to the lovely institution of the feast of tabernacles
which gives such remarkable completeness to the range of truth presented in our
chapter.

"Thou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered
in thy corn and thy wine; and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou and thy son, and thy
daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and
the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Seven days shalt thou keep a
solemn feast unto the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose; because
the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine
hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice. Three times in a year shall all thy males
appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of
unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they
shall not appear before the Lord empty; every man shall give as he is able, according
to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee." (Vers. 13-17.)

Here, then we have the striking and beautiful type of Israel's future. The feast of
tabernacles has not yet had its antitype. The Passover and Pentecost have had their
fulfilment in the precious death of Christ, and the descent of the Holy Ghost; but the
third great solemnity points forward to the times of the restitution of all things which
God has spoken of by the mouth of all His holy prophets which have been since the
world began.

And let the reader note particularly the time of the celebration of this feast. It was to
be "after thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine;" in other words, it was after the
harvest and the vintage. Now there is a very marked distinction between these two
things. The one speaks of grace, the other of judgement. At the end of the age, God
will gather His wheat into His garner, and then will come the treading of the
winepress, in awful judgement.

We have in Revelation 14 a very solemn passage bearing upon the subject now before
us. "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the
Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And
another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap; for the
harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the
earth; and the earth was reaped."

Here we have the harvest; and then, "Another came out of the temple which is in
heaven, he having a sharp sickle. And another angel came from the altar, which had
power over fire"—the emblem of judgement—"and cried with a loud cry to him that
had the sharp sickle, saying Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the
vine the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And angel thrust in his sickle into the
earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the
wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of
the winepress, even unto the horse bridles by the space of a thousand and six hundred
furlongs." Equal to the whole length of the land of Palestine!

Now these apocalyptic figures set before us in a characteristic way, scenes which
must be enacted previous to the celebration of the feast of tabernacles. Christ will
gather His wheat into His heavenly garner, and after that He will come in crushing
judgement upon Christendom. Thus, every section of the Volume of inspiration,
Moses, the Psalms, the Prophets, the Gospels—or the acts of Christ—the Acts of the
Holy Ghost, the Epistles, and Apocalypse—all go to establish unanswerably the fact
that the world will not be converted by the gospel, that things are not improving and
will not improve, but grow worse and worse. That glorious time prefigured by the
feast of tabernacles must be preceded by the vintage, the treading of the winepress of
the wrath of Almighty God.

Why, then, we may well ask, in the face of such an overwhelming body of divine
evidence, furnished by every section of the inspired canon, will men persist in
cherishing the delusive hope of a world converted by the gospel? What mean
"gathered wheat and a trodden winepress"? Assuredly, they do not and cannot mean a
converted world.

We shall perhaps be told that we cannot build anything upon Mosaic types and
Apocalyptic symbols. Perhaps not, if we had but types and symbols. But when the
accumulated rays of inspiration's heavenly lamp converge upon these types and
symbols and unfold their deep meaning to our souls, find them in perfect harmony
with the voices of prophets and apostles, and the living teachings our Lord Himself, In
a word, all speak the same language, all teach the same lesson, all bear the
unequivocal testimony to the solemn truth that, the end of this age, instead of a
converted world, prepared for a spiritual millennium, there will be a vine covered and
borne down with terrible clusters fully ripe for the winepress of the wrath of Almighty
God.

Oh! may the men and women of Christendom, and the teachers thereof apply their
hearts to these solemn realities! May these things sink down into their ears, and into
the very depths of their souls, so that they may fling to the winds their fondly
cherished delusion, and accept instead the plainly revealed and clearly established
truth of God!

But we must draw this section to a close; and ere doing so, we would remind the
Christian reader, that we are called to exhibit in our daily life the blessed influence of
all those great truths presented to us in the three interesting types on which we have
been meditating. Christianity is characterised by those three great formative facts,
redemption, the presence of the Holy Ghost, and the hope of glory. The Christian is
redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, sealed by the Holy Ghost, and he is looking
for the Saviour.

Yes, beloved reader, these are solid facts, divine realities, great formative truths. They
are not mere principles or opinions, but they are designed to be a power in our souls,
and to shine in our lives. See how thoroughly practical were these solemnities on
which we have been dwelling; mark what a tide of praise and thanksgiving and joy
and blessing and active benevolence flowed from the assembly of Israel when
gathered round Jehovah in the place which He had chosen. Praise and thanksgiving
ascended to God; and the blessed streams of a large-hearted benevolence flowed forth
to every object of need. "Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the
Lord thy God.... And they shall not appear before the Lord empty; every man shall
give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath, given
thee."

Lovely words! They were not to come empty into the Lord's presence; they were to
come with the heart full of praise, and the hands full of the fruits of divine goodness
to gladden the hearts of the Lord's workmen, and the Lord's poor. All this was
perfectly beautiful. Jehovah would gather His people round Himself, to fill them to
overflowing with joy and praise, and to make them His channels of blessing to others.
They were not to remain under their vine and under their fig tree, and there
congratulate themselves upon the rich and varied mercies which surrounded them.
This might be all right and good in its place; but it would not have fully met the mind
and heart of God. No; three times in the year they had to arise and betake themselves
to the divinely appointed meeting place, and there raise their hallelujahs to the Lord
their God, and there too, to minister liberally of that which He had bestowed upon
them to every form of human need. God would confer upon His people the rich
privilege of rejoicing the heart of the Levite, the stranger, widow and the fatherless.
This is the work in He Himself delights, blessed for ever be His Name, and He would
share His delight With His people. He would have it to be known, seen and felt, that
the place where He met His people was a sphere of joy and praise, and a centre from
whence streams of blessing were to flow forth in all directions.

Has not all this a voice and a lesson for the church of God? Does it not speak home to
the writer and the reader of these lines? Assuredly it does. May we listen to it! May it
tell upon our hearts! May the marvellous grace of God so act upon us that our hearts
may be full of praise to Him and our hands full of good works. If the mere types and
shadows of our blessings were connected with so much thanksgiving and active
benevolence, how much more powerful should be the effect of the blessings
themselves!

But ah! the question is, Are we realising the blessings? Are we making our own of
them? Are we grasping them in the power of an artless faith? Here lies the secret of
the whole matter. Where do we find professing Christians in the full and settled
enjoyment of what the Passover prefigured, namely, full deliverance from judgement
and this present evil world? Where do we find them in the full and settled enjoyment
of their Pentecost, even the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, the seal, the earnest, the
unction and the witness? Ask the vast majority of professors the plain question, "Have
you received the Holy Ghost?" and see what answer you will get. What answer can
the render give? Can he say, "Yes, thank God, I know I am washed in the precious
blood of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Ghost"? It is greatly to be feared that
comparatively few of the vast multitudes of professors around us know anything of
those precious things, which nevertheless are the chartered privileges of the very
simplest member of the body of Christ.

So also as to the feast of tabernacles, how few understand its meaning! True, it has
not yet been fulfilled; but the Christian is called to live in the present power of that
which it set forth. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things
not seen." Our life is to be governed and our character formed by the combined
influence of the "grace" in which we stand, and the "glory" for which we wait.

But if souls are not established in grace, if they do not even know that their sins are
forgiven; if they are taught that it is presumption to be sure of salvation, and that it is
humility and piety to live in perpetual doubt and fear; and that no one can be sure of
their salvation until they stand before the judgement-sent of Christ, how can they
possibly take Christian ground, manifest the fruits of Christian life, or cherish proper
Christian hope? If an Israelite of old was in doubt as to whether he was a, child of
Abraham, a member of the congregation of the Lord, and in the land, how could he
keep the feast of unleavened bread, Pentecost or tabernacles? There would have been
no sense, meaning or value in such a thing; indeed, we may safely affirm that no
Israelite would have thought, for a moment, of anything so utterly absurd.

How is it then that professing Christians, many of them, we cannot doubt, real
children of God, never seem to be able to enter upon proper Christian ground? They
spend their days in doubt and fear, darkness and uncertainty. Their religious exercises
and services, instead of being the outcome of life possessed and enjoyed, are entered
upon and gone through more as a matter of legal duty, and as a moral preparation for
the life to come. Many truly pious souls are kept in this state all their days; and as to
"the blessed hope" which grace has set before us, to cheer our hearts and detach us
from present things, they do not enter into it or understand it. It is looked upon as a
mere speculation indulged in by a few visionary enthusiasts here and there. They are
looking forward to the day of judgement, instead of looking out for "the bright and
morning star." They are praying for the forgiveness of their sins and asking God to
give them His Holy Spirit, when they ought to be rejoicing in the assured possession
of eternal life, divine righteousness, and the Spirit of adoption.

All this is directly opposed to the simplest and clearest teaching of the New
Testament; it is utterly foreign to the very genius of Christianity, subversive of the
Christian's peace and liberty, and destructive of all true and intelligent Christian
worship, service and testimony. It is plainly impossible that people can appear before
the Lord with their hearts full of praise for privileges which they do not enjoy, or their
hands full of the blessing which they have never realised.

We call the earnest attention of all the Lord's people, throughout the length and
breadth of the professing church, to this weighty subject. We entreat them to search
the scriptures and see if they afford any warrant for keeping souls in darkness, doubt
and bondage all their days. That there are solemn warnings, searching appeals,
weighty admonitions, is most true, and we bless God for them; we need them, and
should diligently apply our hearts to them. But let the reader distinctly understand that
it is the sweet privilege of the very babes in Christ to know that their sins are all
forgiven, that they are accepted in a risen Christ, sealed by the Holy Ghost and heirs
of eternal glory. Such, through infinite and sovereign grace, are their clearly
established and assured blessings—blessings to which the love of God makes them
welcome, for which the blood of Christ makes them fit, and as to which the testimony
of the Holy Ghost makes them sure.

May the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls lead all His beloved people, the lambs
and sheep of His blood-bought flock, to know, by the teaching of His holy Spirit, the
things that are freely given to them of God! And may those who do know them, in
measure, know them more fully, and exhibit the precious fruits of them in a life of
genuine devotedness to Christ and His service!

It is greatly to be feared that many of us who profess to be acquainted with the very
highest truths of the Christian faith are not answering to our profession; we are not
acting up to the principle set forth in verse 17 of our beautiful chapter, "Every man
shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath
given thee." We seem to forget that, although we have nothing to do and nothing to
give for salvation, we have much that we can do for the Saviour, and much that we
can give to His workmen and to His poor. There is very great danger of pushing the
do-nothing and give-nothing principle too far. If, in the days of our ignorance and
legal bondage, we worked and gave upon a false principle, and with a false object, we
surely ought not to do less and give less now that we profess to know that we are not
only saved but blessed with all spiritual blessings, in a risen and glorified Christ. We
have need to take care that we are not resting in the mere intellectual perception and
verbal profession of these great and glorious truths, while the heart and conscience
have never felt their sacred action, nor the conduct and character been brought under
their powerful and holy influence.

We venture, in all tenderness and love, just to offer these practical suggestions to the
reader for his prayerful consideration. We would not wound, offend, or discourage the
very feeblest lamb in all the flock of Christ. And, further, we can assure the reader,
that we are not casting a stone at any one, but simply writing, as in the immediate
presence of God, and sounding in the ears of the church a note of warning as to that
which we deeply feel to be our common danger. We believe there is an urgent call, on
all sides, to consider our ways, to humble ourselves before the Lord, on account of our
manifold failures, shortcomings and inconsistencies, and to seek grace from Him to
be more real, more thoroughly devoted, more pronounced in our testimony for Him,
in this dark and evil day.

Deuteronomy 17.
We must remember that the division of scripture into chapters and verses is entirely a
human arrangement, often very convenient, no doubt, for reference; but not
infrequently it is quite unwarrantable, and interferes with the connection. Thus we
can see, at a glance, that the closing verses of chapter 16. are much more connected
with what follows than with what goes before.

"Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God
giveth thee, throughout thy tribes; and they shall judge the people with just
judgement. Thou shalt not wrest judgement; thou shalt not respect persons, neither
take a gift; for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the
righteous. That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live and
inherit the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee."

These words teach us a twofold lesson; in the first place, they set forth the even-
handed justice and perfect truth which ever characterise the government of God.
Every case is dealt with according to its own merits and on the ground of its own
facts. The judgement is so plain that there is not a shadow of ground for a question;
all dissension is absolutely closed, and if any murmur is raised, the murmurer is at
once silenced by, "Friend, I do thee no wrong." This holds good everywhere and at all
times, in the holy government of God, and it makes us long for the time when that
government shall be established from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the
earth.

But, on the other hand, we learn, from the lines just quoted, what man's judgement is
worth, if left to himself. It cannot be trusted, for a moment. Man is capable of
"wresting judgement," of "respecting persons," of "taking a gift," of attaching
importance to a person because of his position and wealth. That he is capable of all
this is evident from the fact of his being told not to do it. We must ever remember
this. If God commands man not to steal, it is plain that man has theft in his nature.

Hence, therefore, human judgement and human government are liable to the grossest
corruption. Judges and governors if left to themselves, if not under the direct sway of
divine principle, are capable of perverting justice for filthy lucre's sake, of favouring a
wicked man because he is rich, and of condemning a righteous man because he is
poor; of giving a judgement in flagrant opposition to the plainest facts because of
some advantage to be gained, whether in the shape of money, or influence, or
popularity, or power.

To prove this it is not necessary to point to such men as Pilate and Herod, and Felix
and Festus; we have no need to go beyond the passage just quoted, in order to see
what man is, even when clothed in the robes of official dignity, seated on the throne
of government, or on the bench of justice.

Some, as they read these lines, may feel disposed to say, in the language of Hazael, "Is
thy servant a dog, that he should do this thing?" But let such reflect, for a moment, on
the fact that the human heart is the seed plot of every sin, and of every vile and
abominable and contemptible wickedness that ever was committed in this world; and
the unanswerable proof of this is found in the enactments, commandments, and
prohibitions which appear on the sacred page of inspiration.

And herein we have an uncommonly fine reply to the oft-repeated question, "What
have we to do with many of the laws and institutions set forth in the Mosaic
economy? Why are such things set down in the Bible? Can they possibly be inspired?"
Yes; they are inspired, and they appear on the page of inspiration in order that we may
see, as reflected in a divinely perfect mirror, the moral material of which we ourselves
are made, the thoughts we are capable of thinking, the words we are capable of
speaking, and the deeds we are capable of doing.

Is not this something? Is it not good and wholesome to find, for example, in some of
the passages of this most profound and beautiful book of Deuteronomy, that human
nature is capable, and hence we are capable of doing things that put us morally below
the level of a beast? Assuredly it is, and well would it be for many a one who walks in
Pharisaic pride and self-complacency, puffed up with false notions of his own dignity
and high-toned morality, to learn this deeply humbling lesson.

But how morally lovely, how pure, how refined and elevated were the divine
enactments for Israel! They were not to wrest judgement, but allow it to flow in its
own straight and even channel, irrespective altogether of persons. The poor man in
vile raiment was to have the same impartial justice, as the man with a gold ring and
gay clothing. The decision of the judgement-seat was not to be warped by partiality or
prejudice, or the robe of justice to be defiled by the stain of bribery.

Oh! what will it be for this oppressed and groaning earth to be governed by the
admirable laws which are recorded in the inspired pages of the Pentateuch, when a
king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall decree justice! "Give the king thy
judgements, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall judge thy
people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment"—no wresting, no bribery, no
partial judgements then—"The mountains [or higher dignities] shall bring peace to
the people, and the little hills [or lesser dignities], by righteousness. He shall judge [or
defend] the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break
in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure,
throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as
showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance
of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea,
and from the river unto the ends of the earth.... He shall deliver the needy when he
crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy,
and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and
violence; and precious shall their blood be in his sight." (Ps. 72.)

Well may the heart long for the time—the bright and blessed time when all this shall
be made good, when the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters
cover the sea; when the Lord Jesus shall take to Himself His great power and reign;
when the church in the heavens shall reflect the beams of His glory upon the earth;
when Israel's twelve tribes shall repose beneath the vine and fig tree in their own
promised land, and all the nations of the earth shall rejoice beneath the peaceful and
beneficent rule of the Son of David. Thanks and praise be to our God, thus it shall be,
ere long, as sure as His throne is in the heavens. A little while and all shall be made
good, according to the eternal counsels and immutable promise of God. Till then,
beloved Christian reader, be it ours to live in the constant, earnest, believing
anticipation of this bright and blessed time, and to pass through this ungodly scene as
thorough strangers and pilgrims, having no place or portion down here, but ever
breathing forth the prayer, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

In the closing lines of chapter 16 Israel is warned against the most distant approach to
the religious customs of the nations around. "Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any
trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God, which thou shalt make thee. Neither
shalt thou set thee up any image which the Lord thy God hateth." They were carefully
to avoid everything which might lead them in the direction of the dark and
abominable idolatries of the heathen nations around. The altar of God was to stand
out in distinct and unmistakable separation from those groves and shady places where
false gods were worshipped, and things were done which are not to be named.* In a
word, everything was to be most carefully avoided which might, in any way, draw the
heart away from the one living and true God.
{*It may interest the reader to know that the Holy Ghost, in speaking of the altar of
God, in the New Testament, doe