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made manifest. Their first offences were rebuked gently with words alone ; but after the delivery of the law' on Sinai, where they had sworn allegiance, their transgressions no longer were, nor could be, so mildly dealt with. Deuteronomy, addressed to the new genera- tion, treats much of the kindness and love of Gocl , whose righteous severity had been manifested towards their fathers.”
“ Israel possessed Canaan under Jehovah as His feudatories; hence they were annually to present to Him of their cattle and fruits, by way of homage and quit-rent.”
“ Balaam was a sort of civil prophet , and not sent to the children of Israel. Samuel offered sacrifice, though he wras no priest, but only a Levite. Moses did the same ; for they both, because of their extraor- dinary commission from God, ranked above the priests. With Samuel begins a new period. Before him, the nation had no prophet except Moses ; but after him, there was a numerous succession of prophets.” “ Nadab and Abihu offered strange fire (Lev. x. 2), probably under the influence of wine. Therefore, ver. 9, wine was instantly prohibited to officiating priests.”
“ One would have thought David’s errors much greater than those of Saul, but his heart was stedfast to the Lord. Saul’s great guilt was not his persecution of David, but his unbelief towards God. As a swan, plying equally both feet, gains upon the water, however turbulent, so David’s spirit, with all his faults, struggled through every difficulty in one general direction. This consoles me about many a disaster, yea, and fault of God’s true servants at present.”
“ 1 Sam. xvii. 36. — Upon sectarian principles, Old Testament be- lievers ought not to have acted as they did. They ought to have said, ‘ What is all this multitude of unconverted people to me? Goliath is serving them right. They are an ungodly mass. Their very king is a worthless character. Shall God work a miracle to save such a people as this ?
“The Hebrew rnifl, todah ( praise , literally acknowledgment or con- fession), is beautifully emphatic. In praising a fellow-creature, we may easily surpass the truth ; but in praising God, we have only to go on confessing what He really is to us. Here it is impossible to exceed the truth, and here is genuine praise.”
“ It is good to have to pass through humiliations and a lowly condi- tion, and that our course in life should be like that of a homeward bound ship, direct for the haven, and leaving behind it no track of its pathway in the waves.”
1 John iv. 2, 3, 15. — “ Confessing (Christ) means a decided and entire abandonment of ourselves to that which we have made up our minds to ; that therein rests our total complacency and delight.”
As Scripture was given principally for believers, it speaks of their resurrection expressly , and of the resurrection of the unjust only by the way.
Bengel’s “Sketch of the Church of the United Brethren” appeared
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