Ve!'B. 6, 7.-God t's love. A previous revelation, cf. iii. 14. Then the emphasis was on the na-, now it is on the characf,er of him who hea!'B the name. Moeee, In common with the people, longed aft.er some visible manifestation of the glory of the un~een God who spoke to him (xxxiii. 18). His desire is granted; but at the eani.e time God turns his thoughts from the visible to the invisible. "It is not," he eeeme t.o eay, "what I appear to be the.t me.n has to trust to; it is whe.t I am." Consider- !. THE CHABACTl!:R REVEALED. 1. It impl;,a inf-elligence in the Being who ia cJtaroderilled. The ne.me Jehovah might, conceivably, be given to "a etree.m of ten- dency." Le.w, irresistible e.nd impenmne.l, might be described as "the eternal." You cannot, however, speak of le.w as "merciful e.nd gracious," etc. There must be eome one who works through le.w. A divine bee.rt is the me.inepring whence flow all "streams of tendency," the issues of the universal life. 2. It is not such as man could have i1TUlgined. Men do cree.te their own gods; deifying the exe.ggerated and dist.orted 11hadows cast by their own chlll'II.Ctere-so the mountaineer ie e.t first awe-struck when confronted by his own gigantic shadow. Here, however, is a che.1'11.Cter which ce.nnot be tl'll.ced to such an origin; it is not man's thought about God, it is God's revele.tion of himself t-0 man. Contrast the character of the shadow, man-created, god, with that of Jehovah. The one is revengeful, arbitrary, cruel, etc.; the other is merciful and gracious, etc. The man-made god is at best kindly with a weak and sentimental kindliness; with Jehovah, love is the heart-root of his nature, a love which will by no means clear the guilt~·. Nature "red in tooth and cle.w" scarcely suggests such a god as this; man could never have conceived him. The character is a revele.tion of himself, made here to Moses; ma.de, yet more clearly, later, in the life of "the Word me.de Flesh." II. Tm: CHARACTER AS ED'B.E88ED IN ACTION. Men are treated by some one or some thing as God se.ys he treats them. The "stream of tendency" makes for righteous- ness; it is not purposeless, it must be purposed. Though experience was insufficient to suggest the character, it yet helps us to verify the revelation. Notice, specially, the stern side of love. The latter part of the revelation seems at first inconsistent with the :first part; they give, however, two aspects of the same homogeneous character. True love is quite distinct from kindliness; its brain is wisdom. and justice nerves its right hand. 1. The a.diO'II. which love will take, must depend upO'II. the circumstances which call for actiO'II.. Our own experience shows sufficiently that love does not shrink from giving pa.in. The parent will forgive his child, and yet, e.t the same time, not " clear" him ; he cannot pass over without notice conduct of which he disapproves. Love may wield the surgeon's k:mfe; or the scourge, with a view to moral surgery. So long as the child keeps sound and well, physically and morally, love is all sunshine; with illness or danger, physical or moral, love----seeking the good of the beloved object-- may strike and pierce like lightning. .Apply the general principle and it explains:- 2. .A sptt:i,al case. Can love visit upon children the sins of their parents ? Yes, for children inherit the sinful tendencies of their parents; and it is just this visitation which may best secure them ~aainst falling int.o sin. Sad that the drunkard's child should be an epileptic; yet epilepsy may be e. loving visitation if it guard against the confirmed drunkenness which might otherwise have ruined body and soul. .A. warning for parents; yet consolation for the victims of thei,r sins, when it is seen that love has inspired severity (cf. Heh. xii 11). . . Oond'U/lwn. Such the God revealed t.o Moses, and such the God revealed m Christ. Before such e. Being what attitude so :fitting as that of Moses? (ver. 8; cf. Job xlii. l-4i).---G.
EXPOSITION. Ven;. 9-26.-TBE BE!IEW.AL OF TD OOVE- himself to renew the covenant, e.nd lead the !i"ANT. De.zed, 86 it would seem, by the people in pe1'0n to Canaan. In his forgetful- i;pl.endour of the vision which he had beheld. neas, he onee more set himself to intercede with Moses forgot that God had already pledged Godontheirbehalf,e.nd besoughthim-1. Thai CH. UXIV. 9-lG.) THI<: BOOK OF F.XODTJS.