HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Entire oonsecratiM, as i1lustrated in the burnt offeri-rig. Ch. i.; cf. Rom. xii. 1.- W e start with the assumption that the Book of Exodus presents "the history of redemption." It is an account of how the Lord delivered the people he had chosen out of bondage, and brought them to himself (Exod. xix. 4). It contains, moreover, an account of the erection of the tabernacle, or" tent of meeting," where God proposed to dwell as a Pilgrim in the midst of a pilgrim people, and out of which would issue bis commands as their Guide and Leader. In this Book of Leviticus, then, we have- the Lord speaking "out of the tent of meeting" (ver. 1), that is, to a people in, covenant relations with himself. , This helps us to understand why the "burnt offering" is treated first. Not only was it the very oldest offering, but it was to be the daily offering (Numb. xxix. 6) ;. morning and evening was a holocaust to be presented to the Lord. It was, therefore,. manifestly meant to exJJress the proper state or condition of those professing to be God's covenant people. It is on this account that we entitle this a homily on Entire- Oonsecration. I. THIS IDEA OF ENTIDE CONSECRATION IS ONE WHICH ALL CLASSES OF Goo's PEOPLE ARE EXPECTED TO EXPRESS. The poor, who could only bring" turtle-doves" or "young. picreons," the representatives of domestic fowls at that time, were just as welcome at the tabernacle as those who could bring lambs or bullocks. Consecration is an idea which can be carried out in any worldly condition. 'l'he poor widow with her two mites carried it out more gloriously than her neighbours in the midst of their abundance. Complete self-surrender is not the prerogative of a class, but the possibility and ideal of all. II. CoNFEBBION OF BIN 18 AN EXPECTED PRELIMINARY TO CONSECRATION. The Jew. whatever was his grade in society, was directed either expressly to" lean" (112~) his hand upon the head of his offering, or, as in the case of the fowls where it was physically impossible, to do so by implication; and this was understood to represent, and some believe it to have been regularly accompanied by, confession of sin. Of course, con- fession of sin is not of the ciaence of consecration ; we have in the case of our blessed Lord and of the unfallen angels, similar consecration, where no sense of sin is possible, And 'we are on the way to consecration in the other life, divorced from the sense of sin. Meanwhile, however, confession is only just, since sin remains with us. Indeed, the consecration of redeemed sinners will not prove very deep or thorough where confession, of sin is omitted. IIJ. THE SPECTACLE OP A SUBSTITUTE DYING IN OUR ROOM AND STEAD 18 WELD FITTED TO DEEPEN OUR SENSE OF CONSECRATION. The slaughter of the animal, upon whose bead the sins have by confession been laid, must have exercised upon the offerer a very solemnizing influence. There is nothing in like manner so fitted to hallow us as.. en. I. 1-li.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 7
the spectacle of Jesus, to whom these sacrifices pointed, dying on the cross in our stead. The love he manifested in that death for us constrains us to live, not unto our- selves, but unto him who died for 119 and rose again (2 Cor. v. 14, 15). The moral power of ,ubstitution cannot be dispensed with in a sinful world like this. IV. TEE ACCEPTANCE Oll' THE BLOOD UPON TBB ALTAR, THAT IS, OF LIFE AFTER THE DEATH-PENALTY BAB BEEN PATD, ALSO DELI'S TO DEEPEN THE SENSE OF CONSECBATION. For when the priest by Divine direction, sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice all round about upon the altar, it was to indicate the acceptance on God's part of the life beyond death. It indicated that God was satisfied with the substitution, that the penalty had been paid by the death of the victim, and that in consequence the blood, that is, the life-for the life was in the blood (eh. xvii. 11)-could be accepted. Acceptance in and through another was what this portion of the ritual implied, and this is well calculated to deepen the sense of consecration. For, according to the typology, the Person in whom we are accepted is he to whom we ought to be consecrated. It is when we realize that we are accepted in Christ that we feel constrained to dedicate ourselves unto him. The one good tum deseITes another, and we are held under a sense of sweetest obligation. v. THE CONSECRATION OF THE CHILD OF Goo IS THE COMPLETE BURBENDEB Oll' BELl" '.l'O THE OPEBATI<;>N OF THE HoLY GHOST. Ewald has most pertinently remarked that among the Greeks and other nations such holocausts as were daily presented by the Jews were rarities. The idea of entire consecration is too broad for a heathen mind. Partial consecration was comparatively easy in idea, but a "surrender without reserve" is the fruit of Divine teaching. Now this is what the burning of the holocaust in the sacred fire of the altar signified. For, since all sensation had ceased before the sacrifice was laid upon the altar, the burning could not suggest the idea to the worshipper of para or penalty. The fire had come out from God as the token of acceptance (eh. ix. 24). 1t is, moreover, one of the recognized symbols of the Holy Ghost. Consequently, the exposure of every portion of the sacrifice to the altar fire represented the yielding of the grateful worshipper in his entirety to the operation of God the Holy Ghost. This, aftec all, is the essence of sanctification. It is the surrender of our whole nature, body, soul, and spirit, to the dispossl of the Holy Ghost. '!'his is devotedness indeed. Nowhere has the idea been more felicitously wrought out than in a little posthumous volume of F. R. Havergal's, entitled • Kept for the Master's Use.' We cannot better convey ths idea of the burnt offering than by copying her simple foundation lines upon which she has built her chapters.
"Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days: Let. them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my hands, and let them move At the impulse of Thy love. T11ke my feet, and let them be Swift, and 'beautiful• for Thee. Tako my voice, and let me sing Always, only, for my king. Take my lips, and let them be Filled with messages from Thee. Take my silv11r and my gold: Not a mite woukl I withhold. Take my intellect, and use Every power as Thou shalt choo.ti., Take my will and make it Thine: It shall be no longer mine. Take rr y heart; it is Thine own: It shall be Thy royal throne. 8 THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [cH, I, 1-17.
Take my love: lily Lord, I pour At Thy feet its treasure-store. Take myself, and I will be Ever, only, ALL for Thee." R.H.E.