HOMILIES BY V.ARIOUS AUTHORS. Restitution 118 inculcated in the trespass offering. Ch. v. 14-vi. i; comp. Phil. iv. 8, 9 ; Luke xix. 8 ; Matt. v. 23, 24. 'l'he trespass offering, in emphasizing the idea of restitution, is needful to complete the list of sacrifices. Without the just dealing this sacrifice demands, the personal consecration, fellowship, and atonement would savour of what was nnreal and vain. God's mercy secures morality, and his Word condemns every desire to enjoy bis grace and the fruits of injustice at the same time. Let us, then, notice-- I. THE POBBIDILITY OF WBONOING BOTH Goo AND MAN UNINTENTIONALLY. This passage presents this possibility. An Israelite might miscalculate the amount of his offerings, and find, on examination, that he has defrauded his God. Thie omission must be made good. Or again, he. mi_ght commi~, t~rough want of thoug~t, _somethin~ God had forbidden, and for this sin of comm1ss1on he must make resl1tut1on according to the estimation of the priest. The possibility of wronging a fellow-man unintentionally is too obvious to require illustration. Of the first wrong we have, in these gospel times, an instance in de/e.ctive liberality on the part of Christians. llow many fail to calculate how much they owe to God I Systematic beneficence is a general principle, but it is applied only in the rough, and a faithful analysis will generally prove that God has been defrauded. We defraud God also in the matter of time and of work. We grudge him his own day; we give him stinted service. A quite appreciable defalcation under such heads as these might be made out against most of us. OJI, V, 14--19.] THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. 81
Again, unintentional wrong is often done a neighbour in, for example, an unexpeded failure in business. There are many, let us believe, who reach bankruptcy without intending it. They erred with the very best intentions, and through faulty manage- ment allowed their affairs to become hopelessly involved. Bnt the loss suffered by a man's neighbours is not the less real because of his good intentions. Nor will these good intentions pass as good bills with the wronged neighbour's creditors. II. LET US NOTIOE THE POSSIBILITY OF DELmEBATELY WRONGING OUR NEIGHBOUR. We have intentional trespass against man bronght out in the opening verses of the sixth chapter. We have here such sins contemplated as falsity in trust, robbery, oppression, and tergiversation about property which has been found. Here the inten- tion as well as the act is at fault. Our present mercanti1e immoralities afford ample illustrations. In fact, busines.'! qualities are regarded by many as consisting in the advantage which a man is able, legally, to take of his neighbour. Men, without sufficient courage to become highway robbers, can take advantage of a neighbour behind the hedge of some blundering act of parliament. III. THE LAW OF MOSES DEMANDED RESTITUTION IN ALL THESE OASES AS .A COK- DITION OF PARDON. Unless the trespassers brought the amount of the defalcation, with a double tithe in addition, and the prescribed ram for a trespass offering, God refused them pardon and fellowship. The case of Zacchieus is in point. His interview with Jesus led to the desire of restitution arising naturally in his heart. "If I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold" (Luke xix. 8). God's forgiveness is not independent of moral feeling. God will not forgive trespass so as to encourage the continuance of injustice. There must be restitution and compensation, or he will not grant pardon. IV. AT THE BAME TIME, THAT RESTITUTION SHOULD NOT BE REGARDED AS MERITORIOUS, THE LAW REQUIRED A TRESPASS OFFERING IN .ADDITION. There have been cases of restitution by bankrupts and other trespassers, but they are so blazed abroad in the newspapers, that the public is ready to set them down as meritorious, and almost supererogations. But the Divine Law excluded all possibility of boasting, by attaching a trespass offering to the restitution. A ram must be brought; confession of sin must be made over it in the usual fashion; it must be slain ; its blood must be sprinkled o.s in the former cases ; the choice portions are dedicated to God on his altar ; and the remainder eaten by the priests. All this was to show that, even for such an act as restitution, atonement was needful. It could not stand alone; it had no inherent merit; it was only tardy justice ; and for the wrong there is need of atonement as well as reparation. And surely the same great truth meets us in the Christian life. Jesus as the Trespass Offering-and this is the phraseology employed in Isa. lili. 10 regarding him-must encircle us with his merits, even when we are conscientiously making restitution. It is as penitents we should do this. 1<:ven though the world glories in the reparation of wrong o.s something in its view most meritorious, the persons making reparation should do so in a penitent spirit, hnving regard always to the atoning merits of the Saviour, V. 'flIE COURAGE NECESSARY TO :MAKE BEB'l'ITUTION :MUST BE SUSTAINED BY THE FEARLESS PRO0LAll.ATION OF GoD'B LAW. A certain antinomianism is encouraged, if not proclaimed, by a loose presentation of God's gospel. Immoralities are tolerated in commerce on the part of professing Christians, that go far to defent the mission of Christianity. It is essential, in these circumstances, that we should cultivate the courage of men, and sustain their resolutions to be honest and just in making all possible resti- tution. God requires no less honesty in his gospel than he did in his Lo.w. He never meant his pardon to be enjoyed along with the fruits of wrong-doing. These must be surrendered if it is to bo enjoyed. "If it is absolutely impossible to be saved by the works of the Law, it is not less impossible to be saved without the works of faith, for faith without works is no faith at all." We must consequently think on "whatsoever things are honest" (Phil. iv. 8), and remember our Saviour's words, "If thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be recon- ciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift" (Matt, v. 23, 24).-R. M. E. LEVlTlClJS. Q 82 THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [cu. v. 14-19.