The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 194

a mild Deity unmoved to indignation at acts unaccordant with his will is not justified; by Scripture, nor is it in harmony with the utterances of conscience or the testimony borne by the existent laws of his moral government of the world. 3. Not even the profession of desire to honour God excuses the wilful neglect of his injunctums. 'l'o subst.itute human iuvenLions for scriptural institutions is a dangerous practice. Reason may discern little difference of moment, but it is not safe to. argue that therefore the particular observance is immaterial, and rests on no rational ground of distinction. The loyalty that will presume to alter the king's ordinances is of doubtful character and certain of rejection.-S. R. A. Ver. 3.-.4 bereaved parent. Who can stand in the presence of death unmoved? A gulf separates us from the departed friend; the paRt is like a dream. The partnership between soul and body has been di~solved, and already the clay tabernacle, deprived of its tenant, shows signs of crumbling into decay. The form is the same, but the ani- mating principle has fled. The casket has been rifled of its jewel; we survey the husk, but the kernel has vanished. I. HERE WAS AN INSTANCE OF BUDDEN DEATH. This is the more startling. Tho festival is changed into a funeral. 'l'ha active frame is motionless, the busy brain that teemed with thought is still ; we call aloud, but there is no reply ; we bend down to touch the lips, but we receive no responsive kiss. How weak is man, when a stroke deprives him of all his faculties, removes him from earthly ken, and his place knows him no morel II. IT IS BAD WHEN CHILDREN DIE BEFORE THEIR PARENTS. Then the cup of bereave- ment contains an added element of bitterness. The natural order is inverted. Pathetic was the expression of Burke's grief at the loss of his only son. "I am stripped of all my honours ; I am torn up by the roots, and lie prostrate on the earth. I have none to meet my enemies in the gate. They who ought to have succeeded me have gone before me. They who should have been to me a posterity are in the place of ancestors." To see the budding rose suddenly blighted, all the promise of life unrealized, is enough to rend a parent's heart with disappointment. III. IT IS SADDER STILL WHEN DEATH IS THE DIBECT RESULT OF THOUGHTLESS, SINFUL 00NDUCT. '!'hen no gleam of light tempers the darkness. If the flower be transplanted to odorn the heavenly garden, there will be joy at the thought to alleviate the sorrow. But when the removal appears like that of tares to be burned, who shall assuage the pangs of bereavement? Children I strive so to live that if Providence call you away in early life, the memory left behind may be sweet and fragrant, pleasant and reassur- ing. Let us not too hastily assume the death of the youthful to be a,judgme'Tlt, We may have no Moses at our side, as here, to interpret the harrowing scene. We would not rush instantly to adverse conclusions, nor misconceive the dispensation. Even in the oaso before us we are not warranted in deciding upon the ultimate fate of No.dab and Abihu. Death is truly in every case a particulur instance of a general law. "Thi» is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified," etc. It ever reminds us of its conn'eetion with sin, and every time we are called to stand by the grave we should be impressed with o. deeper sense of the enormity and awfulness of sin in God's sight .. Ileholding the effect, let us hate the cause. IV. Aaron furnishes AN EXAMPLE OF Fl'I'l'ING BEHAVIOUR UNDER TRIAL. He could not rejoice to see the withering of his cherished hopes; Goel expects no such unnatural triumphing over the instincts of affection. But he refrained from murmuring, he "held ·his peace." "I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because thou didst it." Open the quivering ·lips, and the pent-up agony of tho spirit mo.y find vent in the utterance of expostulations and reproaches unworthy of a child of God. Job's wifo tempted 'him to "curse God and die," but he "sinned not with his lips." He was, indeed, able to say," Shall we receive good at the hands of God, and shall we not receive evil?" "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the Name of the Lord." It was after this that he "uttered that he understood not." V. 'l'o REPRESS REPINING IS ACCEPTED AB TACIT ACQUIESCENCE IN THE EQUITY OF DIVINE JUDGMENTB. His ways are often mysterious, but his· wisdom cannot err nor his love prove unkind. The greatest degree of affection for our fellow-croatures must \lever be allowed to lessen our supreme regard for the glory of the Creator. "It is. il.-56 THE IlOOK OF LEVITICUS. [cH, X, 1-7.