siderable flow of saliva" (Trusen). "A characteristic of the disease is the horribly repulsive features of its later stages, when the face becomes shockingly disfigured, and often the separate joints of the body become mortified and drop off one by one" (Gardiner), VIII. 'l'HE BUFl!'ERmG ENTAILED BY IT AT LAST, As if to make up for the pain- lessness of its earlier stages, it not only causes in its final stage a constant pain of body, but a distress of mind and horror on the part of the sufferer at having become so loathsome and offensive an object to him.self and to others. IX, 1TB UNEXPEl7rED ENDmo. "A characteristic of the disease is its usually sudden and unexpected termination at the last, when the leprosy reaches some vital organ, and gives rise to secondary disease, often dysentery, by which life is ended" (Gardiner). "The patient gets thin and weak, diarrhcea sets in, and incessant thirst and burning fever terminate his sufferings" (Trusen). X. lTe LIKENESS TO A LIVING DEATH. "Leprosy was not merely the emblem of sin, but of death, to which, so to speak, it stood related, as does our actual sinfulness to our state of sin and death before God. A rabbinical saying ranks lepers with those who may be regarded as dead" (Edersheim). In all these respects, by the bodily state of the leper was manHested and parabolically set forth the state of the soul given up to the dominion of sin. Like leprosy, sin springs up mysteriously in the heart, owing to some previously existing corruption; at first it does not cause pain, but it promises pleasure, and gives some enjoyment to the senses ; its true character is often not developed for years, but it gradually takes more and more possession of the soul, till H becomes unconquerable by any internal or human power; then it shows itself in its true form, repulsive instead of attractive, full of pain instead of pleasure, ending in a sudden destruction and a death of the soul. Co~CLUSION. 1. Negative. Avoid those things which will bring the soul into a state analogous to the leprous body. "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it and pass away." "For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: but her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death ; her steps .take hold on hell . . . . Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house: lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel: lest strangers be filled with thy wealth ; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger; and thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed, and say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me I" "Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Iler house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death n (Prov. iv. 14-, 15; v. 3-13; vii. 25-27). 2. Positive. Seek those things which will give health and strength to the souL "Happy is tbe man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are pence. She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her" (Prov. iii. 13-18). Vers. 4-5, 4-6.-The ea:trusicm of the leper from the camp ill a type of ea:communicatiOt& from the Oh1'istian Ohurch. The right of separating from the community such as will not submit to discipline belongs to all bodies secular and ecclesiastical. Oivil societies exercise this right by inflicting the penalties of death, imprisonment, or exile; tho Church's penalty is suspension of communion, or excommunication. (For an ac- count of Jewish and Christian excommunication, as founded on scriptural authority, see article in Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' vol. iii. appendix.) 'l'he purpose of the exclusion of the leper was to prevent legal uncleanness being ~pread by his means: the purpose of the excommunication of the sinner is twofold- part11 for his own benefit, partly for that of the community. The power of admitting 200 THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [oH. xm. 1-4G.
into the Cbnrch and excluding from it by the use of the proper means was promised to St. Peter (Matt. xvi. 19), and given to all the apostles (Matt. xviil. 16-18; John xx. 23). The power of admission was exercised every time that baptism was administered, that of exclusion was exercised by St. Paul in the case of the incestuous Corinthian (l Cor. v. 3-5), and in the ca.se of Hymenaius and Alexander (1 Tim. i. 20). St. Paul incidentally states that the purpose of their excommunication was (1) "to deliver such an one unto Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the <lay of the Lord Jesus ; " and (2) " to purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump'' (1 Cor. v. 5, 6). So far as the effect on others is concerned, the severance of the leper has an analogous object with that of the severance of the sinner• but the effect of the Church's discipline on the soul of the sinner ought to have a ;esult which the penalty inflicted on the leper could not bring about. What this result should be is shown in the ca.se of the incestuous Corinthian. 'l'he reproof was stem and the punishment sharp, but it produced repentance, and then the continuance of the infliction of the penalty ceased. "Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many. So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. "\Vberefore I beseech you that ye would confirm your love toward him" (2 Cor. ii. 6-8). Church discipline is a condition of the well-being of the Church, and it must be put in practice in the case of both immorality (1 Cor. v.) and heresy (1 Tim. i. 20), but no Church discipline can have good results which has not for its first object the good of the sinner, and which is not exercised in the spirit of love. There have been periods in the history of the Church when a eincere desire to prevent contamination by supposed heterodox teaching has wrought far more harm than could have been produced by any amount of liberty or licence, whether of thought, or speech, or act.