it; "for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of the camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee ; therefore shall thy camp be holy : that he see no unclean thing in thee, and tum away from thee" (Deut. xxiii. 14). If the former be found, "the Holy Spirit of God" will be "grieved" (Eph. iv. 30), and "vexed," so that Go<l is turned into an "enemy" (Isa. ]xiii. 10). IV. TBE CLEANSING OF Gon's BOUSE. As soon as there is a prim&, facie appearance of i=orality, or irreligiousness, or superstition in a National Church, a diligent examination should be made by those placed in authority by God. Perhaps it is only an appearance, which will die away of itself. If it does so, no farther measures are needed. But " if the p"lague spread in the walls of the hr:,v,u ; th= the priest shall com- mand that they talu away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them into an unclean pl,ace without the city: and he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the dust that they scrape off without the city into an unclea1b place." Those whose office it is, must not shrink from removing the stones in which the mischief is found, that is, of ea.sting out those who are incurably affected with irreligion, immora.lity, or superstition. ".And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and he shall take other morter, and shall plaister the house." Discipline must be exercised by substituting sound teachers and members of the flock for those that have become unsound. This is the work of reformation. This is what was done for the Jewish Church by Joa.sh, when he "was minded to repair the house of the Lord. . . . So the workmen wrought, a.nd the work was _:eerfected by them, and they set the house of God in his sta.te, and strengthened it" (2 Chron. xxiv. 4-13); and by Hezekiah, when he said unto the Levites," Sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place. For our fathers have trespassed, and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him . . . . And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought on t all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it, to carry it out abroad into the brook Kidron" (2 Chron. ::uix. 5-16); and by Josiah, when" he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem . . . when he had purged the land and the house he sent . . . to repair the house of the Lord bis God . . . and they gave the money to the workmen that wrought in the house of the Lord, to repair and amend the house: even to the artificers an<l builders gave they it, to buy hewn stone, and timber for couplings, and to floor the houses which the kings of Judah had destroyed" (2 Chron. xxxiv. 3-11). And this is what was done for the greater part of the Christian Church in the West in the sixteenth century. But if these measures prove ineffective, "if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after that he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house and after it is plaistered; then the priest shall come and look, and, behold, if the plague be spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy in the house : it is unclean . .And he shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the morter of the house; and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place." So it was with the Jewish Church. The reformations of Joash, of Hezekiah, of Josiah, were ineffectual, and the Babylonian captivity followed. And so it will be with the various National Churches of Christendom: any one of them to which the taint of impurity in life or doctrine obstinately adheres, will be destroyed utterly when God's forbearance shall have at length come to an end. V. WARNING. "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candle- stick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev. ii. 6). "Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth" (Rev. ii. 16). "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, an,l repent. If therefore thou she.It not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee " (Rev. iii. 3). "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, uod will sup with him, and he with me" (Rev. iii. 19, 20). 230 THE HOOK OF LEVITICUS. (en. XIV, 38-57.
HOMILIES BY VA RIO US AUTHORS.