The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 315

spirit of" simian imitation" is worldliness pure and simple. The hi;;hest civilization is not necessarily moral, much less religious : why should I conform to the demands of a capricious code of laws, which may have no valid moral principle within them at all'/ God surely has not given us reflection and conscience to be ignored in such a way as this. II. PREVAILING CUSTOM IS NO SUFFICIENT BEASON EITHER FOR A CERTAIN LINE OF CONDUCT. The Israelites, in coming into Canaan, would find the inhabitants the freest and easiest possible in the matter of morals, No restraint appears to have been put upon their passions. They did whatever was right in their own eyes. Their lusts were their law. Now, were the Israelites to go into the land in the" jolly-good- fellown style, they would be popular at once. 'l'he entrance into Canaan would in such a case have been an easy and triumphal march. Conformity to prevailing custom would have made the immigration a God-send to the beastly inhabitants. It would have given novelty to their desires. Hence God warns his people in the words, ".And after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances" (ver. 3). The snare of popularity prevails at present as powerfully as it did when Israel was about to enter Canaan. There is a great disposition with professedly religious people, "when at Rome, not to quarrel with the pope." Conformity to prevailing custom is e. popular role to play. It costs nothing, except indeed the sacrifice of principle, and it gains in the worldly sense much. But no thinking mind imagines it is a rule of human conduct which will stand a moment's consideration. Why should I yield to what may be a senseless and even an immoral custom, simply because it is a custom? I have not been endowed wHh reason for such an irrational result e.s this. Ill. WHEN MEN SACRIFICE THEIR MANHOOD TO WORLDLY CONFORMITY, THEY FIND EVENTUALLY TRAT TIJEY BA.VE TAK.EN A SUICIDAL COURSE. The course of the Canaanites was a suicidal one, The land was spuing them out (ver. 28). The selfish, lustful lives they led, the brutalities they practised, became their scourge, and they were fading away. 'l.'he same result is found among the heathen nations. The sacrifice of manhood to bestiality must pay the penalty of eventual extinction . .And though at first sight the operation of the principle may be retarded 'r,y the higher morale of civilizaiion, there can be no doubt that the suicidal character of worldly conformity is e. real experience. .An individual loses mental as well as moral power, who conforms without question to the worldly customs of his time, and thus sacrifices his manhood. The easy-going, popular individual, who does this, that, and the other, for fear of being thought singular, is found to have very little strength of mind to begin with, and less every day he lives. In fact, nature is constructed upon the principle that the despised ta.lent of manhood is forfeited when not employed, and there is a clear descent in the scale of being. IV. Goo BAS GIVEN us SUFFICIENTLY PLAIN STATUTES AND LAWS TO BE- INFOBOE us IN OUB OOMllAT WITH THE WORLD. "Ye shall do my judgments, nnd keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the Lord your God. Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgments; which if a me.n do, he shall live in them: I nm the Lord" (vers. 4, 5). "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God ", (Rom. xii. 2). Transformation, "transfiguration" V,•Ta.µ.opcpoiiCT8•; cf. Matt. xvii. 2 ; Mark ix. 2) as we might call it, that is, a bringing of ourselves into conformity to a Divine ideal; thi, is what unworldliness consists in. We do not ccaso to be worldly when we surrender half a dozen suspicious pleasures. We cease to be " worldly" only w~en we refuse to accept of the prevailing worldly standard as our law of life, and seek earnestly to know "what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." .And to help us to this God has not only given us a book so plain and practical upon matters of daily life that he that runs may read ; but he has also embodied his ideal In the perfect manhood of his Son. We have simply to ask the question, '' What would Christ, were he in our circumstances, do?" and instantly we are enabled to decide on an appropriate and e.n unworldly course of action. It is this manly rule of life to which we are called. To bow down to the customs of even the best society or the highest civilization without inquiring how these customs stand towards the Divine 280 THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [cH. xvm. 1-30,