The Pulpit Commentary — Leviticus — Section 319

for it that the soul which once knew the innocency of childhood finds an awful pleasure in such shameful deeds? 'fhe answer is undoubtedly here. The very possi- bility of it is a part of the penalty of the sins which have been committed. Sins of impurity leave a stain upon the soul; the seducer has not only to suffer the rebuke of God, the reproaches of the one he has wronged and ruined, and the stings of his own conscienC8--6ome day to be awakened, but he has to "bear his iniquity" in a depraved taste, in a stained and injured nature, in a lowered and baser appetite. In this, as in other matters, perhaps more fearfully than in most, " he that sinneth against God wrongeth his own soul" (Prov. viii. 36). Let the man who gives way to impurity remember that he is travelling on a downward course that ends in saddest depravation of soul, and that will leave him open to those more vile temptations which would dis- grace and even disgust him now. III. Tim TBUE TREATMENT OF TRIS DESTROYING SIN. Trace the evil back from its worst developments to its mildest form; from its fullest crime to its source in the soul Incest, adultery, fornication, seduction, indecency, indelicate conversation, the impure thought. This last is the source of all. It is that which must be assailed, which must be expelled. In this matter of the relation of the sexes, there are three main truths. L God gives to most of ns the joy of conjugal love, and this is to be sanctified by being accepted as his gift (Jas. i. 17). Where it is denied we must be well satisfied with other mercies so freely given. 2. Its lasting happiness is only assured to ,the pure of heart. With all others its excellency will soon fade and die. 3. Therefore let us, by all possible means, guard our purity: (1) by avoidance of temptation (evil company, wrong literature); (2) by energetic expulsion of unworthy thoughts; (3) by realization of the presence of the heart-searching Holy One; (4) by earnest prayer; let us" keep our heart beyond all keeping," etc. (Prov. iv. 23).-C. Vers. 24-30.-77,e penalty of sin. The disastrous consequences of iniquity are clearly and strongly expressed in these concluding words of the chapter. We have the truth brought out- I. THAT BY BIN WE OORRUPT OURSELVES. "Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things" (ver. 24); "that ye defile not yourselves therein" (ver. 30). Our Lord tells us that " out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications," etc., and that " these things defile a ml\n" (Matt. vii. 19, 20). And Paul tells us that we "are the temple of God," and that "if any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy" (1 Cor. iii. 16, 17). Those sins which a man commits against his own spirit or his own body-those wrongs which a man does himself-end in positive and serious injury. They enfeeble, they degrade, they brut11lize, they bring down a man's tastes and appetites to the meanest levels, they lay and leave his nature open to the worst temptations. In the practice of vice a man sinks down do.ily until ho becomes thoroughly corrupt, averse to all that is holy, prone to everything impure. II. THAT BY em WE CONTAMINATE SOCIETY. "In all these the nations are defiled" (ver. 24); "and the land is defiled" (vers. 25, 27). Societies ns well 11s individu11ls become corrupt. Even one Achan defiled the whole camp of Israel and pamlyzed its power. One incestuous member of the Corinthian Church infected and stained that Christian society. How much more will many evil-doers corrupt the community I It may not take a large number of unholy, impure, unrighteous souls to make a Church or society "defiled" in the sight of the Holy One, no longer a fit dwelling-place for his Holy Spirit, a community to be abandoned to itself. III. THAT BY sm \VE lNOUR THE HIGH DISPLEASURE OF ALMICJHTY Goo. r, Ye shall not commit any of these abominations" (vers. 26, 27, 29), "of these abominablo customs" (ver. 30). The Holy One, in his righteous indignation, thre11tens th11t "the land shall spue them out" if 'they indulge in such iniquities. No stronger language could be employed to indicate the uttermost conceivable detestation and 11bhorrence which God has of such sins as these described. " It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heh. x. 31); and it is a fearful thing to have done or to have become that which God regards with Divine abomination, to be the object of his awful resentment and indignation; to have to feel that he, the Divine F11ther and the righteous Judge, cannot look on us without terrible aversion.  THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [en. XVIII. 1-30.