Instructed people. Ae God "exalted that land unto heaven" in privileae and oppor- tunity, so he "brought it down to hell" in condemnation and doom. But when we remember with what retribution God visited the sins of the antediluvian world, of the cities of the plain, the Canaanite&, the great cities of Babylon and Nineveh, and when we recall the sufferings and humiliations he has brought down on lands and cities in more modern times, we may conclude ,hat those nations which will not learn when God speaks to them in wrath and in " his high displeasure" may look forward to a time of gathering disaster and final ruin. God's retributive dealings with nations have their counterpart in his action toward individual lives. Men who sin and suffer, and who will not learn by the thinas they suffer, may take to heart the truth that God's manifested wrath will reach them here or will overtake them hereafter; they may well wish that it may arrive soon rather than fate, for as time passes and as sin indurates and blinds the soul, there is the less likeli- hood that the sacred lesson will be learnt before death shuts the book of opportunity, and eternity opens that other book of judgment and award.--C. Vers. 40-45.-Sorrow unto salvation. The chastisements of God, like the gospel of Jesus Christ, are either a savour of life unto life or of death unto death; they either make or mar; they may sanctify and save or they may leave the soul more bound in the bonds of sin than ever. It is only godly sorrow-sorrow regarded in a true light and treated in the way that God intended-that works repentance unto salvation; otherwise it works death (2 Cor. vii. 10). The right use of affliction is indicated in the text; there must be- I. A BENSE OF ILL DESERT. The uncircumcised heart must be humbled (ver. 41). God seeks by his chastisements to break our pride, our haughtiness of heart, our sinful self-complacency. Until this is done nothing is done. When the soul is at ease in its iniquity, it is in a very "far country," a long way from God, truth, salvation. When trouble touches and pierces our complacency, filling the soul with a sense of its rebelliousness, as soon as the heart says, " I have sinned," a large pa.rt of the work of the correcting hand is wrought. Then necessarily and readily follows- II. THE LANGUAGE OF CONFESBION. Directly the heart feels the lip speaks. Too often men use the language of penitence when the feeling is entirely absent. But he that searcheth the hearts makes due distinction between the words which are true and those which are false. There is nothing gained with God by adopting the language which we ought to be disposed to use, but which does not express our actual con- dition; everything unreal is offensive in his sight. But there is much gained by the simple, natural, heartfelt utterance of penitential feeling. "If they shall confess their iniquity," etc. (vers. 40-42). "With the mouth confession is ma.de unto salvation." (Rom. x. 10). The spirit thus taught of God through his servant, sorrow, has now- III. THE SUBJECT WILL. It" accepts of the punishment of its iniquity" fver. 41). It says, "Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, will not offend any more: that which I see not tea.eh thou me," etc. (Job xxxiv. 31, 32). It is "in subjection unto the Father of spirits" (Heb. xii. 9 ). It submits to his guidance and surrenders itself to his will. And then comes- IV. DIVINE RESTORATION. God "remembers his covenant" (vers. 42, 45). As he remembered the covenant he made with the ancestors of the children of Israel, and "did not abhor them" (ver. 44), but withdrew his anger from them, so he remembers his promise with us, sealed with a Saviour's blood, to pardon our sins and to restore our souls to his Divine favour. Yet there are- V. LINGERING CONSEQUENCES OF BIN. With penitent Israel, toward whom God was extending his mercy, " the land also was to be left of them, and was to enjoy her sa.bbatb.11, while she lay desolate without them" (ver. 43). With us, when peniten& and restored, when taken back into the family and kingdom of God, there are lingering consequences of sin which even Divine mercy does not, cannot remove--consequences in: (1) miserable memories which will visit the mind; (2) enfeebled faculty that must work in a lesser sphere with smaller inB.uence; (3) diminished reputaLion among men; (4) abidina results in those who have been injured, and who are beyond the reach of our rest;ration, etc. While facing this soleID.11 fact-a fact which makes sin seem to us the stem, sad, hurtful thing it is-we may neverth'-'less find a glad relief in. recalling- 424 TllE BOOK OF LEVITICUS. [en. :u:v1. 1-4&.
VI. To BLESSED HOPE OF THE HOLY. There la a country where the penal con,. sequences of sin will be so removed from sight and sense that to our consciousness they will exist no more. Sin and sorrow shall never cross the stream that "divides that heavenly land from ours;" they must always remain on this side of it. What will remain to us there is a remembrance that will enhance our joy-a recollection of sin that has been forgiven, and of sorrow that has been endured, both the one and the other magnifying the mercy of our crowned and exalted King.-0.