time of spontaneons bountifulness in God's service is always a time of gladness. Yet even at such times we are not to forget that "'e are ainnerR. The sin offering may 11ot be prominent in this chapter of gifts, yet it has a place in every one of the twelve lists of offerings. What has been said about the nature of the gifts will explain the circumstance that the presenting of them was spread over twelve days. The peace offerings far exceeded in number all the rest. While the sin offering in each case consisted of a solitary kid, and the burnt offering consisted of only three animals a hullock, a ram, and a lamb, the animals included in the peace offering were no £eV:er than seventeen. Now the specialty of the peace offering was this, that the person who presented it thereafter feasted upon it with his friends before the Lord. It was a becoming arrangement, therefore, that the disposal of this offering should be spread oYff several days. III. A word or two about THE MEN by whom the gifts were brought. They were the hereditary princes of the tribes-the princes of the congregation who had taken charge of the census. This deserves to be noted, for it explains a certain feature of the present gifts in which they rliffer from almost all other gifts recorded in Scripture. The rule laid down in the Dible for all ordinary cases is that every man is to give 11ccording as God bath prospered him. Here, on the contrary, the gifts of the princes are identical in number and value-doubtless by prior concert. There would be richer and poorer among the princes, yet they all give alike. It was not so at the erection of the tabernacle. On that occasion there was the utmost diversity: the mite of the poor widow was made as welcome as the rich man's ingot of gold. Although a man could bring no more th1m a handful of goat's hair, he was not denied the honour of having a share in the work. There are times for both sorts of giving. When a place of worship, where rich and poor are to meet together, is to be built, it would be wrong to exclude any from the subscription list, however poor. When a college of sacred learning is to be built or endowed, it may be the fittest plan to limit the subscription list to twelve or twenty" princes of the congregation" who are able to contribute every man his thousand or hie five thousand pounds. It is a good omen for a nation when its "nobles pnt their necks to the work of the Lord." And it is good for the nobles themselves when they have the heart to do this. They who are honourable should show themselves serviceable. Noblesse oblige. When the nobles forget their duty in this respect, God will not long maintain their nobility. IV. Does any hearer complain that we have been doing him wrong in preaching to-day from this chapter of the law-barren and secular (a.s he thinks)-wstead of conducting him into the green pastures of the gospel? Let such n hearer remember how Christ sat over against the treasury and marked what every one cast into it. That scene in the gospel and this chapter in the law-is not the scope of them ihe very same?-B. Vera. 1-88.-The free-will offering of the princes. The compl_etion of the t~ber- nacle was celebrated by offerings of the pnnces, as representatives of the tribes, Lessons may be derived from two points noted, viz.-1. THEIR BP0NTANEITY. II. THEm UNIFOlll[JTY. L 1. The princes had already given offerings towards the erection of the tabernacle (Exod. mv. 27, 28), and now they bring further offerings for its conveyance (ver. 3) and for its complete furnishing (vers. 10-17). The power 11.nd will to give a.re a "grace" be1,-towed (2 Cor. viii. 7), and the more we giye the more of t~e grac~ of giving we may enjoy (Matt. xiii. 12). 2. If re~a!11ed simply as a d~ty, 1t w~s right that the princes should take the lead, as now 1t 1s a duty for men m authority and men of wealth, pastors and officers in Ch~st'.s Ch~rch, to be" zeal?~s for ~00~1 works." 3. But the chief excellence of these and similar gifts was the " w1lhng mmd (2 Cor. viii. 12). Under the Jaw of Moses much was left to sp?ntaneity (cf. Exod. xx~v. 5; Levit. i. 3, &c.), how much more under the law of Chr1?t (Matt. x. B; 2_ Cor. ix •. 7). The absence of willinghood may change the fine gold mto base meta.I m the sight of God. II. 1. The uniformity of the gifts might possibly have been the re?ult of fa.shi?n; Nahsl10n, of the tribe of Judah, setting the fashion, and the other prmces followmg it. Tlte "fasl1ion" of generous giving may well be set and followed, that the CR, VII. 1-89.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 63
illiberal m11y be shamed out of their mean devices. But, 2. The uniformity here was prob11bly the result of previous arrangement, and the sign of an honourable emula- tion. This God approves (Heb. x. 24), and St. Paul seeks to employ (2 Cor. viii. 1-7; ix. 1-5). With this object public benefactions (subscription-lists, &c.) are acceptable to God if the spirit of the precept (Matt. vi 3, 4) is not violated. The details here published for posterity remind ue that every particular of our gifts and services is recorded before God. E. g. 11 coin and its value, absolute and relative (Mark xii. 41-44). A jewel, a family heirloom, and how much it cost to give it up (2 Sam. xxiv. 15). 3. The uniformity was a sign that each tribe had an equal share in the altar and its bles~ings; even as different families, races, and individuals, have in the world-wide redemption of Christ (Rom. x. 11-13).-P.