distance between his created and corrupted life and the glory of tl e great I AM. If God wore so gracious, forgiving, and bountiful to him ( eh. xi. ), why should not he be long-suffering and meekly tolerant with Miriam? (Matt. xviii. 23-35), We shall not blow oureelvee out and etrut before men if we only constantly recollect how defiled we are in the sight of God. III. This meekness is especially to be noticed because of ITS CONNECTION WITH CERTAIN OTHER QUALITIES WHICH Goo LOVES. The more conscious Moses became of his natural weakness, the more God esteemed him. If meekness springs from the sense of weakness, yet it grows and becomes useful in association with the strength of God. Though Moses was meek, he was not a pliable man. Though meek, he none the less went right onward in the way of God's appointment. This meekness of his went along with obedience to God. He quietly listened to all his enemies said in the way of invective and slander, and still went on his way, with eye and ear and heart open to the will of God. He was like a tree, which, thoug;h it may bend and yield a little to the howling blast, yet keeps its hold firm on the soil. There was also a never-failing sense of right. Moses was one of_those men-would_ that there were more of them in the world I-who had a deep feelmg of sympathy with the weak and the oppressed. Meek as he was by nature, he slew the Egyptian who smote his Hebrew brother. There was also courage along with the meekness-courage of the highest sort, moral courage, daring to be laughed at, and to stand alone. These are the brave men who can do this, planting alone, if need be, the standard of some great cause; meek and humble, but dauntless in their meekness, confiding in him whose righteousness is like the great mountains. Look at the bravery of meek women for Christ. Then there was penistency. Is not this great part of the secret of the fulfilling of that beatitude, " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth? " The violent, the unjust, the greedy, may grasp the earth for a time, but it is the meek, the gentle, never irritating, yet never withdrawing, persistent, generation after generation, in the practice and application of spiritual truth, it is they who in the fulness of time will truly inherit the earth.-Y.
Vera. 4-15.-Tlie liumbling of the proud and the exaltati/)'11, of the meek. Tlte humbling was evidently by the action of God himself. The Lord heard Miriam and Aaron in the words of their pride, and even though Moses might bear these words in the silent composure of his magnanimity and meekness, it nevertheless became God to justify his servant, as God alone could effectually and signally justify. God notes all unjust and slanderous doings with respect to his people. He hears, even though the reviled ones themselves be ignorant. God then proceeds by one course of action to produce a double result-to humble Miriam and Aaron, Miriam in particular, and to ex~lt Moses. In '':hat h~ did, notice that with all his anger and severity he yet mingled m1tch consideration for the transgressors. We need not suppose that their words had been spoken to any considerable audience. More likely they were confined to the limits of the domestic circle. And so the Lord spake suddenly to the three persons concerned. Probably none but themselves knew why they were summoned. There was no reason for exposing a family quarrel to the gossip of the whole camp. The sin of Miriam need no_t be published abroad, though it was necessary, in ordor tc, teach her a lesson, that 1t should be condignly punished. So they were ea.lied to the door of the tabernacle, nnd there God addressed them from the pillar of cloud with all it~ ~ol_emn a.~sociations_. . T~is word suddenly also suggests that when Go<l d_oes n?t VISlt immediately the 1mq~u~y of the transgressor upon him, it is from con- 1nderat1ons of what we may call D1vme expediency. He can come at once or later but, at whatever time, he certainly will come. Consider now- ' I. THE BUMDLINO OF THE PROUD. This was done in two ways. 1. By the plain distinction which God made between them and Moses. It was perfectly true that as they claimed, God had spoken by them, but he calls attention to the fact that it ~V!\➔ his custom to speak to prophets by vision and hy dream. There was no mouth to mouth conversation, no beholding of the similitude of the Lord. God can use all sorts of agencies for his communications to men. It needs not even a Miriam • ho can speak warning from the mouth of an ass. But Moses was more than a propiiet • prophet was onlr the part of which steward and general visible representative of 142 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [OH&. XIIl. 1 XIV .