though it brings awful peril to their souls; for God ie a jealous God, and the judicial consequences of our own (albeit inward and disguised) disobedience cannot be got rid of in a moment. 9. That he w/U met by Balak with honour and cererrwny and reli,gious rites; and no doubt all that happened by the way faded like a dream from bis mind. Even so when men walk after their own covetousness they may receive the most solemn and (at the time) impressive warnings, but amidst the con- verse of the world, and the honour received of men, and the outward ceremonies even of religion, these warnings have no lasting effect, and are as though they had never happened. Consider again, as to the broad lessons to be drawn from Balaam'e characte1 and hietory-1. That there may be in a man high spiritual gi,fts without real good- ness. Balaam was a veritable prophet, and bad in a remarli:able degree the faculty both of understanding the bidden things of God and of announcing them to men. Yet, ae in the case of Saul (1 Sam. x. 11 ; xix. 24) and Caiapbae (John xi. 51), hie prophetic gifts were not accompanied by sanctification of life. Even eo many in all ages and lands have great spiritual gifts of understanding, of interpretation, of eloquence, &c., whereby others are greatly advantaged, but they remain evil them- eelvee. 2. That a man may have a true and str011,(J religious faith, and yet that /aith sliall not save him, because it does not a,ffect his heart. That Balaam had a strong faith in the Lord God ie evident ; on the intellectual side it was as strong as Abraham's; be walked with God ae truly as any in the sense of being constantly conscious and mindful of God's presence and concern with him. No definition of religious faith could be framed with honesty which should exclude Balaam and include Abraham. Yet he was not saved, because his faith, although it largely mingled with his thoughts and greatly influenced his actions, did not govern bis affections. Even so it is useless, however usual and convenient, to deny that many men have strong religious convictions and persuasions-in a word, have religious faith-who are not saved byit, but fall into deadly sins and become castaway. This is not a mijtter of theology so much as of facts ; the combination of strong religious feeli!!gs, and of power to realise the unseen, with deep moral alienation from God, is by no means uncommon. 3. Tliat a man may do m1ich and sacrifice much in order to obey God without receiving any reward. Balaam repeatedly crossed his own inclinations, and forewent much honour and emolument from Balak, from a con- scientious motive ; and yet he was all the time on the verge of destruction, and was miserably slain at last. Even so many men do much they do not like, nnd give up much they do like, because they feel they ought to ; and yet they have no reward for it either here or hereafter, because their self-restraint is grounded on some lower motive than love of God and the desire to please him. 4. That a man's conduct may be to all appearance irreproachable, and yet be displeasing to God. No one could have found distinct fauft with any one step in Balaam's proceedings; each could be singly justified as pennissible; yet the whole provoked the Lord to anger, bec~use it was secretly swayed by greed. Even so many men are careful, and to ?rd1~ary. eyes irreproachable, in their doings, because no act is by itself without Justification; yet their whole life ie hateful because its governing motive is selfish- ne~s, not _Jove. It is not enough to be able to justify each step as we t(lke it, neither will a mere resolve to keep straight with God insure his favour. 5. That a man 'fT!ay liave_profound religi,ous insight, and yet be very blind to hi,a own state. B~l(l(lm Just!;>' pnded himself upon his intelligent and spiritual religion as compared "'.1th the folhes and mummeries of the heathen around, yet he was more blind than his own beast to the palpable destruction on which he was running. Even so many o_f those who ore most enlightened, and most removed from ignorance nnd supersti- t10n,. are most blind to their own entire moral failure, and to the terrible danger they are m. '£hey, e. g., who most denounce idolatry are often utterly blind to the fact that their whole lives are dominated by covetousness, which i,s idolatr1J. Consider again, with respect to the miracle of the dumb beast speaking with human voice-1. That the lower animals, of wliich we reek so little, save as a matter of gain, have often great virtues by which they teach us many a lesson. How much more !aith- ful are they to us than we to our Master I It is their pride and study to observe and follow, almost to anticipate, the least indication of our will. How inferior are we in 298 THE BOOK OF NU:MlJERS. [cH. x:tn. 2-40.
that respect I 2. That God is not insensible to their virtues, as we v~ g~rally are, but at tima at lea.st gives them a certain recompmse of reward (see on ver. 33). Since they seem to have no future state, it is a duty laid upon us to remember nnd reward their fidelity in this world. 3. Thal to be enniged with dumb animals wlien their ron<!,uct _ve:ces us~ si,n and folly. Sin, because we ~ave no right to be angry except w1!h sm (Jon~h 1v. 4); folly, because they are less m the~rong with us than we are With God ; sm and folly, because such anger surely bhnds the mind and leaves us a prey to temptation. 4. That God delights to choo~e "thefooluli things of the world to ronfound the wise," and " things whi.ch are despised' and " tliings whi.ch are not" (as the intelligible voice of an ass) "to lning to nought things tl1at are." Even so are we often rebuked and reproved in our madness by things most contemned and familiar, by those whom we regard as brutish and senseless, and standing upon a lower level than ourselves.