but n spontaneous deed, having a moral value of its own. Partly at least for the sake of what it was, not merely what it showed in a figure, it was accepted as an atonement for the sin of Israel (which was very gross), and was imputed to its author for an everlasting righteousness. Phinehas, therefore, in one very important sense, would seem to bear a stronger resemblance to oar Lord in his atoning work than any other person in the Old Testament. It may therefore be submitted that we must seek the truest ground of the atonement wrought by Christ not in the simple fact of the passion and death of the God-man, nor in the greatness or value of his sufl:er- ings as such; but in that zeal for God, •that Di vine indignation against sin as the opposite of God, that consuming desire to cause it to cease, which first animated the life of the Redeemer, and then informed his death. Phinehae in his measure, and according to his lights, was govemed by the same Spirit, and surrendered himself to the prompting of the same Spirit, by which Christ offered himself without spot unto God. And that Spirit was the Spirit of a consuming zeal, wherein oar Lord hastened with an entire eagerness of purpose (Luke xii. 50; John ii. 17; xii. 27, 28, &c.) to "condemn sin in the flesh" and so to glorify God, and to accomplish the object of his mission (Rom. viii. 3), not by the summary execution of individual sinners, but after an infinitely higher fashion, by the sacrifice of himself aH the representative of the whole sinful race. Lastly, it must be noted that as the act of Phinehas enables us, almost more than anything else, to enter into the nature of our Lord's atonement, so it is only in the light of that atonement that we can justify to ourselves either the strength of the Divine co=endation accorded to Phinehas, or the vastness of the promises made to him. For the deed was after all an act of violence, and a dangerous precedent, humanly speaking ; and, on the other hand, the covenant of peace given to him and to his seed, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood, failed to give any peace at all, save in a very broken and partial manner, and did not even continue in the keeping of his family, As the house of Eleazar was the elder of the two descended from Aaron, it would have been only natural that the high priestly dignity should remain with its members ; as a fact, however, it passed to the house of Ithamar from tho days of Eli until Solomon, for political reasons, deposed Abiathar in favour of Zndok; and it was lost for ever with the final fall of Jerusalem. As in so many cases, therefore, we have to acknowledge that the act of Phinehae was accepted ns an atonement for the sake of that truer atonement which (in o. remarko.ble sense) it anticipated; and that the promises given to Phineho.s were only partially intended and partially fulfilled for him, while the true and etemal fulfilment was reserved for him of whom Phinehae was a figure. To Christ, in whom was combined an entire zeal against sin and an entire love for the sinner, was indeed given God's covenant of peace and nn everlasting priesthood.
HOMILETICS. Vera. 1;-18.-Sin, zeal, and atonement. We have in this chapter the sin of man and the righteousness of God set before us in the most striking light ; the virulence of the one, and the triumph of the other through the zeal of God's servant. We may contemplate here-I. The seductions of the flesh and of the devil, nnd the apos- tasy to which th?Y le~d ; I~. The insolence of sin when allowed to gain a head ; III. The zeal agamst sin which pleases God and obtains favour; IV. In a figure, the atonement wrought by God's holy servant Jesus. I. Consider, therefore, with respect to THE APOSTASY 01!' lsRAEL-1. That it wa., due to two things-their own licentiousness, and the craft of Balaam taking advantage of it. They knew not indeed that Balaam had any part in it, but we know 848 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [en nv. 1-19,