sin whioh provoked his wrath ; it was as if he looked to heaven in going forth and said, "Against thee, thee only have they sinned." To be easily tolerant in the presence of great sins eh owe a heart far from right towards God. Mere cynical observations on the frailties and eccentricities of fallen human nature do not fall with good grace from the lips of the Christian, however much they may coneiet with the conduct of a man of the world. 3. The way in which the zeal WIU shown. A violent and extreme meo.sure certainly, but we are not allowed to judge it. God hae taken judgment out of our hands by unmistakably indicating hie approval. We must distinguish between the spirit of the act and the outward mode of its com- mission. If the spirit and essence of the act be right, then the mode is a secondary matter. The mode largely depends on the times. Criminals were punished in England only a few centuries ago in ways which would not be tolerated now. What is wanted is that we should emulate the zeal of Phinehas without imitating the expression of it. One might almost say, better run a javelin through sinners than have that easy-going toleration for sins which some show who call themselves godly. H God is worth serving at all, he is worth serving with zeal. Zeal according to knowledge must be as free from mock-charity and humility on the one hand as from bigotry on the other. The more men there are in the Church of the stamp of Phinehas the better. There are even harder things to be done now-a-days than to thrust javelins through shameless fornicators. It needs a pure and fervent zeal to take one's stand with the few, or even alone, against all sorts of worldly principles and practices prevailing in what ought to be God's kingdom through Christ Jesus. When Paul withstood Peter to the face because he was to be blamed, he did something quite as hard as if he had run a javelin through him. II. THE RESULT. The plague was stayed. A strange difference in method, is it not, from that adopted on the occasion when Moses commanded Aaron to take the censer and stand in the midst of the congregation, making atonement for them? ( eh. xvi. 46). Why was not something of this sort done now? Did Moses feel that it would be of no nee, or was hie tongue mysteriously stayed from the command? It is plain that Jehovah felt hie honour was seriously in question. The people had actually bowed before idols. The chosen race is disintegrating within sight of the promised land. The patriotism of the theocracy is dead. The shout of a king ( eh. xxiii. 21) is not met by the answering shout of confiding and grateful subjects. They have utterly forgotten that God is a jealous God (Exod. x:x. 5). Stay I there is one man at least, and he, be it marked, in the priestly succession, who does show an adequate jealousy against these idols, so suddenly and ungratefully exalted over against Jehovah. It is the act of only one man; but the act of one man rightly moved, full of holy indignation, energy, and heroism, is enough to stem Jehovah's wrath. Mark, it is not said that Phinehas did this in order to stop the plague. The narrative is evidently intended to convey the impression that what he did was in holy indignation at the slight put upon Jehovah. But a righteous action is never wanting in good results. The zeal of Phinehas for Jehovah stood as an atonement for the monstrous disobedience of Israel. Ill THE REWARD. The result was in itself a reward. To a man of the stamp of Phinehas it must surely have been no small JOY to see the plague stayed. May we not presume that even the leaders escaped their doom, as in a most comprehensive amnesty? But there is a sped.fled reward beside. Phinehas has shown his fitness to wear Aaron's robes ; nay, in a sense he has worn them, seeing he has made atone- ment. The real reward for every one faithful to his present opportunity is to enlarge his opportunity and give him more and higher service. He who has the joy of faithfulness in present and perhaps humble duties cannot have a greater joy than that of faithfulness in all of larger and more conspicuous service that may come before him. Our Lord himself, being zealous for hie Father on earth (which the formal and professed custodians of the Divine honour were not), cleansin~ his Father's house from profane and even unrighteous uses, was advanced to still higher service in the glorious opportunities belonging to a place at God's right hand. Among men there is lamentable waste, humiliating and ridiculous failure, because men are so seldom proportioned to the offices they fill. The fit man in the great multitude of instances does not seem to get his chance. But in Goifs service every one nally r;eu lllO'MDEBS, • & S54 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [cB. n:vr. 1-66.
ku chance. Phinehas got his chance here. Everythin>J. depended on himself. The act was the outcome of his honest, fiery. devoted, godly heart. He had not to go to his father or to Moses, saying, "Think you I should do this thing?" If there is zeal in us, occasion will not be lacking. Pbineba.s had been required to ehow the seal of_ the dutroyer, and it proved to be also the ual of the prnet't161'. We have to he zealous for a God who is not only righteous and holy, an<f jiialous of rivalry from any other god whatsoever, but also loving, and who desires not the death of a sinner. The zeal that can do nothing but protest, denounce, and destroy, God will never approve or reward. The becoming, fruitful, and praiseworthy zeal under the gospel is that which, following in the train of Paul, is all things to all men in order to save some.-Y.