HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 22-57.-The Nemesis of 1tsurpation. The quick succession of events shows that the political situation is one of unstable equilibrium. The movement of a.ffairs is rapid, as if the sta.ge were being cleared for the rea.l and important action that is to follow. I. A NATURAL ELEMENT. The instruments of usurpation soon display their untrust- worthy and turbulent cha.racter, Their help to Abimelech was chiefly in the interests of disorder. When the hard rule of the tyrant (force of word "reigned") wasfelt they became restive. The accession to their ranks of Gaal the marauding chieftain gives them the requisite stimulus toward open rebellion. So in time the drunken revels, the highway robberies of Shechem move irresistibly onward toward open revolt, and its consequence, overwhelming destruction. In this way the perpetrators of the coup d'etat are made the agents of the Divine vengeance upon each other, In punishing the rebels a seeming o.ccident made Abimelech the victim of a woman's band. Blood for blood. '' Without shedding of blood there is no remission." The tragic element in human history, II. A DIVINE ORDERING OF EVENTS. So natural does the development of events appear, that there is danger of overlooking the overruling providence of God. What may be termed the "poetic justice" of the political movements of the time and their results renders it impossible to credit the sublimely neutral forces of nature with the working out of the issues, God wrought through the natural forces and the compli- co.tions of the political sphere. His people have to be led onward in the pathway of national progress and religious illumination, therefore such obstacles must be swept out of the way. Yet all this ie consistent with the morn! freedom of those whose actions and end are so promotive of the Divine purpose. Who.t was done in one development of events might equally have been secured by another. This principle that "maketh for righteousness" ie evident to every careful and devout student of history. It may be detected in the individual private life, and in the history of a nation. How far the evolution of events which we esteem secular and blind is so informed by the Divine purpose we shall not discover in this life. But enough is laid bare to encourage the holy and righteous, and to awaken in the breast of the wicked "a fearful looking for of judgment and of fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries, "-M. Vera. 30-33, 36-38.-.A worthy servant oJ a worthless master. Zebu! served Abimelech faithfully according to his lights. His devotion appeo.rs strangely misplaced. I. GOD RELATES THE LIVES OF THE GOOD AND THE BAD FOB WISE ENDS. "Never any man was so ill as not to have some favourers : Abimelech hatb a Zebu! in the midst of Sbechem" (Bp. Hall). Every situation has its moral complications. II. THE WOBTIILESBNESS AND IMMORALITY OF A SUPERIOR DO NOT EXONERATE FROM D:TRRNAL RESPECT AND FAITHFUL DUTY. UNLESS HIS AUTHORITY IMPOSES UNRIGHTEOUS 110 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [err. IX. 22-57.
! ASKS. 111: u?h of tl_1e routine of_ life is neutr~I from a moral point of view, otherwise 1t woukl he 1mposs1hle for the nghteous to hve amongst men. We must fulfil our bond until the conduct of our employer renders it impossible for ue to serve God in sen·ing him. So with natural duties, as of a child to a parent. III. ON TBE OTHER HAND, FAITHFULNESS lN DETAILS WILL N01' A'l'ON!i: Fon Nli:G• LECTING TO STUDY THE MORAL DRIFT OF THE WHOLE SITUATION OF WHICH 'I"HESE llKTAILS ARE A PART. The judgment of Abimelech involves Zebu!. There comes 11 time when we share the guilt of the master in continuing to serve him. An honour- 11ble quittance should be sought at once in such a ca11e. "The Lord will provide." Otherwise we shall be involved in the same judgment.-M.
Ver. 55.- Without a leader. Nothing is more striking than the contrast betwee!l the conduct of mercenary or coerced soldiers in such circumstances and that of men in~pir<>d by noble enthusiasm and great principles. l. THERE ARE TIMES WHEN THE DEATH OF SOVEREIGNS, &c. APPEAR AS NATJO.!fAL ,TUDGMENTS, OVERAWING MEN'S HEARTS AND SEARCHING THEIR CONSCIENCES. Did not Israel feel now what a fool's errand it had been going? What better could it do in its irresolution and dismay than retire into privacy, and there in penitence and prayer await the new unfoldin~;s of God's purpose? II. ONLY A GREAT CAUSE CAN Kli:EP TOGETHER THOSE WHO HAVE LOST THEIR NATURAL BOND AND AUTHORITY. Self-interest, fear, absence of common enthusiasm, scattered the army of the dead Abimelech. So shall misfortune and Divine judg- ments break up the confederacies of the wicked. " The stars in their courses fought against Sisera." But the Church of Christ can never be leaderless. " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." III. THE INFLUENCE OF THE WICKED SOON PERISHES. There is no talisman in the name of the son of Shechem now that he is dead. His body is left to the wolves and vultures. Only " the memory of the just smells sweet, and blo~soms in the dust." The saintly departed rule us from their graves. The name of the Crucified an eternal, infinite power.-M.