neighbours. We 11re children of the great King, and under a supreme obligation to respect his law. The Church is not a republic; it is a kingdom. The Christian is not free to follow his fancy ; he is required to submit to and to obey the mind and will of Christ. Christian liberty is not found in the license of self-will, but in the willingness of obedience and the love which delights to fulfil the will of God and to do to others as we would that they should do to us.-A. Ver. 13.-Faith in the pri,e,st. I. FAITH IN THE PRIEST IMPLIES A DESIIlE FOB Gon's BLESSING. The priest is trusted for his influence with God, He is sought after because God's blessing is desired. So far the faith in the priest indicates good qualities. It is a sign of religious ideas, though these are vague and perverted. '.f'here is_ somethin,g patheti~ in Mic!h's utterance. ~ow ~t last he may expect bless- ing. His mothers graven image did not secure this; bis temple and its elaborate worship left him dissatisfied ; but he can have no rest till he is assured that God is blessing him. He is wealthy, but wealth will not satisfy him without the blessing of God. So be presses on to find this one source of true peace. How many men are ready to mock at Micah's superstition who have no gleam of his true faith I It is better to be seeking the blessing of God, though in mistaken ways, than, while discern- ing the folly of these ways by the light of a cold rationalism, to be dead to any yearnings for the supreme good. ~I._ FAITH !Ii THE PRIEST IMPLI~S A_ CONSCIOUS NEJ!:D OF AN INTERCESSOR. All priestly religions spnng out of a true mstmct of conscience. They are not simply the fabrications of a tyrannical priestcraft. Religion requires a priest. It is right to feel, like Micah, unworthy and unable to obtain God's blessings for ourselves, and, like him, to look for an intercessor. Christianity is based on these ideas ; it is the religion of a mediator, a priest. Christ satisfies this desire to seek God's blessing through the help of another, through the work of a priest (Heb. vi. 20). III. FAITH IN THE PRIEST IMPLIES SUPERSTITIOUS TRUST IN RELIGIOUS OFFICIALISM. The error is to be found, (1) in choosing a merely human priest, and (2) in placing a wrong kind of trust in him, and not simply in believing in the idea of priest- hood. 1. This priestly superstition expects blessings irrespecti-oe of the character of the prust. Micah has bad a priest before-bis own son. He lias no reason to believe that the Levite is a better man. He only knows that he belongs to the sacred tribe of temple officials. This is characteristic of the superstition of priestliness. It supposes that the office sanctifies the man, not the man the office. It looks for good from the priest simply through his official functions. Christ is a priest not by reason of birth or anointing (he was not of the tribe of Levi), but by reason of nature, and character, and work. 2. This priestly superstition expects blessings apart from the religious character of the recipient. Micah believes that the mere presence of the Levite in his house will benefit him. He does not think of the Levite influ- encing his character for good. So there are people who imagine the priest can do them good apart from their ?WD character and_ condu_ct. But qhrist, th~ true Priest, only brings to us the blessmgs secured by his sacn~ce and mtercess1on when we submit to him so as to receive a new birth to a holy hfe.-A.
EXPOSITION for their inheritance bad not yet fallen to CHAPTER XVIII. the tribe in its integrity. This is in part Ver. 1.--In those days, &c. See eh. xvii. accounted for by what we read eh. i. 34, 6. The tribe of the De.nites sought them e.n that the Amorites would not suffer the chil- inhorite.nce, &c. This does not mean that dren of Dan to come down to the valley, so the whole tribe of Dan were still seeking that those who could not get possession of their inlu,ritance. The bulk of the tribe, as their land there would be crowded into we read in Josh. rix. 40-48, did receive other parts of the tribal territory. These their inheritance by lot before the death of Danites, of whom we are here reading, were Joslrn:i (ibid. ver. 49) and Eleazar (il>id. ver. dwelling in Zorah and Eshte.ol (eh. xiii. 1, 51 ). But as long as any part of the tribe was 25), as we see by vers. 2, 11. Unto that uot acttled, the tribe as such, in its unity, day, &c. Translate this clause, For unto was st1:J seeking e. settlement. The land that day the land (meaning the whole land) OP!. XVIII. 1-31.] TRE BOOK OF JUDGES. 185