HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-31.-Society without a hea.d ceasing to be society, The writer of the five l~st chnpten:i of the Book of Judges had a painful task to perform. Writing the history of his people, and they the people of God he had to tell a tale of violence plunder, bloodshed, brutality, civil war, and extern-Iination, on the secular side nnd of superstition, schism, and idolatry, on_ t~e reliipous side of his story. And we' may o_bs~rve, by the way, th3:t we ~ave a ~tnkmg evidence of the truthfulness and impar, trnhty of the narrator m tins merciless exposure of the sins and misdeeds of his countrymen. Nor are we at a loss to draw the lesson which he intended us to draw from the account which he has given ; for no fewer than four times in the course of his brief narrative does he impress upon the mind of his readers the fact that in the days when these shameful deeds were done "there was no king in Israel1 but every. man did that which was. right in his own _eyes" ( eh. xvii. 6 ; xviii. 1 ; xix. 1; xxi. 25). No doubt the wnter referred particularly to that government with which he was acquainted, the government of kings properly so called 1 of whom Saul was the first, and David and his long line were the successors. But when we remember that in its b~st days the Israelitish nation had no king but God, and was governed under him by such rulers as Moses, Joshua Gideon Samuel and the other judges, we shall perceive that the lesson to b~ learnt is not s~ much that ~f the superiority of monarchy over other forms of government (how- ever true this may be), as of the absolute necessi'-y, for the religious and civil welfare of a people, that a firm government should exist, to control by the force of law the excesses of individual will, and to compel within certain limits the action of individuals for the sake of the public good. Looking at their several influences upon the body of the Israelite people, how pernicious was the theft by Micah of his mother's hoarded treasure; how injurious to the community was the idolatrous worship set up by Micah, and that for generation upon generatiC\n ; how disastrous to the commonwealth of Israel was the brutal outrage of the men of Gibeah ; how intolerable was the marauding expedition of the Danites, both to the quiet dwellers in the land and to peaceful neighbours beyond its border ; and what a complete loosen- ir.g of all the joints of social life do the several transactions display I Nowhere do we see any common aim for the common good, but each man's covetousness, super- stition, lust, anger, cruelty, pursuing private objects at the expense of public interests. The ideas of a society, a commonwealth, a Church, a nation, were lost in individual selfishness. Now this was in a great measure due to the want of a central supreme authority to repress, to direct, and to overrule. Just as material nature, if the power of gravitation were removed, would fall to pieces, and all cohesion would be gone, so, without a common authority wielding the power of law, human society would fall to pieces, and be reduced to chaos. Men are blinded by their own passions; par- ticular sections of society can see nothing but their own fancied interests ; lawless violence would plunder here; impulsive zeal would rush onwards there ; a fanatical superstition would set up its altars where it ought not; fierce rivalry would rise upon the ruins of its antagonist ; revenge would glut itself with destruction ; one trade would seek the suppression of all that stood in its way; one interest would devour another, one class supplant another, one rank tread down another. It is the b_usiness of law wielded by sovereign power to look with an equal eye upon all the different interests of the State, to favour all by favouring none at the expense of others, to repress all individual action which would hurt the whole, and to regulate all the separate forces which would be injurious to the whole. Law, like the eye of God, is impartial in its look-out; its end is to P!oduce order, har~ony, and peac~. p~der the even reign of law eccentric violence 1s unknown, and •~ stead)'. but 1rres1sti~le pressure gives consistency and strength to the whole fabric of somety. Under its reign full scope is given to every energy for good, and all the scattered forces of the separate parts are concentrated for the benefit of the whole. Under its wholesome restraints the eel.fish passions of man are not allowed to i~jure themselves or. other~, and the foliy of the foolish and the wickedness of the wicked are checked m th~ir injurious courses. Not that which is right in his own eyes, and wlncn self-will OH, XVIII, 1-31.] THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 189
desire~, but that whi~h th? law, the reflection of God's mind, commands, is the rule ~y wh1.ch ev?ry ~ans actions must be squared._ The perfection of a human polity 1s one ID which wise laws govern the whole soCial movement as surely as the laws of nature govern the material world. It is the interest of all classes of the community to bow to thi~ s'!premacy _of law, and to unite in a firm compact to support the ~en~r~l authonty ID repressmg e".ery act of lawlessn~ss, whether committed by an md1v1dual or by e. company. It 1s only thus that soC1al chaos can be avoided and that civil cosmos, w~ich alon~ i~ civilisation, ea~ be maintained for the true liberty 1md welfare of mank1Dd. It 1s Just the same with the Church of God which is the commonwealth of his saints. In it the word of God must reign supreme. In it individual opinions, sentiments, wishes, and feelings must all be subordinated to the Divine law. In it selfish eccentricities, ambitions, activities mllllt all be restrained by a wise and even rule if the Church is to be the abode of order peace and love. In the surrender of individual will to the discipline of the supr~me authority the sacred commonwealth finds its perfect balance, and each member is enabled to yield that service which indeed is perfect freedom; because the unchecked power to do that which is right in his own eyes is not a man's liberty, but his bondage. Self-will is set in motion by sin; but law is the fruit of wisdom and justice movino- for the happiness of all, securing right, and stopping up the gangways of wrong. From the spirit of lawlessness deliver thy Church, 0 Lord I