Ver. 16.-Good at the latter end. I. GoD's DISCIPLINE OP us IS NOT WITHOUT ITS END. No man even, whose action has any meaning in it, but has an end in what he does. It may be alleged that God's action has regard to men only in the mass; that in that view of it his action has an end; but that a special purpose is not traceable in his dealings with individuals. 'rhe ·truer philosophy sees purpose everywhere. The individual soul is of interest to God. He deems it worthy of being an end in itself. 'l'houi!h subordinately to the general good, be shapes his providence with a view to its individual well-being (Matt. x. 29-31). For- II. GoD's DISCIPLINE OF us IS IIIEANT TO TURN TO OUR ULTIIIIATE ADVA:STAGE. "To <lo thee yood at thy latter end." The immediate object of God's discipliuo is to form character; to creato and develop love, trust, and obedience; to uproot evil dispositions ; to break down self-will 11ud self-dopendence, The ultimate end of it is the service ,m,l hles8cdness of heaven. Thero may be some service which God is preparing us for ou earth, some possession ho wishes to give us, some trust he is about to repose in t1s, 164 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [err, vm, 1-20,
But l1cn,-en is the goal of all (2 Cor. iv. 17; 1 Pet. i. 7; Rev. Iii, 10-13• vii. 13-17)., ' ] II. l'HE ENl) OF GoD's DISCll'LINE OF us WILL NOT DE FULLY SEEN TILL THE 0OAL IR R~ACHED. Till then our duty is to do present work, and improve by present tramrng.-J. 0.
Vers, 1-6.-Thc lessons of the wilderness. Moses here recalls the leadings of God in the wilderness, for the warning and instruction of the Isl'llelites, And we are taught, surely. such lessons as these- 0
I. 'l'HE WAY OF SALVATION IS ONE ALSO OF HUMILIATION, This is, indeed, God's plan, "to hide pride from us." The way of salvation through Christ is humiliating, "-e are proved by it and made to see what is in our heart. II. AT TIIE SAME TIME, IT IS A WAY OF MARVELLOUS MERCY, For God supplies our wants and sustains WI in a truly marvellous way, like the Israelites in the wilderness. Thus- 1. The manna was to t1-ach them dependence on his word. It was given ,t(hen they were hungry and despairing; it was given daily; its only guarantee of continuance was God's promise ;-all was, therefore, to keep them dependina upon his sure word. And life's discipline brings us to the same persuasion that m~n must Jive upon the promise proceeding out of the mouth of God (cf. Matt. iv. 4). Our Saviour vanquished :-iatan's insinuation that he must use his miraculous power or perish, by resolvina0 to continue trusting in God. 2. The raiment did Mt toa.X old, to strengthen still further their trust. It was a wonderful arrangement which allowed them forty years' wear in the wilderness out of the same garments. It must have been good clothing from Egyptian looms. But after starting there it remained, resisting the tooth of time. Each Israelite had evidence on his person of a particular providence. , 3. Neither did the pilgrims become footsore. Their feet did not swell. They were made equal to their journey. The wilderness was not too rough for them. Their freedom from bodily inconvenience must have been a great source of satisfaction and comfort t-0 them. In a simi 1ar way does God supply 11.ll our need and fit us for our pilgrimage. III. GoD's CHASTISEMENTS ARE PATERNAL. So was it with Israel in the wilderness. 'l'hey suffered at the hands of God, but it was what wayward children might expect from a faithful parent. So is it with ourselves (cf. Ps. cili. 13; Heb. xii. 1-,-14). Pain becomes blessed when we know that love sent it for a gracious purpose. We are all in the hands of a Father in heaven. He deals with us according to his infinite wisdom and love. Let us make more of the lessons of tois wilderness journey than ever, and go on in the strength of God towards the everlasting home,pro.6.ting by his chastisements on the way.-R. M. E.
, ers. 7-20.-God forgotten amid second causes. The support of the wilderness was manifestly miraculous. They could not doubt their dependence there upon God. They might murmur even amid daily miracle, but they could not doubt it. It would be different in Canaan, and it is in view of this Moses warns them. There they would ~et sustenance in ordinary ways ; and they might say that their own power, and not God's blessing, made them wealthy. l. THERE 16 A VERY GREAT TENDENCY TO FORGET GOD AMID THE ORDER OF NATURE. It is supposed God has nothing to do, because we get our supplies through steady "second causes." But God claims recognition when be blesses us through ordinary channels as well as when he blesses us through extraordinary. The natural order is either due to God or arranged itself. We have not credulity sufficient for the latter bypotLesis, and must accept the former. li. 'WHEN GoD .A.SKB US TO BE FELLOW-WOBKEBB WITH JJIM, IT IS NOT TO DE ENGROSSED WITH OUB wonK AND TO IGNORE HIS. In the wilderness God fed them out of his own Laud, so to speak. But in Canaan he directed them to work for their daily bread. They were raised from being "spoon-fed" to be "fellow-workers." The temptation in Canaan ~ as to think that their own hand and power had produced the wealth. It ll! the same still From being fellow-workers with God, men, by mere forget- Ctl, IX, 1-29.] TllE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 1G5 ------------------------~ fulncss, pnss into the delusion of being sole workers. Life is workable, they think, without God. Atheism is the principle underlying such a life. HI. Tms UNHOLY INDEPENDENOE OF SPIRIT IS THE SURE PRELUDE OF NATIONAL IJEOAY,H is not national "self-reliance" which serves a state, but national reliance upon God in the use of the means he has appointed. Nations that think they can get on alone nre left at length to do so, and God-deserted they perish. Tho Canaanites were illustrating this in their own case. They should be a warning to Israel. Living without God in the world, depending on themselves, they were about to be removed violently from their ancestral seats. It was so afterwards with Israel. They were as a nation effaced from the land where they had been placed in probation. 'l'he captivity of tho ten tribes was terrible, and so was that of Judah and Benjamin. It is this which nations must still guard against. God will not be ignored. If nations attempt it, they only efface themselves. Dying dynasties and scattered nations proclaim the existence and retribution of God. IV. How NEEDFUL, THEN, TO RECOGNIZE Gon's HAND IN ALL THINGS! The proces- sion of nature-all that is beautiful in second causes, has come from him. The" First Cause" may surely be allowed to work through "second causes" without forfeiting his riO'ht to recognition and thanksgiving. Our times are largely atheistic, because our little knowledge of second causes affords such fussy occupation to us, that we have not taste or wne to see the First Cause behind all and nsing all for his glory.-R. M. E.