way c,f providence; if after nil the teachings, prayers, and intercessions as means of !(rnce; if after all the striving of God's Spirit with men, there is a steady, stont, obstinate resistance to all,-then, such is the view of the holy ones on earth and in henven, such the view of our Great Intercessor, of the evil of sin and the hor,our nf God, that not from one plender, however powerful or however tender, cnn there come even one more request for any further arrest or delay of the judgments of God. In the trentment of every sinner, love, jusrice, mercy, forbearance, will all have played their pnrt, and if, after nil the patience of a God and the entreaties of man, impenitent he still remains, all heaven will acquiesce in the justice of the verdict-his bloo<l shall be upon his own bend 1 Vers. 12-16.-lsl'ael's duly summed ivp and touchingly enforced. The rehearsal an,\ review of Israel's waywardness, in which the great lawgiver had been remindin~ the people how much God had had to bear with from them, must have been extremely painful to him, as it was reproachful for them. That part of the review closes with the eleventh verse. And then follows thereon one of the most tender and touchinga1,peals to which the old man conld give vent. The two first words of the twelfth verse," And now," convey a world of meaning. 1.Ve think we see the lips of Moses quiver, we hear his voice falter, we note the tear standing in his eye, as, with intensely deep pathos and loving solicitude, he shows Israel how past waywardness on their pa~t, and forbear- ance and forgiveness on God's part, gave them an m.~ent reason why they should seek henceforth to love, not in word only, but in deed and of a truth. There are two lines of thought suggested by this paragraph. I. HERE IS THE SUM OF ISRAEL'S LIFE-DUTY NEWLY ENJOINED. This may be set under six heads, which will bo but enumerated here. 1. They must cease their rebellious spirit: "be no more, sLiffnec~;ed." 2. They must fear the Lord their God. 3. With fear they must blend love.. 4. To love and fear they must add loyalty of action, by walking in God's. ways. 5. They must observe alike the comman,lments or moral precepts, and tho statutes or several appointments. 6. And finally, they must guard against all merely surface work : "Circumcise the foreskin of your heart." Though there were many more rites in Judaism than there are under Christianity, yet a merely ritual service was no more acceptable then than now. This summing up of life's duty should be compared with that in Micah vi. B. II. HERE IS A GREAT REASON FOR DISCHARGING THAT DUTY ENFORCED DY TE...'IDER APPEAL. In this appeal, as we venture to call it, there are but fow words. But how full of meaning they are I 'l'he word" now "-nunc, at tbis time; and as put here it may suggest six queries, each of which contains a most tcn,\er reason for fntme loyalty, which the preacher may well urge with all possible force. \Ve will name the queries one by one. 1. And now, Israel, have you not been thus wayward long enough? Is it not time that yon reconsidered the position in which you stand with reference to Jehovah? Look! See where you arc! Think how long you have been trying God's patience and long-suffering! 2. And now, Israel, since God has continued to spare you, since he has forgiven yo'.! and not cast you off, since he has consented to bear with you still,-will you not renew your vows, with less, indeed, of self-confidence, but with more of penitential loyalty? 3. .And now, Israel, thiuk again," what doth the Lord thy God require of thee?'' Is it more than what is reasonable and right? Could he ask less consistently with his righteousness and honour? Are not all his commands wise and ri~ht? Is it not an easy yolrn to love a God so kind, to fear a God so holy, to obey t\ God so faithful and true? 4. And 110w, Israel, look at the fact that all God's com- mands are for your good (ver. 13) ! A perfect obedience wDuld ensure perfect cont~nt. All the while yon have been rebellious against the Lord, you have been fighting agarnst yom own hi~hest interests. God's honour and your happiness reqnire precisely tl:c same course of life. 5. And now, Israel, do remember this, for consider how grcnt 1s the Di vino condescension in carin~ for you at all (ver. 14): ''Lo! the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is." And what, what but infinite lo\·e should lead hiru thus to stoop from his high throne to caro for you? It is not for your righteousness, for yon are a stiffuecked people. :N? ac<;<;unt can be given of why God should caro for you so, save that he loves to do 1t. l hen surely the reason is overwhelmingly strong for your gratitude, loyalty, and love. 6• ..dud 184 THli: BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. (en. lt. 1-22.
now, I.<rael, 8c>eing these things are so, could you do less for such I\ God than he a.sks of you, c,·en if he did not Rsk it? So rich ~hould be your joy in him, so reverent your f<.'nr, ~o d<.'vout your love, that you would with ready mind giue God 1111, even if he did not rc>qu1re 1111. What he is to '!JOU should lead you to be to him all that ho wouhl hnve you be. Such seems to us to be II true expansion of the pathetic pie!\ which this passage contains, which the connection in ,vhich it stands necessarily suggests. How much stronger every one of the six points may be made from the evangelic standpoint, the Christian preacher will in n moment see. By as much as the love of God in the great n•dt•rnption in Christ Jesus is a grander disclosure than his love as revealed in the deliverance from Egypt, by so much should each argument be the more tender and strong-. \\'hen we read, "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we wero yet sinners, Christ died for us," what can the proper response for our hearts be but this, "·we love him, because he first loved us"? Snch love should constrain us to obey, ernn if we had no written Law by which obedience was required.