f n,rr, tlv: infl== c,J it.a c,wn rigMwwmeu. L :!\.E.Tl'JH.L POWER 18 '(;JHVEEl>ALLY COVETED. Nor, provided sundry conditions im, foi.£;,f.i. whid:, will be prti;eDtly named, ill tbill wrong. No nation ought to consent St- ~ a d1w i.u.-:,i,g :r.iatiUIIL J 11,1t a.a nally &11 a man may well wish to be something clt. xt. 1-32.) 'rIIE BOOK OF DEUTEllON'OMY. 201
nmonget hie follow&, so should a people wish to be something in the regard of neighbouring states. II. IT 18 MOST IMPORTANT THAT THE POWER OF A NATION OVER OTHERS SHOULD BE TIIAT OF THE HIGHEST KIND, One nation may be chiefly great in its commercial enterprise, another in its culture of art, a third in the renown of its orators or poets, a fourth in its philosophic wisdom, a. fifth in its military or naval fame; but there is n power, unlike nil these, after which Israel was bidden to aspire. llf. 'l'HAT IS THE POWER MOST TO BE DESIRED WHICH WOULD MAKE IT WORTH WHILE TO PERPETUATE TIIE NATION POSSESSING IT, FOR THE BAKE OF THE WORLD'S GOOD. Moses, under Divine direction, is continually recognizing this, by putting Israel's continuance in the land as conditioned on their loyalty to Jehovah and his laws. IV. THE ONLY POWER WHICII IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO THE WORLD'S GOOD IS THAT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. This unites a. people. Thls gives clear heads, strong frames, valiant hearts. A nation whose heart is soundly righteous will not fight unless it must; but if it must, it will fight grandly and for a righteous aim. V, THIS POWER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS WILL IlAVE A MANIFOLD EFFECT WITH REGARD TO OTHER NATIONS. 1. As a rule, it will ensure their good-will. 2. Appealing as it does to man's sense of justice, it will help to ward off attacks from without. 3. Where it fails to do this, and where an attack has to be resisted., if in the hour of their need they cry unto God, they will find that be shields them in the day of battle (see 2 Chron. xx. 1-29). VI. '!'HIS POWER MAY EVEN BE DEVELOPED AND STRENGTHENED DY REPEATED AND ARDUOUS CONFLICT. (See 2 Cbron. xx. 29.) When a people are with one heart loyal to God, and do with one voice cry unto him, they will find out that Jehovah hears, and that God speeds the right. And may we not appeal fearlessly to every one of our readers, and say, Is not this power of righteousness pre-eminently that whlch the worlcl wants? This being so, we may bring this series of remarks to a close by observing- VII. THAT THE.GREAT Goo OF NATIONS WILL SET HIS SEAL Oli' APPROVAL ON PEOPLES THAT SO CLEAVE TO THE RIGHT, BY GIVTI<G AGAIN AND AGAIN THE VICTORY TO THAT WHICH, HUMANLY SPEAKING, IS THE WEAKER SIDE. Scripture cases of this abound: Israel and Pharaoh ; Gideon and the Midianites; Hezekiah and Sennacherib ; Jehoshaphat and the Ammonites; and (in another sense) Elijah and the priests and prophets of Baal. The Word of God is continually showing us that power is not always where it seems to be, but very often where it seems not to be: Joseph, Daniel, Peter, etc. From all these considerations, there may be drawn out an earnest appeal to men, even if they aim at nought higher than to be the true lovers and guardians of their country and nation, to seek for the sake of their own dear land, to love and to practise righteousness. Nor let it be supposed that this statement is at all affected by the fact that we are" no~ under tbe Law but under grace." Graco reigns through righteousness, and only through righteousness. Infinite grace bas offered a Sacrifice which has done away with the need of continuing the sacrifices of the ceremonial law. But grace never has and never will abate one jot or tittle of the demands for righteousness which mark the moral law. Never I And if we are rescued from condemnation, if we are made sons of God, it is not that we may be absolved from the obligation to right- eousness; but t.hat "the righteousness of the Law may be fulfilled in us" from the spontaneity of personal choice, without the need of any command to enforce or pressure to constrain. And inasmuch as only in a perfectly righteous people can there be an absolute guarantee of permanence, it follows that only the people in the commonwealth of Israel will constitute "the eternal city." For there " the people shall be all righteous," and then "they shall inherit the land for ever.~ Right- eousness and permanence are thus linked together in the prophetic outlook of Isaiah, as really as in the legislation of Moses (see Isa. lxi. 21). lu this new and nobler world, righteousness will come into being, not as a response to a1)Divine command, but as the product of a Divine creation. And then arounl\ it there shall be en eternal guard. No enemy from without shall dare to attack; no foe from within shall weaken. "Salvation will God appoint for wells and bulwarks."
Vere. 26-28.-The dread alternative before every man. Perhaps, strictly speak- ing, the final paragraph of this chapter Includes vers. 26-32. The reader thereof will, 202 THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY, [orr: xr. 1-32,