c0n-,crtcd, or 11imed 11t conyerting, the l1ordes who left Egypt into B nBtion of brave frw, God-fe11ring, self-respecting, obedient men and women. This cd11c11tlon blondcd d(•li,erance with judgment on their enemies; loving-kindness In the bestowal of mercios with severe chastisements in cases of rebellion; attention to their necessities, wit!{ frequent exposure to ed,ersity, and consequent trial of their faith and patienco. They hnd beE>n put to school with the Almight)• as their Teacher; their lesson-book was the whole extraordinary series of occmTonces in Egypt and the desert; tho end of the train- inp; was to form them to obedience. . I. THREE PHASES oF Gon's INSTRUCTION OF ms Cmrnrn. 1. The shatte1'ingof worldly power hostile to the Clrnrch (vers. 3, 4). Pharaoh, in his pride and obstinacy, is a type of world-power uni.ersnlly, in its opposition to God's kingdom (Rom. ix. 17). But though again and again the waves have thus roared, and the floods have lifteu up their voice (Ps. xciii. 3, 4), the Lord on high bas shown himself mightier than tho noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea (cf. Ps. lxxxiii.; Isa. xxxvii.; 1 Mace. iv.; Acts iv. 23-34; Rev. xix. HJ; xx. 8, 9). 2. The preservation and guidance ef the Cl,urch itself (ver. 5). In securing the perpetuation of a godly remnant in times of greates_t apostacy (1 Kings xix. 18; Rom. xi. 5; Rev. iii. 5; xi. 3; xii. 17); in pro\'iding her w1t.b a succession of godly teachers (Matt. xxviii. 20; Eph. iv. 11-14); m supplying her necessities, spiritual (John vi. 32, 33; 1 Cor. x. 4; xii. 13; Eph. iii. 16; Phil. iv. 19) and temporal (Matt. x. 9, 10; Acts iv. 34; 1 Cor. ix. 14; Phil. i,·. 15, 16); in opening up the path of duty (Acts xvi. 10; Rom. xv. 30, 31; 2 Cor. x. 13-17), in conducting her from one stage of attainment to another (Epb. iv. 12, 13). 3. The overthrow of antichristian rebellion within the Church (ver. 6). The insur- rection of Korah and his company may be taken as representative of antichristian rno\'ernents generally. 'l'bese·are bound to arise, but will infallibly be crushed (2 Thess. ii. 3-1.1; 1 John ii. 18; Rev. xvii.). II. OBLIGATIONS ARISING FROM EXPERIENCE OF Gon's WONDERFUL WORKS. The older portion of that generation bad personally witnessed the wonderful works referred to. '!'his gave them a certain advantage, and made disobedience doubly culpable. These works of God had been: (1) in origin, supernatural; (2) in kind, of stupendous magni- tude ; and (3) had extended over a long period of time. Those who have lived through any period signalized by remarkable workings of God on behalf of his Church, or whose individual experiences have been remarkable, may learn a lesson. Apply to reforma- tion times, times of religious revival, of deliverance from persecutions, of the forth-putting of God's power in missions, etc. (2 Cbron. xxxi. 25, 26; Ezra iii. 10-13; vi. 22; Estb. ix. 27; Ps. xl. 10; cxvi. 6-9 ; Acts xv. 12). Such experiences: 1. Furnish peculiar evidences of God's grace and power, of the reality of his working in salvation and judgment. These evidences, while not losing their value to later generations, are necessarily of greatest force to those who witness the events. 2. Create impressions of God's character and attributes not so readily created by report. It is much to hear of the wonderful works of God from credible witnesses, but hearing with the ear cannot equal, in impressiveness and force, seeing with the eye (Job xiii. 5). 3. Imply a personal discipline which others have not had the benefit of, '!'he lessons of our experiences may be conveyed to posterity, but the results of them in personal character remain with our- sel\'es. All this lays on those who have had such experiences very special responsi- bilities. These relate (1) to personal obedience (ver. 8); and (2) to the education of children (vers. 18--21). How are our children to know of God's mighty works in former days, or get the benefit of our own experiences; how are they to be convinced, moved, or instructed by these things, save as the result of diligent parental teaching? -J.O. Vers. 10-18.-Canaan and Egypt. J. 1TB CONTRAST WITH EGYPT. (Vers, 10, 11.) Not, like Egypt, a land rainless anu artificially watered. It had 110 Nile. It drank in water from the rains of heaven. It was thus in a peculiar way a land dependent upon God. Egypt's fertility depended on God also, but less directly. Its contrivances for irrigation gave it, or might seem to give it, a semi-independence. Palestine was a land, oo the contrary, whose peculiar conditions made it dependent for fruitfulness on the direct gift to it of rains from heaven. It was a land requiring a providential adjust> ment of conditions-a daily care-to make it yield the utmost it was capable of {ver.12), Off, Xf. 1-32.J TUE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 205
'l'hc truth here figured is that God wills the believer to put his life day by day unrlcr his immediate care. 'l'he worldly man may desire, and in a measure may be allowed t0 attnin, a position ofrelative independence of God: he may get (within limits) the 0rcler- in" of his own plans and ways, and by ingenious contrivances and manipulations of ]a;s of nature, he may think to put himself beyond the power of God's interference with him. But the godly man will neither desire this nor be content with it. He wishes God's eyes to be upon his lot day by day, "from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." There is, within the ordinary providence of God, a special providence to be recognized over God's people, over Christ's Church, and over nations that adhere to God's ways. JI. THE RESULTS OF THIS CONTRAST TO THE INHABITANTS. (Vers. 13-18.) The directness of the dependence of Canaan on God's care made it, to a greater degree than Euypt could have been, suitable for the operation of a system so intimately bound up with temporal rewards and punishments. Should the people prove obedient, God enuages to bless them with rains, and make the land fruitful (vers. 13-16). But sh~uld they disobey, the peculiar conditions of the land put it in his power to scourge them, as he so often did, with drought and famine (1 Kings xvii. 1; Joel i.; Hag. i. 10, 11). So he threatens (vers. 16, 17). It is a blessed but a perilous position which God's people are called to occupy. It secures to them unwonted favours, but it exposes them also, if disobedient, to chastisements and punishments of a peculiarly direct ancl severe kind. The higher the position of nearness to God, the greater the responsibility which that position entails upon who enjoy it.-J. 0.