INDIVIDUAL LIFE. "Ye ehall walk aner the Lord" embodies New Testament tenchin" RB wall RB Old. t On the basis of the chapter before us, the followin" ontline of th0t1<7h may well be filled up. 1. Absolute loyalty to Ghrist should be the° governinu princi°ple of life. 'l'be Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Christ of the New. He is the Mediator of the new covenant. He is a Legislator of more glory than Moses (Heb. iii.). He appeals to us by righteousness, love, hope, fear. 2. Temptations to desert Christ's standard may pour in upon us from various quarters. The chapter suggests three. (1) A prophet. There may arise some new claimant for rnan'8 homage, or some philosopher who thinks to disprove the claims of Jesus by showing his own wondrous intellectual stature, etc. (2) 'fhe family. Seductions either to the false in faith or the corrupt in practice may come from those near and dear to us. (3) 'l'he city. A strong current of public sentiment, adverse to" the truth as it is in Jesus," may set in, and may threaten to carry us away. 3. These temptations are to be withstood at all costs. No "sign," no "wonder," is ever to be allowed to dazzle us for a. moment. Christ's claims are so convincing to the conscience a.nd heart, they are sustained by such overwhelming evidence, that nothing in any age ca.n set them aside. The sovereignty of Christ is the fundamental law of our life. He will allow no rival wl,atsoever. EVE,n if men should work miracles to lead us away from Christ, we are to follow Christ, and Jet miracles go for nought. Even under the Mosaic Law, miracles were not a sufficient test of truth. The doctrine they were intended to confirm must be put alongside therewith, and if this doctrine contravened the supreme canon of moral life," Loyalty to God," it was to be set aside. So now. No physicr,l wonder can ever justify us iu ignoring supreme moral law. The Lordship of Jesus is our highest moral law. He is to u~ the embodiment of righteousness, truth, and love; yea, he is our incarnate God. 4. Though we may not visit our enticers with pains and penalties, yet, even now, the most sacred claims and relationships of our earthly life are to be renounced if they come into collision with our loyalty to Jesus (see Luke xiv. 26-33). Even though the tempta- tions should come from all quarters at once, our loyalty to our Saviour is to remain unmoved. We may not halt, nor waver, nor seek a feigned neutrality (Matt. xii. 30). It will be a very far more serious thing for us if we let ourselves be seduced from loyalty to God as revealed in Christ, than it would have been for Israel if they proved fickle under the legislation of Moses (Heb. ii.1-4; x. 28-31). How earnestly should we pray that we may be kept faithful to our den.r Lord in heaven! How lovingly should we warn others, lest they swerve from their fealty to him (2 Pet. iil. 17, 1::3 ; Jude 17-25; Rev. ii. 10, 11; Matt. xxiv. 11-13) !
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-6.-False prophets. In viewing the bearings of this passage on the credentials of revelation, two points should be observed. 1. The case supposed is one in which the prophet contradicts a revelation already received. 2. 'l'he prophet does not dispute the evidence of that earlier revelation. On the contrary, he admits it. He stn.nds within the lines of it. He professes to speak under its authority. Yet he asks the people to violate its fundamental laws. This of itself was sufficient to convict him. His pretensions are disposed of by the simple fact that, professing to speak in the Name of God, he gives the people a message cont.radictory of what he admits God to have previously revealed. No sign and wonder can accredit contradictions. The prophet is inconsistent with himself, and is not to be listened to. Nay, his message hau been anticipated, and the thing he bids the people do, expressly forbidden. Notice, then- I. EXTERNAL MIRACLES DO NOT OF THEMSELVES ACCREDIT A REVELATION AS FROM GoD. (Vers. 1-3.) This prophet gives a sign or wonder-presumably a predictive word-and it actually comes to pass. The failure of his sign, according to eh. xviii. 21, 22, would have been a proof of falsity. The converse of this, however, that he speaks God's word because his sign has not failed, is not i=ediately to be admitted. 'l'hero are other tests to be applied. In this case, the prophet's message is condemned because contradictory of what he himself allows to have been a true renL1 ti,1n. This 2a2 IJ:'HE nooti: OF DEU'i'EHONOMY. tCH. Xllt. 1-18,