w~rn reported with his_ tong~e should be the one to smite with his ~and I (ver, 7).' A m1ght_y stroke of pcihcy this,. to gua!d personal h~nour from a~sa1lment I It might ~omehmes make crime more difficult of proof, but 1t gave the Innocent a wondrous guard against unjust accusation. Many would be ready to backbite who would shrink from stoning another. Men by thousands may be found who would not break boned but. who think nothing of breaking hearts. 4. The people were to co-operate i~ putting away the evil when once it was proved to exist. "Slow to suspect, but quick to put down evil," was to be the moral rule of their conduct in such cases. Now of course, it is not our pro,incc to deal with all this from tho purely legal point of ,iew, as a matter of jurisprudence; but we cannot fail to indicate the moral principles which are here involved; and which a Christian teacher would do well to set in the light of Matt. ,ii. 1, 2. Observe- I. Oun. GoD WOULD EIILIST THE SYMPATHIES OF HIS PEOPLE IN PUTTING DOWN EVIL. ".c arc to be workers together with him. He bas redeemed us that we may be zealous of g-ood works. n. HE WOULD HAVE us VERY SENsITrvE to the honour of his Name, but also very sensitive to the spotlessness_ of each other's name and fame. This passage is quite as remarkable for the guard 1t throws around man, as it is for the concern it would evoke· for the honour of God (see Ps. xv. 1-3; Lev. xix, 16; Ps. nxiv, 13; 1 Pet. iii. 10). Ill. V,'E MAY NOT REGARD ANOTHER AS GUILTY ON THE BARE EVIDENCE OF RwMOUR. Each one's reputation is too sacred in God's eye and ought to be too precious in ours for this. It is humiliating to think such precepts as these should be needed. " The Law is not made for a righteous man," and it is a sad proof of how much un- righteousness there is in the world that such a law should be needed still, Every one is to be regarded as innocent till he is proved guilty. H". IF THE PUBLIC GOOD REQUIRES IT, ILL REPORTS SHOULD BE EXAMINED. It may be painful work, but it has to be done sometimes, But we are tempted to think it would be a mighty safeguard against ill reports being raised on any light or frivolous pretext, if he who first moved secretly with his tongue were always required to be the first to smite openly wiih the band! V. SucH REPORTS ARE TO BE PROVEN TRUE ERE ACTION IS TAKEN THEREON. No man's repute is to be smitten at a venture. To all men it is precious as life, 'l'he best men value it more than life. They wonld rather give up their breath than part with their honour. And the legislation of high heaven upholds them! VI. PROVEN EVIL IS TO BE PUT AWAY. We are to be very slow to believe ill of another; "slow to speak." But when such ill is proved beyond doubt, then it behoves us to censure, to expose, to condemn it, and to put it away. We are to stand by a brother till he is shown to be guilty, but that once done, regard both for God and man requires us to disavow all sympathy with wrong, and to co-operate with the Great Supreme in the extirpation of ilL
Vars. 8-13.-Beligion the g'/1,(1,rd of ;'ustice. In the preceding chapter, vers. 18-20, judges and officers are specified as appointed by God to be the guardians of justice and rija!;ht. The Hebrew is very emphatic in ver. 20, "Justice, justice, sbalt thou follow," etc. Manifold complications, however, would be sure to arise as the nation advanced, and as the primitive simplicity of their first settlement passed into more fixed arrangements as to property, etc. In such difficult cases, it might not be easy, and perhaps it would not always be possible, for the judges and shoterim to determine what was just The legislator is here bidden, therefore, to make provision in case such perplexities should arise. When the people should come to the land which the Lord their God gave them, there would be one place which the Lord would choose to put his Name there. 'l'here should "thrones of judgment" sit. The priests, who would have to offer sacrifices and to intercede for the people before God, would also be expected to be so versed in the Law of God, that they could appropriately be regarded us the highest court of appeal, by whose decision the highest sanctions of religion would bo brought to declare and enforce "justice, justice." '!'heir decision was held to be given ' See in Keil 011 'Pentateuch,' vol. ill. p. 881 (footnote), quotation from Calvin, OH. XVII, 1-20.] THE IlOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 289