III. CONSEQUENTLY, IT IS BY OBEDIENCE TO Goo's WRITTEN LAW THAT THllON1~8 AllF. MADE SECURE. This grand old Book is the charter of the people's liberties, because i~ demands that kings rule righteously. It is the monarch's best safe~uard, because it insists on B method of government which will ensure the loyalty of a gratefol people, and the blessing of the monarch's God I With regard to kings and nations, it is true, "Great peace have they which love thy Law, and nothing shall offend them." Earthly kings will ever find it true, "Them that honour me, I will honour." Ver. 16.-" No retreat I" or " The gate behind us closed." "Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." In these words, Moses reminds the people that Egypt once quitted wa.squittedfor ever. If they should come in the course of time to desire and to choose a king, he must oy no means take them back to Egypt; their dark experience of Egyptian bondage was never to be repeated. They should return that way uo more. 'l'he only course open to them was to go onward to the realization of their destiny as a free people, for the gate behind them was closed, never to be opened again. The text may naturally be regarded as God's voice to his emancipated host, saying, "No retreat! " We shall apply this to the life of believers. It is true in two spheres. I. IT IS TRUE IN THE SPHERE OF BEING. With regard to the old state of sin, out of which the children of God bve been brought by the redemption which is in Christ Jesus and by the power of the Holy Ghost, it is true, "ye shall henceforth return no more that way." 1. They may not if they would. They have quitted the broad road which leadeth to destruction, and, through the gateway of repentance, have entered on " the King's highway of holiness." Having once come over from Satan to Christ, it is alto- gether forbidden them to dream of a return. Whosoever he be who has avowedly quitted the service of sin for that of the living God, never must be think of returning to the worlJ. he has left. Back to his old life of sin? Never! He is to reckon himself henceforth as" dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God," and, whether living or dying, he is to be the Lord's. 2. They would not if they miglit. Not only is it the Law of God that they must not retreat, but Lhe law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus leads them to say, " We will not, by the help of God." And herein is the blessed freedom of the new creature in Christ Jesus. What God wills, he wills. He bas voluntarily left the world, and voluntarily he remains out of its camp. The very thought of" returning any more that way " is anguish to him. He has said to earth, once for all, farewell ; to sinful pleasures, farewell; to the pride of life, farewell. He has cast in bis lot with Christ, and he esteems reproach for him greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He would not move a step that is not towards God and heaven. He has done with the vanities of earth, and can return no more that way! II. IT IS TRUE IN THE SPHERE OF TIME. We can neither retrace the steps we have already trodden, nor recall nor reproduce the circumstances of bygone days or years. 1. We cannot recall, or change, or obliterate the past, ever. if we would. The trials anJ cares of bygone years are gone, never to be repeated. The actions of past years are done, and however we may desire it, they cannot be u.:uione. There is no such thing as recalling a single moment, to correct what has been a.miss, nor erasing a single word or deed so as to prevent its .issues travelling on to eternity: We may do something now to shape future years, but-to alter past years-nothing. For good or ill they have left their mark. We can alter nothing. We can "return no more that way." 2. Tl1e pilg,·im; Zionward, would not retreat if lie could. The child of God who has been, however imperfectly, endeavouring in Divine strength to serve and please bis Father in heaven, reviewing his years with their trials, afflictions, and cares, feels it to be a great joy to him that he can return no more that way. He would not liuger here. He wants to speed him onward. He ofttimes sings at eventide, with thankful heart, "a day's march nearer home." 'l'ho goal of his beiug is ahead. To serve God here is blissiul. }jut ho longs, not to repeat past imperfections, but to "go on unto perfection,'' to press forward towards the higher service of the heavenly world. He feels and kuows th,tt all tho Divine arrangements for him are mercy and truth. Ho would not change them. Mercy shuts off the past beyond recall. Mercy opens the future. "Then, welcome, eCLch declining day, Weleome, each closing year 1" 292 THE DOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. [en. xvu. 1-20,
HOMILIES DY VARIOUS AUTHORS.
Ver. 1.-The l,lemishcd. r. TnE PRINCIPLE INVOLVED. God is to be served with our best. He rejects the blemished for liis service. 1. He is entitled to our best, 2. He requires it of us. 3. Witl,holding it ai;qucs nnworthy views of God and of what iB ,lne to him. lt usually implies contempt of God and hypocrisy in his service (1\fal. i. 12, 13). II. ArrLTCATroxs OF TITE PRINCIPLE. God is to receive from us: 1. The best of t111r time-,dwn the hPad is clearest, the energies most vigorous, the capacity for serl'ice greatest, and when there is least distraction. We offer the blemished when we engross these portions of our time for self, and give to God only our late hours, or hurried snatches of a day crowded with unspiritual and exhausting occupations. 2. 'l.'ho hcst of our aqe-yonth, the prime of manhood and womanhood, with all the service these can render. We offer the blemished when we conceive the purpose of dedicating to God, m old age, powers already worn out in the service of the world. 3. The heartiest of our service. Service performed half-heartedly and grudgingly falls under the category of blemished sacrifices. Work done in this spirit will never be well done. Sen-ices of devotion will be huddled through, sermons will be ill prepared, the class in the Sunday school will be badly taught, visitation duties will be inefficiently and unpunctually performed. It is the presentation to God of the torn, lame, and halt. 4. The first of our givings. Givings should be hearty, liberal, of our first and best, and in a spirit of consecration. To give what "will never be missed" is a poor form of ser,ice. It is little to give to God what costs us nothing. Still more conspicuously do we offer the blemished when we devote to God but the parings of a lavish worldly expenditure, or give for his service far below our ability.-J. O.