The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 399

wc1t1ld be dC1ubly blessed, as, o"'er and above the temporal mercies themselves, they "·0n!J sh~re the benediction of him who ga"'e them all things richly to enjoy. Good Jl1shop ,, ordswortb remarks tha.t this passage exhorts to harvest tbankso-ivin"S in the Christian Clrnrch. Such services are undoubtedly fully in harmony with the spirit of the chapter. Dut it seems to us to contain principles of fe.r wider scope and of e,·eryday application. They are four in number. ' 1. Oun Goo WOULD RAVE t 1S RECOGNIZE HIM AS THE AUTHOR OF ALL OUR MERCIE~. For such be is. ·without him no land would yield its increase, nor would man have power or skill to cultivate the soil. ,vithout him no sun would shine norrain descend. It is easy to say t'hat such and such a harvest came in the ordinary course of law. We at once press the questions, "rho ordained these laws? Who causes forces to act acconling to them? For no law ever did or could make itself. "Law" is a purely mental conception. . It is n?t an entity, save as mind ord9.ins it, and it only operates ~~ e1;ergy works by 1t. It_ 1s unsound i~ p_hilosophy, as well as rotten in piety, if we Jail to acknowledge God _m a~l. Nor 1s 1t bare power that we have to recognize; but goodness, mercy, lovrng-kmgness. And all these kindnesses of God he would ha,e us acknowledge: 1. By a confession of our entire dependence upon him. 2. By gratelul retrospect of the past; remembering and recalling through what scenes God has brought us year by year. 3. By grateful survey of the blessings which are around us now. Nor should we ever leave out of account that which is the substratum of this chapter (and indeed of all the chapters in this book), though not l1ere specified in words, viz. that, as sinful beings, our natural claims on the Great Being as his dependent creatures have been forfeited by sin, and that the continuance to sinful beings of such heaps of mercy is due only to, and is indeed a part of, that redemptive grace which to Israel was disclosed in germ, but to us in its fulness through Jesus Chri~t our Lord. Such thanksgivings as we owe may well even now be offered in the house of the Lord ; but they should daily,be the promptings of grateful and devoted hearts. In private and in the family circle our song should be, " What shall we render to the Lord for all his benefits toward us?" IL THE THA!>"l. OFFERING SHOULD NOT ONLY BE VERBAL BUT PRACTICAL, There "·as to be the offering of the firstfruits to the Lord (see Homily, eh. xiv. 22-29). When God gave all, what precept could be more appropriate? What can be more becoming than to let God have the first of everything? This is the principle which ran through these varied regulations as to firstfruits and tithe. Jacob spontaneously said, "Of all that thou givest me, I will surely give the tenth unto thee." Solomon urges, "Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase." We have no distinctive proportion laid down in the New Testament as to our offerings to God. Yet the conscientious Christian should require no further hints than such as are found in 2 Cor. viii. 7-9; I Cor. xvi. 2. Circumstances have changed. Details will vary, Yet the great and mighty cause of God, even that of righteousness, truth, and love,.has ro be maintained and spread in the world by the efforts and offerings of those "put in trust with the gospel" And it will not be possible to be faithful to the claims of God and the demands of the times without a conscientious, systematic, proportionate gi"l'ing of our gains to the Lord. Christians should never suffer the absence of detail in New Testament precepts on the subject of giving to the Lord, to be taken advantage·or to the weakening of his cause who trusts our spontaneity. Let us not abuse God's confidence. Let the love of Christ constrain us. ill THE GIVING OF THE FIBSTFBUITB TO GoD !lB A TOKEN OF THE BANCTIFICATION OF ALL WE HAVE TO RIGHT Al-'D IIOLY USEB. There is no better guarantee of a. wise and right use of our substance than the conscientious dedication of firstfruits to our God. He who is conscientious enough in this respect inay be safely reiied on to spend rightly the rest of his gains, because the same conscientiousness which marks bis first spendings will mark all the others. IV. ,VHEN OUil GAINS ARE THUS RECEIVED IN A BIGHT BPilllT, AND SPENT IN A BIGHT WAY, WE MAY llEJOICE THEREIN BEFORE THE LORD. God bath given us "all things ricl,ly to enjoy." And mm who know nothing of the Christian consecration of all things to God do not know how to enjoy what they possess. If men rejoice in earthly good for its own sake, it will soon c~ase to yield delight. "The world passeth away, and the lu6t tli£rw/." But when regiuded, received, and spent in the way we OJI, XXVI, 1-19,] 'l'HE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 469