HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Yers.1-11.-Tlie presentation of thefirsifi-uits. This interesting ceremony: 1. Re- minded the individual that the land and its fruits were God's. 2. Required from him a devout ackuowledgment of the fact, with a gift in which the acknowleugment was suitably embodied. 3. Threw him back on the recollection of God's former mercies to his nation. 4. Secured a confession and rehearsal of these from his own lips. It served : l. To create and deepen religiousJfeeling. 2. To quicken gratitude. 3. To encourage free-will offerings. Two main points- I. Gon's MERCIES ARE TO DE GRATEFULLY REMEMBERED. These mercies are many and wonderful (Ps. :Kl. 5). 'fhe points dwelt on in this declaration are God's fulfilments of his promises in the increase of the nation (ver. 5), the deliverance from Egypt (vers. 6-8), and the bringing of the people into the land of Canaan (ver. 9), pa.rt of the firstfruits of which the worshipper now presented (ver. 10). We have here: 1. National mercies. Since in Israel Church and nation were one: 2. Church mercies. 3. Personal mercies. A similar review befits every Christian. What causes of thankfulness has he, not only in the remembrance of God's loving-kindness to him personally (Ps. xl. 1-4; cxvi. 1-19), but in the review of God's dealings with his nation, and still more in the cortsideration of his mercies to the Church! On the one side, our noble con- stitution, our just laws, our civil and religions liberties, our immunity from war-the fruits of long centuries of struggle and progress. On the other side, the facts on which the Church's existence is founded-the Incarnation; Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension; the gift of the Spirit: and the events of her extraordinary history- the progress she has made, God's goodness in preserving and protecting her, in raising up teachers and leaders, in purifying her by persecutions, in 11:ranting revivals, times of reformation, etc. ; with the consideration of how in all promises have been fulfilled, prayers answered, deliverances vouchsafed, blessings bestowed, increase made. II. Gon's MERCIES .AllE TO BE SUIT.ABLY ACKNOWLEDGED. 1. By recital of them before God himself. Acknowledgment of mercies is as much a part of devotion as praise, confession, petition, or even adoration. 'l'be value of liturgical forms (within due limits) for purposes of prayer and acknowledgment, is.not to be disputed. '!'hey (1) aid memory, (2) secure comprehensiveness, (3) guide devotion, (4) prevent irrelevancy, (5) create a bond of unity. Like hymns, they testify to the Church's catholicity amidst di~ersities of creed and polity. '!'heir disadvantage, if preponderant in worship, is that they check too much the element of spontaneity. 'l'hey discourage freedom and naturalness in the expression of the heart's feelings. 'l'he best form of Church order would probably be a combination of the liturgical with the free and spon- wi.eous elem~nts in worship-the latter decidedly predominating. 2. By free-will ~fferings. These are needed more than ever. 'l'he sphere of the Church's operations ~ yt:arly widening. 3. By hospitality and charity (ver. 11). Underlying all there is, of course, to be personal consecration in heart and life, It is self God wants-the love, reverence, service, devotion of self; not a mere share in aelf's poaaeSBions, Con• OH, XXVI, 1-19.] THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY. 41a
fcssion (ver. 3), gifts (ver. 10), worship (ver. 10), joy (ver. 11), have their rightful pluce [lfter thnt, [Ind as the outcome of it.-J. O.
Ver. 12.-The year of titliin,q. Why so called? A double tithe was taken each year-the ordinary Leviticnl tithe (Numb. xviii. 21-28), which Deuteronomy, without mention, tnkee for granted; and the festal tithe, ordained as a. provision for the sanctu[lry feasts (eh. xiv. 21-27). On the third year a. tithe was to be dcvoterl to festivities at home (eh. xiv. 28, 29). It is uAually, but too hastily, assumed that this third tithe was but tho second diversely applied. That in itself is unlikely, as the feasts at the sanctuary required to be held on the third and sixth years, a.~ well as on tho others, and the provision for these could not well be dispensed with. Neither does it explain the expression, "year of tithing;" for while, on this supposition, the tithe was differently applied, there was nothing unusual in the manner of taking it. Each year was a. year of tithing (sabbatical years excepted), and this no more than the rest. 'l'he ordinary view, besides, is directly in the teeth of the testimony of Josephus, who roay be supposed to have known the practice of his time. His statement distinctly is that one-tenth was to be given to the priests and Levites; one-tenth was to be applied to feasts at the sanctuary ; and a tenth besides was, every third year, to be given to the poor. If this was so, we have a natural explanation of the phrase, "the year of tithing," and self-consistency is introduced into the laws. The tithe-laws in Deuteronomy are often represented as if in conflict with those in Leviticus and Numbers. Part of the plausibility al the objection lies in the nse of the definite article in the English version-" all the tithe" (eh. xiv. 28; xxvi. 12)-which gives an impression of allusion to the ordinary, the well-known tithe. That impression is not created if we take the plain Hebrew-" a whole tithe "-which by its very nakedness suggests a new regulation. Deuteronomy legislates for its own purposes in connection with the centralizing of the worship at the sanctuary. The newer criticism seems to have abandoned the old ground, which made the Levitical laws the earliest. It assumes that the distinction of priests and Levites, with the body of legislation based on that distinction, took shape not earlier than the exile-a view hopeles~ly in conflict with the histories of the return. Indeed, so great was the disproportion in the numbers of priests and Levites returning with Zerubbabel-twelve or thirteen priests for every Levite-that the Levitical laws could only have been put in force with material altera- tions and modifications. They are in some respects singularly ina.]Jplicable to the very times in which they are supposed to have originated.-J. 0.