the curse on slaying another for reward, which may include perjury (ver. 26); while wrs. 18, HI may be ,·icwed 11.s forbidding breaches of the law of love generally. 2, 7'hat the sins against which the curses are directed are m.ostly secret sins. The Law sea.rches the heart. 3. Thut the usual care is sh:iwn for the interests of the defenceles., (vers. 18, HJ). It is touching, in the heart of so 11.wful a malediction, to find this tender love for the blind, the stranger, the fatherless, the widow. \Vrath and love in God are close of kin. II. 'l'IIAT A CURSE WAITS ON EVERY VIOLATION OF THE LAW'S PRECEPTS, The jlosition of Scripture is that every sin, great and small, subjects the sinner to God's wrath and curse. It derives this truth, not, as some have sought to derive it, from tho metaphysical notion of sin's infinite demerit, as committed a~inst an infinite God; but from its o,vn deep view of sin, as involving a change, a aeflection, an nlterntion, in its effects of infinite moment, in the ,·cry C<'ntre of man's being. There is no sin of slight turpitude. A holy being, to become capable of sin, must admit a principle into his heart totally foreign to the holy condition, and subversive of it. In this sense, he that offends in one point is guilty of all (Jas. ii. 10, 11). Sin is in him, and on a hcing with sin in him the Law can pronounce but one sentence. His life is polluted, and, being pollute!l., is forfeited. The curse involves the cutting of the sinner off from life and favour, with subjection to the temporal, spiritual, and eternal penalties of trans- gression. The denial of this article leaves no single important doctrine of the gospel unaffected; the admission of it carries with it all the rest. It gives its complexion to a whole theology. • III. THAT THE STh"l-"ER MUST ACKKOWLEDGE THE JUSTICE OF THE LAW'S CLAIMS AGAINST HIM. The people were rrquired to say," Amen." '!.'his" Amen" was: (1) An as,ent to the conditions of life proposed. (2) A recognition of the righteousness of them. The Law declares God's judgment against sin. And this: 1. Is echoed by the conscience. Fitfully, reluctantly, intermittently, yet truly, even by the natural conscience. The "Amen" is implied in every pang of remorse, in every feeling of self• condemnation. Every time we do that we would not, we consent unto the Law that it is good (Rom. iii. 16). The very heathen know the "judgment of God, that t.hey which commit such things" as are here specified" are worthy of death" (Hom. i. 32). Ilut it needs the spiritually convinced heart to render this "Amen" hearty and sincere. The true penitent justifies God and condemns himself (Ps. Ii.). 2. Was acknowledged by Christ as our Sin-bearer. In Christ's atonement, it has been truly remarked, there "must have been a perfect 'Am.en' in humanity to thefudgment of God on tlte sin ef man. Such an 'Amen' was due to the truth of things. He who was the Truth could not be in humanity and not utter it-and it was necessarily a first step in dealing with the Father on our behalf" (J. McLeod Campbell). 3, Will yet be foined in by the whole 11,11iverse (Rev. xv. 2; xvii. 1, 2). CoNCLUSION. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us" (GaL ill. 13). In him no condemnation (Rom, viii, 1).-J. 0.
Vers. 1-10.-SafegUMdsfor obedience. The enthusiasm of Moses for God's Law is admirable, and no less admirable is bis earnest deFire for Israel's prosperity. That self- foruetful zeal for others' good was one main qualification in Moses to be the vehicle of God's revealed will. With singular sagacity, Moses presses into the earliest service, for the promulgation of Divine Law, the people th~mselves. '.l'he !ery stones of Canaan were to be written over with the substance of the Law, and m this way were to become monuments of the covenant between God and Israel. '!'he people who had taken an active part in publishing that Law would feel bound in self-consistency to _maintain it. Their title-deeds to Canaan they set up in sight of heaven and earth; and 1f afterwar<l they shouid be disobedient, the very stones of the land would cry out againHt them. I. AN OBEDIF.NT SPIRIT DELIGHTS TO EXALT AND PERPETUATE GoD'B LAW, Moses, instructed by God, was a wise observer of human nature; hence he engages the co- operation of the people in proclaiming the Law in the first flush of conquest. The first stones they touched with their feet on the other side Jordan were to be consecrated to the service of God's Law. Deficient in tools, they were not expected to grave them in stone, but to write them on plaster. '!.'his could be expeditiously done, and might serve to remind them how easily were the Divine commands effaced from human CU, XXVlt. 1-26.j Tm; BOO!<: OF DEUTERONOMY. 425