The Pulpit Commentary — Deuteronomy — Section 512

Vers. 48-52.-Death a/ud,qment even to the most faithful se,·vants of God. After the solemn nddress to the people, God gives a personal address to Moses. It is about his approaching death. Re is to see the land, but not to enter it, because he sanctified not the Lord at the waters of Meri bah. It raises, therefore, the whole question of death as the portion e,en of the most faithful servants of God. I. IT IS SURELY REMARKABLE THAT, WHEN SAVED THROUGII THE MEROY OF Goo IN (;HRIST, WE DO NOT nECOME IMMORTAL. Salvation seizes on the "spirit, it becomes life through the righteousness of Jesus, but the body is still dead (or mortal) because of ~in (Hom. viii. 10). ,Vhy does salvation take our personality in instalments? save spirit first, and leave the body to the repairs of a resurrection? Can the procedure be Yindicatcd? We think it can. For- 11. IF WE DEC.HIE PHYSICAi.LY IllMORTAL THROUGH THE RECEPTION OF SALVATION, A imnCEJ\ARY ELEMENT WOULD DE INTRODUCED Th"TO OUR MOTIVES, AND MEN WOULD BEEK ~AIXATION TO ESCAPE TIIE PAIN OF DYING. Under the present arrangement, saint as well as sinner has to pass the dark portal. Dying is made the general lot of man, and, if sal'l'ation is desired, it is for spiritual purposes. Just as God does not promise immediate success to our efforts or our prayers, lest we should be tempted to live by ~ight and not by faith. Ill. IT IS NOT DESinABLE TB.AT, WITH PARDON, WE SHOULD ESCAPE ALL BUFFERING FOR OUR SIN. It is a wise arrangement on God's part, even when forgiving sinners, to take ,·en;::eance on our inventions ( Ps. xcix. 8). For suppose that, in praying for pardon, \\"C escaped all physical consequences of our sin, the result would be that pardon would be used as a great physical agent and factor, and the physical escape would be more thought upon than the spiritual. It is better, therefore, that things should take their course so far as the body is concerned, and that, meanwhile, the spirit should be the chief recipient of the benefit. God does not take the seeds of mortality, therefore, out of our bodies : he leaves them there as sin's own work; and he gives us the earnest of complete redemption in the resurrection and emancipation of our spirits. IV. IT JS A SPLENDID TEST OF OUB l,'AITH IN Goo TO BE ASKED TO Dm. For up to the hour of death, ,rn have found persons and things to lean upon in a measure; we have not as yet been left to lean on God alone. But when death comes, we are forced to lean on God only, if we are to have any support at all. God says," Can Y.OU trust rue even ·when I take away your physical life?" "'!'hough be slay mo," said Job, " y~t will I trust in him." Death brings us all to this test, and happy are we if we reach the same assurance. "The real is but the half of lifo; it needl The ideal to make a perfect whole; The sphere of sense is incomplete, and pleads 'fhe closer uniou with the sphere of soul • • • • "Then Jet us, passing o'er life's fragile arch, • Regard it as a means, aud not an end: As but the path of faith on wl.ticl.t we march To where all glories of our being tend." R.M.E. Vers. 1-6.-God's vicegerent as poet. Tho true poet is God's messenger. He that ■inge not of truth and goodnessis not a genuine poet ; he is but a rhymester. As en. xnu. 1-52.] 'l'IIE IlOOK OF DEUTf<:TIONOMY.