of the field and cave of Mnchpclah, There, considerations of personal dignity pre- vented his taking the property ; and he felt that he could not lay his beloved partner down, save in a place which was his by purchase. Here, in the case of David, the feeling is a different one, yet it is in full harmony with the sentiment of the elder patriarch; right religious feeling, the sense of what was due to God, prevented David from offering what was not really his by right of purchase. Personal dignity, and sen- sitiveness to what is befitting, both in social intercourse and in matters of religion, have their appropriate place; and their due cultivation is a part of Christian duty. Some account of the symbolical significance of the burnt offering may fitly explain why David chose this form of sacrifice as appropriate to this occasion. Its central and characteristic meaning may be thus expressed in the words of Ewald : " In this, man's share in the consumption of the offering altogether vanished. The sacrificer conse- crated to the Deity alone the enjoyment of the whole, and this not to punish himself, or because he was punished, on account of a special consciousness of guilt by depri- vation of sensuous participation, but rather from free resolve and purest self-denial." Kurtz says, "The burning by fire was the chief point in this class of offering, and marked it as an expression of perpetual obligation to complete, sanctified, self-surrender to Jehovah." The sacrifice was a solemn declaration that the offerer belonged wholly to God, and that he dedicated himself, soul and body, to him, and placed his life at his .disposal. We treat David's burnt offering as a typical religious service, and consider- !. THAT THE VALUE OF ALL RELIGIOUS SERVICE LIES IN THE SPIBIT OF HIM WHO RENDERS IT. A burnt offering is in itself a valueless and unacceptable thing; and so is every act of formal worship. Therefore in the unspiritual days of later Judaism, the prophets, as Isaiah, went so far as to say that God "hated" the mere formalities of religion, and found them a "weariness" to him. All a man's gifts and acts must, like his words, carry a feeling, and express a desire and purpose. A man must utter him- self in his words, or his words will be worthless. And so a man must utter himself in his offerings, sacrifices, and services, or God will say he "cannot away with them." This point may be searchingly applied to our spiritual fitness for present-day services. Still it is true that W,T feeling must be the life of our worship. II. THE BEST THING WE CAN EXPRESS TO GoD IS OUR BELF-DEV0TEMENT. This is the main idea of the burnt offeriug. This is the proper feeling cherished by David, and expressed in his sacrifice. It may be shown as the ultimate 11nd comprehensive demand of St-. Paul, in Rom. xii. 1, "I beseech you .•. that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice." III. SuCH BELF-DEV0TEMENT CAN BE BEST EXPRESSED DY SELF-DENIAL. This David felt, and it led him to refuse to offer to God some one else's self-denial. Ho would havo it to be his own sacrifice, the act of his own self-denial. Show that wh11t is given to Goel should be a man's own, and all the better if it is o. man's own by conscio11s effort, and if to set it aside for God involves some severe self-mastery. Such self-denials carry into expression the soul-feeling which alone is acceptable to God. This subject lends itself to careful applications connected with modern religious worship and duty, It would be the dawn of a glorious d11y for the Church if every man felt as David did that he must utter his soul to God in gifts 11ncl offerings, aml that these must come out of his "own proper good," and carry a noble burden of sclf- denials.-R. T. Ver. 26.-Propitiation. On a subject of so much complexity, it is hardly fitting to raise a full discussion from a merely incidental illustration, especially in view of the fact that this incident is in harmony with the Old Testament conceptions of propitiation, and fuller and clear doctrinal light has since come in the teachings of the 11postlcH. Here we note that David offered himself to God by a sacrifice, as I\ man convictml, penitent, and recovered to a right mind, and cherishing II spirit of full consecration. This offering God was pleased to accept by a symbol of fire, and to make o. ground on which ho could be propitiated. With the distinct understanding thnt we do but touch one side or aspect of a profound and mysterious subject, and that to deal with II part fully recognizes the importance of the other parts which go to make up the whole, wo suggest the consideration of the following points:- 352 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [ea, xu. 1-30.
I. JuDGMENT IS THE DIVINE RECOGJ\'ITION OF A MAN'S WRONG STATE, Carefully dis- tingu(s~ between a man's wrong state of min~ and will, and a wrong act. Both must be evil m the sight of God, but he must consider the wrong state a.s more serious than the wrong act. Judgment, coming as it must in the human and earthly spheres, will al ways seem to us to be the recognition of wrong acts ; but when we come to see the deeper truth, we find it is Divine revelation of man's state, and due punishment of it. This David found out. The plague seemed to be judgment on his wrong act, in ordering the "census." '\Vhen he came to his right mind, he found that it was Divine recoanition of the wilfulness and sdf-glorying out of which the foolish command to take the "census had come. Show that precisely the convictions which God's judgments aim to pro- duce are convictions of inner wrong, heart-evil, sin of will. II. PROPITIATIO~ IS THE OFFERING TO Goo OF A MAN'S STATE RECOVERED TO RIGHT, This is the essence, but, as may be seen in David's example, it may properly find out- ward expression in fitting acts. And this view helps us most materially in our apprehension of the propitiation made by the Lord Jesus Christ. In the light of his spotlessness and sinless obedience, we can see that, standing for man, as man's Repre- sentative and Head, he presented to God man recovered to right. Ill. UPON THE BECOGNITIOY OF MAN'S BIGHT STATE, JUDGMENT CAN BE REMOVED AND THE SENSE OF ACCEPTA~CE GRANTED. Because the end of judgment is evidently reached (for we can only conceive of Divine judgments as revelational and corrective) and mercy may have its free, unhindered path. And it therefore appears that all the humiliations and all the persuasions of the gospel have this for their supreme aim, to bring us men into a right state so that we may actually be represented by the infinitely acceptable Son of God and Son of man. For what Christ pledges on our behalf we are bound actually t.., oe. But this further truth needs to be here stated, that Christ is now working in us, by his Spirit, that right state of mind and heart which he has, in his great sacrifice, pledged us to win.-R. T.