The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Chronicles — Section 371

plGUon the work of the former. Yet whe.t seem to us to be contrasts rnav seem to God to be relations, the one becoming e.n actual preparation for the other. 'There are times when the work of God in the world needs the men of battle-the Davids and the W ellingtons; e.nd there a.re other times when God needs the men of rest-the Solomoos e.nd the G!adstones. It may be well to show what gracious work for the well-beino- of mankind has always been done in times of peace e.nd by men of peace. And yet s~ch times he.ve their peril, and round again comes the necessity for the rougher a"'es of conflict and intenser feeling. These points may be dealt with under several headin"s. Before presenting these, a few sentences from F. W. Robertson's lecture on W ord~wor~h may be given, as suggestive of the mission of the men of rest. He says, "I will remark that Wordsworth's was a life of contemplation, not of action, and therein differed from Arnold's of Rugby. Arnold is the type of English action; Wordsworth is the type of English thought. If you look at the portraits of the two men, you will distinguish the difference. In one there is concentrativeness, energy, proclaimed; in the eye of the other there is vacancy, dreaminess. The life of Wordsworth was the life of a recluse. In these days it is the fashion to talk of the dignity of work as the one sole aim and end of human life, and foremost in proclaiming this as a great troth we find Thomas Carlyle. . . . In opposition to this, I believe that as the vocation of some is naturally work, so the vocation, the Heaven-born voce.tion of others, is naturally contemplation," I. WHAT MAY BE DONE BY .. MEN OF REST" IN THE NATIONAL ORDER? Explain the perilous sentiments, painful conditions, and sense of exhaustion left from war-times. Harvests soon wave again where heroes shed their blood, but the moral condition of a. nation cannot soon be recovered from the evils of war. New sentiments have to be inculcated, and the arts of peace have to be cultivated. Show how much peace-loving men do in our day towards keeping the nations, in their disputes, from seeking the fearful arbitrament of war. Nations ought to thank God more for her great peace- leaders than for her great war-victors. II. WHAT MAY BE DONE DY "MEN OF REST" IN THE SOOIAL SPHERES? In war-times social evils are neglected, and suffered to grow rank, as ill weeds do in the untended garden. And the good things of education and artistic culture, e.nd the right develop- ment of the family life, a.re lightly esteemed. The " men of rest" find out the prevail- ing evils of an age, reveal them in satire, or poetry, or picture, or moral teachings, and devise schemes for national and social reformations. Illustrate from some of the social and educational schemes of the last sixty years of compe.re.tive peace since Waterloo. Recall names of men who he.ve done good social work. III, WHAT MAY DE DONE DY "MEN OF REST" IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD OF' THOUGHT AND LIFE? Apply to Christian doctrine, Men have framed doctrinal schemes in times of conflict-<lontlict of opinions and conflict of nations-and the man does an infinite good to Christian thought who, only in small degrees, relieves from Christian doctrine the mischievous war associations, e.nd puts in their place the truer family ones. But we may apply also to Christian worship and Christian life. Mystical and spiritual insight of the fuller truth is given only to the "men of rest." Solomon's times remind us the.t peaceful ages have their own perils, and peaceful men their own tempta- tions.-R. T, Ver. 10.-Early signs of the filial, relatioo; God gathers up into one expressive, sug- gestive, and satisfying term the relation in which he would stand to Solomon. That torm could be no other than Father-" And I will be his Father;" "He shall be my son." The revelation of the Divine fatherhood was the distinctive mission of Christ, The commendation of the filial spirit was the special duty of the apostles. These may be illustrated as introductory to the subject on which we now more particularly dwell; which is, the Old Testament indications of the fatherhood of God and sonship of men. It must be admitted that the term Father as applied to God in the Old Testament is only a fiaure of speech, designed to bring out and express God's affectionate interest in his people; and the Lord Jesus Christ, by his own sonship and teaching, brought to Jiaht those comprehensive, inspiring, and ennobling views of the Divine fatherhood which we now know and properly regard as characteristically Christiau. 'l'he figure of G0d :is a Father wa.~ an ri.id to the complete apprehension of God, but it is izow the one 3i2 THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [cu. xxu. 1-19.