considemtion or di8tinction. For the jndg- berent sense, and would me.rk the permanonco ment of the Lord, and for oontrovereiea. and stationariness of this chief court. Considering the plainer distinction in the Ver. 10.---0ome ... of your brethren ... lRnguage of ver. 11, there can be no doubt in their oities. These words confirm our thnt the words, "for the judgment of the foregoing note, and point to the appeal cha- Lord," do not intend simply to describe racter of the Jerusalem court. ~ote also godly judgment, but point to dues payable the clear connection of the verse with Deut. to the Lord in some religious aspect: "Render xvii. 8, 10, 11; Exod. xxi. 12-27. Law to Cresar . . . and to God the things that ... commandment, statutes ... jndgments. are God's" (Matt. x.rii. 21 ; Mark xii. 17 ; It might sometimes need to be shown how Luke xx. 25); while the words, "and for the particular commandment flowed from controversies," point to the mutual strifes main and essential la10 ; and the written of the people. When they returned; He- statute is easily distinguishable from those brew, "and they returned." It he.s been judgments, which were more like "judge- proposed to remove this clause so as to matte" law. Ye shall not trespass; Revised begin the next verse with it (and so the Version, more correctly, ye shall not be guilty. Revised Version shows e.s e. clause by Ver. 11.-Amariah. Probably the Ama- itself," And they returned to Jerusalem"), rie.h of 1 Chron. vii. ll. To the priest and, to make this fit the bett.er, the word plainly the sacred co.uses are entrusted. did in the .first line of the verse is changed Zebe.diah is not known elsewhere. Officers into "had." It is, however, possible to (see Exod, v. 10). The Lord shall be with render the clnnse, "And they dwelt in Jeru- the good (s~ eh. xv, S, 4). 1!8.lem," which would make a fe.r more co-
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-11.-The third chapter in Jelwshaphat's career. In this chapter, regarded for the time in the light of a third chapter in the biography of Jehoshaphat, we are enabled to gauge, not altogether unsatisfactorily, his character as respects the measure of right and wrong i □ it, and of good a.nd evil in himself. .And we are reminded that- I. THERE IS SUCH A THIYG, MOST UNDENIABLY, AS THE PEACE OF PRESENT SAFETY, WITHOUT THAT WHICH FLOWS FROM CONSISTENT RECTITUDE, UNFALTERING INTEGRITY, THE J.1'""}.'"Ell .A.PPROV AL OF CONSCIENCE, AND THE CONVICTION OF Goo's OWN APPBOV AL. JI. THERE WAS O1''"E REDEEMING FEATURE IN THE CONDUCT OF JEHOSHAPHAT, A SLE1'"'DER TRIBUTARY THAT MAY COUNT FOR SOMETHING IN THE WHOLE SCENE, VIZ. THE ABSENCE OF ALL PRETENCE OF SELF·DEFEKCE, OF EXCUSE, OF EXTENUATION OF WHAT WAS WRONG, AND EVEN OF REPLY. We do not hear of penitence, of confession, or of repentance in so many words, but this last we certainly do argue from tho fresl:. devotion of Jehoshaphat to the right, and to the religious teaching of his people; and the former two we may infer in tum from this. IlL THERE IS THE SURELY STILL CONTINUING STREAM, FLOWING CALM, FULL, DEEP, OF TH.AT "MERCY WITH GoD" WHICH SUSTAINS A1''"D FEEDS "THE l"EAR" OF HIM IN PLACE OF DESTROYING IT. There are, perhaps, few greater or more striking con- trasts between Divine and human methods than that herein to be noted. If hope is wrecked, practically all in any man's life and character is too certainly wrecked also. The threats, denunciations, immediate and peremptory proceedings of men towards offending fellow-men, even in the clearest cases of wrong possible, work too often either callousness or recklessness. But God's forbearing methods, his pitying compassion, his patient long-suffering, and sweet disposition of "mercy enduring for ever," preserve and just save the continuity of (what is sometimes a very brittle thread) human hope, How much of human life, of reason itself, and of encouragement to moral reformation, depends on this one feature of the Divine administration, this one grand attribute of God I IV. THERE IS A STEADY, CONSISTENT PRESERVING OF TBE PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE AND oF MORAL GOVERNMENT ON THE PART OF GoD. The guilty is not treated as the innocent-" therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord 11 (ver. 2)-or as though innocent. Sometimes there is one solution of the crucial difficulty involved in this, sometimes another. Sometimes the penalty, whatever it may be, is paid, suffering endured, and punishment gone through ; sometimes the " way of escape" is found, and under the pressingness of the case is distinctly provided/or the guilty, but under safeguards which both indicate and sufficiently guarantee the moral aspects necessary, ob. x1x. 1-11.J THE SECOND BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. 233
V. GRIEVOUS FAULTS AND BINS OF THE SERVANTS OF GOD ARE INDEED GRTEV0UI! DLOTB ON TIIEIB ESCUTCHEON j BUT BO FAR FROM SHUTTING UP THEIR WORK FOR GOD, AND SHUTT!l>'G OUT HOPE FROM THEMSELVES, THEY MAY BE MADE, llY WAR;',JNr. AND REPENTA:K0E, THE VERY DATE OF A NEW DEPARTURE OF REDOUBLED DEVOTION. It was manifestly so with Jehoshaphat (vers. 4-11). Except on some such suggestion as is offered above, we must remain in much uncertainty as to why there is no word recorded of the working of the inner thoughts of Jehoshaphat, either as he went wrong, or as he was restored to the ways of righteousness. Very different measure is given us in the disclosures of Scripture in other instances, such e.s that of David and a host besides. But instead of most painful uncertainty (as in the history, for instance, of Solomon and many another man) as to the facts succeeding a fall, the case of Jehoshaphat is not less clear than that of St. Peter, though in matter so different. Jehoshaphat's tears, self-up braidings, confession, and vows are not told. It would have been interesting to know them, and our curiosity is no doubt stimulated by the taci- turnity and remarkable reticence of the historian respecting them. But what is most to the point is communicated in Scripture's own best way. • The king left off to do evil; did not repeat it; learned to do well "again" (ver. 4) himself; with redoubled energy urged the same on the people (vers. 6, 7, 9, 11); and kept a good record, as may be seen in the next and last chapter of his life, to that life's end.