"these ebeep" bad not gone &&tray. We are not certain whether they bad indulged in feelings of pride in the strength of Israel, and so were virtually one with their king in the sin of numbering; but we know that they had sinned in the revolt of Abaalom and Sheba, and the anger of the Lord against Israel may, ae we have sl!en (vers. 1-9) be referred to those acts. The fact that they had not been chastised for eo great a si~ ie manifest, so fat- && the history is any guide, though, if Absalom's sin deserved speoiaJ. visitation on him, theirs equally deserved a visitation on themselves. The sense of the whole history, therefore, is that God wa.ited, and ma.de the occasion of the new sin of their king the opportunity of visiting them with stripes while visiting him with stripes for bis own. Indeed, the severity of his chastisement lay much in this, that he was the instrument.a.I occasion of their woe. By one pestilence the double chastisement was secured. Philosophy has dwelt much on the" la.w of paroimony" in nature. It seems also to run through m&ny providentie.J dispensa.tions in relation to man, By the Flood God punished wicked men and set forth his faithfulness to the righteous. The institu- tion of the Hebrew ritual both educated men in spiritual conceptions, and kept them distinct from the nations for the ulterior purpose of Christ's coming. The sacrifice of Christ is at the same time an objective ground of forgiveness, and the most impressive source of morel influence in winning men over to God. There are manifold forms of the same law in daily life. Vere. 18--25.-The facts are: 1. The Seer G&d having directed David to rear an altar to tho Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah, he proceeds to carry out the instruction. 2. Araunah, observing the approach of David and bis servants, makes obeisance, and desires to know the purport of his visit. 3. Ascertaining that David oesired to buy the threshing-floor .that he might there entreat for the staying of the plague, he generously offers all that was requisite for the sacrifices, and expresses the hope that God might be propitioUB. ,4. But David, not caring to offer to God what cost him nothing, insists on purchasing the place and the oxen required, 5. The offering being presented on the altar, the plague ceases to trouble Israel. . • The way to reconr:i1iation with God a matter of Divine revelation. God had graciously condescended to reveal himself in visible form both to assure David that the plague was more than & mere natural course of disease (ver. 17), and to render an approach to himself more accessible. The chief effect, however, on. David was to deepen his conviction of sin and his pity for his suffering people. His prayer, like that of Moses, was that he might suffer if so be they be set free, It was not till the seer ea.me the next day that David learnt what course to take in order to secure reconcilia- tion, not only for the people, but for himself also, God reveals to man the way of reconciliation. L THIS IS TRUE OF THE GBOUlo"D OF OOB SALVATION IN CHRIST. As surely as the prophet from God informed David as to what was to be do~e in_ order to find favour with God and escape the plague, so surely has God revealed 1n blB Word the fact that through Christ alone do we find favour and eternal life. The work of redemption by the sacrifice of Christ WIMi not discovered by the exercise of human reason. In the desert, when Israel was perishing, God ordained the lifting up of the serpent, and ea.used information of the fact to be given. In our desert life God sent his beloved Son, independently of our !Miking or knowledge, and commissioned his servants to announce the way of salvation. Rea.son may enable us to ascertain the reality of the historic fact, but re&8on could not discover the way of reconciliation. The Apostle Paul declares that he received it not of man, but of God. They do not understand the 11:ospel who imagine that man, ty his learning or reason, could ever find out, apart from special revelation, the only way to God. • II. IT IS TRUE OF THE KE4NS BY WHICH SALVATION BECOMES PERSONAL. Salvation may be spoken of in genera.I terms, and in this sen~e is too often the subject of dis- CUS6ion. But it is, also, a matter of personal expenence, The end for which Christ liv~d and died becomes realized in individual souls, in the form of RCtual forgiveness, restoration to favour, newness of life and progressive holiness. By what means this is to be brought a.bout, so far as our action is concerned, is purely a matter of revelation. It is revealed from heaven to be of faith (Rolil, i, 17), As Chriet was the Gift of God, OIi, XXIV, 1-25,] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUI•:L. 607
eo the revelation tho.t we o.re saved by Christ on condition of our faith is also the gin of God. It wae made known to David that sacrifice would be the ground of pardon, nod that his personal use or application of that to the need of the hour was the meanB of bis obtoining the benefit of it. Tbe place of our faith in our salvation from the plague of sin is not a question of human speculation: it is fixed by him who gave the sacrifice, III. IT IS TRUE OF' OUR INDIVIDUAL APPRECIATION 011' WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY MADE KNOWN. The spiritual bearing of the acts enjoined on David could only be spiritually discerned. That Christ is our great Sacrifice, and that faith is the means by which we are to appropriate it,-these are things plainly revealed in Scripture, and could only bo known as Divine ordinations by special revelation; but they are a dead letter to multi- tudes. We need the revelation of their spiritual bearing to our own souls by the Holy Spirit; and it is only as the Holy Spirit takes of these things pertaining to Christ and reveals them to our individual spirit that we see their force and value their application. Hence a revelation of the matter of revelation is needful to conversion. Hence many read and speak about salvation who never see its real significance or know it as a matter of personal experience. The invisible messenger of God must come to us as truly as the seer came to David, if we are to see his salvation (John iii. 5).