Plagm a'lld prayer. The narrative plainly teaches that this plague was ordained of God for moral ends, and that it was stayed by means of the intercession offored in the manner suited to the age of shadowy sacrifice before the offering of the eternal sacrifice by Christ. l. AFFLICTIVE EVE..,q,rg ARE SOM:ETnt:ES TO BE REGARDED AS DIVIJIE 0HABTISEMENTB, This was true of the event here referred to. No sensible man can doubt it. The only way to get rid of the fact is to regard this portion of Scripture as a. mere superstitious legend-human superstitions being infused into a natural occurrence. The bad logic of this, in the case of one who accepts the supernatural in the incarnation of Christ, is obvious. If God thought fit to deal supernaturally with men at one time, why not at another? In Scripture many afflictive events are set forth in the same light, and we may fairly say that God's government of men has not yet ceased, and that men, especially co::nmu.nities, need discipline as much now as ever. If men are moral beings u.nder ~overnment, and if the order of nature is not beyond the reach and control of God, we have a right to regard the events of Scripture as examples of what God does to the sons of men (1 Cor. L 11). U THERE IS lllOB.E IN THESE EVENTS THAN THE NECESSARY ACTION OF PHYSICAL LAWS. The presence of the angel here shows that there was a special Divine element in the event. 'fhe same is true of other similar events recorded in Scripture. Jn ruodern Divine chastisements of men there may be physical order, but that will not be the interpretation of the moral bearing of the events. There seems to be more than a foreseen coincidence of a chain of physical necessities issuing in an event just at the time when some national or individual sin transpires. Bare prevision of a coincidence that could not be helped is a poor explanation of Divine government. The scriptural idea is the best-that God isfre.e and above and behind all the forces at work, and in some way not revealed and not certainly discoverable by physical science, he does so regulate the succession of physical events as to make them subserve a moral purpose when, in the development of human history, there arises a need of such subservance, We must either admit this, or place God practically outside his own possessions as a helpless spectator, less able to strike in than are we ourselves. The mystery may be great, but it is more mysterious, and certainly more absurd, that there should be such a God deprived of freedom of action. lIL THE REMOVAL OF AFFLICTIVE EVENTS IS OONNE0TED WITII THE WORK OF CHRIBT, '.rhe offering of sacrifice by David was a divinely appointed means of accepting the repentance and homage of the nation. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." This deep spiritual truth was doubtless recognized by all the truly pious of those times. Thus it sets forth the greater truth that the ,;acrifice of Christ is the ground on which God exercises his mercy in forgiving our sins and healing our wounds, The far-reaching benefits of his death deserve more coru;ideration than they commonly get. Thousands enjoy the fruit of his sacrifice who know him not. For all mon he liaR lifted up the curse, so that its pressure is not so great as once it was or might have he.en. Wben the rod is laid by, and the sinful nation or individual is no loll!5er Hmitten, it is for "Christ's sa.ke." cm, XXIV, 1-25,) THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 609
IV, PRAYER IB THE IIUMAN MEANS DY WHIOH OHABTIBEMENTS ARE REMOVED. 0n the bnsis of the sacrifice typical of Christ's dea.th, David's prayer wM accepted a.ad the plague was sta.yed. In like manner Moses in treated for Israel, and David for bis people. The nature of prayer and its place in the Divine government have not changed with years. It is a spiritual power as truly a.s that gravity is a physica.l force. Its exercise according to Scripture, ls not exclusive of the use of personal effort to remove physicai evils, and certainly not exclusive of moral conduct. As a spiritual power, it is part of our endowment, and to be emyloyed along with our other endowments of good sense, prudence, and correctness of life. It does not follow that answer to prayer is a violation of the order of things. We do not know how far God's personal contact with every force in action is or is not pa.rt of the order, and hence we do not know but that bis free energy may so modify the course of events a.s to maintain what seems to us to be natural order, and yet to be the product of his own will. The pointsman on a. railway may suddenly save a. train from destruction without violating the order of na.ture. Who shall say that the watchful energy of the Eternal may not, in answer to our urgent cry, so act as to obviate what otherwise would be a great disaster? "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." It is mighty only as it is the concentrated voice of a "newness of life" lifted up to heaven in the all-prevailin"'0 Name of the Lord Jesus Christ,