2d. Sorrow in the world. "_In the world_ ye shall have tribulation." "If they have _persecuted Me_, they will also _persecute you_." "I RECKON that _the sufferings of this present_ time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." "After that _ye have suffered awhile_, make you perfect"--"_ye have need_ of patience"--"ye yourselves know that ye are appointed thereunto." "If we _suffer_ with Him, we shall also reign with Him." "These are they that came out of _great tribulation_, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
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3d. Union. "That they _all may be one_." "He should gather together in _one_ the children of God that are _scattered_ abroad." "That He might reconcile _both_ unto God in ONE body by the cross." And here, again, I would request of my reader to bear in mind that, while there was this beautiful diversity in the character and line of service of the Levites, yet they were _one people_, and that _manifestly_--they were _one_ in _life_, _one_ in standing, _one_ in calling, _one_ in inheritance; and so should it be with Christians _now_. We are not to expect uniformity of opinion on every point, nor yet are we to look for a perfect correspondence in the line of service and development of life; but then the saints should be seen as _one people_--_one_ in worship,[14] _one_ in labor, _one_ in object, _one_ in sympathy; in a word, _one_ in everything that belongs to them in common as the people of God.
[14] I say, _one in worship_; and I would press this point, because at the present day it seems to be a thought in the minds of many that there may be unity in service and at the same time the greatest diversity in worship. I would appeal to the spiritual mind of the Christian reader, and I would ask him, Can this really be? What should we say to a family who would unite, or appear to do so, for the purpose of carrying on their father's work, but who could not, by reason of division, meet around their father's table? Could such unity satisfy a father who loved his children?
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How sadly out of order it would have been for a Levite to call upon one of the uncircumcised of the nations around to assist him in carrying any part of the tabernacle! and yet we hear Christians now justifying and insisting upon the propriety of conduct not less disorderly, viz., calling upon the openly unconverted and profane to put their hands to the Lord's work. Thus we see that the Levites have become scattered, and have forsaken their posts. The Gershonite has refused to carry the curtains because he has become weary of the stranger condition; the Merarite has laid down the boards and sockets because he grew weary of bearing the cross, and the Kohathite has degraded his high and holy office by making it the common property of those who have not authority from God to put their hands thereunto. Thus the name of God is blasphemed among the heathen by us, and we do not "sigh and cry for the abominations" thus practiced, but lift up our heads in proud indifference as if it all were right, and as if the camp of God were moving onward in all heavenly order, under the guidance of the cloud, communicated by the silver trumpets. "My brethren, these things ought not so to be." May we walk more humbly before our God, and, while we mourn over the sad fact that "Overturn, overturn, overturn" has been written by the finger of God upon all human arrangements, let us remember that it is only "_until He come whose right it is_," and then _all_ shall be set right forever, for God, in all things, shall be fully glorified through Jesus Christ.
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Thus, dear reader, have we followed Levi in his course; and oh, what a marvelous course has it been! a course, every step of which displays the visible marks of sovereign grace abounding over man's sin--grace, which led God to stoop from His throne in the heavens to visit "the habitations of cruelty," in order to lift a poor perishing sinner from thence, and bring him, through the purging power of the blood, into a place of marvelous blessing indeed, even into the very tabernacle of God, there to be employed about the instruments of God's house. We have found Levi to have been indeed the one who "was _dead_ and is _alive_ again, who was _lost_ and is found." May we, then, adore the grace that could do such mighty acts! and if we have felt in our hearts the operations of the same grace in delivering us from the death and darkness of Egypt, may we remember that its effects should be to constrain us to live, not unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again. We are now in the wilderness, where we are called to carry the tabernacle. May we cheerfully move onward, "_declaring_ PLAINLY that we seek a country," and anxiously look out for "THE REST THAT REMAINS."