De. 29 1 THESE are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.

2. And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the great temptations which thine eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders: 4 but the LORD hath not given you an heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day. And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God. And when ye came unto this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, came out against us unto battle, and we smote them: and we took their land, and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of the Manassites. 9 Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do. 10 Ye stand this day all of you before the LORD your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel, your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in the midst of thy camps, from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water: that thou shouldst enter into the covenant of the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day: that he may establish thee this day unto himself for a people, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he spake unto thee, and as he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath; but with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day: (for ye know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt; and how we came through the midst of the nations through which ye passed; and ye have seen their abominations, and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were among them;) lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turneth away this day from the LORD our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood; and it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of mine heart, to destroy the moist with the dry: the LORD will not pardon him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven. And the LORD shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of the law. And the generation to come, your children that shall rise up after you, and the foreigner that shall come from a far land, shall say, (when they see

23 the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses wherewith the LORD hath made it sick; and that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and a burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sódom and Gomorrah, Admah and 24 Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath,) even all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what meaneth the heat of this great 25 anger? Then men shall say, Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their 26 fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt; and went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom he 27 had not given unto them: therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against this land, to 28 bring upon it all the curse that is written in this book: and the LORD rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as at this day.

The threefold division of the addresses of Moses has been thus far recognized in these pages, because generally accepted. It would seem, however, from the introductory words of this twenty-ninth chapter, that the address (including ch. 30) accompanying this final renewal of the covenant “in the land of Moab” was a fourth and entirely distinct address, summarizing and completing the series of reminders and pleadings, so as to give intenser emphasis and force to the covenanting act. B.

The twenty-ninth and thirtieth chapters contain the address of Moses to the people on the solemn renewal of the covenant. The people were now on the borders of the promised land, ready to enter in and take possession of that which God on his side had stipulated. It was fitting therefore that in doing so they should once more on their side recognize the obligations under which they were laid. The renewal of the covenant in the land of Moab did not consist in any revision or alteration of stipulations, nor in a repetition of the sacrifices and the blood sprinkling with which the compact was ratified at Sinai. These acts remained still valid, and all that was necessary was a declaration on the part of God that his promises and purposes toward them still continued in force; and on the part of the people a new and solemn profession of their duties, and a vow to discharge them. This it was the more incumbent on them to make, and on Moses to require, because thus far, as Moses had reminded them, they had repeatedly broken their engagements to God.

After making appeal to God’s past mercies (verses 1-9), Moses summons the people to pledge themselves anew to the covenant (verses 10-15), denouncing once more rejection of them by God in case of their apostasy (verses 16-28); but promising restoration upon their repentance (30:1-10). Finally he solemnly sets before them the blessing and the curse, and adjures them to seek the blessing. Espin.—In these two chapters Moses seems to gather up all the moral forces of the nation’s history into one fervent appeal to induce obedience and to press the people to most earnest consecration to the Lord their God. The great mercies of God upon them and their fathers on the one hand coupled with largest promises of good hereafter; on the other hand, the fearful curses impending over disobedience, are spread out to their view: life on the one hand, death on the other, awaiting their choice, pending upon their decision, sure to come according to their free election of the one course or the other. How are these moral forces made to culminate and press upon the conscience of the whole people! H. C.

The covenant which the Lord had made with Israel in Horeb is now solemnly renewed or confirmed; and thereby the new generation, about to enter Canaan, placed in a similar position with the old, to whom that duty had first been committed. But as the words of Moses refer entirely to the covenant already made, there is no need of any further sacrifices, or of any renewal of promises on the part of the people, but only a solemn confirmation of the Lord’s blessing on the obedient, and his curse on the disobedient. Gerl.—God invites them to a renewal of the sacred covenant. Another chance was given them for spiritual reformation. Here was the commencement of a new epoch. Again, as in Horeb, God bids for man’s allegiance. He renews his pledge to be in Canaan what he had been in the desert—their special Friend, their God. In this compact all the resources of God were secured to Israel. His power, his glory, his life, his home, were conveyed to them. All was to be theirs; but on one condition—and that condition was a necessity—that they should be loyal and true to him. What a splendid opportunity was there for a new beginning—for a fresh departure! D. D.

1. Beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb. This was not a new covenant in addition to that made at Sinai, but simply a renewal and reaffirmation of that covenant. At Sinai the covenant was, properly speaking, made; sacrifices were then offered, and the people were sprinkled with the sacrificial blood, whereby the covenant was ratified (Ex. 24; cf. Ps. 50: 5); but on the occasion here referred to no sacrifices were offered, for this was merely the recognition of the covenant formerly made as still subsisting.

2-9. Moses addresses the nation as such, and reminds them of their dulness to apprehend the manifestations of God’s grace which had been so abundantly afforded in their past history, in order that he may arouse them to a better state of mind, and stimulate them to hearken to the voice of God in the future. W. L. A.

10-15. Here we have what Lowman calls the original contract of the Hebrew government. Two principles constitute the sum of it—viz.: (1) The maintenance of the worship of one God, in opposition to the prevailing polytheism of the times; and (2) as conducive to this main end, the separation of the Israelites from other nations, so as to prevent the formation of dangerous and corrupting alliances. The general sense of the transaction is plainly to this effect: If the Hebrews would voluntarily receive Jehovah for their king and would honor and worship him as the one true God, in opposition to all idolatry, then, though God as sovereign of the world rules over all the nations of the earth, he would govern the Hebrew nation by laws of his own framing, and would bless it with a more particular and immediate protection. E. C. W.

The covenant was a national engagement, and as such included not only the adults and existing generation, but the little ones, the strangers resident in Israel, the lowest menial servants—that is, all the elements of which the nation was composed, as well as their posterity in coming generations. 12. “That thou shouldest enter into covenant.” The expression in the Hebrew is a strong one, indicating not a mere formal engagement, but a going thoroughly into the covenant. W. L. A.

13. They should be appointed, raised up, established, for a people to him, to observe and obey him, to be devoted to him and dependent on him, and that he should be to them a God, according to the tenor of the covenant made with their fathers, to make them holy, high, and happy. Their fathers are here named, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as examples of piety, which those were to set themselves to imitate who exexpected any benefit from the covenant made with them. A due consideration of the relation we stand in to God as our God, and the obligation we lie under as a people to him, is enough to bring us to all the duties and all the comforts of the covenant. H.

15. A citizen of an empire cannot demean himself as he please. He is bound to consider the well-being of the body politic. Hence Moses affirmed that the covenant made with the elders and officers present was a covenant also made with those not present. Whoever elected to share in the security and triumphs of the nation was bound to share in its obligations. We cannot belong to society and claim exemption from its laws. The individual is bound by the decisions of the nation. D. D.

Renewed Warning of Punishment in Case of Apostasy (verses 16-28).

Verses 16 and 17 are not a parenthesis. There should be a full stop at the end of verse 15. Verse 18 is connected with verse 17. W. L. A.—The sense of the whole passage from verse 16 onward to verse 20 may be exhibited thus: “Ye have seen the abominations of idolatry among the heathen. Do you therefore look diligently that there be no secret idolater among you; a root of bitterness to all about him. Let there be no one, who when he hears the curses of the Law against this sin, flatters himself, saying within himself, ‘All will be well, for I walk unmolested in my own self chosen path;’ and thus acting, not only takes his own fill of sin, but destroys likewise every tempted brother within his reach; for the LORD will not spare him,” etc. Espin.

How dire were the perversities and impenitence of the Israelites, and this in the face of all the mercies which they had experienced and all the miracles which had passed before them. On the strength of these does Moses renew his solemn charge on the people for their obedience, and his threatenings against them should they transgress the covenant of their God—a covenant not confined to those who heard him but extending to posterity, and so to those who were not with him on that day. Their obstinate inclination to the idolatries of the heathen was the root of bitterness, a poison both of deceit and destruction, which first beguiled and led away the nation and then ruined them. Against this he holds out both his menaces and his warnings. T. C.

18. The sinner is here described as one whose heart turns away from his God; there the mischief begins, in the evil heart of unbelief, which inclines men to depart from the living God. H.

—19. The transgressor is intensely selfish. He plots for himself, and thinks only of his comfort. “I shall have peace.” The transgressor is essentially blind. He imagines that although all others may be detected, he shall escape. He sees no immediate danger. He vainly fancies that his evil course is sagacious, and will bring prompt returns of advantage. He leaves God out of the calculation. He lays his plans and carries them as if there were no God. D. D.—He blesses himself in his heart, and says, “I will have peace,” at the very time that God’s curses are being read out to him. Yet his case is not a solitary one. He does no more than men do every day in the teeth of the threatenings of the Bible. Want of consideration and the force of self-will account for this self-deceit. Orr.—There are many who are under the curse of God, and yet bless themselves; but it will soon be found that in blessing themselves, they do but deceive themselves. Those are ripe for ruin, and there is little hope of their repentance, who have made themselves believe that they shall have peace though they go on in a sinful way.

20,21. God’s just severity is here denounced against such a sinner for his impious affront, in saying he should have peace though he went on, so giving the lie to eternal truth. There is scarcely a threatening in all the book of God that sounds more dreadful than this, The Lord shall not pardon him. The days of his reprieve which he abuses will be shortened, and no mercy remembered in the midst of judgment. The anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, which is the fiercest anger, shall smoke against him, like the smoke of a furnace. The curses written shall lie upon him, not only light upon him to terrify him, but abide upon him to sink him to the lowest hell (John 3:36). His name shall be blotted out—that is, he himself shall be cut off, and his memory shall perish with him. He shall be separated unto evil, he shall be cut off from all happiness and all hope of it, and marked out for misery without remedy. And all this according to the curses of the covenant, which are the most fearful curses, being the just revenges of abused grace. H.

How profound is the subtlety of the sinful heart; how perfect is that terrible science of self-deceit by which, from the dawn of reason to the hour of death, we learn to reconcile our worse and our better natures! Surely the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” might well be to us a forbidden tree; for the knowledge of sin has only driven us upon the art of excusing it—the wretched art of supplying apologies for predetermined crime—the fatal power of preserving ourselves in an unbroken dream of imaginary safety from that wrath of God which yet we cannot deny to be expressly “revealed against all ungodliness”—of investing a perilous folly with the air of innocent playfulness—of glossing over darker deeds with the poor pretences of passion and hastiness. W. A. B.

23. The description here is taken from the country around the Dead Sea, to which there is an express allusion in the close of the verse (cf. Gen. 19:23, etc.). As this country, which before had been as the garden of the Lord, became, when the wrath of God was poured upon it, utterly desolate and waste; so should it be with the land of Israel when the plagues and sicknesses threatened were laid on it by the Lord.

24. What meaneth the heat of this great anger? The reply to this question comes in what follows (verses 25-28). It is evident from this that Moses contemplates, and in fact here predicts, a defection, not of individuals or families merely, but of the nation as a whole from the Lord, and the punishment which came in consequence upon the nation. The words from “when they see” (verse 22) to “wrath” (verse 23) are a parenthesis, in which a reason for the main thought is given in a circumstantial clause; and the “say” of verse 22 is resumed by the “say” of verse 24. W. L. A.

25-28. HOW MANIFESTLY, IN THE DESOLATION OF THE HOLY LAND, IS SEEN THE EFFECT OF THE WRATH OF GOD! To this even Volney bears witness. He asks, “From whence proceed such melancholy revolutions? For what cause is the fortune of these countries so strikingly changed? Why are so many cities destroyed? Why is not that ancient population reproduced and perpetuated? A mysterious God exercises his incomprehensible judgments. He has doubtless pronounced a secret curse against the land. He has struck with a curse the present race of men in revenge of past generations.” It is of no use for men to declaim against the possibility of miracles, when there is the standing miracle before our eye, of some superhuman knowledge having forecast three thousand years ago precisely the line along which Hebrew history would move, down till the present day. And as long as our present historical records stand, so long will there remain the confirmation of the precision with which Israel’s Lawgiver, speaking in the name of Jehovah, laid down beforehand the lines along which the Jewish nation should move for thousands of years. When we put together the land and the Book, the work and the Word, and see the correspondence between them, we cannot but say, “This is the finger of God.” C. C.

GREAT TRUTHS PERTAINING TO THE DIVINE REVELATION: THINGS UNREVEALED BELONG TO GOD, THINGS REVEALED TO MAN. THE NEARNESS, CLEARNESS, AND SUFFICIENCY OF REVELATION. THE DIVINE WORD TO BE RECEIVED, PONDERED, AND OBEYED BY THE HEART. BLESSED RESULTS OF THOUGHTFUL, HEARTFELT RECEPTION AND OBEDIENCE.

De. 29 29 THE secret things belong unto the LORD our God : but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

30 11 For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it ? Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldst say, Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it ? But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

32 46 And he said unto them, Set your heart unto all the words which I testify unto you this day ; which ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law. For it is no vain thing for you, because it is your life ; and through this thing ye shall prolong your days upon the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

As an appropriate and emphatic application of all the preceding addresses of Moses, these three passages are taken from among his very last words to Israel. They present certain fundamental and vital truths pertaining to the revealed Word of God. B.

In every realm of thought and fact, and on every side, we are surrounded by things unrevealed. Strange, inscrutable mysteries pervade the spiritual and material universe. There are profound insoluble problems in the being and character of God, and in all the modes and processes and motives of his diverse working. The original and essence of all created being, the principle of physical life and transmutation, the vicissitudes of human interests and events, the reasons of the Divine conduct in His specific dealings throughout the wide realms of Providence and grace, are all alike inscrutable. But it is also a truth that the character of God and his relations to the universe require the existence of mysteries. They are in consonance with his character and essential to his exaltation and government, since they imply and reveal superior power and wisdom. Without them we could not have the evidence of his supremacy and right to rule. Without them, therefore, He could not reasonably demand our worship, obedience, and confidence. For these reasons mysteries exist. Their necessity is founded in the nature and relations of God and man. They are required to exalt His character, to reveal His perfections, to sustain his throne, to justify and exact our worship and submission to his will, to attract and give scope to our faith, and hold us upon the path of holy obedience and endeavor. By propriety and by right, therefore, “secret things belong unto the LORD our God !” B.

God cannot, on account of his incomparable greatness and excellence, bring his plans and operations within the comprehension of his creatures. The finite cannot take in the infinite. We only know in part. But we know. To doubt the possibility of knowing God would lead us straight to universal scepticism. Agnosticism has no logical halting-ground on this side of universal doubt. Hence we venture not beyond the assigned limits of the knowable. We take all that God gives and use it reverentially. At the same time, we recognize a world beyond our ken, of essence and of purpose and of perception, which is God’s alone. Edgar.

The existence of unsolved difficulties acts as a moral test, and aids the development of faith—faith, viz., as a practical principle, believing and trusting in God on the strength of what is revealed, difficulties notwithstanding (John 20 : 29). This gives the key to our duty, in presence of these difficulties. We do not forget : (1) That things once kept secret are now revealed (Col. 1 : 26). (2) That in the course of ages God is ever making his counsels clearer. (3) That it is the privilege and duty of the Church to be always making progress in the knowledge of God’s will, as far as he has chosen to reveal it. Orr.

The class of “secret things” is in God’s keeping. Such confidence have we in the benignity of the Most High, that we anticipate further revelations, yea, an unending series of disclosures; but the time and method of these gradual unveilings God has wisely reserved unto himself. One thing inspires a hope of increased knowledge : we have a Divine promise that what we know not now we shall know hereafter. Compared with the unknown, the known is a speck, an atom, an alphabet only. The universe of knowledge is still beyond us, enticing our inquiry. D. D.

Difficulties of Scripture and theology all arise from our ignorance, and our inability to fathom the mysteries of the Divine nature. We ought to humble our minds before the general consideration, that Divine reasons of state are beyond our ken; that some of God’s attributes may demand a course of government beyond all our expectation; that his wisdom is infallible as his love is immense; and that whatever he ordains or allows is agreeable to the concord of those perfections which we revere and worship J. W. A.

I believe in God and adore him, without attempting to comprehend him. I see him present and acting not only in the permanent government of the universe and in the innermost life of men’s souls, but in the history of human societies, especially in the Old and New Testaments—monuments of the Divine revelation and action by the mediation and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ for the salvation of the human races. I bow before the mysteries of the Bible and the Gospel, and I hold aloof from scientific discussion and solutions by which men have attempted to explain them. Guizot.—As there is a foolish wisdom, so there is a wise ignorance in not prying into God’s ark—not inquiring into things not revealed. I would fain know all that I need, and all that I may : I leave God’s secrets to himself. It is happy for me that God makes me of his court, though not of his council. Bp. H.

A revelation having nothing to reveal beyond the scope of man’s knowledge and science, would cease to be a Divine revelation. Its mysteries are witnesses of its divinity, and I should cease to believe in revelation were the mysteries not there. They have, as in the great book of nature, a clear and a dark page. Frederick III.—He laboreth in vain who shall endeavor to draw down heavenly mysteries to human reason; it rather becomes us to bring our reason to the adorable throne of Divine truth. Bacon.

In the concerns of human life there is a path that is secret, and a path that is revealed. Life may be considered either as a series of events and circumstances ordained and managed by infinite wisdom, or as a course of actions left to the determination of human choice. Considered in the first point of view there is nothing more obscure, nothing more hidden from our knowledge, than human life; but in the other, as a set of actions and a course of behavior, there is nothing more plain, for we have rules and motives that on every occasion ought to influence us. The matter of life is obscure; but the morality of life is plain and intelligible. Nothing is more profound than that darkness which covers every step of our path. We know not what a day will bring forth, nor the consequences of our actions; for it is said, “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou knowest not which shall prosper, this or that.” Providence is showing us that there is an unseen hand that changes the scene and darkens the theatre at his pleasure; and thus there is a secret path which belongs to God, while the conduct of life belongs to us. The rules of duty are plain and clear; the issue of events is in the hand of God, because he alone knows them. You know not the time of your death, nor the manner of your death—whether in the midst of life and happiness, or when sunk under a burden of agony and infirmity—whether it will be among your friends, or alone in the wilderness. These things are all sealed up under the hand of God, and placed among his darkest secrets. But you know how to make your death happy; you know what course of life will leave you little to dread; you know the prospect beyond the grave; and you know that Christ says to his disciples, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Thus the Christian knows, in the midst of all the obscurity of his path, whither he goes, “and the Way he knows.” R. Hall.

Mystery is the seal of the infinite, yet benevolence is perpetually present in the Providence which guides human life. We read the love through the mystery, rather than the mystery through the love. Does God keep to himself the secret of germination? On the other hand, he gives us the revelation of golden harvests; the spring kept the secret in her heart, but autumn has filled our barns with plenty. Thus, enough is kept back to prove the power, and enough is given to establish the mercy. To the countless mercies we must recur with thankful hearts when the mysteries dazzle and bewilder our helpless reason. Our own home-life shall witness gratefully to the goodness of God. Thus, while the mysteries hide themselves in light unapproachable, the mercies shall sing to us by day and night, and be unto us as glad promises of still better things to come. J. P.

The Gospel would be a departure from the analogy which exists among all the works of our God, did it only reveal what man had previously conjectured, and were faith employed merely to endorse and register, in silent acquiescence, the rescripts which had been prepared for her by human reason. And even in the sciences of this world, narrow and near as is the field of their labors, there are the same inscrutable yet inevitable difficulties, of which the sceptic complains in religion. We expect it of a cultivated and advanced science, that it should assail and overturn many opinions, which to the first glance of ignorant presumption seem indisputable truths. Though the eye sees no motion, and the foot feels no unsteadiness, and no jarring is perceived within or around us, astronomy comes back to the inquirer with the startling assurance, that, notwithstanding all these seeming evidences to the contrary, the earth on which he reposes is ceaselessly and most rapidly whirling along its trackless path in the heavens; and that, moment by moment, he is borne along through the fields of space with a fearful and inconceivable velocity. And when, from further wanderings, but on better testimony—when from a higher and stranger world, but with fuller evidence and with more indubitable tokens of her veracity, faith comes back, bringing assurances that tally not in all things with our preconceived conjectures, shall she be chidden and blasphemed for the difficulties that arise from our own ignorance? Without the mysteries of the Gospel, revelation would be unlike all the other provinces of human knowledge, and the domains of faith would be dissimilar from all the rest of the handiwork of God. W. R. Williams.

This Gospel of the Christ stands apart, to our thought, from every scheme of philosophy or ethics, from any human scheme of religion. We accept it as coming from the mind and will which fashioned the heavens, and which here have interposed to give direct and inestimable light on matters of immortal concern. If any one asks, “Do you fully comprehend the marvellous facts which you thus affirm?” we cheerfully answer, “Certainly not; any more than we understand life, or mind, the power of the will, or the secret of sunbeams; but we gladly accept them, on what to us is the clear and sure witness of God.” If any one asks, “Are you not staggered, in the faculty of believing, by the story of miracles?” our reply is immediate, “Certainly not; since we recognize in them a Divine power, intervening in history, on an adequate occasion, for a purpose as sublime as are the amazing means employed; and we can no more set limits to that power than we can count the moments of eternity.” Miracles, from God, are intrinsically as credible as is the poem or the picture to which genius gives birth, but which we cannot rival. The only questions which appear to us pertinent concern the ends which they subserve, with the testimony offered for them. Or, if we are asked, “How the Father can be Divine, the Son Divine, and the Spirit Divine, and yet but one God fill the immensities?” our answer is, that the mystery only enhances to our thought the infinite glory, and opens into brighter depths the wonders of that exalted state where what we cannot know on earth shall be revealed to illuminated minds and purified hearts. The mystery in any of the truths of the Gospel is not for us a bar to believing. It is rather an encouragement to such belief; since we do not expect to comprehend God, or to learn from him what is simply commonplace. In accepting such truths we are gratefully conscious of an immediate intellectual contact with the spiritual sphere. From realms inaccessible to lenses or calculations descend upon our minds these high instructions. We seem to ourselves to communicate with the soul from which ours have sprung, and before which extend the shining expanses of truth and of life. The earth becomes sacred, because such revelations have opened above it celestial prospects. The order of history takes its vivid interpretation from the Divine mission central in it; while the premonitions of glory or of gloom which are shot upon responsive spirits from the coming immortality add solemnity to our worship, and the supreme intensity to our life. Storrs.

“THINGS REVEALED BELONG TO US AND OUR CHILDREN” (verse 29).

The “things revealed” include all that is essential to direct and control our conduct so as to secure present peace and ultimate happiness. They comprise everything we need to know concerning our relations to God, to his Law, his providence, and his grace, in the life that now is and the life that is to come. Especially (and this is their pre-eminent aim and value) the whole truth touching our moral alienation from God, the Divine provisions for our recovery from sin in its penalty, impurity, and power, and our restoration to the likeness, the favor, and the fellowship of God—all this needful disclosure is written by infinite love in lines of light upon the pages of the Word Revealed. These hopeful, helpful, inspiring truths are unfolded to our faith simply as facts, which rest upon the clearest, most conclusive evidence. With whatever lies behind these facts neither reason nor faith has aught to do, save reverently and submissively to bow. B.

Those things which God has revealed to us we may know, because God has discovered them to us; and we are bound, with all diligence, to search after the knowledge of them, because they are proposed to us as the rule of our life, and the condition of our happiness. More than God has made known to us of this kind we cannot discover. Only in general, this one thing we may depend upon as certain, that no secret counsel or purpose of God can be contrary to his will revealed in his Word. Upon what conditions God has appointed that men should be happy or miserable, he has clearly and fully revealed to us in his Holy Scriptures; and more than this it is neither necessary nor possible for us to know. S. Clarke.

The purpose of revelation is not to gratify curiosity, but to secure obedience in the successive generations. In other words, it is not speculative, but practical. The objections urged against revelation largely consist in the disappointments of speculative curiosity. Because God did not inform man scientifically about the crecation of the world; because he did not deliver an articulated theological system; because he did not compose a philosophical text-book—therefore this popular, miscellaneous, and discursive book cannot be Divine. But so far from such arguments being valid, they go to substantiate the Divine character of the book. For it is an intensely practical book. It takes up man in the family, and urges him to obey God and try to get his children to obey Him. It reveals God as a Father seeking the obedience and trust of his human children, and inviting them to the heaven of obedience to his commandments. It makes man understand sufficient about God to know the duty and the blessedness of obeying him. Edgar.

We see here the maxim that ought to regulate our zeal with respect to religious truth—namely, to direct it to those things that are revealed, and in proportion to the plainness with which they are revealed. The want of this distinction has been a fruitful source of dispute among Christians, and has furnished much food for hurtful speculation. R. Hall. — And this further shows how unreasonably men object against the mysterious wisdom of the Gospel; since all that the Gospel prescribes to us as our duty is plain and evident: all that is mysterious is on God’s part and relates entirely to the surprising acts of Divine wisdom and mercy in the redemption of the world. As a rule of action, no religion was ever so plain, so calculated upon the principles of reason and nature; so that natural religion itself had never more natural religion in it. If we consider the end proposed to us, and the means used to entitle us to the benefit of it, it grows mysterious, and soars above the reach of human reason; for God has done more for us than reason could teach us to expect, or can now teach us to comprehend. Let us then do our part, which we plainly understand, and let us trust in God that he will do his, though it exceeds the strength of human wisdom to comprehend the length and depth and breadth of that wisdom and mercy which God has manifested to the world through his Son Christ Jesus our Lord. Sherlock.