Sayfadaki görseller
PDF
ePub

having been made, we now hear the voice of the Lord proclaiming the great lessons of the decalogue. This is a matter in which we all are deeply interested, for our divine Saviour, so far from abrogating its moral mandates, or teaching that they were no longer binding upon his disciples, has, by his spiritual exposition of them, rendered them, to use David's expression, infinitely more "broad." If, therefore, we desire to know in what measure these directions unto holiness, are obligatory upon ourselves, we must consult the best teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we shall soon learn, that precepts which we might have been contented to understand, as applying simply to our outward actions, carry their restrictions to the inmost thoughts and intents of the soul.

We shall find, that the breach of the commandment, begun and finished in the recesses of the heart, will, if unrepented of, and uncleansed by the blood of Christ, be as surely visited upon us, as the most overt act in which the hands can be engaged. For listen to the words of our divine Teacher: "Ye have heard that it was said by them" (or most probably "to them") "of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment; but I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment." You will observe here, that the sin is shown to begin, where the inclination to it, if unchecked commences, in the heart and in the thoughts; and as it will finally be judged by Him who is as well acquainted with these, as with the outward actions, it cannot possibly escape either de

tection or punishment. So again, "It was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." The sin which had never travelled farther than from the thoughts to the eyes, has reached the throne of an all-seeing God, and is recorded in his book of judgment.

15. Thou shalt not steal.

16. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. 18. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

19. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

20. And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

21. And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

Amidst what wonderful demonstrations of the power and majesty of God, were these commandments promulged, that none might hereafter doubt their divine origin! Yet to a reflecting mind, there is almost as strong internal evidence in the commandments themselves, to this great truth, as could be borne by the thunderings and lightnings of Sinai. For instance, observe in the tenth and last commandment, what is forbidden. No outward act, no visible transgression, no word that could be heard, no deed that could be seen, but a restriction is laid upon the

wishes and desires of the heart: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife," &c. Surely no lawgiver would have issued an ordinance, of the breach of which he never could have been cognizant, for it must have been useless and absurd. And yet where is the human being who could be cognizant of this? The very fact, therefore, that such a law is found in the decalogue-a law which if broken every hour, need, necessarily, never be known, or even suspected upon earth, is of itself almost proof sufficient that the lawgiver was divine, and that he who thus issued a mandate to restrain the most secret workings of our hearts, must Himself be well able to read them; and, as the Psalmist forcibly expresses it, has even our most secret sins in the light of his countenance.

Let, then, no man delude himself by thinking that he can escape the eye of an all-seeing God; still less, let any Christian deceive himself by the vain hope, that the moral law, as expounded by our Lord, is not binding upon him. For if this be the opinion upon which he is acting, and according to which he is now living, whatever he may imagine his faith, his gifts, his graces to be, whatever he may claim of promises of peace and declarations of pardon, whatever he may remember of the past experience of God's love to his soul, let him be assured, that as God is true, and the word of God an everlasting verity, there is but one text, which in his present state is really applicable to himself, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord."

[Here may be read from verse 22, to the end of the Chapter.]

EXPOSITION XLVI.*

CHAP. XXXii. 1-14.

1. And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us: for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

2. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden ear-rings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me.

3. And all the people brake off the golden ear-rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron.

And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf; and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

5. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord.

6. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings: and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

Moses had now been forty days in the mount with the Almighty, receiving the many and important directions respecting the tabernacle, the priesthood and the sacrifices contained in the preceding chapters. The impatience of the Israelites, at what they considered the unnecessarily long absence of their leader, at length burst forth, and produced the first instance of that abominable idolatry, which afterwards, during a period of nearly a thousand years, disgraced this

* Here may be read from chap. xxi. to chap. xxxi. inclusive.

?

highly favoured people, and continually excited the anger and indignation of their God. The sin of Aaron appears to have been as great as that of the rest of the congregation; for we find that when they cried unto him, "Make us gods," instead of expostulating with them, or refusing them, he most inconsistently yielded to their entreaties, made them a molten calf, no doubt in imitation of the Egyptian Apis or Osiris, and having done this, "built an altar before it, and made a proclamation, and said, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord."

It would appear from these words of Aaron, that, however guilty, as he most assuredly was, of a direct breach of the commandments which they had just heard from the mouth of God himself, he had no intention of exhibiting the calf as a deity to be worshipped in the place of Jehovah, but rather as a symbol of the Almighty; and that great as was his sin, its extent and enormity consisted, not in substituting any other god for the only true God, but in daring, in direct opposition to the word of the Most High, to represent God under any similitude or likeness. Even the Israelites themselves, we are disposed to think, at this commencement of their idolatry, scarcely intended to forsake utterly the wonderful Being, who had led them thus far; for when they proclaimed before the golden calf, "These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt;" it was evident to the meanest capacity in the host, that this calf of yesterday, most assuredly was not, and could not have been, their leader or god during their wonderful exodus; that it was, therefore, at best, only a

« ÖncekiDevam »