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consummated in Christ, are to be observed and had in reverence, as bearing the stamp of Deity, by men of every age and every clime.

Having delivered these laws to the people, it was his most anxious care to inculcate them on their minds; that, not only during his life, but for ever, they might observe, and keep, and do them.

In order to effect this, he does not stoop to any of the artifice, or superstitious trickery, to which heathen lawgivers in after times have had recourse. But steering a plain and straightforward course, he endeavours to bind his laws upon the hearts of the people, and thus to ensure their observance of them, by representing to them the great goodness of God towards them, the exceeding richness of His promises, and His blessing, if they continued in obedience to Him: and, on the other hand, the dreadful severity of his righteous wrath and indignation, if they turned away from Him. Such is his aim, both in the text, and through the whole of this Book (Deuteronomy), in which the laws and statutes, which had before been delivered to the people, are repeated (as the name of the Book implies), and are in the most solemn and impressive manner urged and enforced upon them. "Now therefore (saith he)

hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I teach you for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." And again," Behold I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Keep therefore and do them for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Then follows the text: and immediately after, he still more strongly urges the same thing," Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but teach them thy sons and thy sons' sons; specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb" (which is the same as Sinai) "and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of Heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness." And again he charges

them, "Take ye good heed unto yourselves, lest ye corrupt yourselves,"..and "lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which He made with you;".." For, (he adds) the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God."

In reference, then, to the Jewish People, there are in the text two particular instances of national greatness brought prominently forward, and particularly insisted on as motives to obedience:

I.—The having God nigh to them :

II. The possessing Laws so excellent.

Let us turn our attention to these points, that we may see the force and fulness of them in their original application.

"What

I. The having God nigh to them. nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon Him for?"-We behold the nearness of God to the Jewish nation at various times, and in various ways.

First-In his choosing them. What were they or their fathers, that He should choose them, and so favor them, and make them His own peculiar people? They are continually taught that it was not for their merits or righteousness' sake, for they were a stiff-necked,

back-sliding, rebellious race; but because the Lord, of His unmerited grace and mercy, "loved them," and "was pleased to make them his people." And on this same subject, Joshua (xxiv, 2) immediately before his death, thus speaks to the assembled children of Israel; "Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham

To this the inspired Psalmist adds his testimony (Ps. xliv, 3), “ They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them."

Secondly-In his bringing them out of Egypt, where they had long been held in cruel bondage: "I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their task masters; for I know their sorrows, and I am come down to deliver them." How marvellously then did He declare His presence among them, when (as we read) He brought them out "by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by

a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors," which he shewed" before their eyes."

Thirdly-In his preserving, guiding, and conducting them in their journeyings; going before them in the pillar of the cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night; dividing the sea before them; feeding them with bread from Heaven, and drawing water for them from the stony rock, to follow them in the dry and thirsty wilderness; sustaining them, and not suffering their clothes to wax old, nor their feet to swell, during the forty years of their wanderings in the desert; giving them, moreover, victory over their many and powerful enemies; and bringing them at length to the border of His Sanctuary.

Fourthly-We see, after this, how near He continued to be to them, by granting them, in the Shechinah, or cloud of Glory, which stood over the ark of the covenant, and the mercy seat, in the Holy of Holies, the permanent manifestation of His divine presence; and also, by means of the Urim and Thummim, giving them direct answers from Heaven, on the presentation of their supplication by the High Priest.

Thus, in a manner which never could be predicated of any other nation, "the Lord their

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