BEFORE CHRIST 1490. a ver. 18. Lev. 23. 10. Deut. 7. 1. b Lev. 1. 2, 3. ⚫ Lev. 7. 16. & 22. 18, 21. + Heb. separating. Lev. 27. 2. 12, 36. NUMBERS XV. Laws of the meat offering, &c.-Sins of Ignorance. 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you, peace offerings unto the LORD: 9 Then shall he bring m with a bullock a meat offering of three tenth deals of flour mingled with half an hin of oil. 10 And thou shalt bring [3 And will make an for a drink offering half an offering by fire unto the hin of wine, for an offering LORD, a burnt offering, or made by fire, of a sweet a sacrifice in performing savour unto the LORD. n Thus shall it bech. 28. offering, or in your solemn done for one bullock, or feasts, to make a sweet for one ram, or for a lamb, a vow, or in a freewill d Lev. 23. 8, Deut. 16. 10. Gen. 8. 21. Exod. 29. 18. 12 According to the 4 Then shall he that number that ye shall preLev. 2. 1. & offereth his offering unto pare, so shall ye do to the LORD bring a meat- every one according to 40. offering of a tenth deal of their number. 6. 14. Exod. 29. Lev. 23. 13. h Lev. 14 10. flour mingled with the 13 All that are born of ch. 28. 5. fourth part of an hin of the country shall do these things after this manner, oil. i ich. 28. 7, 14. 5 And the fourth part in offering an offering made ch. 28. 12, 14. 14 And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto 6 Or for a ram, thou Exod. 12. 49. 7 And for a drink offer- 15 One ordinance shall ver. 29. ing thou shalt offer the be both for you of the ch. 9. 14. third part of an hin of congregation, and also for wine, for a sweet savour the stranger that sojournunto the LORD. eth with you, an ordinance 8 And when thou pre- for ever in your generaparest a bullock for a burnt tions: as ye are, so shall offering, or for a sacrifice the stranger be before the in performing a vow, or LORD. BEFORE CHRIST 1490. P ver. 2. Deut. 26. 1. BEFORE CHRIST 1490. 16 One law and one offering, according to the manner shall be for you, manner, and one kid of and for the stranger that the goats for a sin offer- Or, ordisojourneth with you. 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 18 P Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you, ing. nance. y See Lev. 4. 23. ch. 28. 15. 8. 35. 25 And the priest shall make an atonement for all Ezra 6. 17. & the congregation of the Lev. 4. 20. children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, 19 Then it shall be, a sacrifice made by fire Josh. 5. 11, that, when ye eat of the unto the LORD, and their bread of the land, ye shall sin offering before the offer up an heave offering LORD, for their ignorance: unto the LORD. 26 And it shall be for20 Ye shall offer up a given all the congregation Prov. 3. 9, 10. cake of the first of your of the children of Israel, dough for an heave offer- and the stranger that soLev. 2. 14. ing as ye do the heave journeth among them; seeoffering of the threshing- ing all the people were in floor, so shall ye heave it. 12. Deut. 26. 2, 10. & 23. 10, 16. Lev. 4. 2. "Lev. 4. 13. S 21 Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering ignorance. a 28. 27 And if any soul Lev. 4. 27, in your generations.] of the first year for a sin erred, and not observed 28 And the priest shall ↳ Lev. 4. 35. which the LORD hath spo- the soul that sinneth igno- с 23 Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, 29 Ye shall have one ver. 15. and henceforward among law for him that + sinneth + Heb. doth. your generations; through ignorance, both for 24 Then it shall be, " if him that is born among ought be committed by the children of Israel, and + Heb. from ignorance without the for the stranger that soknowledge of the congre- journeth among them. gation, that all the congre- 30 But the soul that a Deut. 17. gation shall offer one young doeth ought presumptu- Ps. 19. 13. bullock for a burnt offer- ously, whether he be born 1 pt. 2016 ing, for a sweet savour in the land, or a stranger, I ver. 8, 9, 10. unto the LORD, with his the same reproacheth the meat offering, and his drink LORD; and that soul shall BEFORE CHRIST 1490. 2 Sam. 12.9. be cut off from among his died; as the LORD com- 31 Because he hath de- 37 And the LORD f Lev. 5. 1. Ezek. 18. 20. g Exod. 31. 14, 15. & 35. 2, 3. 32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. BEFORE CHRIST 1490. 'them that they make them Deut. 22. 12. 39 And it shall be unto 33 And they that you for a fringe, that ye found him gathering sticks may look upon it, and rebrought him unto Moses member all the commandand Aaron, and unto all ments of the LORD, and the congregation. do them; and that ye 34 And they put him seek not after your own See Deut. ↳ Lev. 24. 12. hin ward, because it was heart and your own eyes, Job 31. 7. not declared what should after which ye use to go be done to him. a whoring: i Exod. 31. 14, 15. 35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man 40 That ye may remem ber, and do all my shall be surely put to mandments, and be 0 com holy 29. 19. Ezek. 6.9. Jer. 9. 14. * Ps. 73. 27. & 106. 39. James 4. 4. Lev. 11. 44, 45. Rom. 12. 1. Col. 1. 22. Lev 24. 14. tion shall stone him with 41 I am the LORD your Pet. 1. 15, stones without the camp. God, which brought you 1 Kings 21. 13. Acts 7. 58. 36 And all the congre- out of the land of Egypt, 16. PRAYER. LET US PRAY, that we be encouraged by the promises, as well as warned by the threatenings of revelation. That we daily so increase in the knowledge of God, and in the power of His grace, that we avoid alike the sins of negligence, carelessness, and presumption. That we love, observe, and value the rest and peace of the Lord's day, as our earnest of the future rest in heaven; and that we learn from the visible to remember the invisible. ALMIGHTY GOD, who didst lead Thy people in the olden time through the wilderness, and didst give them the exceeding great and precious promises that they should inherit the land of their fathers, but who swaredst in Thy wrath when they rebelled against Thee, that they should not enter into that rest; so give Thy grace to us who read the story of Thy providence in the fulfilment of Thy promises and of Thy threatenings, that we be daily encouraged to proceed in our course through earth to heaven, and be daily warned by the judgments which punished the transgressions of Thy people Israel. As the pillar of cloud and of fire was light to Thy people, but darkness to the Egyptians, so may we look upon all the declarations of Thy holy word as the light of promise to Thy friends, and as the darkness of threatening to Thine enemies. We thank Thee for the knowledge of Thy will, and for the promises of Thy grace and Holy Spirit upon all who receive Thy word in faith and fear. Increase the knowledge of Thy works and ways within us. Give us the power of Thy grace. Pardon all our sins, negligences, and ignorances; and keep back Thy servants from presumptuous sins, lest they get the dominion over the thoughts of our hearts, the actions of our lives, and the words of our lips, and lead us to the misery of despair, or the boldness of apostasy from Thy service. Give us true repentance, and Thy Holy Spirit. Enable us to persevere in the paths of faith and of love, of obedience and of hope. We have sinned wilfully against the light of Thy Word, the knowledge of Thy truth, the warnings of our conscience, and the strivings of Thy Holy Spirit. But we believe that Thou hast given Thy Son Jesus Christ to be the propitiation for all our sins, for all the sins from which Thy servants of the olden time could not be justified by the law of Moses. We thank Thee for the promise. We believe the promise, that though we have sinned against Thee, though the remembrance of our transgressions is grievous, and the burden of them is intolerable, we have an Advocate with Thee, our Father; and that the Advocate who shall intercede for us with Thee is the Propitiation for the sins we confess. In His name we pray Thee to pardon the past, to keep us from present evil, to guide us to future glory. And that we may ever remember the promises of Thy pardon to those who repent and believe the Gospel, and the threatenings of Thy judgments to those who repent not; grant us Thy grace to love the courts of Thy house, to observe the ordinances of Thy Sabbath as our duty, and to value the Lord's Day as the day of our rest from the employments, the pleasures, and the pursuits of the world. May we esteem communion with Thee to be the best privilege of a Christian, and the earnest here on earth of that state in our immortality beyond the grave, where, though we rest not from the gracious employment of praise for Thy mercies through Jesus Christ our Saviour, we shall for ever rest from the power of temptation, the sorrows of life, the anxious cares, the corroding fears, and all the sins that now so easily beset us, and grieve our own heart, and offend our merciful God. O prepare us for that day, prepare us for the rest which remaineth for the people of God. May the peace of God rule within us. May that power and comfort of the Holy Spirit, which is the earnest, the pledge, and the first-fruit of heaven, be to us, even now, while we still live upon earth, the beginning of the glory of the world to come within us. And as Thy servants, to whom the knowledge of Thy Sabbaths was given in the ancient days, were commanded to wear the colour of the blue sky which was above them, on the border of their garments, as their perpetual memorial of the commandments of the God of heaven, so enable us, whenever we gaze with admiration and wonder upon the blue heaven, the work of Thy hand above us, to remember Thee, the Creator of the universe, and the Father of the souls of men, whom Thou hast invited and commanded to prepare to dwell for ever with Thee. When we look up to heaven, may we remember Christ our Lord who has returned to heaven, and commanded us in heart and mind thither to ascend, and with Him continually dwell. When we look up to heaven, may we welcome more anxiously in our hearts the influences of that Holy Spirit, which cometh down from heaven, to enable us to possess that better inheritance, as the fellow-citizens with the household of God, and as the partakers of the Divine nature. Have mercy upon us, O Lord our God, and bless us now and for ever outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls. We ask all, not in our own name, but in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, our only Lord and Saviour; and in His words we call upon Thee as Our Father, &c. The grace of our Lord, &c. SECTION CLIII. NUMBERS XVI. 1—40. TITLE.-Controversies among Christians would be fewer, if truths which seem to clash were reconciled, and not opposed to each other. Every Christian may, as a friend, exhort and reprove his friends; but no man may speak in the name of the Church, unless the Church give him authority to do so. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, oppose the government and priesthood of Moses and Aaron. Impossibility of falsehood in the Mosaic narrative. Moses appeals to the certainty of miraculous interference. The destruction of the rebellious princes by the opening of the earth, and its closing upon them, by no possible natural cause. INTRODUCTION.-The controversies of Christians are injurious to their holy religion; and one great cause of their controversies is, their not remembering that a part of the truth ought never to be taken for the whole; and that truth may be defined'; the uniting into one Faith all the propositions which are true in themselves, though they seem, at first sight, to clash with each other. The foreknowledge of God, for instance, is as undeniable as the responsibility of man. If both these truths are believed, though the union of the two never can be comprehended, the two great sections, or divisions, among Christians, who build two opposite systems upon the two seemingly, but not really, clashing truths, would cease to contend together. So it is with the questions relating to the commission to the authorized teacher alone, that he should reprove, rebuke, and exhort; and the privilege of the most humble Christian, that he should deem it to be his duty to remind his thoughtless and heedless friend, that Divine Revelation is true, that Christ is the Saviour of sinners, and that the soul is accountable and immortal. As a friend, who sees the health of his brother beginning to decline, may submit to him, in kindness and in charity, the advice which he believes may restore him, though he has not received the requisite authority to prescribe the remedies for the diseases which afflict the public, as if he were the commissioned physician of the body; so it is that the most humble Christian is permitted and required to say to his thoughtless or careless friend and brother, 66 Revelation is true, the soul is immortal, Christ is the Saviour and the Friend of men," though the same humble Christian is not authorized, and is, therefore, not permitted, to speak in the name of the Church; 1 ̓Αλήθειά ἐστιν ἡ ὀρθὴ δόξη τοῦ ὄντος. |