stand upright after God has set you up. I confess that perseverance is an excellent grace; but how shall the sinner, who is enthralled to Satan, free himself from those chains, unless God shall deliver him? Therefore, what Moses lays down as to the gift of perseverance, applies no less to the commencement of conversion; but he only wishes to teach us that, although God should pardon our sins, that blessing would be but transient, unless He should keep us in subjection to His Law. And, in fact, He regenerates by His Spirit unto righteousness all those whose sins he pardons.

8. And thou shalt return1 and obey the voice of the Lord. The copula which Moses here employs is equivalent to the illative particle; for he argues from their certainty of obtaining pardon, that they should not hesitate to return to God, nay, rather that they should set about it with a cheerful and ready mind; and then that they should constantly proceed in the course of obedience. But, when he now requires of the people the perseverance which he had just before declared to be given by God alone, we may at once infer that they deal foolishly who estimate the powers of man by the commands of God. Meanwhile, let us bear in mind this main point, that true conversion is proved by the constant tenor of the life; because we are redeemed, as Zecharias testifies, to this end that we should serve God, our Deliverer, "in holiness and righteousness all the days of our life." (Luke i. 74, 75.)

15. See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;

16. In that I command thee this day to love the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.

17. But if thine heart turn away, so that thou wilt not hear, but shalt be drawn away, and worship other gods, and serve them;

15. Vide, proposui tibi hodie vitam, et bonum, mortem et mal

um.

16. Quando ego præcipio tibi hodie ut diligas Jehovam Deum tuum, 'ut ambules in viis ejus, et custodias præcepta ejus, et statuta ejus, et judicia ejus: ut vivas, et multipliceris, benedicatque tibi Jehova Deus tuus in terra ad quam ingrederis ut possideas eam.

17. Quod si averterit se cor tuum, et non audieris, et impulsus adoraveris Deos alienos, coluerisque eos:

"Return thou therefore," &c.-Lat.

18. I denounce unto you this day, that ye shall surely perish, and that ye shall not prolong your days upon the land whither thou passest over Jordan to go to possess it.

19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live;

20. That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him; (for he is thy life, and the length of thy days;) that thou mayest dwell in the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.

18. Denuntio vobis hodie, pereundo peribitis, non prorogabitis dies super terram ad quam transmisso Jordane pergis, ut possideas eam.

19. Testor contra vos hodie cœlum et terram, quod vitam et mortem proposui, benedictionem et maledictionem: deligas ergo vitam, ut vivas tu, et semen tuum.

20. Diligendo Jehovam Deum tuum, obediendo voci ejus, adhærendo ei: ipse enim est vita tua, et longitudo dierum tuorum, ut habites super terram quam juravit Jehova patribus tuis, Abrahæ, Isaac et Jacob se daturum illis.

15. See, I have set before thee this day. A solemn injunction, similar to the foregoing ones, that the Israelites should consider how inestimable a blessing it was that God should have condescended to deposit His Law with them; and that if they did not receive it with reverence, the punishments for such foul ingratitude would be by no means light. For, in order to deprive them of the pretext of error, He separates them from the heathen nations, which through ignorance of the right way vacillated, as in uncertainty, between life and death. He says, therefore, that He has set before their eyes life, and that indeed connected with true and complete happiness; and likewise death with its consequences. Now, there is no one who, under the guidance of nature, would not seek for life and recoil from death; and thence Moses reproaches them with being more. than senseless if they should plunge voluntarily into all miseries. Meanwhile, he signifies that he is not addressing to them mere idle menaces, but that his doctrine is armed with the power of God, so that whosoever should embrace it would find salvation in it, whilst none would despise it with impunity. The distribution of the two clauses then follows, viz., that the love of God and the keeping of His Law is prescribed that they may live; but if they turn away from it, their destruction is denounced. It is not,

then, without reason that I have called the promises and threats the Sanctions of the Law, because, in order that its authority may be assured to us, it is necessary that both the recompence of obedience, and also the punishment of transgression, should be set before us. By the worship of other gods, he means every revolt from God, as I have observed already. He does not speak of their being "drawn away” to superstition as an excuse for their instability, but rather as an aggravation of their crime, inasmuch as they are carried away by their depraved desires,' and thus desert the truth of God when well acquainted with it.

19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you. Though the verb is in the past tense, it indicates a present act. It is in order to deal with them with greater urgency that he calls heaven and earth to witness the vengeance of God. In these words he does not address men and angels, as some tamely expound it, but in amplification attributes sense to things inanimate. I pass this over briefly, because I have2 treated it more fully before; as also what soon afterwards follows about life and death. For the Law, as respects its doctrine, contains in it life and death; for the reward of eternal life is not promised in it in vain; but since no one is found worthy of the promised reward, Paul justly teaches that the Law ministers death. Still this is accidental, and proceeds not from any fault in the doctrine, but from the corruption of men. Nevertheless, it is asked how, if the corruption of our nature causes that the Law should engender nothing but death, Moses commands us to "choose life," which the sinner cannot attain to by it? Thence the Papists uplift their crests, both to extol free-will and to boast of merits; as if Moses did not also testify and proclaim the gratuitous mercy of God, and direct his disciples to Christ in order to seek salvation from Him. When, therefore, he speaks of keeping the Commandments, he does not exclude the two-fold grace of Christ, that believers, being regenerated by the Spirit,3 should aspire to the obedi

2

3

1 Addition in Fr., "comme d'un tourbillon;" as by a whirlpool.

See ante on Deut. iv. 26, p. 270.

"S'adonnent à observer la Loy, et pource qu'ils n'en peuvent venir

ence of righteousness, and at the same time should be reconciled freely to God through the forgiveness of their sins. And assuredly, since the same covenant is common to us and to the ancient people, it is not to be doubted but that they "chose life" who of old embraced the doctrine of Moses. At the same time, in so far as his legation was different from the Gospel, he rather insists on the office peculiarly entrusted to him, so that the distinction between Christ and himself might more clearly appear. This is the reason why he more sparingly touches upon justification by faith, whilst he enlarges fully on loving and serving God and fulfilling His Commandments.

Return to the History.

EXODUS, CHAPTER XXXI.

1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2. See, I have called by name Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah :

3. And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship,

4. To devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

5. And in cutting of stones, to set them, and in carving of timber, to work in all manner of workmanship. 6. And I, behold, I have given

1. Loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:

2. Vide, vocavi ex nomine Besaleel filium Uri, filii Hur, e tribu Jehuda :

3. Et replevi eum Spiritu Dei, sapientia et intelligentia, scientia et omni arte,

4. Ad excogitandum quicquid fabrefieri potest ex auro, et argento, et ære:

5. Et in arte gemmaria, ad replendum, et in arte lignaria, ut operetur in omni opere.

6. Et ego ecce constitui cum eo

à bout, qu'ils ne soyent toujours redevables, que leur fautes leurs soyent gratuitement pardonnees;" should devote themselves to the keeping of the Law; and because they could never attain its end, so as not to be always indebted to it, that their faults should be gratuitously pardoned.-Fr.

VOL. III.

T

with him Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan: and in the hearts of all that are wisehearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I have commanded thee;

7. The tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the testimony, and the mercy-seat that is thereupon, and all the furniture of the tabernacle,

8. And the table and his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the altar of incense,

9. And the altar of burnt-offering with all his furniture, and the laver and his foot,

10. And the clothes of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office,

11. And the anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place: according to all that I have commanded thee shall they do.

Aholiab filium Ahisamach e tribu Dan, et in corde omnis sapientis corde, dedi sapientiam, ut faciant quæcunque præcepi tibi :

7. Tabernaculum Ecclesiæ, et arcam testimonii, et propitiatorium quod est super eam, et omnia vasa tabernaculi,

8. Et mensam et vasa ejus: et candelabrum mundum, et omnia vasa ejus, et altare suffimenti,

9. Et altare holocausti, et omnia vasa ejus, et concham et basin ejus,

10. Et vestes ministerii, et vestes sanctitatis ipsi Aharon sacerdoti, et vestes filiorum ejus, ut sacerdotio fungantur.

11. Et oleum unctionis, et suffimentum aromaticum pro sanctuario juxta omnia quæ præcepi tibi faci

ent.

2. See, I have called by name Bezaleel. In the remainder of this work we shall follow the course of the HISTORY to the end of Deuteronomy, where the death of Moses himself is recorded.

Although God had omitted nothing which related to the form of the tabernacle, but had accurately prescribed every thing that was to be done, still the actual difficulty of the work might have overwhelmed both Moses and the whole people with despair; for this was no ordinary work, or one on which the most skilful artificers might exercise their ingenuity, but a marvellous structure, the pattern of which had been shewn on the Mount, so that it might seem incredible that any mortals should be able by their art to compass what God had commanded. Besides, they had been. entirely engaged in servile tasks in Egypt, such as would extinguish all intellectual vigour, and prevent them from aspiring to any liberal arts. Hence we gather that all, who obediently follow God's voice, are never destitute of His aid. In all our difficulties, then, let this prayer encourage us to