sence in the one hundred and thirty-ninth Psalm, and in Solomon's dedication prayer.

"Behold," says he, "the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee, how much less the house that I have builded." But in Gen. xviii. 20, 21, we read

Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it which is come unto me; and if not, I will know."

I

The reader will easily find numerous similar instances scattered throughout the pages of the Old Testament. have quoted the above merely as examples.

Let us now consider a few of the most important of its utterances, which affirm that God, when he judges men in their individual capacity, will act in conformity with the principles which the enlightened conscience and moral sense in man pronounce to be right.

The very striking narrative which is given in the book of Genesis of Abraham's pleading for Sodom, proves that even in those very early ages eminent saints, such as the father of the faithful, took the same view of the principles on which God would execute judgment as those which I have set forth in the preceding chapter. The reader should observe that the destruction of the cities of the plain is viewed throughout the narrative, not as an act of God's ordinary providence, but as a special judgment on account of the wickedness of their inhabitants, and therefore one in which it would be inconsistent with the Divine character to involve the innocent in the destruction of the guilty. The sacred writer thus describes Abraham's intercession :

"And Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there shall be fifty righteous within the city. Wilt thou consume and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are

therein ? That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake. And Abraham answered, and said, Behold now I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous; wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And the Lord said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty-five," &c., &c. (Gen. xviii. 23—33.)

In this passage we have that sense of justice which is implanted in man's conscience and moral sense, pleading with God, in executing his special judgments, to act in conformity with the principles which they affirm to be just and right, and a firm expression of faith on the part of the Patriarch that He would certainly do so. "That be far from thee," says he, "to slay"-the entire passage shows that the words "to slay" are used to express the idea of slaying judicially—" the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Let it be observed that the sense of justice and rectitude here appealed to is not some high and incomprehensible justice and rectitude, which may differ widely from our human conception of these qualities, but that which is affirmed to be just and righteous by the moral sense and the conscience of man, and that the Patriarch was firmly persuaded that these attributes, which together compose the character of God, bound Him in executing special judgments, such as the one in question, to act in conformity with those principles. I say "special judgments" because it is impossible that Abraham could have been ignorant that God's ordinary providences, such as storms, earthquakes, volcanoes, and the various accidents of

life, are occurrences in which the righteous and the wicked are involved in one common calamity, and no distinction is

made in favour of the former.

But the reason on which he rests his plea is applicable to a far wider class of subjects than the special case referred to. If it is inconsistent with the character of the Judge of all the earth, when He executes special judgments on sinners, to destroy the righteous with the wicked, it is equally inconsistent with it, when He shall judge the world in righteousness, to punish men for the evil in them which is not selfcaused, but which is the result of the conditions of their birth and their surroundings-for not embracing a gospel of which they have never heard, or of which they have only heard an imperfect version-for not living up to a light which they have not possessed; or that He should not take into consideration, in estimating the guilt of an individual, the power of temptation when brought to bear on a nature suited to yield to its seductions. For all these things the fundamental principle involved in the Patriarch's plea is equally valid. That be far from thee, when thou judgest all men according to their works, not to take these things into thy consideration; that be far from thee to punish men for that for which they are not responsible, and to punish them for that for which they only have a qualified as though they had a full responsibility. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Early as was the age of Abraham, he stands in this intercession at a higher moral elevation than any other character in the Old Testament, not even excepting Moses. Moses, it is true, interceded for his own nation in their rebellions, but Abraham for the inhabitants of a place who were both strangers to him and who were sunk in the lowest form of moral corruption. Moses urges for his plea that in destroying the Israelites God would be dishonoured among the Egyptians, who would say that he was unable to fulfil His

promises. Abraham urges as his plea the principles of eternal justice. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Very numerous passages are to be found in the psalmists and the prophets which in the most unqualified terms ascribe justice, holiness, and mercy to God in His capacity of judge. To quote and comment on even a small number of them. would swell this chapter to an undue length. I must, therefore, trust to the reader's recollection, and content myself with referring to the eighteenth chapter of the Prophet Ezekiel, which constitutes the clearest utterance in the Old Testament Scriptures respecting the principles on which God will execute judgment on individuals. Let us, therefore, examine it in detail. Before doing so it is necessary to draw the reader's attention to the fact that the point at issue between the prophet and those with whom he was contending was the equity of God's dealings with mankind. This is expressed in the following words :

"Yet, saith the house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? Therefore will I judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord God" (Ezek. xviii. 29, 30).

In opposition to this charge of injustice the prophet enunciates the principles on which God will execute judgment on men, not in their national, but in their individual capacity. To avoid the necessity of quoting the entire chapter I will state its salient points in the following propositions:

I. God affirms that he has an absolute right to all the services of his creatures, in virtue of their relation to Him as their Creator. "All souls," saith He, "are mine."

II. Death is announced as the penalty of sin in the following words:

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." *

III. "The just man shall surely live." What constituted a just man in the opinion of the prophet is defined as follows:

"But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right, and hath not eaten on the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour's wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman; hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by violence, hath given his bread to the hungry and hath covered the naked with a garment; he that hath not given forth upon usury nor taken increase; that hath withdrawn his hand from iniquity and hath executed true judgment between man and man; hath walked in my statutes and hath kept my judgments he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord God."

Two of the duties here mentioned, viz. "hath not given forth upon usury" nor "taken increase," are not moral duties, but specialities of the Jewish political law, which forbade a Jew to take interest of a Jew, but allowed him to do so of a Gentile. Eating on the mountains was connected with the worship of strange gods. The sins for the commission of which the penalty of death is here threatened are sins which are the opposite of the duties here enumerated.

IV. In executing judgment for the sins of individuals the prophet affirms that God will act in conformity with the

* When death is threatened in the Old Testament as the punishment of sin, numerous passages make it clear that death in its ordinary sense was the thing intended, and that the view of the prophets did not extend beyond it to any consequences with which sin will be attended in the unseen world. But the peculiar emphasis which is laid on the word death, in this chapter, and in other parts of the prophet's writings, suggest the idea that he at least had arrived at the conclusion that sin might be attended with serious consequences to the sinner beyond the grave. Still there is no direct affirmation that it would be so; and it is absurd to suppose that the Jews of this period would understand the threatening in the sense which is attached to it in current popular theology.