Leviticus 7:1

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"... this is the law." Lev 7:1

We are thankful for definiteness. Again and again this word occurs in the directions given to Moses. Men are not called upon to make any vital laws for themselves. They are called upon to a kind of legislation which is either limited by momentary convenience or is expressive of an eternal law underlying the very constitution of life and society. It would be impossible, for example, to make a. law to steal. Even if the law were laid down in so many words the heart would instantly detect its wickedness, and the spirit of man, inspired by the Almighty, would rise against it in burning rebellion. Here and there a man might be found base enough to avail himself of such a law; but the great human heart would disallow and disavow so wicked a pretence. There will be no difficulty in asserting the law where the mind and the heart are free from prejudice. God always looks for the honest heart, the pure heart, the contrite heart, the broken heart; with such a heart God has no difficulty, every word of his addresses itself instantly to that heart's necessity and pain. We are not at liberty to fix upon isolated lines in the Bible and magnify these into laws; our duty, where anything is wanting in absolute definiteness, is to compare Scripture with Scripture, and to find out the Biblical and spiritual meaning rather than the narrow letter, which by its very narrowness may fail to express the divine purpose. The way to understand the divine law is to discover it in the very spirit of the whole Bible. To find out one line of vital importance it may be necessary to read the whole Scripture through from end to end. Where does the Bible point to two Christs? Where does the Bible justify the worship of two Gods? Where does the Bible encourage the worship of God and Mammon? The Bible is always calling its readers to definiteness Of conviction and preciseness of religious homage. There is nothing merely dogmatic or narrow-minded in this. It may be made dogmatic and narrow-minded by those who pervert divine instructions; but definiteness has no necessary connection with arbitrary dogmatism. The giving of definite instructions saves time; the giving of definite instructions saves the imagination from fruitless wondering and unprofitable speculation. What doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? They who turn religion into a difficulty, or spiritual worship into a metaphysical puzzle, have in them an evil heart of unbelief, and are not to be trusted as teachers of the divine law.