fore, will keep in view, as often as he has occasion to explain any of the commandments.
The carnal and spiritual are, however, to be excited by two considerations which are contained in this concluding clause, and are well calculated to enforce obedience to the divine Law The one is that when God is called " The Strong," the force of that appellation requires to be fully expounded to the faithful; because, unappalled by the terrors of the divine menaces, the flesh frequently indulges in the delusive expectation of escaping, in a variety of ways, the wrath of God and his menaced judgments. But when deeply impressed with the awful conviction that God is " The Strong," the sinner will exclaim with David: " Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy face?" [1] The flesh, also, distrusting the promises of God, sometimes magnifies the power of the enemy to such an extent, as to believe itself unable to withstand his assaults; whilst on the contrary, a firm and unshaken faith, which relies confidently on the strength and power of God, animates and confirms the hopes of man: it exclaims with the Psalmist: " The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?" [2]
The second consideration is the jealousy of God. Man is sometimes tempted to think that God, indifferent whether we contemn or observe his Law, takes no concern in human affairs, an error which is the source of the greatest disorders; but when we believe that God is a jealous God, the reflection tends powerfully to restrain us within the limits of our duty towards him. The jealousy attributed to God does not, how ever, imply agitation of mind: it is that divine love and charity by which God will suffer no human creature to resist his sovereign will with impunity, and which "destroys all those who are disloyal to him." [3] The jealousy of God, therefore, is the most impartial justice, the calmness of which is undisturbed by the least commotion, a justice which repudiates as an adulteress the soul which is corrupted by erroneous opinions and criminal passions; and in this jealousy of God, evincing as it does his boundless and incomprehensible goodness towards us, we recognise at once a source of pure and unmixed pleasure. It declares that the soul is his spouse, and what stronger tie of affection, or closer bond of union can bind him to us? God, there fore, when frequently comparing himself to a spouse or husband, he calls himself a jealous God, demonstrates the excess of his love towards us.
The pastor, therefore, will here exhort the faithful, that they should be so warmly interested in promoting the worship and honour of God, as to be said with more propriety to be jealous of, rather than to love him; imitating the example of Elias, who says of himself: " With zeal have I been zealous for the
