ather's anguish on the
death of his firstborn. But Balak, King of Moab, is prepared to lead his
firstborn to the sacrificial altar if, by so doing, he can secure the
favor of the Highest.

And the answer of the prophet is that the love of God is not for sale.
And, if it _were_ for sale, it could not be purchased by an act of
immolation in which heaven could find no pleasure at all. F. D. Maurice
points out, in one of his letters to R. H. Hutton, that the world has
cherished two ideas of sacrifice. When a man discovers that his life is
out of harmony with the divine Will, he may make a sacrifice by which he
brings his conduct into line with the heavenly ideal. That is the one
view. The other is Balak's. Balak hopes, by offering his child upon the
altar, to bring the divine pleasure into line with his unaltered life.
'All light is in the one idea of sacrifice,' says Maurice, 'and all
darkness in the other. The idea of sacrifice, not as an act of obedience
to the divine will, but as a means of changing that will, is the germ of
every dark superstition.'

Heaven is not to be bought, the prophet told the king. '_He hath shewed
thee, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of thee but to
do justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with thy God?_'

_Equity! Charity! Piety!_

_Do something! Love something! Be something!_

_Do justly! Love mercy! Walk humbly with thy God!_

These, and these alone, are the offerings in which heaven finds delight.

V

I cannot help feeling sorry for the lady in the Scottish church. She
thinks that Balaam's brave reply to Balak is the worst text in the
Bible. And she is not alone. For, in his _Literature and Dogma_, Matthew
Arnold shows that she is the representative of a numerous and powerful
class. 'In our railway stations are hung up,' Matthew Arnold says,
'sheets of Bible texts to catch the eye of the passer-by. And very
profitable admonitions to him they generally are. One, particularly, we
have all seen. It asks the prophet Micah's question: _Wherewith shall I
come before the Lord and bow myself before the high God?_ And it answers
that question with one short quotation from the New Testament: _With the
precious blood of Christ._' Matthew Arnold maintains that this is not
honest. By casting aside the prophet's answer, and substituting another,
the people who arranged the placard ally themselves with the lady in the
Scottish church. They evidently think Balaam's reply