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We believe -

I. THAT GOD IS A BEING OF SUPREME BLESSEDNESS. He is the ever-blessed God, the source and fountain of all joy. He who gives such boundless bliss to his creation must be divinely blessed. He could not give what he has not in himself.

II. THAT SOME PART OF HIS JOY HE FINDS IN MAN. What constitutes the happiness of the Supreme? "The Lord will rejoice in his works;" but it is a larger truth that "the Lord taketh pleasure in his people" (Psalm 149:4); that "the Lord's portion is his people" (Deuteronomy 32:9).

III. THAT HIS GOOD PLEASURE IN US IS IN -

1. Our complete but conscious consecration of ourselves. The "offering made by fire" was "of a sweet savour unto the Lord," not as typifying the annihilation of our self, absolute absorption of self in God (the Hindoo theory), but as expressing the offerer's desire to dedicate himself and all that he had to God, - voluntary, conscious devotion.

2. Our self-surrender to his Son our Saviour. That which, above all else, God says to us now is, "This is my beloved Son: hear ye him;" and the initial, essential, decisive step for us to take, in order to give him pleasure, is to "receive," to "believe in," to accept Jesus Christ as Teacher, Saviour, Lord, and Friend.

3. Our conformity to his revealed will, by

(1) reverence (Psalm 147:11);

(2) holy confidence in his pardoning love (Psalm 147:11);

(3) patient endurance of wrong (l Peter 2:20);

(4) generous service of others (Philippians 4:18; Hebrews 13:16). - C.

The first part of this book, which may be called the spiritual statute-book of Israel as the congregation of the Lord, is occupied with the laws of sacrifice, chapters 1-7. The underlying fact is that of sin as separation from God; but the book, as regulating the intercourse between the sinful people and the holy object of their worship, is itself a constituent part of the gracious covenant made with Israel. While it deepens the sense of sin, it provides the means of reconciliation and sanctification, and therefore the laws prescribed, while, as laws, restraining liberty and giving form to religious acts, at the same time embody in themselves the grace of God in the covenant relation between Jehovah and his people.

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KJV: And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.

WEB: He shall tear it by its wings, but shall not divide it apart. The priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.