The thirteenth chapter of Leviticus is a fine study for all who are really interested in the condition of the assembly. We cannot attempt to dwell upon it here, but we earnestly commend it to the attention of our brethren. The priest was not to pronounce judgment hastily in any given case. The most patient care was needed lest anyone should be put out as a leper who really was not one, or lest any real case of leprosy should escape. There was to be no haste and no indifference.
It is of the deepest importance to understand the real object, nature, and character of discipline in the Church of God. It is to be feared that they are very little understood. The grand object of discipline is the glory of God as involved in the holiness of His assembly, and the real good of the soul toward whom the discipline is exercised.
And as to the nature and character of discipline, we should ever remember that in order to take part in it according to the mind of Christ, we must make the person's sin our own, and confess it as such before God. It is one thing to stand up in heartless formality and declare one out of the assembly, and it is quite another for the whole assembly to come before God in true brokenness and contrition of heart to put away with tears and confession some evil that could not be gotten rid of in any other way. If there were more of this latter, we should see more divine restoration.