a man's soul is in a bad state, when he begins to regard man-made rites and ceremonies, as things of superior importance, and exalts them above the preaching of the Gospel. It is a symptom of spiritual disease. There is mischief within. It is too often the resource of an uneasy conscience. The first steps of apostacy from Protestantism to Komanism have often been in this direction. No wonder that St. Paul said to the Gala- tians, " Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed on you labor in vain." (Gal. iv. 10, 11.)
We see, in the second place, from these verses, the value of a knowledge of holy Scripture.
Our Lord replies to this accusation of the Pharisees by a reference to holy Scripture. He reminds His enemies of the conduct of David, when he " had need and was an hungered." " Have ye never read what David did ?" They could not deny that the writer of the book of Psalms, and the man after God's own heart, was not likely to set a bad example. They knew in fact that he had not turned aside from God's commandment, all the days of his life, " save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." (1 Kings xv. 5.) Yet what had David done ? He had gone into the house of God, when pressed by hunger, and eaten " the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests." * He had thus shown that
* There is some difficulty in this passage in the mention of Abia- thar as " the High Priest." In the book of Samuel it appears that Abimelcch was the High Priest, when the circumstance here referred to took place. (1 Sam. xxi. 6.)
The explanations of this difficulty are various. They are as follows — 1. Beza says that both Abiathar and Abiraelech had each two