it. The sword of the Spirit was a weapon which they could not resist. They were silenced and put to shame.
Now the conduct of our Lord on this occasion ought to be a pattern to all His people. Our grand reason for our faith, and practice, should always be, " Thus it is written in the Bible." "What saitb the Scripture?" We should endeavor to have the word of God on our side in all debateable questions. We should seek to be able to give a scriptural answer for our behavior in all mat- ters of dispute. We should refer our enemies to the Bible as our rule of conduct. We shall always find a plain text the most powerful argument we can use. In a world like this we must expect our opinions to be attacked, if we serve Christ, and we may be sure that nothing si- lences adversaries so soon as a quotation from Scripture.
Let us however remember, that if we are to use the Bible as our Lord did, we must know it well, and be acquainted with its contents. We must read it diligently, humbly, perse veringly, prayerfully, or we shall never find its texts coming to our aid in the time of need. To use the sword of the Spirit effectually, we must be familiar with it, and have it often in our hands. There is no royal road to the knowledge of the Bible. It does not come to man by intuition. The book must be studied, pondered, prayed over, searched into, and not left always lying on a shelf, or carelessly looked at now and then. It is the students of the Bible, and they only, who will find it a weapon ready to hand in the day of battle.
We see, in the last place, from these verses, the true principle by which all questions about the observance of the Sabbath ought to be decided. " The Sabbath," says our
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Lord, " was made for man, and not man for the Sab- bath."
There is a mine of deep wisdom in those words. They deserve close attention, and the more so because they are not recorded in any Gospel but that of St. Mark. Let us see what they contain.
" The Sabbath was made for man." God made it for Adam in Paradise, and renewed it to Israel on Mount Sinai. It was made for all mankind, not for the Jew only, but for the whole family of Adam. It was made for man's benefit and happiness. It was for the good of his body, the good of his mind, and the good of his soul. It was given to him as a boon and a blessing, and not as a burden. This was the original institution.
But " man was not made for the Sabbath." The ob- servance of the day of God was never meant to be so enforced as to be an injury to his health, or to interfere with his necessary wants. The original command to "keep holy the Sabbath day," was not intended to be so inter- preted as to do harm to his body, or prevent acts of mercy to his fellow-creatures. This was the point that the Pharisees had forgotten, or buried under their traditions.
There is nothing in all this to warrant the rash asser- tion of some, that our Lord has done away with the fourth commandment. On the contrary, He manifestly speaks of the Sabbath day as a privilege and a gift, and only regulates the extent to which its observance should be enforced. He shows that works of necessity and mercy may be done on the Sabbath day ; but He says not a word to justify the notion that Christians need not " remember the day to keep it holy."
Let us be jealous over our own conduct in the matter