not meant to forbid showing kindness on the Sabbath to the afflicted, or attending to the wants of the sick. We may drive in a carriage to minister comfort to the dying. We may stay away from pubKc worship, in order to fetch a doctgr, or be useful in a sick room. We may visit the fatherless and widow in trouble. We may preach, and teach, and instruct the ignorant. These are works of mercy. We may do them, and yet keep the Sabbaith holy. They are not breaches of God's law.
One thing, however, we must carefully remember. We must take heed that we do not abuse the liberty which Christ has given us. It is in this direction that our danger chiefly lies in modem times. There is little risk of our conmiitting the error of the Pharisees, and keeping the Sabbath more strictly than God intended. The thing to be feared is the general disposition to neglect the Sabbath, and to* rob it of that honour which it ought to receive. Let us take heed to ourselves in this matter. Let us beware of making God's day a day for visiting, feasting, journeying, and pleasure parties. These are not JJol^ or L^, wLver . »lf.^ed and unbelieving world may say. The person who spends his Sundays in such ways as these, is sinning a great sin, and proving himself entirely imprepared for the great rest in heaven.
We are taught, secondly, in these verses, ihe perfect knowledge that our Lord Jems Christ possesses of men^s thoughts. We see this in the language used about Him, when the Scribes and Pharisees were watching Him. We read that "He knew their thoughts."
Expressions like this are among the many evidences
LTJKBy CHAP. VI. VBK. 6 — 11. 167
of our Lord's divinity. It belongs to God only to read hearts. He who could discern the secret intents and imaginations of others, must have been more than man. No doubt He was man like ourselves in all things, sin only excepted. This we may fireely^ant to the Socinian, who denies the divinity of Christ. The texts the Socinian quotes, in proof of our Lord's manhood, are texts which we believe and hold as fully as himself. But there are other plain texts in Scripture which prove that our Lord was God as well as man. Of such texts the passage before us is one. It shows that Jesus was " God over all blessed for ever." (Bom. ix. 6.)
Let the remembrance of our Lord's perfect know- ledge always exercise a humbling influence upon our souls. How many vain thoughts, and worldly imagina- tions, pass through our minds every hour, which man's eye never sees ! What are our own thoughts at this moment P What have they been this very day, while we have been reading, or listening to this passage of Scripture? Would they bear public examination P Should we like others to know all that passes in our inner man P These are serious questions, and deserve serious answers. Whatever we may think of them, it is a certain fact that Jesus Christ is hourly reading our hearts. Truly we ought to humble ourselves before Him, and cry daily, "Who can tell how oft he offend- ethP" — "Cleanse thou me from secret faults." — "God be merciful to me a sinner ! "
We are taught, lastly, in these verses, the nature of the first act of faith, when a soul is converted to Ood, The lesson is conveyed to us in a striking manner, by