oeptatlon : *' I know that thou canst do everything." (Job xlii. 2.) Jesus is ''able to save to the uttermost/'
We see, lastly, in these yerses, the right observance of the Sabbath Day asserted and defended by our Lord Jeeus Christ, The ruler of the synagogue in which the infirm woman was healed, found fault with her as a breaker of the Sabbath. He drew down upon himself a stem but just rebuke : ''Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to watering P" If it was allowable to attend to the wants of beasts on the Sabbath, how much more to human creatures ! If it was no breach of the fourth commandment to show kindness to oxen and asses, much less to show kindness to a daughter of Abraham.
The principle here laid down by ourLord is the same that we find elsewhere in the Gospels. He teaches us that tiie command to " do no work" on the Sabbath, was not intended to prohibit works of necessity and mercy. The Sabbath was made for man's benefit, and not for his hurt. It was appointed to promote man's best and highest in* terests, and not to debar him of anything that is really for his good. It requires nothing but what is reasonable and wise. It forbids nothing that is really necessary to man's comfort.
Let us pray for a right understanding of the law of the Sabbath. Of all the commandments that God has given, none is more essential to the happiness of man, and none is so frequently misrepresented, abused, and trampled under foot. Let us lay down for ourselves two special rules for the observance of the Sabbath. For one thing let us do no work which is not absolutely needful.