will BUbmlt. The effort to preserve morality in a nation without religious sanction and religious motive is like the attempt to keep alive the flame of a fire, when the fuel from which the flame is derived has been withdrawn. One generation may continue moral; the next will certainly be licentious. "I am the Lord" is a basis of morality which never fails. Ver. 3.-The laws of sulnnissioo (1) to human a.uthority Mid (2) to IIJC'fed ordinancei, for t~ Lord's sa,ke, are enjoined in this verse. 1. 'l'he family is an institution of God's appointment (Gen. I. 28; ii. 24). The com- mand to children to honour their father and mother is distinguished in the Decalogue by a blessing attached to it (Exod. xx. 12; Eph. vi. 2); and a special blessing is bestowed on the house of the Rechabites for obeying it (Jer. xxxv. 18). St. Paul enjoins the observance of the duty, both asan act right in itself and as positively com- manded in God's Law (Eph. vi. 1, 2). The father's duty is "nurture and admonition -0f the Lord" (Eph. vi. 4), including guidance, remonstrance, reproof (1 Sam. ii. 23). By means of this institution the character of every member of the commonwealth is formed, at the moment when alone it is plastic, by the influence beat adapted for taming it to good. Contrast the system adopted by Rousseau for dealing with his children, and the probable results on parents, children, and the State. Cf. the Form -of Solemnization of Matrimony : "Marriage was ordained for the procreation of -children, to be brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord, and to the praise of his holy Name." An analogous position to that of the parent is afterwards held by the civil magistrate in respect to the subject, and by the pastor in respect to a member of his flock. There- fore, in order to carry out the commandment, a man has not only" to love, honour, and succour his father and mother," but also "to honour and obey the queen, and all that are put in authority under her: to submit himself to all his governol'll, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters: to order himself lowly and reverently to all his betters" {Church Catechism). On the other hand, the authorities in the State and in the -Ohurch have their duties also, not now the same as those of the parent towards the child, on account of the changed position of him who was once a child, but nevertheless analoaous to them. So in other cases, wherever men stand in a relation to each other simih~r to that of parent and child, obligations similar to those which bind parents and .children arise. 2. Sabbatical observance appears, at first sight, a small thing to place on a level, as here, with the fifth comm&ndment, or, as in the Decalogue, with the first, second, o.nd third commandments; but when we examine into it closely, we find that this dispro- '.portion does not exist. I. 1TB INSTITUTION. It shares with the ordinance of marriage alone the characteristio of haviag been instituted at the creation of the world. "And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God ,created and made" (Gen. ii. 3). Being coeval with creation, the sabbatical law, like -the marringe law, is of universal obligation on all mankind. II. ITs JEWISH F0nM. The sabbatical law was observed during the period pre- .ceding the Mosaic Law (Exod. xvi. 22-30). For the Jews it took the form given it in the fourth commandment (Exod. xx. 8--11; Dent. v. 12-16) and other Mosaio injunctions (Exod. xxxi. 13, 14; x..xxv. 2, 3; Numb. xv. 32-36). To them it comme- moratod the rest after the Creation aad the rest after the toils of Egypt, while it looked forward to the rest of Canaan while they wandered in the wilderness (Ps. xcv. 11), o.n<l, after they had entered Canaan, to the still further rest of the Messianic kingdom ,(Heb. iv. 8); and it was to be kept with such severity thnt no work at all was to be done upon it, even to the extont of gatliering sticks or lighting a fire. III. ENDS SERVED BY THE JEWISH FonM. 1. It formed a very noticeable distinction ·between the Jews and the neighbouring nations, and so it was a preservative from idolatry. 2. It served, like circumcision, as a symbol constantly reminding them that they were God's people, and should live in accordance with their profession. "More- over also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that the" might k.now'that I am the Lord that sanctify them" (Ezek. xx. 12). • lV. THE CHRISTIAN FORM. Christ declared his lordship over the sabbath day {Matt. 'l'HE BOOK OF LEYITICUS. [cH. XIX. 1-37.
:-.ii. 8), but he did not ex~rcise that_lordship for the purpose of destroying it ae an insti~u- t ion, but merely of adaptmg the primary law of the sabbath to altered circumstances. 'I he Jewish &'lb bath,_ as such (th~t is, in its peculi~ities), ceased to be binding, but the obli- g:ition of sabbatical law contmucd, and the ordmance took a chancred form. By apostolic· authority, as proved by ap~stolic practice, ~h~ Christian ~abbath was kept on the firs11 0