theii inability to keep the law of Gori are separated in hie eight from those who eon- temn that law, far as the enst is from the west. Be it ours to feel with David, "rivers of waters run down my eyes, because they keep not thy law" (Pe. cxiL 136), and not as the fool who says in his heart, There is no God (Pa. !iii. 1 ; xiL 12-14).-Y. Vera. 32-36.-The law of the Sabbath: a 80lemn mndi.cati(J'fl,. I. THIS DOOM OF DEATH SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH IN THE SIGHT OF Goo. 1. There was need of something apedal to call attention to this point. Those commandments which concerned himself directly he had to fence in a special way. Commandments against filial impiety, murder, adultery, theft, false witness, covetousness, these con- cerned man directly, and through him they concerned God; man, therefore, might be trusted to help in vindicating these commands. But those against polytheism, idolatry, profanity, and Sabbath-breaking concerned God directly and man only indirectly. Man, therefore, might not perceive the hurt, even though it was real and most serious. Thus it became needful for God to deal in a specially stern and im- pressive way with the Sabbath-breaker. His people must be made to perceive and ·bear in mind that he meant the seventh day to be a holy day. It was as much sacrilege to spend it in common occupations as it was to defile the ark in the holy place. 2. There was need to arrest the attention of such aa kept the Sabbath in a negative rather than a fositive way. God gave the Sabbath, not for idleness, but for that most valuable o all rest which is gained in quiet, undisturbed communion with God, and meditation on all hie wonderful works. Those who employed the Sabbath in solemn and devout approaches to the God of the covenant were delivered from temptation to break the Sabbath. Filled with the fulness of God, there would be no room for base, transgressing thoughts. But no commandment could bring the unwilling heart to God. It might do something to keep the work of the common day away from the hands; it could do nothing to keep the thoughts of the common day out of the heart. The heart was to be sought ; it could not be forced, being in its nature beyond force. Many, therefore, would keep the day negatively, in uth:r idleness, and this idleness itself tended to disobedience. The doing of little things would seem practically the same as doing nothing. So men had to be taught, by terrible examples, not to trifle with holy things. If a man thoughtlessly touches things dangerous to physical life, hie thoughtlessness will not deliver him from fatal consequences. If a man sports with poisons, or moves carelessly among machinery, he is very likely to lose hie life; so men who trifled with the Sabbath were in great peril. Safety, progress, approval, blessedness, were for those who obeyed from the heart. But those who through heedlessness of the heart disobeyed with the hand had no right to complain when death outside the camp awaited them. II. THIS SOLEMN VINDICATION HAS AN IMPORTANT BEARING ON THE CHRISTIA~ DAY OF REST. Thie is not the place to take up even a fragment of the interminable discussion on the obligation of the Sabbath. But is not the very fact of such a dis- cussion evidence that the lapse of the obligation is by no means a thing clearly and easily to be seen ? 1. This solemn vindication hints to us that it is a prudent thing to be _on the safe side. Thus we may both escape great dangers and secure great blessmge. To spend the day of rest just as we please is a claim,_ not of conscience, but of self-will. It cannot be pretended that ceasing from work one dny in seven is a hurt to one's self or to the world. Practically, all Christians confess the need of n day of rest. If God so blessed one day in seven to those who knew him as he might be known in the obscurities and distances of the Jewish economy, ie__1t not reaeonnble to expect that in the fuller light and nearer approach of God in Christ Jesus, n seventh day of rest, rightly used, may be the means of the greatest blessing. We are now under the perfect law of liberty ; and because it is a law of liberty it is all the more a law to the liberated soul. We use not our liberty for nn occasion to the flesh ; we ought to use it for an occasion to the Spirit. God blessed and hallowed the seventh day, because in it he rested from his work of creation. What a pro- priety then in keeping the first day of the week, as that in which the Christinn'e Master rested from temptation, toil, and his victorious struggle with death nnd Hades 1 2. This solemn vindication should make us considerate of all who are called HUMBKBB. 0 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [ci:r. :rv. 87-41.
b'!I the ttgly 1U11M of Sabbatarian. No doubt with regard to the Sabbath there has been much of bigotry, ignorance, and of melancholy misinterpretations of the Scrip- ture; but the weak brother who reads this narrative of the Sabbath-breaker's doom may well be excused if to stronger minds he seems ridiculously precise. Christ will deal with us as severely as his Father dealt W1th the Sabbath-breaker if we make one of hie little ones to offend. It is necessary above all things to be safe. We must not confound the scrupulos_ity of the wee.~ with ~he scrupulosity_ of the Pharisee. That, indeed, is always abommable-attendmg to httle external thmgs, and neglecting the weightier rr_iatt~re of th~ law. God's service, ~er all, whether. on week dny or Sunday, con• s1sts m the thmgs we do rather than m those we refram from doing. God we may he sure, will take care that the day of rest is not narrowed out of harmony' with the liberty of the gospel. As there were matters of necessity provided for under the law, so there is like provision under the gospel A man of right spirit will not mis- interpret the necessities. Jeremiah Horrocks, the young clergyman who first observed the transit of Venus, is said to have made hie discovery on the Lord's Day, without allowing it in the least to interfere with his duties in the church. One of the most important principles of his steam-engine flashed into the mind of Watt aa he was vyalking along Glasg~w Gr~en on~ S_unday. momii:g. And it was one Sunday mornmg that Carey, entenng his pulpit m India, received the new regulation pro- hibiting suttee. He at once sent for his pundit, and completed the translation mto Bengalee before night.-Y,