Lonl's Day, a spectacle which drew from a distinguished French Roman Catholio writer the admission that England was the most religious country in the world. ~ml in times of natil:>nal ~ejoicing, _or national dist~ess, the various religious bodies ID the country do not fail, accordmg to their vanous forms, to unite in common thanksgiving, or common humiliation and interceSBion. A more complete external ngreen,10nt in the ID:anner of such national recognition of religion may or may not be des1mblo. But 1t would be folly to conclude that no such recognition exists because it is not externally organised into a .system. Perhaps in God's eyes the 11-greement is greater than it seems to us : that where we discern conflicting institu- tions and rival denominations, He sees the tribes of Israel gathered together at Shiloh, and offering up united praises and supplications to Him for His mercy and His bounty. Be it ours to recognise more and more a real union under seeming disagreement, and to abstain from all uncharitable expressions, which are out of harmony with the voice of praise and thanksgiving, of prayer and inter- cession, addressed to our co=on Father in heaven. II. BEHOLD ROW GOOD AND JOYFUL A THING IT IS, BRETHREN, TO DWELL TOGETHER IN UNITY. This consideration has been partially anticipated already. It was the whole congregation that assembled together. None stayed away, still less refused to come. And though perhaps, in view of the wide freedom allowed in the Chris- tian Church, the minor clifferences of ceremonial do not prevent us from corning as one body before the throne of grace ; yet, in so far as these divisions of opinion produce jealousy, suspicion, unkindness, bitter accusations and revilings, they ex- clude those who are so affected by them from a part in the co=on worship. Such persons are unclean, and cannot enter into the congregation of the faithful; they are unloving, and can have neither part nor lot in the worship of Him who came to call us to unity and peace. We may be sure that as there is no more certain method of checking the progress of the Church on earth than a contentious spirit, so there is nothing more sure to deprive us of the favour of God. Let the spectacle, then, of an united Israel, worshipping peacefully before God in Shiloh, lead us to beware how we promote disunion among God's people, rememberin~ the exhortation, " Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice," and "walk in love, as Christ als9 bath loved us, and bath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour.'' III. REST IN GoD. Shiloh means rest, or peace. And rest and pence is only to be found in the presence of God. "Peace on earth," cried the angels at His birth. "I will give you rest." " My peace I give unto you," said He Himself. "He is our peace,'' said the apostle. Through Him we possess the "peace that passeth all understanding." And, thanks be to Him, we are never far from His tabernacle. The tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell with them, and whe1·ever a soul pours itself out in prayer to Him, there is His tabernacle and Shiloh, or restful dependence on Him. IV. WHAT RAS TO BE DONE SHOULD BE DONE THOROUGHLY. Many a Christian has fallen into serious trouble by neglecting this precept. Some think that a certain profession of religion ought to excuse all shortcomings. Some even go so far as to think that the careful and punctu&l performance of duty is a legal work, below the attention of a redeemed and sanctified man. Such a view receives no confirmation from Scripture. Our Lord did not neglect the lighter matters of the law Himself, nor advise others to do so. St. Po,ul did not consider the minutest details beneath his attention. And here the survey was made with the most scnipulous exactness, and recorded in a book. Let Christians learn hence the duty of performing, accu- rately and punctually, whatever falls to their lot to do. Christ did not give His Spirit to men to make them slovenly, careless, inclifferent to what they undertake, but the reverse. Both the Old Testament and the New combine to enforce on ns the lesson, "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."
JOSHUA,. T THE BOOK OF JOSHUA. [cH. xvm. 1-28,