0111;ht from it:., :ma we know wlrn,t Christ thought of those who "taught for dort.ri11es the romnrnnclments of men." Yet there has been in all ages a spiritual rharisaism which has turned aside to the right, as there has been a Sadduceeism which has turned to the left. E,-ery age has had its teachers who added to the essentials of religion as well as those who would explain them away. And the lendenc:, has been to magnif'.y these positini precepts of particufar religious parties, until it has been held more criminal to disobey them than to offend against the first principles of the Christian religion. For their sake the fundamental law of love has been laid aside, and transgression against a law Christ never imposed has been Yisited with a bitterness and a fury which He has expressly forbidden. Whether excess or defect haYe been more fatal to the cause of Christianity is a point which must be left undecided. But that grievous evils to the cause of religion in general an<l the souls of indh-iduals have arisen from the practice among Christians of insisting upon what Christ has never enjoined cannot be denied. Let it be our case. then. to obse1Te the whole law of Christ, neither to turn to the right nor to the left. lint to keep all, and no more than all, that He has commanded. For "His commandments are not grievous." His " yoke is easy and His burden is light." There is the more reason, therefore, why we should keep it to the very letter. . Ill. WE ARE EXPRESSLY EXHORTED TO AVOID COMPLIANCE WITH THE WORLD. This is a more difficult precept now than ever. Once there was a broad line of de- marcation between the religious and the worldly man. Now Christianity has so far externally lea ,ened society that the conflict has been forced in ward. Decency and propriety of behaviour is everywhere enforced where education has penetrated. Cursing and swearing are banished at least from general society, and open profane- ness is seldom met with. Yet the conflict must be continued, and continued within. St. Paul's ad,ice in 1 Car. v. 10 must be kept. A Christian must go into society and mix with the people he finds there, though he must not choose them for his intimates. But he must be more on the watch than ever to detect the tone of his associates when it jars with the gospel precepts. Still, as ever, there are false standards of right and wrong set up, false doctrines of honour and morality incul- cated, principles laid down which Christ would have abhorred, conduct tolerated which He would have emphatically condemned. The worship of rank and fashion and wealth; the polite depreciation of all enthusiasm; the utter failure to recognise the glory of self-sacrifice, except it be for tangible rewards, such as glory among men ; the absence of all reverence; the veiled (or it may be unveiled) selfishness of a life of indolence and ease, the cynical indifference to the welfare of even the existence of others, except so far as it contributes to the pleasures of our own-these are habits of mind utterly repugnant to the spirit of Christ. They must not be tolerated, they must be steadily and openly resisted by the Christian. And yet, so insidious are they, that they frequently creep into the souls of those who imagine themseiYes to be Ullcorrupted soldiers of the Cross. They have made mention of the names ·• of these gods of the nations around them," have "served" them and •· bowed down" to them without knowing it, though they could have known it, had they been on the watch. And then they become " snares and traps," " scourges in their sides and thorns in their eyes "-the causes, that is, of manifold cares and troubles and annoyances which to the Christian are unknown. And if unrepented· of, they poison the Christian life at its source, till the once believer "perishes froni- off the good land which the Lord his God has given him." TV. THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE. "Neither shall ye make mar- riages with them," says the sacred writer;.and the precept has been continually repeated. It is surprising how little the New Testament says on this importimt point of the selection of a partner for life. It would seem as ,thongh Christ ·and His apostles thought it so obvious that it were superfluous to speak of it. "Only in the Lord" (1 Car. vii. 39) is the only precept given on this important point, unless ~ Cor. ,i. 14 Le held indirectly to include it. But the Old Testament, which is, tqually with the New, a guide of life, is full of such cautions, from Isaac, Esnu, and Jacob downwards. Moses perpetuallywarns the children of Israel against contract• iilg such alliances with the idola.trous Ca.naanites. Ahab is a standing w11rning of ciiI. XXIII. 1-16.] 'fHE BOOK OF JOSlIUA. 339
their ,fanger, ctlld th? tctint invctded the kingdom of Jn,lah throngh the weakness of the otherwise p101rn J ehoshctphat, and ended in the ferocious treachery of Athctlicth. Wlrnt N ehemicth thought of it in the reviving fortunes of Ismel after the cctptivHy mcty be read in his own words (eh. xiii.). 'fhere is no diflicnlty, therefore, in gathering from Scripture et condemnation of maITiaae between those who ctre not of one mind on the most essential point of all, that ';,f relio-ion. The Romctn Ccttholic Church has forbidden mixed marriages, and wisely. .rt were well if Churches of the Reformed faith were as outspoken in their conclernnatinn of them. Yet unwise cts are unions between those who differ in religious views, they are far worse when contracted between Christians and unbelievers, between those who are "conformed to this world" and those who hope to be "transformed hy the renew- ing of their mind" into the image of Jesus Christ. There can be bnt one result to such unions. 'fhey must ever be "snares and traps," "scourges in the side arnl thorns in the eyes" of those who contract them, even though the end he not the de_struction from out of the" good land which God has given." Those whom "God bath joined together" ought not to be "put asunder " by a discordance of opinions on all the main duties and objects of life. No temptations of beauty, of wealth or prospects, or even of personal preference, can outweigh the misery and rlanger of a condition like this, especially when it is considereu that the results are not confined to those who are parties to such marriages, but that those whom God has sent into the world to be heirs of eternity will be considered by one, perhaps eventually by both their parents, as the creatures of a world that is passing away. The words ." only in the Lord," though spoken but once, and then incidentally, ought never- theless to be well pondered. They constitute the only ground upon which a Chris- tian can enter into the most sacred and enduring of human ties; the only one that can ensure a blessing ; the only one possible to those who are pledged to order :;.II their actions by the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit.