privnto vigilnnce does not suffice; it must be the business of the Stntc. The whr,10 community is addressed by God, as if it were a single person. Jn some respects, each man nnd cnch womnn hns to net separately and alone; in some respects, they have t,, merge self into the family, and the family into the nation. Man must learn to act as part of a greater whole. III. 'l'nE FAMILY TIE IB ALWAYS STRmWER TRAN THE NATIONAL TIE. It is obvio11s that this is the natiual order. If a man was inadvertently killed, some blood relation would, in all likelihood, espouse the cause of the injured, and t.hirst to avenge the injury. Men feel bound to protect each the other against the assaults of violence. There is an understood compact for mutual protection. But, in proportion as affection becomes diffused and spreads over a larger area, so it becomes attenuated. What it gains in extension it loses in intensity. Therefore checks and restraints are needed for im- moderate- family feeling. IV. HUMAN FEELINCl 18 MORE RAPID IN ITS MOVEMENTS THAN THE JUDGllENTS OF REASON. On the whole it is best that it should be so. Self-preservation often depends on the spontaneous movement of instinct. But whenever human life is not in immi- nent peril, it is becoming that sane men should reflect and ponder before they yield to vindictive feeling. It is quite possible that the man killed was the more blameworthy; perhaps the only blameworthy of the two; yet the vengeful blood of neighbour or friend of the dead waits for no inquiry, but rushes off to add another to the tenants of Hades. This also is the work of the devil, and must be resisted. We must learn to bring all instincts and feelings under the sceptre of reason and love. Haste usually is a mark of weakness or of madness. V. REVENClE IS INVIGORATING: BORROW AND FEAR ARE ENERVATL.'l'G. If, under ordinary circumstances, two men were well matched in strength and courage, the one who has unwarily killed a neighbour is so enfeebled by sorrow or by fear (or by both), that he is no longer a match for the other. On the other hand, the man who under- takes to champion the cause of the dead is lifted into almost superhuman stature and strimgth. For the moment he feels as if girded with omnipotence, and acquires fleet- ness, courage, and strength over the quailing person of the manslayer. Therefore, every possible facility must the state politic afford for the relief of the manslayer against the avenger. VI. TERRITORIAL PROPERTY CARRIES WITH IT RESPONSIBLE DUTIES. Material pro- perty bas its dark side as well as' its bright. It brings burdens as well as enjoyments. With every increase of territory, God required that there should be increase of refuge cities, and that roads should be prepared along which the unsinning manslayer should flee. All earthly blessings have their drawbacks, but heavenly possessions are un- alloyed. They are pure gold without admixture, sun without shade, summer without winter. VII. RELIGION ENNOBLES AND BEAUTIFIES EVERY EAR=Y LOT. The land which we inherit, or which furnishes for us a temporary home, is a gift from God. He has not parted with the freehold. It is his absolutely, and in the use of it his will is ever to be consulted. We have but a life enjoyment in it. As it is a free gift from him, we are boun,d to respect all the clauses he embodies in the trust. He is to be recog- nized and revered perpetually. 'l'he refuge cities were the residences of the priests; the elders of these cities were priests of Jehovah, therefore they were representatives of Jehovah's mercy. These cities were emphatically "cities of salvation." '!'heir walls were deliverance; their gates, praise. They were symbols of Calvary-types of the great redemption.-D. Vers. 11-13.-Lex talionis. The refuge provided by mercy is open to abuse. The perversity of man will poison the streams from the heavenly fountain. But in this city of peace none shall abide e:s:cept those who have clean hands. False hop~s arc doomed to crushing disappointment. Even from the gate of hea\·en there is a back wa'y to the prison-house of hell. rrhe man of blood eventually destroys himself. I. HATRED IS l.'IGENIOUS IN ACCOMPLISHlNG ITS NEFARIOUS ENDS. Hatred has an insatiable appetite. It drives a man in whom it dwells, as with a slave-master's whip, to do its base behests. It robs him of his sleep nt night, that he may lie in ambush for some innocent victim. All day long he is driven to most cxlious tasks by this spirit 'TRE nooR OF DEUTERONOMY.
of mischief. "Without interruption, hatred holds its busy conclave In the dark C'awrm oi' the soul, and presses into service every faculty of the me.n, until it ha3 clutched its prey. II. 'l'IIE MURDEROUS MAN FLATTERS HIMSELF THAT BE SHALL DE SAFE, He is <'(>nscinus that Ycngeancc is in store for him. No sooner is tho deed done than cowardly fear seizes him. 'l'he righteousness of God has fleet-footed detectives in its ~er,ice. Neve1·1heless, cunning falsehood comes to him as the devil's comforter. '!'bough his hands be stained through and through with blood, he will wear gloves of innocence, a mask of pretence. It were a nobler thing to bravo the matter out, and defy all opposition. nut this the sinner cannot do. He quails before the omniscient eye; and, bowe,·cr insecure the hiding-place, he cheats himself with the hope of escape. Guilty as his conscience affirms him to be, he seeks a pie.ea among the innocent. For the sinner no refuge can be found. The earth she.11 cast him out, III. 'l'rrE l'OWER OF DEATH IS A SOVEREIGN FUNCTION OF 1'HE STATE. "The ciders of his city shall send and fetch him thence." Human life is too precious to be placed at the disposal of private revenge; therefore the chief province of the state J>olitic is to protect life against violence. Unbiased natures are the only proper judges of right and wrong. Justice will speak only in the calm atmosphere of sincerity and truth. The representative power of the whole community is the only power which fully suffices to ,indicate the claims of righteousness. This is God's viceaerent 0 upon the earth. Hence magistrates are described as "gods." IV. RIGHTEOUSNESS Is N0DLER THAN PITY. There are circumstances in which Pity must not speak-a time for her to be silent. "Thine eye shall not pity." There are ~omc situations in which her presence would be out of place, her action injurious. nut Righteousness must never be absent. The very atmosphere in God's kingdom is penetrated with her ,ital breath. Her sceptre is the sceptre of God, and exerts a potent influence over every department of human life. Righteousness is the soul's proper robe, and without it she can nowhere fitly appear. All true prosperity is the fruit of righteousness. It cannot go well with any nation, nor with any man, until guilt is put away. Even compassion for others must be a righteous compassion.-D.