that was all very well as an ornament, but of no real use in this workaday world. There are many who still treat God's ,vord in this way. They do not take the trouble to deny its claims, to oppose its demands, or to doubt its teachings; they simply "shunt it off on a side line," and a.long the main track their trains go hurrying to and fro, heedless of the Word of God on the siding. It may remain there for ever for all they ea.re, and at least it is safely ont of the way. They "make void God's Law." Can we set out some of the ways in which this is done? First, however, it is necessary to present the claims of God's Word to direct and control man's life. It is no mere store- house of excellent sentiments; it is an actual chart, guide, adviser, of a good man's conduct. It must come into closest relation to life and conduct. And it is pre- cisely this demand on its behalf which the man who would live unto the "devices and desires of his own heart" resists. It wants to be effective, he wants it to be imjfective. I. MEN MAKE VOID Gon's LAW BY SIMPLY NEGLECTING IT. And this is the most successful way. It gains the end with the least trouble, and involves no conflict with conscience. Tlie Bible on the shelf, only dusted, is void enough. It does nobody either good or harm. IL MEN MA.KE VOID Goo's LAW BY MISUSING IT. And this they do when they employ it for bolstering up their sectarian opinions ; regard it as a storehouse of material for doctrinal conflicts rather than as a guide to practical life. III. MEN MAKE VOID Goo's LAW BY THROWING DOUBTS UPON IT. Such doubts have been thrown in every age, and do but take on some new form for each new age. The mischief of the doubts is their plucking away from us the sense of authority in the Word. It is the serpent's perpetual whisper, "Yea, hath God said?" To which the proper answer is, " Yes, he has." IV. MEN MA.KE VOID Goo's LAW BY FAILING TO DO WHAT IT ENJOINS, The test of right treatment of God's Word is obedience. "Surely in vain made he it, the pen of the scribes is in vain," if men hear and do not; know and obey not. For them the Law is void.-R. T. Ver. 128.-The self-willed treatment of Go,l;s Word. "Therefore hold I straight all thy commandments" (Prayer-book Version). "In the word 'therefore' there is a peculiar beauty. The violation of God's Law by the wicked only brings out more intensely in his servants the sense of its preciousness, and the enthusiasm of devotion to it." It is not so much the wickedness of the wicked that is in the psalmist's mind, as the wrong and unworthy ways in which they twist and turn God's Word, so that it ~hall either excuse their wickedness or seem to have nothing to do with it. He "hates every false way," every way of dealing with God's way which is not genuine and straightforward; and for himself he will persist in "holding straight" all the command~ ments, dealing honestly and sincerely with them. J. SELF-WILL SELECTS FROM Gon's WORD WHAT SUITS IT, It is true that every one does and must select from God's Word what is most helpful; and that all Bible- readers find different parts and portions helpful in different moods and circumstances. The Bible of each individual is a much smaller book than the Bible God has provided for the world. But the good man (1) recognizes the value and authority of all; (2) seeks relativity to his passing spiritual nee<ls; and (3) depends on Divine illumi- nation and guidance for the parts he finds; giving due heed to. them, whether _he likes them or not. The self-willed man takes out only what he likes or what will serve hie ends, and consequently his Bible is his own; it is not God's. II. SELF-WILL DISTORTS EVEN WHAT IT GETS. Only the sincere, God-honouring mind sees ia the Word what God put there. If a man brings his own ideas to the Word looking in it for what he wants to find, the mere language will easily take shape that s;tisfies him. He will loudly assert what it says, in entire indifference to what it means. This self-willed di:;tortion of God's Word to support preconceived doctrinal ideas is the treacherous basis on which all sectarianism rests. But it is more important to rebuke the distortion of God's Word which is made to support practical unrighteous- ness. It has even been made the minister, and the excuser, of man's sin.-R. 1'.
Ver. 129.-High estimates of God's Word. "Thy testimonies are wonderful." Dr, PB, OXIX. 1-176.] TBE BOOK OF PSALMS. 167