who should remove them (Deut. :u:vii. 17), Elijah pronounced doom upon Aha.b, not for the murder of Ne.both e.lone, but e.lso for "removing the bound" of his vineyard (1 ~ings_xxi. 19). Our text, however! invitee us to consider rat~er the spiritual truth which th1a offence suggests. "The prmces of Judah" wne guilty of still deeper sin the.n the remove.I of boundary-stones. They had broken down moral and religious barriers, And this form of evil is a crying one in the world still. I. SoME "nEMOVE THE BOUND" 011' THE INSPIRED WORD. The Bible closes with a curse upon such (Rev. xxii. 18, 19). Yet the Jews committed this sin in relation to the Old Testament Scriptures by venerating the traditional law, as written in the Talmud, more than "the commandment of God" itself (Matt. xv. 6). The Church of Rome errs in the same way, by giving the Apocrypha a place alongside of the canonical Books, a.nd by insisting upon apostolica.l and ecclesiastical tradition as the complement of Scripture-equally inspired with it, and equally authoritative as a rule of faith. And those Protesta.nts also "remove the bound " who deny the plenary inspiration of th@ Bible, a.nd adopt the theory of partia.l inspira.tion in a.ny of its forms. II. SOME "REMOVE THE BOUND" BETWEEN CHURCH AND STATE. Both of these are Divine institutions-the one spiritua.l in its nature, a.nd the other secular. The spherel! of the two are distinct; a.nd ea.eh within its own sphere is independent of the other. But bow hard have men found it to let the la.ndmarks between Church a.nd state remain where God set them I In one country the Church invades the domain of the state, directing and controlling it-a usurpa.tion which, in its fully devcloped form, is Va.ticanism. In another country the state encroaches upon the domain of the Church, and exercises rule in sacred things-which is Erastia.nism. "Render therefore unto Cresa.r," etc. (Matt. xxii. 21), III. SOME "REMOVE THE BOUND" AS REGARDS PURITY OF WORSHIP. .. The princes of Judah" had shifted the landmarks between the worship of Jehovah and idolatry. And this offence is committed still by all who introduce modes of worship which a.re not in accordance with the Word of God. An elaborate sensuous ceremonial, and any form of service which assumes ,that ministers belong to a distinct sacerdotal order, a.re a. removing of the bound, 'l'he secularization of the sabbath belongs to the same class of sins. Those who teach that now/every day is a.like sacred to the Christian are doing their best, although without intending it, to undermine one of the foundations of mora.lity. For the sabba.th law is imbedded in the Decalogue. Not only so, but "Christ hath took in this piece of ground" (George Herbert). So it is at our peril if we remove the boundary-stones which separate the Lord's day from the other days of the week. IV. SOME "REMOVE THE BOUND" BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION. The conflict between the two is concerned very much a.bout the landmarks of their respective provinces. In old times it was the theologian who was generally the chief offender. It was the Church that forced Galileo to abjure the sublime truths of his scientific creed, and that condemned the three laws of Kepler as heretical. .At present, however, the chief "remover of the bound" is the scientist. The student of physical nature, unless he be decidedly a. Christian, is prone to lack ability to appreciate moral evidence. Thus some of our most eminent scientific investigators in these times would have us give up our faith in moral freedom, in personal immortality, and in the existence of God himself. But the domain of physical science is one province of truth, whilb tha.t of religion is another. Scientific questions are to be settled on scientific grounds, and by men who ha.ve had a scientific training. The theologian, on the other hand, must keep within his own frontier, and resolutely defend those mora.l facts and reli~ous truths with which it belongs to him to deal. It is his function to assert the reality of moral freedom, the snpremacy of conscience, the intuition of immortality, and those deep experiences of guilt and soul-hunger to which only the gospel of Christ can respond. A curse shall fall upon those who remove these landmarks. V, SOME "REMOVE THE BOUND" OF EVANGEIJ0AL DOCTRINE. Orthodoxy has its landmarks which separate the apostolic doctrine from "another gospel." ·what a.re the great historical creeds and confessions, but so me.ny bounds which the Church has erected in order to discriminate truth from error? And is not every article in one of these creeds, as it were, a boundary-stone? Experience has shown Christendom that the most effeGtue.l way uf exposing heresies is to translate the doctrinal teaching of 160 THE BOOK. OF 1IOSEA. (mt. 't', 1-16,
Scripture into the philoeophioal lan11:ua~e of a confession, Yet there have always been " removers of the bound" of "sPund doctrine." 'l'he Broad Churchman and t.he rationalist object to the evangelical boundaries; ,.nd they have ,never done so more londly thnn at the present day. Even in some orthodox. Churches doctrines co_ntained in the standards are from some of the pulpif,g unblushlnp;ly co~travened. V.. e must "hold fast the form of sound words." It is at om· peril if we "remove the hound." YI. So~(E "REMOVE THE BOUND " AS REGARDS :NONCONFORMITY TO THE WORLD. The evil 0ne labours to obliterate as much as possible all distinct boundary-lines between the Church and the world. He tempts ministers always to preach "smooth thinas." 0 He tempts the rnlers of the Church to neglect the administration of discipline. He tempts the members of our congregations to imbibe the spirit of the w(lrld, and t.o try to serve both God and mammon. The ten commandments are so many boundary- ,stones which mark the track of the narrow way ; but we often regard the path as too strait, and would fain remove the stones back a little. We ask concerning certain worldly pleasures,-" What harm is there in them ? " instead of inquiring what good there is. The tendency of the Church in these times is by no means towards asceticism or Puritanism. Few Christian people are too strait-laced; the danger is rather that we become spiritually lax, a.nd that we "remove the bound."-C. J. • .