adds to St. Mark's account the words, "and worthy of being spoken of with this special did eat, rubbing them [that is, the ears of oommendntion, and Ill! though he was aotu- corn Jin their h1mds;" an incidental evidenoe e.lly high priest, even though his father was of a simple life, that they did not here eat then living. The words may properly mean prcp8l'e<l. food, but the simple grains of "iu the days when Abiathar w&s living who wheat, which they separated from the chaff became high priest, and WRS more eminen\ by rubbing the ears of corn in their hands. than his father." Tho shewbread; literally, 'l'bis passage marks with some nicety the the bread of the face, that is, of the DiviM time of the year. The oorn in that district rresence, symbolizing tho Divine Being who would be ripening about May. It would, 1s the Bread of lifo. It was directed by the therefore, be not long after the Passover. Law tlmt within the sanotunry there should The difficult expression in St. Luke vi. I, be a tal.ile of shittim (or aoaoiu.) wood; and o!v <TaB/3d.T<p li,vnptnrp~.-,p, and which ia every sabbath twelve newly baked loaves rendered in the Authorized Vcrsion "on the were placed upon it in two rows. These second eabbath after the first," is reduced loaves were sprinkled with incense, and then by the Revisers of 1881 to the simple phrase remained there until the following sabbath. ( lv <Ta/3/3d.T'f ), " on a sabbath," there 11ot They were then replaced by twelve newly being sufficient evidence to persuade them bu.ked loaves, the old loaves being eaten by to retain the word li,vnpo1rp~up. Ilut other the priests in the holy place, from which it endences seem to show that the incident was unlawful to remove them. These twelve occurred earlier thnn as recorded by St. loaves corresponded to the twelve tribes. 111atthew. The Fathers are fond of spiritual The force of our Lord's reasoning is this: applications of this rubbing of the ears of David, a man after God's own heart, when corn. Bede, in remarking upon the fact of sorely pressed by hunger, applied to the the disciples plucking the ears of corn, and high priest and took some of these sacred rubbing the.m until they get rid of the loaves, loaves which under ordinary circum- husks, and obtain the food itself, says that stances it was not lawful for the lay people they do this who meditate upon the Holy to eat, because he wisely judged that a Scriptures, and digest them, until they positive law, forbidding the laity to eat this find in them the kernel, the quintessence of bread, ought to yield to a law of necessity delight; and St. Augustine blames those and of nature; which intimates to us that who merely please themselves with the in a grave necessity of famine, lifo may be :flowers of Holy Scripture, but do not rub lawfully preserved by eating even sacred out the grain by meditation, until they bread which has been dedicated to God. obtain the real nourishment of virtue. Therefore, in like manner, nay, much more, Ver. 24.-The.t which is not lawful The was it lawful for Christ and his disciples to supposed unlawfulness was not the plucking pluck the ears of corn on the snbbath day, of the ears of corn with the hand, which was that by rubbing them in their hands they expressly permitted by the Law (Deut. might pick out the good grain and satisfy xxiii. 25 ), but the plucking and eating on their hunger. the sabbnth day. Ver. 27.-The sabbath was instituted for Vers. 25, 26.-David . . . and they that the benefit of man, that he might refresh were with him. This seems opposed to what and renew his body, fatigued and worn by we read in I Sam. :ui, where David is stated six days' labour, with the restful c,ilm of the to have been alone. But the facts appear seventh; and that he might have lei~ure to to have "!>een tLese, that David, fleeing from apply his mind to the things which concern Se.ul, went alone to Ahimelech the high his everlasting salvation; to consider and priest, and sought and obtained D\'e loaves meditate upon the Law of God; e.nd rouse of the "shewbread,'' which he ca1Tied away himself, by the remembrance of the Divine with him to his companions in flight, and greatness and goodness, to true repentance, shared with them; for he says (1 Sam. to gratitude, and to love. The force of the :ui 2), "I have appointed my servants to argument is this: The sabba.th was made on such e.nd such a place." 'l'his incident account of man, not me.n on account of the actually happened in the high priesthood sabbath. The sabbath, great and important of Ahimelech the father of Abiathar. Ilecle 11s that institution is, is subordinate to me.n. says that they were both present wl,en If, then, the absolute rest of the eabba.th be- David came in his di.stress and obtained comes hurtful to man, a new departure must tLe shewbread. But Ahimelech having be taken, ancl some amount of la.hour must Le&n slain, together with eighty-six priests, be undergone, that man may be benefited, 1,y Saul, Abiathar fled to David, and became Therefore was Christ justified in permitting his companion in his exile. Moreover, when to his di.ciples a little labour in plucking lie succeeded to the high priesthood on the these ears of oorn on the so.bbath day, in death of Ahimeloch, he did far more good order that they may appease their hunger 110rvice than his father had done, and so we.e For it is better that the l'est of the e11bba.tb en. n. 1-28.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK.
should bo disturbed, though but a little, that for us Cbristia.ns the first day of the tho.n thnt any one of those for whose sake week, the Lord's day, has taken the place the sabbo.th was institutecl should perish. of the ancient Jewish sa.bbath ; but tbe Ver. 28.-Thereforethe Bon of man is Lord principle here la.id down by our Lord ia also of the aabbath. "The se.bbath we.a ma.de applicable to the "first" day no less than for man." It is the inferior institution, man to the " seventh ; " and it teaches ns that being the higher, for whose sake the sabbath our owu more.I and religious advancement was appointed. But the Son of mo.n is and that of onr brethren is the object which Lord of all men, and of all things that per- we should all aim at in the manner of our tain to man's salvation; therefore he must observance of the Christian Sunday; while of necessity be Lord even of the sa.bba.th ; we strive to "stand fast in the liberty eo that when he sees fit he can relax or wherewith Christ has made us free." dispenBB with its obligations, It ill true