He wins men's hearts to his and, if we will but look into does not forbid one thing He forbids only such things

are full of love and of kindness. holy religion by his fatherly care; his laws, we shall find that He that is for the happiness of man. as are really hurtful to him. He permits and commands all those kindly feelings and all those innocent pleasures that make up a happy life. How different is man from God! When He would set himself up as a lawgiver in matters of religion, he changes its whole character. Religion in man's hands is no more the gentle, careful rule of a loving Father, but the harsh laws of a stern master; and the service man exacts seems worthless in his eyes unless it sacrifices all the gentler feelings of our nature. More or less we shall find that wherever man has left the simple word of God, and himself made rules of religion, his pride of heart has always made him stern and harsh where God was kind and full of mercy.

It was the law of God that, on the Sabbath-day, man was to rest from labour, and to keep it holy. The weary labourer and mechanic know what a precious gift their Father in heaven has given them in the rest of the Sabbath-day. All may know the blessing of having one day in seven in which it is their duty to put from them the vexing thoughts of worldly business. The Sabbath is a blessing made and given for the use of man; but the Pharisees had, by their laws, changed the blessing into a burthen and an evil. They had made it unlawful for the hungry man to put forth his hand and to take of the fruits of the field to satisfy his hunger, and gladly they found fault with the disciples of Jesus, and with Jesus himself, for allowing them to take the ears of corn as they passed through the fields, and for rubbing the grains in their hands that they might eat, when they were an hungred.

The answer Jesus made put them in mind of the time, long past, when the laws of God were understood and kept, as He gave them, not as they had made them.

MATTHEW Xii. 3, 4. "He said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him: How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shew-bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, but only for the priests?" *

They honoured David as a prophet,—as the man after God's own heart. He was the king chosen by God himself, and the name of David was the glory of their nation. Yet he had shewn them, by taking for himself and his men the bread which by the law it was not lawful for any but the priests to take, that he knew and trusted God as his Father, who would allow him to satisfy his hunger, when he was in great need, by putting on one side for the time, the rule for the service of the temple. The sins of David are spoken of in Scripture, and deeply he repented them; but this was never counted to him as a sin, because it concerned only one of the laws of ceremonies, good in themselves, but intended to yield to the great, the universal law of mercy.

So also with the rules for the strict rest of the Sabbath-day. The Lord Jesus shewed the Pharisees that, at all times, such works were allowed as were needful for the service of God. He said to them,

Matthew xii. 5, 6. “Have ye not read in the law, how

* It was commanded in the Law given by God to Moses for the service of the Temple, that there should be placed in the Temple twelve unleavened cakes in loaves, with frankincense, as an offering to the Lord.

They were to be changed every Sabbath-day by the Priests, and they only had a right to eat the bread that was taken away, and they were to eat it in the Holy Place, for it had been offered "before the Lord." Lev. xxiv. 5—9.

No doubt, the bread was thus to be continually offered as a sign of the praise and thanks due to God for continually giving man bread to support his body, and "the bread of life," John vi. 35, 48-51., to support his soul, and the frankincense, which was a sweet perfume, was commanded to be offered with it, as a sign of the prayers and thanksgivings of the saints. Rev. v. 8.

that on the Sabbath-days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say unto you, That in this place is One greater than the temple."

The strictest of the Pharisees would never think of blaming the priests for the work they did on the Sabbath in the temple, though it was no light labour to prepare the sacrifices, to tend the fires on the altar, and many other things that were needful to be done. They knew that all this it was right to do, because it was in the service of the great God, of whose presence among them the temple was a sign.

The Lord Jesus had taken back the thoughts of the Pharisees to the old time of Moses and of king David. He led them on through the Sabbath-service, still performed by the priests in the temple, up to the day in which He spoke to them; and then, standing in the corn-fields with his disciples round him, He said, "I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple." He, the man Jesus Christ, was the Reality of which the temple was only the sign, God manifest in the flesh, dwelling among men; and, if the priests were blameless in the work they had to do on the Sabbath-day for the service of the temple, much more were his disciples blameless for gathering the ears of corn to satisfy their hunger that they might follow and serve him on the Sabbath-day. But it was plain that, the Pharisees did not understand the Fatherly character of God, or they would have seen that all his commandments sought the good, and therefore the happiness, of men.

MATTHEW xii. 7. "But (said our Lord) if you had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless." Hosea vi. 6.

This was the second time the Lord Jesus had told the Pharisees to remember these words of the prophet Hosea, and to think of their meaning. When they had found fault with him

for sitting down to eat with publicans and sinners, He had said to them, "Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice," (Matt. ix. 13.) and if they had obeyed him,-if they had taken the word of God, and read what the prophet Hosea had said, they would have learnt that "knowledge of God" which he tells them was more desired by him "than burnt-offerings," (Hosea vi. 6.) and they would have found the truth of the promise given by Hosea, “then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord." (Hosea vi. 3.)

MARK ii. 27, 28. "And he (Jesus) said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath. Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.” The sabbath day was made and given to man as a blessing and a gift. The Great God who created man knows his need: He knows how much the things that are seen take away our thoughts from the far more precious things that are not seen, the things belonging to the kingdom of heaven that will last for ever, and therefore He gave from the beginning, one day, in which it is our duty as well as our interest, to put out of our minds the thoughts of worldly business, and worldly care.

Even in Paradise, before sin had made these things an idol and a snare, while the thoughts of man could as naturally rise to his God as the perfume of the flowers naturally rises upwards to the skies, even then, God knew that one day in seven in which Adam need not think of the Garden of Eden, which on other days was to be his care, would be a blessing; and therefore for the sake of man in creating the world and all things in it, He gave the example of resting on the seventh day. But when sin had ruined all, when the ground was cursed because of sin, and man was forced to labour till by the sweat of his brow, he made it bring forth its fruits, then the sabbath-day was a blessing and a gift indeed. Without some day of rest the race of man must soon have died off from

the face of the earth, for no human strength can labour on with ceaseless toil. Therefore because it is a blessing and a gift, "the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath." He came upon earth in the form of man, that through him all precious gifts and blessings might be given to man; and the best way to keep holy the Sabbath-day is to remember that Jesus is its Lord, and whatever forwards the work He came to do, is, and must be, pleasing to him. God is glorified in man's real good, and whatever forwards that good belongs to his service, and is lawful to do on the Sabbath-day.

Prayer.

Lord of the Sabbath, we bless thee for thy loving-kindness, that thou hast given us one day in seven, that we may rest from labour and from care. One day in which the weary body may repose, the harassed mind cease from troubling. Teach us, Lord of the Sabbath, teach us by thine own Spirit how to keep it holy, as thou wouldest have it kept, that it may neither become a bondage to any by the vexing strictness of those who, like the Pharisees, would change thy Fatherly gifts into a burden; nor a snare, by the sinful levity of those who make thy Sabbath a day of worldly pleasure.

We pray thee, O Holy Jesus, to watch over thy Sabbaths, that they may be indeed a rest from sin, and from all the toil, and all the cares that sin has brought. Grant that they may be a bond of love for all thy people; that the children of one family, though scattered into far different lands, may have

After the French Revolution of 1792, it was attempted to do away with the the Seventh day's rest from labour, and the tenth day was given as a holiday instead; but after a short time the rulers of France were forced to return to the first law given by God, "Thou shalt rest on the seventh day." They found that to work during nine days was very different from working six days, and that the strength of man was not equal to it. In this way they proved what they might have known before, that God, who created man, knows best the needs of

man.