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WHY SOME THINGS ARE GOD'S

whereby according as they are kept, God's Name is glorified or taken in vain ?

7. I have not fallen into that foolish and wicked custom of society by which God's Name is taken in vain, commonly called swearing; but have I been equally careful about lightly making mention of Him, or anything sanctified to Him, such as His House, His Ministers, His Service, His Word and Sacraments?

8. Have I ever quoted the Bible in light conversation, or alluded to passages of it lightly or in reference to trivial or laughable subjects?

9. If at any time I have been made aware of having committed any of these things, have I at the time sufficiently laid to heart what was meant by GOD not holding me guiltless? Have I worthily lamented my great sin, and besought forgiveness through His Son?

LECTURE V.

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.

Of course you remember S. Peter's vision of the sheet let down from heaven that was filled with all sorts of animals, which S. Peter, who was then fasting, was told to take and eat of. You remember how he hesitated about it because some of them were what was then called unclean, that is, forbidden; and how God's own voice told him that he must not consider common or unclean that which GOD Himself had sanctified. No doubt this was meant to show S. Peter that the Jews were GOD'S elect, only because GOD had been pleased to elect them, and that whatever He chose to call by His Name would become holy for that very reason, and therefore must not be called common.

But this vision has a somewhat wider interpretation. Not only whatever people He has chosen, but also whatever things He has chosen, are more peculiarly His, and

MORE THAN OTHERS.

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therefore holier than other things. We had some experience of this last Wednesday, when we saw that the reason why we ought to reverence the Name of GOD was that He had chosen it to be His Name. So it is with the Sabbath-day. It is holier than other days only because GoD has chosen it from other days and called it His. This is another instance of the general rule. Every thing that GOD has put His mark on, every thing that He has set apart for His own, His word, His ordinances, His house, His people, become to us things which God has cleansed, and which we must not call common. "There is just the same sort of difference between them and common things, as there is between a garden and the open downs. No one would think of riding over a garden lawn, and trampling down the flowers; but in riding along any of our roads, no one would feel the least scruple about riding on the turf at the side. Just the same difference as there is between that open ground and a cultivated garden is there also between worldly days, worldly books, worldly names, and worldly people, and GoD's Day, GoD's Name, GOD's Book, and God's people. The former are common, and may be treated as such; the latter are not common, and may not be treated as such. In one word, that which belongs to GOD may not be treated as if it belonged to us." In the words of Augustus Hare,

"It is true that in one sense everything belongs to GOD; for every thing was made by Him. The whole earth is the LORD's and all that therein is.' In this view of the matter, every day may be called the LORD'S Day as well as Sunday-so, too, every man may be called His as well as His very Apostles. In this sense all are His-that is, we are His property and His subjects, because He is the Maker of heaven and earth. Therefore, those who are heartily desirous of doing right, and of giving GoD His own, as far as may be, would never think of unhallowing or profaning any one act or moment of their lives. They would never think of keeping back. any part of their time or of their thoughts from God's service, because they know that He has a right to every part of them, and that they ought to be wholly and alto

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FOURTH COMMANDMENT,

gether His. In this spirit the Apostle bids us pray always, which means, be always acting as in the presence of GOD; or again, whether ye eat, or drink, or whatever ye do, do all to the glory of GOD-that is, remember GOD in the smallest actions of your lives as well as the greatest.

"But though this be true, it by no means follows that some things may not belong to GOD more nearly and more peculiarly than others. Monday, for example, belongs to GOD as well as Sunday; but it does not belong to Him so closely or so much, for the best of all possible reasons, because He has not been pleased to make it so. He is by right the Master and owner of every day in the week, and to show that He is so, He has chosen whichever of them He pleased. And what do we show when we set it apart and employ it in His worship? Why, we show our faith—we show that we believe Him to be the Master and owner of our whole time.”

And this is the object and meaning of all these Commandments. We worship GoD in our thoughts-well and good -but, when we kneel before Him we acknowledge that our bodies are His; when we praise Him aloud, we acknowledge that our voices are His; when we attend His worship at His house on His day, we acknowledge that our time is His. Or, take it the other way-when we bow down to any thing else, or do not bow down to Him, we say we may do what we please with our bodies; when we take His Name in vain, we say we may do what we please with our speech; when we stay away from Church, we say we may do what we please with our time. It is not a question of outward form, but it is a question of faith, or no faith, when we, by staying away from Church, call our time our own, or when, by coming to Church and keeping holy the LORD's Day, we consider Sunday more entirely and peculiarly the LORD's Day than any of the other six. Let us, therefore, ask ourselves a few questions.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF-EXAMINATION.

REMEMBER THAT THOU KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH-DAY. SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOUR, AND DO ALL THAT THOU

FOURTH COMMANDMENT.

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HAST TO DO; BUT THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD. IN IT THOU SHALT DO NO MANNER of work, THOU, AND THY SON, AND THY DAUGHTER, THY MAN-SERVANT, AND THY MAID-SERVANT, THY CATTLE, AND THE STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES. FOR IN SIX DAYS THE LORD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH, THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IN THEM IS, AND RESTED THE SEVENTH DAY; WHEREFORE THE LORD BLESSED THE SEVENTH DAY, AND

HALLOWED IT.

1. God's work of creation was complete by the Sabbath -His work of redemption by the LORD's Day. Am I grateful for my creation and redemption? and do I show my gratitude outwardly, by reverencing the day by which those blessings are commemorated?

2. Have I remembered that all my time was God's gift, and have I therefore sanctified it by dedicating to Him the portion on which He has set His Name?

3. Have I been sufficiently mindful of His goodness in thus setting apart a certain time from the business of the world, and giving me leisure, opportunity and incitement to seek first His kingdom and its righteousness?

4. Have I considered Sunday as an opportunity of laying up a store of good resolutions, sanctified by prayer, and strengthened by that grace which may be obtained only through GOD's ordinances, to be put in practice throughout the week, or have I shut up my Christianity with my Prayer Book, and thought no more of it till next Sunday?

5. Have I always considered that each individual Sunday teaches its own peculiar lesson of doctrine or practice, as shown in its Gospel and Epistle? have I endeavoured each Sunday to trace this out, and to meditate upon it during the week?

6. Have I shown my reverence for God's day by abstaining on it from the business of the world?

7. When I laid aside the business of the world on that day, did I ever take my own pleasure on it, or did I as a matter of constant duty consecrate the day by public as well as private devotion?

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CONNECTION BETWEEN THE COMMANDMENTS

8. Was my Sunday a day of rest or a day of idleness? 9. Have I ever suffered a light excuse, such as distance, cold, heat, bad weather, to make me forsake the assembling myself with my brethren on that day? or have I considered Church as an indispensable duty?

10. Have I been as careful of those committed to my charge, so as to see that they did what I considered necessary for me to do for my own salvation-remembering that they as well as I were once under bondage?

11. Have I endeavoured to keep these four commandments, not as so many different commandments, choosing for myself which of them suits my own particular temperament, but as four connected branches of one great commandment, teaching me with respect (1) to my soul, (2) to my body, (3) to my words, and (4) to my time, the one great lesson to love the LORD my GOD with my whole heart? And,

12. Have I considered how peculiarly binding it is on me, as one of God's chosen people, to keep the Commandments of Him Who chose me?

LECTURE VI.

THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT.

In examining ourselves on the Commandments of the second table, we shall do well always to bear in mind Our SAVIOUR's assertion, that "the second is like unto it." That is to say, the Commandments of the second table are like those of the first; and that does not mean only, given by the same authority, but that the Commandments themselves are alike. S. John shows us how this is, when he says, that if a man love not his brother whom he hath seen, it cannot be expected that he will love GOD Whom he has not seen. There is about the same difference between the Commandments of the first table and those of the second as there is between determining to do a thing