hatred and malice are to be refused Holy Communion, according to the third rubric before that service.

Our Christian duty as to this commandment is more fully expressed by St. Paul. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." [Eph. iv. 31.]

It teaches children to be kind to all around them; to avoid being angry and passionate, for fear their anger should lead to even worse sins; not to hate any one; not to seek revenge for injuries; to forgive those who trespass against them.

In the Sermon on the Mount our Lord said: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." [Matt. v. 9.]

$7. Sins of Lust, and Holy Marriage.

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THE words of the Seventh Commandment are, Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

The explanation of it given in the Catechism is, "to keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity." But we may best put this commandment into words that will suit all persons, young and old, by using those of our Lord, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." [Matt. v. 8.]

[Adultery is the intercourse of a married person with a man or woman other than the married person's husband or wife or of an unmarried person with one that is married.

Fornication is the intercourse of two unmarried

persons.

To children these words may be explained, and the sins which they express, as (1) treating another person's husband or wife as if they were one's own: and as (2) persons being as man and wife to each other who are not married to each other.

The Christian sense of the commandment is explained by our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount: "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. [Matt. v. 27, 28.]

Both our Lord's words and the words of the commandment apply equally to men and to women.

St. Paul condemns sins of lust in 1 Cor. vj. 15-20, on the ground that the body of Christian people is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and that to defile the individual body is to defile part of the temple in which the Holy Ghost dwells. [Compare 1 Cor. iij. 16, 17.] And in the same passages he also condemns them as defiling the members of Christ, which are joined with Him, "He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit."

In 2 Tim. ij. 22, St. Paul gives a general precept against such sins, in the words, "Flee also youthful lusts." St. Peter also exhorts in I Peter ij. 11, "Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul."]` To be " pure in heart," it is necessary to avoid even thinking of what is not pure, and all immodest words and looks must be shunned, as well as immodest actions. Things which are not unlawful in themselves often become unlawful by circumstances: and this must be borne in mind especially with reference to sins

of impurity. Thus theatres and music halls may in themselves be perfectly lawful places of amusement, but immodest dancing, and the presence of immodest persons, often make them places where a great deal of sin may be suggested, and a great deal even of actual temptation incurred.

The same may be said of many books of poetry, and many novels: the sensationalism of both mostly depending on some form of sensualism.

The Seventh Commandment corresponds with the Baptismal Vow, to renounce all the sinful lusts of the flesh.

There is a prayer in the Litany which bears upon it, "From fornication, and all other deadly sin, Good Lord, deliver us."

"They which do such things," says St. Paul, "shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." [Gal. v. 21.]

God ordained Marriage as a remedy against the sin forbidden in the Seventh Commandment.

It was originally instituted by God "in the time of man's innocency," that is, before Adam and Eve had sinned and it was recognised as an institution of His Kingdom by our Lord, when He "adorned and beautified it with His Presence and first miracle that He wrought, in Cana of Galilee."

Christian marriage is to be looked upon, not only as a union of man and woman for the sake of love, and of having children to continue the race of mankind, but also as a union of Christian people in the kingdom of Christ, and a means by which children of God are added to that kingdom, both in earth and in Heaven. And hence Christian marriage is called Holy Matrimony.

St. Paul speaks of it as a mystery, using a word which is the same as "sacrament." "This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church." [Eph. v. 32.] The whole passage, from verse 22nd to verse 33rd, being a homily respecting the Christian position of those who are I married in the Lord," [1 Cor. vij. 39], that is, those who are married in Christ's kingdom, with the blessing of Christ the Lord's authorised ministers.

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Marriage by a Registrar, or Civil Marriage," " is effected in the following manner :-In the presence of the Registrar and two or more witnesses, "each of the Parties shall declare, 'I do solemnly declare, That I know not of any lawful impediment why I, A. B., may not be joined in Matrimony to C. D. And each of the Parties shall say to the other, 'I call upon these Persons here present to witness that I, A. B., do take thee, C. D., to be my lawful wedded Wife [or Husband].'" [6 and 7 Will. IV., cap. lxxxv., § 20.]

The Registrar is required also to be present at all Marriages in Dissenting Chapels, and the above words, so used, alone make such marriages lawful.

There is nothing whatever in civil marriages to constitute them Christian marriages. Heathens, or Jews, or Mahometans, or people of no religion whatever, may be married in this manner, and their unions would be as lawful civil unions as those of any other persons so married.

But marriages in church (where the Registrar is not required to be present) are both Civil Marriages and Holy Matrimony, the union of persons who are married by the law of God, "in the Lord," as well as by the law of man.

There are certain relationships by blood and by marriage-called relationships of Consanguinity and Affinity-within which persons are forbidden to marry each other. These are stated in the "Table of Forbidden Degrees." It is forbidden, for example, to marry a niece or a nephew, a brother-in-law or a sisterin-law. Such marriages are forbidden by the law of the land and persons pretending to be married, and being so related, are sinning against the Seventh Commandment.

§ 8. Sins of Dishonesty.

THE words of the Eighth Commandment are: Thou shalt not steal."

They are explained in the summary of the Commandments by the words, "To be true and just in all my dealings to keep my hands from picking and stealing."

"3

Stealing is punishable by the law of the land; but there are many acts of dishonesty which do not come within the reach of human law, and are yet sins against the Divine law of this Commandment. As there are also many acts which are known to come within the reach of human law, and yet are commonly considered (but wrongly) to be no great transgressions against the law of God.

But all dishonesty and all unfairness in dealings between man and man are forbidden by the words, "Thou shalt not steal."

3 "Picking" seems to be equivalent to "Pilfering" or petty robbery. Yet the word appears in association with burglary and robbery from the person, in the phrase "picking a lock and "picking a pocket."