you, and hence they were cast out. (25) visit, punish. vomiteth, a bold rhetorical figure: the very land represented as loathing the people. Bestiality. The crimes here prohibited might-I. Seem incredible, were it not for well-attested facts. Thus Lucrezia Borgia forsook her husband Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, and lived in incestuous intercourse with her two brothers and also her own father. The Bible also records various instances. II. Might be deemed impossible did not these laws assume it, and facts, as Sodom, prove it. Old legends (Europa, for example), paintings, sculptures, etc. (vide Naples Museum), also reveal the hideous possibilities of corrupt human nature. Passages in the Pauline Epp. are also confirmatory of the corruptions of the heathen world. 1 Co. iii. 17; Le. xx. 23; De. xviii. 12; Ps. cxxxix. 23. Be assured that when once a woman begins to be ashamed of what she ought not to The power of appetite.-A king, according to an Eastern fable, once permitted the devil to kiss him on either shoulder. Immediately two serpents grew from his shoulders, who, furious with hunger, attacked his head, and attempted to get at his brain. The king pulled them away, and tore them with his nails. But be ashamed of, he soon saw, with indescribable horror, that they had become she will not be parts of himself, and that, in wounding them, he was lacerating his own flesh. Such is the deplorable condition of every victim of appetite and lust. shamed of what she ought." Levy. 26-30. (26) keep, etc.,a lit. keep my keepings, i.e. charge. doom of (27) all.. done, the destr. of Canaanitish tribes a judicial act. sensuality (28) land .. also," for great sins bring great plagues. (29) a 1 Co. v. 9—13. souls, persons. (30) customs, "Their evil customs bec. as b Je. ix. 10; Ez. laws; that tyrant of three letters, Mos, had made them so."c xxxvi. 13, 17. "Cut The doom of licentiousness.-This is certain -I. From the c Trapp. antagonism of nature: "The land itself vomiteth," etc., v. 25. Not the mounLicentiousness induces effeminacy, sloth, land becomes non-tain ice, conproductive. An effeminate and luxurious people the prey of the foreigner (Persia, Turkey). II. From social retributions. off from among their people." The libertine and the courtesan are stamped with universal opprobrium. III. From the fiat of Omnipotent Holiness. "I am the Lord your God." God arms nature, providence, conscience, against the corrupt in heart and life. The sanctity of chastity. So dear to Heaven is saintly chastity, And turn it by degrees to the soul's essence, gealed to crystals is so frosty chaste athy victorious soul, which conquers man and man's proud tyrant-passion." -Dryden. "There needs not trength to be added to inviolate chastity; the excellences of the mind make the b dy impregnable." - Sir P. Sidney. B.C. 1490. recapitulation of duty a 1 Pe. i. 16; Job i. 1; Ps. xxxvii, 37: Ge. v. 24; Phi. iii. 20, 21. b Ex. xx. 12; De. c Trapp. 14; 1 Jo. v. 21. "The heart in childhood is like that new kind of Sometimes; at CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH. d 66 1—4. (1, 2) holy,a (see on xi. 44) separated. (3) fear, honour. mother, put first because usually slighted." sabbaths, the seventh and all appointed days. (4) idols, nonentities, nothings, vanities. molten, as the golden calf. Ritualism: the ceremonial Gospel.-I shall maintain that the system known as Ritualism is fairly chargeable with idolatry. v. 16; Ep. vi. 1-Let us look at some of its leading characteristics, and see what 3; Lu. ii. 51. it offers us. I. The view which it takes of the Christian ministry. In all ritualist writings, you will find the minister spoken of as d Ex. xx. 8, xxxi."the priest." The use of this word only concerns us with regard 13; Mk. i. 27, 28. to the grave questions hidden beneath it. Consider what it e Ex. xx. 4, 5; Le. implies. A priest is one-1. Who offers sacrifice. Notwithstandxxvi. 1; 1 Co. x. ing the teaching of the New Testament, we are told that the Lord's Supper is a sacrifice: that the priest offers the very body and blood of Christ for the people; 2. Who is an authorised medium of grace and teacher of truth. We are told that the pavement which clergy are the only authorised teachers of religion. Look at the we see laid down doctrine of Apostolic succession; and at the asserted power of first it is as soft the priest to give pardon. Note how the latter sets aside the 268 mud, and direct dealing of God with souls; and as such is idolatry. II. very little leaf Its relation to what is called tradition, the history of the beliefs at first makes an of former ages. Mark how this leaning on the crutch of tradition impression; but by-and-by it gets involves a disbelief in the power and willingness of God to speak so hard that a to human souls; in which we find the core of idolatry to consist. whole troop of III. The place which the sacraments hold in the ritual scheme. borseguards may gallop over it A ritualist clergyman once held up an infant before baptism without leaving among the Sunday-school children, and asked, "What do I hold?" the slightest in- They replied as they were taught, "A child of wrath." dentation."-Rev. the rite, he held up the infant again, "What do I now hold?" f J. F. Stevenson, They answered, “A child of God." If these answers be true, the difference between a child of wrath and a child of God is, in 'The Christian more senses than one, undiscernible to mortal eyes. IV. The parent ought to sensuousness of the whole system. Ritualism means, in fact, a be a living ex- sensuous worship. It falls in with the worst and weakest tenemplification of Christianity. His dencies of the day. There is nothing at all in it which is not house, his habits, given us in nobler and more life-giving forms. his family, his Cowper's memory of his mother.-That great and good poet, associates, his pursuits, his reCowper, expressed in the most impressive language an uncommon Creations, ought affection for the memory of his mother (who died when he was all to be so regu- only six years old), when his cousin, Mrs. Bodham, presented lated as to evince him with her picture, long after her death. In a letter to the that religion is, indeed, the parent lady who sent it, he said, "I had rather possess that picture than of order, the in- the richest jewel in the British crown; for I loved her with an affection that her death, fifty-two years since, has not in the least abated." The following is an extract from the poem written on that occasion: James Bolton. M.A. spirer of good spring of good Thy nightly visits to my chamber made, That thou might'st know me safe and warmly laid; After The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestow'd By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glow'd: Not scorn'd in heaven, though little noticed here. 5-8. (5) offer.. Lord, not only to reject idols, worship God. at.. will, lit. that ye may be accepted. See on vii. 15-18. v. 2. J. Jones, but to freewill "As water is deepest where it God is The law of the offering.-I. The heart was to be willing. 1. is the stillest; so, Feeling its need of peace with God; 2. Anxious to be at peace where with Him. II. Not only to offer willingly, but in exact obedience to rule. 1. A whole sacrifice; 2. The penalty of disobedience. Sin increased, penalty inflicted. most silent in threatening, and patient in sparing, there He is most inflamed with anger and purpose of revenge. And poured forth served in store together of mercy, a childish Blasphemous defiance of God.-It was near the close of one of those storms that deposit such a volume of snow upon the earth, that a middle-aged man, in one of the southern counties of Vermont, seated himself at a large fire in a log-house. He was therefore the crossing the Green Mountains from the western to the eastern fewer the judgside; he had stopped at the only dwelling of man in a distance ments be that are of more than twenty miles, being the width of the parallel ranges upon the wicked of gloomy mountains; he was determined to reach his dwelling in this life, th on the eastern side that day. In reply to a kind invitation to more are retarry in the house, and not dare the horrors of the increasing for them in the storm, he declared that he would go, and that the Almighty was life to come."not able to prevent him. His words were heard above the howl- Cawdray. ing of the tempest. He travelled from the mountain-valley "Some fancy a where he had rested, over one ridge, and one more intervened God made up albetween him and his family. The labour of walking in the snow must have been great, as its depth became near the stature of a mercy, as if His man; yet he kept on, and arrived within a few yards of the last mercy had nosummit, from whence he could have looked down upon his dwell-thing else to do but to wrong all ing. He was near a large tree, partly supported by its trunk; His other perfechis body bent forward, and his ghastly intent features told the tions, to make stubbornness of his purpose, to overpass that little eminence. Him belie His truth, extinguish The Almighty had prevented him, the currents of his life's His justice, disblood were frozen. For more than thirty years that tree stood card His wisdom, by the solitary road, scarred to the branches with names, letters, and enslave His power." Charand hieroglyphics of death, to warn the traveller that he trod nock. over a spot of fearful interest. 9-12. (9) not.. field," covetously thinking and caring only harvest law for thyself. gather.. harvest, let the fallen ears remain for the poor. (10) vineyard, fruit-garden of any kind. grape, 21; Ru. ii. 15, 16. fruit, esp. fallen fruit. (11) steal, see Ex. xx. 15. neither.. falsely, another form of dishonesty. lie, dishonest speech. in handfuls the (12) swear : false, ref. to judicial oaths: false witness. corn left by the neither.. God, profane swearing. The meanness and danger of falsehood.-I. The various modes ganer-glane, in which the guilt of falsehood may be contracted. 1. The direct thered. A. S. d C a De. xxiv. 19 Glean, to gather reapers. Fr. ears of corn ga of corn. b Ma. xxvi. 11; Ga. ii. 10; Ps. x. B.C. 1490. lie; 2. The indirect lie: partial truth, truth exaggerated, silence gilm, a handful kept when one ought to speak out, the tone of the voice, or motion of the body. In particular, we notice-(1) The mercenary lie; (2) The lie of flattery; (3) The lie of censoriousness or slander. II. Some of the qualities which constitute the meanness of falsehood. III. The dangers that result from this evil Note its effects on-1. The present life: the force of habit; circumstances connected with this habit, the peculiar temptations to which all who indulge in it will be exposed, the suspicion that will attach to them: its influence on the Church, and on society; 2. The life to come: this is "the abominable thing" which God hates. Questions:-(1) How can we account for the prevalence of this evil? (2) How may it be counteracted?? 2, 11, 12. c De. v. 19. d Ps. xxxvii. 21. e Ep. iv. 25; Col. iii. 9; Re. xxi. 8. f Ex. xx. 7; De. v. 11; Ma. v. 33. g Ja. v. 12. h R. Vaughan, D.D. See what pro Harvest.-It is remarkable that while spring, summer, winter, vision the Lord have all their Anglo-Saxon names, we designate the other maketh for His quarter of the year by its Latin title "autumn; the word wh. poor, command should have designated it, "harvest," "hearfest" (= the German ing that the fuller cups of the herbst "), having been appropriated to the ingathering of the richer sort may fruits of this season, not to the season itself. In this indeed we overflow into are truer to the proper meaning of "harvest" than the Germans, their empty who have transferred the word fr. the former to the latter; for V. of Scotland it is closely related with the Gk. Kαрróç and the Lat. carpo. was, for his Occasionally, however, as in the passage wh. follows, "harvest charity, called assumes with us the signification of autumn. king; much more may God.". Trapp. dishes.... James the poor man's i Golding, Ovid's Meta. ii. k Trench. social laws a Ja. v. 4; De. xxiv. 14, 15; Mal. iii. 5. b Ja. ii. 1, 9, 10; Ps. lxxxii. 4. There stood the spring-time with a crown of fresh and fragrant There waited Summer, naked stark, all save a wheaten hat; fat; And, lastly, quaking for the cold, stood Winter all forlorn.ik 13-16. (13) defraud, oppress. rob, do violence. wages," the poor have no reserve capital: live fr. hand to mouth. (14) curse, disparage, defame. deaf, if he does not hear thee, God does this applies to the absent also. blind, either in sport or malice. but.. God, the all-seeing and all-merciful; who has given thee ears and eyes. (15) do.. judgment,' not pervert justice, either as judge or witness. respect.. mighty, in courts of law there should be no partiality. but.. neighbour, acc. to merits of the case. (16) talebearer, pedler, petty "Of all fowls we trafficker in scandal. neither.. neighbour, either falsely most hate and accuse, or be silent where life is endangered: thus be in any way detest the crows; the cause of the loss of his life. Plato would have him paid double that is not paid in due time. and of all beasts the jackals, a Law the bond of social morality.-Consider here the details of kind of foxes in social law. I. The law of trade, forms of fraud. II. The law of Barbary; because hiring, prompt and frequent payment of the labourer's wages. the one digs up III. The law for the infilm, considerate care for the deaf, blind; the graves and devours the flesh. and, by inference, for all who suffer from natural defects. IV. the other picks The law of equity in administration of justice. Righteousness out the eyes of the and neither person nor position to be regarded. V. The law of dead."-Tropp. social intercourse. Government of tongue. Honourable regard for family secrets, etc. "As a ped er, that first fils his pack with re Cursing the deaf.- Mr. Philip Henry used to remind those who ports and ru- sroke evil of people behind their backs, of that law." Thou mours. and then shalt not curse the deaf." Those that are absent are deaf, they goes peddling up cannot right themselves, and therefore say no ill of them. A and down, dropping a tale here friend of his, inquiring of him concerning a matter which tended and B.C. 1490. to reflect upon some people; he began to give him an account of the story, but immediately broke off, and checked himself with another these words "But our rule is to speak evil of no man," and there, to the would proceed no farther in the story. The week before he taking away of died, a person requested the loan of a particular book from him. the good name, "Truly," said he, "I would lend it to you, but that it takes in the and sometimes of faults of some which should rather be covered with a mantle of ther."-Trapp. love." : the life of ano of manners a Ga. v. 14; Ja. ii. 8; 1 Pe. ii. 22; iii. 8-12: 1 Jo. iii. 10-18; 1 Th. 17-22. (17) hate.. heart, or withhold proper love or simplicity Conceal thy anger. This against nursing a spirit of revenge. shalt.. neighbour, reprove plainly. not.. him, lit. not bear sin on his account: i.e. contract sin by withholding reproof. (8) not.. grudge, no smothered ill-will. love.. thyself," i really, truly. (19) ye.. statutes, however trivial in appearance, yet Divine. shalt.. kind, not think to improve the hysical order of the world. not. . seed, causing confusion in he harvest; and injury of one kind. garment.. woollen, prob. a ref. to weaving profane uses into God's ordinances. (20) bondmaid.. husband,d bec. a slave she was not to be injured; nor the man, though a slave, to be insulted through his betrothed. (21) he, who has done this wrong. (22) the .. offering, see v. 14. Ma. vi 22, 24. those Indians who are found to wear all the gold they have in the world in a bob at the nose." Gold mith. De. xxii. 9—11. d De. xxii. 2325; He. vii. 19; 1 Ti. i. 8-11. "The person whose clothes are extremely Simplicity of manners.-This is suggested by the law relating fine, I am too to mixtures. I. Designed to keep the inventiveness of human apt to consider as not being posingenuity within reasonable bounds. The thirst for "witty insessed of auy suventions" in the antediluvial age was certainly somehow con- periority of fornected with corruption of manners. II. To prevent the absorp- tune, but resemtion of too much time by worldly fashions, etc. III. To teach bling purity in the ceremonies of religion and treatment of Divine ruth. These things admit not of human innovations. Old law relating to linen.-In 1721, a statute was passed imDosing a penalty of £5 upon the weaver, and £20 upon the seller f a piece of calico. Fifteen yrs. later this statute was so far 1odified that calicoes manufactured in Gt. Britain were allowed, . 17. T. Manton, provided the warp thereof was entirely of linen yarn." In iv. 1195; J. Wesley, 774, a statute was passed allowing printed cotton goods to be M.A., vi. 296; C. G. Finney, Lec., 34. sed on the payment of 3d. a yard duty; wh. in 1806 was raised 134d. This was done to prevent the use of calicoes from interBeauty gains tring with the demand for linen and woollen stuffs. The law liness and deforlittle, and homer burying in woollen was of a similar character. The foll. ex. mity 1 se much, ia London news-letter, Aug. 2, 1768, will ill. the spirit of the by gaudy attire. thes :-"Yesterday three tradesmen's wives of this city were this was in part onvicted bef. the Rt. Hon. the Ld. Mayor for wearing chintz true, and refused gwns on Sunday last, and ea. of them was fined £5. These the rich garnke eighty who have been convicted of the above offence within ments that the tyrant Dionysius telve months past. There were several ladies in St. James's Pk. proffered to his o the same day with chintz gowns on, but the persons who gave daughters, sayiformation of the above three were not able to discover their ing that they nnes or places of abode. Yesterday a waggon loaded with were tit only to make unhappy £000 worth of chintz was seized at Dartford in Kent by some faces more rectom-house officers. Two post-chaises loaded with the same markable.". camodity got off with their goods by swiftness of driving. 66 Lysander knew Zimmerman. Canaan 3-25. (23) and when, etc., was this precept not a first years in mnorial of the forbidden tree of Paradise ?"b (24) holy. a Je. xvii. 26 whal, when partaken with gratitude, etc. (25) ye.. there De. xiv. 28. |
