June 8

Galatians iv.—1. Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all,

2. But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. 3. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world; 4. But, when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5. To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. 6. And, because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father! 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God, through Christ. 8. Howbeit, then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods. 9. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10. Ye observe days and months and times and years. 11. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labor in vain.

21. Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? 22. For it is written, that Abraham had two sons; the one by a bond-maid, the other by a free-woman. 23. But he who was of the bond-woman was born after the flesh; but he of the free-woman was by promise. 24. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. 25. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. 28. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 29. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 30. Nevertheless, what saith the scripture? Cast out the bond-woman and her son; for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with the son of the free-woman. 31. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bond-woman, but of the free.

Under the Roman law, with which Paul was familiar, the power of the father was so absolute, that "the minor was legally in much the same position as the slave." The emancipation of the young man from this tutelage was marked by his putting on the moulds tops, — a ceremony celebrated with great rejoicings by his friends. It was the custom in Roman families to employ a tutor as the constant companion and guide of the child, to look after his manners and morals as well as his knowledge. The apostle describes the Jews as in a state of tutelage under the law as their tutor or pedagogue: but Christ has set us free from this bondage; and so complete

is the privilege of sonship to which he has lifted us up, that his own Spirit moves us to cry, "Abba, Father!" Now, to attempt to save ourselves by our own works is to fall back from this privilege of sonship under the drudgery of servants. The very giving of the law is represented as a type of bondage in the stern and rugged peaks of Sinai; whereas the gospel is likened to that wondrous city of crystal, gold, and gems, which John describes in the Revelation, and which Paul elsewhere speaks of as the heavenly Jerusalem. Already, through grace, our citizenship is there; and we should make this manifest in the joyous freedom of the spiritual life.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 4, 62, 115.

Our Father in heaven, the God of all the families of the earth, we give thee thanks for the manifold blessings which we as a family have received at thy hand, — for our birth and education under Christian influences, for the comforts of our home, for the tender relationships of life. May the mercies of thy covenant abide with this household, and every member of it be joined to the family of thy people! Be thou our Father and our God; and may we know the love and joy of thy dear children! We bless thee that through another night thou hast kept our habitation in peace, and that we enter upon a new day surrounded with the tokens of thy providence and grace. Create within us a clean heart, O God! and renew a right spirit within us, that in our lives this day we may

show forth thine image, and glorify thee in our bodies and spirits which are thine. Forgive us the sins of our past lives; and help us, O Lord! to lead the new life in Christ Jesus.

Be gracious to all dear to us; bless them in their hearts and their homes; remember the family of thy people; have mercy upon such as have no home, upon the widow and the fatherless, the forsaken and outcast; deliver such as are in bonds; convert and restore thine ancient covenant people; and hasten the time when all mankind shall dwell together as one family in Christ their Head. Finally, we beseech thee to bring us to our Father's house, to the Jerusalem that is above, to dwell with thee forever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.