October 24

Deuteronomy x. — 1. At that time the Lord said unto me, How thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

2. And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark. 3. And I made an ark of shittin-wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand. 4. And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, in the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them unto me. 12. And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul, 13. To keep the commandments of the Lord, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? 14. Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the Lord's thy God; the earth also, with all that therein is.

15. Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them; and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. 16. Circumcise, therefore, the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. 17. For the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: 18. He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. 19. Love ye, therefore, the stranger; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 20. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God: him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. 21. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things which thine eyes have seen. 22. Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

Deuteronomy xi. — 1. Therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

The New Testament is sometimes put in contrast with the Old, as a spirit of love and of life. But love is no less the spirit of the law than of the gospel; and though the law given by Moses, both as a national code and a ritual of worship, required many specific and minute observances, yet its fundamental idea was spiritual consecration to God, as the spring of all duty, the substance of all devotion. Even circumcision, so much insisted on as the seal of the covenant, had no value except as a sign of the separation of the heart from the world unto God: "He is a Jew which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter." The law, therefore, instead of being se

vere and cumbersome, was reasonable in its demand, simple in its rule, and had in itself the inspiration of a true life. All its commandments were for good; all its requirements were summed up in the one word love.

The reasons urged upon Israel for obedience are as telling for us to-day. These were, first, the loving-kindness of the Lord toward them as a people; next, the greatness, the majesty, and the righteousness of Jehovah; and, thirdly, his gentleness and compassion toward the weak, the needy, the helpless, the neglected. With the severer aspects of the divine power and justice the Scriptures continually blend his tenderness and grace.

APPROPRIATE HYMNS.]

Prayer.

[Nos. 154, 155, 172.

O thou Preserver of men! in the multitude of thy mercies hast thou preserved us during the hours of sleep, and raised us up to the duties of another day in the possession of health and reason, and surrounded by the manifold tokens of thy favor. Accept our humble praise, and graciously keep us this day from sin and every evil. Bless us in all the labor of our hands, and in all things teach us to glorify thy holy name. Show thy pity upon us as a family; ever keep us in thy love; and may we all be numbered with thy saints in glory everlasting!

Thou who watchest over the fall of the sparrow, how gently and graciously thou has cared for us, in the least things as well as in the greatest! We thank thee for this thy daily care, and commit ourselves to thy loving providence. [May these

children learn to see thee in the birds and the flowers, in all the beautiful things which thou hast made, and to love and trust thee, their gracious Father and Saviour!]

Hear us, O God! when we pray that it may please thee to bless and keep all thy people; that it may please thee to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord; that it may please thee to defend and provide for the fatherless children and widows, and for all that are desolate and oppressed; that it may please thee to bring into the way of truth all such as have erred and are deceived; that it may please thee to give us true repentance, to forgive us all our sins, to endue us with the grace of thy Holy Spirit; and, after this present life, to take us to live and reign with thee and thy Son in glory everlasting. Amen.