felt presence of the all-pure, all-searching, eagerly helping God, and in the atmosphere of that book which, infidels themselves being judges, contains the most perfect moral rule the world has ever seen. For the instruction and quickening of conscience is not the arrangement worthy the wisdom that devised it?

1

All we have thus far said, under this head, looks only to the life that now is. But of man's existence the present is not the whole. It is but a brief portion. Yet, in a sense, it is the most important portion, for is it not its seedtime, its spring, its precious period of pupilage and preparation for that which is beyond? We know not that such a period of pupilage would not have been wanted had man never sinned; but he has sinned. Now, therefore, he requires not only training, but recovery, and that, too, while youthful and plastic, and while surrounded by those means by which that recovery is to be effected. With a new character to be begun, a character the foundation of which is to be laid in repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, the superstructure of which is to be reared by study, obedience, and prayer, — who shall say that one seventh part of time, however sacredly kept, is too much, or that it recurs too often?

To learn of God and of his truth, to acquaint ourselves with him that we may be at peace; for perfection in the image of his Son; to enjoy, attain, and accomplish all that is here set before us; that death may find us meet for the everlasting kingdom, this proportion of time, religiously kept, is not too great. It is because so many, who half-soberly mean to gain the life eternal, think otherwise, that they squander its hours and fail of the good the gracious Father intended for us all.

Now, can it be thought strange that the failure to keep the day according to the commandments should be regarded and treated as a great evil, that it greatly provokes the displeasure of its wise and beneficent Author, that it does "bring wrath"?

5. Notice yet once more the reminder we here have of the resolute fidelity required to save this day from general profanation. Not content with testifying and reproving, Nehemiah took more decisive steps to correct an evil which had grown to such dimensions. As governor, he used authority, pursuing with effective measures those who were disposed to evade his orders, even without the city walls; summoning the Levites to act as sentinels at the gate, and to see that his commands were obeyed.

It is a happy thing for any people when those who frame and execute its laws are in sympathy with the institutions of religion. Doubtless there has been harsh and indiscreet Sabbath legislation. On the other hand, wise laws have often proved a much-needed restraint. Statutes designed to secure to all a weekly day of rest and to protect the right to undisturbed worship have proved as salutary as they are just. But in no age, much less in this, can much dependence be placed upon the strong arm of legal restraint. It is useless, above all in a land where the people rule, to frame enactments the people are not interested to enforce. It is more important that the people be instructed; and so the pulpit must preach the day's sacredness and value. But not even this is enough. In a farfamed New England town we have seen boys at their games of ball, youth in their boats, gentlemen driving for pleasure, and laborers at work in their fields, all on the Sabbath. Is it enough to convince these that they are in

the wrong? They more than half believe it already. They need the force of steadfast example. More, they need to be enlisted in higher spiritual things. To one alive to these, the day cannot be other than a delight: it does not come too often, it is never too long. To drive out the evil we must bring in the good. Is not religious reconsecration the great want with us all?

Primarily, then, we must keep, and teach our children to keep it as God's own day. Thought of worship and religious service must overshadow every other. Over and over has it been proved that when it is kept only for rest, the rest is not secured. In town and city none are so haggard and useless on Monday as those who, claiming to observe it for rest, forget that it belongs to God. The old-fashioned way of the fathers may have been excessively formal and constrained, but it was incomparably more refreshing and delightful than the new-fashioned way of wide-spread license. In well-filled sanctuaries, hushed homes, deserted fields, and quiet streets,

"It seemed as if the Christian's prayer

For peace and joy and love

Were answered by the very air

That wafts its strain above."

Consecrate the day, not to rest, but to God. Make its hours joyful, but let your joy be in the Lord. When this lesson has been learned, even by all in the church, sights like those which greeted the eyes of God's ancient servant, which, alas! sometimes greet our own, will be rare. Earthly treasure, be it much or little, will prove a blessing, not a curse. Life, be it long or short, will be filled up with usefulness and peace, nor will death be other than a welcome gate of entrance upon the rest eternal.

THE WAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS.

PSALM 1, 1-6.

"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,"

etc.

It was a striking saying of Luther, that in the Psalms, particularly of praise and thanksgiving, you may “look right into the hearts of saints as into fair and pleasant gardens, or heaven itself, and behold beautiful, laughing, and delicate flowers of all manner of fair and joyous thoughts toward God and his love springing lustily into life."

It is certainly a fair and joyous thought which finds expression in this first Psalm. Its opening sentence is a burst of delight. "Blessed is the man!" Or, in the more emphatic plural of the original, "Oh, the blessednesses of the man!" As to the main purpose of the Psalm, we cannot be far out of the way if we assume that it was to impress the blessedness of the way, or to depict the character, condition, and end of the righteous.

I. First, we have a striking description of the character of the righteous.

To make this the more vivid he is represented negatively, positively, directly, and by contrast. Negatively, he rejects the principles and practices of the wicked. He "walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful."

Among the evil, as well as the good, there are classes and gradations. Three such seem to be distinguished here :

forgetters of God, overt and habitual sinners, and settled scorners. With each of these classes most of us are familiar. The first do not consciously hate God, nor do they mean openly to break his commands. They only ignore him. They live as if he had no claims upon them, no existence. In counsels they are without God, ungodly. The next have gone a step farther. From the rank of respectable worldlings they have passed over into that of open offenders. In things which the world can see and often condemns, they are more or less habitual sinners. Then come those who are not ashamed to treat things high and sacred, even religion and its Author, with contempt. Neither of these classes may profess themselves atheists, pantheists, or believers in God as the Great Unknown. All of them live, plan, think, and act as if he were not.

How graphically is the progressive tendency of sin here exhibited! Walking in the counsel of the ungodly makes it easy to linger and then to stand in the way of sinners. Thence, to the society and haunts of the scornful, the step is not long. The man who begins with substituting the maxims of society or trade, and personal convenience and pleasure, for the divine commands, seldom stops just there. Only powerful restraints of Providence or grace can hold him back from that which at first he would have anticipated with abhorrence.

Observe also the indication we here have of the tendency of sin to fixedness. Walking, standing, sitting! Wrong principles, then sinful habits, and last settled scorn. In the final stage he is no longer undecided, but fully committed, contented, resolved to remain. Here he prefers to stay. How great the mistake of those who persuade themselves that it is safe to defer the work of repentance! How