sins." (1 John iv. 10.)

The foulest murder ever committed on this earth, was the slaughter of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, by wicked hands. Falsely accused, grossly insulted, unfairly tried, roughly dealt with, unjustly condemned, and at last publicly and shamefully executed was the only Righteous One that ever trod this earth.

His blood cried aloud to God for vengeance. But what answer hath the Lord returned? Even to the very doers of the deed,—and our sins have made us all partakers of the guilt,yet even to us this blood speaketh peace, and the blood shed "by wicked hands" will wash those hands and make them clean. It was His own giving up of life, that we might through Him have life. He let His blood be poured out, that we might have a fountain to go to, and be made clean from every defilement. This blood cries not in vain to heaven. It brings down speedy mercy to those who make it as their plea to heaven for acceptance. None have ever pleaded it in vain. It is "the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than the blood of Abel." It is a sense, a deepening sense of this great mercy, that is the great preventive to unkind feelings to a brother, and that is by far the most persuasive argument for loving and seeking to do good to a fellow sinner. "This commandment have

we from him, that he that loveth God, love his brother also." (1 John iv. 21)

PRAYER.

O Lord God, Almighty, how many and how black are the crimes Thou seest done upon the earth! Oh! how great is Thy longsuffering to us-ward, for Thou seest how Thy commandments are broken in spirit and letter every day, and every moment; yet art Thou always visiting man with mercies, and waiting to be gracious even to the sinner that returns to Thee.

Lord, pardon all my offences against this commandment. I have often erred against its spirit, and hated my brother. Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Deliver me from unkind, angry, and all unholy feelings. May I be taught of Thee to love my fellow beings. May the love wherewith Christ hath loved me soften my heart, and make me pitiful, courteous, and considerate towards others. May I be at peace with those with whom I hold intercourse or dwell in the same house; and may we have grace to put away all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, and all malice; and may we be kind one to another, and tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as Thou for Christ's sake hast forgiven us. Grant this, for Jesus' sake. AMEN.

THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT.

"Thou shalt not commit adultery." EXODUS xx. 14.

Of all the crimes that debase human nature, bringing man down to the level of the brute beast, that which is forbidden in the text is the most revolting.

It is scarcely less awful than the sin of murder. It involves the guilt of two persons, and generally the misery, and sometimes guilt of a third person-the injured husband. We cannot therefore be surprised that under the law it was a crime punished with death of the guilty parties. "The man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." (Leviticus xx. 10.) The same is also written in Deuteronomy xxii. 22.

But this, like other of the commandments, must be looked at as of more general meaning than merely forbidding that gross and terrible crime. Our Lord tells us that the sin may be committed in the heart.

We may regard it then, as forbidding, First--the gross crime itself. Secondly-the

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sin of fornication and all uncleanness. Thirdly -impurities of affection and thought.

We need not dwell much on the first of these. Few enter upon such crimes without their conscience reminding them that they sin against the laws of both God and man, and that from the former they stand exposed to great wrath and awful judgment. It is only by thrusting away the thoughts of such judgment they are able to commit such crimes. without fear. They do not believe such words as are written against sinners, nor that the "wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.' (Rom. i. 18.) Such revelations trouble not their minds, because God's word is a dead letter to them. If they had the smallest faith in the "terrors of the Lord," if they believed really in the eternity of the "lake that burneth with fire," if they did not think of all these things as cunningly devised fables, oh! could they enter upon such damning crimes, or sit easy in the very enjoyment of their sinful lust! The word of the Lord is plain against such sinners against their own souls. "Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." (Heb. xiii. 4.) There is a solemn and a warning passage against such sinners occurring in the book of Proverbs. It is there said, "The

commandment is a lamp, and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life: to keep thee from the evil woman, from the flattery of the tongue of the strange woman. Lust not after her beauty in thine heart; neither let her take thee with her eyelids for by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life: can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burncd? Can one go upon hot coals, and his feet not be burned? So he that goeth in to his neighbour's wife; whoso toucheth her shall not be innocent......whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding; he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. A wound and dishonour shall he get, and his reproach shall not be wiped away." (Proverbs vi. 23-33.)

In this passage we are taught several things concerning this and such like grievous crimes, First, that the word of God is the only security against such sins. He only is safe, whatever he may think of his own security, who believes, remembers, and loves, and acts upon God's word.

Next, we learn that he who would be safe from the gross crime must keep from the small beginnings of it. The flattery of the