BIBLE STUDIES FOR HOME AND SCHOOL. threw both his arms upwards, and gazing at it with his whole soul, burst into a loud thanksgiving to Allah, and a welcome to the returning caravan, beckoning to the Mahmal with an imploring gesture, as if he were entreating it to stay for ever by his side. All this was so thoroughly spontaneous and evidently heartfelt, I cannot doubt that man would have willingly died a martyr's death for the faith which was so dear to him. Fancy how disgusted I was to see a young Turk, who was near us on a donkey, laughing all the time at the devotion of his zealous neighbour. After the Mahmal followed the Sheikh of the Camel bare-headed, and very slightly clad; he was immensely fat, and looked uncomfortable in the hot sun, as he incessantly bowed his head from side to side. I was told this was the fiftieth time he has been in charge of the Mecca caravan. He is said to be an ascetic, living on a mouti.ful of bread and water (rather a tax on one's credulity), and generally sleeping within the precincts of one of the mosques when not on the four months' journey across the desert. After the Sheikh came some of the richer pilgrims mounted on camels, most of them with their heads swathed in shawls, some of which were evidently of English or French make. One man had on a European coat and a coal-scuttle hat, another held a childpilgrim on the saddle before him. Several camels were ridden by men beating drums, and one carried the two large chests of the caravan. More chanting and banner-bearing bands of dervishes, and pilgrims on foot closed the procession, marching to the sound of the primitive Arab music, through the Gate of Victory, by the narrow streets of the old town of Cairo, to the Citadel. Bible Studies for Home and School. INTERNATIONAL LESSON. AUGUST 28. THE COMMANDMENTS (FIRST TABLE). EXODUS XX. 1-11. GOLDEN TEXT, MATT. XXII. 37.- Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.' CONNECTION.-It was now the second month after the departure from Egypt, the third month (ch. xix. 1) of the sacred year. There is no reason to doubt the tradition which fixes the day as the 'Pentecost,' or fiftieth day from the PassOver. To the gift of manna in the wilderness of Sin' had been added that of water from the rock in Rephidim. The people are now encamped in the vast plain at the foot of Sinai. Most travellers identify the summit from which Jehovah spoke to the people with Rás Sufsâfeh, a colossal cliff 2,000 feet above the plain (7,000 feet above the sea-level), er-Râhah, of which Dean Stanley writes: The plain itself is not broken and uneven and narrowly shut in, like almost all others in the range, but presents a long retiring sweep, against which the people could "remove and stand afar off." The cliff, rising like a huge altar in front of the whole congregation, and visible against the sky in lonely grandeur from end to end of the 541 whole plain, is the very image of "the mount which might be touched," and from which the "voice" of God might be heard far and wide over the stillness of the plain below, widened, at that point, to its utmost extent by the confluence of all contiguous valleys.”* Date of the giving of the Law. The coincidence of this great event with Pentecost, the Feast of Weeks,' familiar to us from Keble's Whitsunday hymn,' When God of old came down from heaven,' is nowhere expressly stated in Scripture, but is sufficiently probable. The three great festivals of the Jewish year would thus be historically connected with the deliverance from Egypt; Sivan 6 was the Day of Pentecost' corresponding with the middle of May.t I. THE FIRST COMMANDMENT.--Read vers. 1-3. God spake. For the sublime description of the storm which enwrapt the mountain, see xix. 16, 18, compare Heb. xii. 18, 19. From the midst of the darkness flashing with fire came a Voice which all the people could hear. Moses had descended from the summit, where he had held lonely communion with God (xix. 20, 25). Now he stands, as between Jehovah and His people, awestricken and listening, like the rest. God speaks Ten words,' ch. xxxiv. 28; Deut. x. 4 (Heb. see margin). The FIRST COMMANDMENT is prefaced by the declaration of God's eternal being, His covenant relation to Israel, and the deliverance which He had wrought on their behalf: (1) I am Jehovah, (3) which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt. A threefold claim; upon obedience, trust, gratitude. Therefore is He ever to be supreme in honour and worship. No other god before Me, not precisely above Me,' as the word might mean, but besides Me' (literally, 'in My sight') or as My rivals. I AM THE ONLY GOD. Such was the truth specially committed to Israel; to maintain it they were singled out and kept apart among the nations of the earth, Isa. xliii. 10-12; to declare it to all mankind was their special mission. The Christian form of the truth is set forth, 1 Cor. viii. 5, 6. The commandment forbids idolatry; not only in its grosser forms, but the more subtle idolatry of the heart. Whatever is first in our thoughts and affections is our God. That place JEHOVAH claims, not only as the Supreme and Eternal One, but as our Father, God in Christ. The threefold claim upon us is thus shown in the Gospel of redemption. We are 'brought out of' a worse captivity than that of the land of Egypt.' II. THE SECOND COMMANDMENT.-Read vers. 4-6. What is the difference between this and the foregoing command? Augustine, it is well known, regarded the two as one, making up the ten words' by dividing the tenth into two. This division also Luther followed: and to this day it is given in the Papal and Lutheran Catechisms.§ The two commandments are, however, essentially distinct. The former excludes all false * Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 42, 43, where see the maps. See also The Land of the Pharaohs,' R. T. S. p. 221, for a photographic view of Râs Sufsâfeh and the Râhah plain. Palmer's Desert of the Exodus,' vol. i. p. 109. 6 + Compare the Hebrew Almanack' in Conder, 'Handbook to the Bible,' pp. 92-104. A compendious and complete exposition of the several duties enjoined, and sins forbidden, in the Commandments will be found in the Assembly's Larger Catechism,' Q. 104-148. § Mystical reasons are given for the division of the First Table into three; the Second Table into seven for which see Lange (Clark's Ed.), p. 77. The divided Tenth Commandment reads thus 9, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife '-the coveting that leads to adultery; 10, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house,' etc.-the coveting that leads to theft (the Biblical order being changed. Altogether the arrangement is forced, and to be rejected for the reason given above. ch. xxxi. 13; Neh. ix. 14. Holy, separate from common use; not that the world is to be counted unholy, but the Sabbath is to hallow all the rest. The six days are for work. He who commands us to rest, commands us also to labour. Work, like rest, is divine. It is the most utter perversion of this law -a perversion from which all others have, perhaps, begun-to separate those things which God has so wonderfully joined together, which He has so wonderfully distinguished, in the course of Nature, and in the kingdom of Grace, to treat the day of rest as if it were His, and the days of work as if they were man's. All worldliness, all ungodliness, is involved in that doctrine. Six is graciously bestowed upon God. So people believe that they are keeping His ordinances'! The seventh day, to be interpreted of one particular period of twenty-four hours in the week by those who occupied the same land; of course to be more liberally interpreted when the commandment becomes worldwide. For to keep to the same precise time is impossible. When it is noon in one land, it is midnight in another. Oneseventh of our time, then, adequately meets the spirit of the command; and the Christian who rests on the Lord's Day is as obedient to the law as the Jew who rested on the seventh day of the week. In particular, again, the commandment must be liberally interpreted. No manner of work, if taken in bare literalism, would bring all life to a standstill. The Son of Man who is Lord of the Sabbath,' has shown that works of necessity and charity are still to be wrought. gods; the latter, presupposing the true God, forbids all reverence to or before material representations of Himself, or of any heavenly or earthly beings. When the Israelites fashioned the golden calf it was not the first but the second commandment that they disobeyed, ch. xxxii. 4, 5. But the violation of the latter is sure in the end to lead to the transgression of the former. No thoughtful idolater in the world will confess that he worships the image itself: the Brahmin will say that to him the figure is but a symbol, a representation of the unseen reality which he honours; so will the European devotee before his crucifix or Madonna. But practically it is found that the homage paid before the image is transferred to the image-sevenths of man's time is delivered over to Mammon; one-seventh certainly by the unthinking, and unconsciously often by the more enlightened. To bow down leads to serving them. Hence the profound wisdom and significance of this prohibition to adore any symbols. Deut iv. 15-19. To the Jews the words would be especially significant, as they had come from a land where things in the earth beneath, and in the water under the earth—i.e., below the land level, including the sea, rivers, etc., were everywhere honoured as symbols of the divine. Observe, vers. 4 and 5 are to be read together-Thou shalt not make.... thou shalt not bow down thyself, i.e. Thou shalt not make for purposes of adoration. Mistakes have arisen from reading the former part of the command absolutely. Thus the stricter Jews, and the Mohammedans, regard the representation of natural objects as forbidden in any case. This would put an embargo upon all art, so far as it represents actual beings or objects—a restriction obviously never contemplated. God will have no material things interposed, as it were, between Himself and the soul. Worship must be spiritual, or it will degenerate into idolatry. God is jealousspeaking after the manner of men-will allow none of that honour which is for Himself alone to be paid even outwardly to material things, Isa. xlviii. 11. He is jealous, because He loves.' But why is it added that He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children? To show the evil consequences of idolatry upon family and national character. To materialise religion is to introduce a debasing influence which it is increasingly difficult to surmount. The veil interposed between the soul and God becomes thicker and thicker, and cach succ. eding generation feels the bitter loss. But, on the contrary, those who live in spiritual, long obedient fellowship with God, receive His mercy, in every form of blessing. To thousands, i.e. to the thousandth generation, a striking method of declaring that the lovingkindness of God is far more enduring than His wrath. III. THE THIRD COMMANDMENT.-Read ver. 7. Not only is Jehovah to be spiritually worshipped, but His Name is to be held in sacred reverence. The phrase in vain, ranges through all gradations of meaning, from falsehood and blasphemy to lightness and irreverence. Hence the words, first of all, forbid the association of the Name of God with a falsehood. 'Thou shalt not forswear thyself,' Matt. v. 33. All blasphemous use of that name is also forbidden, every form of profanity, veiled or open. The use of the Name again, in formal and heartless devotion, is a sin against this commandment, 'vain repetitions' or hollow outward service. All flippant, thoughtless employment of the Divine name in ordinary speech in like manner transgresses this comprehensive injunction. It may be violated in thought as well as in word or ded. We must think of God as of Infinite Majesty and Eternal Love, then shall we be reverent in speech and act. It is the spirit of the Lord's Prayer: Hallowed be Thy Name.' IV. THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT.-Read vers. 8-11. Remember, pointing to the already-existing statute: comp. ch. xvi. 28; Gen. ii. 3. The Sabbath day (the word Sabbath' means 'rest) is a primary institution of humanity, a part of God's divine and original order, having its foundation in His own nature, and therefore in the nature of the creature whom He has formed in His image,' but a special 'sign' to Israel, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work, John v. 17. It is to Hugh Miller that we are indebted for the exposition of these words in conformity with modern scientific belief. When the sixth day' was past, God rested on the seventh day and hallowed it. But that day has never closed. We do not read, The evening and the morning were the seventh day. That morning has still to come! In other words, supposing the six days to denote the successive eras of creative activity, the seventh means the whole era of the world's history; we are living in it, and the Sabbath is its recurring type. But the Father worketh during this, His Sabbath, in the ceaseless activities of His beneficent providence; and the Redeemer adds, I work on man's Sabbath, in deeds of healing and kindness. Note the different reasons given for the Sabbath institution, here and in Deut v. 15. Here the ground is laid in the act of God Himself. Jehovah rested . . and blessed the Sabbath day. In the latter passage the appeal is to the grateful memory of the people: Remember that thou wast a bondservant in the land of Egypt; therefore, the inference is, be prepared to give this boon heartily to thine own servants. The Sabbath is thus commended in its harmony with the mind of Observe the Divine God, and as adapted to the wants of man. care for the stranger, or foreigner. Within thy gates, pointing to the time when Israel would be settled in their own land. QUESTIONS. 1. From what Old Testament passage is the Golden Text derived; and on what other occasion was it cited during our Lord's ministry? 2. Show how the Golden Text sums up the commandments of the First Table. 3. How does our Lord extend the meaning of the Third Commandment? 4. Distinguish betweeen the 'moral' and the positive in the Divine commands, and show the moral element in positive commands. 5. Whence arises the obligation of the Lord's Day upon Christians? 6. Of what spiritual blessings is the Sabbath a type? See Heb. iv. 9, 10, revised version. THE TWO FRIENDS. 543 Pages for the Young. THE TWO FRIENDS; A STORY OF THE CORNISH COAST. III. CROUCHING against the rock, shivering in the wind, drenched by the rain, George tried to think what had best be done. As nearly as he could guess, it was between eight and nine o'clock. He was aware that, about that time, at the tin-mine which lay between the town and them, there was a shift or change of men; one party went home to bed, while another took their places for the night. Two of these miners whom he knew by name, and had often spoken to, lived near Portreath; their shortest road to the mine would be along the cliffs from which Edward had fallen that afternoon. If he had guessed the time right, then they would be passing soon, and by some means, he must call their attention to their plight below. How he hoped that it was their turn to work the shift that night! how his heart bounded at the slightest prospect of deliverance; for he feared that, if help did not come before the night was gone, in the morning it might come in vain. He walked away from the cliffs again, and, putting his hands about his mouth, shouted, with the full force of his lungs, "Help! help!" There was no answer, save the answer which echo sends. He called again, "Help! Help!" It travelled far and wide, and again the echoes seemed to laugh at him, but no other answer came. It was gruesome work to stand there, exposed to the merciless fury of the rain, shouting to the night. While he hesitated, trembling with the cold, hatless, coatless, vestless, helpless before the cutting wind and beneath the pouring rain, half fearful to call out again, he remembered that everything might depend on his making himself heard. In such moments we need no telling that God is Lord of all. Good or bad, we fly to Him alike, as George did now, beseeching Him to be a very present help in time of trouble. Nerving himself once more, he shouted loud and long, "Help! help! help! help!" He listened with might and main for any human answer to his call, none came; again he had called in vain! He put his hands up to his face and wept. But even while the first hot tears came gushing to his eyes, a voice shouted from above, "Hullo, below! who's calling there?" Then George cried indeed, then the tears gushed forth, and he never strove to stay their flow, then a. great psalm of praise welled upwards from his heart; it was dumb-it is not the most faithful, fervent singer who uses many words-but it found utterance in tears. Never voice sounded to his ears as did that voice then: even as fire fell from heaven to burn the sacrifice, even so directly did it seem to George his prayer was answered then. It is not in great things only that the finger of the Lord is shown if we consider this we shall realise the meaning better than at times we do. It is not the thing we pray for, but the prayer. How he cried-he who never cried-but they were tears of joy! He shouted, though sobs nearly choked his utterance, "It is I-I!" Moments of intense suspense were they which followed, in each of which he seemed to live a year. All was still, there was no sound save the voices of the storm. Had they heard his answering cry above, "It is I-I!" He almost doubted it, it seemed too good for truth: what if they should go away again, supposing after all that it was but a sea-bird's cry which had fallen on their ears. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but the cup dashed from the lips of the thirsty man is more than he can bear. Impressed with this vague alarm, he called again, " It is I-I!" as though they would know his voice on such a night, and would recognise him from its tone. But his fears were groundless: immediately the answering shout came back, "Below there! Keep up your heart, and we'll let down a lantern on a rope." 66 Keep up your heart!" No need to tell him that. Forgetful of the storm, and that he was wet and cold, he ran to Edward beneath the jutting rock, and fell upon his knees, beside him. "Ted, they have come at last!" he exclaimed. "Oh, Ted, Ted!" But the boy still slept on. "Hi, there, below! Look out, we're letting down a lantern on a rope," shouted someone at last from the cliff. "All right," he replied, "let it down." And they let it down, he watched it coming, foot by foot and inch by inch: it was light through the darkness, the first gleam of light he had seen since the moon went in: now it struck against the rock, and now it bounded into space: it was a willo'-the-wisp or a shooting star. At last it came within his reach. "I have it!" he cried, bringing near the bright light with a touch of his hand. "I have it! another six feet and it is on the ground!" They lowered it the requisite distance, and then, in response to George's signal, ceased to lower it more. George proceeded to examine the means by which they were to be rescued from their perilous position, and raised to the cliff above. The rope was thick, and strong, and new: there was small cause to fear its breaking. He took the lantern in his hand, and saw that it was new. At the bottom they had fastened a cross-bar, providentially, for without it he would have found it impossible to rescue Ted: as it was, it would be a difficult task. Even as it was, at first he feared that it could not be done, but after a momentary hesitation he hit upon a scheme by which he hoped he might succeed. First, he tested the cross-bar to see if it were firmly fastened: there could be no doubt of that, it was secured by a number of intricate knots, which, try how he would, he could not unloose. Then he went to where Edward lay, and lifting him as best he could, bore him towards the rope. He was not asleep; by the lantern's light he could see that his eyes were open, and he muttered something, and George trembled as he perceived that they were but the wanderings of delirium. Seating himself on the cross-bar, with the rope between his legs, Edward between the rope and him, with one hand holding up his head, and with the other clinging fast, he shouted with might and main, What an ascent that was! It needed him to keep all his faculties on the alert to save them from being dashed against the cliff. The bushes grazed against his cheeks, and more than once the rope caught in their stems, and they hung in mid-air. Exposed to the full fury of the wind, it seemed to George it blew a hurricane: it blew them from side to side, angry to find that after all it could not do as it liked with them : the rain, the pitiless rain, dashed in their faces with blinding force. The worst of it was, he could do nothing to add to Edward's comfort: he groaned, and cried, but though it cut George to the heart to think what his agony must be, he could do nothing to relieve his pain. All at once he lay quite still. Looking at him with sudden fear he saw that he had fainted. What a time that was! What a day and night to be remembered! Would they ever reach the top? Again his heart sank low. A few more awful moments and he knew that the ascent was nearly made. He heard voices speaking overhead, he could almost hear what they were saying; a few more seconds still, and every word they spoke was plain. Then-surely it was the climax of it all-the last bush was passed, the last few feet of rugged earth; he placed his hand upon the summit of the cliff, they lifted him right up, he knew that it was so, but directly his feet touched solid ground, a great dizziness came over him, the world seemed spinning round and round, and he fell senseless to the earth. It was the result which might have been expected, the strain upon his faculties had been too great, and nature gave way. The rescuers were, as George had supposed, two miners passing towards the mine. Great, stalwart men, shrewd and strong, as Cornishmen are wont to be, with bearded faces and flashing eyes, faces lined with toil, but characteristic of that enduring, daring nature, the frugal and industrious life for which their countrymen are famed. "Be they dead?" asked one, using the old time term which is common in those parts. "They be not dead, but faint," replied the other, who was holding George in his arms, as though he were his son. must take them to the mine." "We NO. XXXII. Double Acrostic. 1. Of all the gods the Gentiles feared, And by King Solomon revered, Describe the one by Ammon reared. 2. Of all the plains in Israel's land, Tell where the foes of Judah planned To weaken the Tirshatha's band. 3. Of all the loathsome lepers known, God's power was by the prophet shown To heal a stranger-one alone. 4. Of all the mothers of mankind, The one who cast God's word behind- 5. Of all the Kalendar, I pray Th' initials laid together spell This they pursue through flood or fire! SCRIPTURE ENIGMAS. NO. XXXI. Double Acrostic. 1. Oh! figure dark and gloomy, who erst in this hadst part 2. His high commission holding Who knew thy sinful heart, 3. Once numbered with the faithful, His loved and loving band, 4. Why earn this fearful title, thine everlasting brand? 5. We tremble at thine ending, shut out from hope of grace, 6. For this thou wert, and therefore art gone to thine own place, 7. The field of blood is purchased, the word is now fulfilled 8. Which God in this hath spoken revealing what He willed. By prayer and lot selected must one be found to take Thy place so sadly forfeit, and he my whole will make. F. M. E. 7. L-uke 2 Tim. i. 5. 1 Kings xvi. 18. Jer. lii. 31-34. Num. iii, 30, 31. Acts xx. 35. Acts xx. 9. Col. iv. 14. S. B. and then the widow had declared herself too tired to go any farther without a rest. She had taken her seat on the mossy roots of the tree; and her daughter, with a favourite book, was stationed close to her side. "He was here a few minutes ago," said Sybil, looking round. "I'll scream to him.' "Don't scream, dear-go and search; " implored Josephine, who knew only too well how thrilling Sybil's scream could be. Rather reluctantly the little girl laid aside her PRICE ONE PENNY. |