What is our picture? Photograph of marble sculpture in the largest church in the world, St. Peter's, Rome. What is it? Dead body of Christ, as taken down from cross. Point out principal things in picture. Mother mourning over it. Thirty-three years before, then quite small, she had wrapped it in swaddling clothes to protect it from cold air of night. The picture will help us to think of Christ's body, how He kept it. Seventh Commandment has to do with our bodies. How does the "Duty" explain it?"To keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity." See how Christ kept His.

(i.) His body prepared.

(Read Heb. x. 5-10.) What said about the body He came into the world with ? (1) "Prepared" by God (ver. 5). A body like ours. Grew as ours do. Yet so pure. Ever watch tall white

lily grow? Cluster of fresh green leaves low down; straight green stem, on which green buds swelling all round; gradually pure white petals seen unfolding, and flower begins to shed far and wide sweet scent. Thus gradually and purely His sacred body grew, its power increasing (St. Luke ii. 40, 52). Was He beautiful in countenance like His forefather David? (1 Sam. xvi. 12; Ps. xlv. 2.) A holy soul puts some beauty into even the plainest face. (2) Another thing Christ said about His own body (St. John ii. 19-22)—a temple. Without noise of workmen or hammers the Temple of Solomon had been put together through many days; God's presence therein. So Lord's body grew and was filled with the Spirit. Our bodies, too, (1) are prepared by God; He watched them grow, fitted them for their work; we must care for them, cherish, exercise them. (Illust.-Carpenter keeping his best tools with great care, a bit of washleather to wrap some in after being well sharpened; so bodies are to be used in God's service.) (2) Our bodies also are temples; must treat them as holy; drive away bad thoughts, as would drive out unclean birds if they flew into church, lest they should defile the sacred place (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20).

(ii.) His body governed.

(Read Isa. 1. 4-6.) This is Christ speaking; beautiful Nazareth picture

(ver. 4). God waking Him morning by morning, lowly bed, little room, the early waking, rising "to hear as the learner" (not "learned "), prayer, and reading before work; when body was rested He would be up again using it. See parts of His body named in these verses: tongue, ear, back, cheeks, hair, face; all used not to please self, but His Father. Christ governing His body. (a) Fasting where might have got bread for Himself. Where? (St. Matt. iv. 2-4.) Taking long, weary walk for the sake of a poor, lost sheep (St. John iv. 6, 7, 31-34). Long nights without sleep, that might have time to pray; picture Him on mountain alone, drawing cloak about Him (St. Luke vi. 12; St. Matt. xiv. 23). Refused cup of drink which would have dulled the pain-wine and myrrh. (Ladies subscribed for such to drug the criminals who were to be crucified.) Felt" sinking," yet put away cup though body might crave (St. Mark xv. 23). Why all this? For our sake, to teach us. Christ's holy body did not need to be "kept under"; ours do. He would show us how to do this. See one who had learned of Christ (1 Cor. ix. 27), For lack of this often comes breaking of Seventh Commandment; terrible ruin to body and soul; men only fit to be cast aside as bad coin nailed to counter, tested and found base.

(iii.) His body glorified.

Christ likened His body to a temple: and to what else? (St. John xii. 23, 24.) Holy seed, corn of wheat." Dead body wrapped in linen put away in the dark cave of the earth. See the change (1 Cor. xv. 44), and the glorious beauty of His body in heaven (Rev. i. 13-18). Hair white, venerable, pure; eyes as fire, bright, clear, no sin could stay in sight of them; feet as brass glowing to a white heat in furnace; voice solemn, powerful as waves coast; countenance, dazzling glory, as sunshine. Wonderful change: read Phil. iii. 20, 21; words of ver. 21 used when we lower a body into grave and throw earth over it. Meant for people who, like St. Paul, have kept bodies under, treated them as temples of God's Spirit.

on

These bodies of yours wonderfully made (movements of the wrist, beating of the heart, wonders of the eye); growing; larger jackets, boots, dresses, each time. (1) How will you treat

them? Care for them, do not neglect them. (Refer to games which are good for health's sake.) Health of body too precious to be trifled with, strength of arm more precious than much money. How many would give all they have for health and strength. (2) How will you use them? For God. Look at the sacred hand in picture. How was it used? Use our bodies for God, as He did-feet, hands, eyes, ears, tongue, for Jesus (Rom. xii. 1). Keep them from sin, treat them as holy, as temples. (3) What will they be one day? Cold, dead, wrapped up in grave clothes, put out of sight, dead. But that not the end.

What will they be when they rise? That depends on whether you keep them as holy and for God, "in temperance, soberness, and chastity." Then they will be as the seed of a beautiful flower, spring up into beau

III. THOUGHTS

1. What is the range or scope of the Seventh Commandment? It is the only one which deals with the body of man; it is therefore right to give it a wide interpretation, as regulating and governing all the bodily desires. These desires are innocent in themselves, belonging to our human nature even in its unfallen state; but they become sin when they overleap the limits and conditions within which God has said they may be gratified. Gluttony, intemperance, sloth, sluggishness, fornication, are the forms of sin which the unrestrained desires of the flesh lead to; adultery is, perhaps, named in the Commandment as being the most heinous development of this evil.

2. There are few subjects more difficult to treat in classes than the Seventh Commandment, thus it is often passed over. Yet there are few subjects of more vital importance. It is worth any amount of study, and of courage, to secure that the elder children shall be impressed with the thought of the sacredness of the body. This strikes at the root of sins of the flesh. Let teachers of elder classes try to see their scholars separately in the week after this Sunday lesson, and then speak to them individually those few earnest words on the subject which will drive the lesson home, and leave it there for life; perhaps these may be the means of saving them from untold misery.

3. The following note may be useful as the starting-point of much practical

tiful bodies like His. A story as a warning. One, standing on a peak of Isle of Skye, was watching eagles as soared in deep blue sky, far, far up. He saw one suddenly hesitate, tumble, close wings, fall dead, mass of feathers on the ground. Out from beneath its body crept tiny weasel. The eagle had caught it as its prey and flown up with it, holding it in its talons. Alas! the weasel had writhed from eagle's talons, and fixing teeth into it, drew life-blood, and at last brought the great bird to ground. Many, many lives which might be noble, upward lives are brought down, life-blood sucked out, because have taken up some sin of the body, which gets firmer, firmer grasp; ruins this life, and the next. God keep you from such! Remember the eye of God, loving, searching, always on you. Say, "Thou God seest me." FOR TEACHERS.

divinity-I, the invisible undying self, have a body through which, on the one hand, I hold communication with earthly things; and I have a spirit through which, on the other hand, I may hold communication with God and heavenly things. If I yield to the body I become an Esau, and deteriorate in spite of any good qualities I may possess; if I care for the spiritual part of my being, and cherish it by prayer and sacrament, I become an Israel, wrestling with God, seeing angels, grave defects of character gradually being purged away. The Seventh Commandment directly touches the bodily side of my being, as the Second does the spiritual

side.

4. There are said to be not less than 80,000 fallen women in London alone.

Many of these are mere girls in age, and many, only a short time ago, were in our Sunday - schools, town and country. Let these terrible facts inspire our teachers with zeal and devotion. Some of these now being taught from Sunday to Sunday, perhaps the prettiest and brightest, will share the fearful fate of these 80,000 unless their teachers are more successful than the teachers of a few years ago. It is a real fight between God and the devil for the souls of the young. The G.F.S. for our maidens, Y.M.F.S. and the C.L. Brigade, for the lads, are doing much to keep them from the contagion of evil. Teachers will hardly feel they are doing all they might for their scholars unless they are promoting those

organisations or clubs which have similar objects.

We

5. "Rustic sweethearts. take the greatest possible interest in the young couples as they pair off; we earnestly desire for them that their wedding day, when it comes, may be such that we can rejoice with them and strive together to make it a day of unclouded happiness. But alas! alas! these days of humble country courtships are too often befouled with sin. Wandering off into dark, lonely ways, a hideous figure follows them; the young couple see him not, but he is there; they yield to his temptations; they return home, a cloud has been drawn over them, never can they be quite the same as when they started on that walk; the stain of sin is dark upon them. Here is the secret mischief that blasts so many of our beautiful rural parishes, and degrades lives that might be so fair. The couple may get married afterwards, but it is a wedding which no one feels any interest in; father and mother keep away for shame. Who cares to scatter flowers over their path, or breathe a fervent blessing on such a union? But the marriage may not take place; alas! alas! poor wretched girl; she may repent and be forgiven, but her grief must be life-long. Speak the warning word when we see there is a walking out together'; fathers to sons, mothers to daughters, aye, and teachers to their scholars." ("All Saints', Wellington, Parish Magazine.")

6. The use of alcoholic drinks ministers frequently to sins of the flesh. Alcohol is not necessary for those in ordinary health; it is a great safeguard when lads and lasses grow up to eschew its use. Milton in "Samson Agonistes" writes:

"Oh, madness! to think use of strongest wines

And strongest drinks our chief support of health,

When God, with them forbidden, made choice

to rear

His mighty champion, strong above compare, Whose drink was only from the liquid brook."

Sir William Gull, M.D., declared: "I think there is a great deal of injury being done by the use of alcohol in what is supposed by the consumer to be a most moderate quantity, to people who are not in the least intemperate, to people who are supposed to be fairly

well. It leads to degeneration of tissues. It spoils the health and it spoils the intellect,"

On an old jug at Dunster is found the following:

"Come, my old friend, and take a pot, But mark now what I say:

While that thou drinkst thy neighbour's health,

Drink not thine own away.
It but too often is the case,
While we sit o'er a pot,

And kindly wish our friends good health,
Our own is quite forgot."

(Quoted in "Home Words."}

7. "To very few has it been given to warn men against impurity with manly precision, yet with virginal modesty, in those words, clear as crystal, yet penetrating as fire, which alone can reach this shame and mystery of our nature. In the language of Him Who spake as never man spake we see perfectly united a stainless innocence and an absolute authority. The same high grace was granted by His Holy Spirit to St. Paul, to Dante, to Milton, whose lips were touched as by a seraphim with that burning stone from off the altar, and whose rebuke flashes upon corruption like the sunbeam which no taint can soil. For an ordinary man to speak of such subjects requires infinite reverence lest even his rebukes should be like the lights of Pharos, which sometimes helped to wreck the vessels they were meant to save." (Dean Farrar.)

8. There are few finer commentaries on the Seventh Commandment than in the" Idylls of the King," the repentance of Queen Guinivere after her unfaithfulness to King Arthur. Many of the lines finely express the sense of God's love ill requited, which moves us to repentance. Arthur speaks :—

"For think not, tho' thou wouldst not love thy lord,

Thy lord has wholly lost his love for thee.
I am not made of so slight elements.
"Yet think not that I come to urge thy crimes.
I did not come to curse thee, Guinivere,
I, whose vast pity almost makes me die
To see thee.

And all is past, the sin is sinn'd, and I,
Lo! I forgive thee, as eternal God
Forgives. Do thou for thine own sou! the

311. How does the Catechism explain the Eighth Commandment?

The Catechism explains the Eighth Commandment in the words, My duty is... to be true and just in all my dealing to keep my hands from picking and stealing to learn and labour truly to get my own living" (Prov. xiii. 11; Rom. xii. 17).

312. Name three ways in which the Eighth Commandment is sometimes broken by dealers.

The Eighth Commandment is broken by dealers when they give false weights, adulterate their goods, or hide the faults in what they sell (Prov. xi. 1, xx. 14).

313. Name three ways in which it is sometimes broken by school-children.

The Eighth Commandment is broken by school-children when they cheat in their games, when they dishonestly copy other's work, or steal fruit.

314. Name three ways in which the Commandment is sometimes broken by

servants.

The Eighth Commandment is broken by servants when they waste the time for which they are paid, when they waste their master's goods, when they pick dainties or take little things.

315. Name three other ways in which this Commandment is broken.

The Eighth Commandment is broken

II. THE INSTRUCTION on

when people travel without paying their right fare, when they do not try to pay their debts, when they borrow things without returning them (Ps. Xxxvii. 21).

316. What must we do if we have ever cheated or stolen anything?

If we have ever cheated or stolen anything we must ask God to forgive us, and we must restore what we have got wrongly (St. Luke xix. 8).

317. What must we remember when we are tempted to steal?

When we are tempted to steal we must remember that God's eye is upon "Thou God seest me (Gen. xvi.

us.

13).

318. What do we call the things that belong to us?

The things that belong to us we call our property.

319. God guards our property with the Eighth Commandment. Why?

God guards our property with the Eighth Commandment that we may use it in His service and for the good of others (St. Luke xix. 12, 13).

320. How can we help others to be honest ?

We can help others to be honest in two ways. (1) By showing an example of good, honest work. (2) By relieving them when in distress or temptation (Eph. iv. 28).

Did you ever hear the cry in the streets Stop thief!"? Perhaps a poor lad has picked some one's pocket, was seen at it, he ran, cry raised, people after him, a foot put out, tripped him up, brought back by police, panting, white with fear, magistrate, prison, a thief, a "jail-bird"; perhaps a little while before was a Sunday scholar! See what Christ did to keep people honest, to stop thieving, cheating, dishonest dealing. We can put all dishonest folk into three companies. What causes people to steal? Some are "starved out"; some are greedy to get much, to "grab all"; some have lost their character and do not care. Three companies. See what Christ did to save each (read Titus ii. 11—14).

(i.) How Christ would help the "Starved-out."

Even in rich cities many in want,

much to be pitied, pinched faces, perhaps very cold, poor folk sleeping all night in Trafalgar Square, lads out of work, mothers with sick ones, much tempted (Prov. xxx. 8, 9). Christ could feel for such; had tasted hunger, thirst, poverty (St. Matt. viii. 20). How did He help to keep such honest ? (a) Taught the better-off ones to care for them (St. Matt. xix. 21). Name two parables in which this duty made clear. "Rich man and Lazarus, a stern warning for selfish ones who live for this world only and do not care for sick, tempted, poor (St. Luke xvi. 19-23).

Sheep and goats," encouragement as well as warning; good done to the poor He looks upon as done to Him (St. Matt. xxv. 31-40). (b) Taught the poor to trust their Father; He knew their want and had a purpose in it; they were being tried. Christ had been