according to two extremes. The very severe and strict Jews construed it rigidly, and prohibited painting and statuary, and all the other parts of those beautiful and interesting arts. They said it was absolutely prohibitory of making an image of any thing in heaven and earth at all. Others, again, have construed it so laxly, that they have made all sorts of images of every thing in heaven and out of heaven, till at last human genius has been exhausted in representing things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, for the ornament of the Christian temple. Now, it seems to me that the second commandment applies especially to churches. I would make churches as chaste and comfortable, even beautiful, as possible; for I should not like to dwell in a ceiled house while God's house is laid desolate; but I do think that pictures of the Trinity in church windows are perfect abominations. In the first place, a picture of God the Father is most offensive; and in the second place, even the masterpieces of Vandyke and Rubens, and others, who have painted our Blessed Lord, come so far short of the magnificent conception that lies in the holy place of every Christian heart, that we would rather not see such paintings at all; and in the third place, the paintings that we do see in churches in this country are so shocking, that one does not envy the taste of those church-wardens who accept them. One can scarcely conceive that the piety is very enlightened that admits them there. And again, paintings of the Holy Spirit are very doubtful. It is thought by some that the Spirit did assume the form of a dove; if he did so, it was incidental; he was not incarnate in that form. The only defensive reasons are to be urged in favor of pictures of our blessed Lord; for it seems absurd to speak of likenesses of the other Persons in the Blessed Trinity. And if the pictures of our Blessed Lord were portraits, one might consent to tolerate them; but they are no more portraits of Jesus than they are of the thieves that were cruci

fied on his right hand or on his left; they are merely fanciful conceptions of an able painter's mind or genius, and even as such they are most exceptional. Let there be no pictures of the Deity, therefore, in our churches. And it is remarkable that in the early church this was so much felt, that when a great divine saw upon a curtain a picture of our Lord, he rent it in pieces. And we know that by the second Council of Nice in the seventh century, such pictures were barely tolerated, and were introduced amidst a great deal of objection.

Let me notice very briefly the fourth commandment. There has been a great deal of dispute about that. Some have said that it is not obligatory upon us. If so, why is it not in the civil and ceremonial law, instead of being given amidst the moral law? I admit that our Sabbath is not the Jewish one. I think the way in which the Jewish Sabbath was observed was cumbered with difficulties, that made it a burden. Works of charity and necessity, of which every Christian's conscience is the best judge, are permissible on our Sabbath. Some Christians, I think, have gone to very extravagant lengths upon the subject of the Sabbath, and have held ideas upon it, not as if it were the Lord's day, but as if it were the Jewish day. But the moral Sabbath remains until now, although the Jewish observances are to be detached from it as altogether distinct.

You say, then, why observe it on the first day of the week? My answer is, that this fourth commandment is not the consecration of the seventh day; but it is the consecration of the Sabbath. It is not "Remember the seventh day to keep it holy;" but, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." But, you say, was it not observed by the Jews on the seventh day? Certainly; but the law is, that one day in seven shall be the Sabbath; it does not lay down the order that it shall be the seventh day in numerical succession, but that it shall be one day out of the seven, on

which the Sabbath shall be observed. Amongst the Jews, it was the seventh day in order; amongst Christians, it is the first. The Jewish candlestick was the seventh day, ours is the first; but the light is still on the latter, as it was on the former, the Sabbath day: so that the institution of the Sabbath is quite distinct from the day on which it is to be observed.

You will always find that the Sabbath is the index of national religion, morality, and virtue. Where the Sabbath has ceased to be a holy day, and has become a worldly holiday, you may contrast the state of such nations with our own country, where, in comparison, it is so well observed. I remember, in 1851, what an impression was made upon continental nations, when they came to the Crystal Palace, and saw that that beautiful and useful creation of human genius was open six days in the week; but that, even amidst the works of art and the productions of nature, nations from afar could read, in the light of England's sunshine, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."

CHAPTER XXI.

SLAVES AND MASTERS.

REASON OF TOLERATION OF SLAVERY.
LEX TALIONIS.

PERHAPS the best distinction between the Law, as recorded in the previous chapter, commonly called the Decalogue, or the Law of the Ten Commandments, and the peculiar laws that I have now read, is this, that the former are moral, binding in all ages, in all countries, and under all circumstances; and that the latter are national and judicial, and specially applicable in their details, at least to the Jews in their nomad state, in the desert, previous to their entering into Canaan, but at the same time, like all specific prescriptions in the Bible, containing great and general truths, instructive and binding everywhere and at all times.

Now this is the first chapter, and one of the chiefest, that treats of a subject that has made a great deal of noise in the present day, namely, the subject of slavery. It is very plain that there were two classes of slaves among the Hebrews, using the word "slave" in its strict and ancient

sense.

There was a Hebrew slave, or a slave from among the Hebrews; and there was a slave from other countries, a stranger, a heathen, and a Gentile. There were distinct codes of laws for each class of slaves; but the laws laid down for the regulation of slavery, as it existed amongst the Hebrews, were public laws settled by judicial opinions, were known to the slave and to his master, and were inspired with a mercy and a controlling beneficence, that makes

ancient slavery, so called, almost as different as light is from darkness, from the slavery that we once had in the West Indies, and that the Southern States of America at this day unhappily are stained by.

In reference to the Hebrew slave there is one point that is very striking, and that is, that whatever was the obligation under which a slave came amongst the Jews, never was his person regarded as chattels, as goods, as property. His services were bought for life, or till the years of jubilee; but his person never was regarded as property to be sold in the market, and never, in any sense, was man then degraded and debased as he has been by slavery in modern times. This is a point worthy of notice. In the second verse it is said, "If thou buy an Hebrew servant." You will say, does not that mean property acquired by purchase? But it is remarkable that the word here translated "buy" is fully as frequently translated "acquire" or "procure," either by -inheritance, by donation, or by free will offering, and not in the sense of giving an equivalent in money for what you possess. For instance, the same Hebrew word is used by Eve, when she says, at Cain's birth, "I have gotten a man from the Lord." That does not mean that Eve purchased Cain, but that she obtained Cain from the Lord. The very same word is used in Proverbs, where it is translated, "He that heareth reproof getteth understanding." Again, we have it in Psalm 1xxviii. 54, "He brought them to this mountain, which his right hand had purchased," that is, acquired or procured. We might therefore most justly translate this second verse, "If thou procure, acquire, or obtain, in any way, an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve." And you will notice that when money was given, as it was in some instances, it was fixed by the servant that his master was to give him so much for his services, for seven, fourteen, or twenty years, or for life. He sold his services for a period, just as a servant does But giving money to

now.