" Hear, O Israel :The Lord our God is one Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with, all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day. shall be in thine heart :And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deut. 6:4-9).

The book of Deuteronomy is by no means merely I a repetition of the laws in the other Mosaic books. While there is a reiteration of some, and an enlargement or curtailment of others, the book has a character of its own which is clearly marked. Unbelief may wrest this, as it ever attempts, into proof of contradiction, and therefore of later origin, but faith sees God behind all, and seeks to learn His reasons in what may seem at first contradictory statements. Nor is faith disappointed, for here are the rich mines of truth, where are found the most beautiful gems.

Deuteronomy is the book of moral principles, the book in which God goes over His law afresh with His people, impressing upon them its holiness, and warning them of the dangers of neglect or disobedience. In it we find much that would be out of place in the other books. It is a sort of divine commentary upon all that had preceded it.

The passage now before us occurs near the introduction to the main part of the book, which is devoted to the enforcement of the law. We have first the historical setting of the law, the circumstances under which it was given at Sinai, together with the ten commandments themselves. Then follows this, which may be considered as a text for the whole succeeding discourse.

It begins with the unity of God, excluding all other thought of deity, and then claims for Him the complete devotedness of the heart. It is the scripture quoted by our Lord as the first and greatest of all the commandments, including as it does all others, for when God has His place in the heart, every duty is-attended to with the proper motive.

Thus he who keeps this first and greatest commandment, and the second which is like to it – "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,"-has kept the whole law, for " Love is the fulfilling of the law." Alas ! all are condemned by this divinely simple requirement, for love does not come at command, and from hearts alienated from the life of God nothing but enmity to Him can come.

But we can thank Him that we have been delivered from the condemnation deserved from the law, broken by those who were under it, and that we are never to be under that which is ever the "strength of sin," and not of holiness. As those to whom law, as such, has nothing to say, we may now turn to it and find the principles which govern it, principles which are in perfect accord with all God's thoughts and ways. Thus we get lessons of blessing and profit, and through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in us," the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." The Spirit shed abroad in our hearts has revealed the love of God, and now, not as a matter of requirement, but of the constraint of love, we desire to walk in a way pleasing to God. " The love of Christ constraineth us."
It is only thus that the portion we are looking at becomes either endurable or possible of accomplishment. It is absolutely inflexible, and, as we have called it, a monopoly, of time, strength,-all that a man has. Who, beloved brethren, could think for a moment of such complete absorption in the things of God if there were any latent suspicion of His perfect love to us in the heart ? More than this, unless His claim upon us, and His authority over us, is completely acknowledged, none could yield themselves up unreservedly to Him.

But, blessed be His name, He has won our poor hearts to Himself, and has also established a twofold claim, of the most absolute character, upon us. We are His by creation, and His by redemption as well ! "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price."

We are perfectly familiar with the doctrine that we and all we have belongs to God, and that we owe to Him the love of our whole being ; but it is one thing to accept this as a statement of truth, and quite another to let it be manifest practically in the daily life. What is to occupy us now is not anything new in doctrine, but that with which we are abundantly familiar. May the Lord make it more a practical reality in our hearts and ways. Thus and thus only can the reproach of the enemy be removed, that grace has no power in the daily life. What a solemn consideration, that the only power for holiness should thus be discredited through the practical unbelief of those who are the objects of the grace. But let us look further at the scripture.

"And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart." The heart is the seat of authority and power in man. The mind has knowledge, but the heart includes the will and the affections, with the conscience also. It is not sufficient that the word of God should be in the intellect. Indeed there is great danger in a merely intellectual interest in the things of God. Truth unfelt, which has not searched out our own lives, is a most deadly thing to trifle with. Nothing so effectually sears the conscience and leads to the loss of all spiritual power as truth merely in the mind. It is that Laodiceanism which is the mark of the apostasy of the last days, days even now upon us.

Nor is this a danger to which the true people of God are not exposed. In one sense they are peculiarly open to it. Their minds are stored with much precious truth, the remnants of other and brighter days of spiritual joy and power. This truth has ceased to act upon the conscience, to affect the practical life. It is therefore the suited instrument, ready to the hand of the enemy. With it he induces a familiarity with holy things that leads to looking upon them as common. Oh, the awful sin of despising the wonders of divine grace by growing familiar with them in an unholy way ! It is this that leads to sin, often of the grossest kind.

"Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee." Do we know of this hidden word, down in the secret depths of the heart? Other concerns may engage our minds, and must do so, of necessity; but the hidden man of the heart is nourished only by the Word hidden in the heart.

As we have said, this suggests that the word has authority over our consciences. Our sense of right and wrong is thus formed by the truth of God. What a difference this would make in the lives of many. Too often it is the opinion of others that is the guide for the conscience. As a result the standard is lowered constantly, God is gradually excluded, and all is reduced to the level of a merely worldly morality. We are to be imitators of one another's faith, but never of one another's conscience.

The will too is included in the term heart, and this must also be under the power of the word of God if it is to produce in us that right living which is to show the power of grace, while love can only come from the heart. The "love of the truth" must be received, in " a good and honest heart." The word of God reveals His will to which our wills must bow. It searches out all in us that is contrary to that will. Humbling indeed but most necessary is this breaking of our natural wills, but how blessed are the results. An unbroken will is a most effectual barrier to all spiritual progress, or true service. There may be much Martha-like energy, but it will only fret the soul and take it out of the Lord's presence. Till the will is truly subject, the very citadel of the life is in the hands of the flesh.

Notice too how it is not merely the Word in general, very important in its place, but the words, the separate statements for special conduct, that are to be in the heart. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly."

"And thou shall teach them diligently unto thy children." When the heart is occupied, it will find an outlet, and most naturally this will first reach those for whom we are first responsible, and who are nearest to us. It is a common confession that it is easier to speak to strangers of the things of God than to those nearest to us. But why should this be ? Do we not naturally love our own most ? and what most concerns us and them will surely be easily spoken of. May we not find the reason why this is not the case in the fact that the Word is not in the heart ? If there, it will surely find its natural outlet in the first circle of the affections, the family.

How is it with us beloved ? Is the family altar set up in the home ? Are the things of God matter for unconstrained conversation at the table ? Ah, what is our table talk ? Nor will it do to say that we cannot always be dragging in Bible themes in the home. Where the heart is filled there will be no effort to drag in, they will rise in love from a full heart, in all simplicity and spontaneity. Happy the home where this is the case.

But there is more :these things must be taught diligently to the children, or, as correctly rendered in the margin, be sharpened for them. As with the parents, so with the children, the Word must reach the conscience. To do this, nothing must be allowed to take off its keen edge. The word of God is a sword, and what is a sword without a keen edge ? There is a danger of taking this edge off only too common. Nothing so easily and effectually dulls the edge of the word of God as to see that it has no power over the lives of the parents. Children are the mirrors of their parents' hearts in very many ways. How can they expect the children to obey that which so little affects their own life ?The Lord awaken His beloved people as to this !

"And shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way." The first part of this we have already looked at. The second is closely linked with it, and flows from it. A merely garrulous person will pour out a flood of unprofitable conversation upon the scriptures without help to the hearers, but it is not likely that one who lives it out in the home, and enjoys fellowship in the things of God in that inner circle, will pour out foolishness in public. This is doubtless why the qualifications for an elder or a leader in the house of God are so largely of a domestic character.

But what have a business man's acquaintances to say about him? Do they know him to be a child of God, walking in His fear? If the word of God flows from his lips like water from a fountain, he will be known and marked. What a protection against temptation would that be, to put it on the lowest ground. "And when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Scripture frequently warns against ungirded loins. A careless, state is what we are in constant danger of falling into. And yet our gracious God is no hard master. As our Lord said to His disciples, so does He say to us, "Come ye apart and rest awhile." The constant strain upon all the energies, and which is so disastrous in many cases, is not the Lord's will for His people. " It is vain for you to rise up early, and to sit up late." After all, this constant rush is but another name for the covetous, restless spirit which marks the age. May the Lord keep His dear people, so far as is possible, from it.

But for how many is rest and relaxation but the opening for carelessness. Under the plea for a change, worldly ways and thoughts are allowed which grieve the Spirit. This is shown by the loss of taste for the word of God, and for occupation with divine things. How different is this from our Lord. Weary with His journey, resting at the well, He is. ready to deal with the sinful woman who meets Him there. He fully exemplified this of which we are speaking. He could never be taken by surprise, for the simple reason that He had nothing but God's will and word in His heart. May we learn to have the sense of the Lord's presence with us in our seasons of leisure and relaxation, to have all our cheerfulness seasoned with the salt of His word.

One of the most difficult questions to settle, especially for the young, is that of amusement. Without doubt here is where Satan robs most of their power and usefulness. He endeavors to have them think of relaxation as something of their own, out of which God and His word is tacitly kept. As a result certain pleasures are enjoyed without God, the appetite for them increases, a distaste for divine things follows, and the world holds the heart. Ah, how many dear young Christians have gone in this path. Let us avoid the first step. Let us rigorously refuse everything in which we cannot have as a companion the precious word of God.

The air which surrounds us presses upon every portion of the body with perfect uniformity. The entire weight resting upon a person is something enormous, but it is not felt, because the pressure is the same everywhere. But let the pressure be taken off one portion of the body, and the weight of the air pressing upon the rest of the body will force the blood through the pores of the skin. It would be torture to have the air thus removed, and yet how much spiritual torture is endured in the effort to exclude God from any portion of the lifer If He pervades all, it is not realized what a mighty force is resting upon us, but let Him be excluded and the irksomeness of His presence in anything is felt.

Let us not forget it, beloved brethren, God must have the monopoly in our lives. He must be all, or we will wish Him to be nothing.

"And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes." In the last days, under the sway of the Beast, none will be allowed to buy or sell who have not received his mark upon their forehead or right hand. They are to publicly own him in work or speech. There is wisdom in this, of a worldly, devilish kind. Satan's kingdom cannot stand if it is divided, and only by rigid exclusion of all that owns Christ can he hold his own.

With the people of God too there are to be no compromises, and so they are to have the word of God as a frontlet where all can see it. This hides the world from the saint's view save as he sees it through the medium of truth. Thus it is stripped of all its varnish and seen in its true light. The eye thus covered can discern the emptiness of all the gaudy tinsel of earthly things. Thus the frontlet serves a double purpose; he is committed to the Lord, and he has spiritual discernment.

But the word is to be upon the hand as well. How searching the thought that all our doings are to be controlled by the word of God. Would the hand be found doing evil if this sign were bound upon it? How this would check all that was not according to that word.

"And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates." All that one has is thus marked with the seal of the living God. His sign of ownership is to be upon all. But it will be noticed that it is to be put there voluntarily. The child of God is to do it. It is the badge of a willing, loving allegiance to One who has loved and redeemed us.

A divine monopoly:do we recognize it and acquiesce fully in it? Would we have it otherwise if we could? Ah, if the heart has grasped the fulness of everlasting love, and seen the completeness of redemption, it can give but one answer-"Christ is all." The one prayer will be, Thy will only, and all Thy will be done, always. May it be so with us.