"The commandment is holy, just, and good;" we I may expect to find, therefore, even in those ordinances which relate to ceremonial matters, a spirit of righteousness,-indeed it could not be otherwise, proceeding from one whose whole being is characterized by strict justice. When we look at the various ordinances which relate to every-day life, we are struck with this even-handed justice manifested. Judges were to be impartial,-not respecting the rich, nor leaning to the side of the poor because he was poor. The rights of private property were strictly guarded. The person of the slave was protected ; the wages of the hireling guaranteed. True, it was the law, and could make nothing perfect, dealing, as it did, with man in his natural state ; indeed, many things were allowed which a full standard of holiness applied to the new man would not permit. Moses, "for the hardness of your hearts," permitted, under certain restrictions, divorce and a plurality of wives. Still, even here, the natural lawlessness and selfishness of man were curbed by the spirit of justice and fairness in the ordinance which regulated his conduct in these matters. Living, as we do, under grace, we do not have to turn to the law either for salvation or as a rule of life. But that does not close the law to us as containing principles of holiness for all time,-principles that we do well to examine and in the power of grace to act upon.

In Rom. 8:, we are told there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, and that by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus we are set free from the law of sin and death,-a law whose chains were only the more tightly riveted when we endeavored to loose them by keeping the commandments (Rom. 7:). We are thus set free-a blessed deliverance!-but for what purpose? "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the 'Spirit." That is, the righteous requirements of the law-what was contemplated in it-the principle of it, might be carried out in us who are no longer in any particular under its rule, and who are therefore free to show what grace can do. This is most important. We are not under law; are we therefore lawless? " God forbid !" says Rom. 6:What greater proof of the utter and hopeless corruption of our natural hearts could we have than that grace which has pardoned should be used as an excuse to go on in the very bondage from which it has freed us? But, thank God ! as born of Him, we do delight in His will, and long to be conformed to the image of His blessed Son. We abhor that sin which has left its defiling trail upon our whole nature, and we long for the time when we shall be freed from its hateful presence. Therefore, so far from desiring to live on in lawlessness because he is under grace, the saved soul yearns for practical holiness, and God has most fully provided for that yearning by the same grace which saved us. Still there remains, as we well know, " sin in our mortal body," which we are not to obey, "members which are upon the earth," which are to be mortified. And it is by the Word used and applied by the Spirit, that we are to do this. We see, therefore, the connection between, the law, as in God's Word, and our walk. Would that we were more under the power of that Word !

"Thou shall not have in thy bag divers weights-a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thy house divers measures-a great and a small. But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have:that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the Lord thy God." (Deut. 25:13-16.) "Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure. Just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin shall ye have :I am the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt. Therefore shall ye observe all My statutes, and all My judgments, and do them :I am the Lord." (Lev. 19:35-37)

In the first of these passages we have the results of obedience given as the motive-"that thy days maybe lengthened in the land ; " in the second, we have redemption, and the nature of God, as the reason for obedience. Grace and government alike constrain us to please God. Before passing to the spiritual application of these laws, may we not pause and look at them in their letter? Is there not great reproach brought upon the name of Christ by some of those who bear it, through their unfair dealings-in buying and selling, and the ordinary transactions in every-day life? It may be in very little things that this dishonesty is seen ; but every unfair advantage Christians may take, no matter how small, is deeply grieving to the Holy Spirit. There is no need to specify:each one's conscience will tell him whether or not he is in every particular walking honestly as in the day. When Abraham wanted a tomb for the burial of Sarah, he would buy it for as much money as it was worth, – " current money with the merchant." So David bought the threshing-floor of Oman for the full price. Having One who has said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee," we need have no fear, need take no unfair advantage of any one.

But this subject has many spiritual applications, which should strongly appeal to our conscience. The standard is the shekel of the sanctuary, and the One who acts according to that standard is God Himself. The atonement " money (Ex. 30:13-15) was according to this standard :not what they might deem sufficient, but what God declared was the ransom for their souls. And for each there was the same price ; the rich paid no more, the poor no less. We have been bought with a price – " the precious blood of Christ." Not part of the debt we owed has been paid, but all – to the very last farthing. The wrath which fell upon the spotless Substitute was just as real, just as full, as that which would have sunk us forever into the lake of fire had we come under its awful power. There were no "divers weights "here – no lightening of the punishment because of the dignity of the Substitute. Blessed be God ! Christ bore our sins, – not part of them, but all. This gives true peace of conscience, because it meets God's justice. For each one, too, the price is the same. All need the precious blood of Christ, – the moral man needs it as much as the vilest sinner. One weight- the blood of Christ, one measure – the glory of God; and we, who had been weighed and found wanting – had been measured and fallen short, are now, through infinite grace, "complete in Him," "perfected forever."

But if the shekel of the sanctuary has been used in atonement, so that through Christ we stand before God according to its full weight, none the less is our personal consecration measured by that same shekel. Lev. 27:3 shows that the dedication of devoted persons was measured according to this standard, – not what they might think sufficient, but the fall weight of God's estimation.

Num. 7:13, etc., weighs all the gifts of the princes by the same holy standard. Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:) wanted to have their gifts to God measured by a smaller standard, so that it would seem to be all they had. When we would have a less holy standard applied to all our consecration, all our giving up for God, we are unconsciously using some other standard.

When we have two standards of living-one public, the other private, we are using" divers weights and measures, which are an abomination to the Lord." (Prov. 20:10.) Of course, there is the hypocrite, who has entirely lying weights in his bag, his private life completely the denial of his public profession. But even where there is truth, is there not often a great difference between our heart-life, our thoughts, and our outward walk ? Thoughts which are permitted to live unrebuked in our hearts, we would be shocked to give utterance to. That is having two weights-one for thoughts, another for words. Every honest person can enlarge much on this subject.

When Peter was at Antioch, before certain folk came down from Jerusalem, he went in and ate with certain Gentile Christians; after those from Jerusalem came, he withdrew himself. (Gal. 2:12-14.)Here he had divers weights for divers people. And he is not the only one who has acted thus. How is it with us? Before earnest Christians can we speak freely of the things of Christ, only to find ourselves speaking just as freely of the things of the world before the unsaved ! Let us be careful. It is in the sanctuary alone that we will learn that unchanging standard to be used before all alike, with, of course, the "meekness of wisdom." We only suggest what can be followed out in many directions.

Further, we are not to have in our bag two weights, one for our brother, heavy and exact, and another less weighty for ourselves. " Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone," said our Lord to those who had a weight, heavy indeed, for the wretched woman found in sin, but none for themselves. He only applies to them the same weight, and how differently they act. Instead of clamoring for her death, they are glad to escape from the testing of those balances which found them, as well as her, wanting. The hardest judge is one who fails to judge himself. Oh, the fault-finding, back-biting, unkind estimates of our brethren ! all because we use divers weights and measures. Our brother fails, and we strictly call him to account, we, it may be do the same, thing and never think of it. Brethren, let us stop this, this spirit of fault-finding, of criticism. Let us first always judge ourselves, cast out the beam out of our own eye and then shall we see clearly to cast out the mote out of our brother's eye. When we have been dealt with in grace, are we to treat our brother differently? But you say, he must confess his fault:and so perhaps he will when you pour coals of fire on his head, and when he sees that you are moved, not by self-interest, but are yourself walking humbly with your God. Beloved, do we not well to take heed to these things? If when Israel made the ephah small (what they sold) and the shekel great (the price paid for it) God withdrew blessing, does He not act in the same way toward us? Rather do we not ourselves hinder those blessings He would give us ?

FRAGMENTS I. It was by faith (Heb. 11:) that David slew Goliath;- and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith-in the least things as in the greatest. We are not called upon to slay Goliath, but we need the power that slew him to overcome self, sin, and Satan every day. The one who slew him was little in his own eyes,-but more than that, he was little in the eyes of others too. (i Sam. 17:28.) So God was with him and delivered him.

2. "When thou wast little in thine own sight," Samuel said to Saul, (i Sam. 15:17.) These words have a sadly solemn sound. That time was past,-pride had ensued, and destruction was about to follow. From littleness, he was lifted up to a throne:from pride, he descended swiftly to death and judgment. Still the judgment did not come at once. God is slow to anger, and so the kingdom of Saul, with its burden of pretentious religiousness (without power)-pride, envy, and persecution (type of Jerusalem under the Pharisees and of the world,) continued long ; but there was no repentance, and the judgment was the more awful at last.

3. God deals in a similar way with His own-not for destruction, but for edification. We [trespass on His long-suffering in self-complacency; and when the chastening blow comes, time is required for the stupefied senses to understand what it means, and to discern how far we had drifted. The one who says, "I cannot see why I should suffer this" confesses, not only that he has been drifting, but also that he has not yet recovered himself- is not restored. When the Lord smote Uzzah, David was stunned, and went home displeased, and God waited patiently for the breaking-down time. How great is His mercy ! Self-satisfaction may lead us on for a time when things are not right with God, (and God is patient,) but the end must come.

4. David was blest of God, but that only brought him into trouble with men. His kin rebuked him (Eliab, his eldest brother); Saul envied him, and the enemies of Israel watched to destroy him ; Satan raised storms to overwhelm him. So "all they that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution," and "because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." But if it is so serious a thing to belong to God in Satan's world, then we must have on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand, and we must lay fast hold of the love of God that we may see, above circumstances and men and Satan, the hand of God. For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. We must hasten to submit to Him. We need to hold the truth in the heart, and to love it, to escape the power of Satan.

5. What a warning-lesson we have in this, that David, who had slain Goliath, was nearly slain himself long after by a less famous giant, and had to be rescued from peril and shame by his men! Years of court-life had gradually sapped his early vigor and simplicity, and when the "evil day" came, he was not able "to stand." The Lord that delivered him out of the paw of the lion and out of the paw of the bear was not with him ; and this had to be learned by failure. The power and the wisdom and the goodness was not in David.

6. In the fortieth psalm, the language of the One who won the mightiest victory, is that of utter dependence and meekness. " I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings." This was the spirit of Jesus,-"I waited patiently on Jehovah, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry." No claim -perfect lowliness. And so the psalm ends as an example to us-"But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer." It ends in this way because His own are still in this world, in suffering. We have been called to the fellowship of God's Son. May we feel that we are poor and needy. Let it be sufficient that "the Lord thinketh upon us." If the Lord of glory was poor and needy, let all pride be put to shame.

7. This psalm and the next one (40:and 41:) end the first book-the Genesis of the Psalms. It is the true Joseph who speaks-the One who knew the power that delivered from the pit, but passed on and died-in weakness, in the midst of His brethren. He has left us the song of victory, but a path of sorrow and weakness and prayer, with inward joy and peace, awaiting the deliverance to come. So in the end of the gospels-the Genesis of the New Testament, the true Joseph departs from the midst of His brethren, in weakness, publicly (by the cross), while in the power of resurrection and sweet promise and assurance to them in secret, corresponding to Joseph's assuring words to his brethren that Egypt knew nothing of.

May we seek no lifting up and luxury here, but cultivate willingness to suffer-count it all joy. How unwilling often to endure in little things, because the love of Christ has not filled us and given us victory ! We forget what this world is, and who we are, and what the cross means, and the great recompense of the reward (Heb. 10:35). "Blessed the man that endureth temptation; for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love Him." (Jas. 1:12.) E. S. L.