to the nation. In short, they make a distinction | society, and the most devoted patriots of their between public and private property, and think country; that to render to God the heart as there is no harm in cheating revenue officers. his due, and in the first place, is the best way, But scripture recognises no such distinction. On and the strongest motive to render to all men the contrary, it condemns it. We are required their dues; 'tribute to whom tribute.' without reserve to pay tribute to whom tribute is due, and custom to whom custom.' Christ's example, and that of his primitive disciples, are in full harmony. It is a violation of justice, a sinful indulgence of covetousness, and a solemn breach of the eighth commandment.

And

THIRTIETH DAY.-MORNING.

That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter; because that the Lord is the avenger of all such,' 1 Thess. iv. 6.

THE sum of the second table of the law is, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. It obviously

And is submission then to civil authority unlimited? Are there no exceptions? Is resistance in every case sinful? No! There are important exceptions. In some cases resistance is one of the highest Christian duties. Happily there are exam-results from this, that the rule of obedience laid ples in scripture to guide us in such delicate questions. It is a duty to disobey magistrates where they prostitute their power by commanding what is contrary to God's law. The midwives of Egypt, the faithful Israelites who refused to worship Jeroboam's calves, Mordecai, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, the prophet Daniel, the apostles Peter and John, and many others, are all examples of divinely approved resistance. The nature and constitution of the Christian church where living and pure, also leads to resistance. The men of the world cannot endure its doctrine, and still less its discipline and government. Hence under various pretexts they stir up the civil power to interfere with these. This interference directly invading conscience of course, creates a lawful resistance to civil authority. In such cases the authority is a usurpation, and resistance a duty

down in the eighth commandment is, that we should have the same regard for our neighbour's property as we have for our own. It seems especially necessary to bear this in mind, when we come to consider such an injunction as that which has been quoted above. How very different is it in its very aspect, from the ordinary maxims of worldly morality! How very different from the ordinary conduct of men in their dealings one with another! The contrast is espe cially discernible in the busy traffic of a mercantile community. To a keen observer, the aspect which there presents itself is not of men who studiously guard against going beyond their brethren in any matter, but of men whose great study it seems to be to perpetrate this very iniquity. If, for example, a merchant has become possessed of some exclusive information regarding the state of markets, and while every body else From the views which have been presented, is counting upon a continuance of the same prices, let Christians be led to admire the wisdom of he, from his earlier and better information, can Christianity, which though a religion of high calculate most surely upon a sudden rise or fall; principle is so constructed as not to alarm the he avails himself immediately of the opportu rulers of this world. Let them admire the wis-nity to become an extensive buyer or seller, acdom with which it strongly enjoins submission to cording to the circumstances, and thus effects a civil authority, and not less the courage with large transfer of capital from the coffers of his which it exhorts to the maintenance of its prin- neighbour into his own. For a man to do this ciples, even to the disregard of that authority is literally to go beyond his brother. Such conwhere it interferes with the claims of conscience duct may be consistent with worldly honour, and and the will of God. Let Christians be eminent for worldly morality; it is expressly denounced in their exact obedience to civil rulers; their meek the Bible, and is inconsistent with the Christian submission to civil authority though oppressive, character. It is a manifest violation of the eighth provided it be competent. Yea, let them be all commandment, which requires us to treat our the more anxiously obedient, that, in some cases, neighbour's property as we would our own. they must refuse subjection, and are the only For no man who expected a rise in prices would persons who have principle enough to do so. Let sell largely, till he was able to obtain the higher them shun a spirit of turbulence and vain-glorious price for his goods. patriotism. In short, let them show the men of the world, that while living members of a true church, they are also the most useful members of

The extent to which this sin of going beyond our brethren prevails, is abundantly indicated by the eagerness universally displayed in the mer

cantile world, to get the earliest possible information regarding the state of markets. Such eagerness can only arise from one or two things. Either the merchant is obliged to seek and obtain the earliest information, in order to defend his property from the encroachments of his covetous neighbours, or he is himself anxious to go beyond and defraud his brother; and in whatever way we regard it, we are constrained to believe that the morality of the world lags far behind the morality of the Bible. Human laws may not be able to reach, and they may disregard such transgressions, 'but the Lord is the avenger of all such.' Were there but an abiding faith in such a solemn truth, there would be less over-reaching, less fraud in the world.

many who bear the Christian name, are as guilty as the children of this world. They seem to act as if the commandment were that they should not defraud their brethren in all things, and are contented as long as the world looks upon them as honest men. The law of God is against the slightest fraud. Thou shalt not go beyond thy brother in any matter. It may in the eyes of men be trivial. No transgression is so in the eye of God. How watchful then should all Christians be over their every thought and deed, that none of them may suffer as a thief.

The commonness of fraud shows the multitude of temptations to the commission of it, and the facility with which the heart yields to them. Let us all then be watchful with prayer, that grace may be given us from on high. Let the

that the terrors of his wrath may persuade us. 'He is the avenger of every fraud,' and what will our-ill got gains avail us in the day of vengeance? His righteous judgments are especially threatened against such offences as human laws cannot reach. The commands to avoid such offences are the tests of obedience to God, and it would be better that we renounce the Christian name, than under it

It is even possible that a right view of the detestable character of the crime itself, might pre-fear of the Lord be continually before our eyes, vent many from indulging in it. It is frequently because men dress out their sins in a comely ves-ture, that they are able to reconcile their consciences to the commission of them. But let us see wherein he who goes beyond, or defrauds his neighbour, differs from the robber or the thief. Awed by the fear of the law, the thief and robber seek the covert of darkness to perpetrate their crimes, and bring to their aid all the watch-to make the world's laws the rule of our obediful cunning which may secure them against detection. But they profess no friendship for the victims of their crime, and society is on its guard against them. He who goes beyond and defrauds his brother,' is not recognized as an enemy. He goes forth in the broad light of day-he wears the aspect of kindness-he deceives his brother, while he wears a brother's face. All the ordinary defences whereby property is guarded, are overleaped by him. He occupies his place within them all, and deprives you of your property, Such under the guise of friendship and favour. a man possesses a character more detestable than that of the common thief. He wears the mask of honesty, and believes-and often believes truly -that men will not be able to look beneath it.

And thus it is too, that such a man reconciles himself to his low cunning and fraud. He soon learns to look upon himself with the same eye as society does. He forgets all the while that there is one who seeth not as man seeth-who discerns the fraudulent purpose in the heart, and observes all its out-goings in action-One whose justice and truth is unswerving, and who will one day call him to an awful reckoning.

It might not be surprising that men who do not own God, and who profess not the knowledge of his ways, should go beyond and defraud their brethren. But it is lamentable to think that

ence. The temptation to get gain may be great. This one sentence is enough to subdue it: What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?'

THIRTIETH DAY.-EVENING.

'Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. Thou shalt not have in thine 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. xxv. 13—16.

THE law of the Lord is perfect, and it is the only perfect law. It takes cognisance of every thought, it prescribes a perfect rule of action. There are none of the dealings of men, amid all the varied relations in which they stand to one another, in which the law of God does not lay down, with all clearness and simplicity, the manner in which they are to be conducted. The laws of men vary according to the circumstances in which they are

'Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters, and to please them well in all things; not answering again; not purloining, but show-execution of it. Thus peace is driven beyond ing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the the threshold, and with it all happiness, and that doctrine of God our Saviour in all things,' place which ought to be the very refuge and for

goods. In either case the property is lost to the their masters; and the other arising from their master, and a transgression is committed against poverty, which renders the due and full payment the spirit of the eighth commandment. Such of their hire almost essential to their existence. offences become all the more heinous in servants It is recognized as a maxim, even in the common from the trust necessarily reposed in them. morality of the world, that the strong should not Against the thief and robber we can lock our trample upon and oppress the weak; and how doors, and guard against their encroachments. much more in the purer morality of the gospel Our houses are constructed as well to keep out which, in various ways, enjoins that power and thieves, as to obtain the comfort of shelter and strength should be exercised in defence of the warmth. But when servants purloin their helpless and defenceless. What a reproof, for master's property, and are faithless to their instance, to unjust and tyrannical masters, does trust, the ordinary defences are of no avail. They the whole conduct of Christ administer! He was occupy their place within the house, and from possessed of infinite power; and how was it exertheir very position acquire facility for the perpe- cised? It was in aid of those who had no other tration of crime. This enhances their guilt, and help or stay. And surely whenever we find renders every act of theft or faithlessness doubly power exercised by men for the oppression of the criminal. weak and helpless, we are entitled to conclude that they are animated by another spirit than that which dwelt in Christ, and that they have no right to call themselves by his name. It may be that by the forms of human law, servants are unable to secure themselves against oppression. But let masters remember that they also have a Master in heaven, whose eye is in every place beholding the evil and the good, and let them beware lest the cry of the oppressed should enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

It were well that in the discharge of all their offices, servants would remember not only that the eye of the righteous Lord is upon them to note and to avenge their evil deeds, but that it is incumbent on them, in the station they occupy, to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. In a Christian household, masters and servants are fellow-heirs of the same glorious inheritance-knit together by bonds, the sacredness and strength of which should be ever felt. And if in such circumstances it be the master's part to love the servant as a brother, it is the part of the servant to strengthen such a bond by showing all good fidelity. The spirit of him who is the Lord of all should animate them in all their labour, and while in meekness and fidelity they discharge their offices, however humble, they will adorn the doctrine they profess to believe, and ennoble and dignify their calling, by manifesting the power of faith to overcome the world, and to produce those graces which adorn and exalt our nature.

THIRTY-FIRST DAY.-EVENING.

'Behold, the hire of the labourers which have reaped down your fields: which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth,' Jam. v. 4.

If it be a deep crime in servants to betray their trust, and abuse or purloin the property of their masters, it is a more aggravated sin, still, in masters to defraud their servants of that which rightfully belongs to them. The aggravations of this sin are two-fold: the one arising from the comparative weakness and helplessness of servants to defend themselves against the unjust tyranny of

In the passage before us the inexpressible meanness and injustice of the second aggravation, we have noticed, is very strongly set forth. The case exhibited by the apostle is that of a man who keeps back the hire of those labourers he has employed to reap his harvest. In such a case the master is represented as keeping back the hire of his servants in circumstances which admit of no palliation or excuse. He is in the enjoyment of all the fullness which a plentiful harvest brings. His crops have been cut down, and the riches of his fields gathered into his garner. Yet he grudges the hire of those servants whose labours have enriched him. He refuses to fulfil his engagement with them. He defrauds them of their hire. They, on the other hand, are dependent on what they have earned for their subsistence. With the hire, for which they had laboured, they could have procured from his abundant stores sufficient to supply their wants. Without it, they must starve. cruelty of such conduct is made to appear in a yet stronger light when we consider, more particularly, that those who are thus represented as defrauded of their just earnings are the reapers. Had they employed themselves in some other way, and refused to enter the harvest field, the rich treasures of the earth would have rotted on the ground. The master owes his present abun

The injustice and