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PART I.-(Continued.)

COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPELS OF MATTHEW, MARK AND LUKE, COMMONLY CALLED THE SYNOPTIC GOSPELS.

MATTHEW, CHAP. XII.-VERSES 1-8. MARK, CHAP. II.-VERSES 23-28. LUKE, CHAP. VI. VERSES 1-5.

The Sabbath made for Man.

Matthew xii. (1) At that season, Jesus went through the corn-fields on the Sabbath days, and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears, and to eat. (2) And the Pharisees beholding said to him, Behold thy disciples do what it is unlawful to do on on the Sabbath. (3) And he said to them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him? (4) How he entered into the house of God, and ate the shew-bread, which it was not lawful for him nor for those with him to eat, but only for the priests? (5) Or have ye not read in the Law that on the Sabbath day the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath, and are blameless? (6) And I say unto you that here is one greater than the Temple. (7) And if ye knew what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the innocent. (8) For the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Mark ii. (23) And it came to pass, as he went through the cornfields on the Sabbaths, that his disciples began to pluck the ears of corn by the way. (24) And the Pharisees said to him, See, why do they do what is unlawful on the Sabbaths? (25) And he said to them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry, and they that were with him? (26) How he went into the house of God to Abiathar the high priest, and ate the shew-bread, which it is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him? (27) And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. (28) For the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.

Luke vi. (1) And it came to pass that on the first Sabbath after the second day of the feast of unleavened bread,* he went through the

* So Liddell and Scott translate the words δευτερόπρώτον σαββάτον.TRANSL.

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cornfields, and his disciples plucked the ears, and ate, rubbing them in their hands. (2) And certain of the Pharisees said to them, Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbaths? (3) And Jesus answered and said to them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him? (4) How he went into the house of God, and took the shew-bread, and ate, and gave also to those who were with him, which it was not lawful for them to eat, but only for the priests? (5) And he said to them, The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath.

§ 155. We have already explained (§ 82) the motives for the institution of the Sabbath by Moses, and the import of the saying of Jesus, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath."

The shew-bread, which it was only lawful for the priests to eat, were loaves offered upon the altar. When Jesus reminded the Pharisees of what David had done, he taught man that nothing which God had made, and which was fit for food, was forbidden to the necessities of human existence; and that the shew-bread, like the Sabbath, was lawful to him, in case of necessity.

According to the Law, the Hebrew was to abstain from any manual labour on the Sabbath day, and was not to touch any metal. But the priests broke the Sabbath in the Temple, in performing the ceremonies of their religion, and therefore might have been regarded as guilty.

Jesus told the Pharisees that they did not understand the words, "I desire mercy and not sacrifice." The spiritual meaning is that God is always ready to show mercy to his weak and fallible children, and permits them to repent, and repair their faults. In adding, "You would not have condemned the innocent," Jesus alluded to the sentences frequently passed upon those who were accused of sacrilege on the slightest pretext, and stoned without. mercy.

Jesus said, "The Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath," because he was the first who had dared to attack the inviolability of the Sabbath; and even in the eyes of his disciples, he was obliged to rely on the authority of his mission, lest he should shock them. He stated this, by saying, "There

is one here who is greater than the Temple;" as being the representative of the Divine will.

§ 156. How should the Sabbath be kept during the spiritual era now opening before men by the New Revelation?

The time is coming when men shall no longer worship in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, but will become the true worshippers whom the Father desires to worship Him in spirit and in truth. The time is approaching, though it has not yet arrived, when men will be united in one and the same belief by this spiritual faith: God is one and alone, the universal Creator; the Father; Jesus is a pure and perfect spirit, the Protector and Ruler of your planet and its humanity; your Master, the Son; and the Spirits of the Lord, when God has appointed to watch over the progress of your planet and its humanity, working under the direction of Jesus; the Holy Spirit.

The time is approaching, though it has not yet arrived, when men will have become the true worshippers of the Father in spirit and in truth, and will understand that the pure heart is the only true temple of God, and that Christ is present everywhere, where two or more are gathered totogether in his name, and pray with the heart and not with the lips for mutual instruction, being animated with faith, love, and humility, and no longer divided and separated by any of the external systems of worship which still keep them apart. The time is approaching, though it has not yet come, when men will understand that the Divine law is wholly included in the commandments, "Love one another," and "Love God above all things, and your neighbour as yourselves," by always and under all circumstances acting towards your brethren as you would wish them to act towards you. Men will then understand that this double love should influence them to practise the moral laws of worship, labour, reproduction, preservation, destruction, society, progress, equality, liberty, justice, love, and charity, as they are instructed by the law of Jesus, which the Spirits of the Lord have explained and developed in spirit and in truth.

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