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THE KING ’S BUSINESS
counts the years of thé captivity of His people ! Some absent themselves from God’s house because “There are so many hypocrites.” The ruler of this synagogue was a hypocrite, yet the Lord attended ; and the woman—had she heeded the hypo crite she would have remained a cripple. “A ll his adversaries were put to shame." Do not get into a controversy with the Lord, you’ll get the worst of it in the end. 14:1-6—These verses teach the same les sons, but bring out the wickedness of these hide-bound sinners, that for all He did and said “watched him,” like the tigers they were, ready to spring on Him in some un guarded moment, a moment that never comes to Him. “ To eat bread on the Sabbath day," so cial intercourse is not inconsistent with the Rest-day if in the spirit of Christ. Mine host may lay a fine feast for our bodies,- but we may spread a better, a “feast of fat things,” if we speak the word of His grace. “God, Be Merciful Sinner” MICHIE Never a groan or a cry ! But dead—my soul through and through! Never upturning of eye To the Saviour I once thought I knew ! God! in Thy mercy draw near, Though burning thy footsteps may be ! Thy presence in Hell can I fear? Is there hell-er than Hell to damned me ! Sinner,-—Oh, feeble the name For what in the soul-depths am I ! Saviour !jg|l stammer for shame ! Godl God! for Thy mercy I cry!
poses love! All laws are liberties—all for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This God qf the Pharisee—ancient or mod ern—what is he but the most hideous of idols. “There are six days . ; . to work.” So he would cancel “six days shalt thou la bor” (Exod. 20:9) to keep his rule for one day; for how should she work the six unless healed on the Seventh? “ The Lord said, Thou hypocrite, doth not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or his ass, and lead him away to wa tering?” But there was more money in that than mercy. “And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” Note the word “ ought," it was morally obligatory. Jesus was morally bound to unbind Satan’s victim, no day could be too sacred for that. There is deliverance in being a child ■of Abraham (Rom. 4:16). See how the Lord A Sinner’s Prayer: to Me, a By IAN H ELL on my half-made brain! Hell on my sin-seared heart! Hell in its hottest part! Hell with the flames alit again! Darkness that can be felt! Thicker than starless night! Sulphur that can be smelt! Lake of God’s wrath in sight! Billows gone over my head I Sinking to doom like a stone! Despair now has made my bed! And I lie there with never a groan.
— Selected.
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