17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

and it is a terrible injury to be deprived of it. (2) Because no one can speak evil of another without lowering his own manhood, just as he cannot handle coals without soiling his fingers. (3) Because the habit of slander becomes stronger with the practice. "A sharp tongue is the only edged tool that grows, keener with constant use." (4) Because disparaging words, once spoken, cannot be recalled. A woman once confessed to a priest that she had told scandal. He gave her a thistle top and bade her scatter the seeds one by one. Surprised, she obeyed. Now," he said, go, gather them up again. They are the seeds of evil you have sown.' Bishop Hall compared the tongues of busybodies to Samson's foxes with firebrands tied to their tails.

66

66

This commandment forbids every sort of lying, whether in sport or in earnest. One definition of a lie is "A lie is an intention to deceive." There are many things that would come under that head. It is not merely the false statement, but the evasion, the keeping back of some part of the truth which, if given, would alter the whole. Anything which misrepresents, if so intended, breaks this commandment.

The teaching of a child to speak the truth is one of the most important parts of his training. The child's lies are usually lies of fear, but the worst kind are lies of selfishness. The mother is right, according to Professor St. John, when she forgives most faults when they are freely confessed, and allows the child only the retributive punishments that grow out of the offence. Arbitrary punishments, and threats, are apt to train the child in lying as a self-protection.

TENTH COMMANDMENT, V. 17. Thou shalt not covet any thing that is thy neighbour's. Covetousness is not the desire for more; that desire is at the base of all progress and civilization, and it is right to seek to satisfy it. Covetousness leads us to desire that which another person has and which we cannot rightfully possess.' It is a greater sin than envy, which merely wants a duplicate of what another person has. Envy leads to discontent with ourselves; but covetousness to hatred of others. It" belongs not merely to the realm of deeds, but applies to motive and thought." It is one source of most of the sins of the Decalogue. "The love of money is a root of all evil."

"Covetousness is not a sin of the wage-earner, but the sin of the rich and prosperous. The wage-earner usually envies, rather than covets his neighbor's goods. Still, the breaking of this commandment is at least one of the causes of most of even the petty thefts.

"God has ordained that men shall prosper, — if they work for it honestly. Illgotten gains never yet produced righteousness.

"The penalties of violating the commandments may come slow, but they come." VI. THE COVENANT OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS RATIFIED. The Ten Commandments were the Law, but-they became, by the solemn ratification of the people, a covenant between Israel and Jehovah. Exodus 20-23, containing the Ten Commandments and about seventy enactments based upon them, were written by Moses in a book called "The Book of the Covenant" (Ex. 24 : 7). This was read to the people, and they answered with one voice (Ex. 24 : 3), “ All the words which the Lord hath spoken will we do."

LESSON VIII (21).- February 23.

MOSES PRAYING FOR ISRAEL. Exodus 32: 1–34: 9.

(May be Used with Missionary Applications.)

PRINT Exodus 32:7-14.

The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its

Additional Material for Teachers: Deut. 9: 6-29; Eph. 3: 4-21; James 5 : 1618.

Primary Topic: ASKING GOD'S HELP FOR OTHERS.

Memory Verse: Pray one for another. - James 5: 16.

Junior Topic: PRAYING FOR OTHER PEOPLE.

Memory Verse: James 5 16.

Intermediate Topic: INTERCEDING FOR OTHERS.

Senior and Adult Topic: THE VALUE OF INTERCESSORY PRAYER.

Additional Material : 1 Sam. 12:19-25; Jer. 7: 16-20; 15: 1; Matt. 65-15; John 17; Rom. 9 : 1−5.

THE TEACHER AND HIS CLASS.

"An English professor has lately remarked that he sometimes wished he might drop all his courses in literature' and require of his pupils instead a thorough knowledge of the English Bible, since for variety of characters and of form and beauty of language it was worth all other English books together. If this can be thought of the Bible as literature, it is soberly and literally true of it as religious teaching. The constant and intelligent first-hand study of the Bible itself is worth more to a girl -- and to any one else than all other kinds of religious books."

This lesson gives one of the most beautiful examples of prayer for others, even willingness to suffer the loss of all if only so might the people be saved from IV. the result of their sins. Let the teacher draw comparison between this prayer of Moses, and St. Paul's words in Rom. 9: 1-5, and also with the missionaries of to-day.

The pupils may be encouraged to tell of any incidents that have come to their knowledge of the results of praying for others.

THE PEOPLE, 32: 1-6.

THE COVENANT

BROKEN, 32: 7-9.

WITH JEHOVAH

THE RETRIBUTION, 327-29.

V. THE INTERCESSION OF MOSES FOR
THE PEOPLE, 32: 30-33: 11.
THE MINISTRY OF INTERCESSION.

VI.

THE TEACHER'S LIBRARY.

Commentaries on Exodus and Deuter

onomy. Books on the life of Moses, as Taylor, Meyer, Blaikie. Professor Robertson's Early Religion in Israel, Chap. ix, "Visible Representations of the Deity." Joseph Cook's Monday Lectures, "Conscience."

Missionary books of all kinds which give accounts of the results of missionary work, and the sacrifices of the missionaries. The New Era in Asia, by Sherwood Eddy. The Missionary and His Critics, by Rev. James L. Barton, D.D., Secretary of the American Board.

THE LESSON IN LITERATURE.

The Story of Kapiolani's defiance of the volcano-goddess Pele, in Anderson's Missions in the Sandwich Islands. Trench's Poem, " Mahmoud, the Breaker of Idols."

Phillips Brooks' Sermons, on "The Fire and the Calf."

Peloubet's Suggestive Illustrations on Acts, p. 165.

Ruskin on Idolatry in Stones of Venice,

vol. 2, Appendix. Boyesen's story, "The Golden Calf."

THE LESSON IN ART.

the Golden Calf,

Worshipping
Raphael,* Poussin.*

Moses' Descent from Sinai, Doré.* Moses Breaking the Tables of the Law, Doré,* Rembrandt.

Receiving the New Tables of the Law, Von Schnorr,* Raphael, Roselli.

I. THE NATION DISCOURAGED BY THE LONG ABSENCE OF THEIR LEADER, 32: 1. Moses was on Mt. Sinai, learning from God the way to organize the people into a nation. He was receiving laws and regulations for them. He was hidden from their eyes by a cloud, and by " the glory of the LORD, like devouring fire on the top of the mount (Ex. 24 17). Days and weeks passed, 40 days in all, and there was no sight of their leader (Ex. 24: 18).

The absence of Moses was a time of testing both the leaders and the people. They had just taken the oath of allegiance to God, and had unanimously promised to obey him. But they were inexperienced. These weeks were their time of trial, of growth,

of progress, of development. As Phillips Brooks has well said: "There was no danger that came to the Christian church, as there was no danger that came to the Christian man, that was not capable, also, of being considered as a chance, an opportunity of larger work and of developed life."

There was Real Danger which made them restless and fearful. They were alone in the wilderness. Enemies behind them in Egypt; enemies before them filled the land to which they were going; enemies in the desert might arise at any time and cut them off, as they had already been attacked by the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8-13). They could not see the God to whom they had promised allegiance, and with whom they had made a covenant of obedience. They had known Moses but a very short time, and now he had left them in the very heart of the wilderness, far from the promised land, like sheep without a shepherd. For this Moses . . . we wot (know) not what is become of him. He may have perished in the flaming summit of the mountain. They wanted something visible.

II. AARON MAKES A GOLDEN CALF FOR THE PEOPLE, 32: 1-6. And when the people saw that Moses delayed for nearly six weeks to come down from the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, who was left in chief command (Ex. 24: 14), and said unto him, Up, make us gods, rather, "make us a God," which shall go before

us.

"Here

"They were not content with deposing Moses from his leadership, they must add a sneer at this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt.' is this Moses, who has already got himself lost; how shall he guide two millions of people ?" The people knew that Aaron with his rod had defied the Pharaoh of Egypt, and felt that he was the best man left to do their will.

7. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

The Golden Calf, or ox, was to them, "only a symbol of a divine quality, a symbol of strength. And they excused themselves that under this symbol they might still worship Jehovah, and adore Him whose outstretched arm had been so conspicuous in their recent history." Blaikie.

The Psalmist puts the matter very plainly : They made a calf in Horeb, and worshipped the molten image. Thus they changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass. They forgot God their Saviour, who had done great things in Egypt they believed not his word" (Ps. 106: 19-21, 24).

"Here was an utter mutiny against Jehovah, and, also, Aaron was not the man to meet it. He temporized. He first of all tried to enlist their worldliness against their idolatry by asking them to bring their golden ornaments, believing that when they saw it was going to cost so much they would go no further; but when they had laid their jewels at his feet, he found that he was taken in their snare. W. M. Taylor.

Earrings are worn in the East almost as much by men as by women. Most Assyrian and some Egyptian monarchs are represented with them." Rawlinson. It is not probable that the calf was cast out of solid gold. According to Wilkinson (Ancient Egyptians)" it does not seem likely that the earrings would have provided the enormous quantity of gold required for a solid figure. More probably it was a wooden figure laminated with gold, a process which is known to have existed in Egypt," the casting in either case being finished and perfected by shaping and fashioning with a graving tool."

When Aaron presented to the people the molten calf they said, These be thy gods (God), O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. In furtherance of their desires Aaron proclaimed, To-morrow is a feast to the Lord, Jehovah (vs. 4-6). "The Feast found great favor, but it was carried out not with the solemnity of a Hebrew ordinance, but in the tumultuous fashion of a heathen festival. Their sensual nature was excited, and the usual sensual revel ensued." · Blaikie.

III. THE COVENANT WITH JEHOVAH BROKEN, vs. 7-9. It is plain that the golden calf was not intended to represent any false god, any deity worshipped by heathen races. "Moses had left the

whole nation covenanting, giving themselves to God with enthusiasm, the solemn mountain everywhere echoing the shout, All that Jehovah hath said we will do and be obedient.'" And now their acceptance of the golden calf as the representation of that God who brought them out of Egypt indicates that they did not wish to repudiate Jehovah, but simply to worship Him under the similitude of the calf.

But this was a direct violation of the second of the Ten Commandments, which the Israelites had covenanted to obey. They were forbidden to make any representation of God as a means of worshipping Him. All images made to represent God misrepresent Him. They are not like God.

From an old print.

Moses Breaks the Tables of the Law. When Moses came down from Sinai with the two tables of the Law and the Testimony in his hands, and heard the sound of the feasting, and saw the calf, and the dancing, his anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and brake them. On

9. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:

10. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.

II. And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?

12. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.

14. And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.

these tablets were the permanent record of their covenant with God. Moses broke them as a visible expression of the fact that they had broken the covenant upon which all their hope depended.

IV. THE RETRIBUTION, 32:9-29. First. Moses took the calf . . . and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, the alloys probably making this possible, and scattered the dust upon the only water they had to drink (Deut. 9: 21). This act also was a symbol, exhibiting the powerlessness of the idol, and the pervasiveness of their sin.

We must all admire the boldness of Moses, one man against a nation. Second. Moses summoned to him all that were on the Lord's side (v. 26), and when the Levites, Moses' own tribe, responded, he sent them throughout the camp to slay the leaders in the idolatrous movement. It must be remembered that not a man need to have been slain; all could have accepted Moses' summons, and have found pardon.

"Who is on the Lord's side is the question put to all souls in great test hours." Third. The Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf, which Aaron made. Both leader and people. were to be held responsible.

How little did Aaron think that his weak compliance would lead to this tragedy ! Every sin has consequences which stretch through eternity. When Lot pitched his tent toward Sodom, he little thought that in Sodom itself he should lose all his property, and his whole family, save his two daughters.” — W. M. Taylor, D.D.

Fourth. Punishment was brought upon Aaron individually as he was charged with having brought this great sin upon the people.

Aaron's Defence was mean in that he blamed the people, and false in that his literally true assertion that he cast the jewels into the fire," and there came out this calf," was "a curious, ingenious, but transparent lie."

Phillips Brooks, in his volume of Sermons Preached in English Churches, has a fine sermon on this answer of Aaron, "The Fire and the Calf," in which he shows how apt we are to blame the furnace for what we do ourselves. The brutish, sensual man lays the blame of his actions on his circumstances and bad company. The dishonest business man lays the blame on business customs and necessities; the worshipper of the golden calf upon his worldly surroundings; the neglecter of religion upon his too strict training. Everywhere there is this cowardly casting off of responsibilities upon dead circumstances." "The fire did it," not myself.

V. THE INTERCESSION OF MOSES, 32: 30-33: 11. On the next day Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin. Not all the guilty, therefore, had been slain, but only the leaders in the idolatry. And Moses meant for the others to understand that, though they were spared, they were still under God's dread displeasure. They had complained of Moses and rejected him. They had broken their covenant with God. They had worshipped an idol, with a heathen feast,