Ex. xxiii. 1. Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

LEV. xix. 16. Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the Lord.

1 PETER iii. 8. Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; Ver. 9. Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

I. This commandment forbiddeth whatsoever is prejudicial to truth.—This includes dissembling, hypocrisy, lying, breaking promises. It also affects witnesses, lawyers, and judges in courts, where so much depends upon truth. Ananias and Sapphira are great beacons.

II. Whatsoever injures our own good name.-Boasting about ourselves; prevaricating truth respecting ourselves; frequenting suspicious company or places; thinking too highly of ourselves.

III. Whatsoever injures our neighbour's good name.

1. Unfounded suspicions.

2. Spreading false reports or insinuations against character; imputing unworthy motives.

3. Betraying secrets and bearing tales.

IV. Whatsoever tends to injure truth or reputation-as flattery, detraction, pride, foolish talk or conduct.

LESSONS.

1. A liar cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

2. The tongue requires a bridle.

3. Let us have great respect for a good reputation.

ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

Dr. Samuel Johnson said, "Above all, accustom your children constantly to tell the truth, without varying in any circumstance." A lady who heard him said, "Nay, this is too much, for a little variation in narrative must happen a thousand times a-day, if one is not perpetually watching." "Well, madam," said the doctor, "you ought to be perpetually watching."

"From the Bible first engrave on your heart, then translate into your lives, and last emblazon aloft on the pediment of your trade temple, this short and simple legend: 'A poor man is better than a liar."—Arnot.

When any one was speaking ill of another in the presence of Peter the Great, he first listened attentively, and then interrupted him, saying, "Is there not a fair side to the character of the person of whom you are speaking? Come, tell me what good qualities you have remarked about him."

Would you listen to his boasting,
Would you only give him credence,
No one ever shot an arrow
Half so far and high as he had;
Ever caught so many fishes,
Ever killed so many reindeer,

Ever trapped so many beaver!

None could run so fast as he could,
None could dive so deep as he could,
None could swim so far as he could,
None had made so many journeys,
None had seen so many wonders,
As this wonderful Iagoo,
As this marvellous story-teller!
Thus his name became a bye-word
And a jest among the people;
And whene'er a boastful hunter
Praised his own address too highly,

Or a warrior home returning

Talked too much of his achievements,

All his hearers cried, 'Iagoo!

Here's Iagoo come among us!'"-Longfellow.

QUEST. 79. Which is the tenth commandment?

ANS. The tenth commandment is, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Ex. xx. 17. DEUT. V. 21.

The Bible is very particular regarding the sin and danger of the covetous man. "It says,-(1) that he cannot enter heaven, 1 Cor. vi. 10; (2) that he is an idolater, Eph. v. 5; (3) that God abhors him, Ps. x. 3. This commandment has a special interest, as it was the means, as St. Paul tells us, of leading him to the knowledge of sin. 'I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet' (Rom. vii. 7). Most of the other commandments forbid external acts, but this forbids a state of the heart. It shows that no external obedience can fulfil the demands of the law; that God looks upon the heart; that he approves or disapproves of the secret affections and purposes of the soul; that a man may be a Pharisee, pure outwardly as a whited sepulchre, but inwardly full of dead men's bones and of all uncleanness."-Dr. Hodge.

ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

In the greatest of the Greater Prophets we read of "greedy dogs, which can never have enough." Among the words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, we read of the horse-leech having two daughters, whose insatiate, insatiable cry is, "Give, give." The Emperor Frederick II. said to Pope Gregory IX., "But thou, having nothing, and yet possessing all things, art ever seeking what thou mayest devour and swallow up: the whole world cannot glut the rapacity of thy maw, for the whole world sufficeth thee not."

Dr. South says of the covetous, that "had they (as the fable goes of Briareus) each of them a hundred hands, these would all be employed in grasping and gathering, and hardly one of them in giving or laying out— all in receiving, and none in restoring; a thing in itself so monstrous, that nothing in nature besides is like it, except it be death and the grave,—the only things I know of which are always robbing and carrying off, and never making restitution.”

Seneca in his Morals says of a happy life, "What matters it how far Alexander extended his conquests, if he never got to feel satisfied with what he had?" Every man wants as much as he covets, and labour lost it is to pour into a vessel which never will be full.

It was said of a covetous man that if you were to make him a present of the islands of Great Britain and Ireland as a free gift, he would at once request to have the Isle of Man thrown in too, for a potato garden. The covetous "eats all things and is hungry still. glutton cries for something new. So rages appetite."

More, more! the

"Learn not to be greedy, and when you've enough,
Don't be anxious your bags any tighter to stuff;
Nor turn every thought to increasing your store,
And look always like Oliver asking for more."

Ingoldsby Legends.

QUEST. 80. What is required in the tenth commandment? ANS. The tenth commandment requireth full contentment with our own condition, with a right and charitable frame of spirit toward our neighbour, and all that is his.

HEB. xiii. 3. Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Ver. 5. Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

ROM. xii. 15. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that

weep.

1 COR. xiii. 4. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Ver. 5. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Ver. 6. Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.

PHIL. iv. 11. Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. Ver. 12. I know both how to be abased,

and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

GEN. xxxii. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over

this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.

1 SAM. iii. 18. And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth him good.

1 COR. x. 24. Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.

I. Personal contentment with our worldly position, our social advantages, and with God's dealings.-St. Paul says that he had learned, in whatsoever state he was, therewith to be content. He knew all varieties of circumstances, but had this great happiness. In his case it arose from his relation to Christ: Phil. iv. 13. This does not forbid diligence or lawful aspiration to better our circumstances. We should always realize dependence on God.

II. Charity to our neighbour.

1. This may be done by wishing him well in soul and body--as Boaz saluted his reapers, Ruth ii. 4; as the apostle, 3 John 3.

2. By respecting what belongs to him: Deut. xxii. 1.

3. By assisting his advancement as we may be able. For this there are many opportunities.

LESSONS.

1. Contentment, with godliness, is great gain. It secures an interest in salvation and satisfaction with God's providence.

2. Personal contentment promotes charity to our neighbour.

ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS.

"It may be here remarked, that if we have a view to legal perfection, it is utterly impossible in this life to attain to that full contentment which this commandment requires. This is no more possible, in our present fallen state, than obedience to any other divine commandment. Perfection in any grace whatever is not to be looked for here. The perfection, however, may be full as to its parts, though not so in degree. And although it is difficult to attain the contentment here required, yet, being a duty, we ought to seek after it; for by it God is highly honoured, and the peace of the soul is greatly promoted."-Paterson.

"No doubt," said the Rev. John Brown of Haddington, the author of the "Self-interpreting Bible," "I have met with trials as well as others; yet so good has God been to me, that I think if God were to give me as many years as I have already lived in this world, I would not desire one single circumstance in my lot changed, except that I wish I had less sin. It might be written on my coffin :-' Here lies one of the cares of Providence, who early wanted both father and mother, and yet never missed them.''

An Italian bishop struggled through great difficulties without repining, and through much opposition without impatience. A friend who admired his virtues asked if he could give the secret of his contentment. "Yes," said the old man ; "it consists in nothing more than a right use of my eyes. In whatsoever state I am, I first of all look up to heaven, and remember

that my principal business here is to get there; I then look down upon the earth, and call to mind how small a place I shall occupy in it when I am interred; I then look abroad upon the world, and observe what multitudes there are who are in all respects more unhappy than myself. Thus I learn where true happiness is placed, where all our cares must end, and how very little reason I have to repine or complain."

"How pleasant is all that I meet!

From fear of adversity free;

I find even sorrow made sweet,

Because 'tis assigned me by Thee.”

"To me remains nor place nor time-
My country is in every clime;

I can be calm and free from care

On any shore, since God is there."-Guyon.

QUEST. 81. What is forbidden in the tenth commandment? ANS. The tenth commandment forbiddeth all discontentment with our own estate, envying or grieving at the good of our neighbour, and all inordinate motions and affections to any thing that is his.

I. Discontent is forbidden.-This includes murmuring at our worldly condition, as the Israelites did after they went out of Egypt: Num. xiv. 2-35;