violate it. God needed to bear most solemn witness before men, that no violation of it could be successful; that it was girded with the living splendour of His righteousness, and sustained by the terrible resources of His power. This, man had forgotten. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” said one, in wanton contempt of the law of that relationship of brotherhood which had been established by God. “These be thy gods,” said others, as they danced around their golden calf, and, under the very shadow of Sinai, made light of the living Lord. Men were growing wanton in the unbounded license to sin, to break every Divine command without immediate and palpable penalty. God had to tell this people, and through them the world, with a terrible simplicity and sternness which even they could understand, that an awful sanction attended the original unwritten laws which He had established, and that the penalty of a systematic breach of them must be death. Let us take the legislation on the Sabbath as a specimen. The law is written thus, Exodus xx. 8, 9, 10, 11:—“_Remember the Sabbath day_, _to keep it holy_. _Six days shalt thou labour_, _and do all thy work_; _but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God_: _in it thou shalt not do any work_, _thou_, _nor thy son_, _nor thy daughter_, _thy man-servant_, _nor thy maid-servant_, _nor thy cattle_, _nor thy stranger that is within thy gates_: _for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth_, _the sea_, _and all that in them is_, _and rested the seventh day_: _wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day_, _and hallowed it_.” The comment on it is given in Exodus xxxi. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17:—“_And the Lord spake unto Moses_, _saying_, _Speak thou also unto the children of Israel_, _saying_, _Verily_, _my Sabbaths ye shall keep_: _for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations_; _that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you_. _Ye shall keep the Sabbath_, _therefore_; _for it is holy unto you_: _every one that defileth it shall surely be __put to death_: _for whosoever doeth any work therein_, _that soul shall be cut off from among his people_. _Six days may work be done_; _but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest_, _holy to the Lord_: _whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day_, _he shall surely be put to death_. _Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath_, _to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations_, _for a perpetual covenant_. _It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever_: _for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth_, _and on the seventh day he rested_, _and was refreshed_.” It has been said that this is a too tremendous sanction to a mere formal institution. We have seen that this is not a mere formal institution, a day appointed arbitrarily by the Lawgiver, as for wise reasons our lawgivers appoint days and seasons upon earth. It is a part of the original constitution, a beam