epistles. Two things are here implied

First: That the Divine Spirit makes communication to all the churches. He speaks through material nature, through our spiritual constitution, through human history, through Jesus Christ. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." Blessed thought! The Divine is in communication with the human, and has constant and special communication with the churches. Christ, the incarnation and the minister of the Spirit hath said, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." The Spirit's words, as of old, bring life, order, light, and beauty out of chaos.

Secondly: That proper attention to these communications requires a certain ear. "He that hath an ear." What is the ear? Not the mere ear of sense, nor the mere ear of intellect, it is the ear of the heart, the ear of sympathetic love. It is said that Christ opened the "eyes of His dis

ciples that they might understand the Scriptures." The moral ear and eye of man are closed against the manifestation and voice of God. "The natural man desireth not the things of the Spirit." Unless a man has the sentiment of melody in him, you may peal into his ear the most magnificent strains of music and he feels no inspiration. Nothing comes to him but sound. As he who lacks an inward sympathy with the loftiest class of thoughts can listen unmoved to the grandest utterances of Plato, Milton, or Shakespeare, so he who lacks the ear of spiritual sympathy will be utterly unaffected by the communications which the Spirit makes to the churches. 'He that hath ears to hear,"it does not matter who he is, rich or poor, rude or cultured -"let him hear." Notice in the words of Christ

IV. Those which concern MORAL CONQUERORS. "To him that overcometh will I give (to him will I give) to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (in the paradise of God)." Observe

First Life is a battle.

Enemies abound within and without. Spiritual excellence can only be reached by struggling, strenuous and unremitting. Observe

Secondly Life is a battle that might be won. "Him that overcometh." Thousands upon thousands have won the battle and shouted victory at the close.

Thirdly: The winning of the battle is glorious. “I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." "The reference to conquering is a prominent feature of St. John's other writings. The word, used but once in the three Gospels (Luke xi. 22), and but once by St. Paul (Rom. xii. 21), is found in John xvi. 33; 1 John ii. 13, 14; v. 4, 5; and occurs in all these epistles to the churches. The promise of the

tree of life is appropriate (1) To the virtue commended. Those who had not indulged in the license of Nicolaitanes shall eat of the tree of life. (2) To the special weakness of the Ephesians. To those who had fallen, and lost the paradise of first loving communion and fellowship with God (compare Gen. iii. 8 and 1 John i. 3), is held out the promise of a restored paradise and participation in the tree of life (compare chap. xxii. 2-14; Gen. iii. 22). This boon of immortality is the gift of Christ. "I will give." It is tasted in knowledge of God and of His Son (John xvii. 3); it is enjoyed in their presence" (chapter xxii. 3, 4).—Bishop Boyd Carpenter.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.

LONDON.

IN glancing through these chapters there are two objects that press on our attention.

(1) A national crisis. The peace, the dignity, the wealth, the religious privileges of Judah are converging to a close. Israel has already been carried away by a despot to a foreign land, and now Judah is meeting its fate. All nations have their crises, they have their rise, their fall, their dissolution.

name

(2) A terrible despot. The of Nebuchadnezzar comes for the first time under our attention. Who is he? He is a prominent figure in the histories and the prophecies of the old Scriptures. He was the son and successor of Nabodenazzer, who having been taken captive, brought Babylon at once into preeminence. The victories of Nebuchadnezzar were stupendous and many. Egypt, Syria, Phoeniciæ, Palestine, all

bowed to his triumphant arms. He made Babylon, his capital, one of the most wonderful cities of the world. The walls with which he fortified it contained, we are told, no less than five hundred million tons of masonry. He was at once the master and the terror of the age he lived in, which was six hundred years before Christ. There is no character in all history more pregnant with practical suggestions than his-a mighty fiend in human form.

We have in these two chapters a view of the wickedness of man, the retribution of heaven, and the supremacy of God. Here we have

I. THE WICKEDNESS OF MAN. The wickedness here displayed is marked

First By inveteracy. It is here said of Jehoiachin, "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to

all that his father had done." In verse 18 the same is also said of Zedekiah, "He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiachin had done." This has, indeed, been said of nearly all the kings of Judah, the same as the kings of Israel. What a hold then had wickedness taken on the Jewish people. It had so

deeply struck its roots into their very being that neither the mercies nor the judgments of heaven could uproot it. It was a cancer transmitted from sire to son, poisoning their blood and eating up their nature. Thus, then, from generation to generation the wickedness of the Jewish people seemed to be a disease hereditary, ineradicable, and incurable. The wickedness here displayed is marked

Secondly: By tyranny. “At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it." This is seen in the conduct of Nebuchadnezzar. What right had Nebuchadnezzar to

leave his own country, invade Judah, plunder it of its wealth, and bear away by violence its population? None whatever. It was tyranny of the worst kind, an outrage on every principle of humanity and justice. Sin is evermore tyrannic. We see it everywhere. On all hands do we see men and women endeavouring to bring men into subjection,masters their servants, employers their employees, rulers their subjects. Tyranny everywhere is the evidence, the effect, and the instrument of wickedness. The wickedness here displayed is marked

Thirdly: By inhumanity. "And the king of Babylon... he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he

carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, and all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon." He rifled the country of its people and its property, and inflicted untold misery on thousands. Thus wickedness transforms man into a fiend, and turns society into pandemonium. Man is the greatest devil of man. The wickedness here displayed is marked

Fourthly: By profanity. We read here that he carried away all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon had made in the temple thereof. We also read here that "He burnt the house of the Lord.

...

And

the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the

brass of them to Babylon. And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.... The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord; the brass of all these vessels was without weight." Thus this ruthless despot desecrated the most holy things in the city of Jerusalem and in the memory of millions. He reduced the magnificent pile of buildings to ashes, and rifled it of its sacred and priceless treasures. Wickedness is essentially profane. It has no reverence, it crushes every sentiment of sanctity in the soul. Oh, sin, what hast thou done? Thou hast quenched the divinest instincts in human

nature and poisoned the fountain of religious and social sympathies, substituted cruelty for love, tyranny for justice, blind superstition and blasphemous profanity for devotion.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.

LONDON.

(To be continued.)