touched upon, namely, the sense of want which men in the pursuit of the gratification of their lusts are ever experiencing, from the first beginnings of it to its close. They "lust and have not," they "kill and cannot obtain," they "fight and war," and still they are in want. How does all this come about? In one or other of two ways, either of them sufficient to account for it. They do not ask, they avoid taking God into their confidence; this would account for it: they ask, but in a selfish spirit; this would account for it: and wherever in a Christian man's experience he is not able to say of the Giver of all things, "there is no want to them that fear Him," it is because he does not ask, or because he asks amiss-in a selfish and, therefore, Goddishonouring spirit. Prayer, selfish and unselfish. "Ye have not, because ye ask not." They were desirous, as it would appear, of temporal prosperity, of the wealth which ministers to the necessities of this life, to the comforts of this life; but they had not prayed for it, they had not asked it of God. They had striven after it in their own strength and by their own endeavours, and they had not got it. If they had asked it of God they would have got it; or, if they had not got it, they would have got what would more than have supplied its place, a calm and settled satisfaction in God Himself, a sweet contentment with Him and with all His ways, "which would have kept them in perfect peace whose minds were stayed upon God." It is right and becoming to ask from God the necessities of this life,-daily bread, health, soundness of mind, clothing and a dwelling place, friendship and its joys. Is it wrong to wish for the comforts of life, to be raised above the constant pressure of narrow circumstances, the gnawing anxieties concerning food and raiment and the future welfare of those who depend upon us? May we not pray the prayer of Agar, “Give me not riches but give me not poverty"? But whosoever he be who prays for these, who really goes to God and asks for these, will do it in such utter dependence upon God, that should God refuse to hear him, he has in this very refusal but another form of God's care. Shepherd, I shall not want." He will still say, "The Lord is my will He not give us bread? We often have not because we ask not. But oftener, far oftener, because we ask amiss, because we do not ask unselfishly, with a regard for God's glory and our own higher good. Men often pray wicked prayers, blasphemous prayers, prayers which God cannot hear. Of course men do not deliberately and of set purpose do the thing that James here says they do, asking gifts from God that they may consume them upon their lusts; but it is what is really often done. But, "if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me." "Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts," your pleasures, those pleasures which are the real cause and origin of all the "wars and battles " which everywhere lay waste the fair fields of spiritual life. The cure. Is there a cure? What is the cure? "The Lord is the portion of my soul. O, my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord, I have no good beyond Thee. My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed." This were the mortal wound to all lust, to all wrong desire; this would kill off the spirit which kills, which leads to "wars and battles." Let God but be the chief object of desire, and then the soul is satisfied with marrow and with fat; then it drinks of the river of His pleasures and is satisfied; then it feels no want. In a congregation where every member subordinated his own desires to the one desire for God, and for the glory of God, the question would never need to be put: "Whence come wars and fightings among you?" Practical. GLASGOW. PETER RUTHERFORD. GERMS OF PRACTICAL THOUGHT EVOLVED FROM THE APOCALYPSE. [The writer of these Homiletic Sketches aims not to decide between the numerous theories and speculations which the interpreters of this book have propounded. So far as his work is concerned it does not matter who the author may be, the exact time in which he lived, the place of his writing, or the peculiarities of his language. The whole book appears to his mind as a grand, prophetic poem, full of strange and grotesque symbols. As a prophecy, some have regarded it as already fulfilled, such as Grotius, Hammond, Bossuet, Calmet, Wetstein, Eichhorn, Hug, Herder, Ewald, Lücke, De Wette, Dusterdieck, Stuart, Lee, and Maurice. These are called the Præterist expositors. Some have regarded it as yet almost entirely unfulfilled. All events referred to, except those in the first three chapters, they take as pointing to what is yet to come. Among such interpreters in recent times are Drs. Todd, Maitland, Newton, De Burgh, &c. These are called Futurists. Some regard it as in a progressive course of fulfilment, running on from the first century to the end of time. Amongst these interpreters the following names are included: Mede, Sir I. Newton, Vitringa, Bengel, Woodhouse, Faber, E. B. Elliott, Wordsworth, Hengstenberg, Ebrard, &c. These are called Historical expositors. The present Homiletic Sketches will be drawn in the light of this school. The whole book is a symbolical representation of a great moral campaign between right and wrong, running on from the dawn of the Christian era to the crash of doom. Babylon here is, so to say, the metropolis of evil and Jerusalem the metropolis of good. The battle is not between the mere forms, organizations, and institutions of good and evil, but between their spirit, their essence. The victories of Christ here are, to use the language of Carpenter, "against all wrong-thoughtedness, wrong-heartedness, and wrong-spiritedness."] No. VI. Christ's Ministry on Earth and His Existence in Heaven. "AND HE LAID HIS RIGHT HAND UPON ME, SAYING UNTO ME, FEAR NOT; I AM THE FIRST AND THE LAST I AM HE THAT LIVETH, AND WAS DEAD; AND, BEHOLD, I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE, AMEN; AND HAVE THE KEYS OF HELL AND OF DEATH."-Revelation i. 17, 18 THESE verses lead us to consider two subjects: the ministry of Christ on earth and His existence in Heaven. I-CHRIST'S MINISTRY ON EARTH. "And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not." John's vision of Christ struck him to the ground with fear. remarks of Trench on these The words cannot be overlooked: "The unholy, and all flesh is such that it cannot endure immediate contact with the holy, the human with the Divine. Heathen legend, so far as its testimony may be accepted, consents here with Christian truth. Semele must perish if Jupiter reveals himself to her in his glory, being consumed in the brightness of that glory. 'Thou canst not see My face: for there shall no man see Me, and live' (Ex. xxxiii. 20). For every man it is a dreadful thing to stand face to face with God. The beloved disciple who had handled the Word of life, lain in His Lord's bosom in the days of His flesh, can as little as any other endure the revelation of His majesty, or do without that Fear not,' with which the Lord reassures him here. This same 'Fear not' is uttered on similar occasions to Isaiah (vi. 7), to Daniel (x. 12), to Peter (Luke v. 1), to the three at the Transfiguration, of whom John himself was one (Matt. xvii. 7). Nor is this reassurance confined to words only: the Lord at the same time lays His hand upon him-something parallel to which goes along with the Fear not' of three among the instances just referred to; and from the touch of that hand the seer receives strength again, and is set, no doubt, upon his feet once more (Ez. i. 28; ii. 1, 2). The right hand' being ever contemplated in Scripture as the hand of power alike for God (Deut. xxxiii. 2; Is. xlviii. 13; Acts vii. 55) and for man (Gen. xlviii. 14; Zech. iii. 1; Matt. v. 30), it is only fit that with the right hand of the Lord he should be thus strengthened and revived." The point here to be observed is that Christ's ministry on earth is to remove fear. Of all the passions that take possession of the soul there are none more unvirtuous in nature and pernicious in influence than fear. It implies a lack of trust in the personal, loving care of the great Father. It is hostile to all heroism and moral nobility of soul. Now Christ's ministry is to remove this. He says to man, "It is I, be not afraid." (1) He removes fear of poverty. By unfolding the Fatherly providence of God. (2) He removes fear of punishment. By proclaiming the forgiveness of sins. (3) He removes fear of death. By unveiling a heaven beyond the grave. "In My Father's house are many mansions." II.-CHRIST'S EXISTENCE IN HEAVEN. "I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth (and the Living One), and was dead (and I was dead); and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell (death) and of death (Hades)." One might have thought that after Christ had received such malignant treatment on this earth, His departure from it would be an everlasting termination of all His communications with it: that His last word on earth to men would be His last word to them until the day of doom that on His ascension to heaven He would withdraw Himself with a righteous indignation from this corrupt planet, turn away from it and speak only to intelligences who would devoutly hail His every utterance. Not so, however. Here, after three-score years of personal absence from this earth, with unabated love for our fallen race, He breaks the silence of eternity and makes such communications to John, on the isle of Patmos, as would be for the good of all coming generations. The words lead us to consider now His existence in heaven. Notice First: His life in heaven is a life that succeeds an extraordinary death. "I am He that liveth, and was dead." Life after death is a life in itself truly wonderful. Such a life we have never seen. But the life of Christ in heaven is a life succeeding a death that has no parallel in the history of the universe. There are at least three circumstances that mark off His death at an infinite distance from that of any other being that ever died. (1) Absolute spontaneity. No being ever died but Christ who had the feeling that he need never die, that death could be for ever escaped. Christ had it. "He had power to lay down His life." (2) Entire relativeness. Every other man that ever died, died for himself, died because he was a sinner and the seed of death was sown in his nature. Not so with Christ, He died for others. (3) Universal influence. The death of the most important man that ever lived has an influence of a comparatively limited degree. It extends but over a contracted circle. Only a few of the age feel it; future ages feel it not; it is nothing to the universe. But Christ's death had an influence that admits of no measurement. It extended over all the past of humanity. It was the great C |