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of God. He had looked at them as He called them forth, and more than once had He pronounced them good. But now, "God saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good." Every thing was now complete. Perfect itself, and perfect in its adjustments. Day and night, times and seasons, were in harmony with the changes in vegetable and animal life. All was in subordination. "Heaven and earth were finished, and all the host of them." The Bible speaks of God as the "God of Hosts"the chief of all the armies of sky and earth, with their leaders, captains, generals,―rank and file, and officers; the universe a whole, ordered and governed. Besides this, everything was ready for the higher and the more glorious exercise of the Divine activity in Providence and Grace. All was absolutely prepared for the kingdom of probation, by which the last created of the world was to be tried, disciplined, and perfected.

We may learn here

First: Evil has no natural place in the universe. God saw all things "very good." Evil cannot then be eternal.

Secondly: Matter is not necessarily hostile to God. The Bible, in this picture of Divine contemplation, cuts away the ground from certain forms of false religion and philosophy. Divine life is not the destruction of matter, nor the rising out of the region of the sensuous; but so restoring the harmony, that God may again look upon the world, and say it is "very good."

Thirdly: The present condition of things, so changed from that which God first looked upon, must be the result of some catastrophe.

The

III. THE DIVINE REST AFTER HIS CREATIVE WORK. rest began when the work was done. The contemplation was a part of the Sabbatic blessedness. There are three things plainly taught in this Divine Sabbath.

First: It was a season of rest. It does not imply that there was weariness, but only a cessation from creative

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activity. Secondly: The rest was blessed by God. As He saw his work to be good, so He saw his rest to be good. Thirdly: There was an appointment of a similar blessed rest for his creatures. "He sanctified the seventh day."

It is not for us to discuss the relations of God to labour and repose. The fact may be beyond our comprehension. Indeed, it does not seem possible from the record clearly to ascertain what is meant by the "rest of God." But it has lessons for us, clear and manifest. It is these that we wish most to remark.

First: There is a place and time for rest. A sabbath God is represented as finding blessed, and therefore setting a rest apart. This is that man might learn that he may, and ought to rest-body, mind, and spirit need a repose.

Secondly: The condition on which rest may be claimed is that men work. God rested when He had finished his creation. The hardest workers have the greatest right to their sabbath. It would, perhaps, be well if they were a little more jealous of this human right, given and sanctioned by the Divine example and benediction.

Thirdly: This rest should be a happy rest. Much of the modern idea of a sabbath is not that which God would say was blessed. The sabbath is not a season of gloom, repression, and wretchedness.

Fourthly: The rest under such sanction ought to be religious. We are not careful to urge the command of God; the simple narrative of God's sabbath is enough to make our rest such as will bring us nearer to Him. This seems to us to be stronger against a sabbath of frivolity and mere sensuous pleasure, than all the sanction of the Jewish law.*

Fifthly: The rest for man which God's sabbath implies is unlimited to any particular portion of the race. This is the history of the God of all men-not that of Jehovah of the Jews, nor even the Lord of the Christians.

. We now consider only the sabbath. A very different question is that of the Christian Lord's day.

A few scattered lessons may be added.

1. It is a good thing to contemplate the works of God. 2. If God saw all things to be very good, we may surely wait for further knowledge when we do not see the wisdom or the goodness. 3. God rested from his work, not from his government thereof and interest therein. 4. The day of rest will be a day of contemplation. 5. The day of rest must then be a day of praise. 6. God has his sabbath, man has his heaven. 7. He who had such care, such approbation of his creation, will never allow it finally to be defiled by what is contrary to his will.

LLEWELYN D. Bevan, LL.B.

Germs of Thought.

SUBJECT: Difficulty in Duty.

"And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you to day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the Lord said anto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward."-Exod. xiv. 10—15.

Analysis of Homily the Seven Hundred and Forty-fourth.

HYSICAL facts are the symbols of spiritual truths. The material is everywhere the mirror of the mental. The scene is not only the effect and the organ, but the

symbol of the unseen. The temporal facts of human history also illustrate spiritual ideas. This was especially the case in the exodus of the Jews. That event resembled the exodus of the soul in several respects. (1.) It was deliverance from bondage. Great as was the slavery of the Israelites in Egypt, it is only a dim shadow of the slavery of a depraved soul. The slavery of the soul is the slavery of the man, and is the slavery that death cannot destroy. (2.) It was deliverance from bondage by Divine interposition. It was God that broke the iron rod of the oppressor, and delivered the chosen people. God alone can emancipate souls. (3.) It was deliverance from bondage in connection with the agency of man. Moses was employed to go down to Egypt to overwhelm the despot, and lead all Israel forth. God converts man by man. We have the treasure in earthen vessels. (4.) It was deliverance from bondage that involved new difficulties. From the moment the chosen people started from Egypt, until they entered the promised land, they had to contend with difficulties. It is so with emancipated souls. So long as they remain on earth they have difficulties to contend with. Our subject is diffi culty in duty-difficulty in duty deeply felt-difficulty in duty testing character-difficulty in duty divinely over

come.

I. DIFFICULTY IN DUTY DEEPLY FELT. The children of Israel, in marching toward the Red Sea, were in the path of duty, but see the difficulty they met with-the sea rolling before them, mountains towering high on both sides, Pharaoh and his host in the rear burning with ire and determined on their destruction. "And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord," &c.

It is ever thus. Difficulty with us ever lies in the path of duty. Duty conducted Daniel to the lions' den, the Hebrew youths to the burning furnace, Paul to prison,

martyrs to the stake, Christ to the cross.

The experience

of the good in all ages supplies examples. In heaven the path of duty has no difficulty. It is strewn with immortal

flowers, and shone on by a cloudless sky. Three facts may explain the reason why duty in this life should be so invariably connected with difficulty.

First: Our temporary well-being here greatly depends upon the conduct of our contemporaries toward us. Providence has so woven the tie of mutual dependance between us and our contemporaries, that our feelings and conditions are greatly influenced by each other. We cannot get on without the help of our contemporaries.

Secondly: The majority of our contemporaries are governed by corrupt principle. Few, perhaps, will doubt this -fewer still deny it. The maxims, spirit, habits of society are, alas! in the main, wrong. "All flesh has corrupted it." Why, "there is none that doeth good."

Thirdly: The man therefore who carries out in his daily life the principles of duty must more or less excite the anger and create the antagonism of his contemporaries. The man who is loyal to the everlasting principles of duty will be speaking things in the ear of society, and be working things before the eyes of society, that will bring on him persecution in some form or other. Christ knew this, and He told his disciples that "in the world they should have tribulation." When society gets holier, the path of duty will get easier. Meanwhile, there is difficulty in every step.

"Through much tribulation," &c.

Here we have

II. DIFFICULTY IN DUTY TESTING CHARACTER.

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First Look at the influence of this difficulty upon the Israelites. They were sore afraid; and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord." How this difficulty showed the state of their hearts.

Observe (1) their cowardice. "They were sore afraid." great difference between a true and false man is this, the

The

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