is moving on to higher light and more complete enjoyment -I say, show me such things as these in any part of the world where Christ has not been with his teachings and his Spirit. Quench the light of his influence among men to-day, and you will roll back the world into the darkness of barbaric times. To oppose Him, therefore, is to play the part of a fiendish misanthropy. The subject suggestsThirdly: An invitation to all. Men and brethren, your character is your spiritual house, your spiritual world, that in which you will spend an existence either of misery or of bliss. The only true foundation of that house is Christ. Other foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, "which is Jesus Christ." Come and build on this, it has been well tried. Other productions men have tried; but they have failed. Christ has stood the test of time. We are wont to trust what has been well-tried. We trust the well-tried medicine and take it; the well-tried bridge, and cross the rolling torrent. We trust nature, because has been tried-tried not only in the laboratory of the chemist, in the cabinet of the antiquary, in the caverns of the geologist, but in the daily experience of a thousand generations. Hence farmers, merchants, mariners, all trust her. For this reason trust Christ. No chemist, geologist, or any other of the shrewdest of natural philosophers has ever tested nature so thoroughly as Christ has been tested.

Brethren: This morning, the dawn of a New Year fills us with many saddening memories, and bodings not less subduing. Another year is gone, is added to our past, and lies behind us as a vast shadowy region, in which is buried a world of blessings, and in which, too, lurks the hideous ghost of many a sin. What this New Year will bring to us is known only to Him who sees the end from the beginning. Great changes will of course take place, for in the affairs and lives of mortals time works mighty revolutions. I confess that amidst the saddening memories and strange forebodings which this day evokes within me, the subject of my discourse comes with a soul-calming and sustaining

power. Christ is a well-tried friend. The flood of time, which sweeps kingdoms from the earth, and bears generations of men into the great eternity, works no change in Him -no change in his strength, in his purposes, in his love. Macaulay once imagined that in some far distant day a 'traveller from New Zealand might, in the midst of a vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's." Such may happen. Neither London, nor St. Paul's, nor aught that is human on the earth is proof against the moulding breath of time.

"Time lays his hand

On pyramids of brass, and ruins quite
What all the fond artificers did think

Immortal workmanship: he sends his worms
To books, to old records, and they devour
Th' inscriptions. He loves ingratitude,
For he destroyed the memory of man."

SIR WM. DAVENANT.

How blessed the knowledge, how soul-inspiring the assurance that He on whom we are building our all for eternity, "will remain the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever." "Wherefore, we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom;
Lead Thou me on.

The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead Thou me on.

Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distant scene, one step 's enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou
Shouldst lead me on;

I loved to choose and see my path; but now
Lead Thou me on.

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
Pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

Homiletic Sketches on the Book of Psalms.

OUR PURPOSE.-Many learned and devout men have gone philologically through this TEHILIM, this book of Hebrew hymns, and have left us the rich results of their inquiries in volumes within the reach of every Biblical student. Το do the mere verbal hermeneutics of this book, even as well as it has been done, would be to contribute nothing fresh in the way of evoking or enforcing its Divine ideas. A thorough HOMILETIC treatment it has never yet received, and to this work we here commit ourselves, determining to employ the best results of modern Biblical scholarship.

OUR METHOD.-Our plan of treatment will comprise four sections :-(1.) The HISTORY of the passage. Lyric poetry, which the book is, is a delineation of living character, and the key, therefore, to unlock the meaning and reach the spirit of the words, is a knowledge of the men and circumstances that the poet sketches with his lyric pencil. (2.) ANNOTATIONS of the passage. This will include short explanatory notes on any ambiguous word, phrase, or allusion that may occur.- -(3.) The ARGUMENT of the passage. A knowledge of the main drift of an author is amongst the most essential conditions for interpreting his meaning.-(4.) The HOMILETICS of the passage. This is our main work. We shall endeavour so to group the Divine ideas that have been legitimately educed, as to suggest such thoughts, and indicate such sermonizing methods as may promote the proficiency of modern pulpit ministrations.

SUBJECT: The Divine Picture both of a Happy and an Unhappy Man.

"Blessed is the man

That walketh not in the counsel of the ungoldly,;
Nor standeth in the way of sinners,

Nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord:

And in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree

Planted by the rivers of water,

That bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

His leaf also shall not wither:

And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so:

But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,

Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous,

But the way of the ungodly shall perish."--Psa. i. 4—6.

HISTORY: Of the circumstances occasioning this poem nothing is known. It has no title prefixed to it, nor does it contain

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any allusion by which we could ascertain either its authorship or date of composition. Hence some critics ascribe it to David, and some to Ezra. In this case the history of circumstances is not important. The poem is self-revealing, contains truths independent of circumstances, and is evidently put as a preface to the whole book. It is referred to in Acts iv. 33. ANNOTATIONS:-" Blessed."-The word is in the plural number in the original. Lit. Oh, the happinesses an exclamation of strong emotion, as if resulting from reflection on the subject. "Oh, the blessednesses " of "the man"-the word is emphatic:-That man a rare character; one amongst a thousand; that man, wherever he may be, in whatever age, or in whatever part of the world he may be. Walketh," "standeth,"- -"sitteth."-Degrees of wickedness, a graduated scale of depravity. "Ungodly"—"sinners -"scornful."Degrees, again; the first without God, the second against God, the third, contempt for God. "Law:" All inspired writings then extant. God's will is the law, the Bible is the revelation of that will. "Like a tree:"-(Jeremiah xvii. 7, 8. "Planted:"- The word has the idea of fixedness or stability. "By the rivers:" — In hot countries the tree planted without water would perish in a few days; every garden, therefore, has a reservoir of water drawn from the rivers or springs, or collected in the rainy reason. In Damascus, we are told, there is not a garden but has a fine, quick stream running through it. "Like the chaff which the wind driveth away." Corn in the East is winnowed in the open air, by throwing it up against the wind from a shovel."-Shaw. "In the East the threshingfloors are placed upon the heights. They throw aloft the corn that has been threshed, until the wind has driven the chaff way."-Hengstenberg. "Shall not stand in the judgment:"-i.e., at the bar of God. Stand" is a forensic term, denoting to stand acquitted.

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ARGUMENT.-The argument of the whole psalm is, that character determines destiny. There is a character that will bless a man, and there is a character will curse him.

HOMILETICS.-Here we have a picture both of a happy and unhappy man.

I. THE DIVINE PICTURE OF A HAPPY MAN.

1. HE ESCHEWS THE WRONG. First, He does not wilk in "the counsels of the ungodly." The ungodly have their counsels. They have their maxims and their contrivances, both for business and for pleasure. The truly happy man avoids these. Whilst in the world he may have often to cross their path, but he does not walk in it. Secondly: He does not stand in "the way of sinners." Sinners have their

way. It is the way of error, selfishness, sensuality, impiety. The truly happy man does not stand in it. Thirdly: He does not sit in the "seat of the scornful." The scorner is the worst and blackest type of sinners. No class of men are nearer hell than religious scoffers. The good man avoids their seat. "I sat not," says Jeremiah, "in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced." Such is a negative description of the truly happy man. There is no happiness in fellowship with the "ungodly," "sinners," and 'scorners."

2. HE DELIGHTS IN THE RIGHT. "His delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." This delight implies-First: The highest love. Human nature never delights in that which it loves not. He who delights in the Divine law, loves it, not merely because it answers to his intuitions of moral propriety, nor merely because it is designed and fitted to yield happiness to all who obey it, but mainly because of the glorious character of its Author. To delight in the law you must love the lawgiver. The delight, Secondly, insures the highest activity :the activity of mind :-"In His law doth he meditate day and night." What we love most, we think about most. The study of God is the glory of finite intelligence.

3. HE FLOURISHES PERENNIALLY. "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water," &c. First: He is permanent in position. He is planted. The idea is stability. His spiritual nature is deeply rooted by the ever flowing rivers of Divine truth. No hurricane can uproot that tree; enemies may hew its branches, but never tear up its root. They have struck deep into the primal Fount of Life. "Who shall separate us from the love of God?" &c. Secondly: He is permanent in beauty. "His leaf also shall not wither." All material beauty necessarily fades, moral beauty need never fade. There is in virtuous thoughts and deeds a freshness of beauty, like the opening leaves of spring. Thirdly: He is permanent in fruitfulness. "Ho bringeth forth fruit in his season.' "Whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Usefulness marks his course here and hereafter. "The trees of the Lord are full of sap," and they are for ever beautiful in form and clustering with fruit.