Obliterating its true conceptions of God. How soon did the sun set, and darkness envelop the scene! How great the change!-The souls that basked in the Divine presence, now endeavouring to hide themselves from the sight of the Omnipresent God. Their light became darkness, and their day, night.

OF

IV. THE PUNISHMENT THE FIRST SIN. Its punishment shows that sin is foreign to our nature. It is a usurper, a tyrant, and an enemy. Sin was not in the Divine plan. Secondly: That sin and punishment are linked together. The serpent was cursed above all cattle; Adam and Eve had to suffer; and even the stage upon which the sad scene was acted escaped not, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." Thirdly

That

God is just in its punishment. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ?" Fourthly: That God is willing to pardon sin. The dark thick clouds that had overcast the firmament could not prevent the one single star of Bethlehem, from sending her bright rays of light to our polluted world,-"It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Fifthly : That liberty is not without its attendant risks. Sixthly: That knowledge without holiness is dangerous,- "And the Lord God, said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now lest

FIRST: The concealment of Moses, &c. "She hid him three months." Cruelty of Pharaoh affection of the mother-she was willing to expose herself to death for him. Secondly: The rescue of Moses. "And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river, and her maidens walked along by the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold the babe wept. And she had compassion on him and said, This is one of the Hebrew's children." Thirdly: The restoration of Moses. "Then said his sister to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call to the nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give thy wages. And the mother

took the child and nursed it." CALEB MORRIS.

TO BE OF THE TRUTH: ITS EVIDENCES AND ITS BLESSINGS.

"And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him."-1 John iii. 19.

us.

THE apostle in the preceding verses inculcates brotherly love. He does this on the following grounds First: Christ's message to us. (Ver. 11; John xiii. 34.) Secondly: Brotherly love is an evidence of piety. (Ver. 14) Thirdly: Christ's love towards (Ver. 16.) His love was a selfsacrificing love, so should ours be. Genuine love to others is a proof of discipleship. "And hereby we know." We observe three things in the text-First, a Christian state-" are of the truth." This implies, First: To be savingly influenced by the truth. The Gospel has some influence on all who hear it. Christ is either the foundation of our hope, or a stone of stumbling. The Gospel is either the savour of death unto death, or the savour of life unto life. (2 Cor. ii. 16; Matt. xxi. 24.) It implies, Secondly: To possess the spirit of the truth. (1 John iv. 6; Col. iii. 16; Heb. viii. 10.) It implies, Thirdly To live according to the truth. It implies, Fourthly, to be for the truth, to vindicate it, and to disseminate it.

:

Secondly: The evidence of this state. "And hereby we know." Self-sacrificing love for the temporal and spiritual welfare of others. God accepts the love we show towards his

VOL. XXII.

people, as love manifested towards Him. (Matt. xxv. 34-40.) True religion consists not only in having an orthodox creed, but also in possessing a compassionate and loving heart. (1 John iv. 8.)

:

The

Thirdly The blessings of this state. First: An approving conscience. "And shall assure our hearts before him.' word translated " assure is in Matt. xxviii. 14 rendered persuade. The meaning seems to be this. The conscience shall be tranquillised. It shall no longer accuse or condemn. This is important. (Ver. 20.) "For if our heart judges us unfavourably, we may be sure that He, knowing more than our heart knows, judges us more unfavourably still." (Alford.) The voice of conscience is an echo of the voice of God. Secondly: Confidence towards God. (Ver. 21.) "Who is he that condemneth?" Thirdly: An assurance that our prayers shall be answered. (Ver. 22.) Fourthly: Christ shall abide in our hearts. (Ver. 24.)

THOMAS HUGHES.

CHRIST'S IMPORTANT QUESTION TO MAN.

"Wilt thou be made whole?". John v. 6.

The text teaches

I. THAT MAN IS A SUBJECT OF A MORAL DISEASE. "Wilt thou be made whole ?" Man is represented in Scripture as morally unhealthy. First: The cause of man's moral disease.

X

Every effect has its cause in the natural and the moral world. The cause of this moral decease is the neglect of the proper condition of health, wholesome food, suitable exercise, pure atmosphere. Secondly: The symptoms of man's moral disease. Loss of strength to resist the wrong, and to do what is right. Loss of appetite, loss of enjoyment. Thirdly: The nature of man's moral disease. It is incurable by human effort.

II. THAT MAN IS IN A STATE IN WHICH CURE IS POSSIBLE.

Christ's question implies possibility. First: Man's condition in the world. Secondly: The means procured for his recovery.. Thirdly The infallibility of Christ as a physician. "He is able to save to the utmost."

I. FEELING FOR PRINCIPLE. Notice the mischief of religious excitement when not followed up by religious instructionwhen created by anything that is not spiritual and true.

II. FORM FOR LIFE. The form but the channel; but it is the channel and life often flows through it. The form nothing except as the channel of living water.

III. SERVICE FOR LOVE. One side of the character damaged in proportion as the other is unduly cultivated. The contemplative and active mustdevelop together to make a healthy Christian. The very

activity of the Church a source of danger; the contemplative side of our nature may be neglected. "Which thing was a snare unto Gideon."

IV. IMPOTENCE FOR POWER. Without Christ we can do nothing; and the world's experience has proved that true. Through Christ we can do all things.

V. LOWER JUDGMENTS FOR THE JUDGMENT OF CHRIST. There are three judgments; the lowest is that of men ; the higher, that of conscience, often the very reverse of the former but often wrong; like an ill-timed watch, consistently wrong, needing to be regulated by the sun and kept by it to be consistently right. The highest, the judgment of God, who does not respect persons, but looks on the heart.

R. V. P., LL.B., M.A.

(No. CLXV.)

IDEAL ELOQUENCE.

"The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips. Pleasant words are as an honey-comb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones."-Prov. xvi. 23, 24.

ELOQUENCE is a subject of importance. Much has been written upon it, various definitions have been given of it. Most public speakers aspire after it. It is one of the choicest gifts of genius, and the most potent organ of social influence. Some mistake it for elegance of language, and labour after verbal embellishments rhetoric periods, and climaxes. Others, for fluency of speech, as if it consisted in a nimble use of the tongue. Elsewhere we have indicated our faith that it is rather a mystic feeling than magnificent words, a natural gift than a human attainment, a magnetic force than articulate sound. Eloquence is often mighty on a blundering tongue, and in lips that quiver too much to speak. These two verses lead us to infer several things concerning true eloquence.

I. IT IS THE UTTERANCE OF THE TRUE HEART. "The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth." The moral heart of man is the best teacher. It is the table on which is engraven the laws of God, the eternal principles of virtue:-man's book of life on which experience has written its lessons. It is the mirror that reflects the infinite. The highest wisdom is to be found, not in the reasoning, but in the feeling regions of our soul. First: It is when the genuinely patriotic heart "teaches the mouth" of the

statesman, that his speeches are really eloquent, and that his voice bends the senate to his will. Secondly: It is when the genuinely justice-loving heart "teaches the mouth" of the counsel, that his address is really eloquent, and that he carries the jury with him, and makes the cause of his client triumphant. Thirdly: It is when the genuinely Christ loving heart "teaches the mouth" of the preacher, that his sermons become eloquent and mighty through God.

II. IT IS THE MEANS OF USEFUL INSTRUCTION. It "addeth learning to his lips." True eloquence does more than awaken mere emotion in the hearer. It instructs. Its spirit is in such vital alliance with eternal reality that its very sounds echo such truths as start the highest trains of thought. Out of the heart are the issues of life, mental as well as spiritual life. Who is the best religious teacher? Not the mere theologian, however vast his learning, scriptural his theory, or perfect his language, but the Christ-loving man, however untutored his intellect and ungrammatical his speech. He dispenses the best "learning;" learning which teaches men rightly to live and triumphantly to die. The instincts of a true heart furnish the lips with the best lessons of life.

III. IT IS A SOURCE OF SOUL REFRESHMENT. "Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones." Honey was prized by those of old times, not only as a luxury to the palate, but on account of its medicinal and salutary properties. To this there is an allusion here.

The words

express the twofold idea of pleasantness and of benefit. Many things have the one quality which have not the other. Many a poison is like honey, sweet to the taste, but instead of being "health to the bones," is laden with death. Words of true eloquence, indeed, fall as drops of honey on the soul, not only delicious to the taste but a tonic to the heart. Brothers in the ministry, would you have the tongue of the "learned ?" Then you must have the heart of the saint, the heart glowing with love to Christ and

man.

Herein is the soul of eloquence. Who could stand before us if our hearts were rightly and fully affected by Christ and his cross. The force of Whitfield's sermons lay in his heart. Dr. Franklin bears the following testimony to the remarkable power of his eloquence. "I happened to attend one of the sermons of Mr. Whitfield, in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection, and I silently resolved he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four silver dollars, and five pistoles in gold. As he proceeded I began to soften, and concluded to give the copper. Another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, and determined me to give the silver; and he finished so admirably, that I emptied my pocket wholly into the collector's dish-gold and all. At this sermon there was also one of our club, who being of my sentiments respecting the building in Georgia, and suspecting a collection might be intended, had, by precaution, emptied his pockets before he came from home. Towards the conclusion of the discourse, however, he felt a strong inclination to give and applied to a neighbour, who stood near him to lend him some money for the purpose. The request was made to, perhaps, the only man in the company who had the coldness not to be affected by the preacher. His answer was, "At any

other time, friend Hodgkinson, I would lend to thee freely, but not now, for thou seemest to be out of thy right senses."

(No. CLXVI.)

LABOUR.

"He that laboureth, laboureth for himself; for his mouth craveth it of him."Prov. xvi. 26.*

66

STRANGE that human labour is so generally regarded as an evil to be avoided, as the curse of sin, as a badge of degradation. Though English society allows a man to sign himself a gentleman "who is free from labour, the arrangements of nature regard him as a felon in the universe. As this subject has frequently come under our attention in previous chapters of this book, we shall confine ourselves just to the two points referring to it in the text.

I. THE PERSONALITY OF LABOUR. "He that laboureth, laboureth for himself." First: There is a sense in which this must be. A man's labour must have an influence on himself either for good or evil. Every act has a reflex bearing. All the actions of men go to form their habits, their character, and their character is in reality the world they live in, and must live in for ever. "What a man soweth that he also reaps." There are some who so render the text as to make it mean this, and this only, they render the words thus: "The troublesome person troubleth himself, for his mouth turneth upon him." Though we cannot accept this interpretation, a true idea is conveyed. Men create their own devils. Secondly: There is a sense in which this should not be true. Men ought not to labour for themselves, as an end. Men should not seek their own, they should not live to themselves, but to Him who died

The preceding verse is an utterance identical to that we have noticed in Prov. xiv. 12.