of the subjects. The soul under this Christian imperialism is safely guarded, guarded by angels, by Omnipotence. Thirdly: Progress. One of the best means of ascertaining the excellency of any government is the facilities it affords for the advancement of its citizens. The soul under the celestial rule of Christianity passes on from strength to strength, from glory to glory. Christianity, if not dominant in a man, is worse than nothing.

II. Into this celestial kingdom ENTRANCE CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED BY EARNEST EFFORT.

"It suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.” "Violence" here, of course, does not mean cruelty, nor does "force mean brute might; the words must be regarded as standing for mighty earnestness. Nor can man enter into this celestial state of soul without this; he has to fight his way into it. First Fight against the opposing forces within. Carnality, pride, unbelief, prejudice, moral inertia.

Secondly Fight against social influences. The world around us, like a heavy atmosphere, presses down the pinions of the soul.

Thirdly Fight against infernal agencies. We must "wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, and powers, and wickedness in high places." CONCLUSION.-Is Christian

ity a regal force within you? Does it dominate all within, direct your forces and control your activities ? If not, you are in the kingdom of darkness, the kingdom of bondage, danger, misery. In the name of all that is great in human nature, rational in action, righteous in Divine claims, determine to change your government, break away from the old and struggle into the new. Make your way upwards, for the "kingdom of heaven suffereth violence."

HUMAN VOLITION.

"Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other."Matt. xii. 13.

We learn from this incident

I. That man has the power of volition, whatever may be his PHYSICAL CIRCUMSTANCES. Here is a man with a withered hand, in whom Christ recognised the power of willing. Man in poverty, bondage, physical exhaustion, can will.

II. That the will of Christ should in all cases control HIS VOLITIONS. This man recognised the fact. He did not say, I cannot do it; my circumstances, my physical weakness, the thorough powerlessness of my withered arm prevent the possibility of my doing it. He recognised the authority of Christ's will, and he did according to the mandate.

III. That the man whose

volitions are controlled by the will of Christ MAY EXTRICATE HIMSELF FROM CONDITIONS THE

MOST WRETCHED. This man obeyed Christ, and his volition sent life, blood, energy, into his withered hand. Let the most wretched man do this, and he will rise from his wretchedness. Let the world, deeply sunk as it is in moral weakness, degradation, do this, and it shall rise to power, dignity, and peace.

"THE BEAM AND THE MOTE."

"Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."-Matt. vii. 5.

THERE are three facts contained in this verse.

I. THAT SIN MAY EXIST IN MAN TO AN ENORMOUS EXTENT, AND YET HE BE UNCONSCIOUS OF

IT.

There may be a "beam" in the eye, or the soul, which hinders the light of heaven from illuminating the inner chambers, and the man may not know it. This is one of the darkest facts in connexion with depravity. There are several things that tend to produce this unconsciousness. (1.) Habit. Man begins his moral history in sin; he has no period of virtuous experience. All is one unbroken course of evil until the hour of moral conviction come. Sin, therefore, by habit, becomes so much like a part of his nature, that he is unconscious

VOL. XXVIII.

If,

of it. (2.) Association. in every-day life he was called to mingle with the pure and the good, he would be painfully reminded by contrast of his spiritual error and delinquencies; but, instead of this, all are of the same depraved class as himself. They breathe the same air, adopt the same maxims, and follow out the same principles; and (3.) Satanic Agency. The god of this world is employed in blinding the eyes of men.

Another fact in this verse

"Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellors there is safety. Wisdom is too high for a fool: he_openeth not his mouth in the gate." -Prov. xxiv. 3-7.

WE shall take wisdom here, not only as representing piety, but piety in association with intelligence and skill. Goodness of a certain sort is sometimes found in connexion with great ignorance and stupidity, the mind is unenlightened by knowledge and unskilled by discipline. And there is, on the other hand, often found a "wisdom" detached from goodness and piety. Examples abound in history, and also in living society, of men of great intelligence, high culture, and ingenious aptitudes, who are destitute of any goodness of the heart, in the Bible sense. These two should be always wedded together, "the twain should be

one." Where they are thus united we have what I have designated intelligent goodness. The text suggests some of the advantages connected with this.

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I. It is conducive to WEALTH. "Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: and by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches." The three words, "Wisdom," Understanding," and "Knowledge,' are, in the meaning of Solomon, synonymous; they signify an enlightened religion, and this is conducive to secular prosperity. An unenlightened piety often leads to starvation, an unsanctified intelligence to ruin and misery; but when both are combined there is the guarantee of secular advancement.

Enlightened piety involves all the conditions of worldly success, temperance, economy, industry, skilfulness, and the favour of Heaven. The Heavenly Teacher intimated this when He said, "Seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness, and all things shall be added

unto you;" and Paul recognised this when he said, "Godliness is profitable unto all things, it has the promise of the life which now is, and of the life which is to come."

II. It is conducive to POWER. "A wise man is strong; yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength."

First: Intelligence apart from piety is power. A man who has great intelligence and who knows how to use it, possesses a power superior to any physical force. Knowledge is power; this is a proposition that has been crystallized into a proverb. It is beyond debate, it lies sparkling in the region of acknowledged certitudes.

Secondly: Piety apart from intelligence is a higher kind of power. It is the power of patience, endurance, love, compassion; it is a power that will touch men's hearts and move the very arm of God; it takes hold upon His strength."

Thirdly: Piety associated with intelligence is the highest creature power. What power on earth is equal to that possessed by the man of vast intelligence and consecrated affections, the man of sunny intellect and Heaveninspired sympathies ?

III. It is conducive to SAFETY. "For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war; and in multitude of counsellors there is safety." How in times of danger does it conduce to safety? The words suggest two ways

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First: It takes counsel of the wise. By wise counsel thou shalt make thy war," &c. Nothing exposes a man to greater danger than such an overweening conceit of his own

opinions and such a feeling of self-sufficiency as prevent him from taking counsel of the wise. Self-willed monarchs have ruined kingdoms and brought damnation on themselves. The men of enlightened godliness take counsel of the holiest men and of the great God Himself.

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Secondly: It has power at the gate. "Wisdom is too high for a fool; he openeth not his mouth in the gate." The "gate" here may mean the place of public assembly or the place of entrance into the city. In either position, the man of enlightened piety will have power. When he opens his mouth and speaks in the assembly men will listen to his words and bow to his opinion; or if he stands at the gate and opens his mouth when the enemy is advancing, the moral majesty of his aspect and the force of his utterances will drive the invader back more effectively than the swords or bayonets of armies.

(No. CCXCIII.) Subject: ASPECTS OF DEPRAVITY.

"He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men."-Prov. xxiv. 8, 9. THE man who has the Bible in his hand cannot say that he has no means of knowing what is good and evil, what characters God will accept and what He will reject. In this Book of books the evil and the good are exibited in such a variety and fulness of aspect as to render it impossible for men to make a mistake on the momentous subject. Depravity is presented to us in the text

I. AS MISCHIEVOUS IN PUR

POSE. "He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mis

chievous person." It is bad enough to be inclined to evil; it is worse to yield to evil, it is worse still to devise evil; to use that intellect that God has given us in constructing schemes of wickedness.

First: This is the work of the devil. His gigantic intellect has ever been thus employed, (Gen. iii. 1.) and he is thus engaged at this moment.

He

is everlastingly constructing schemes of wickedness, and we should not be "ignorant of his devices.'

Secondly: This is the work to which he inspires all his followers. Balaam was a mischievous person. (Numbers xxxi.16.) Abimelech earned the same reputation (Judges ix.) Jeroboam's mischief has stamped his name with a black mark of reprobation "who made Israel to sin." (1 Kings xii. 22-33.) The heathens of the ancient world are represented as "inventors of evil things" (Romans ix.) All wicked men are desirous of mischief. They are hatching schemes of evil.

II. AS SINFUL IN THOUGHT. "The thought of foolishness is sin." The idea is, that every evil thought is sin. How can this be? How can such an intangible fugitive thing as thought be a sin? Sinful thought is of two classes.

First: Voluntary. These consist (1.) In a voluntary meditation on wrong subjects; such subjects as those which tend to incite lust, avarice, revenge, impiety. (2.) In a voluntary meditation on right subjects in a wrong way. Those who take

up the great facts of nature, Providence, and the Bible, in order to throw discredit on the existence, wisdom, and goodness of God; and those also who study those facts for infidel, sectarian, or selfish ends are alike guilty of sinful thoughts.

Secondly: Involuntary. There are thoughts that come into us, not only irrespective of our choice, but against our very wish; how can we be responsible for them? How? They have grown up out of previous voluntary states of mind; we made the soil from which they have sprung, and thus heaven holds us responsible.

Let us be careful of that from which bad thoughts spring. "The cockatrice's egg,' ,, says John Howe, 'if long enough hatched becomes a serpent, and therefore ought to be crushed in time."

III. AS ABHORRENT IN CHARACTER. "The scorner is an abomination to men." Evil devices, sinful thoughts, and a scorning spirit are all elements of depravity. We have often had occasion to define the "scorner" in passing through this book. The man who "sits in the scorner's seat" has reached the nearest chair to hell. Such a character, we have been assured elsewhere, is an abomination to God, and here we are told is an abomination to men. Men may laugh at the sarcastic wit, applaud the dexterous shafts of ridicule, but inwardly they despise the author. Such a man the human soul cannot trust, cannot love, must recoil from with a profound disgust.

CONCLUSION.-Depart from evil and pursue good, flee from sin as Lot fled from Sodom, and