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of the Divine government, are against him. He has to struggle hard to make way.

Secondly: It is hard in the sense of results. The happiness aimed at is never fully got. There is a miserable dissatisfaction, and often moral agony. "The way of peace they know not," &c. (Isa. lix. 18.) The wicked are like the troubled sea while it cannot rest, whose waters cast out mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, for the wicked. The wages of sin is death.

(No. CII.)

THE WISE AND THE FOOLISH. "Every prudent man dealeth with knowledge: but a fool layeth open his folly."-Prov. xiii. 16.

1. THE WISE MAN. "He dealeth with knowledge." This implies

First: That he has knowledge. Knowledge is essential to a wise man. All true knowledge has its foundation in God. Knowledge is a tree with many and varied branches, as high and as broad as the universe, but God is the root and the sap, the strength and the beauty of the whole tree. There is no knowledge that includes Him not. It implies

"He

Secondly: That a wise man treats his knowledge wisely. dealeth with knowledge." Whilst knowledge is essential to wisdom, it is not wisdom. A man may have a great deal of knowledge, and no wisdom. Wisdom consists in the right application of knowledge. The wise man so deals with his knowledge as to culture his own nature, and promote the real progress of his race. "Perfect freedom," says Plato, "hath four parts-viz., wisdom, the principle of doing things aright; justice, the principle of doing things equally in public and private; fortitude, the principle of not flying danger, but meeting it; and

temperance, the principle of subduing desires, and living moderately."

II. THE FOOLISH MAN. Foolish men show their folly in at least two ways.

First: By talking about things of which they know little or nothing. There are two notable facts in human nature. (1) The more ignorant a man is, the more garrulous. Empty-minded persons are generally talkative. (2) The less one knows of a subject, the more fluently he can talk about it. The very fluent preachers are those who have never thought sufficiently on theological subjects to reach their difficulties. The thinker, discerning difficulties in every turn, moves cautiously, reverently, and even with hesitation. The fool speaks rashly.

Secondly: By attempting things which they are incapable of achieving. The foolish man knows not his aptitudes and inaptitudes. Hence he is seen everywhere, striving to be what he never can be; to do that which he never can accomplish. He attempts to build a tower without counting the cost. (Luke xiv. 28.) "Thus he layeth open his folly."

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duties constitute his mission to earth. The text teaches

I. THAT THERE IS A RIGHT AND A WRONG DISCHARGE OF THIS MESSAGF. There is a wicked messenger and a faithful ambassador. The wrong and the right way would be indicated by answering the question, What is the right He discharge of our mission? only discharges the various messages of life who does it-First: The man who Conscientiously.

acts without a conscience acts beneath his nature. The man who acts against his conscience acts against his nature. He alone acts worthy of his nature who acts according to the dictates of his conscience. A man should throw conscience into every act. Secondly: Intelligently. A man should understand the nature of the grounds of his message. Without this knowledge, though he acts conscientiously, he acts not rightly. Some of the greatest crimes ever wrought on our earth have been perpetrated conscientiously. Paul was conscientious in his ruthless persecutions. So perhaps were some of the Jews in putting to death the Son of God. Thirdly: Religiously. All must be done with a supreme regard to that God whose we are, and whom we are bound to serve. No message, even that of the humblest servant, is discharged rightly if not discharged rightly towards the great Master. "Whatsoever you do in deed or word, do to the glory of God."

II. THAT EVIL OR GOOD INEVITABLY RESULTS FROM THE MANNER IN WHICH THE MESSAGES ARE TREATED. "The wicked messenger falleth into mischief." His message, perhaps, may be a wrong message, a message of falsehood and injustice; or his message may be right, and he may deliver it unfaithfully. In either case mischief comes. Mischief to the man

himself-mischief to society. The man who speaks a wrong thing is a "wicked messenger," and the man who speaks a right thing wrongly is also a "wicked messenger." These wicked messengers, and the world abounds with them, produce incalculable mischief. Mischief springs from a wrong act as death from poison. On the other hand, the "faithful ambassador is health"-health to himself. His own conscience approves of it. He is "health" to those whom he representstheir wishes are gratified, their interests are served he is "health" to those to whom he is sent. At last he will hear the Divine words of approbation addressed to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant," &c.

(No. CIV.)

THE INCORRIGIBLE AND THE
DOCILE.

"Poverty and shame shall be to him that refuseth instruction: but he that regardeth reproof shall be honoured." -Prov. xiii. 18.

I. THE DOOM OF THE INCORRIGIBLE. The incorrigible is one who habitually "refuseth instruction." There are men, either from stolidity of nature, or the force of prejudice, or the power of habit, Their who are uninstructable. natures are closed against new light, they move in a rut from which no force can move them. To such, the text tells us, "poverty and shame" shall come to them. These two things are not necessarily associated. Poverty that springs from necessity, is a misfortune, not a crime, and therefore no cause for shame. Poverty that springs from sacrifice in the cause of duty and philanthropy, is a virtue rather than a vice, and therefore has no connection with shame. A poverty, however, brought on by incorrigibility of character, is

associated evermore with shame. It is a disgraceful poverty. That such shameful poverty springs from such conduct, is manifest in We the ordinary life of men. see it

First: In secular matters. The farmer, the tradesman, the professional, who doggedly adhere to their own notions, and will not receive the instruction which modern science affords, are often so unable to compete with those who are open to every new and improved theory of action, that they come to a dead failure in their undertakings, and meet with poverty and shame.

see it

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Secondly: In intellectual matters. Those who neglect the culture of their minds from youth up, and will not receive instruction, have a poverty of mind that is associated with shame. We see it

Thirdly: In moral matters. He who neglects the spiritual culture of his nature, has a poverty of soul that is distressing to contemplate. He is poor and wretched. He feeds on husks. What worse doom can there be than shameful destitution in and secular, mental, moral things? Shame is the worst of the furies:

"Shame urges on behind; unpitying shame,

That worst of furies, whose fell aspect frights

Each tender feeling from the human breast." THOMSON.

II. THE DESTINY OF THE TEACHABLE. "He that regardeth reproof shall be honoured." Honour is a popular word, but has many and often diverse meanings:"Ask the proud peer what's honour he displays

A purchased patent or the herald's blaze;

Or if the royal smile his hopes have blest,

Points to the glittering glory on his breast.

VOL. XX.

Yet if beneath no real virtue reign,
On the gay coat the star is but a stain;
For I could whisper in his lordship's
ear,

Worth only beams true radiance on the star." WHITEHEAD.

The truly docile man whose faculties are ever in search of truth, and who makes Christ his great Rabbi, will assuredly be honoured. First: His own soul will honour him. He will have the approbation of his own conscience. Secondly: Society will honour him. So long as mind is mind, society must ever honour men who are the recipients of the true and the divine. Thirdly: God will honour him. God smiles on the genuine inquirer, the real truthseeker. He takes such under his guardianship, and leads them on into higher and still higher fields of thought. There is no honour but in goodness :"Howe'er it be, it seems to me 'Tis only noble to be good; Kind hearts are more than coronets, And simple faith than Norman blood." TENNYSON.

(No. CV.)

SOUL PLEASURE AND SOUL PAIN. "The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil.-Prov. xiii. 19.

I. SOUL PLEASURE. What is it? An accomplished desire. Desire is the spring power of our activities. Locke defines it "as the uneasiness which a man feels within him on the absence of anything whose present enjoyment carries the delight with it." The desires of the soul, which are very varied, are very significant of our destiny. "Our desires," says Goethe, "are the presentiments of the faculties which lie within us, the precursors of those things which we are capable of performing. That which we would be and that which we desire present themselves to our

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imagination, about us and in the future. We prove our aspiration after an object which we already secretly possess. It is thus that an intense anticipation transforms a real possibility into an imaginary reality. When such a tendency is decided in us, at each stage of our development a portion of our primitive desire accomplishes itself under favourable circumstances by direct means, and in unfavourable circumstances by some more circuitous route, from which, however, we never fail to reach the straight road again." Indeed, pleasure consists in the gratification of desires. The quality and permanency of the pleasure must ever depend on the object of the desire. If the thing desired is immoral, its attainment will be "sweet to the soul" for a little

while, but afterwards it will become bitter as wormwood and gall. The triumph of truth, the progress of virtue, the diffusion of happiness, the honour of God, these are objects of desire that should give a holy and everlasting sweetness to the soul. God Himself should be the grand object of desire. As for me, I will behold Thy face in righteousness. "I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy likeness."

II. SOUL PAIN. "It is an abomination to fools to depart from evil." First: There is soul pain in being connected with evil. Conscience is always tormenting the sinner; from its nature it can never be reconciled to an alliance with evil. Secondly: There is soul pain in the dissolution of that connection. There is a fierce conflict, a tremendous battle in the effort.

The Pulpit and its Handmaids.

PULPIT ELOQUENCE.-THE POWER

AND ACCENT OF CONVICTION.

HITHERTO, we may be said to have treated human instrumentality; we must now consider our subject in a higher point of view. Reason, imagination, and sentiment are necessary qualifications to success in our vocation; but we require besides these the power of God, because our aim is to lay hold of and to direct the souls of men. Now, as that mighty genius Bossuet has remarked, There is nothing so indomitable as the heart of man. When I see it subdued, I adore." And why? Because he recognised in such submission a superhuman

agency.

This power we possess in the Word, which is the power of God; before which every head must bow, and every knee bend, whether on earth, in heaven, or in hell. Armed with the Divine word, our power is immense; only in order to wield it, we must ourselves be thoroughly penetrated thereby, and above all, be able to convince others that we are so. It must be felt, seen, and acknowledged that God is with us.

The Divine word is the foremost power in the world. It has withstood and overcome every other power It has uttered its voice everywhere in the catacombs, at the foot of the scaffold, under the axe of the

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executioner, and within the jaws of wild beasts. It has spoken while the feet of the speakers have been drenched in blood.

During the middle ages, mighty barons, sheltered behind impregnable strongholds, had cast the net-work of their sway over the whole of France, and silence was imposed on all lips. Nevertheless, on more than one occasion did the Divine word, in the guise of a priest or monk, venture to ascend the steps of those redoubtable fortresses; and its voice alone sufficed to inspire fear in the breasts of men clad in armour of steel.

There was a king in whom power seemed incarnate. That king was Louis XIV. He dared to say:-"L'état, la France, c'est moi." Under his inspiring look, military genius triumphed in war; poetry begat the sublimest conceptions; canvas spoke; marble was animated; and the arts replenished even the gardens of his royal abode with masterpieces of skill.

One Sunday, Louis XIV., surrounded by his court, took his seat in the chapel at Versailles, when the preacher boldly uttered from the pulpit those terrible words: "Woe to the rich! Woe to the great!" whereat the monarch lowered his eyes, and the courtiers murmured.

After the sermon, there was some talk of reprimanding the priest for his temerity; but the King remarked, with a justice which does him honour :-"Gentlemen, the preacher has done his duty; it behoves us now to do ours."

We may recognise herein the power of the Divine word; and it is that same word which is on our lips.

What, indeed, is the word of man even in the mouth of the boldest orator, even when set forth in all the brilliancy of its

power, when compared with the Divine word ? Much has

been said of the force of Mirabeau's famous apostrophe:-"The communes of France have decided on deliberating. We have heard of the designs which have been suggested to the King; and you, who are not allowed to be his organ with the National Assembly -you who possess neither the standing nor the option, nor the right of speaking-go and tell your master that we are here by the power of the people, and that it shall not be wrested from us except at the point of the bayonet."

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This speech has been eulogized as grand, bold, and even audacious; but, good God! what does it amount to? Any priest might do as much, and say something far better, with greater truth and less arrogance; for there is no priest, however poor and humble he may be, who might not say :"We are here in God's name, and here we intend to remain, and we will speak in spite of guns and bayonets."

But the fact is, we are not adequately convinced of our own power, and of the superiority which we possess over everything around us; for, with nothing else in our hands but that little book which is called the Gospel, we may bring the world to our feet; inasmuch as the Gospel is, and will continue to be, as regards mankind generally, the first of books.

There are not wanting those who taunt us in this style:-" Yo men of a past age, ye retrogrades, follow in the wake of your own age; strive to progress. We, on our part, have been constantly advancing, especially within the last two centuries we have gained ground."

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