eighteenth chapter, when he saw in the "brazen serpent" worshipped by his countrymen, a mere piece of brass, and called it "Nehushtan." How blind was he not to see that by exposing his treasures, he was whetting the avarice of his Assyrian enemies, tempting them to another invasion of his country. This, Isaiah told him: "Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the Lord."

Affliction does not always improve men, either morally or intellectually. Ah, me! how many, have I known who, when they have "turned their face to the wall," writhing in agony, with grim death before them, have solemnly vowed improvement should they ever recover. They have recovered, and become worse in every respect than before. What boots fifteen years, thousand years added to our existence, if our souls are not improved thereby! Look at death here

or even a

III.-AS ULTIMATELY TRI

UMPHANT.

"And Hezekiah slept with his fathers." The end of the fifteen years came, and he meets with the common destiny of all. The unconquered conqueror is not to be defrauded of his prey, however long delayed. Since death cannot be escaped by any, whether young or old, it has been asked, is there any advantage in longevity? Rather would it not be better to die in the first dawn of infancy, than in any subsequent period? Nay, peradventure, better not to have lived at all, for is life worth living, since death must come at last?

Now, in the face of this unconquered conqueror, submission is inevitable, acquiesence is religious. Let us await calmly and heroically until our change come.

"O, just when Thou shalt please, would I depart,

My Father and my God! I would not choose,

E'en if I might, the moment to unloose

The bonds which bind my weak and worthless heart

From its bright home: so I have

but a part,

However humble there: it matters

not,

Or long or short my pilgrimage: my lot

spiritual goodness because the "grace of God," or the Gospel, has come to you.

Our subject is the soulculture of the world. Man requires training. He needs physical training, intellectual training, and, above all, spiritual training, the training of the soul into a higher life. We have here, the instrument, the process, and the end of true soul-culture.

I.—The INSTRUMENT of true soul-culture. What is it? Not science, legislation, philosophy, poetry, or any of the arts. What then? "The grace of God." What is that? Undoubtedly God's merciful plan and ministries to restore the fallen world. The Epiphany, or manifestation of this redemptive love of God for the world, we have in the advent and ministry of Christ to this earth. "The grace of God" stands for the Gospel. Concerning this instrument, observe

First: It is the love of God. Divine love is the cause, the essence, and the effective energy of all God's redemptive ministries. Observe

Secondly: It is the love of God to save. "That bringeth

(bringing) salvation." Salvation, that is, the restoration of man to the knowledge, the image, and the friendship of God. This is the aim and the work of the "grace of God." Without this grace there would be no salvation. Observe

Thirdly: It is the love of God revealed to all. "Hath appeared to all men." The Gospel is not for a tribe, or a class, but for man as man. Like the concave heavens, it embraces the wide world, it is for "all men." Notice

II. The PROCESS of true soul-culture. This process involves three things.

First: The renunciation of

a wrong course. "Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts." These expressions are an epitome of all that is sinful and wrong in human life. Are they not allprevalent and all-potent? "Ungodliness," or practical atheism, where is it not?

Worldly lusts," the impulses of sensuality, selfishness, pride, and ambition, they are the springs of worldly action the world over. Now these are not only to be renounced, repudiated, but they are to

be defied, resisted, and renounced, they must be given up. Ungodliness" must give way to true piety, "worldly lusts" must be renounced for impulses spiritual and Divine. The process of soul-culture involves—

Secondly: The adoption of a right course. "We should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." It is not enough to renounce the evil, the good must be adopted. Negative excellence is not holiness. Strip the soul of all evil, and if it has not goodness in it, it "lacks the one thing" without which, Paul says, "I am nothing." We must live "soberly," holding a mastery over our own passions and impulses; "righteously," rendering to all men their due; "godly," practically realising the presence, the claims, and the love of God in our every-day life. All this "in this present world," or in the present course of things. This "present world” urgently requires such a course of life, for it is dangerous and transitory withal. The process of soul-culture involves

Thirdly: The fixing of the

heart upon a glorious future. "Looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearance of the (appearing of the glory of our) great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." Are there two personalities here, or one? One, I think. The great God our Saviour," or our great God and Saviour. The object of hope is, then, the future Epiphany of the Divine, all glorious to behold. To see the redemptive God as we have never yet seen Him in this morally hazy scene, this is the "blessed hope." Such a hope implies (1) A vital interest in the Epiphany. We never hope for that for which we have not a strong desire. (2) An assurance that such an Epiphany will take place. Desire, of itself, is not hope. We desire many things we cannot hope for. It becomes hope when it is combined with expectation, and expectation implies the existence of grounds or reasons. That there will be such a manifestation, there are abundant reasons found in the apparent irregularities of Divine Providence in its operations here, in the instinctive longings of the human soul throughout

all lands and ages, as well as in the clear and frequent declarations of the written Word. Observe

III.-The END of true soulculture. "Who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people zealous of good works." Observe

First: The end is moral redemption. "Redeem us from all iniquity." Redemption is not something that takes place outside of a man, its achievment is within. It is a raising of the soul from ignorance to knowledge, from vice to virtue, from selfishness to disinterestedness, from materialism to spirituality, from the mastery of the devil to the reign of God.

Secondly: The end is spiritual restoration to Christ. "Purify unto Himself a peculiar people" (a people for His own possession). Restoration to His likeness, His friendship, His service.

Thirdly: The end is complete devotedness to holy labour. Zealous of good works." What are good works?

Not any particular class of works. All works are good that spring from a good motive; and the good motive is supreme love for the Supremely Good. Works springing from this motive, whether manual or mental, social or personal, civil or ecclesiastic, public or private, all are good.

Fourthly: The end involves the self-sacrifice of Christ. Who gave Himself." Here is the grandest sacrifice ever made in the universe. Nothing grander could be. (1) The greatest possession a man has is himself. What are millions of acres, or the rule of kingdoms in the estimation of the owner, as compared to himself? "Skin for skin," &c. (2) The greatest self in the whole creation is Christ. He was, in some special sense impenetrable to us, the only begotten Son of God, and He gave Himself. If He had given a universe, His gift would not have been equal to this. His gift teaches the enormity of moral evil.

LONDON.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.