which he had set up as the security for his hold over sub Israel, was the starting point from which the slayer cam destroy him. Ehud addressed him, "I have a message God to thee." Ehud probably had no commission from save the general one of being called to be Israel's deliv Nevertheless, the act which Ehud was about to perpet whatever criminality there was on Ehud's part, was in fa solemn and awful message from God, summoning the so Eglon into His presence. God addresses man by the judgm of His hand, as well as by the judgments of His m (Isa. xxvi. 9; Mic. vi. 9). "The Lord's voice crieth, He the rod, and who hath appointed it." When God's mess of death summons the sinner, "Thy soul is required of t king and peasant, rich and poor alike, must obey (Luke xii Eglon arose out of his seat to receive God's message. reverence of this heathen king reproves the irreverence indifference to God's solemn appeals manifested on the pa many professing Christians. When he received the fatal "the fat closed upon the blade." How often pamperin appetite only prepares men for the slaughter, so that " are inclosed in their own fat" (Ps. xvii. 10). What me but one of wrath could a proud oppressor of the Lord's I like Eglon expect? "What peace" could Joram look long as he followed the sins of his mother Jezebel? (2 ix. 22).

(6) Jehovah's message of deliverance to Israel.-Whe heathen king was fallen, Eglon escaped by the good provi of God. Then with the loud trumpet call he sum Israel: "Follow after me, for Jehovah hath delivered enemies into your hand." What Jehovah had already was an earnest of what He would yet do for Israel (Isa. It was a jubilee trumpet proclaiming liberty, joy, and pe those who long had heard only the trumpet-blasts oppressor. Ehud invited them to follow him, only becau Lord was with him (Ps. cxxvii. 1). Jehovah's presen the pledge of victory over all their enemies. Ehud us covenant-name, Jehovah, in addressing the people covenant. He had used only the general name G

the Lord for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He h smitten, and He will bind us up" (Hos. v. 15, vi. 1). God hears our cry, because it is His Providence and His S which have moved us to utter it. As sin again' br chastisement again, so prayer again brings deliverance again

(3) Way of deliverance: "God's thoughts are not thoughts, neither are our ways His ways" (Isa. lv. 8). chooses often the left-handed to be the men of His right h Out of weakness they are made strong (Heb. xi. 34; 1 Co 27-29; 2 Cor. xii. 9, 10; Ps. viii. 2). Above all this is s our salvation from man's cruel adversary, the prince of powers of the air. The Ancient of days became an infar days. He who laid the foundations of the earth and shut up sea with doors, and made thick darkness a swaddling band f (Job xxxviii. 6, 9), became Himself "the babe wrapped swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke ii. 12). By su ing death He overcame him that had the power of death, is, the devil, and delivered us who through fear of death all our lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. ii. 14). The we too with which He overcame Satan in the temptation, and which He shall finally and for ever slay him and his ho typified by Ehud's two-edged dagger: "The word of Go living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sw (Heb. iv. 12). It is "the sword of the Spirit" with which w must conquer the wicked one (Eph. vi. 17). It is only we have the word of God abiding in us, that we can over the wicked one (1 John ii. 14). The perfect victory is rese till the time of His coming again, when He shall sum together His saints, Follow after me (Rev. xix. 13-15, 21), then shall slay the wicked with the sharp sword which ceedeth out of his mouth, and shall consign their prince t lake of fire (Rev. xx. 10; Isa. xi. 4).

(4) Messages of God.-Our heavenly Father is contin speaking to us by various agencies: "God speaketh once twice, yet man perceiveth it not" (Job xxxiii. 14). He s alike to the oppressors and to the oppressed,-to the form wrath, because of their malice against His people whor permitted them to chastise, in furtherance of His own pur

not theirs (Isa. x. 5-18); to the latter, in consolation, when chastisement has had its designed effect in humbling them and drawing them to Himself (Isa. xl. 1, 2, lxi. 3-7). Every providential visitation which suddenly carries men into eternity is a message from God to the careless and impenitent: "Think ye that they were sinners above all men? I tell you, Nay; but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke xiii. 2-5). God's judgments upon backsliders have a voice of warning to all: "The backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways' (Prov. xiv. 14). On the other hand, God's past mercy to those who have turned from their erring ways, is an encouraging message to those who desire restoration: "Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings" (Jer. iii. 22). And when the Holy Ghost awakens in any heart the cry for deliverance, all things shall conspire to ensure the believer's final victory over the oppressor, Satan, through the might of Jesus (Rom. viii. 31-37). All our joys and all our sorrows are messages from God to us; but we need the Holy Spirit to enable us rightly to interpret them. It is in His word especially that God speaks directly to His fallen children. The message of Ehud to Eglon was a message of death, but the Word is a message of life and peace. The ministers of the gospel have the ministry of reconciliation committed to them, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing to them their trespasses (2 Cor. v. 19, 20); so their message to sinners already dead in sin, and under condemnation of eternal death, is, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God."

(5) How God's messages should be received by whomsoever or howsoever delivered.-Eglon, though a king, rose reverentially before Ehud, a vassal, on hearing that the latter bore a message from God to him. Will not this heathen in the day of judgment comdemn many professing Christians, who treat with indifference and often irreverence the word of God preached to them? Not merely opposition to the word, but neglect of it, will bring condemnation on the hearers (Heb. ii. 3). We ought to listen in the spirit of Samuel, saying, "Speak, Lord, for Thy

servant heareth" (1 Sam. iii. 9). Not as critics sitting judgment upon the word, but submitting to its judgment " all readiness of mind," like the Bereans (Acts xvii. 11); no those who seek entertainment, like Herod (Luke xxiii. 8; M vi. 20); but as the Psalmist (lxxxv. 8), desiring to "hear w God the Lord will speak;" in the spirit of Cornelius and company when about to hear Peter, "Now therefore are w here present before God, to hear all things that are comma thee of God" (Acts x. 33). The Spirit of God alone dispose us to "receive the word, not as the word of men (as it is in truth) the word of God, which effectually worket them that believe" (1 Thess. ii. 13). Let us pray earnestl the gift of the Holy Spirit.

(6) The duty of continual preparedness for the Lord's me summoning us hence.-The message of death finds most m little expecting it, as did Eglon, or the rich fool (Luke xii So at the Lord's second coming; it is when they shall be sa "Peace and safety, that sudden destruction shall come them, and they shall not escape" (1 Thess. v. 3). God need the dagger of a sudden assailant, like Ehud, to call us hence. He has thousands of ways of sending the messa death: "Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, not (Isa. xxxviii. 1). Our wisdom therefore is to be always But He would have the believer rather to be looking fo blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God our Saviour, If death shall come first, preparedness f Lord's coming again is the best preparation for our dismissal in peace to go to be with Him. So whenev shall come, whether He find us waking or sleeping (1 Th 10), He will find us watching (Luke xii. 37-40).

(7) The final rest.—The land had rest eighty years aft deliverance wrought through Ehud. It was a long seas rest, but what is it compared with the eternal rest remaineth for the people of God in the heavenly Ca The rest of Israel was sooner or later sure to be interr for "man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward v. 7). But the rest which awaits the saints knows no int tion. They "rest from their labours" (Rev. xiv. 13), b