his election by his speech,-by its purity, spirituality, heavenliness. When we come near him, we must feel that, though on earth, he is yet in heaven; that though he speaks the language of men, he speaks it in a tone and with an accent which he could only have learned of Jesus Christ and of God the Father! There must be something about him that is not merely physically dis. tinctive, but spiritually distinctive, separating him from all other men, and giving him a bearing and force which could only be derived from long-continued loving fellowship with the unseen, ever-living Lord! "Beloved, believe not every spirit: but try the spirits, whether they are of God." "Many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many." "Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw disciples after them." Hence we see that assertion is nothing; great, bold claim is nothing; sublimity of appearance is nothing. The whole question turns upon this: How much of the Holy Ghost is in the heart of a man, who claims to be a teacher sent from God, or a king of men?

An intelligent appreciation of this law of divine sovereign election would be attended by the happiest consequences. Life would no longer be looked upon as an irregular warfare. If we lose grasp of this doctrine life becomes a scramble; the strongest wins, the weakest is knocked to the wall; and as for the spiritual man, the soul that has not lost its sensibility, the man that has ideas of righteousness, truth, and honour-such men must be trampled in the dust. Lay hold of this doctrine, that God is at the centre, God is on the throne, marshalling all forces, and ruling all events; and how confused soever may be present appearances, we shall find a law working itself out which will justify every one who is good, vindicate every righteous claim, confound the wicked, and bear them away upon the whirlwind of divine indignation. Not only will this result follow; but responsibility will be felt to be measurable by proper limitations. All men are not equally responsible before God. Some require to be comforted upon this point, because this great question of responsibility is so heavy to carry; it troubles and overweights them till they can hardly get along at all,-so grievous is their sense of personal responsibility. Tell a man that God gives to every one a certain

number of talents,—five, two, or one. Tell him that from one to whom much has been given, much will be required, and that from one to whom little has been given, little will be required; then he begins to feel the justness, the equity, and graciousness of the living Lord. God gave us our original dowry, and from that point we must work out the sum of our responsibility. Our one talent will not be expected to be multiplied into ten; our five talents will be expected to grow in proportion to their original number and quality. So there is righteousness at the heart of things. God's judgment-seat is a judgment-seat of light, truth, and equity; and no man hath occasion to fear it, who has served God, and worshipped him in spirit and in truth. There will also be another result. Mutual honour will be unmingled with personal envy. We are not all equal, to begin with. God intended some to have great talents, and others to have but feeble gifts. God called some men to work at the front, and he intended other men to do a lowly, obscure, unseen work. God created yonder singing, shining poet, and God set another man down amongst the prosaic thinkers,-men who could see no further than a fact, and had little power of coming far into the empire of truth; yet who were firm and sound within the limit and region of fact. Shall we envy the great man? Surely not. He was made of God; he is honoured of our Father,—we will glorify God in him. Such will be the conclusion to which we shall come, if we believe with all our heart that God is on the throne; and that he doeth in all these things, which are beyond our control, according, not only to the pleasure of his will, but the infinitude of his righteousness.

God never called

No man is elected to badness of character. a man to wickedness. The whole tone of biblical teaching is against a theory so monstrous. We read of election to righteousness, of calls to high offices and noble functions, but we never read of God electing a man to hell! As to this matter of election, we would to God that some who object to it were as common-sense in this question as they are in the daily actions of ordinary life! We ask no higher degree of common-sense. Let us assume that a purse has been lost-a purse containing a thousand guineas; and whoever finds it may keep it. "Ha!"

we say, "well, only one can find it; therefore what is the use of a thousand seeking it? Only one can have it; and if I am elected to be the man, it will come in my way." We never heard people reasoning so with regard to an affair of that kind. Though only one may have it, ten thousand would strive for it, if they know the conditions. There is a prize to be given in a school. It is one prize; there are five hundred scholars in the school. The boys say, "Well, only one of us can get it, why should five hundred of us be toiling and fagging for it?" Another boy says, "I know if I am to have the prize, I shall get it; so I shall read no books, and make no preparation." You would not allow a boy to reason so. Yet there are men who say this, "If we are called to heaven, we'll get to heaven; if we are elected to be saved, we need not make any effort about it." "Thou wicked and slothful servant: out of thine own mouth I condemn thee;" the whole action of thy evil life shall be thy answer on the day of judgment, and thou shalt be condemned to an ignominious silence because of a self-accusing conscience.

With God upon the throne, why should we be distressed by unhappy appearances and unwelcome rumours? The Lord reigneth; that is enough. Seated above all forms and all forces, holding the royal sceptre, is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The armies of heaven are his loving servants. The forces of creation are measured and controlled by his gracious power. Children of earth cannot go beyond the line he has marked. He maketh the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of the wrath of men he doth restrain. Such thoughts bring the soul into holy quietness. They sustain our hope when the day is cloudiest and the night is filled with darkness. rebuke our impatience and murmuring, and bid us nestle closer to our Father's heart. The sovereignty of the Lord is the security of all goodness. Destroy sovereignty and you inaugurate confusion. What would be our poor human life, were God to leave the throne, and allow us to go our own way, and do our own bidding? Truly then we should be far away on the wild waters, without captain or friend, and without hope of home. Blessed One, known to us through the great cross, leave not the throne; but rule us, work in us, have us in thy holy keeping!

They

PRAYER.

ALMIGHTY GOD, thou art always showing us thy goodness. We have said in many a song of adoring praise, "Goodness and mercy have followed us all the days of our life." Saying this, the whole earth has become the house of the Lord. We have consecrated every part of the habitable globe by songs of praise and by utterances of adoration and trust. "Behold, this is none other than the house of God," we have said, as great religious emotions have arisen in our hearts and ennobled our whole spirit by their pathos. We will now sing of judgment and mercy; we will make mention of thy loving-kindness; and thy providential care shall be the subject of our song. Thou hast watched our uprising and our down-sitting, our going out and our coming in, and from the high hills thou hast sent us help every day, so that we have been lifted out of the low place, amid the cold wind and the stifling cloud, right up into bright places and into the sunlight and the music of better worlds. Thou hast disappointed our fear, as surely as thou hast exceeded our hope. We have not recognised our little prayer in thy great answer. Thou hast swallowed up our poor cry in all the bounteousness of thy great response. If our prayer was sown a little seed, thine answer has come to us as a great tree. Behold, how good thou art! How infinite in tenderness! How eternal in patience! How mighty is the delivering arin of God! We will comfort ourselves with these words, being entitled to apply them by the grace that is in our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom alone we have come to know thee in all the loftiest and tenderest aspects of thy character. He has taught us to call thee Father, Father in heaven, and he has given to us visions of thy bounty and love which put out the brightness of the sun by their infinite glow. So we stand as children at home in the presence of the Father, and the table of his bounty, confessing our unworthiness; but whilst the confession is yet staining our lips, behold, thou art arraying us in the best robe and making our finger rich with the ring of thy love. "How good is the Lord!" our souls will say, startled into the gracious exclamation by many a sacred surprise. The high hill has been brought within easy ascent when we have come to it because of the presence of the Lord, and the rest of soul by which that presence has been testified. The stone has been rolled away from the door of the sepulchre when we have come to it; for who can outrun the angels, and be first at the scene of battle? Behold, thou art always first. We can but be second, for we are the creatures of thy hand, we are the sheep of thy pasture. Thou didst dwell in eternity; thou didst come up from the infinite spaces; by new names hast thou come down to us; by the Lord and by Jehovah have we known thee, and then by Father -merciful, pitiful-and Redeemer revealed in thy Son. We will trust thy

mercy, goodness, compassion, and love. There we feel a sense of security; there our souls fall into sweet peace; and as for the mysteries which darken around the horizon, we leave them to thee. Thou hast light enough to burn out their darkness, and to fill them with grace and glory. We will think of the past, but not too tearfully, lest we blind ourselves to its best lesson. We will call up the dead, until we know that they are more truly living than we are-a larger life, blessed with celestial liberty. We will look forward with confidence, for all our yesterdays are promises of all our to-morrows, and the Lord who has been known to us by many a name will find a new revelation for every dawning day. We will remember before thee our sick ones. Thou canst heal them with the poor health of time and the eternal health of heaven. Thou wilt remember our travelling friends, tossed on the sea, wandering in new lands, surrounded by unfamiliar associations. Their hearts are here, and yet there, with a divided attention, with a scattered and yearning love. The Lord feed them, lead them, sustain them, wherever they are, and bring them back to their desired haven with new blessings and the sense of new consecration to the living Owner of all souls. We remember the little ones, who can hardly speak their own request or tell their own necessities. We remember all classes and conditions of human life, from the lowest to the highest, from the most plebeian to the most imperial and royal, praying that all may feel themselves to be but men in the Lord's presence, and yet men even in his sight. The Lord send a fire amongst us that shall burn, but not consume. Open our mouths in blessing, in fearless, triumphant praise, and give us a deepening love, a more intense zeal for God, and a clearer view of the cross as the only answer to sin, and the only way to heaven. Amen.

TH

1 Samuel xvii. 58.

"I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite."

UNDECLARED ROYALTY.

HAT is a very simple account for a man to give of himself, yet it answered the question which elicited it. Though but a stripling, David knew where to stop in his answers. On this occasion he could have startled Saul as Saul was never startled in his life, yet he held his peace! Truly, there is power in moderation; and truly, discretion is the supreme beauty of the valiant man. Notice with special care the exciting circumstances under which the answer was given. David stood before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand! Call up the scene! Look at the sinewy hand grasping the bleeding head of the boastful barbarian! See the flush upon the cheek of the young conqueror, then listen to the quiet answer! To be so self-controlled