"Lord of Ages, what are we,

What are all the worlds to Thee?"

Fourthly: His operation. Observe His operation (1) Abroad in society. "He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill, that he may set him with princes." This is often done in the secular history of men. How often, even in this country, do we see men rising from the realms of pauperism and obscurity to those of wealth and position. This is constantly going on in the spiritual history of men. Spiritually all men are poor, blind, miserable and naked, and God by His Gospel raises them, and sets them amongst the moral nobles of His universe. Observe His operation (2) At home in families. "He maketh the barren woman to keep house," &c. He operates in families as well as abroad and in society. To Him the birth of every child must be ascribed.

CONCLUSION: In closing our observations the following passages from the works of Dr. Chalmers will not be inappropriate. They were made in reply to certain remarks of infidels, ridiculing the idea of God noticing individual men-remarks founded on the discovery of the telescope, revealing an immeasurable universe of worlds and systems. "About the time of the invention of telescopes," says the Doctor, "another instrument was formed which laid open a scene no less wonderful, and rewarded the inquisitive spirit of man with a discovery which serves to neutralise the whole of the argument. This was the microscope. The one led me to see a system in every star: the other leads me to see a world in every atom. The one taught me that this mighty globe, with the whole burden of its people,

and of its countries, is but a grain of sand on the high field of immensity. The other teaches me that every grain of sand may harbour within it the tribes and the families of a busy population. The one told me of the insignificance of the world I tread on, the other redeems it from all its insignificance; for it tells me that in the leaves of every forest, and in the flowers of every garden, and in the waters of every rivulet there are worlds teeming with life, and numberless as are the glories of the firmament. By the one there is the discovery that no magnitude, however vast, is beyond the grasp of the Divinity; but by the other we have also discovered that no minuteness, however shrunk from the notice of the human eye, is beneath the condescension of His regard."

"In the world ye shall have always darting its venomous

THE TRIALS AND TRAITS OF PIETY. "Many have I persecuted of mine enemies," &c. Psalm cxix. 157-160. These verses bring under our notice two subjects: I. The TRIALS of PIETY. They are twofold--objective and subjective. (1) Objective.-Many are my persecutors and enemies. Persecution has ever been, and still is, the lot of the godly. tribulation," &c. The seed of the serpent is sting into the sensibilities of the seed of the woman. (2) The subjective. "I beheld," &c. Transgressors here points especially to apostates from divine truth. In sooth all sin is moral apostasy, and all sin strikes sorrow into the heart of the pious. What greater pain can there be to a loyal and loving son than to see his father insulted, &c? No man who has genuine piety-that is, who loves the Great Father supremely—can fail to experience the most poignant grief when he sees his contemporaries on all hands acting in malignant hostility to the Great One. Notice II. THE TRAITS OF PIETY.-(1) Steadfast adherence to truth. "Yet I declined not from Thy testimonies." Whatever happens hold fast to truth. (2) Loving devotion to rectitude. "Consider how I love Thy precepts." It is characteristic of a godly man that he delights in the law of God. (3) Devout craving for a higher life. Quicken me," &c. "I count not myself to have attained," &c. Excelsior! is the watchword of the Christly soul. (4) A settled consciousness of the truth of God. Thy word is true," or, "Thy word is truth, and every one of Thy righteous judgments endureth for ever." That is the sum total, and each unit of the sum of God's commandments is truth and perfection. "He that hath received his testimony hath set his seal that God is true."

66

HOMILETIC GLANCES AT THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN.

[As our purpose in the treatment of this Gospel is purely the development, in the briefest and most suggestive form of Sermonic Outlines, we must refer our readers to the following works for all critical inquiries into the author and authorship of the book, and lso for any minute criticisms on difficult clauses. The works we shall especially consult are:-" Introduction to New Testament," by Bleek; "Commentary on Johu," by Tholuck; "Commentary on John," by Hengstenberg; "Introduction to the Study of the Gospels," by Westcott; "The Gospel History," by Ebrard; "Our Lord's Divinity," by Liddon; "St. John's Gospel," by Oosterzee; "Doctrine of the Person of Christ," by Dorner, Lange, Sears, Farrer, etc., etc.]

No. CXXIV.

True Moral Glory.

I HAVE GLORIFIED THEE ON THE EARTH; I HAVE FINISHED THE WORK WHICH THOU GAVEST ME TO DO. AND NOW, O FATHER, GLORIFY THOU ME, WITH THINE OWN SELF, WITH THE GLORY WHICH I HAD WITH THEE BEFORE THE WORLD WAS... AND THE GLORY WHICH THOU GAVEST ME I HAVE GIVEN THEM; THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS WE ARE ONE." John xvii. 4, 5, 22.

Himself as having actually departed. His work on the earth had finished, and He regarded His connection with the earth as over. If a man could do all that God intended him to do on the earth, however long he continued on the earth after, the earth would become heaven to him. Ver. 5. "And now, O Father, glorify Thou me." As I have finished my work on earth, and thus glorified Thee, I ask Thee, O Father, to glorify

the creation, and yet not from eternity. (See chap. i. 18; Phil. ii. 4, 9). One expositor says, "That there can be no explanation of verses 1 to 5 of this chapter, which denies that Christ claims for Himself that He was Divine and co-eternal with the Father." Though we disclaim Unitarian views on this point, honesty compels us to say that there can be such an explanation. The words do not necessarily convey the idea of co-eternity

with the Father.

Ver. 22. "And the glory which

Thou gavest me I have given them," &c. Here, again, the future is regarded by Christ as present. What is the glory? Ideal goodness, moral excellence, that which is as we shall see, the glory of God.

HOMILETICS :-We have brought verse twenty-two in connection with the fourth and fifth verses, because it has to do with the same grand subject, viz., the glory of God, or true moral glory. Glory implies the manifestation of something that is adorable. There are manifestations of the adorable where the adorable does not exist. Worldly pomp, glitter, and pageantry, the thoughtless render homage to these manifestations, as if there was something really intrinsically adorable behind them. Whereas, if the thing behind the vanity, the selfishness, the superstition, and the ignorance were

C

truly seen, men would recoil from the manifestation with disgust. Now, what is the really adorable thing, the thing which, if manifested, would excite honour and reverence and praise? It is moral excellence. This is the glory of God. When Moses besought God to show him His glory, what was the reply? Was it, I will show thee the Almightiness of My power, the infinity of My wisdom, the immensity of My dominion, the boundlessness of My wealth? No. Men cannot from their souls adore these things. But He said, "I will cause all My goodness to pass before thee." God's glory is His goodness, His infinite moral perfection. Hence the passage suggests two things in relation to true gloryI. IT IS THE SAME IN ALL MORAL BEINGS WHEREVER IT EXISTS. We are taught here that, First: In God it is the manifestation of moral excellence. "I have glorified Thee on the earth." Take from the Infinite His disinterested love, His absolute purity, His inflexible rectitude, and though you leave Him in possession of His Omnipotence, His Omniscience, and His Almightiness, you have stripped Him of all that moral souls can really adore. We are taught here that, Secondly: In Christ it is the manifestation of moral excellence. "And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." (1) Christ had it as the eternal logos. He was the word, the logos that was with God in the beginning. He.was, so to say, the organ through which the absolute and unknowable One revealed Himself in the creation of worlds. "By Him were all things made, and without Him was not any thing made that was made." This was the glory He had with the Father in the beginning, the glory of creating innumerable worlds