peace-offering (Lev. vii. 12). Its moral value is in its being the effect and expression of genuine gratitude. Ver. 18-19.-"I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. In the courts of the Lord's house. In the midst of Thee, O Jerusalem." Hezekiah

this

gives expression to sentiment in Isaiah xxxviii. 19, 20. ARGUMENT:-The Psalm contains two parts; the first an acknowledgment of God's goodness in the first eight verses, and the second, resolutions extending through the other eleven verses.

HOMILETICS :-The grand subject of this Psalm we take to be the religion of gratitude. There are three kinds, or rather degrees, of religious love-gratitude, adoration and self consecration. The first is the lowest, and is excited by the relative kindness of God, kindness shown not to the universe in general, but to the individual himself. The second, namely, the love of adoration is higher, it is the love of God for what He is in Himself, His essential love and kindness. The third is the highest of all, self consecration. This is a love which

impels the soul to surrender itself and all to its object, By its impulse the soul becomes self-abnegated, self-lost-"lost in wonder, love, and praise." "I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice, and my supplication." It is the first degree of religious love. namely, gratitude, that is exhibited in this Psalm, and we trace its workings in several forms. We trace this religious gratitude

I. IN A PROFOUND IMPRESSION of God's relative kindness. His relative kindness is shown in two ways. First: In delivering from distress. The distress seemed to have consisted (1) In bodily suffering. "The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell gat hold upon me." Further on he says: "Thou hast delivered my soul from

death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling." What are the sorrows of death and the pains of hell and the grave which gat hold of this man? Who knows but those who have passed through them? The distress consisted (2) In mental sorrow. "I found trouble and sorrow." Mental sorrow is worse than bodily suffering. "A wounded spirit who can bear?" His kindness is seen Secondly: In delivering from great distress in answer to prayer. "He hath heard the voice of my supplication. He hath inclined His ear unto me.' Prayer is an instinct of the soul, and great suffering and great sorrow seldom fail to rouse this instinct into action, and when it is rightly inspired and directed the Great God attends to it. He attended to the prayer of this suffering man now, and removed his distress. Hence the gratitude. We trace this religious gratitude

ness.

II.-In an EARNEST CONFESSION of God's relative kindFirst Here is a confession of His general kind"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful." He is not only gracious and merciful, but righteous in all. The fact is, grace and mercy are holy and blessed qualities because their author is righteous. The compassion of a man destitute of moral rectitude is but a floating, transient, worthless emotion. Secondly: Here is a confessiom of His personal kindness. "I was brought low and he helped me." He "delivered my soul," &c. The gratitude for all this relative kindness. seemed to become so irrepressible in the mind of the Psalmist that he exclaimed, "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." As if he had said, what I say in relation to God's great mercy to me I feel bound from the deepest consciousness to say, my

testimony is the testimony of conviction. We trace this religious gratitude

III.-In a DETERMINATION TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE IN CONSEQUENCE of God's relative kindness. Here is a determination, First: To rest in God. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." (1) The soul wants rest. Like Noah's dove it has forsaken its home, and is fluttering in the storms of external circumstances. (2) Its only rest is God. It is so constituted that it can only rest where it can find unbounded faith for its intellect, and supreme love for its heart. And who but God, the supremely good and supremely true, can supply these conditions? In Him, and in Him only, the soul can centre all its affections, and repose its unbounded confidence. (3) To this rest it must return by its own effort. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul." The soul cannot be carried to this rest. It cannot be borne

there by any power. As you steer the sea-tossed bark

into harbour, so it must go itself into the spheres of serenity and peace. (4) A sense of God's relative kindness tends to stimulate this effort. "The Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." "The goodness of God shall lead to repentance." Here is a determination, Secondly: To walk before God. "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." "I will set the Lord always before me.' Whoever else I may lose sight of, ignore, or forget, His presence shall always be before my eye. We trace this religious gratitude

IV.—In a PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT of God's relative kindness. "What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits toward me?" "The cup of salvation," a symbol of thanksgiving. When the Hebrews took

the cup of wine at the Passover, they symbolically expressed by that act their thankfulness to heaven for their deliverance from Egypt. He would perform this act: (1) With prayer. "I will call upon the name of the Lord." (2) With sacrifice. "I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving." "The sacrifices of God are a broken heart and contrite spirit. (3) With vows. "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people." I will make solemn vows, I will perform the vows I have already made, to live a higher and a truer life, and all this I will do publicly. I will do it in the presence of all the Lord's people. "In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem."

CONCLUSION :-Thus far the religion of gratitude goes. It does not take the soul into the transports of adoration, into the self-abnegation of universal love. It does not absorb the ego in the glories of the divine. Albeit it conducts to a stage of safety, lofty purposes, and high hopes.

"How happy all thy servants are!
How great thy grace to me!

My life, which thou hast made thy care,
Lord, I devote to Thee.

Now I am Thine, for ever Thine,

Nor shall my purpose move;

Thy hand hath loosed my bonds of pain,
And bound me with thy love.

Here in thy courts I leave my vow,
And thy rich grace record;

Witness, ye saints, who hear me vow,
If I forsake the Lord."

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 John," 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. CCXVII.

The Divine Suppliant.

(Continued from page 169).

"I PRAY FOR THEM," &c. John xvii. 9-19.

ANOTHER thing implied here is

VII. That it is POSSIBLE SO TO LIVE IN THIS WORLD AS NOT TO BELONG TO IT. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." In the current language of life there is a difference between a "man of the world," and a "worldly man." By a man of the world is generally meant not a man of sordid avarice, but of certain habitudes of life-a man who has made use of the world to enrich his experience, deepen his insight of life, polish his manners: he stands opposed to the clown, the pedant, the recluse, the sectary. He is supposed to be a man free from crotchets, angularities -a man of breed, soul, and genial humour. By "the worldly man," on the other hand, is meant one who lives for the world, and to the world, and in the selfish spirit of the world. The wealth he covets, the honours he aspires to, the pleasures he seeks, the society he cultivates, are all worldly. He is of the world, he loves