do of His good pleasure." His agency, instead of superseding the necessity of yours, should stimulate yours. If He did not work with you, your efforts would be futile; if against you, your efforts would be baffled and confounded. But your salvation is His "good pleasure." He works with you as He works with the industrious agriculturist; He supplies all the necessary conditions for

success in the production of golden crops. He works with you as He works with the genuine truth-seeker, touches the springs of thought, and stimulates by ever opening prospects.

CONCLUSION :-Never let us forget that our supreme work is spiritual salvation, that all other works should be made subservient to this.

Homiletical Breviaries.

No. CCCLVIII.

Moral Corruption.

"FOR WHERESOEVER THE CARCASE IS, THERE WILL THE EAGLES BE GATHERED TOGETHER."--Matt. xxiv. 28.

THE word "for" should be omitted. The word "carcase" I take to represent moral corruption; Calvin, who represents the "carcase as the sacrificed body of Christ, and the eagles as believers flocking to Him, propounds, as he often does, sentiments most repugnant to the noblest instincts of human nature. What can be more revolting than to compare Christ to carrion, and believers to vultures, scenting afar the ill-odoured prey, and swooping down upon it with ravenous heat? But, alas, he is not the only commentator that has propounded such revolting and blasphemous thoughts, their name is legion. The word "carcase" here is undoubtedly employed by Christ to symbolise the moral corruption that is rife in the world. Here, then, we have two subjects for thought; moral corruption in

revolting metaphor, and moral corruption attracting the retributive messengers of heaven. I. Moral corruption IN REVOLTING METAPHOR. It is a 66 carcase." In what respect is a 66 carcase a symbol of a soul under the dominion of sin and wickedness? First: Its life is gone. That vital force that once moved those limbs, and gleamed through those eyes, is extinct. So with unregenerate souls. Supreme sympathy with the supremely good-the true life of all moral beings, is gone. Secondly: Appropriating force is gone. That carcase once had the power to appropriate to its own nourishment and pleasure the fruits of the earth, the sunbeam, the vital breeze, and the refreshing stream. But now the very elements which once it could turn to its own use, hasten its dissolution, and break it into atoms. It is so with corrupt souls, the very external circumstances which in a pure state they make, subserve their use, now beat them down and crush them in the dust. Thirdly: The power for usefulness is gone. All animal existences have their use, and do, according to their measure, service to the great system to which they belong; but when life is gone they are pernicious. The carrion makes foul the atmosphere, and impregnates it with the germs of disease and death. So with human souls under the mastery of sin; they are not useful but pernicious, they are a curse to their circle and their age. "One sinner destroyeth much good." Fourthly: The charm of comeliness is gone. The "carcase "—be it that of bird or beast, or still more of man-had its charms in life, but when life is gone, even in the "human form divine,” there is a hideousness that revolts. So of corrupt souls. Is there aught more revolting to the moral universe than unchastity, selfishness, dishonesty, untruthfulness, and irreverence? Here is, II. Moral corrruption ATTRACTING THE RETRIBUTIVE MESSENGERS of HEAVEN. "Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." The bird we call the eagle feeds not on carrion, but on living flesh; hence the vulture, which is often identified with eagles, is here referred to. These birds, sitting on the craggy rocks or hovering in the air, scent from afar the effluvia emitted from the putrid carcase, and hasten on rapid wings to the spot. One attracts the other, and a crowd gathers round the carrion, which soon devour it. Two remarks here. (1) In this they act by a law of their nature. In their work they act out their instincts and develope their powers. Punishment for sin is not an extraordinary infliction, but a natural effect. "Be sure your sins

will find you out." "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." (2) In this they act with advantage to the world. They are a kind of "Sanitary Commissioners," clearing away that which is not only useless, but offensive and poisonous as well. Retribution is beneficent, hells are benign institutions. Unquenched fires were required in the valley of Gehenna to prevent the effluvia arising from putrid bodies, spreading a fatal disease through the population of Jerusalem.

No. CCCLIX.

The Sweet Light of Life.

“TRULY THE LIGHT IS SWEET."-Eccles. xi. 7.

II. There is

The light of the sun is at all times sweet and pleasant. Glorious orb! His beams not only reveal, but create ten thousand forms of beauty, that lift the soul to its highest moods of thought and admiration. But there are other lights in life which are very "sweet." I. There is the "light" of an AMIABLE TEMPER. The dimpled cheeks, the sparkling eyes, the merry notes, the gushing ministries of an amiable temper are indeed "sweet." A countenance beaming with good nature has often dispelled the gloom of a disheartened man and carried sunshine into his heart. Some are amiable by nature, all can be amiable by cultivation. the "light" of a NOBLE CHARACTER. Christ said of His disciples, "Ye are the lights of the world," and truly he whose motives are disinterested, whose honesty is incorruptible, whose spirit and aims are Christly, is "light" indeed, a "sweet light." A light that animates, cheers, and refreshes the observer. III. There is the "light" of GOOD FELLOWSHIP. As social beings, we are wondrously influenced by the character of the circle in which we move. By good fellowship is not meant the fellowship of the wealthy, the fashionable, and the gay; the society of such generally is anything but a "sweet light." The intellect is too worldly and vain to radiate intelligence, or even to sparkle with good wit and humour. Ah me! the minds of many such fellowships have run into bloated flesh and painted butterflies. The light issuing from such is the

light of a smoking lamp. By good society is meant the society of men, the fountains of whose nature are pure, the thoughts of whose minds are fresh, true, and exhilirating, in whose conversation there flow ideas to enlighten, and humour to charm. Who that lives in, or who that ever enters such society will not say, "Truly the light is sweet?" IV. There is the "light" of REDEMPTIVE TRUTH. This is the best of all the lights. A light this that not only scatters moral darkness, and makes clear God and His universe, duty, and destiny, but quickens with the highest life all the faculties of the soul, and brings them out in harmony with the Divine will. It is what Paul calls a "marvellous light."

No. CCCLX.

Human Life in Retrospect.

"THE DAYS OF THE YEARS OF MY PILGRIMAGE ARE AN HUNDRED AND THIRTY YEARS: FEW AND EVIL HAVE THE DAYS OF THE YEARS OF MY LIFE BEEN."—Gen. xlvii. 9.

The patriarch's words are a wail over his past life. I make three remarks concerning human life in retrospect. I. It is SADDENING. The patriarch speaks of his past life as having been (1) Unsettled. A "pilgrimage," never settling down, always on the move, passing every day into new and strange scenes. (2) Brief. “Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been." His life was not short as compared with the brevity of the men of the present times, it was nearly twice as long. He was now 130 years old. Life in the retrospect always appears brief. The old man will say it is only as yesterday he was a child at home, a boy at school, &c. But what matters it when life comes to an end, whether it has been short or long? The shorter perhaps the better. (3) Evil. Not only did Jacob feel that his days had been few, but "evil" also. Why did he call them evil? On the whole, he had a far pleasanter life than the overwhelming majority of the human race. He was a wealthy man, much respected by his circle, and received special manifestations of heavenly mercy. In the retrospect, our days, whatever enjoyments we may have had,