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THE DIGNITY OF CHRIST. "Who, being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right haud of the Majesty on high."-Heb. i. 3.

THE text leads us to look on Christ

I. IN HIS RELATION TO THE FATHER. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person. These words imply-First: That He is essentially Divine. Secondly That He is a revelation of the Divine. He represents the Father in his power, wisdom, holiness, and love. (John xiv. 9.) glory of God is seen in Him. (2 Cor. iv. 6.)

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II. IN HIS RELATION TO THE UNIVERSE. "And upholding all things by the word of his power." Christ sustains and governs the universe.

III. IN HIS RELATION TO MAN. "When he had by himself purged our sins."

First Christ has accomplished an effectual atonement for human guilt: "Purged our sins." Secondly: Christ has accomplished an effectual atonement for human guilt by self-sacrifice. "By himself purged our sins.”

IV. IN HIS RELATION ΤΟ

ETERNITY. "Sat down on the

right hand of the majesty on high." This implies-First: The completion of his work. Secondly The acceptance of his work. Thirdly: The recompense of his work.

THOMAS HUGHES.

PROSPEROUS FOOL.

"And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully," &c.-Luke xii. 16-20. THIS impressive and expressive parable sets before us the following things:

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FIRST: A godless man very rich. "A certain rich man.' Secondly: A godless man increasing in riches. His ground brought forth "plentifully." Thirdly: A godless man ungrateful for his prosperity. No recognition of God. "My goods, my fruits." Fourthly: A godless man mistaking the use of his increasing riches. He stored all away. Fifthly: A godless man misunderstanding the spring of happiness. Seeking soul happiness in feasting. Sixthly: A godless man fatally presuming on life. He looked forward to many years of merriment. Sixthly : A godless man branded as a fool: "Thou fool."

J. E. W.

Seeds of Sermons on the Book of

(No. CLXXIX.)

Proverbs.

THE GENIUS AND PUNISHMENT OF

EVIL.

"An evil man seeketh only rebellion; therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him. Let a bear robbed of her whelps meet a man, rather than a fool in his folly. Whoso rewardeth evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house." Prov. xvii. 11-13.

I. THE GENIUS OF EVIL. First: It is rebellious. "An evil man seeketh only rebellion." In all the different renderings of this clause, the same general sentiment is brought out. It expresses the way ward, refractory, and rebellious spirit of evil. The instinct of evil is always against law, order, God; it is an antagonism. Secondly: It is furious. "Let a bear be robbed of her whelps meet a man rather than a focl in his folly." A strong, terrible figure this of the furious wrath that is in evil. When excited, the rage of the "bear robbed of her whelps" is but a faint emblem. See it in Jacob's sons putting a whole city to fire and the sword for the folly of one man. (Gen. xxiv. 25.) See it in Saul's massacre of innocent priests. (1 Sam. xxii. 18.) See it in the furnace, seven-fold heated, of Nebuchadnezzar. (Dan. iii. 19.) See it in Herod murdering the children in Rama. (Matt. ii. 18.) See it in Saul breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord. See it even in David binding himself by oath to massacre a whole family. (1 Sam. xxv. 33.) See it in the political tyrannies and the religious persecutions that have afflicted humanity. See it in the barbaric cruelties inflicted on wife and children recorded almost daily in the journals of Eng

land. Aye, aye, the instinct of evil is furious. Thirdly: It is ungrateful. "Whoso rewardeth evil for good," &c. Sin is bad when it returns evil for evil; it is worse when it returns evil for good. It is a heartless ingratitude combined with a malignant resentment. The genius of evil is ingratitude.

II. THE PUNISHMENT OF EVIL. The punishment is stated here in two forms

First: As the advent of a cruel messenger. "Therefore a cruel messenger shall be sent against him." Nemesis is ever wending his steps toward the wicked. Korah, Absalom, Sheba, Pekah, are all illustrations of the certainty of the visit of this retributive messenger. The punishment is stated hereSecondly: As a permanent resident in the house. "Evil shall not depart from his house." Wherever sin is, there will be the avenger; it will be ever with the wicked. "Be sure your sins will find you out." What a wretched thing is sin! It is bad in essence, bad in influence, bad in consequence. "Sin and hell," says an old author, are so turded and twisted up together that if the power of sin be once dissolved, the bonds of death and hell will also fall asunder. Sin and hell are of the same kind, of the same lineage and descent; as (on the other side) true holiness or religion, and true happiness are but two several notions of one thing, rather than distinct in themselves. Religion delivers us from hell by instating us in a possession of true life and bliss. Hell is rather nature than a place; and heaven cannot be so truly defined by anything without us, as by something that is within us."

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(No. CLXXX.)

STRIFE.

"The beginning of strife is as when one letteth out water; therefore leave off contention, before it be meddled with."Prov. xvii. 14.

CRABB makes a difference between discord and strife. He says, "Discord evinces itself in various ways-by looks, words, or actions; strife displays itself in words, or acts of violence. Discord is fatal to the happiness of families; strife is the greatest enemy to peace between neighbours; discord arose between the goddesses on the apple being thrown into assembly. Homer commences his poem with the strife that took place between Agamemnon and Achilles." The passages suggests three ideas concerning strife.

one

I. IT IS AN EVIL OF TERRIFIC PROGRESS. At first it is like the dropping of water oozing through a mound that encloses a sea of water. Every drop widens the channel until the drops become a stream, and the stream a torrent. This strife spreads. One angry word leads to another, one look of revenge, one act of resentment, will kindle a fire that may set a whole neighbourhood or a nation into conflagration. A drop of strife soon becomes a river, and the river a torrent.

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II. IT IS AN EVIL THAT "SHOULD BE CHECKED. "Therefore leave off contention.' Every lover of his race and his God should suppress it. It is a desolating thing, it makes sad havoc in families, neighbourhoods, churches, nations. "Blessed is the peace-maker." A true peace-maker should (1.) Be inspired with the spirit of peace. (2) Maintain the character of peace. (3) Use the argument of peace. Thus he will check the spirit of strife.

III. IT IS AN EVIL WHICH CAN BE EASILY CHECKED AT THE BEGINNING.

You may mend the embankment with tolerable ease at the stage when it emits only a few oozing

drops. The mightiest and most furious beasts of prey you can easily destroy at their birth; the most majestic and resistless river you can stop at its spring head. So it is with strife, in its incipient state you may easily crush it. The first angry thought, the first malevolent desire, by serious reflection, resolute will, devout prayer, these may be overcome. Crush the upas in the germ, tread out the conflagration in the spark. Let the only strife we know be a strife against evil and in favour of good. May we strive with others, to use a figure of Lord Bacon, as the vine with the olive, which of us shall bear the best fruit; but not as the briar with the thistle, which is the most unprofitable.

(No. CLXXXI.)

PERVERSE TREATMENT OF THE CHARACTERS OF MEN.

"He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lord."-Prov. xvii. 15.

THE evil referred to in the text, namely, that of justifying the wicked and condemning the just, is by no means uncommon. On the contrary, it is

I. PREVALENT IN SOCIETY. The prevalency arises from various causes. First: Mean servility of mind. The doings of a wicked man, especially if he be wealthy and influential, will always find amongst the servile in society, numbers to justify and defend. On the contrary they will represent the virtues of the just as worthless and reprehensible. Flunkeyism is ever justifying the wicked and condemning the just. Another cause is, Secondly: Interest. When the wicked are customers or patrons, their crimes will be readily extenuated; whilst the just who sustain no such relation become subjects of calumny and blame. Another cause isThirdly Diseased conscience. The eye of their conscience is either too

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dim to discern moral distinctions, or its heart is too cowardly to avow them. The evil referred to in the text is

II. OFFENSIVE TO GOD. "They both are abomination to the Lord." First: It is repugnant to his character. "He is light and in him there is no darkness at all." Sin is the abominable thing which He hates. To see men, therefore, not only regardless of it, but encouraging it must be to the last degree repugnant to his holy nature. Secondly: It is dangerous to his universe. To defend the wrong and to condemn the right is the way to spread anarchy throughout the moral realm of God. Observe from thisFirst: The sad state of human society. Here are not only wicked men, but men justifying wickedness, and even condemning good. ness. How obvious it is that we are morally lost. "The crown is fallen from our head, &c." Secondly: The value of Christianity. Christianity is divinely designed and adapted to effect a true moral reformation in human society. Brothers, let us stand up ever for the right. "The right," as Archdeacon Hare has well said, "is might, and ever was, and ever shall be so. Holiness is might, meekness is might, patience is might, humility is might, self-denial and selfsacrifice is might, faith is might, love is might, every gift of the Spirit is might. The cross was two pieces of dead wood, and a helpless, unresisting man was nailed to it; yet is was mightier than the world, and triumphed, and will ever triumph over it. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but no pure, holy deed, or word, or thought. On the other hand, might, that which the children of earth call so the strong wind, the earthquake, the fire, perishes through its own violence, self-exhausted and selfconsumed; as our age of the world has been allowed to witness in the most signal example. For many of us remember, and they who do not have heard from their fathers,

how the mightiest man on earth, he who had girt himself with all might, except that of right, burst like a tempest-cloud, burnt himself out like a conflagration, and only left the scars of his ravages to mark where he had been. Who among you can look into an infant's face and not see a power in it mightier than all the armies of Attila or Napoleon ?"

(No. CLXXXII.)

CAPACITY WITHOUT WILL. "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?"-Prov. xvii. 16.

IN these words there are three things a great privilege, a universal principle, a difficult problem. Here we have

I. A GREAT PRIVILEGE. The privilege is this, "a price in the hand" to get wisdom. The "price in the hand " may be regarded as representing the possession of all the necessary means for the attainment of knowledge, such as, First: Leisure. Many men have not the "price," for lack of time. They are absorbed in other engagements. Secondly: Books. Thousands are destitute of those works which are necessary to stimulate the faculties, to guide the judgment, and to inform the understanding. Thirdly: Society. Enlightened and thoughtful society is amongst the best means for knowledge. "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise." Many are destitute of this. Fourthly: Travelling. To visit distant scenes, mingle with different tribes and classes of men. To come under the influence of different laws, manners, customs, are all valuable means of mental culture. All these may be said to form the "price" of wisdom. The man who has these has the purchase money in his hand. With it he may unlock the gate of universal knowledge, and revel in the sunny realm of wisdom. Here we have

II. A UNIVERSAL PRINCIPLE. The

principle is this, the man who has not the heart for knowledge, though he has all the facilities-the "price" -will never get it. Indeed a man must have a heart for a thing before he seeks to attain it. (1.) The man who would succeed in his business, must have a heart for it. (2) The man who would succeed in his profession, must have a heart for it. (3.) The man who would succeed in the acquisition of knowledge, must have a heart for it. (4.) The man who would succeed in the attainment of godliness, must have a heart for it. "He must agonise," &c. Men's failures in all the varied avocations in life, generally arise from the lack of heart. They have no heart in what they are doing. If a man puts his heart to a thing, he generally succeeds. Here we have

III. A DIFFICULT PROBLEM. The whole verse states the problem. "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool to get wisdom, seeing he hath no heart to it?

The question is, why should a man who has no heart for knowledge, be in possession of all necessary means? These two things are often found together. Plenty of opportunities with a soul indisposed. What thousands have access to universities, libraries, cultured society, foreign countries, who have no heart for knowledge, and they remain fools amidst all. Why should such fools have the means? This is the difficult question that was asked. "Wherefore?" Though I do not presume to reach the grand reason in the mind of God, I can see enough to hush complaints. It is far better to have the heart without the means, than the means without the heart. All men may have the heart.

(No. CLXXXIII.)

THE DEGREES AND DUTIES OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP.

"A friend loveth at all times, and a. brother is born for adversity."— Prov. xvii. 17.

"A man that bath friends must shew himself friendly; and there is a friend

that sticketh closer than a brother."Prov. xvii. 24.

ONE of the greatest needs of man is that of friendship. Without friendship he would die in the first dawn of infancy. He needs friendship to nurture his body, and educate bis mind. Friendship is his shield in danger, his guide in perplexity, his strength in weakness, his succour in sorrow. He needs the hand of friendship to receive him into the world, and to help him out; and through all the intervening stages, from the cradle to the grave, he requires its presence and its aid. What sun, and air, and dew, are to the seed, friendship is to him, that which quickens, nurtures, develops, and perfects his being. The text leads us to notice true friendship, that which Aristotle describes as "composed of one soul in two bodies.'

I. THE DEGREES OF TRUE FRIENDSHIP. There are three degrees of true friendship suggested by the words of the text. First: A constant love. "A friend loveth at all times." Constancy in love is the essential element in all genuine friendship. There is a thing called friendship, very warm, very demonstrative, and very mutable; it changes with circumstances. When its object is in prosperity, it keeps by bis side, cheers him with its sunny looks and approving words, ut when adversity comes, it skulks away, and keeps out of sight. Unlike this, genuine friendship comes to us in prosperous days only by invitation, but hastens to our side unasked when sorrow darkens our homestead. A modern writer has well described the true friend:

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