Unlike the human architect, He did not build the house and leave it; unlike the author, He did not write His volume and leave His book to tell its own tale; unlike the artist, He did not leave His pictures or His sculpture to stand dead in the hall. He is in all. Not as a mere influence, but as an absolute, almighty personality. "Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." as an occasional service, but I temple. worship as an all-permeating and predominating spirit. Men should tread its soil with reverent step, feeling that all is holy ground. All scenes are sacred, "God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." As a temple (1) How vast in extent. No human mensuration can measure it. (2) How magnificent in architecture. How brilliant its roof, how lofty its arches, how variegated its floors, how sublime its corridors. (3) How stirring its appeals. The pictures and monuments all around in this temple speak with potent eloquence to the human soul. II. GOD IS IN THIS TEMPLE. "The Lord is in His holy temple." Heis in it not merely as a king in His kingdom. He is so, "He is Lord of all." Not merely as worker in His works. The spirit of the architect, it is true, may be seen in his edifices, the genius of the artist in his pictures, the thought and spirit of the author in his books; but God is in this great temple in a higher and a profounder sense than all this. He is in it as the soul is in the body, the fountain of its life, the spring of its activities. He is the energy of all its forces, the efficiency of all its laws, the life of all its lives. In Him all live and move and have their being. God is in His III. HIS PRESENCE IN HIS TEMPLE SHOULD CHECK THE VOICES OF IRREVERENCE. "Keep silence before Him." There are times when it is lawful and even necessary for devotion to break into rapturous sounds. "O clap your hands," etc., "Make a joyful noise," etc., etc. But the sounds must be reverent evermore. Silence does not stand opposed to sound, but to thoughtlessness and profanity. God is a God of silence. He speaks in Nature, but as a rule it is mute eloquence. True, sometimes there is the roar of ocean, the boom of thunder, the howl of disimprisoned winds, but these are exceptions. In Christ, too, how noiseless was His ministry. He did "not cry nor cause His voice to be heard in the street." How becoming is silence in the mind of an intelligent creature in the presence of the great God. What can a spirit speak in His presence? How can a spirit speak in His presence? His presence, consciously realized, will generate generate unutterable emotions. Shallow emotions chatter; deep emotions are mute. Conscious presence of an infinite benefactor would flood the soul with a gratitude that would seal the lip in silence. Conscious presence of Infinite Greatness would strike the soul with an awe that would restrain all utterance. Conscious presence of Infinite Perfection would inspire the whole being with that adoring rapture that will hush the voice and preclude all noisy speech. Such silence as this indeed is golden. Were the Eternal to be consciously felt by the race to-day, all the human sounds that fill the air and that din the ears of men would be hushed into profoundest quiet. The time hastens when all will be speechless, when "every mouth will be stopped." "Silent Spirit, dwell with me,— I myself would silent be; Quiet as the growing blade, Which through earth its way has made; Silently, like morning light, Putting mists and chills to flight." GAL. IV 20. DOUBTFUL RELIGIOUS PROFESSORS. I. Stationary. II. Worldly. III. Selfish. IV. Idle. V. Sensational. VI. Quarrelsome professors are very doubtful.-THOMas Barow. ACTS XXIV. 25. I. An exemplary preacher. 1. Practical in his topics. 2. Logical in his style. 3. Personal in his application. 4. Bold in his manner. II. A procrastinating hearer. Here are, 1. Terrified conviction of guilt. 2. Secret purpose of amendment. 3. Infatuated delay of re formation.-THOMAS BAROW. 1 COR. VI. 19, 20. REDEMPTION. I. The fact of redemption. 1. Previous bondage. 2. Actual purchase. 3. Changed ownership. II. The obligation of redemption. 1. Nature. 2. Extent.-THOMAS BAROW. I. Based on an infallible consciousness of the Divinity of Christ. II. Compatible with the mysteriousness of Christianity. III. The only guarantee of eternal life.-THOMAS Barow. Seeds of Sermons from the Minor Prophets. If the Bible as a whole is inspired, it is of vast importance that all its Divine ideas should be brought to bear upon the living world of men. Though the pulpit is the organ Divinely intended for this work, it has been doing it hitherto in a miserably partial and restricted method. It selects isolated passages, and leaves whole chapters and books for the most part untouched. Its conduct to the Minor Prophets may be taken as a case in point. How seldom are they resorted to for texts! and yet they abound with splendid passages throbbing with Divine ideas. It is our purpose to go through this section of the Holy Word; selecting, however, only such verses in each chapter and book as seem the most suggestive of truths of the most vital interest and universal application. Having gone through HOSEA, we now proceed on the same principle to the treatment of JOEL. The remembrance of the following facts concerning JOEL may serve to throw some light on his utterances. Neither the Bible nor tradition gives us much information concerning him. The first verse of the first chapter tells us he was the son of Pethuel. It is inferred from his writings that he lived in Judah not later than the reign of Uzziah, which extended from B.c. 810 to B.c. 793. His writings show that he lived in a time when the people of Judah had sunk deeply into depravity, so that there came upon them a heavy and terrible chastisement. He was contemporary with Hosea and Amos. They addressed Israel: he addresses Judah. There are many striking coincidences between the utterances of Joel and Amos. He was evidently a man of culture and trained in a prophetic school, for his Hebrew is of the purest kind. His style is easy, flowing, eloquent. No prophet surpasses him in vividness and splendour of description. The immediate occasion of his prophecy is a double plague of drought and locusts which invaded the land, working terrible desolation. No. LXVII. Subject: INTER-ACTION OF THE "Then will the Lord be jealous for His land, and pity His people. Yea, the Lord will answer and say unto His people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen: But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil."-JOEL ii. 18-24. These verses refer to the removal both of the actual calamity under which the nation were suffering, namely, the plague of locusts, and also to the removal of that calamity which was to come upon them by the invasion of a foreign foe, namely, the Assyrians. The latter is evidently referred to in ver. 20. "I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he hath done great things.' Henderson implies that the passage in Zephaniah ii. 13, "He will stretch out His hand against the north and destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation and dry like a wilderness," is sufficient to prove that the term "northern " here refers to the Assyrian power. However, for homiletical purposes, it scarcely matters whether the locusts, Assyrians, or any other destructive enemy are referred to. The grand question is, What are the truths contained in the paragraph that are of universal importance and application? The following are clearly deducible. I. That the MATERIAL CONDITION OF A PEOPLE DEPENDS UPON THE DIVINE OPERATIONS. Two things are referred to in the passage as the works of the Almighty towards the Jewish people at this time. First, The with, drawal of calamities. "I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate." When terrible calamities come upon a people, such as hosts of destructive insects, or pestilence, famine, or war, who but the Almighty can remove them? Men may and ought to employ means; but futile for ever will be all human efforts without the co-operation of Almighty power. This fact should teach us ever to look to Him and Him only for deliverance from evil at all times, both material and moral. Secondly, The bestowment of blessings. "The Lord will answer and say unto His people, Behold I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and ye shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen." The productions of the earth are dependent every moment upon Almighty power. At His bidding the most fertile regions of nature are struck into barrenness, and deserts and wildernesses become fertile and beautiful as Eden. The pseudo scientist of this age traces the operations of nature to what he calls "laws," a term to cover his ignorance. But true philosophy as well as the Bible teaches that nature is absolutely in God's hands. "He causes the sun to rise and to set." He poureth down the genial showers and sealeth the heavens. A practical recognition of Him in all the phenomena of nature is what reason and religion demand. Every good and perfect gift," etc. Another truth deducible is II. That the Divine operations ARE INFLUENCED BY THE MORAL CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. We are taught here, that the removal of the calamity and the bestowment of the blessing came upon the people in consequence of the moral humiliation for their sins, described in the preceding verses. The priests and the ministers of the Lord wept between the altar, and said "Spare Thy people, O Lord," etc. "The porch before the temple was a hundred and twenty cubits high, twenty broad from north to south, and ten from east to west. The altar was that of burnt offering in the court of the priests. Here, with their backs toward the altar, on which they had nothing to offer, and their faces directed towards the residence of the Shekina, they were to weep, and make supplication on behalf of the people." That the Divine conduct towards us depends upon our conduct towards heaven, is inexplicable to us although clearly taught in the Word of God. Indeed, consciousness assures us that He is to us what we are to Him. It is absurd to suppose that God will alter the laws of nature because of human prayers or human conduct, says the sceptic scientist. But what laws of nature are more manifest, more universal, settled and unalterable than the tendency of human souls to personal and intercessory prayer? From every human heart the world over, there goes up to the Great Spirit in some form or other a prayer, either for self or others. Every aspiration is a prayer God help me! God help thee ! God help him! God help them! Point out to me a human soul where the spirit of these is not being breathed out every day. Scripture abounds with examples too numerous here to write of, God apparently altering His conduct on account of man's supplications. Another truth deducible is this, III. That the RIGHT MORAL CONDUCT OF A PEOPLE WILL EN SURE THEM DIVINE BENEDICTIONS. "Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things. Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig-tree and vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month." In these verses there is a beautiful gradation. First, the land which has been destroyed by the enemy, is addressed in a prosopopoeia, then the irrational animals which had suffered from the famine; and lastly, the inhabitants themselves. All are called upon to cast off their fears, and rejoice in the happy change which God would effect. Desolation, barrenness, and famine would disappear, and times of prosperity and happiness return. It is too clear for either argument or illustration, that if you change the moral character of any country from ignorance to intelligence, from indolence to industry, from intemperance to self-discipline, from sensualness to spirituality, from enmity to love, that the whole material region in which they live may abound with plentifulness and beauty. Such a change throughout the whole human population to-day will give to all a heaven and new earth. No. LXVIII. new Subject: TWOFOLD RESTORATION. "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army whichI sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you : and my |