name of the first ancestor of the population, a descendant of Lot by Benammi (Gen. xix. 38). A place bounded by the mountains of Gilead on the east, the main stream of Jabok on the north, and the land of Moab on the south. They were gross idolaters, and their chief idol was Moloch. The home of the Moabites was situated on the east of the Red Sea, on both sides of the Arnon. The tribe Judah, the head, representative, and most powerful of the twelve, whose descendants occupied the first lot in the division of the promised land. Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes, as distinguished from Judah. All these peoples and places are mentioned in these verses, and their sins noted and denounced. Heaven's omniscient eye detected the sin of each man of all the various men and nations. The omniscience of God is indeed a solemn subject of thought most frequently propounded in the Divine Word. "The Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth the imagination of all thoughts" (1 Chron. xxviii. 9). "The eyes of the Lord are in every place beholding the evil and the good" (Prov. xv. 3). "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb). "Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord" (Jer. xxiii. 23, 24). "There is no darkness or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves" (Job xxxiv. 27). We may offer three remarks concerning God's knowledge of men's sins. I. IT SHOULD LEAD ΜΕΝ ΤΟ GREAT CIRCUMSPECTION IN THEIR DAILY LIFE. First: They should sedulously avoid evil. The consciousness that God's eye is upon us should not only restrain from the commission of a sinful act, but crush every impure impulse in its rise. "Thou, God, seest me." The inmost workings of the spirit lie naked to His eye. "Oh, may these thoughts possess my breast Where'er I roam, where'er I rest; Secondly: They should devoutly pursue good. With the eye of the Great Master upon us, how earnest should be our endeavours to please Him in all! II. IT SHOULD IMPRESS MEN WITH THE WONDERFUL PATIENCE OF GOD. Every sin committed is an insult to His nature-a provocation of His justice. Yet count the sins of each man for one single day, and multiply them by the population of the globe, and then endeavour to estimate the amount of provocation offered even for one day. Herein is patience. Were all the patience of all the men on earth to be embodied in one personage, and that personage entrusted with the management of this globe, how long would it continue? A year? No! Methinks that ere the close of the first day it would be exhausted, and the world would be wrapped in conflagration. "Surely the Lord is slow to anger and abundant in mercy: He willeth not the death of the sinner." First: This patience implies the greatest power. The greater the provocations received, the greater power to control the spirit. How great God's power of self-control! Secondly: This patience implies the greatest compassion. Love for the rebel restrains the avenging arm. "He is longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish." His patience is intended to lead us to repentance. III. It should IMPRESS MEN WITH THE CERTAINTY OF A FUTURE RETRIBUTION. The sins of every man on the globe must one day find him out, either here in evangelical contrition, or yonder in the unquenchable flames of moral remorse. Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account therefor on the day of judgment. "The Lord will one day bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart." Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down; and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bot tom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them." "The Book is opened and the seal The adamantine Book, where In the corrupted mass, each act In characters indelible remain. How vain thy boast, vile caitiff, to have 'scaped An earthly forum; now, thy crimson stains Glare on a congregated world; thy Judge Omniscience, and Omnipotence thy scourge ! Thy mask, hypocrisy, how use- When, by a beam shot from the The varnished saint starts up a Taking the ensemble of qualities which make up the character of Christ, together with the originality and wonderful peculiarities of the form in which it is presented, the entire phenomenon would seem out of the plane of human nature. Neither in Greek, nor Roman, nor Jewish human nature, can we discover the elements which could have evolved so peculiar a creation, whether supposed to be real or fictitious; and in the Jews, to which the problem historically limits us, as little as anywhere. The first is clearly proved by the shock which such a Messiah gave to all their prejudices, and the vivid indignation He evoked; by their persecution and crucifixion of Him, by their incessant hostility to those who espoused his cause, and by their bitter and immovable hatred of Him from that day to this! Eighteen hundred years have not exhausted, or even sensibly abated their prejudice, and its inveteracy and constancy bear evidence 'how little such a character was likely to be generated as an actual phenomenon, or conceived as an ideal creation, in a nation thus conditioned. "THE SUPERHUMAN ORIGIN OF THE BIBLE.' Homiletical Breviaries. No. CXXVIII. Subject: THE TRUE CHRIST OF MAN. "Christ in you, the hope of glory."-COLOSSIANS i. 27.* "Christ I. The true Christ of man is the Christ IN THE SOUL. IN you." It is not the mere Christ of the book and the creed; but the Christ of the soul. He is in the soul. First, as the chief object of love. Second: the chief subject of thought. Thirdly: the chief sovereign of activities. II. The true Christ of man is the INSPIRER First: It is a hope directed to the highest object-"glory." What is the glory? It is the glory of goodness. The glory that is to be revealed in the soul. The glory of moral assimilation to God. Hope for goodness is the virtuous hope. Secondly: It is a hope based on the surest foundation,-Christ's word and influence. OF THE SUBLIMEST HOPE. 1 No. CXXIX. Subject: PRAYER BEFORE CHOOSING. "Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven."-NEHEMIAH ii. 4. At the outset two things strike us here. First: A rare opportunity for worldly advancement. Here is a king saying to a man, his cupbearer, "What dost thou want me to do for thee," as if he had said, "I have power to help thee, my resources are unbounded, I am ready to help thee with whatever service thou requirest, what shall it be." What a chance this for any man! Wealth, dignity, influence, all put within his reach, left to depend upon his choice. Secondly: A rare treatment of such an opportunity. What did Nehemiah say? What should we say if our sovereign should speak thus to us? Most would say, "Give us a mansion to live in, lordly estate as our inheritance, dazzling titles and extensive patronage." What said Nehemiah? He paused and reflected, and then he prayed. “And so I prayed to the God of heaven." He * See Homilist, vol. ix. p. 530, and vol. xxii. p. 165. would not choose for himself. Man is a choosing creature; his daily life is made up of a series of choices; he has to reject and accept in order to live. Now the principle involved in the conduct of Nehemiah, namely, that praying should precede choosing, is of universal obligation. Three thoughts will show the wisdom of this. I. God ALONE KNOWs what is best for us. To that question asked by Solomon, "Who knoweth what is good for man in this life, all the days of his vain life ?" the true reply would be, No one who does not so thoroughly understand man's nature as to know what is necessary for his well-being, and no one who does not see the connection of man's present possessions with all the periods of his interminable future. Who but God is equal to this? Man is constantly making mistakes in this matter. What he wants and struggles for as a prize, sometimes turns out to be one of his sorest calamities. Hence, whenever an object appeals to his choice, the propriety of always praying to God for help. Because Moses looked to heaven in such a case, he chose a life which to unregenerate man would be rèvolting. But his choice in the end proved wise and good. "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter," i.e. God alone knows what is best for us. II. God ALWAYS DESIRES what is best for us. He made us to be happy, He has prepared the means of happiness for us, and He yearns for our blessedness. As a loving father, He is ever solicitous for our good. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner." If He afflicts us, it is not for His gratification, but for our good. He does not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. That He desires our happiness is clear. First: From the capacity of enjoyment with which He has endowed us. Secondly: From the elements of happiness with which the world abounds. Thirdly: From the mission of His only begotten Son. III. GOD, IN ANSWER TO PRAYER, IS EVER READY TO BESTOW what is best for us. "What man is he that feareth the Lord, he shall teach me the way which he shall choose." 66 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you." "If any lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." Conclusion: Let us act ever upon the principle that prayer should precede choice. Should the world press its favours upon us and virtually say to us, "For what dost thou make request?" before we reply, before we accept any of its favours, let us 'pray to the God of heaven." "In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." No. CXXX. Subject: MANIFESTATIONS OF HUMANITY. "And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: the same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified."—JOHN xii. 20–23. There are three things here worthy of our notice, in relation to mankind:-I. The MORAL CRAVING OF HUMANITY. "And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: the same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus." These Greeks were not Jews speaking Greek, but Gentiles, and Greeks by race. Whatever their station in life or philosophic opinions, they seem to be amongst those free men in worship who are ready to render homage to the gods of the place. They were at Jerusalem and they seemed to fall in with the religion of Jerusalem. They came up to worship at the feast. It is manifest that they felt a deep religious want, a restless craving of nature. They wanted something more than their philosophies could supply, more than the religion of their race could supply; for after the feast, they came to Philip and said, "We would see Jesus." They wanted Jesus for their soul-(1) Some one who could solve their moral problems. (2) Some one on whom to centre their supreme love. (3) Some one to correct the moral evils of which they were conscious. (4) Some one to guide them rightly on the way of life. In all hearts the world over, there is a craving for a Jesus. He is the desire of the nations. We have here-II. The GRANDEST WORK OF HUMANITY. In that work we sce Philip and Andrew engaged. "Philip cometh and telleth Andrew, and again Andrew and Philip come and tell Jesus." To bring men to Christ is something more than to bring them to science and art. Such ministry we disparage not, we highly prize. Something more than bringing them to a Church or a sect. Numbers are actually engaged in this work. Their inspiration is sectarianism; and their efforts are often immoral and pernicious, To bring men to |