you see great men falling from their pedestals like meteors from the clouds, and are lost. He states,

Secondly: That however great the property he bequeaths to posterity, retribution will compel restitution. "His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall seek their good." Also in verse 18 the same idea is expressed. "That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein." Though he die a millionaire the hands of posterity shall distribute his property amongst the poor. This also is true. Retributive Providence is constantly dealing with the large fortunes that wicked men have built up, as the parabolic tempest with the house on the sand, breaking them into pieces, and carrying on its floods all the parts into the ocean of common wants. He states,

Thirdly: That however, strong with youthful vigour, retribution will bring him to the dust. "His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust." "Sin" is not in the original: the idea is youthful vigour. Retribution has no more respect for vigorous youthhood than it has for secular opulence and power. The young man pursuing a course of wickedness, bounding with high hopes and rejoicing in his energy, it strikes down on all hands. Youthful vigour is no protection against the stroke of insulted injustice. Beware, young men! He states,

Fourthly: That however great his pleasure in sin, retribution will turn the whole into inexpressible misery. "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned; it is the gall of asps within him," etc. (ver. 12-16). There is a pleasure in sin,—a sensual worldly pleasure,

-or men would not pursue it. But though wicked men relish it at the time, roll it as a sweet plum in the mouth, and feel its deliciousness, the issue will be agony; it will turn into wormwood, it will rankle as a hellish virus in every vein of the soul. This also is true to all experience. Sin, like some delicious opiate, not only renders the system insensitive to all pain, but fills the brain with enchanting visions; but all

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the while saps the foundation of health and brings on the horrors of great darkness. He states,―

Fifthly: That however great his possessions, retribution will reduce him to the utmost destitution and misery. "He shall not

see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.” This means, no more worldly prosperity for him; its rivers, floods, brooks, are all dried up. But more than destitution, there is misery. This is described in verses 19-26. What a picture of wretchedness is here." No more "quietness in his belly," ie., his soul. His soul will be like an ocean of fire in a tempest. "God shall cast the fury of His wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating," etc., etc. He states,

Sixthly: That, however much he may conceal his wickedness, nature will compel him to reveal it. "The heaven shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him." Retribution makes nature a witness against, and an antagonist to, him. If God is against us, the universe is against us, and we are against ourselves.

Such are roughly and briefly the ideas which this old Arabian seemed to entertain concerning Retribution in relation to the wicked. His idea was, that it worked ruin, worked it gradually, terribly, certainly. However mistaken this man was in the details and forms of its operation, and however morally blameworthy in spirit, in this he was true, that misery must evermore follow the wicked. The Bible is full of this truth. "Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth." "We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ," etc.

III. THE UTTER HEARTLESSNESS OF A DOGMATICAL RELIGION. "This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God." This is the conclusion of Zophar's address; and no doubt he intended to apply it to Job. He meant to say, You are a wicked man, and your afflictions are penal. The dogma that Zophar and his friends held was this, that calamity in this world always followed the wicked, and that Job was a very wicked man because his calamities were so great. By dogma, I mean an opinion that man has accepted

on the authority of others, and not reached as the result of his own honest and independent investigation and reasoning.* This idea possessed him and possessed his friends also. It was in them a settled belief, or, what is truer, a settled prejudice. Any argument against this dogma, instead of weakening its power, only irritated their temper. Now, though they came to Job as his friends, and perhaps had a generous sympathy with him when they started on their visit to him, this dogma not only dried up their friendly feelings towards him, but evoked within them a kind of revulsion for him. In its light they saw in him a kind of monster, and they loathed and denounced him. More terrific figures to represent punishment it was almost impossible for the human mind to create than were implied in this speech of Zophar; yet he directs the whole against Job. He seems exultant in forging thunderbolts to hurl at the head of the suffering patriarch of Uz. With a kind of fiendish delight he draws the most horrible pictures of the sufferings that must overtake the wicked man, and presents them to Job as applicable to his case. Job's appeal for compassion, his entreaties, his wails, his groans, his miserable appearance, kindled no sparks of pity within him. Why all this? A theological dogma had dehumanized the man, had turned a friend into a fiend. It is ever so. When men become the victims of a theological dogma they become heartless and cruel, their delight is, in hurling anathemas at the heretic, forging fetters to manacle his limbs, kindling fires to burn his body to ashes. A man under the controlling influence of a theological dogma, is as heartless as the fabled Procrustes, who on his iron bedstead tied all who fell into his hands, stretching out those limbs that were too short to fit and cutting off those that were too long. Dogmatists through all ages have been cruelly maiming those men who would not fit into the little bedstead of their hard and narrow crotchets.

* See "Philosophy of Happiness," p. 227.

Sermonic 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 also 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 Dorneor; Lange; etc., etc.

Subject: Infidelity.

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"After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. brethren therefore said unto Him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest. For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world. For neither did His brethren believe in Him. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready. The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go ye up unto this feast : I go not up yet unto this feast; for My time is not yet full come. When He had said these words unto them, He abode still in Galilee. But when His brethren were gone up, then went He also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret."-JOHN vii. 1-10.

EXPOSITION: Ver. 1.-" After these things." It will be observed from the harmony, that the year between the second and third passovers of our Lord is opened by John (chap. v.) and closed with this announcement; so that John has only two chapters of his narrative falling within this second year of our Lord's ministry. The other evangelists have related the chief events of this year, embracing various important miracles. There are several parables, and also the sermon on the Mount, which are not given by John. "Jesus walked in Galilee." He continued to prosecute His labours in Galilee for a

considerable time. "In this period of Galilean itineracy," says Dr. Lange, "fall the charges of heresy against Jesus in Galilee, and His contests with the hostile Pharisees there (Matt. xii.); most of His parables or sermons on the sea (Matt. xiii.); His interview with the deputation from Jerusalem, and the great gathering on the mountain which followed (Matt. xv.); the last contest with Pharisean power in Galilee; the retirement of the Lord; and His transfiguration (Matt. xvi. and xvii. 21)."

"He would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill Him.” The reason why He would not go into Jewry, or Judea, is here stated, and also in chap. v. 18.

Ver. 2.-"Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand." The feast of tabernacles was the last of the three annual festivals, celebrated on the 15th of the 7th month, i.e. September. It was a celebration of the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness, when they dwelt in tents. It continued seven or eight days, and the last day became the great day of the feast.

Ver. 3.-"His brethren therefore said unto Him, Depart hence, and go into Judea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that Thou doest." These brethren were undoubtedly the sons of Joseph and Mary, and their names were James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas. As Jesus was the eldest, the others must have been in fresh young manhood. The reason why His brethren requested Him to depart into Judea and to do "works" there, was in all probability family vanity. They wished their Brother to avail Himself of a grand national occasion to impress their countrymen with His signal greatness. They became dissatisfied with His unostentatious life in Galilee.

Ker. 4.-"For there is no man that doeth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If Thou do these things, show Thyself to the world." Though they must be regarded as unbelievers, they seem to have had some kind of faith in His Messiahship, and they wished Him to be publicly recognised as such, by appearing at once on the open stage; and they seemed to say, If Thou hast power of working miracles, do so on a large scale, let our nation recognise the fact. Ver. 5.-" For neither (even) did His brethren believe in Him." Although afterwards they were numbered amongst His disciples (Acts i. 14), up to this point they had no true faith, they were infidels so far as His Messiahship was concerned.

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Ver. 6." Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come.' My time," there is no reason to believe that there is here any reference to His death. He had fixed upon a time when He should go to the feast, but it had not exactly arrived. The time He purposed challenging the nation and the metropolis with the fact of His MessiahF ship, His first public entrance into Jerusalem, was the entrance in tthe procession with palms. "Your time is alway ready." Your