viction is to consider them. 2. " He turned aside to see." It was a matter to be inquired into e.nd probed to the bottom. 3. God meets the earnest, sincero spirit: ""Then the Lord saw," etc., "God called unto him." The eunuch reading in his chariot, and Philip, etc. "re cannot turn aside to consider these things with a sincere desire for light, and not meet at last with him who is Light. To all true seekers God will reveal himself. II. w·HAT FITS FOR Gon's SERVICE. 1. ,ve must rise from a mere seekina aner God to the knowledge that we _are known of G-od.: his heart was thrilled by the cry, "Moses I Moses ! " The cry proclaimed not only that G-od. knew him, but that he was liis God. 'l'he Lord claimed him in that cry as his servant, his son. Have we heard it? If not, we do not know God as the living God, as our God, and how can we serve him? 2. The sense of God's holiness and majesty, hallowing all things for us (ver. 5). 'l'he depth of our trust and our love may be measured by the depth of our adoration. 3. The vfrid realisation of what God has done in the past (ver. 6). That is God's revelation of nimself. The story of the past must yield strength to the present. 4. The assurance that God's purpose of redemption is behind our efforts: that we speak and labour because he has surely risen to redeem (vers. 7-10).-U. Vers. 11-17.-Hindrances to service and lww God removes them. 1. THE HINDRANCE FOUXD IN THE SENSE OF OUR OWN WEAK.1,"ESS (vers. 11, 12). 1. Moses knew the pomp and pride of the Egyptian court. He remembered how Israel had rejected him when he was more than he was now. Once he·had believed himself able for the task, but he was wiser now : "Who am I?" etc. He might serve God in the lowly place he held, but not there. Moses in this the type of multitudes. God's call for service is met on every hand by the cry, "Who a.m I that I should go?" 2. How God meets this sense of weakness. (1) By the assurance of his presence. It was not Moses only that should go, but God also. The conviction that he is with us, and that we speak for b:im, makes the meekest bold, the weakest strong. (2) By the assurance of success: "Ye shall serve God upon this mountain." He is armed with faith and hope. From self let us look to God and his pledged word. IL THE HINDRANCE FOUND IN TEE SENSE OF OUR IGNORANCE (vers. 13--17). 1. His own thought of God was dim. How then could he carry conviction to the hearts of the people? The same lack of clear, living thought of God keeps tongues tied to-day. 2. How it may be removed. (1) God is TEE UNCHANGING ONE. He had revealed himself to their fathers: he was all this still. It was his memorial for ever. Grasping this thought, all the past is God's revelation. (2) He takes with him a gospel for present need (vers. 16, 17), and these two things will be God's full revelation. We must make men apprehend the revelation which G-od. has given of himself in the past, and proclaim him as the God of to-day. "I have surely visited you ..• and I will bring you up out of the affliction."-U. Vers. 18-22.-I. THE REMOVAL OF MosEs' FEAn. His mission will be successful. 1. He will win the people's trust for God. They will not refuse to hear. 2. Their elders will accompany him into Pharaoh's presence: his request will become the people's. 3. The Lord will lead them out laden with the spoils of Egypt. Going on God's errand there is no possibility of failure. 'l'he fears which rise as we measure the greatness of the task and our own strength vanish when we look up into the face of God. II. OPPOSITION WILL BE MET WITH, BUT IT WILL ONLY EEIGIITEN Gon's TRIUMPH. "I am sure that the King of Egypt will not let you go ... and J will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders." 1. We are not to expect that we shall sail over an unruffled sea, and that labour for Christ will be a continuously triumphal prouress. "In the world ye shall have tribulation." 2. It is the occasion of the rev;lina of God's mio-hty power. Trial is God's school for deepening and purifying trust in himself. 'l'h; triumph of Christianity in the first ages a consecration of the Church and a proof to the world of the Divine origin of our faith. III. THE PLAN Gon FOLLOWS IN EFFECTING HIS PEOPLE'S DELIVERANCE. 1. A small demand is made: permission to go three days' journey into the wilderness, Great promises are given to the Church, but it does not now demand tbat the silver and the gold should be yielded for the service of God, and that the mighty should come down on, 1v, 1-3.J THE DOOK OF EXODUS. 86
from their thrones and give them to hie saints, It asks only for liberty to serve God nnd to declare hie will. 2. The world's refusal brings down God's judgments; and then comes the glory and the enrichment of the sons of God.-U.