retracted. If still the Church will not give way, but continues the struggle a crisia arrives. 'l'he State finds itself in difficulties. One inconvenience after anotl;er befnls it in consequence of the prolonged conflict. At length it llOmes to be felt that the inconveniences of the struggle exceed the benefits of the connection; and a sudden change of policy takes pla.ce. The Church is sent adrift; cut away like an encumber- ing mass of wreck; bidden to shift for itself, and trouble the State no more. 'l'he State is glad to be rid of it. II. THE EMANCIPATED ClluRcH FINDS ITSELF, ON EMANCIPATION, SURROUNDED DY DIFFICULTIES AND PERPLEXITIES. In the first place, the attitude of the State towards it is apt to be hostile; and an attempt may even be made to coerce it and force it to resume its old position. Apa.rt from this, it labours under many disadvantages. It has rec--0llections of the "flesh-pots of Egypt," which offer a strong contrast to the fare whereto it is reduced. It has to enter on a dull and wearisome course; to plod forward t.oilsomely, painfully. It finds its movements hampered by encumbrances. All these things are against it. But if the nerves be braced to bear, if the will be resolute to turn away from all thought of the "flesh-pots," if the fact of freedom be kept before the mind's eye and the old ills of slavery held in recollection, the difficulties of the early journey will pass a.way, the presence of God will be revealed, and after (it may be) forty years of trial, the wilderness will have been passed through, and there will be a triumphant entrance into Canaan. Ill. THE EMANCIPATED CHURCH HAS A RIGHT TO TAKE WlTH IT ALL ITS OWN PROPERTY, il'D IS El."'TITLED, IF OCCASION ARISE, TO "SPOIL THE EGYPTIANS." Moses and Aaron would not stir without their flocks and herds---the ma.in wealth of a pastoral nation. "Not a hoof," they said," should be left behind" (eh. x. 26). So the eman- cipated Church should take with her whatever is her own into the wilderness. She must not relinquish her property to the oppressor. It is really not hers, but God's : she is trustee to God for it. She is entitled to say that she "knows not with what she must serve the Lord till she is come out." And she is entitled to ask for parting gifts when she is a.bout to quit a known shelter and to confront the perils and dangers of an unknown future. If God gives her favour in the eyes of those whom she is leaving, she will do well to require of them their silver and their gold and their raiment - all that they have most precious -and take it with her, not as " borrowed " wealth., but as endowment freely "given," intentionally made over for a. permanence, out of .goodwill and affection, or out of compassion and pity. She will find a proper use for all tna.t is most rich and most rare in the service of the sanctuary.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 32.-Pharaoh's prayer. It has come then to this, that Pharaoh is glad to beg a blessing from the man whom at first he had so contemptuously spurned. "And bless me also." L THE WICKED 11U.N IB OFTEN MADE PAINFULLY AWARE OF THE MISERABLENESS OF BIS OWN PORTION AS COMPARED WITH THAT OF THE GoDLY. He may be, often is, even when he ref~s to acknowledge it, secretly conscious of the superior happiness ot the good man. There co~e times, ~owever, when severe_ affil~tion, the sense o~ o, gnawing inward dissatisfaction, or ~pecial contact of some kmd with a man of g~nu1i:ie piety, extorts the co~ession ~o~ !1im- . ~e owns t~t the gO?d Ill8,Il has a standing m the Divine favour; enJoys an mvl6lble D1vme protection; and IS the possessor of a peace, happiness, and inward support, to which his own wretched life is utterly a 11tra.nger. II. THE WICKED MAN HAS SOMETIMES DESIRES AFTER A SHARE IN THE GOOD 011' Gon's PEOPLE. He envies them. He feels in his heart that he is wretched and miserable beside them, and that it would be happiness to be like them. He says with Balaam, " Let me die the death of the right.eous, and let my last end be like his " (Num. xxi.ii 10). Ill. THE WICKED :r.u.N, IN BIB Tl)IE OF TROU11LE1 WILL OFTEN HUMBLE IDMBELF TO BEG THE PB.AYERS OF THE GoDLY. And this, though but a little before, be has been persecuting them. He feels that the good man has power with God. IV. THESE FKELINOS OJl' THE WIOXED MAN ABE UstJALLY Tl$ANBIEll'l',-J, 0, CD, XII, 31-37.J THE BOOK OF EXODUS. 287