HOMILETICS. Vers. 22-57.-Be sure your si,n will find .vou om We are living under the government of God, and though many things happen in the world which seem strange and inexplicable to us upon the theory of God's rig·hteous rule over mankind yet "'e have but to be patient, and to observe impartially the end of things in orde: to see by many infallible proofs that God is good to those who are of o. cl~an heart and that the end of the ungodly is that they shall perish. Nor can we afford to los~ the evidenc~s of G?d's righteous j?dgment. The immediate present fills such a large space m our v1e'Y; ungodly_m1rth, successful wickedness, prosperous iniquity, ~old blasphemy, the trmmphs of sm, ~he re"'.ards of selfishness, the impunity of evil hvers, parade themselves so ostentatiously m the world, that the steps of our faith in God n~ight easily slip if we did not keep steadily in mind the lessons taught us by the prondence as well as by the word of God. Now it may be safely affirmed that the whole course of this world presents to the impartial observer continuous evidence tha~ " the way of transgressors is hard," and that "there is no peace to the wicked;" wlule, on the contrary, the "way of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day." It is quite true that this evidence is from time to time, as it were, crossed and checked in its flow by puzzling phenomena of a different character. But just as the ebbing or flowing tide is apparently interrupted by single waves which exceed or fall short of their expected place, and yet for all that is steadily receding or advancing; or as the temperature of the advancing spring for a time declines, or that of the advancing autumn increases, and yet a sure advance is being made towards summer heat or winter cold, so it is with the righteous judgment of God. Under it, in spite of apparant exceptions and temporary diver- sions, the righteous are advancing in the way of peace, and the ungodly are bringing upon themselves a righteous retribution. Fasten the eyes of your mind then upon these truths ; observe them working themselves out in the daily lives of men before your eyes, and in the career of nations as delineated in the page of history. See how the sins of a man are continually findi.I!g him out in the most unexpected ways, and at the most unexpected times. Mark how evil deeds, unpunished at the time, nay, apparently successful, forgotten by the doer, and thought by him to be for ever passed away, yet come back to him, stand in his way, become thorns in his sides, frustrate his hopes, mar all his purposes, break out into deadly consequences, cast e. dark shadow upon his life. Look at the life of nations. The barbarians of the North avenging the abominations of imperial Rome; the Turkish empire withering away because of its bloody deeds, its cruel oppressions, its detestable sensualities; the expulsion of the Jews; the wrongs of the Indians; the butcheries of the Inquisition, still wasting away the life and power of Spain; the French nation, receiving in bloody revolutions and still more bloody wars the just reward of the adulteries and unblushing vices of her monarchs and nobles; and, most striking of all, the Jewish race, suffering through eighteen centuries of slaughter and pillage and persecution and wandering, without a home and without a country, the vengeance which they called down upon themselves for the blood of the Son of God, whom they crucified and slew. Or learn the same lesson in another way. Observe how in the very nature of things the tendency of wickedness is to defeat its own ends, and to bring sorrow upon them that work wickedness. The successful lie when fou!ld out works distrust and suspicion in all with whom a man has to do. The deed of violence and blood arouses hatred and abhorrence in the breasts of those cognisant of it. The act of unscrupulous power awakens fear and jealousy and resentment in the beholders. The wrongs of women raise up avengers among men. The avarice which plunders and wrings treasures from their possessors leaves a sting of resent- ment behind it; and when a man has surrounded himself with distrust and suspicion, and hatred and abhorrence, with envies and jealousies, and resentment and fierce revenge, what room is there left for happy enjoyment or quiet possessions? His sin finds him out in the very midst of his success, and be reaps according to what he has sown ; so that in the very operation of the natural laws which attach to right a:nd wro11g we see the jnet judgment of God. In the marvellous pages of Holy Sr.np- ture these natural lessons are illustrated, exemplified, ~.nd enforced with a clearness CH, IX. 22-57.] THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 109
nnd n vigour unequalled and unapproached in any writings of man. They culminate in the declnrntion of the coming of the day of judgment, when God will reward every mrm nccording to his works. The observed tendencies of good and evil will then be fully confirmed. Every work will then have its proper recompense of reward: all inequalities will be redressed, the temporary exceptions will disappear, the just procedure will be vindicated to the utmost. In the full court of heaven and earth God will show himself o. righteous judge, when all men shall sta.nd before the judg- ment seat of Christ. The flood which drowned the world of the ungodly, the fire which burnt up the cities of the plain, the miserable end of the tyrant Abimelech, the dogs which licked the blood of Ahab by the vineyard of Naboth, the fla.mes which devoured the temple at Jerusalem, and the instances which every day brings before us of shame and sorrow springing out of sin, are but prophetic 'l"'oicee, to which we shall do well to take heed, confirming the announcement in the word of God of that great and terrible day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, and will reward every man according to his works