prepare men to seek after the joys of faith. God said to His sense-bound people in the prophetic age, " Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy"'Way, yet saidat thou not, There is no hope" (Isa. lvii. 10). Theil' vain camal life disappointed them, but they did not repent of it. They were wearied in it, disgusted with it, o.nd still they clung to it. They hoped on notwithstanding the blighting and withering of all their hopes. How true to human nature and human experience in every age I The carnal appetit€ will never resolve itself into the spiritual. They are essentially different things, and point to essentially different causes. The long series of life's disappointments may be' gathered up at last into one sad, deep sigh of conscious emptiness and wen,riness-" All is vanity,'' &c. But does it necessarily assume the form and tone of an upward yearning for " the things that are above"? Nay, there is no sa Ying virtue in the mere groans of a discontented heart.. One dare not place much confidence even in deathbed confessions of the vanity of the world. The attraction earthwards may have ceased, but perhaps there is no attraction heaven- wards to take its place. The lights of earth may be growing dim, but there is no soul-capLivating view of brightening lights that shine along the eternal shore; natural desire fails, but therA is no longing for the pure satisfactions of a higher and a better sphere. So that it is a momentous revolution in the spiritual history of a man, happen when it will, when he first begins distinctly to reach forth towards the heavenly and Divine. He becomes a "new creature" when.there is thus awakened within him the aspiration of a pure and holy life that he has never known before. The appetite of his being has taken a new ilirection, assumed an altogether new character. He hungers for the " bread of life," and thirsts for the "river of the water of life"-" hungers after righteousness," and" thirsts for the living God." II. ITs TRUE SATISFACTION. Achsah's request is immediately granted. She receives from her father a completed "blessing "-the richer land added to the poorer to supplement its deficiency. 1. God iii ever ready to respond to every pure a,spiration of our nature. He who "opens His hand and satisfies the wants of eyery linng tiling " will never disregard the cry of His suppliant children. Every true spiritual desire of which we are conscione contains in itself the pledge of its o-wn fulfilment. 2. Christ ill God's answer to the soul's deepest craving. In Him is the fulness of all satisfying good. " Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John iv. 14). fo Him we find the rest of absolute contentment. 3. The joy of the higher life that Christ gives deepens and purifies every natural joy. AB the "upper springs" feed the " nether," so when He has conferred on us the Divin.er good we discern a richer meaning .and worth ·in the inferior good. " Our heart is at the secret source Of e<rery precious thing." All that is naturally fair and pleasant upon earth becomes invested with a new charm, and in that which before seemed barren and profitless there are opened to us unexpected fountains of delight. " We thirst for springs of heavenly life, And here all day they rise." w. Vers. Io-19.-The stury of Achsah. I. LOVE IS THE STRONGEST MOTIVE OF CONDUCT. As Othniel was nephew to Caleb, and therefore must have known Achsah, it is probable that 1.te accepted the challenge to seize Kirjath-sepher from motives of real affection for the daughter of Caleb. God has providentially arranged that human love should serve as a help for the performance of difficult tasks. Chris- tianity appropriates and consecrates the emotion of love by directing it to Christ. Love is worthless when it will not encounter danger and attempt hard tasks. The highest human affection is shown not in mere pleasing emotions, but in sacrifice and toil. II. lit"BBANDS AND wrvEs SHOULD EXERCISE MUTUAL CONFIDENCE. A.chsah first ~H. xv. _l-63.] TllE BOOK OF JOSHUA. 255
!)On suits her husband o.nd then proffers her reqnest to her father. Though husbands and wives have separate spheres of duty, each should be interested in that of the 0U1er. There should be no secrets between them. They should learn to act as one in important questions. True sympathy will be shown in questions of conduct and choice, noL merely in circumstances of trouble. III. THE DESIRE OF EARTHLY CONVENIENCES IS NOT IN ITSELF WRONG. Achsah cannot be accused of covetousness. Her request was reasonable. If we do not put earth in the place of heaven, nor grasp for ourselves what is due to others nor forget duty and generosity in greed and self-seeking, the attempt to improv~ our condition in the world is natural and right. IV. CHILDREN SHOULD COMBINE CONFIDENCE WITH SUBMISSION IN THEIR CONDUCT TO THEIR PARENTS. Achsah is an example of this combination. She shows con- fidence in making her request. She shows submission in alighting off her ass and asking the favour from her father as a " blessing." Reverence and humility are always becoming, but slavish fear is a proof either of the tyrannous character of the .parent, or of the mean nature of the child. Confidence joined to submission con- stitutes the right attitude of Christians in approaching their heavenly Father (Rom. viii. 15). V. No EARTHLY BLESSING IS PERFECT IN ITSELF. The soutbland is of little use without the springs of water. In every condition of life we feel the need of some- thing m._ore to give us satisfaction. Wealth generates the hunger for greater wealth. As the field is barren without the waters of heaven, so any earthly inheritance is profitless to us unless there are added the showers of spiritual blessings (1 Tim. iv. 8).-W.F.A.