And it would be well could it be impressed on every conscience that, evel} if there were 110 ccrtniuty of any visitation or punishment from God _in token or his displeasure, yet that displeasure itself is so awful a curse, that to be conscious of it is the germ of hell; while quite apart from aught that he may send to us, the consciousness of havincr his nppro~al is a sufficient, a heavenly, an" exceeding great" reward! The light in ;'11ich God views us is of infinitely more moment than the gifts he sends or the chastisements he inflicts. Take an illustrntion from a lower sphere. Let it be supposed that a man whoso life and writings are corrupting the morals and helping to blight the faith of his coun,trymen, is admitted, in course of events, to the assembly of British senators. He is thero as one of its members. But he knows that the grandest, purest, most philanthropic and self-sacrificing of human-kind regard him and his views with unutterable loathing, not because of any vindictive feeling against him, but because of the solemn interests which in his bands are imperilled and shamed. Nothing is clone to him; but he knows that this is how he and his views aro regarded by those whose esteem is most worth having. Would not such a state of things be intolerable torture to him? Or supposing him" past feeling," would his case be the less pitiable? Or supposing him so puffed up with pride and conceit as to regard the rest of his fellows as kept virtuous by a superstition whose elevating power he does not desire to know, would not the disapproval of the mass of the people-too deep for any_words to express-be as a blighti_ng curse upon him, even though no other penalty were imposed; and would not that d1sownment be a heavier penalty than any outward punishment could be? But oh! what, what is the dis- approval of man, or of men, compared with the frown of God? VIII. THIS APPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL WILL, SOONER OR LATER, BE MANIFEST. It is true, in more senses than one," Thou art a God that hidest thyself" (cf. Ps. l. 21). But "thou"'h hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." The curse will show itself in nations, by their humiliation and destruction. So Egypt, Tyre, Chaldea, Jerusalem, etc. It will reveal itself in families by a "sword in the house" for many a long year (1 Sam. iii. 13, 14; 2 Sam. vii. 14). It will be manifest in the individual. 'fhis Kpiµa.-yea, Ka.1'rucpCµa.-of God has three stages. 1. A present, though it may be a comparatively silent one, either in a stinging conscience, or one "seared as with a hot. iron." 2. A further one, on the exchange of worlds, when earth and sense are thrown off, and the Great Invisible is near. "Now, Mr. T--," said a departing sinner to the missionary who was by his bedside, "my judgment has just begun!" 3. A future one, at the day of judgment, wheri God shall judge the secrets of men (cf. Matt. x.xv. 31- 46). Disobedient hearts are but treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, to be disapproved, finally, by him from whose sentence there can be no appeal. Is not a heavy curse, indeed, involved in all that? IX. HERE IS GROUND ENOUGH FOR SOLEMN APPEAL TO MEN. "I set before you this day a blessing and a curse." Oh I if men would bnt take the pains to quit a while in thought this busy scene in which they live and move almost in perpetual whirl; if they would but anticipate by earnest reflection that usherment into the presence of God which their departure hence must bring; if they would but set the judgment scene, as sketched by Christ, before their view, methinks they would see the deep and solemn reason why the preacher now-even now-says, " Flee from the wrath to come." For the wrath will come, i.e. it will manifest itself. It exists now. The eternal antagonism of~ holy God to ill of every kind necessitates it. And as surely as God is ever on the side of right, so surely will he have it shown, ere long, that such is the case. Then let the sinner, condemned even now by his own conscience-how much more by God !-flee for refuge from the coming storm. There is a refuge; it is ours the moment that we flee to it. But if when the storm comes we are not found there, we must perish- perish with the double disapproval of Heaven on our heads: disapproved as breakers of law; disapproved as neglecters of grace.
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 2-10, 18-22.-0bligations arising from personal experience. "Chastise- ment" (ver. 2) in its wide sense of discipline, The educative process by which God 2M THE DOOK OF DEtJTERO:N"OM\', ton. n. 1-32.