tbou~ands of ears, and was he11.rd of by m11.ny thousands more. By the very directions l'f our Lord, we are to proclaim to the many, not to whisper to a few. ~ VI. Suell OPEN HERALDING SHOULD PREVENT ANY ONE WHO HEARS THE MESSAGE FROM CHERISHING THE HOPE OF SCREENING HIMSELF UNDER FALSE PRETENCES, 'l'he following passages may be compared with our text :-Ezek. xxxiii. 2-5, 9 ; Matt. xii, 41, 42; viii. 11, 12. If any one, having heard the gospel message in all its fulness and freeness, should ever attempt to throw the blame of his destruction upon others, th1.. light of eternity will be to his complete unmasking and discomfiture. No false pretences -n·ill stand in the judgment (Ps. i.). YI!. AN OUTLOOK SUCH AS THIS HAY WELL GIVE A DEEP AND DEEPENING EARNESTNESS TO A PREACHER'S T01'7>. Specially : 1. If he is nearing the close of his course. 2. If a year is approaching its close. 3. If he realizes the thought that soon, very soon, some of his bearers may be in the eternal world. 4. If be gives due heed to the thought that, even apart from the possible nearness of tho next life, tho accidents of time> may make the period exceedingly short for teaching and warning any one in- dividual. VIII. AFTER ALL, THERE 1B A LIMIT BEYOND WHICH NO IIERALD FOR GoD CAN GO. He may teach and warn and plead, but when he has done that-where his responsibility ends, that of the hearer begins; ver. I 9, " therefore choose life." The preacher witnesses. The bearer must be left alone with God and his own conscience to decido the all- important question, on which a whole eternity depends. Man can direct his fellow- man to God. He may plead and beseech, even weeping. He may, as in Christ's stead, pray, "Be reconciled to God." But on the hearer alone tho full responsibility for tho final step must rest. We may point to God: but we cannot come between the soul and God. We can herald the way: but we cannot lead the soul along the paths of righteous- ness (Ezek. xxxiii. 4). Hence the final word must be, "Choose life." "Choose ye this <lay whom ye will serve." With the power of free choice man cannot interfere. With it God will not trifle. And what should be the effect of such an appeal, but to shut the sinner up alone with his God, that between him and Heaven the great matters of life and death may be decided, and that, with the judgment seat alone in view, in full sincerity of soul, the sinner, pressed with the weight of the Divine claims, may then and there " repent," and "yield himself unto God"? And if then, conscious of the feebleness of a will weakened by t:o oft determining on the wrong side, he cries, "Lord, help me, and I will be thine for ever," a regal love shall cancel past sin and completely forgive; and a gracions power shall care the weakness and perfectly restore I
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-10.-Israel's restrn-ation. The blackness of the picture of Israel's rejection and desolation is relieved by this rim of gold on the further edge. The verses seem to teach not only that if Israel repent, mercy awaits it, but that Israel will repent; that a day of repentance is ordained for it-a day in which the veil that has been so long left ]yin" on Jewish hearts will be lifted off, and the nation will mourn for him whom it has pierced and has so long rejected (Zech. xii. 9-14; Rom. xi. 25-33; 2 Cor. iii. 14-16). The result will be the incorporation of the Israelitish people into Christ's kingdom, with possibly restoration to the land given them as a natio~al possession, and blessings, temporal and spiritual, beyond those bestowed upon their fathers (ver. 5), In a wider regard, the passage teaches- I. 'THAT IN MAN'S CONVERSION, IT IS THE SINNER, NOT GoD, WHO CHANGES. Israel Is saved at last, not by any lowering of the standard of holiness, or by any change in God's requirements, or by any new and easier way of life being discovered than that originally provided, but by Israel coming round to God's way of thinking, and doing In the end what God pleaded wilh it to do at first (ver. 2). After all their sorrowful experiences, the people are brought to this: that they must submit to do what they were told in the beginning that they ought to do. It is so always. There can be no change on God's part. If the sinner is to be saved, it is he who must forsake his thoughts and hu ways (Isa. lv. 7), He must do at last what he now feels he has not the least Ott, Xll, 1-20.] THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY, f69