1'-liatc,-cr ,kvclopments of ungodliness or of unbelief, of immorality or of heresy, may de,·clop themseh-cs, are all known to him who seeth the end from the beginning, II. \\"ITH FUTURE EVIL FOLL IN VIEW, GOD HAS IIAD !IIS OWN WORD PUT DOWN IN ,rnrTn-G. The words of Moses, of i11e prophets, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of his npC1,tle~ are faithfully recorded. They have suffered no material change through e,ll the accidents of transition (Phil. iii. 1). Paul felt what a safeguard it would be for after ages to have his words written down, and sent to the Churches, that they might be h~- them ~narded, distributed, and taught (sec ver. 19). III. TnE ·wo1m OF GOD, SO RECORDED, IS A PERPETUAL STANDARD OF APPEAL FOI\ E,EnY AGE. ""hnte,cr corrupt.ions may enter into or fasten on the Churches; however oral tradition may change the original form of Divine communication,-tbo written -n-ord clrnngcth not. Bow very soon Churches as Churches may drift far away from the true in lnith and the holy in life, the Epistles to the Churches in Galatia, Corinth Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Laodicea, tell. \Ve see by them bow very soon ou; faith might be seriously obscured or impaired if dependent merely on the oral transmission of any Church. l V. BY THE PURE WORD OF GOD, ABERRATIONS MAY FROM TIME TO THIE BE CORRECTED, It is by the Church that the Word of God is kept and transmitted. It is by the Word so kept and transmitted that the C~~rcb is to be tested. Hence, whatever respect it may he appropriate to pay to the dec1s10n of a Church or of Churches, those decisions are \'nli<l only as they harmonize with what the Lord hath spoken in his revealed Word. Whnt.c,er will not abide the test of an appeal to the Book of God, with it Christian Churches and people should have nothing to do. Of how much importance our Lord regarded this final test is seen by his frequent appeal to what is written. Whether he was in conflict with the evil one, or was himself exposing or denouncing evil, his ultimate reference was to what God bad said. Y. CONSEQUE~""TLY, BY HAVING IN OUR HA!\'"DS A PERPETUAL STANDARD OF REFERENCE, WE HAVE A CO!s"STANT Al>'"D UNVARYING GUIDE TO WHAT IS RIGHT BOTH IN FAITH AND PRACTICE. The accounts which we get of the after history of the Hebrew nation show us plainly enough how far adrift the people might soon have gone, if their faith bad 1JOt been once for all enshrined and guarded in a book. And so it is in the New Testament. For though we get therein hints of the Church's life for but little more than two generations after they were formed, yet the severe lashings and rebukes which thi; Churches in Coriuth, Galatia, and Colosse required, as well as the seven Churches, show with equal distinctness that our most holy faith might soon have been all but unreco,erable from the mass of corruption, if it, too, had not been recorded in the writings of the apostles and evangelists. But thus recorded it was, and through all the ages it, has been guarded for us as a perpetual standard of appeal. VJ. IF, HOWEVER, WE ARE GUIDED BY THE VARYING OPINIONS AND SINFUL PRACTICES OF !l:EK, Al,'"]) SO !\"EGLECT TO TA.KE HEED TO OUR STANDARDS, THEY WILL BE PERPETUAL WITI-"ESSES AGAlKST us. (Ver. 21.) So our Lord tells the Jews in reference to the departures from the faith and the corruptions in life which marked his time (cf. John v. ii4). And thus it must ever be. The very fact of having a standard of appeal serves two purposes. ·which of the two it will serve so far as we are concerned depends on the use we make thereof. If we abide by it and conform thereto, it will verify our belief and justify our life. But if we depart from it, it can only act as a witness against us to condemn us. Every privilege is thus two-edged. If used aright, it helps us ; if disused or abused, it will be for a perpetual reproof. So it is with parental advice, with a teacher's counsew, with a pastor's pleadings, with a Saviour's invitations : accepted and heeded, they will be a perpetual joy; but if made light of, they will plunge daggers ioto the soul. VII. THIS SILENT ACCUSATION GOING ON NOW, FORESHADOWS A MOilE SERIOUS (,'IlmINATION AT THE JUDGMENT DAY. (Uf. Matt. xi. 22, 24; xii. 41, 42.) 'l'he whirl of life, and the surroundings of flesh and sense, conceal from many the Rpiritual world. But it exists. And when we are summoned hence we shall see it and know H. We shall feel oursel"1"cs with God-alone, And this-this will be the beginning of that awful proce86 of judgment which, on the last day, is to be consummated and scaled. A.nd what sore condemnation must await those to whom God has spoken in his Word for ytars on years, but in ,ain (see Ezek. xxxiii.) ! Ott. xxxt. 1-30.] THE BOOK OF D~UTERONOMY. 485
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS.