condition H divided into three great strearr.s, represented by Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and it is found by scholars now that this is still the substantial division of the human race. But everywhere we find the condition of the shortened life. "Brief life is here our portion." And this is made one of the most important influences in the moral training of mankind. Show how it fills each day with importance-; prevents any man reaching extreme degrees of crime; solemnizes with the shadow of coming jndgment, etc. Now, he on'.y" liveth long who Jiveth well;" and we need to pray with Moses, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom." Impress the duty of seeking at once salvation, and at once to be found faithful, in view of the brevity of our life. Compare Jo.cob's confession, "Few and evil have the days of the years of my life been," etc.-R. 'l'. Ver. 10.-Nimrod, the first conqueror. Previous to this verse we find recorrlPC! only names. Nimrod is recalled to mind by a brief but suggestive description. "He began to be mighty upon the earth." It is further narrated in Genesis (x. 9) that "he was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord." From this it appears that proverbs and legends grew up round his name. "The Eastern traditions make him a man of violent, lawless habits, a rebel against God, and a usurper of boundless authority over his fellow-men." It may suffice, however, to recognize in him the first person to develop war as an agency for subjecting some portions of the human family to the dominion of others. He is the first warrior, the progenitor of the Alexandtrs and Napoleons, the great world-conquerors. Many men live to serve their generation, and then they die and pass away out of thought, and their very names are forgotten, But they leave their work and the influence of their characters behind them: these can never die. This mu.~t be the lot of the greab' majority of mankind; and yet even thus every man may gain a gracious immortality. "He may still be remembered by what he has done." Other men leave their names behind affixed to some principle or truth, and then, though the name is to us no more than a name, it serves to recall the principle. A!ld this we have in the case of Nimrod. His name brings up to our minds the ruin and the sin of man's masterfulness over his fellow-men. The ruin and the sin are set forth in very impressive forms in the cases of such conquerors as Nimrod; but the mischief is wrought still, and has been wrought through all the ages, in the smaller spheres of the family, society, the nation, and the Church. There are still Nimrods, who are bent on self-aggrandizement, and think little of the claims or the sufferings of others, as they tread on to place :md wealth and power. The essence of their masterfulness is that they win and hold for self, not for God. 'l'o win and hold for God always tones our relations with others, and makes them tcntler, considerate, and gracious. I. MAN'S MASTERFULNESS IMPERILS THE LIBERTIES OF HIS FELLOW-MAN. Nimrod was a hunter. ,ve only hunt to bring under subjection to us. Nimrod was a hunter of men, that ho might subject them as slaves to his authority. Illustrnte in cases of olher world-conquerors, and show how absorbing becomes the lust of power. All tho nations of the earth have had to win the measures of liberty they enjoyed, by struggle and tears and blood, from those who held them in subjection. Eastern kings were always independent and tyrannical; and still, in the smaller spheres of associate life, the masterful men are always inconsiderate of others, and delight to make others subject to them. This masterfulness is sometime~ the natural disposition; then it must be repressed and over.:oroe, in the grace and help of God. At other times it is unduly fostered by the circumstances in which men are placed, and the deference that is paid to them; then we need to "watch and pray lest we enter into temptation." 'l'ho "golden :-ule" cuts it down at the very root. He will never show himself to be masterful who strives "to do unto others 11s he would have others do unto him." Godliness and masterfulness can never dwell together in peace, for the godly man obeys the Divine Law, aad seeks to "love his neighbour as himself." II. MAN'S MASTERFULNESS IlllPEHILS THE HONOUR AND THE CLAIMS OF ms Gon. It si:ts the man in the world's eye as before God, able to control things, needing no Di vino a1,ls, sufficient in himself; and so puts God out of men's thoughts, moro especially it the masterful man succmls. Compare Nclmch:tdnezzar's boasting," fa not this grca~ THE Ii'IRST IlOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [en. I, 1-54-,
Ilabylon, t!iat I have built?" For multit~d_es Nimrod was the great hero, nnd ~1cn worsb1pped_the masterfu~ man. Sure_ly 1t 1s a fatal thing for any one of us that, 111stead of strindmg on one side and showmg God to our fellows, we stand before him and only let men see ourselves. Yet this is still the temptation and the peril of th~ masterful man, in any and every sphere of life.-R. T •