three such incentives a! these together, and they will rarely fail to find their converts of some amongst a number. Moreover, great as is the contagion of evil, as seen when the multitude ~ill flock together to do evil, yet, on the other hand, correspondingly great is the attraction of goodness. The multitude of those who worship, the multitude of those who keep the holy day, the multitude of those who join to work in and for the Lord's temple, literal or spiritual,-all these are facts as patent, bearing witness to the affection that will subsist to the highest ends, within a multitude bent on good, as other facts bear patent witness to the contagion that works in a multitude to do evil. The happier aspect of the multitude is here before us. The shepherd-king is shepherd- ing rightly, with truth to tbe Law, with careful warning for all as regards the past, with a. faithful rebuke of others, and loving confession of his own-and the whole people concerned are as one man. They are of one heart, of one mind, and they proceed to be of one deed. V. A SIMILAR READINESS ALSO ON THE PART OF ALL TO ACCEPT THE EXACT PLACE AND DUTY FOB WHICH THEY WERE RESPECTIVELY MOST FITTED. This feature of the occasion is shadowed forth in all the careful and nice order of the proceedings from beginnin~ to end. But it is more than shadowed forth in the distinct emphasis of allusions, such as those of vers. 16, 17, 22, 24, which point to the hiernrchy, so to say, of office, of gift, of grace. The Church of God as it is in perpetual quest of the brotherhood of humanity, so is it,pari passu, perpetually contributing to reproduce the order, the very cosmos of the world. One of the gri.ndest evidences of the presence of the living Spirit of God in any portion of the Church is the visible presence of order. St. Paul loved to lay stress upon this: "Let all things be done decently and in order;" "Peace ... as in all Churches of the saints." That Church of living, modern times, that may first and best find all its members awake, all ready for work, each falling into his assigned place without pride or without envy, without murmur or without assumption, will first and best prove the Divine presence and glory, and challenge a usefulness anrl "praise in the earth" for Zion, hitherto unknown except by scantiest earnest. There are those who are born teachers and leaders in the Church of Christ, and that Church provides the scene of veryvarioUB "skill." It is, perhaps, because,some or other forms of" skill'' are wrongly disbelieved, sceptically distrusted, or even disclaimed in some quarters in modern days, that our presentations of the Church often seem to l11ck loveliness, to fail in finding sphere for the gift of all and each, anrl what should be the most attractive possible form of human society is shorn of any native grace. The light and folness and the grace and joy of Go,\'s Spirit can never be adequately entertained in any hunmn organi- z11tion, but, on that very account, much less may we circumscribo them within nny artificial lines of our own, making for commandments of the wealthy and be11uty-loving God t.he traditions of hard and poverty-stricken men. VI. MosT GRATEFUL OMENS OF THE DIVINE SATISFACTION, APPROVAL, nLEssmo. It is certain that God has never been slow to acknowledge the service that has been humbly and faithfully done to him. .And it is most noticeable that, nftcr his severest and largest chastisements, swift he will come again to receive and to welcome those who have learnt to set their face again to him. How glad was Noah, when he came forth from the ark to set foot upon a deluged desolate world, to find how the smoke of his sacrifice ascended, acceptable to God, and so accepted by him, that the "Lord smelled a sweet savour, and said in his heart," as we ure told, but evidently so.id elsewhere as well, the words of a reassuring gracious promise, on which the world's life has ever since and safely hung I Of God it may well be said, " He smites to heal." And so now, when all is done reverently and in order, and the whole scene is sacred wilh obedience and with practical repentance, God's "help" was given, and it was felt such a comfort, such an encouragement, such II present performed blessing, that anon the whole procession halts to offer" sacrifices of joy," and tp "sing, yea, sing praises to the Lord." It is observable that we are not told how the Lord "helped the Levites that bare the ark," or in what signs and indications they recognized his helping presence. It may have been that as they feared to lift, lest another fatal stroke of the invisible mighty hand should descend, no such stroke foll, and the departing of fear was equivalent to a very inrushing of joy and confidence. 'l'heir bands were stronger, their feet walked more steadily, their shoulders rrjoiced in their hallowed burden. 'l'hey didn't stumble. The inner peace and confidence that God's true and faithful children and servants know, 23G THE FIRST BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES. [en, xv. 1-20,
even e.srly after they have needed the severest chastening, pervade a quickened and iaens1t1ve state of mind, so as to produce convictions, experience, language unintelligible to the world, surpassing all its power to give, outliving all its power to t;ke away. VII. THE OUTCOME OF TRUEST REPENTANCE, THE PUREST SERVICE OF Goo, THE DAY OF HOLIEST DELIGHT A1'"D WORSHIP, WILL OFTEN ENO'UGH FIND SOME FORM OF THE WORLD READY TO FLOUT IT. 'l'he well-known form on this occasion needA not to be dwelt upon. But two things under it are well worthy of note and remembrance. 1. That in the experience of that mortifying irritation or keen grief as the case may be an honest re~rospect will often show that we a:~ wounded _by th~ thorn we once put to our own side. Moreover, the thorn to our spmt often originates with the flesh and the lust of the flesh-what we once hailed as gratification to sense and never thought of pursuing its probable or its possible working any deeper or further I 2. And that in the many instances in which this is not so, we are but again sharers with the apostle and reminded of our need of an humiliating lesson of the flesh, lest we "be exalted above measure P by the blessed, the transporting "revelation of the Spirit."