HOMILETICS. Ver. 3.-Spare oitr life I Was ever so unexpected a request presented as this? When the king in bis capricious favour offered bis consort whatsoever she desired, even to the ha!£ of his kingdom, she asked what might have been naturally enough implored from the royal clemency by some wretched malefactor condemned to expiate his crimes by death. Give us, me and my people, our life I How strange a boon to beg I A queen high in favour, at a royal banquet, to ask that her life should be spared, and her kindred delivered from an unjust and violent end-in fact, a massacre I Thus were the eyes of the king opened to the infamy of his minister, and thus was Esther made the agent in the redemption of Israel. In this petition we have an example of the request which, as suppliant sinners, we are bound to offer before the throne of grace. It implies- I. A SENSE OF DANGER. It is something to be alive to this. Esther had only lately come to know of the peril in which she and her countrymen and country- women Rtood. Awake to the impendmg danger, she was emboldenod to urge her plea. So with us. A worse enemy than Haman has plotted agaiDst the children of men. A worse fate than massacre awaits those who fall iDto the snare of the foe. The word of God comes to us as a word of warniDg, urgmg us to "flee from the wrath to come." Bondage is bad, but death is worse. And "the wages of siD is death." II. A HOPE OF DELIVERANCE. Esther had her fears ; she had gone iD, sayiDg, "If I perish, I perish I " Yet she was encouraged by the gracious demeanour and the generous promise of the king. Therefore she said, "If I have found favour in thy sight, 0 king, and if it please the king." We have no need of such" ifs" in our approach and our prayer to the King of heaven. He "delighteth in mercy.'' "If we confess our ams, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Our hope in Divine mercy is well founded; for it i:i founded both upon Divine promises and upon the "unspeakable gift," which is both the means and the pledge.of the gift of pardon and tho gift of life. III. A DESIRE FOR THE SALVATION OF OTHERS. Esther was not so selfish as to ask that she and her kinsman, Mordecai, might be spared; her desire was that the whole nation of the Jews might be delivered, Similar was the attitude of Paul, who said, "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they may be saved I " ,vhen we seek salvation through Christ we cannot seek it for ourselves alone ; we shall pray for our households, for our nation, for our race. "Thy light, that on our souls hath shone Leads us in hope to thee : Let us not feel its rays alone- .Alone thy people be. 0 bring our dearest friends to God ; Remember those we love ; Fit them on earth for thine abode, Fit them for joys above.". i:S1 llllll. K 130 THE BOOK OF ESTHER. [CH. VII, 1-10
Vere. 9, 13,--:-The opprused ave:n,ged. This wae indeed the hand-as the heathen would have said, of Nemesis-as we Christians say, of a righteous God and Ruler. UI?on the tree erect.ad for the impalement of Mordecai, the cruel, bloodthirsty con- spirator I!'aman was s~ntenced himself to die. " The gods are just, and of our pleasant nces make whips to scourge us." I. OFTEN WE OBSERVE, FOR A WHILE, INNOCENCE SUFFERING AND THREATENED, AND ~ POWERFUL, INSOLENT, AND TRIIJMPHANT. Never was a more striking instance of tins than was furnished at the court of the Persian king. Yet since the world began similar spectacles have been beheld. II. A RIGHTEOUS AND ALMIGHTY RULER LOOKS DOWN FROM HIS THRONE AND OBSERVES sr:cH SCENES_. It is not we_ only wh? mark the inequalities and apenrent wrongs of buman hfe. An all-seemg Eye 1s ever upon the prosperous smner and the afflicted saint. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Ill. THE TIME WILL COME WHEN THE OPPRESSOR SHALL BE BROUGHT LOW, AND THE LOWL y AND RIGHTEOUS SHALL BE EXALTED. Perhaps, ILS in the case before us, in this world ; assuredly in the general judgment. "The Lord reigneth ; " and though he may have reasons we cannot fully understand for permitting the temporary reign of injustice, the Judge of all the earth shall assuredly do right. Ver. 10.-Wrath/<Uified. Ahasuerus, unlike Jonah, 11 did well to be angry." Haman had plotte against the life of his favourite queen, and one of his most serviceable friends, !I.Ild against an unoffending, community. And he had all but usurped the royal authority in causing the gallows to be reared on which he intended that Mordecai should be put to death. A right.eous anger led to what would have been deemed in him, an arbitrary sovereign, a just act of retribution. And only when the judicial sentence was carried out against the offender was II the king's wrath pacified." I. BUMAN ANGER. 1. This is sometimes right.eous. "Be ye angry and sin not." Indignation against wrong and wrath with the oppressor are virtues, without which man is scarcely human. 2. Anger is always to be treated with suspicion. We are all prone, like Ahasuerus, to be angry with what hurts ourselves, and our sense of our rights and dignity, rather than with what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Let us ask ourselves whether our anger is justifiable--is sympathy with the Divine right- eo11Bness, or is mere selfish passion. 3. Anger should not be confounded with personal revenge. Wrath may be pacified by malevolent action, and then "sin lieth at the door." II. DrvINE ANGER. 1. God is angry-with the wicked-every day. The Scrip- tures represent him as regarding the evil-doing of men with displeasure and with wrath. 2. In the midst of wrath God remembers mercy. This is the message of the gospel, which does not conceal God's indignation at sin or his displeasure with the sinner; but shows that he is just, and the Justifier of the believer in Christ. He condemns the sin in pardoning the sinner. "Thou wast angry; but thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst us." Lessons :-1. Rejoice that God is pacified and reconciled. 2. .Accept his offers of mercy. 3. Seek to share his placable and forgiving spirit.