3. Assuring offenders of reconciliation and favour. It is in this manner that the words of Christ's gospel are emphatically "words of peace." III. w· ORDS OF TRUTH ARE THE SUREST FOUNDATION FOR WORDS OIi' PEACE. The peace brought about by false words is hollow, temporary only, and vain. But the full truth being declared, a sound and lasting peace may follow, heralded and assured by appropriate words. The Christian revelation exactly agrees with the description of these words ; it brings trut,h to our understanding and peace to heart and life. Ver. 31.-Fasting and crying remembered amidst feasting and singing. It is not good to banish from the mind perils and sorrows tlirough which we have passed and from which we ha,e been delivered. In times of prosperity and rejoicing it i~ well to keep before us the mutability of all earthly things. Life is a chequered scene, a changing landscape. To-day is unlike yesterday, and unlike to-morrow. Undue elation and undue depression are alike unworthy of the Christian. By remembering past griefs, troubles, and dangers- I. WE DISPOSE OURSELVES TO HUMILITY. Such was our lot, such our position, such our apprehensions and alarms but a short time since. Let us not then be puffed up with self-satisfaction because the cloud has blown over and the sky is blue again. II. WE ENCOIDI.AGE GRATITUDE. Who has turned fasting to feasting, and crying to songs? God is our deliverer; he has "turned again our captivity." To him be praise. III. WE SEASON AND BRIGHTEN OUR JOYS. It is pleasant to look back upon the shipwreck from which we have been rescued, the battle out of which we have come unscathed ; it gives a zest to the enjoyments of to-day when we remember the bitterness and the anguish of days gone by. IV. WE FOSTER A SPIRIT OF DEPENDENCE AND CONFIDENCE IN Goo. Unmixed pros- perity is not favourable to spiritual life. "Sweet are the uses of adversity." Remember your complaints and prayers, and bow they were heard and answered from above. "He drew you out of many waters." So shall your trust be steadfast and sustaining. V. WE ENJOY A FORETASTE OF SOME OF THE JOYS OF HEAVEN. When we come to the rest above, we shall look back wonderingly, gratefully, upon the scene of conflict from which we shall then be delivered ; it will seem perhaps largely a scene of fast- ing and of crying. And the retrospect will surely enhance the "pleasures which are for evermore." Ver. 32.-" Wriften in the book." Tradition is the simplest mode of transmitting what is memorable from generation to generation. Ordinances, festivals, celebra- tions, are a kind of acted tradition, and have always been in use among nations and religious communities. But there are certain respects in which literature is preferable to either oral tradition or commemorative festival, and certainly these receive force and point and power from what is written in their explanation. The origin of the feast of Purim was committed to the form and keeping of literature. Whether the reference is to the Book of Esther, or to the chronicles of the Persian kingdom, or to some other document, is matter of dispute. In any case, the story was "written in a book "-in a scroll of manuscript, from which copies were made for the use and information of those interested in the events recorded. Thie literary document- L SECURED AN ACCURATE RECORD. Tradition is proverbially untrustworthy. The only thoroughly trustworthy evidence for the historian is that furnished by contem- porary documentR. II. DIFFUSED GOOD TIDINGS. Copies were multiplied, and wherever people of Hebrew race were found, there this delightful story pul'llued them. llL PERPETUATED LASTING MEMORY, AND INSURED UNIVERSAL CELEBRATION. As a matter of fact, the record has assisted towards these ends. The roll of Esther ie unfolded, and the story read, even to this day, in the Jewish synagogues throughout the world. IV. AWAKENED UB'll'AILING GRATITUDE. The book does not contain the name of God, but God himself is apparent on every page, and its reading cannot fail to stimu1ate thanksgiving and praise. How grateful should we be that the great facts en. 1x. 1--32. J 'fHE BOOK OF ESTHER. 163
of the gospel ho.ve been committed to writing, o.nd that we possess in the Scriptures the meo.ns of verifying our most sacred beliefs I
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vars. 2-5.-A reign of te:rror. " The Jews gathered themselves together in their cities," &c. There were many greedy to possess the property of the Jews, and such as cherished spite a.go.inst them, who were glad of the permission to slay and plunder which Ha.man's letters go.ve. When the king's letters which reached the Jews gav~ them permission to withstand those who opposed, there must have been great per- plexity in mo.ny minds and fear in many hearts. I. FOOLISH LAWS BRING ABOUT REIGNS OF TERROR. The foolish consent of the king became law, o.nd then by another absurd law it could not be changed or checked. II. IN REIGNS OF TERROR THE INNOCENT HA VE TO SUFFER WITH THE GUILTY. III. IN REIGNS OF TERROR THE GOOD MUST STAND TOGETHER. In the world there is a great fight for goodness, truth, and Christ to be still waged. Anarchy suits the prince of darkness. The Christian is in every sense the friend of order, good govern- ment, and righteousness.-H. Vers. 27, 28.-...4. memorial/east. "And the Jews ordained and took upon them ... that these days should be remembered." I. The memorial feast was in recognition of a great DELIVERANCE. The deliverance effected by Mordecai and Esther for the Jews, hints at that effected for us by Jesus. There are points of great similarity. The Lord's Supper is not only a feast of love, but in memory of our great deliverance from sin and death. II. The memorial was ordained READILY. Gratitude led to this. A. further object was a desire to stimulate to similar faith in God in further circumstances of trial. III. The memorial was to be PERPETUAL. How faithfully have the Jews of every age kept that which was" ordained." We should keep that which Jesus instituted. Parents may lay upon their children certain moral obligations, but not now ceremonial burdens. That which they enjoin should be first observed by "themselves. "-H.