Dr. George Macdonald expresses it," We are accnstomed to say that we are bodies, nnd have souls; whereas we should say-We are souls, and have bodies." I. MAN'S SOUL IS THE BPHEBE OF Gor,'s MORAL TRAINING. we may see God in history; but his supreme interest is in characters, not i □ events. We may see God in providence; but we fail to see him nri~ht, unless we trace the influence of incidents on our principles and on our spirit. Everything has a moral side and a. moral mission. God is ever moulding disposition and character, which are the shapings of the soul. 'fhis is true of every man. Humanity to God is a collection of spirits, or spiritual beings, set for their moral training in varied bodily forms and relations. II. MAN'S SOUL IS THE SPHERE OF Goo's REDEMPTIONS. The mistake made abont Christ the Saviour in the days of his flesh was quite a representative mistake. Men thought he came to deliver a nation from foreign dominion; whereas he came to save souls from sin. The body-redemptions follow on as the natural consequences of the spiritual redemptions. God's great work is saving souls from death. Therefore it is that before we can hope that Christ and his work will ever be appreciated, we are compelled to awaken soul-anxiety; or, in other worrls, seek to produce conviction of sin. When our Lord's saving work is fully studied as a moral redemption, a quicken- ing of souls with a Divine life rather than an adjustment of broken external relations, the full mystery of it will be revealed and realized. ill. MAN'S SOUL 18 THE SPHERE OF THE DIVINE BANCTIFYINGS. The present work ~f the living Christ, realized by us as the inworking of the Holy Ghost, is not the change of the things with which we have to do, but a change of the relations in which we stand to the things; a change wrought in us-wrought in the souls that we are. 'l'his change, in effect, changes the character of the things with which we have to do. -R.T. Ver. 8.-God inoomparable. "Amon11: the gods there is none like unto thee, 0 Lord." It may be asked-Why should God be compared with gods that Scripture so vigorously declares are no gods? It is enough to reply that all teachers must come down to the level of those whom they would teach; and begin by accepting their ideas in order to lead them on and up t-0 higher and worthier. Calvin puts this point well. "Should any one assert that it is unseemly to compare God to the empty fictions, the answer is easy; the discourse is accommodated to the ignorance of men, because we know how daringly superstitious men raise their whims above the heavens." The psalmist has in view a basis of comparison which is foreign to our mode of thinking. In his day the deities were conceived as limited and local beings, who belonged to particular countries. If the general name Baal wa~ used, some qualifying name was added, which indicated the Baal worshipped in a particular district. With this idea in their miuds, men might say of Jehovah, "He is only the God of Palestine." This view of God the whole Bible vigorously protests against, and claims for Jehovah sole Divinity; he is out of the range of so-called" gods;" he cannot be compared with any. This subject may be opened out, with present-day applications, by showing that- I. God is incomparable as the ONLY UNCAUSED BEING. II. God is incomparable as an UNSEEN SPIRITUAL BEING, III. God is incomparable as an INFINITELY HOLY BEING. IV. God is incomparable as the ONE llEING WHO CLAIMS UNIVERSAL HOMAGE. v. God is incomparable as the BEING WHO HAS ADS0LUTE POWER OVER ALL TIHNGS. VI. God is the BEING WHO REQUIRES A SEBVICI<: OF CHARACTER, expressed in act and conduct-not of conduct alone. Scriptures dwell on this uniqueness of God (see Exod. xv. 11; Deut. iii. 24; Isa. xl. etc.). Being what he is, God aloue, God all-mighty, God all-holy, he rightly claims that we should love him and serve him, "with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength." He must he first with us, because he stands forth before us as incom- parable.-R. T. Ver. 9.-God glorifying his own Name. By letting that Name be known among the Gentiles, so that they glorify him. At last all the world shall unite in lifting up holy hnnds and loving henrts to God, anu unite in singing, " Praiso God, praise Gud • " 2'.'0 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. [rs. tnn1. 1-17.
'l'his conception o~ the universal acknowledgment of Jehovah is strange for an exclusive Jen•, and 1s a foreshadowing of Christian ideas. We are to think of God as see_kin~ the glorif,ri~g of bis Na~e in this-that every creature made in his image umtes m t_he glo~1lyn:~g. "All nat10ns shall come and worship." "'1.'he Gentile deities bemg obviously mfenor to Jehovah, the psalmist foresees that one day the Creator will become known to the Gentiles, and the Church of God be extended without limit." "'l'he pious Jews believed that God's common relation to all would be ultimately acknowl"?ged by all men." The name of God is ~sually and properly regarded as any term which gathers up and expresses the attnbutes and characteristics of God, Illustrate b3• the way in which a simple term will express a scientific theory. I. THE NAME, on NAMES, Gon HAS GIVEN us OF HIMSELF. The earliest name men knew_ seems to_ have been El, which, in a general way, expresses the Oreatorshlp of God. This name 1s common to the human race. It is found in the sinaular and plural forms, a.nd in combination with some other name, as El Shaddai. Then one race knew God in special covenant relations; and as the covenant God he is knoV:n as Jahveh, or Jehovah. As if the thing which man pledges to preserve were the truth of the self-origination, unity, and spirituality of God I Then God found a name for himself ~hich would make constant appeal to ma.n's experience of his dealings, and called himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Then God found precise names for himself, suitable for individuals, or for the nation iu particular circum- stances. Compare the name for Abraham, "I am thy Shield;" for David, "The Lord is my Shepherd ; " for the nation, " The Lord our Righteousness." Lead up to the :fixing of one name for God by the Lord Jesus Christ-" our Father." If God gives us a name for himself, he pledges himself to all tha.t is involved in the name. In faithfulness to what it demands and involves, he will glorify it. 11. THE NAME. OR NAMES, MEN HAVE GIVl!:N TO GOD OUT OF THEIR EXPERIENCE OF ms WAYS. The work of a man's life may be represented as" finding a name of his own for God." It may be the same that some one else has found, and yet be the man's own. In faithfulness to what each man's name for God claim~, each man glorifies him. Then point out that God's name is glorified (1) by being dnly sus- tained ; (2) by being efficiently responded to; and (3) by being widely made known. "Tell it out among the heathen that the Lord is King," and they will swell the chorus of his praise.-R. T.