to determine the service it shall render. 2. There is a sense in which man has tem- porarily thwarted the Divine idea. For is not all sin, and are not all the dire conse- quences of sin, a sad and serious departure from the purpose of the Holy One? Surely infidelity, blasphemy, vico, cruelty, crime; surely poverty, misery, starvation, death;- all this is not what the heavenly Father meant for his human children when he breathed into man's nostrils the bre!!.th of life. But the leading idea of the text is- II. Tm: PERMANl!:NCY OF THE DIVINE THOUGHT. '!'his truth includes: 1. The fixed- ness of the Divine purpose. "'l'be counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of hie heart to all generations" (Ps. xxxiii. 11). We believe that from the beginning God intended to work out the righteousness and the blessedness of the human race; and whatever has come between him and the realization of his gracious end will be cleared away. Man will one day be all that the Eternal One designed that he should become. 2. The constancy of the Divine Law. The same great moral laws, and the same physical Jaws also, which governed the action and the destiny of men in primeval times still prevail, and will always abide. Sin has meant suffering and sorrow, righteousness has worked out well-being and joy; diligence has been followed by fruitfulness, and idleness by destitution; generosity has been recompensed with love, and selfishness with leanness of soul, etc. As it was at the beginning, so will it be with the action of all Divine laws, even to the end. 3. The permanency of the Divine attitude. (1) What God always felt toward sin he feels to-day; it is the thing which he hates. In Jesus Christ, as fully and as emphatically as in the Law, his holy intoler- ance of sin is revealed, his Divine determination to conquer and to destroy it. (2) What God always felt toward the sinner he feels to-day-a Divine grief and an infinite compassion; a readiness to forgive and to restore the penitent. III. THE DIVINE DESIGN. "God doeth it, that men should fear before him." God's one unchanging desire is that his children should live a reverential, holy life before him. All the manifestations of his character that he gives us are intended to lead up to and issue in this. And surely the Divine constancy is calculated to promote this as nothing else would. It is God's desire and his design concerning us, because he knows (1) that it is the only right relationship for us to sustain; and (2) that it is the one coudition of peace, purity, blessedness, life.-C.
Vere. 18-21.-Before and after (Jhrist. These words have a strange sound in our ears; they evidently do not belong to New Testament times. They bring beforo us- I. MAN'S UNENLIGH'rENED CONCEPTION OF HIMSELF. It is evidently possible that, under certain conditions, men may judge themselves to be of no nobler nature than that of " the beasts that perish." It may be (1) bodily suffering or weakness ; or (2) untoward and disappointing circumstances; or (3) bewilderment of mind after vain endeavours ·to solve great spiritual problems; or ( 4) the distracted and unnatural state of the society in which we are placed (see Cox's 'Quest of the Chief Good'); but, owing to some one of many possible causes, men mny be driven to take the lowest view of human nature; so much so that they may lose all respect for themselves-may shut the future life entirely out of view, and live in the narrow circle of the present; mD-y confine their ambition and aspiration to bodily enjoyment and the ex.citements of present occupation; may practically own themselves to be defeated, and go blindly on, 'hoping nothing, believing nothing, o.nd fearing nothing." Such a melD-ncholy con- clusion (1) does us sad dishonour; (2) has a demoralizing influence on character and life ; (3) yields a wretched harvest of despair and self-destruction. In most happy contrast with this is- II. 'l'HE VIEW OF OUR NATURE WHI0H CBRIBT BAS GIVEN us. He asks us to think how "much a man is better than a sheep," and reminds us that we are "of more value than many spa1Tows." He bids us realize that one hnman soul is worth more than "the whole world," and that there is nothing so costly that it will represent its value. Ho reveals to us the supreme and most blessed fact that each human spirit is the object of Divine solicitude, and may find a home in the Father'-s heart of love nt once, and in his nearer presence soon. He assures us that there is a glorious future before every man that becomes the subject of his kingdom, and serves faithfully to the end. Unrler his teo.chin"' instead of seeing that "they themselves are beasts,'' his disciples fi11d themselves r.'children of their Father who i~ in heaven,"" kings 11ud prie~ts unto God," ECCLESIASTES. G 82 ECCLESIASTES; OR, 1'HE PREA.CIIER [011. Ill, 1-22,
"heirs of eternal life." Coming after Christ, and learning of him, we see that we are capable of a noble heritage now, and move toward a still nobler estate a little further O!l.-C.