use the words of t.hc text to illustrate rna.n's moral mission to the wo1'ld. vVhet"elore nre we in this world? Both the theories and the practical conduct of men give different answers to this all-importa.nt problem. I sha.11 take the answer from the text, and obserVC'-- 1. OUR MISSION HERE IS TO RECEIVE OOMMUNIOATIONS FROM TUE ETERNAL MIND. "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what be will say unto me." That man is constituted for and required to receive communi- cat:::ins from the Infinite Mind, and that be cannot realize his• destiny without this, appears evident from the fo\Iowing considerations. 1. From his nature as a spiritual being. (1) He has an instinct for it. He naturally calls out for the living God. As truly as the eye is made to receive light, the soul is made to receive thought from God. (2) He has a capacity for it. Unlike the lower creatures around us, we can receive the ideas of God. (3) He has a necessity for it. God's ideas are the quickening powers of tlie soul. 2. From his condition as a fallen being. Sin has shut out God from the soul, created a dense cloud between us and him. 3. From the purpose of Christ's mediation. Wby did Christ corne into the world? To bring the human soul a.ud God together, that the Lord might "dwell amongst men." 4. l!rom the special manifesta- tions of God for the purpose. I ~ay special, for nature, history, heart, and· conscience a.re the natural orders of communication between the human and the Divine. But we ba.ve something more than these-the Bible; this is special. Here he speaks to man at snndry times and in divers manners, etc. 5. From the general teaching of the Bible. "Come now, anrl let us reason together," ·etc. ; "Behold, I stand at the door," etc. But how shall we receive these communications? .We must ascend the "tower" of quiet, earnest, devout thought, and there must "watch to see what he will say." 11 OUB MISSION HERE IS TO Il\U'ART COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE ETERNAL MIND. "Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it." From this we may conclude that· writing is both an ancient and a divinely sanctioned a.rt. Thank God for books! That we have to impart as well as to receive is evident: 1. From the tendency of Divine thoughts to express themselves. It is of the natnre of religious ideas that they struggle for utterance. What we have seen and heard we cannot but speak. 2. From the universal adaptation of Divine thoughts. Thoughts from God are not intended merely for certain individuals or classes, but for all the race in all generations. 3. From the spiritua.l dependence of m.an upon man. It is God's plan, that man shall be the spiritual teacher ot' man. 4. From the general teaching of the Bible. What the prophets and apostles received from God they communicated. "When it pleased God to reveal his Son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood," etc. (Gal. i. 16). • !If. OI71l MISSION HERE IS TO PRACTICALLY REALIZE COMMUNIOATIONB FROM THE ETEiu-A.L Mn."ll. "Though it tarry, wait for it," etc. The Div'ine thoughts which we receive we a.re to realize in our daily life, practically to work ont. Here, then, is our moral mission. We are here, brothers, for these three purposes; not for onti of them only, but for all. God is to be everything to us; he is to fill up the whole sphere of our being, our "all in all." We are to be bis auditors, hearing his voice in everything; we are to be his organ, conveying to others 'what be has conveyed to us; we a.re to be his representatives, manifesting him in every act of our life. All we say and do, our looks and mien, are to be rays reflected from the Father of lights. CONCLUSION. From this subject we may learn: 1. The reasonableness of reUgion. W1at is it? Simply to receive, propagate, and develop communications from the Infinite Mind. What can be more sublimely reasonable than this? 2. The grandeur of a religious life. What is it? 'l'he narrowness, the intolerance, the bigotry, the selfishness of many religionists lead sceptics to look upon religion with derision. But what is it? To be a di~ciple of the all~'k.nowing God, a mini,;ter of the all-ruling God, e. representative of the all-glorious God. ls there ~nything grander? 3. The.Junction of Christianity. What is it? To induce, to qualify, and enable men to receive, com- municate, and to live the great thoughts of God.-D. T._
Ver. 4.-The portraiture of a good man. "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upii"ht in him: but the just shall live by bis faith." Whether the man whose soul is rer,resentcd as "lifted up" refers to the unbelieving Jew or to the Babyloniau, is on. u. 1-20,] 'l'HE BOOK OF HABAKKUK. 43