silver vessels used at the royal feast were token out of the temple which wa~ at Jerusalem. "No more," says an old writer, "of what we have is to be reckoned ours than what we came honestly by. Nor will it long be ours, for wealth gotten by vanity will soon diminish." Take away the ill-gotten wealth of the nations of Europe- wealth gotten by fraud and violence-and how greatly will they be pauperized ! How much of our national wealth has come to us honestly? A question this worth the impartial investiii:ation of every man, and which must be gone into sooner or later. 2. Dominant materialism. "And to him that ladeth himseH with thick clay." Although some render this" ladeth himself with many pledges," our version, which gives the word "clay," will cover all. The burning and insatiable desire of Babylon was for material wealth; and the men or the nation who succeed in this, only Jade themselves with "thick clay." It is a bad thing for moral spirits to be laden with "thick clay." See the individual man who so pampers his animal appetites until he becomes a Falstaff. His spirit is laden with "thick clay." See the nation whose inspiration is that of avaricious merchandise, and whose god is mammon; its spirit is laden with "thick clay." Ah me I what millions are to be found in all civilized countries who are buried in "thick clay" I Clay is everything to them. 3. Extensive plunder. "Thou hast spoiled many nations." The first monarchy we read of in Holy Scripture is that of the Assyrians, begun by Ninus, of whom Nineveh took name, and by Nimrod, whom histories call Belus, and after him succeeded Semiramis his wife. Thie monarchy grew, by continual wars and violences on their neighbours, to an exceeding height and strength; so that the exaltation of that monarchy was the ruin of many nations, and this monarchy lasted, as some write, annos 1300. 4. Ruthless violence. "Because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein." "The terms 'men,' 'land,' 'earth, 'city,'" says Henderson, "are to be understood generally, not restricted to the Jews, their country and its metropolis." What ocean, of the blood of all countries were shed by these ruthless tyrants of Babylon! II. THE NATIONAL WOES. All these wrongs, as all other wrongs, run into woes. Crimes lead tu calamities. What are the woes connected with these wrongs, as given in these verses? 1. The contempt of the injured. "Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that la.doth himself with thick clay I" The woe comes out in a derisive song, which continues to the end of the chapter. Dishonesty and low animalism must ever sink the people amongst whom they prevail into bitter contempt. Scarcely can there be anything more painful than the contempt of others when it is felt to be deserved. To be sneered at, laughed at, ridiculed, scorned,-is not this bitterly afflictive? Jeremiah predicted that one part of the punishment should be that he should be laughed to scorn. 2. The avenging of the spoiled. " Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee." Here is retaliation-plunder for plunder, blood for blood. Divine retribu- tion often pays man back in his own coin. "With what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again." CoNOLUSION. Ever under the righteous administration of Heaven woes tread closely on the heel of wrongs. More certainly than the waves of the ocean follow the moon must suffering follow sin. To every crime there is linked a curse, to every sin a suffering, to every wrong o woe. Be sure that "your sins will find you out."-D. T.
Vere. 9-11.-National wrongs ending in national woes. No. 2. "Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to hie house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil I Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone-shall cry ~:t of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it." Notice- :1. THE NATIONAL WRONGS HERE INDICATED. 1. Ooveti11g the possessions of others. "Woe to him that coveteth an evil oovetousness to hiij house I" "An evil covetous- ness I" There is a good covetousness. We are commanrled to "covet earnestly the best gifts" (l Cor. xii. 31). But to hunger for those things which are not our own, but the property of others, and that for our own gratification and a~grandizement, is fre siu which is prohi•ited in the Decalogue, which is denounced in the Gospel as a cardinal 46 THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK.