wide in its provisions, adnptation~, and claims. 2. Oontinuo1M11ess. " Sl!lmmer and ~inter." In all _seasons '.'f human life, individually and corpore.tely. (1) It is constant m the fitne.ss of its snpphes for human wants. Men, through all changes, in all places and through 1111 times, want Divine knowledge, moral purity, heavenly foroiveneas' fellowship with the Eternal. The man will never be born who will not require thes~ things. (2) It is oousta.nt in the fwlness of its supplies for human wants. It is an inexhaustible river. After countless myriads have had their wants supplied, it remnine deep and full as e.-er. (3) It is constant in the availableness of its supplies for human wants. Faith is the great condition on which its blessings are communicated, and e'l'ery man can believe. It is just that act of mind that comes within the power of the child and the adult, the learned and the rude, the savage and the sage, the bond and the free, to perform. How obvious, then, our duty and our interest I CoNCLusro:s-. How profoundly thankful should we be to Almighty Love for opening in our world such a "li,iug" river as this! and how earnest should we be in our endea,ours to let its waters flow into every heart and home and land, the world over!-D. T. Vers. 9-11.-The coming 'TTU)f"ai, reign of Goo on the earth. "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth," etc. The subject is the coming moral reign of God on the earth. We say moral, for physically he reigns everywhere. Morally, alas I his reign depends upon the will of men, and that will is hostile. As a moral Monarch, the Almighty has to be chosen by his subjects. Three things are suggested in the text as to his coming moral reign on the earth. I. IT IS TO BE EXTENSIVE. "And the Lord shall be King over all the earth." Although in the next verse " all the earth" is rendered " all the land," meaning the land of J udrea, we are authorized to believe that he will one day reign over all the. earth; that all souls will bow to his influence, as the ripened fields of autumn to the winds of heaven. His kingdom shall come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. IL IT IS TO BE EXCLUSIVE. "In that day there shall be one Lord, and hie name One." He will be regarded as the one King whose laws all study and obey. The great question of a.ll souls will be, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" No other power will rule the soul where he becomes the moral Monarch, III. IT WILL BE BENEFICENT. "All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rim.moo south of Jerusalem." 'l'aking vers. 10 and 11, we gather at least two beneficent results of his moral reign. 1. The reTMval of all obstructions to the river of truth. "The land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon," etc. That is, from the northern to the southern boundary of Judaia. 'l'he levelling of this land would not onl, leave Jernsalem conspicuous, but allow the "living waters" to have free flow. 2. ·The eler,ation and establishment of the good. Jerusalem is here repre• sented, not only as being raised and made conspicuous, but as settling down and dwelling securely. "It shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place." There shall be no more utter destruction; Jerusalem shall be safely inha..bited. CoNCLUSION. Who will not pray, "Let thy kingdom come, and thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven"? Let God reign on earth, and all obstructions to the progress of truth will be removed, and his people will be exalted and established for ever.-D. T.
Vers. 12-15.-The el,ements by which the Divine government punishes sin. "And this shall be the plague " etc. In the third verse of this chapter we are told that "the Lord shall go forth and'fight against those nations," that is, against those nations com- prehended in the armies which destroyed Jerusalem; and we have ,el_sewhere en?ea- voured to illustrate how God punishes bad men by bad men. 'Ibis passage 1s a further illustration of the idea. 'l'here are three elements of punishment which Jeho.-ah is represented as employing in these verses-physical diseases, mutual ani- mosity, and temporal losses. I. PHYSICAL DISEASES. "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against J~rusalem; their flesh shall c_onsum_e away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away 1n their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." "This description of on. XIV, 1-21.] THE ROOK OF ZECHARTAH. 171