his tnlrnt.s here ,,ill be found worthy to stand before the Kin", and to be employed by him in brond and blessed spheres of service there. If we would be" accounted worthy·" to do this, we must" watch and pray." 1. We must spend much time with God-in the stndy of his will and in suppliclltion for the quickening influences of his Spirit. 2. Wo must often examine our own hearts, observing our progress or retrogression, ready for the act of penitence, or of praise, or of reconsecration as we find ourselves declining. We must also observe the forces that are around us, and distinguish carefully between the hostile and the friendly, between those which make for folly and for sin and those which lead up to wisdom and to righteousness.-C.
1ers. 5-38.-Preliminaries of the second advent. It would seem that, as an i::J.terlude amid his diligent teaching in Jerusalem, Jesus and the disciples, on their way back to Bethany, had paused on the Mount of Olives and contemplated the temple. The building was a superb one, and so well put together that the disciples and people generally believed it would last till doomsday. Hence, amid their admiration for the gorgeous pile, came their question about the end of the world, which would, they believed, synchronize with that of the temple. Now, our Lord, while prophesying its destruction, warns them not to be mistaken about times and signs. L Ou& LORD WARNS THE DISCIPLES AGAINST FALSE ALARMS. (Vere. 7-9.) He l ndicates that many false Messiahs will arise, declaring their Messiahshi p and the speedy approach of the end. They are to be for the most. part of the military type, for this was the kind of Messiah Israel wanted. The result will of necessity be "wars and tumults." But the disciples ought not to be alarmed at these mere preliminaries. The end would not be "immediately" (Revised Version). It is well known that between our Lord's time and the destruction of Jerusalem quite a number of military and mushroom Messiahs arose, "making confusion worse confounded." They were only the outcome of the people's false hopes, and of no prophetic import. II. THE DISCIPLES, AS THEIR LoBD's WITNESSES, WOULD EXPERIENCE BOTH PERSECU- TIONS "-"'I> INSPillATIONS. (Vera. 10-19.) Andhere the Lord states the.tpersecution of his people would precede national and natural troubles. War, earthquake, and pestilenc. would be the providential judgment upon unrighteous persecution. But the persecuted witnesses should receive the inspiration needful to speak resistlessly. They might be betrayed and martyred, but no real injury would overtake them. " There shall not an hair of your head perish." In this remarkable deliverance of our Lord a.bout perse- cution he implies that his people are really imperishable. The world might do its best to annihilate them by fire and sword; their bones might be scattered, no marble tells whither; but the Lord who loves and prizes his people's dust will reorganize the scattered remains, and demonstrate how absolutely imperishable his people are. Hence he urges patience. "In your patience," he declares, "ye shall win your souls." So that it was a most wonderful preparation of these marked men for martyrdom and all preceding tribulation. Were we more dependent on Divine inspirations, we should be more calm and influential before a hostile world. ill THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM IS DIBTINCTLY FORETOLD AS AN INSTANCE oF DESERVED VENGEANCE. (Vere. 20-24.) .And here the Lord gives his people directions to escape from the doomed city as soon as they should see the armies gather- ing round it. 'l'he siege_ was drawn upon it by no miscon~u~t of theirs, but ~y _the misconduct of their enemies: why, therefore, should the Christians lay down their lives for a false policy and cause? Their duty was, if possible, to escape. He also hints e.t the horrors of the siege, and how mothers with their infant children would suffer terribly. The issue of the investment would be the slaughter of multitudes and the exile of the rest. The Jews became wanderers and exiles from that moment, "Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast, How shall ye flee away and be at rest I Tile wild dove bath her nest, the fox his ce.ve, Man.kind their country-Israel but the grave I"
IV. REDEMPTION :MAY BE DISCERNED AS DRAWING NIGH. (Vers. 25-33.) Our Lord indicates that distress of nations, perplexity, and faint-ueart~duess throush foln en. xxn.1-71.) 'l'llE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO st. LUKE. 195