dmnoe WM, the point of interest to us is that St. Pan! attributed it to Satan. Let us ~011sirler tl11· l,i11dmnce thr11wn in the way of good work by Satan. l. 8ATAN HINUJ,;JtB THE WORK o~· THE GOSPEL. 1. The h,:11dranc~ is to be - ffl, all times. Doors are shut; enemies are raised np; misunclnst>1ndings throw mission work into confusion. 2. The source of the hindranr,e may be discovered by its churacter. "By their fruits they shall know them." The excuse may be the preservation of orclcr, the restraint of excesses, or conRervative respect for old ways. That the real source of opposition is Satanic may be known when (1) bad men are the agents, (2) a good moral reformation is frustrated. 3. This hindrance wrwtn'ts mi.,sion work into a warfare. The Church becomes an army. The forces of light and darkness are dmwn up in batt.le array. New territory cannot simply be claimed by planting the standard Jf the cross upon it. It must be fought for and won in conquest. II. SA.TAN'S HINDRANOE IS INDEPENDENT OF THE CHARACTER OF THE CHRISTIAN LABOURERS. Of course, if these men receive Satan into their hearts, so much the more effectually will their mission be frustrated. They become traitors who destroy their own cause by opening the gates of the citadel to the foe. Sin indulged by the servant of Christ is treason. This is a certain and fearful hindrance to success. But the Christian labourer may be faithfnl and may still be hindered by Satan. In the old tradition Satan dared to oppose the archangel Michael. Shall we be surprised that he opposes a man? Satan resisted and tempted Christ. He hindered St. Paul. There- fore do not let us think that all difficulties will vanish if only we are true and faithful. Satan may hinder us, though we are innocent, through the wickedness of other men. m. SATAN'S HINDRANCE 18 OVERRULED BY Goo's PROVIDBNOE. Here St. Paul writes of Satan hindering him. In the Acts St. Luke tells us how, when the apostle and hia friendll "assayed to go into Bithynia, . . . the Spirit- of Jesus suffered them not" (Acts xvi. 7). 1B it not possible that sometimes the two influence~ may have concurred in effecting the same results though originating in the very opposite so-..rces and prompted by contra1dictory motives? Thus the messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet St. Paul was the means of applying a wholesome discipline and of saving him from undue self-exaltation. Thus, too, though Satan troubled Job, with the object of showing him to be a hypocrite; the great trial prove·d to be for the glory of God as well as for the honour of his servant. Satan tempted Christ, and so made him the better High Priest for WI, Satan compassed the death of Christ, and thereby led. to the redemption of the world. Satan's hindrance to our work may be overruled for its more full accom- plishment in the end, just as the east winds of early spring help to secure a good fruit harvest by checking the too-early development of bud and bl.,ssom. Moreover, all this hindrance is but temporary. Satan's reign is for a season only. And when the hin- drance is removed the final result will not have suffered for the delay. Perhaps it will even come the quicker for the temporary hindrance, as, when once it bursts its bounds, the stream rushes out with the more vehemence for having been dammed up. Let us not be impatient. Remember that God hBB all eternity to work with.-W. F. A.
EXPOSITION. and love; It put new life into him, sad OHAPTER m comforted him in a.II hie affliction and CoNTENTS.-The apostle, no longer nble distress. He prays God that he may be to repress his longin°g s.nrl anxiety for the permilted to revisit the Thessaloni,me, and Thesealonis.ns, resolved to be left alone at to supply what was still defective in their Athens, and sent Timothy for the purpose faith; and he makes it the object of his of exhorting them to endurance amid their earnest supplication that t.1,e Lord Jesus perseoutione, o.nd to bring him information would ml\ke them so to increase in love and concerning their condition. Timothy had establish them in holiness that they may just rejoined him at Corinth, and the be blameless ai his appearance with all his apostle expresses the extreme satisfaction holy ones. whioh he felt at the welcome tidings which Ver. 1.-This vel"ll8 ie closely oonneetecl his measenger had brought of their faith with the oonoluding verses of tile last 14 THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE THESSALONIANS. [oa. m. 1-Ul.