speaking a.s in the immediate presence of the great Judge of the quick and the dead, with the expectation of the gn•at epiphany in full view, with all the glories of the mediatorial kingdom spread out before hie mind's eye, he urgfS him to the work-the ministerial work; the enngelistic work; the work in which Paul had spent bis strength, and ungrudgingly usc,l his splendid faculties; the work which l1 described in three words," Prl'ach the Word." For these words do really comprehend all the details which are added. Go as God's herald, and deliver to the people God's messacre -bis message of abounding ~race, bis Word of pardon and forgiveness, his Word ~f love and reconciliation. Preach the Word which tdls of Jesus Christ, of death to sin by his death upon the cross, of life to God by his resurrection from the dead. Preach the Word of holy obedience, or charity, ancl purity, and patieuce, and gentleness, and peace; the Wurd of like-mindedness with Christ, of coni',,rmity to the will of Gud; the Word or truth and righteousness; the unerring Word, which is like God, and cannot lie. Preach the \\'or.I as oue who knows its worth and its power; e.s one who knows that the issUl'S of life and death are bound up with it; as one who will brook no delay in preaching it. !'reach it with special application to the varying needs of those who hear it. TIPprove sin by its searching light. Rebuke offenders by its sharp two-edged blade. Exhort the weak and sluggish by its comforting e.nd animating truths. Exemplify its excellence by the spirit in which yon teach it. A.nd be prepared for hardships and opposition and contradiction in your work. You may have to stand ,dune. You may see popular preachers all e.rouncl you, leading a.stray silly souls by I, undreds and thousands; tickling their ears with foolish fancies ; ministering to their idle lusts; leading them away from the truth. llut do thou "prea.ch the Word." Flinch not, shrink not, wince not. Do the work of an evangelist, fa.ithfully, Atead- fastly, boldly. Fill my place; take up my work; witness for Christ as I have witnessed; suffer for Christ as I have suffered; and then join me in the kingdom of glory. Snch 1s the tenor or the la.st apostolic charge. The Lord grant to his Church an unfailing succession of men to carry out its directions, and to fulfil it in its spirit and in its letter I
Vers. 9-22.-"0rpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her." In this little social incident of some three thousand years ago, which may have passed at the time with little observation, we have a pithy and pregnant example set before- us, with the usual searching wisdom of Holy Scripture, of the difference between friend- ship and friendship, religion and religion, according as they lie deep in the root11 of the heart or merely lie on the surface. The contrast between Demas and Luke affords another exam pie ol this important difference. We may believe that Demas had faith in Christ, and also that he had a measure of frien<lship for St. Paul. We need not sup- pose that, when he was a" rellow-worker" with i':lt. Paul in the good work of evangelizing the world, when he was his companion with Luke and others during his first impri- sonment at Rome, and travelled with him again Romewards, he was playing the hypocrite, and that he was either false in his profession of faith to the Lord Jesus or of attachment to his apostle. But neither his faith nor his friends!1ip had been put to a severe test. The force of St. Paul's character had hitherto borne him along like an i111 petuous torrent. He had confidence in his star; he felt sure, perhaps, that the cause which Paul espoused would triumph; and no difficulties had arisen sufficient to make him waver in his purpose. But suddenly all was changed. This second imprisonment, with its ominous trial, with the defection of the Asiatic Cbrisliaus, and the desertion of friends, had altered the whole aspect of affa.irs. Instead of the triumphs of the faith and the supremacy of the great apostle, he saw the proba.bility of a cruel death for St. Paul and his nearest companions. The trial was too great for his weak faith and his ouperficial friendship. Without denying Christ, and without withdrawing from his eutward attachment to St. Paul, we can fa.ncy him, perhaps, with protest11tions of undiminished love, and regrets at the necessity which called him away, hurrying off to Tht:ssalonica, bis native place. But Paul felt it to be, what it was, 11 desertion. " Orpah kissed her mother-in-law; but Ruth clave unto her." In the words, "Only Luke is with me," we see the different stamp both of his faith and of his friendship. Luke the 11hynician was a.a loving as he was loved. Wita admirable fidelity and unah&k.en conslanc1, b.tl had followed his great muter from Philippi to Tr0&11, and from OH, IV, 1-22.] THE SECOND EPIS'fLE TO TIMOTHY, 86
Troe.e to Jerusalem. In the graphic narratives of St. Paul'e trials before the Sanhedrim, before Felix, before Festns and Agrippa; in his account of tho shipwreck and of the arrival at Rome,-we trace hie preHe11ce at all those eventful scenes. Through the two whole years of imprisonment he had never left him. And now that the end of that great r,e.reer wae drawing nigh, and the clourls were gathering up and darkening the evening of that glorious life, and various sorrows were thickening around that noble spirit, we read still, not in the inferences of Luke's modest narratives, but in the testimony of St. Paul himself, "Only Luke is with me." "Ruth clave nnto her." " Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy people shall be my people, anil thy God my God. . . . The Lord do ao to me, and more also, if aught but death pa.rt me and thee." We see, too, how he who had recorded in such graphic words" all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up," had imbibed the !pirit of hi11 Divine Master. He had not taught others to know Jesus Christ, without coming to the knowledge of him himself. And so his faith we.e firm in t.ha.t day of shaking. He was ready to lose hi11 life that he IIDght gain it; and he stands before us, not only as the evangelist who teaches and delights us, but as the otrong believer and the faithful friend, whose example is 11.11 persuasive as his words.