Ver. 11.-TM nature of God. "Of the blessed God." Prove that the goapel comes from God, and it must be blessed; for God is blessed in himself. His nature is light, which is always beautiful; _and love, which is alw1tys beneficent. L Tms II! A DESCRIPTION oF THE DIVINE NATURE. Not of some of the attributes of that nature, but of th_e very heart and centre of it. Not the Omnipotent, the Omnipresent, the Omn\scient; but the:, Blessed I Look at nature I Study its purity, its harmony, its exquisite adaptations of provision and plenty to the varied wants of all living things, show that God is not a Beiug of mere power or wisdom, but, One whose works are very good, One who wished his creatures to share in his own blessedness. 1. Look at his 1·evelation. Do we want beatitudes? Duty turned to joy? We find the way of peace and rest and joy in obedience to his will. 2. Look at the Ohri.~t himRel,f. Bleued within, a.mid all outward forms of temptation and all endurances of trial. "That my joy may remain in you, anc1 that your joy may be full." 3. Look at the cross. Designed to make atonement, to reconcile man to God, and so to renew his image within, and LO make man understand that separation from God was the root-cause of all his misery. -:.'he gospel is not only a revelation of doctrine; it is an unfolding of the Divine nature, into which we may be changed "from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." IL Tms ISTRE tn.'lQUE REVELATION OF 'iHE oosPEL. Fa.lee religioBs give prominence to aspects of power, and merge into dreads. The gospel alone shows that God is Love. And in revealing the blessed nature of God in hie Son, it has shown us that evil is milery because it is another nature. Life apart from God is death-death to peace, purity, 1,armony, holiness. Men have in their exp~rience testified to this. All is vanity apart from him. Over all life may be inscribed, "Nihil sineDeo "-" Nothing without God." So Christ would lead U6 tn the Father, unite us with the Father, and transform ue into the likeness of the Father---One who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord oflords.-W. M. S.
Ver. IL-Trostees of the truth. "Which was committed to my tntst." Here Paul speaks of the preacher of this glorious gospel as a. trustee. It is not a goe1,cl of merely personal salvation ; it is not designed to awaken only moral and spiritual admiration for its teachings ; nor for the culture of immortal happiness, BO far as we are ourselves a.lone concerned. L THE GOSPEL II! OURS IN TRUST. Water is sweet, but others are perishing with thirst. The open sky is beautiful, but l>tho.irs are in prison. Peace is restful, but others are in pain. What do you think in earthly matters of fraudulent or neglectful trustees ? You rank them amongst the very worst of men. How many sons and daughters of the careful and the prudent have been ruined through the long yea.re by negligent trustees I IL THE GOSPEL il'l,'liC'fil ALL TllUB'l'EEs~11•11. Its spirit is to pervade all that we have and are. Men a.re coming to see that knowledge, skill, wealth, are not only to be enjoyed for personal gratification, but to be used for the uplifting and hettering of others. These will, and always must be, "our own;" hut we are to look also "on the things of others." Do not fence in the park of your life, but act the steward of its heautie11 and its joys. Rights of possession there are, and yet responsibilities of poBBes- sion too. Look at Christ. 1. He knew tb.e secret of blessedness, and came to earth to reveal it. ~- He knew the grandeur of human nature, and came to live in it and to restore it. 3. He knew the mastery that evil had over Ill!, and he came to break thl' fetters. 4. He knew that sin separated ua from God, and he came to die, " the just for the unjust, to bring us unto God." Our captains at sea are guardians of life, and bravely do they do their duty. Our soldiers are trustees of a nation's honour, and never have failed in the great crise11 of h1tr life. And our great citizen-fellowships are trustees or broad rivers, open co1nmou6, u.11d. the health and well-being of the poor, and have striven to Jll'Otect their iutertlllta. A.e Christiane we are each and all trustees of the gospel. It iR no mere ecclesiastical privilege ; for, ala.s I eccle11iastics have too often been trustees only of their own righia, or the rights of their special Churches. We are all tru1teee of thf OIL L 1-20,] THE FIRST EPISTLE TO TIMOTHY. 21
glorio!]ll gospel of the blessed God. and woe be to any of U8 who shirk our responlibilities or idly neglect our trust 1-W. M. S.
Ver. 19.-Human o0reckage. "Some have marle shipwreck." , Words sound differently to different men Language is a "worrl-picture," and we must see the fact11 before we understand tf.e word. Paul chooses a metaphor applied to character, which is 80 terrible when applied to disasters at sea. Many a beautiful vessel ha, arrested the gaze of admiring spectators as she spread her sails to the favouring breeze, and breasted the waters like a thing of life. But, on another shore, her shivered timbers and her shattered prow have been washed up as the wreckage of a once gallant ship, her half-defaced name the only testimony to her fate. So Paul had seen men wrecked on the breakers of self-indulgence, vice, and folly. Paul associated loss of character with loss of faith. "Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away have made shipwr~ck." J. S111PWRECK 80METIMF.S COMES AT THE VERY COMMENCEMENT 0'1' THE VOYAGE. The ship scarcely leaves the river before she runs aground. There baa been too much self-confidence, and the Divine Pilot has not had the ship in hand. fl. SHIPWRECK SOMETIMES COMES AT THE CLOSE OP' TIIE VOYAGE, when the ship is almost home ; when from the masthead land was almost in sight. But the watch hu not been kept. Tn the voyage of life we may have the cross on the flag, and the chart in the cabin, and the compass on the deck ; but we sleep, as do others, and we are wrecked with the land almost in Bight. Ill. SHIPWRECK AP'FEOTS THE VERY HIGHEST ELEMENTS OJ' OtlB BEING. " A good conscience," the sweetest meal to which ever a man sat down! The sublimest mUBic, which no Beethoven or Mendelssohn can approach ! The noblest heritage that a Moaes could sacrifice Egypt for I A conscience cleansed by Christ's blood, enlightened by the Word of God, and quickened by the Holy Ghost. "A good conscience ! " Wealth cannot purchase it, envy cannot steal it, poverty cannot harm it, and nought but sin can denude it of its crown. It is the strength of the confessor's endurance, the lustre of the suf- ferer's countenance, the peace of the martyr's heart. "A good conscience." Wreck that, and all is lost; and the sun of the moral firmament sets in darkness.-W. M. S.