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intellectual attainments, and yet, as a man, be amongst the most degraded in God's universe. It is only as the soul rises that the man really rises.

"Unto

Secondly: It is the elevation of the soul to God. thee, O Lord." There are many who lift up their hands to the Lord, their eyes to the Lord, and their voices to the Lord, whose souls are prostrate on the black and dusty road of wickedness ; and there are those who lift up their souls to the gods of wealth, and fashion, and pleasure, but who never lift them up to the Lord. True elevation consists in the soul going up in devout thought, in holy gratitude, in sublime adoration, in moral assimilation to the infinite Jehovah. To soar towards Him is to soar into regions of imperishable beauty and cloudless day.

Thirdly: It is the elevation of the soul to God by personal exertion. "Do I lift up my soul?" No man can lift up my soul for me. All the priests in the world cannot raise me an inch heavenward; all the might of angels would be weakness here. If I am to reach the altitude of true greatness, I must climb from base to apex, step by step, myself. The lessons of the sage may raise my thoughts, the ministers of art may elevate my feelings and raise my imagination, but if my soul is to rise, I must lift it up myself. How? By availing myself of the soul-elevating means which merciful heaven has vouchsafed through the Gospel. The Gospel is a ladder reaching from earth to heaven. I must raise myself from the dust, step on its first golden rundle, and thence on gradually to the top. God has made the ladder, God holds the ladder, and God says, "Come up hither." But I must scale the lofty heights myself. Here we have—

II. A pious soul TRUSTING IN GOD. "O my God, I trust in thee." True soul-elevation implies trusting in the Lord. It is only as we practically confide in Him that we can tower into the supernal heights of moral greatness. But what does trust in the Lord imply? Always two things.

First: A sense of dependency in the Truster. Of all beings on the earth, man, perhaps, is the most dependent, although he does not always feel as he ought an adequate sense of this. His

dependency is the root of his trusting tendencies, and the more conscious he becomes of his dependence, the stronger those tendencies become. The human soul is like the ivy, always clasping at and twining around other objects for support. Hence, from this sense of dependency man everywhere is found trusting. There is only One Being in the universe that does not trust, and that is the Independent One. He relies on nothing outside Himself.

Secondly: A belief in the sufficiency of the Trusted. It is true that man trusts to objects concerning whose sufficiency he has not an intelligent belief. With a strange thoughtlessness of nature, he relies on objects utterly insufficient to sustain him. Yet where there is trust in God, there is always underlying it faith in His sufficiency.

God is the only sufficient object of human trust. In Him alone can all the powers, sympathies, and aspirations of the soul repose. He alone can sustain its immortal interests; He alone is equal to all its wants, possibilities, and emergencies, and all this for ever. All other objects of trust are felt to be insufficient sooner or later; the pillars crumble and the temple falls. But God is always a "Refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble." "The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and are safe." I have read of a lark which, when pursued by a hawk, rushed into the bosom of a traveller; he kindly lodged the little refugee until he had walked a considerable distance, and the ravenous persecutor had disappeared, then he took it from his bosom, and held in on his hand for it to go free; forthwith it soared into the sun and poured its grateful music from the sky. It is thus with the soul that takes refuge in God. There it will hide until the dangers are all passed, and then go forth on seraphic wings into the azure regions of liberty and light. Here we have

III. A pious soul WAITING UPON GOD. all the day."

"On thee do I wait

"All the days of my

First: To wait means patience. appointed time I will wait until my change come." "We have need of patience," &c. Our trials are great, and the promises

are tardy in their fulfilment. A bright morning is promised, but the hours of the dark and stormy night seem to hang as ages.

Secondly: To wait means hope. "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." (Sam. iii. 26.) "My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him." Hope gives patience, and how much the good man has to hope for. We have to wait for His Son from heaven, &c.

Thirdly : To wait means service. Waiting is not inaction. To wait upon the Lord is to be in His service, to attend upon Him. We are to wait upon God as servants on their masters, as ministers on their sovereign. The value of our service, however, in relation to God is not to be estimated either according to the amount or results of our work. Men value the service of their servants in this way. He who does work most profitable to his master, is the servant most highly valued. The master inquires not into the motive or the state of his servant's heart in relation to him; but motive alone gives value to work in God's service. “Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord," &c. Here' we have

IV. A pious soul PRAYING TO GOD. "Let none that wait on thee be ashamed," &c. The prayer here extending from the third to the seventh verse falls into two divisions.

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First: Prayer for self. This includes (1.) Prayer respecting Divine deliverance. "Let me not be ashamed." "Let not mine enemies triumph over me." The meaning of this is, "Let me not be vanquished, let not mine enemies overcome me, let all my hopes be realised." (2.) Prayer respecting Divine guidance. "Shew me thy ways, O Lord," &c. The three words here— "shew," "teach," "lead," may mean, (a), revealing the true— "shew"; (b), indoctrinating into the true - "teach thoroughly instructing the mind in the eternal principles of right; (c), conducting into the true-“ Lead me in thy truth." A man may have a revelation of God's truth, may be instructed in God's truth, and yet not be practically led into the truth: this is God's work. "Lead me in thy truth." Christ promised His disciples the Spirit for this purpose. "He shall lead you into all truth." God leads His people into truth, as the father

leads his helpless child. (3.) Prayer respecting Divine remembrance. "Remember, O Lord," &c. Observe three things here. (a.) What he would have God to Remember. "Thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses, for they have been ever of old." He would have God to remember His past favours to him, that He might repeat them: he would have God act towards him as He had hitherto acted: his past experience bore testimony to God's kindness. Observe (b) what he would not have God to Remember. "Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions." He himself remembers the "sins of his youth," and they gave him agony, but he desired the Almighty to become oblivious of them, to pass them by. Observe (c) how he would have God to Remember him. "According to thy mercy remember thou me, for thy goodness' sake, O Lord." "The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear Him."

Secondly: Prayer for others. He prays (1) For success to the good. "Let none that wait on thee be ashamed,” let all that love thee prosper. (2.) For defeat to the wicked. them be ashamed which transgress without cause." to wickedness!

"Let Confusion

INSTANCES OF ANSWERS TO PRAYERS.

1. Abraham's servant prays; Rebekah appears.-2. Jacob wrestles and prays; God's favour is won. Esau's mind is wonderfully turned from the revengeful purpose he had harboured for twenty years.-3. Moses cries to God; the sea divides.-4. Moses prays; Amalek is discomfited.-5. Joshua prays; Achan is discovered.-6. Hannah prays; Samuel is born.-7. David prays; Ahithopel hangs himself.-8. Asa prays; a victory is gained.-9. Jeosophat cries to God; God turns away his foes.-10. Isaiah and Hezekiah pray; 185,000 Assyrians are dead in 12 hours.-11. Daniel prays; the dream is revealed.-12. Daniel prays; the lions are muzzled. -13. Daniel prays; the seventy weeks are revealed.-14. Ezra prays; God answers. (Ezra viii. 21-23.)-15. Nehemiah darts a prayer; the king's heart is softened in a minute. (Nehem. xi. 6.)—16. Elijah prays; a drought of three years succeeds.-17. Elijah prays; rain descends apace. -18. Elijah prays; Jordan is divided.-19. Elijah prays; a child's soul comes back. Prayer reaches eternity.-20. The apostles pray; the Holy Ghost comes down.-21. The Church prays ardently in a prayer meeting; Peter is delivered by an angel.

VOL. XXVII.

L

A Homiletic Glance at the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.

The student is requested to keep in mind the following things, which will throw much light upon the Epistle. First: The circumstances of the writer when he wrote. He was a prisoner in Rome. During his residence there, in "his own hired house" (Acts xxviii. 30, 31), from the spring A.D. 61 to 63, he wrote the Epistles to the Colossians, Philippians, Philemon, and to the Ephesians. It is generally supposed that this Epistle to the Ephesians was the first he wrote during his imprisonment. Secondly: The circumstances of the persons addressed. They lived, it is thought, in Ephesus, an illustrious city in the district of Iona, nearly opposite the island of Samos, and about the middle of the western coast of the peninsula commonly called Asia Minor. It had attained in Paul's day such a distinction as in popular estimation to be identified with the whole of the Roman province of Asia. It was the centre of the worship of the great goddess Diana. Paul resided here on two different occasions. The first, A.D. 54, for a very short period (Acts xviii. 19-21); the second, for a period of more than two years. The persons therefore addressed in this letter are those whom he had converted from paganism, and in whom he felt all the interest of a spiritual father. Thirdly: The purpose of the letter. The aim of the Epistle seems to be to set forth the origin and development of the Church of Christ, and to impress those Ephesian Christians, who lived under the shadow of the great temple of Diana, with the unity and beauty of a temple transcendently more glorious. For the minute critical exegesis of this apostolic encyclical, we direct our readers to the commentaries of Alford, Webster and Wilkinson, Jowett, Harless, Stier, Eadie, Hodge, and last, though not least, Ellicott. Our aim will be to draw out, classify, and set in homiletic order, the Divine ideas reached by the critical aid of such distinguished scholars.

Subject: SERVANTS AND THEIR MASTERS.

"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; with good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men knowing, that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him."-Ephes. vi. 5—-9. ANNOTATIONS.-Ver. 5.-These five verses treat of the relative duties of masters and servants. "Servants be obedient unto them that are your masters." Aoûλos and kúpios are here relative terms, although in Greek the antithetical term to doûlos is commonly deσTÓτηs, as in 1 Tim. vi. 1, Titus ii. 9, Compare also 1 Pet. ii. 18. Aoûλos, from déw, to 'bind,' means a bondman, or slave, as distinguished from a hired servant, who was called μίσθιος or μισθωτός. That such is its meaning here is plain, not only from the common usage of the word, but also from the antithesis between douλos and λev@epos, 'bond' and 'free' in ver. 8. Kúpios means possessor, owner, merter." (Hodge.) "According to the

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