one! He encourages thee, "Be of good comfort, go in peace;" worthless in thyself, yet think of the grace of Him Whose words thus tell of peace, and you shall go on your way rejoicing. That palsied one in Matthew ix., or that one with the withered hand in Matthew xii., may well teach us this blessed truththat "all things are possible to him that believeth;" before such, the mountains shall become plains, and the sea be turned into dry land. Again, in studying this command of JEHOVAH, let us mark

4. Its bearing upon us. Important is the language that it speaks; oh let us listen to, and obey it, as we value our well-being in time and in eternity. Christians! yours must be the onward path; to go back is to perish; "forward" is the only word that suits your happy prospects; look simply at the command, and to Him who gives it, and remember that in every effort against sin, in every attempt to dethrone self, in every act of faith on the word and promise of your God, in every rising of your heart's affections to your Saviour and your King, in every rejection of distrustful doubts of His ability and willingness to save, the hand of Omnipotence is with you; as the fire from heaven came down at the prayer of

Elijah, and consumed the sacrifice, licking up even the water in the trench, so shall acceptance from above honour your weak yet hearty desire to glorify His name; yea, shall dry up the very tears with which you have mourned over the worthlessness of your offering. He who hath given you to desire, will also grant you to perform, according to the riches of His grace. Go forward then in the face of impossibilities; in prayer, in praise, in exertion, in self-denial, in devotedness, in holy confidence go forward, and you shall also experience that of which we would in the last place speak :

III. The Victory of Faith (21st verse to the end). The Lord did indeed fight for them; the waters were divided, they walked through dry land in the midst of the sea; as for Pharaoh's chariots and host, "the depths covered them, they sank unto the bottom as a stone." "The Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians." Observe first, that

1. The difficulties they most feared vanished. They dreaded the sword of the Egyptians; it reached them not. They trembled at the mighty waters; they made way at their approach, yea, they were a wall unto them on

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their right hand and on their left; faith, though weak, did go forward," and they were made "more than conquerors through Him that loved them." Brethren! Brethren! many of our difficulties are difficulties of the morrow, with which we have nothing to do; "the day hath enough with his own grief:""1 but let us but turn our real and present difficulties into prayer, and they too shall vanish, or become trophies of God's grace in the victory vouchsafed us over them; trials shall be meekly borne, temptations valiantly overcome, by those who, trusting in the Lord, heartily go forward at His word. Oh trust Him, and He will bless you beyond the power of your heart to

conceive

2. In obeying the Lord the Israelites received fresh evidences of His power and grace. At every step faith was confirmed, the eye that at first dared hardly to glance at those liquid walls, soon gazed at them with holy confidence and joy; the ear that at first heard with trembling dread the clang of war, now, re-assured, could even listen for the sounds,and yet be fearless; the feet that trembled as with a half resolve they entered on that mysterious pathway,

' Old Bible translation of last part of 34th verse of 6th chapter of Matthew.

now boldly trod with firm and rejoicing tread. Brethren! it is ever so; "to him that hath shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly;" every mount of difficulty, as you reach its summit, shall yield a nearer prospect of your home, and the very air you there breathe shall instil fresh courage, and enable you to sing even in a strange land that happy song, "The Lord is my Light and my Salvation, whom then shall I fear; the Lord is the strength of my life, of whom then shall I be afraid?" Lastly,

3. Whilst the salvation was theirs, the glory of the deliverance was the Lord's. To Him they attributed it. Sing ye to the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously;" this was the burden of their hymn of praise as they stood in safety on the other side, monuments of the mercy of their God. And such, too, is your language, redeemed of the Lord, even now, in every blessing received, in every conflict in which you are upheld; "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the praise." But how shall these notes of thanksgiving swell, when you shall stand hereafter on that sea of glass having the harps of God, and sing not only "the song of Moses the servant of God," but also "the song of the Lamb," and trace

the dealings of His grace, the endurance of His long-suffering, the rich aboundings of His love! Oh! go forward, brethren; beloved of the Lord, go forward, the time is short; but, for that short time, show forth the praises of Him who hath called you to His kingdom and glory, drawn you out of many waters, and saved you with an everlasting salvation. . . .

Enemies of God! pause for a moment, and think what are your prospects. Does the name sound harsh,-ENEMIES of GOD? Alas! if yet of the world, if yet walking after the flesh, if yet unchanged in heart by the mighty operation of the Holy Ghost, the Bible calls you "haters of God," it declares that the carnal mind is" enmity against God." By such a name does Christ denounce those who will not that He should reign over them.3 He will deal with such as with ENEMIES in the great day of His wrath. Now, for a season you pass on fearlessly, the long-suffering of God is as a wall to you on your right hand and on your left; you slack not your course, you drive on heedless. "To-morrow," you cry, shall be "as to day, and more abundant;" but "the morning watch" will come, when the Lord shall look forth upon you in the fierce

Romans i. 30. 2 Romans viii. 7, 3 Luke xix. 27.