the beggar at the door. The feeling is evanescent. Now read the text. Remember that God sent both priest and prophet. The law made nothing perfect. Men got used to the priestly function, and saw no other aspects of truth. The priest went into the holy place for them. They asked nothing, and reasoned about nothing. They were saved as they were. They were in the kingdom of God without effort of their own. The prophet taught more. He corrected impressions that were superficial. He showed how thoroughly the whole ethical life had gone astray, and everything was secularized and nominalized. The heart went after covetousness, and there was no God there. They made light of the name of God, which at first to them was too holy a word to utter. They heard His truth as it were a lovely song, and a pleasant voice, and a wellplayed instrument. It produced no genuine effect on their life. No sin was slain, no appetite was rebuked.

We need to be warned against the same sentimentalism to-day: a shallow and superficial life that is satisfied with merely outward forms or transient emotions; with that which is dramatic, which makes one "feel good," but does not down into the very blood and fibre of one's moral being, and does not affect character. The apostle John, who approached nearest of any of the apos tles to what might be called emotional experience, knocks flat all these fictitions and sentimental ideas, when he says, "If a man love not his brother, whom he has seen, how shall he love God, whom he has not seen?" God has brought in the prophet. His stern utterances of truth go down into the marrow of life. A touch of his hand crumbies to dust the mere manikin of a formal profession. Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. May its teachings command our beliefs, and inspire our hearty and loving obedience!

THE WORTH OF THOUGHT.-It is worth fifty years of pain and toil and sorrow to say just one sentence that the world will never let die.-Dr. Deems.

WITHOUT HOPE.

BY REV. J. M. SHERWOOD.

Having no hope.-Eph. ii: 12.

1. An unconverted and unregenerate state is one of appalling horror. "Having no hope" is the terse and expressive description of inspiration. No hope for this life, no hope for the life to come. No hope living, none dying, none at the bar of judgment. An eternal future before you; and yet, in all that measureless duration of being, no ray of light, no blessed experience; an eternal existence before you, and yet nothing— absolutely nothing-in all the past, nothing in all the future, to sweeten and bless it. Oh! is this your state?-the state of a moral, responsible, immortal creature of God; a creature with such capacities for enjoyment, such longings after happiness-with such a past to look back upon, and so bright an eternity unveiled to your view! "Condemned already;" having no hope;" "without God in the world!" Oh, how those fearful words thrill the soul ! They are the knell of that state of fixed and eternal despair to which impenitent sin quickly leads a man. Yet you can be thoughtless, unconcerned; yet you can imagine that all is well; yet you can indulge in the pleasures of the world, when you have only to look forward and see written on the door of your death-chamber, and on the stone which marks the place of your burial, and on the heavens over you, and on the throne of God, and on the bar of judgment, "No hope!"

2. The text gives a vivid conception of the misery and despair of perdition. From that world, "Hope" is forever shut out. Her sweet voice, her reviving influence, her blessed companionship, are never seen or felt there. There is an utter extinguishment of this mighty passion. The future gives no promise of relief or good. Forth from its infinite depths there comes no voice of consolation or gladness, no ray of peace or light. Darkness, and only darkness, forever and ever! Suffering, remorse, abandonment of God, exclusion from heaven

-the horrid companionship of hell forever and ever! Without change, without mitigation, without relief! Dreariness, sadness, "weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth"; blasphemies, the raging of passion, the reign of despair unchecked, unchangeable, eternal! Forever! forever! Oh! that is the sum of final misery. No hope from out the future. Pain, remorse, separation, darkness, dying-eternal, eternal! Ob, the inconceivable horror of such a state, such a world! On the despairing countenance of that lost spirit I see, gleaming in lurid light, these fearful words, "No hope!" On the massive chains which bind these prisoners of

despair, "No hope" is seen in glaring brightness. On the smoke of their torment which ascendeth up before God forever and ever," the inscription once more appears: "No hope!" And on the battlements of heaven, and on "the rainbow round about the throne," those fearful words again gleam forth. And now a voice breaks on my ear: ten thousand times ten thousand tongues catch up the cry and repeat it; it rolls through the caverns of that despairing world, and breaks in thunder on the ear of Heaven. Oh! it is the same sentence which I have repeated to you so often, but now burdened with the sighs of a lost, despairing world: "No hope! no hope!"

NOVEMBER 14.-ESTHER. (Esther iv:

14.)

Meaning of her names: In Hebrew she was called Hadassah, the Myrtle; in Persian, Esther, the Star.*

I. Her elevation. This was due: 1. To the position of Mordecai.

2. To her beauty.

3. To the choice of the king.

II. Her character.

1. Pious. Seen in her faith, fasting, and prayer.

2. Prudent. Seen in her obedience

*Dr. Edmons on the Myrtle that became a Star. I. Hadassah, the orphan. Mordecai took the little tree, growing without shelter from the storm, and planted it by his own hearth.

II. Look next at Hadassah, the captive. III. Then at Hadassah, the beautiful maiden. Nobody should despise beauty of face; but bad character spoils beauty, whilst beauty of soul may supply the lack of physical beauty, IV. Last of all, at Esther, the queen. V. Let us conclude with a twofold wish: 1. May you grow like a myrtle, and resemble it in two qualities: in that it is an evergreen, and always fragrant. Be thou lovely in the dark days as well as the bright; and do thou always cheer thy dwelling with the fragrance of godliness.

2. May you glow like a star, which God has clothed with light and placed so high in the heavens. Do thou walk in light-Christ's light -the light of truth, and love, and holiness; and, finally, shine as a star in heaven, your home forevermore.

of Mordecai, and the wisest employment of means.

3. Resolute. Seen in her promptness to carry out these measures, and in her boldness to appear before the king.

III. God's hand in her history and that of her race.

1. In restraining the wickedness of the king and his councillors.

2. In the exaltation of Esther and the promotion of Mordecai.

3. In the deliverance of the Jews from threatened destruction.

IV. Lessons:

1. To make the most of our circumstances.

2. To be unselfish. Esther might have repudiated her race, and sought only her own safety, pleasure, and glory. 3. To watch the indications of Providence, and co-work with God in the accomplishment of what He designs.

NOVEMBER 21.-NEW MERCIES. (Lam. iii: 22, 23.)

The calamities thus far this year have been unusually alarming and afflictive. Tornadoes and epidemics, volcanoes and earthquakes, have been abroad in the earth (Ischia, Egypt, Java, etc.), and the loss of life has been very great. Their destruction has been swift and

beyond help. Surely, "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed."

I. The mercies of the Lord.

1. They are great. (2 Sam. xxiv: 14.) 2. They are abundant. (1 Pet. i: 3; Eph. ii: 4.)

3. They are tender. (Ps. cxix: 156.) 4. They are new every morning.

5. They endure forever. (Ps. cxxxvi.) II. Their scope.

1. In a state of nature:

(1) Personal.

-

NOVEMBER 28. (Phil, iv: 10-20.) The mutual esteem between Paul and the Philippians is noteworthy. It does not appear that the Church at Philippi was rich, and yet they abounded in liberality (2 Cor. viii: 2). He makes frequent and honorable mention of this, their thoughtful kindness to him.

CHRISTIAN KINDNESS.

I. Paul rejoices in the revival of their kindness

1. In their care of him.

2. In its fourfold material'expression: When he was at Corinth, twice while laboring in Thessalonica, and while a prisoner in Rome.

now,

3. And in that this is an evidence of their fruitfulness in the Gospel.

II. Paul's secret of a happy life.

1. To be free from unsatisfied wants.

(Ps. xxiii: 1.)

2. To be content in every state. 3. To be strong in the Lord.

III. Reasons for thankfulness (V. 20): 1. For God's gifts.*

2. For His grace and truth. (Ps. cxv: 1.)

3. And that God is our strength and sufficiency.

IV. Reflections.

1. The Gospel produces a spirit of kindness, sympathy, and helpfulness.

2. The rule of universal happiness consists in reasonable expectations and content with such allotments as Providence sends us. (See also 1 Tim. vi: 6.) Some are consumed by restless ambitions.

3. This rule requires of us that we shape our life more with reference to usefulness than to the supreme attainment of wealth, the enjoyment of worldly pleasures, or the pursuits of fame.

4. A self-sacrificing spirit is acceptable to God.

5. Whatsoever we do for the promotion of the Gospel shall not fail of an everlasting reward.

DECEMBER 5.- OUR REWARD. (Dan. xii: 3.)

The word "wise" is translated "teachers"in the margin. To teach is to impart knowledge, or to carry light. I. What are some of the motives by which Christians should be influenced in doing mission work?

1. They are unselfish. Moses "had respect unto the recompense of the reward." This was only one motive out

* PRESENT BLESSINGS.-We ought to bless and praise God that we have

I. The gift of life-not merely for the fact that we live, but also for those blessings which are included in the notion of our living.

II. The gift of sleep-rest from sorrow and trouble.

III. The blessings of Christian brotherhood. IV. The blessing of present peace in the Church, and of freedom of speech and action. V. The privileges of daily worship and weekly communion. Let us enjoy these privileges while we may.-J. H. NEWMAN, B.D.

of many by which he was influenced. (See also Heb. xii: 2.)

2. They contribute to the glory of God, and advance the Redeemer's kingdom throughout the world.

3. They promote the best interests of mankind, both for time and for eternity.

4. They enlarge individual capacity for doing and getting good. Exercise strengthens faculties.

III. What is the nature of this reward?

1. It is luminous. How appropriate, that the reward of those who carry light shall be to "shine as the stars forever and ever."

CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON. [CHARLES HADDON SPURGEON was born in 1834, his father and grandfather being Independent preachers. Converted at the age of sixteen at a Primitive Methodist church, he soon began laypreaching near Cambridge. (The second volume of "Lectures to My Students" gives valuable instruction as to off-hand preaching.) He had then only a plain English education, with some knowledge of Latin. At eighteen he was pastor of a little Baptist church, and at nineteen was called to the New Park Street Church, in the South of London, where Dr. Gill, the commentator, was pastor for fifty-four years, followed by Dr. Rippon, the hymn-book maker, for sixtythree years. Here the house in a few years ran over, and he had to preach in immense public halls, until, in 1861, the Metropolitan Tabernacle was completed. In the thirty years' pastorate he has received about 15,000 persons into his church, which now has between 5,000 and 6,000 members A critical estimate is a peculiarly difficult task where one has a valued personal acquaintance, and has been a guest in the house. Yet it may have greater hope of being useful where the subject is familiar both to the writer and to every reader.]

I. The main thing in a preacher, as in every man who attempts to influence others, is his character.

1. Mr. Spurgeon is a man of strong faith, deep religious experience, and intense earnestness. He has that thorough union of self-reliance and reliance on God which is often observable in eminently useful Christians. A man may be conscious of power, and determine to impress himself upon others, while yet he is conscious of weakness and humbly leans on the grace of God. The apparently paradoxical combination is seen in many little-known Christian workers, as well as in men like Luther, Calvin and Wesley.

2. He has strong doctrinal convictions, and has through life expressed them without the least hesitation or reserve. It seems, indeed, a wonderful thing that for thirty years of an age so passionately devoted to novelty, a man should have commanded such unflagging interest on the part of hearers and readers numerous beyond parallel, while never preaching about anything but the old-fashioned Gospel, and that in one of the sternest types. Some preachers of no mean gifts have thought it necessary, in order to keep up the interest, to diverge often into topics not properly religious. But, apart from other considerations, is this really good policy? A highly cultivated infidel once remarked to a friend, after hearing a sermon which treated of merely natural ethics: "I always prefer to hear a gentleman upon his specialty; and so, when I listen to a Christian preacher, I had rather he should speak about Christianity." Even those who personally care more for other subjects, see clearly enough that this is the class of subjects which a preacher ought to treat, and often know well enough that they ought to be interested in the Gospel, even if they are not. No doubt Mr. Spurgeon's example in this respect has insensibly affected thousands of other preachers; but thoughtful reflection would give it a still more powerful and wholesome influence.

3. He is very sharp in his antagonisms. The earlier sermons are often strongly polemical in favor of Calvinism; in later years he has sometimes assailed the Establishment, and very often the popular rationalism and matenalism. Thus he has changed with the changing wants of the times, treating questions of living interest, opposing present forms of unbelief, and against them all arraying the old Gospel, with its profound claims upon intellect and conscience.

4. Mr Spurgeon has not been an originator of essential thought, but is astonishingly fertile in new modes of presenting familiar truth. In this sense he shows great power of inventive imagination.

5. He has a great deal of quiet humor. This shows itself freely in conversation and in familiar addresses, and often appears in a very subdued way in the pulpit. The accusations which used to be made that he was Sometimes grotesque and irreverent, probably came from unsympathetic and over-fastidious hearers, and certainly do not hold good for the last twenty years.

6. He has a high degree of personal magnetism, which is felt both in private and in public. You could not help listening to him if you tried, and you would be apt to feel that he meant precisely you. In going several times to hear him, a few years ago, I was anxious to study the great preacher for the benefit of pupils in homiletics; but in every sermon I was made to remember some things in my recent course of life that had been wrong, and was moved with desire to right them. It would surely be difficult to find a higher test of good preaching. As it used to be said of Robert Hall and Chalmers, so one feels in hearing Mr. Spurgeon that there is more in the man than he has ever said, and the hearer feels impressed by the speaker's personality.

7. His imagination, sentiment, cheerful humor and passionate earnestness are all controlled by a very high degree

of sanctified common-sense. He is a good judge of character, knowing how to select helpers with skill and put his spirit into them, as is done by the head of some great business combination or political party, or by the leader of a great army.

II. Let us turn to the materials of his preaching.

1. He shows extraordinary familiarity with the Scriptures; not only the facts and thoughts, but the very words. This sort of familiarity, which marked Chrysostom also and many other great preachers, is at the present day often wanting in the case of highly-intelligent ministers. We do have so many other things to read! Yet nothing can take the place, for one who wishes power in the Christian pulpit, of familiar acquaintance with the Christian Scriptures.

ure.

2. In youth, Mr. Spurgeon was by no means a good interpreter of ScriptWhat he got from his text was very apt to be in itself true, but was often not really taught by that text, being obtained by a process of wild spiritualizing or loose accommodation. Of late years he has greatly improved in this respect. Yet, as is perfectly natural, exegesis is with him always controlled by supposed homiletical uses. Better this, no doubt, than an exegesis exclusively grammatical or merely theological. But every busy, practical preacher ought to remember that he is specially tempted to prefer that interpretation of a text which will give him most to say. The retired student of exegesis has his peculiar perils also.

3 Mr. Spurgeon has been a great reader of the Puritan divines. He finds something congenial not only in their strong theology and devotional sweetness, but in their racy style, with its quaint turns of phrase; and in all these respects they have strengthened his own natural tendencies.

4. He, of course, draws very freely upon his own experience and observation, his knowledge of human nature and human life. Far from being content with the natural working of genius,