requires. Secondly: On mediatorial interposition. "Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price." See then, that ye "refuse not him that speaketh."

IS PRACTICABLE.

tell

II. THE HOLY GHOST COMMANDS IT, AND THEREFORE IT It is an insult to the righteous character of the Holy Ghost to suppose that He would command you to do that which was essentially impracticable. Do you say, we are weak? He knows your weakness better than you do yourselves, and yet He commands you. Human inability to serve God is a very popular doctrine, but a very erroneous and pernicious one. The men who hold it, do not in their consciences believe in it. Tell them they are too weak to talk sensibly, to understand an argument, to be honest, or to speak the truth, and they would feel insulted. Who tells you you are unable to be religious? Does reason you so ? Do you call religion faith? Then cannot you believe well authenticated facts, and self-evident propositions? Or do you call religion love? Then cannot you love the true, the beautiful, and the good? Or do you call religion a choice? Then cannot you choose between manifestly the worst things in the universe and the best ? Does conscience tell you so? If so, why does it sting you with its reproofs and accusations? Does your experience tell you so? Have you ever tried earnestly for one year, one month, one day, or even one hour? If so, you have no right to assert your inability. What would you think of a man who asserted his inability to learn architecture, drawing, music, painting, or any other art, who had never made one hour's trial? Away with the idea of your inability; the Holy Ghost, who commands you to work, knows your capabilities better than you do, and wherein you fail He will help you.

III. THE HOLY GHOST COMMANDS IT, AND THEREFORE IT IS URGENT. First The Holy Ghost thoroughly understands the transcendent importance of the work. He knows the value of your soul. He knows what Hell is, for His

justice kindled its fires. He knows what Heaven is; His goodness spread out its lustrous skies, planted its Edens, and evoked its ecstacies. Secondly: The Holy Ghost knows exactly the portion of time allotted you for the work. He says "To-day." He does not promise to-morrow. "To-day;" then you have no time to lose. Difficulties are increasing every hour, and eternity is advancing every hour.

"To-day," then, attend to the voice of the Holy Ghost. Of Cæsar it is recorded that when he stood on the banks of the Rubicon, a stream which rolled between Italy and Gaul, forming the boundary of the province, and which as Proconsul of Gaul, he could not pass without declaration of war against the Roman Senate, after a little deliberation he exclaimed, the die is cast, and so plunged into the river, and crossed it, with his army following him. That plunge into the Rubicon was the one decisive act which committed him to a tremendous struggle, and inaugurated for him a new destiny. Brothers! some prejudice, lust, interest, association, habit, forms that moral Rubicon, which divides you from a new and higher life. Pause no longer on its banks, form the resolution, play the hero, break away from the past, ford the stream; and on the other side you will stand fully committed to "the good fight of faith."

"So live, that when thy summons come to join
The innumerable caravan, that travels on

To that mysterious realm, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,

Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night,

Scourged to his dungeon; but sustained and soothed
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,

Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch
Around him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."

Biblical Criticism.

[Contributed for the Homilist by the REV, Wm. Webster, M.A., late Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, joint Editor of the "Annotated Greek Testament."]

SECTION I.

ON THE DISTINCTIVE FORCES OF γίνεσθαι, AND ὑπάρχειν.

In our authorized version the verb substantive 'to be' is often used as the translation of γίνεσθαι and ὑπάρχειν. The former word occurs about six hundred and fifty times, and is repeatedly rendered became,' 'be made,' 'turn,' come to pass,' or some other word denoting a change of state or development of being. The latter verb occurs about fifty times, but in no one instance is its distinctive force clearly brought out in the A. V.; though in a large majority of passages, the recognition of the peculiar idea involved in ὑπάρχειν as distinguished from εἶναι oι γίνεσθαι, will impart increased energy and clearness to the sentence.

The difference between γίνεσθαι and ὑπάρχειν is simply this; a change of state, character, or condition, is expressed by the former, but the latter verb denotes original state, natural character, primitive condition. The former verb is well rendered in the A. V., Matt. i. 22; iv. 3; v. 18; vi. 10; John i. 14; ii. 9 ; xvi. 20; and elsewhere. It would have been well if the A. V. had preserved its force in Matt. v. 45;-' that ye may become the sons,' or 'that ye may prove yourselves the sons'; in Matt. vi. 16; 'do not become as the hypocrites'; in Matt. x. 16; 'become ye therefore prudent;' in John xv, 8; 'so shall ye prove yourselves to be my disciples.' Similar renderings might with advantage be substituted in many other passages; e.g. Luke vi. 16; 'who proved a traitor'; Luke xi. 26; 'the last state of that man turns out to be worse than the first'; James i. 23; this man proving himself to be not a hearer noted for forgetfulness'; James i. 12; 'when he becomes approved as genuine'; 1 Cor. ii. 19; 'that the genuine

VOL. X.

F

may become manifest among you.' In these passages no parts of the verbs εἶναι or ὑπάρχειν could have been used. The force of John i. 15, is in a great measure lost, because εἶναι and γίνεσθαι are regarded as synonymous. This may well be rendered, 'He that succeeds me, takes precedence of me, because he existed long before me.' John viii. 58, means; 'Before Abraham came into existence I AM.' In case any one should be disposed to cavil at this distinction in meaning as of small importance, I would remark, that if our blessed Lord, in the institution of His supper, had intended to effect any change in the bread and the wine, similar to the nature of transubstantiation, the Evangelists would unquestionably have used γίνεσθαι where we now uniformly find εἶναι.

The verb imaxe denotes original state, character, or condition. I do not profess to find this force in every passage; but the meaning here assigned to inápxew, as distinguished from elva, and yíveseat, will be readily acknowledged in about forty instances.

The substantive apxý denotes beginning, origin, authority, power. When Peter said, Acts iii. 6; 'Silver and gold have I none,' are we to suppose that he had not a single stater or even two mites? His reply however was, 'silver and gold is not at my command'; or (as Liddell and Scott translate the passage from Esch Ag.) 'such is not my store; I am not one of the naturally rich, who can give from their abundance.'

The ideas of natural character, of original state, of primary condition, may be at once traced in Luke vii. 25; xi. 13; xvi. 14; Acts ii. 30; iii. 2. In Acts xvi. 3, the meaning clearly is, 'all knew that his father was by birth a Greek.' In ver. 20, 'being by birth, by origin, Jews.' In ver. 37, Paul speaks of himself and Silas as being by birth Romans ; but in ver. 21, the inhabitants of Philippi are spoken of simply as being Romans, as the inhabitants of a Roman colony.

In Acts xvii. 24, the Divine creator is described as being by the necessary condition, the primary idea of His existence, Lord of heaven and earth. In v. 27, by 'His very essence He is not far from each one of us'; in v. 29, men by their very origin, or by their spiritual nature are, 'the offspring of God.' This force of inάpxe throws additional light on Gal. i. 14, 'being by natural disposition extravagantly zealous'; and on the remonstrance addressed to Peter, Gal. ii. 14; 'if being by birth a Jew.' Some have found great difficulty in the inter

pretation of 2 Cor. xii. 16. They are unwilling to conceive that St. Paul spoke the language of irony; still less is it to be supposed that he practised craft or guile. The impossibility of both these views will be seen by attending to the force of υπάρχειν. The Apostle repels the suspicion that he had made a gain of them ;— but granted I was not burdensome to you—yet my detractors represent that being of a crafty disposition, ready for any thing, I caught you by a trick; I was apparently disinterested that I might gain the more by means of others.'

We may compare the use of these three verbs with reference to the person of our Lord and Saviour. The Son of Man even while on earth, spoke of Himself as to His essential existence, v év z ovpave, John iii. 13; compare with i. 18. When attention is called to His wondrous condescension, it is yevóuevos in the likeness of men-subject as far as death, death, I repeat, on the cross.' Contrasted with this, His original state which he held before time began, is spoken of ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ ὑπάρκων. Phil. ii. 6-8.

The Preacher's Finger-Post.

MORAL BALANCES.

"Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting."-Dan v. 27.

Three things here: First: The criteria of character. "Balances." These are (1) The light of nature. (2) The revealed law. (3) The life of Christ. Secondly: The process of testing character. "Weighed." (1) Providential events weigh character.

(2) A faithful gospel ministry weighs character. (3) The revelations of the judgment.

Thirdly The announced deficiency in character. "Wanting." (1) This Moral deficiency is the greatest evil that can happen to man. (2) This deficiency may be rectified whilst under the mediatorial (3) This deficiency will be for ever irremediable after death.

system of Christ.

THE GRAPES OF ESHCOL.

"And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one

cluster of grapes, and they bare