of harvest, and reaps for his support during the year. The whole of life has a regard to futurity. "Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." No one sows oats or barley in spring and expects to reap wheat at the harvest. How many are deceived! where do you expect to be for ever? In heaven? What do you sow? You are sowing for eternity; you are throwing your handfuls to the fields of eternity;-prayer is for eternity, labor for eternity, a sermon for eternity, all for eternity. II. THE DIFFICULTIES IN OUR WAY WHILST DISCHARGING THESE DUTIES. Winds, clouds, difficulties within, without, from the world, from the devil. Doubts, fears, weakness. First: They are the common lot of humanity. All have difficulties. The wind and the clouds affect all, because they are the phenomena of nature, and to be without them would be out of the common order of nature. All have their difficulties; none go to heaven without difficulties—if—if—if -yet difficulties. Secondly: They are powerful in their resistance against us. The wind is a great obstruction to the sower, and a threatening cloud is very discouraging to the reaper. So it is difficult to mortify the deeds of the body, to deny oneself, to resist temptations and stand against all the force of hell, that thus often threaten to impede one's progress. Thirdly They are changeable in the nature of their resistance. The wind blew to-day from the south, it may be to-morrow from the north; to-day from the east, to-morrow from the west. To-day it may be a tempestuous wind, tomorrow a salubrious breeze. To-day there may be a threatening cloud, to-morrow a clear serene day. So with the Christian; the tempest does not always blow in the same direction, nor with the same force. He is sometimes in the valley of distress, at other times before the wind of persecution. Sometimes he has to encounter great difficulties, at other times he works with greater ease. Sometimes worldly prosperity or adversity, &c. Job. The devil; sometimes his wife, poverty, riches, friends. Fourthly: They are all under the control of our Heavenly Father. God as the God of Providence rules the winds and the clouds. The drops ascend from the sea, gather themselves into a cloud, and they are driven to and fro according to the pleasure of His will. If all the power of men were to try to change the direction of the wind, or stop the progress of the cloud, the wind would laugh at their folly, and the cloud would drop its fluid upon their effort. Ah! What a comfort to the Christian, that all his trials are under the control of his Heavenly Father! "They work together for good." . III. THE RESOLUTE MIND WITH WHICH THESE DIFFICUL· TIES MUST BE OVERCOME, AND THE DUTIES DISCHARGED. "Not observe nor regard them;" i.e., not regarding them as sufficient reason for deterring us from working. If the husbandman were to give up sowing on account of blast every of wind, or to give up reaping on account of every gloomy cloud, what would become of the harvest? We are not to expect to be free from difficulties. If we will keep back from religion till there will be no difficulty, we shall never come to it at all. Then:-First: We must not look upon the difficulties as things insurmountable. The wind, though it troubles the sower, does not actually prevent him from sowing, and the cloud, though it threatens to pour its contents upon the reaper, does not stop him. Our difficulties are not such as cannot be overcome. Paul, Dr. Morrison, Dr. Carey, all Christians. Secondly: We ought to add fresh vigor because of the difficulty. The sower exerts himself the more on account of the wind blowing on him. So the Christian must be more active because he is tried. Because your thoughts are wandering you ought to watch the more. Look at the apostles, the martyrs, John Bunyan, Baxter, Whitefield. Thirdly In all our exertions we ought to depend upon God for strength and prosperity. The husbandman may sow, God alone can cause the seed to grow. may act, God can bless. Let us act and pray. DAVID HUGHES, B.A We Biblical Criticism. [Contributed to the Homilist by the REV. WM. WEBSTER, M.A., late Fellow of Queen's College, Cambridge, joint Editor of the "Annotated Greek Testament."] SECTION XII. ΟΝ δύναμαι, δυνατός. THE power of God and the mercy of God are often represented as antagonistic to each other. It requires a distinct effort to appreciate the two. They are seldom comprehended in one and the same view. But the Psalmist tells us (lxii. 11, 12), "power belongeth unto God"; also, "unto thee O Lord belongeth mercy.' It may be deemed worthy of notice, that these attributes, disjoined as they frequently are in our conception of the Divine character, are both combined in the original words δύναμαι, δυνατός. The primitive meaning of δύναναι is, ‘Ι make myself good, am strong enough, able, equal.' duvos is equivalent to duonus, bonus. (Donaldson's Greek Gram., p. 433.) With this agrees the fact that in the following passages, the idea of willingness is clearly and necessarily associated with the attribute of power : Romans xi. 23.-God is able to graft them in again. xiv. 4.-God is able to make him stand. xvi. 25.-To him that is able to establish you. 2 Cor. ix. 8.-God is able to make all grace abound toward you. iii. 20. To him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Eph. 2 Tim. Jude Heb. i. 12.-I am persuaded that he is able to keep, etc. v. 24. To him that is able to keep you free from stumbling. vii. 25.-From which circumstance he is able to deliver finally and for ever those who continue coming unto God through him. xi. 19.-Concluding that God is able to raise him even from the dead. Bearing in mind this primitive meaning of δύναμαι, δυνατός, we shall see that the idea of the capricious and arbitrary Vol. x. 3 н exercise of Divine power, is directly opposed to the very terms which make this attitude known to us. Infinite power is under the control of infinite wisdom and love. In bringing this series of papers to a close, I would remark that this use of the words is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as in the Epistles which are universally acknowledged to be Pauline. In a recent edition of the New Testament, no less than fifty words and expressions are pointed out, which tend to establish from internal criticism, the Pauline authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Let me express my earnest hope, that your readers will pursue the same course of independent investigation along which I have attempted to guide them. Such a mode of enquiry will teach them to use with greater profit our Authorised Version, and will accumulate contributions which may be useful whenever it is deemed advisable to attempt its revision. Let no one seek to be excused from this attempt, on the ground of fancied inability or morbid humility. We must plough and sow; we must wait and watch in hope. "Who is Paul and who is Apollos? No other than ministers, by means of whom ye became believers, and that as the Lord gave converts to each."-1 Cor. iii. 5. The Preacher's Finger-Post. THE BURIAL OF MOSES. "And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day."-Deut. xxxiv. 6. THE fifty-ninth homily in the second volume of the Homilist will furnish a suitable introduction to the remarks we are about to offer as suggested by the burial of Moses. I. THE BURIAL OF MOSES SUGGESTS THE IMMENSE EVIL OF SIN, EVEN WHEN FOUND IN CONNEXION WITH MEN OF CELLENCE. Moses was There is an impression amongst some religious people, that sin in a good man is a harmless kind of thing; that it has nothing of the enormity that it has when committed by the unregenerate. Where is the reason for such a notion? Does moral law relax its obligation in the one case more than the other? This is impossible. Is it because they have been given more light on duty and motive to obedience? This would only enhance rather than diminish the turpitude. Is it because their sin can be pardoned by applying to Jesus Christ? So can that of all men. No! Sin in a good man is an enormity. See Moses now ascending Mount Pisgah, and called to die under circumstances terribly painful. He dies in the fulness of physical strength "for his eyes were not dim, &c. He dies in the midst of labor for Israel and he had not yet crossed the Jordan. He dies with the brightest prospects opening up to him; for from Pisgah he saw that Canaan, which had filled and fired his imagination for years. Why had he to die under such circumstances? Because he had committed sin. OUR EXISTENCE. Why did Moses die here in the land of Moab ? Not because he was worn out by age, crushed by accident, or eaten up by disease. No! But because God willed it. "Thou turnest man," &c. The continuation of man's existence depends on the Divine will. From this we infer three things:-First: That the question of our immortality can only be determined by ascertaining God's will on the subject. Secondly: That cultivation of friendship with Him is our supreme interest as well as duty. Thirdly: That lamentation over graves as premature is an absurdity. III. THE BURIAL OF MOSES SUGGESTS THE DIVINE CONCEALMENT OF THOSE THINGS FROM MAN WHICH HE WOULD ABUSE. Why was the grave of Moses concealed so that no man has ever known of it? Because had his grave been known by the Jews, it would have become an object of superstitious reverence. They made a god even of "the brazen serpent"; and would they not have worshipped the grave and the relics of their great deliverer had they not been concealed? God prevents evil by conII. THE BURIAL OF MOSES cealing things. (1) He con SUGGESTS THE ABSOLUTE COM- ceals from us the real state of the hearts of our contem |