heads, and wither the very grass at our feet."

But there is a day coming, when all these difficulties will be solved, and all these discrepancies reconciled; when the great white throne shall descend, and he who sits thereon, shall "judge the world in righteousness," every man according as his works have been. The murderer will then again stand face to face with his victim, whose very look will be his condemnation; the betrayer of innocence, the dishonest, the false, the profane, the Sabbath-breaker, all and each will call upon the rocks to cover them, and the mountains to hide them from the face of Him who sitteth upon the throne. But on that day, they shall call in vain; it will be a day of unerring judgment, of inexorable justice, of uncompromising retribution. Well might the prophet ask, "But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?" Blessed be God, that His

Word has not left us without an answer. For we may with humble confidence reply, Every sinner who has washed his robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Every contrite soul who has fled for refuge to the hope set before him in the Gospel; every believer who has laid hold, with firm and steady hand, upon the horns of the altar, whence the blood of atonement freely flowed, and whence the offers of salvation are as freely sounded. Saul, the murderer and blasphemer, did not sue in vain. The guiltiest among ourselves is not excluded; for with broken-hearted penitence, and living faith, he may seek and find, even now, a pardon there. "Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."

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LECTURE X.

2 KINGS IX. 36.

"THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD, WHICH HE SPAKE BY HIS SERVANT ELIJAH THE TISH BITE."

Ar the commencement of the course of lectures in which we are engaged, we were informed, at the period of the first calling of Elisha, of the objects for which he was chiefly set apart for the prophetical office. The words of the Almighty to the prophet Elijah were as follow, “Anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room." It was, then, as prophet in the room of Elijah, that Elisha was to fulfil

those duties of the elder seer, which his translation into the presence of his Divine Master, precluded him from performing himself.

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Of these high and important behests, but one now remained unaccomplished, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel;" and as Elisha was fast sinking into the vale of years, and the fulness of time had doubtless arrived, it behoved him "to do the will of Him who sent him," and to finish his work, that he might be ready for his own approaching summons into the kingdom and joy of his Lord.

Seven years had passed away, since he had journeyed, with all the energy of youth, into Syria, to proclaim to Hazael that the Lord had shewed him that he should be king over Syria. These seven years had made great inroads upon Elisha's strength and activity, and he was no longer able in person to undertake the journey to Ramoth-gilead, but

remaining quietly in his distant home, perhaps in his prophet's chamber on the wall, deputed a younger and more able representative to achieve the high and important enterprise. Deeply trying must it have been to the prophet thus to transact by the hands and mouth of another, what he would doubtless far more willingly have performed in his own person, and with his own lips; how trying, none can tell, but those who are similarly prevented from personally fulfilling the duties of their respective stations, be they what they may. But, brethren, when those duties are, in an especial manner, duties due to God, when those services are peculiarly to be wrought for him, it is difficult to express the feelings of heart-felt sorrow and regret with which we resign them into other, even though we be persuaded, into better hands than our own. It is painful, deeply painful for the Christian, and especially for the Christian minister, to