do so. "And I will kill her children with death." All have their moral offspring, children like unto themselves. The evil propagates the evil as the good the good. No man liveth unto himself." Our moral children do our work, and that work is like that of Jezebel. Who knows the injury that the moral children of Jezebel did to the bishop and Christian community of Thyatira? They encouraged licentiousness and idolatry, and committed fornication, and ate things "sacrificed unto (to) idols." Another aspect in which we have the moral character of mankind is

III. AS THAT WHICH DETERMINES THE DESTINY OF MANKIND. Here mark two

things.

First: The outcome of the bad. "Behold, I will (do) cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds (her works)." The chamber of voluptuousness shall become the chamber of torture, "and I will kill her children with death." Those in whom she has propagated her foul character,

under the cover of higher piety and deeper intelligence, shall meet with destruction. Death shall be their fate-the death of all that makes life worth having. "The wages of sin is death." "Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." "I will give unto every one of you according to your works"; your works shall determine your doom. Mark

Secondly: The outcome of the good. Three great blessings are here stated as coming to such. (1) Freedom from future suffering. "But unto (to) you I say, and unto (to) the rest in (that are in) Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine (teaching), and which (know not) have not known the depths (deep things) of Satan, as they speak (say); I will (cast) put upon you none other burden." Whilst those whose impious Gnosticism, intolerant spirit, and gross sensuality would meet with anguish and death, all who were free from these abominations would be secure from future evil. "I will put (cast) upon you none other burden." You need not apprehend any

future evil. Elsewhere we are told that "He will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him." Another blessing is (2) Elevation to true royalty. "But (howbeit) that which ye have already hold fast till I come." Those who hold fast with an unrelaxing grasp all the good they had, triumphed over evil, and held on loyally "to the end," shall have power over the nations. What power? Moral power, power over the minds and hearts of nations. He only is the true sovereign who governs minds and hearts. All other sovereignties are shams. The morally right has in it the highest elements of might. Right is might, and there is none other. "He shall rule them with a rod of iron." Right is a rod of iron unbreakable and all-crushing, dashing to pieces, shivering into atoms all the kingdoms of error and wrong. He is the greatest king of his age who has the most truth and goodness in his soul; hence the "saints one day shall judge the world." Hail the period, merciful heaven hasten

it!

Another blessing is (3) Inheritance of the highest possession. "I will give him the morning star." "Morning star,"-bright harbinger of a day whose skies shall have no cloud, whose atmosphere no storm, whose sun shall rise and set no more. Christ Himself is the "morning star." This is the title He gives Himself: "I Jesus am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star." The good man shall have Christ, and possessing Him shall have more than the universe itself. "All things are yours," &c.

So that out of the moral character of mankind will bloom their paradise or flame their hell. Therefore what we have good in us let us not only "hold fast" but nourish into higher developments. Let us so cultivate the "divine tree" that its roots shall deepen, its fibres strengthen, its branches multiply, its foliage become more magnificent, and its fruits more abundant every day.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.

LONDON.

I. That the mind of man has "" MANY DEVICES"; the mind of God has but ONE COUNSEL. "There are many devices in a man's heart." Every man's soul teems with devices concerning pleasure, commerce, politics, religion. These "devices" are often selfish, ambitious, malignant, impious. As they are generated by different dispositions of heart, they have no unity amongst themselves; they are often in fierce battle, and fill the soul with confusion. But the mind of God has one purpose, "the counsel of the Lord." All God's thoughts are but phases of one eternal

purpose, that takes in the universe, and runs through the ages. The verse implies

II. That the mind of man is SUBORDINATE, the mind of God SUPREME. This is implied here, and fully expressed in many other places in the Bible. "A man's heart deviseth the way, but the Lord directeth his steps." (1) This is a fact well attested by history. The "devices" of Joseph's brethren He subordinated to His own purpose. The "devices" of Pharaoh to destroy all the tribes of Israel were, through the preservation of Moses, subordinated to the working out of God's purpose in the emancipation of the Jews from Egyptian thraldom. The "devices" of the Scribes and Pharisees, leading to the crucifixion of the Son of God, were overruled for the development of His "determinate counsel." The passing of the fugitive law, which required every American citizen to deliver up the fleeing African into the hands of his pursuers,

I see the

and which was passed in order to strengthen the dominion of slavery, led, under God, to the production of such literature on the question, as snapped the chains of four million human beings and made them free citizens of the world. (2) This is a fact that reveals the greatness of God. greatness of God in controlling the material universe, but I see more of His greatness in controlling the hostile elements of moral mind than in directing the elements of nature. "He maketh the wrath of men to praise Him." It has been said that Psalm civ. is a hymn to God in material nature, and Psalm cv. a hymn to Him in human history. The verse implies

III. That the mind of man is CHANGEABLE, the mind of God UNALTERABLE. "The counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." However numerous "devices" are, let them be as the sand on the sea-shore, or the drops that make up the ocean, however antagonistic to the Divine mind, however skilfully organised and backed by all the battalions of hell and earth, they will not shake God's "counsel." They will no more affect His purpose than a whiff of smoke can shake the stars. "There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel against the Lord."

CONCLUSION.-Learn (1) the in

evitable fall of all that is opposed to the will of God. Whatever in systems and institutions, whatever in commerce, politics, or religion, whatever in Church or State is opposed to the "counsel of the Lord," must inevitably totter and fall. And learn (2) the inevitable fulfilment of all His promises. Whatever He has purposed shall be accomplished. His eternal counsel moves on, nothing can hinder it. All the volcanoes, thunders, lightnings, tornadoes, united together on this earth, and shaking it to its centre, cannot hinder for one instant the sun in his majestic march, nor can all the opposition of earth and hell united prevent the Eternal accomplishing all the promises of His word.

"There is a power unseen, that rules the illimitable world; That guides its motions, from the brightest star

To the least dust of this sin-stained mould;

While man, who madly deems himself the lord

Of all, is nought but weakness and dependence.

This sacred trust, by dire experience taught,

Thou must have learnt when wandering all alone :

Each bird, each insect, flitting through the sky,

Was more sufficient for itself than thou."-Thompson.

LONDON.

DAVID THOMAS, D.D.