ened the bars of thy gates; He hath blessed thy children within thee." "And I said unto them let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot: and while they stand by, let them shut the doors and bar them." But Dr. Moll, Hupfeld, and others do not regard this verse as referring literally to the gates of Jerusalem, but as a figurative expression to note its security. Ver. 14.-" He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat." Allusion is here made to the peace and prosperity of the land. Ver. 15." He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth: His word runneth very swiftly." Or some render it, "Who sendeth His commandment upon earth." God's word is the instrument of His power, He speaks and it is done. Verses 16, 17.-" He giveth snow like wool: He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes. He casteth forth His ice like morsels: Who can stand before His cold?" "He wraps the earth in snow in a warm white woollen garment, and scatters the frost so that the trees appear as if powdered with ashes blown about by the wind."-Jennings and Low. Ver. 18.-"He sendeth out His word and melteth them; He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow." "Israel, in the captivity, had been icebound, liks ships of Arctic voyagers in the Polar Sea; but God sent forth the vernal breeze of His love, and the water flowed, the ice melted, and they were released."Wordsworth. Verses 19, 20." He sheweth (declares) His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for His judgments they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord." "They could not," says Dr. Kay, "be like the rest of the nations; they must be better or worse, happier or more wretched than they. All, indeed, were under God's moral government; but the heathen nations were not informed of the exact nature of their relation to God; Israel was. Israel knew God's law; they were made to know also His judicial sentence on them for violations of that law; and no less His judicial award of absolution to the sincerely penitent." HOMILETICS.-We have here piety thankfully exulting in the recognition of Divine Goodness. Divine beneficence is here recognised in three aspects I.—IN THE GENERAL PROSPERITY OF SOCIETY. here recognises the good hand of God. The pious poet First: In the rebuilding of the city. "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion. For He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates: He hath blessed thy children within thee." Though men were engaged in rebuilding the city and strengthening the bars of its gates, Divine goodness was in it. This goodness gave men the disposition to do the work, the adequate executive energy, and the time and facilities. All the progress of a people in government, in architecture, in husbandry, and in the various arts, useful and ornamental, should be ascribed to God as the First Cause. He is in all. The poet here recognises the hand of God Secondly: In the restoration of peace and prosperity. "He maketh peace in thy borders." When the city was rebuilt the tumult of war was for a time hushed, and supplies of food returned. The sword being sheathed, the ploughshare was brought into operation, and plenty followed in the march of peace. The pious poet saw God in all of this, and so should we, and extol His name in all the blessings of His temporal providence. God's goodness is here referred to as seen "He II.-IN THE BENEFICENT MUTATIONS OF THE WEATHER. giveth snow like wool, He scattereth the hoar frost like ashes. He casteth forth His ice like morsels: Who can stand before His cold?" Men are in the habit of complaining of the weather as too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry, too stormy or too calm, but in these very changes there is mercy. They are required in order to make the earth fertile and fruitful, and to stimulate humanity to a thousand industries. Hence "He scatters the hoar frost and binds the earth in bands of ice," and again sends forth His word, "melts the whole into refreshing streams," and warms the earth into life. Whilst men of science ascribe meteorological changes to what they call laws, and the multitudes are ever grumbling with the weather, true philosophy ascribes all not only to the agency of God but to the benevolence of that agency. "These," says Thomson, "as they change, Almighty Father, these are but the varied God. The rolling year is full of Thee." "Autumn into winter, winter into spring," says Mulock, "spring into summer, summer into fall-so rolls the changing year." God's goodness is here referred to as seen III.-IN THE MORAL REVELATIONS TO MANKIND He sheweth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel." God's word not only acts on material nature, originates, fashions, sustains and controls it, but on human souls. In the one case it conveys His resistless energy, in the other, His moral reason and influence. He reveals His moral laws to men (1) By the retributions of history, (2) By the intuitions of conscience, (3) By His written word, and (4) By His blessed Son. To some His moral revelations are fuller than to others. "He sheweth His word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel." DAVID THOMAS, D.D. LONDON. HOMILETIC SKETCH ON THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN. Phases of Piety. "BUT MARY STOOD WITHOUT AT THE SEPULCHRE WEEPING; AND AS SHE WEPT, SHE STOOPED DOWN, AND LOOKED INTO THE SEPULCHRE, AND SEETH TWO ANGELS IN WHITE, SITTING, THE ONE AT THE HEAD, AND THE OTHER AT THE FEET, WHERE THE BODY OF JESUS HAD LAIN. AND THEY SAY UNTO HER, WOMAN, WHY WEEPEST THOU? SHE SAITH UNTO THEM, BECAUSE THEY HAVE TAKEN AWAY MY LORD, AND I KNOW NOT WHERE THEY HAVE LAID HIM. AND WHEN SHE HAD THUS SAID, SHE TURNED HERSELF BACK, AND SAW JESUS STANDING, AND KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS JESUS. JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, WOMAN, WHY WEEPEST THOU? WHOM SEEKEST THOU? SHE, SUPPOSING HIM TO BE THE GARDENER, SAITH UNTO HIM, SIR, IF THOU HAVE BORNE HIM HENCE, TELL ME WHERE THOU HAST LAID HIM, AND I WILL TAKE HIM AWAY. JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, MARY. SHE TURNED HERSELF, AND SAITH UNTO HIM, RABBONI; WHICH IS TO SAY, MASTER. JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, TOUCH ME NOT; FOR I AM NOT YET ASCENDED TO MY FATHER; BUT GO TO MY BRETHREN, AND SAY UNTO THEM, I ASCEND UNTO MY FATHER, AND YOUR FATHER; AND TO MY GOD, and your GOD. MARY MAGDALENE CAME AND TOLD THE DISCIPLES THAT SHE HAD SEEN THE LORD, AND THAT HE HAD SPOKEN THESE THINGS UNTO HER."John xx. 11-18. EXPOSITION: Ver. 11.-"But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping." It would seem from this that Mary had run with the two disciples to the sepulchre, and while they went in she stood "without weeping." "And as she wept she stooped down and looked into the sepulchre." How earnestly and intently she must have looked, how anxious to know the result of the search, and weeping all the while. Ver 12. "And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain." See Matt. xxviii., Mark xviii., Luke xxiv. This appears to have been a distinct vision to Mary which she probably related to the author of this Gospel. Though John himself might not have witnessed it, he had such faith in her testimony that he records it. These angels were "in white," emblem of celestial purity," the one at the head, the other at the feet." They were the heavenly watchguards of that sacred body. Ver. 13.-"And they say unto her, Woman, Why weepest thou?" A modern expositor says the question was asked "not because they knew not why she wept, but to open the way to make her know that there was no reason to weep." "She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid Him." This is the passionate cry of her heart, the supposed loss of Christ was the source of her agony. Ver. 14. "And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus." As she appears to have turned away from the angels, another form arrested her attention, it was that of "Jesus," but she failed to recognise Him. Perhaps in figure, feature, gait, and garb He was not as she had seen Him last. Ver. 15.-"Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou?" How different are these words spoken by Jesus, to the same words even spoken by the angels. How different the feelings that prompted them, how different the tones in which they were uttered. "She, supposing Him to be the gardener." Perhaps a servant of Joseph of Arimathea, employed to take care of the garden. "Sir, if thou have borne Him hence, tell me where thou hast laid Him and I will take Him away." Three times she refers to the Lord simply by the pronoun "Him." She has named Him in the previous verse, and, perhaps, thinks that the gardener had heard those words; but the impression formed from her eager words is that her own mind is so entirely filled with the one subject that she supposes it to be in the minds of others. The same passionate eagerness is heard in the words which follow. Devotion such as hers does not weigh difficulties, a place of safety for that sacred body is the object of her will, and that will neither dreads danger nor sees that the task would be physically impossible, but asserts in the confidence of its own strength,-" and I will take Him away." Ver. 16.- "Jesus saith unto her, Mary." "This word was, no doubt, pronounced with a peculiar intonation which she recognised at once as that of Jesus." The sound of that voice thrilled her whole frame. "She turned herself saith unto Him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master." She had heard her own name pronounced in a well-known voice, and it brought back to her memories that flood her with emotions, and in her ecstasy she exclaims in her native Hebrew and dialect, "Rabboni, which is to Ver. 17.-" Jesus saith unto her, HOMILETICS. This fragment of evangelic history may be taken to illustrate a three-fold aspect of piety. Here we have I. PIETY SINKING INTO SADNESS. "Mary stood without the sepulchre weeping." She seemed overwhelmed with sadness. Her sadness revealed two things. First The intensity of her affection. What is that which makes bereavement painful? Love. Had we no affection for the departed we should drop no tear into their graves. The |