burnt by the fire." The angel of the covenant now informed him that He would deliver the children of Israel by his hand. Moses said: "Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?" He reflected on the disappointment which had followed his former attempt to befriend and deliver them, but was silenced by this word: "Certainly I will be with thee." Moses acted now under a higher warrant; and yet when he considered the difficulties of the case on all sides, he reasoned thus: "They will not believe me, nor listen to my voice, for they will say: the LORD hath not appeared to thee." Then it was that the LORD strengthened his commission with the rod. Again Moses pleaded his want of eloquence, which seemed so necessary whither in the case of Pharaoh, or the Hebrews, that he concluded God would endow him with that persuasive gift. This not having been the case, he entreats that the Great Redeemer who shall deliver Israel ultimately, may now be sent for this purpose. "O, my LORD, send I pray thee, by the hand of Him whom thou wilt send." Then it was that the LORD informed Moses that His Words, which are Light in their acceptance, and Fire in their rejection in man's mouth, are that power and demonstration by which His purposes are effected, and this independently of the incidental talent of eloquence.

Again we find envy illustrated on the part of Korah and his lawless company, who conspired against Moses, saying: "Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation is by, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; wherefore then exalt ye yourselves above the Church of the LORD ?”

Again, envy was fostered in the breasts of Jacob's ten sons against Joseph, insomuch that they meditated his

death, but afterwards were entreated by Judah to spare bis life, but rid themselves of his presence by selling him to a company of merchants going to Egypt. Much sorrow and self-condemnation did this envious disposition cause them; but envy cannot defeat the purposes of God in "honouring those who honour him." Joseph became by this very means so situated, that he could become as a saviour to his father's house, and an example of that virtue and prosperity which, sooner or later, distinguishes such as fear the LORD.

Again, envy, which is as rottenness to the bones, swelled in the bosom of Saul against him who had, trusting simply in the name of the God of Israel, prostrated the giant strength which had dared it. Often did he thirst for the blood of David, his benefactor, and as often his cruel designs were frustrated by the unslumbering care of God, who should, in due time, raise up an horn of salvation in the House of his servant David. "A light to lighten the Gentiles, * and the Glory of His people Israel."

*

ANGER.

Anger is a passion, or rather phrenzy, which “resteth in the bosom of fools." A just man never, for any injury associated with self, lets the sun go down upon his wrath; but there is a holy indignation against a hypocritical state of things, assuming, while it dishonours God's holy Name and cause, which is termed anger; thus: "God is angry with the wicked every day ;" is indignant that grace should be perverted into an apology for transgressing is commands. David, in spirit, so sympathised with the mind of God, that he testifies: "Do not I hate them that hate thee; and hold them for mine enemies." Our Great Exampler was meek and lowly, as regarded his personal requi

sitions, but was roused to resentment in beholding the religious world of his day titheing all manner of cheap and easy observances, while they neglected the weightier matters of God's Law, righteousness and charity. When he endured personal insult, he maintained the most calm and unruffled composure. He sought not to justify himself from false charges when before Pilate, and the Sanhedrim accused him of “many things which they could not prove." When they urged him vehemently to become provoked; when they mocked his claims to royalty with a crown of thorns and a sceptre of reed; when they spit in his face, and smote him with their hands when in derision they exclaimed: "Ah! he saved others, himself he cannot save." But did He manifest the same calm unruffled demeanour when he resented his Father's affronts, when he denounced eight deep woes on the scribes, the pharisees, the hypocrites, who handled the Word of God deceitfully? Was no muscle of his serene countenance agitated? Was the blood of his human heart not seen suffused in his human face, pale with nightly watching, and the daily contradiction of sinners? Did the zeal for His Father's glory, which consumed Him, not evince itself in the emotion of his words and looks, as he said: "Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?" or when he made a scourge of cords and drove the merchants and their merchandise out of the House of God, overthrowing their tables and seats. The humility and meekness of which eminently distinguished our Great Examplar was under personal provocation, there he was the Lamb which opened not his mouth; but assuredly he thundered vehemently as a lion against the theorists who did not His Father's will, notwithstanding their affectation of sanctity. Those who sup pose that David's LORD and son possessed humility and

meekness, instead of, rather than in harmony with the dignified elevation of feeling, the noble courage, the generous and undaunted fervour of a great character, labour under a most unscriptural mistake. This error, nevertheless, so prevails, that to testify against evil in any of its manifold aspects, or to plead for God's Truth, would be considered a display of high temper, a want of humility. If pious persons preserve "a sweet spirit," and talk about Christ, they are canonized in the estimation of this lighthating, truth-despising age; but if they are witnesses to Truth, and protest against a departure from its sound doctrine, and the turning to delusive lies which prevail, the enmity of the "seed of the serpent" against that "of the woman" is made known, not in open attack, but in invidious whisperings, in underhand insinuations, in evil surmisings, in smooth and amiable manifestations of hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness. The "sweet spirit" which, in modern times, is the current stamp of much counterfeit religion, is only alive to personal or party affront. Those who come to them in their own, or party name, they will honour; but those who come only in the name of God, only pleading for His unadulterated Truth, they will not receive. "The Law and the Testimony" may be maligned and blasphemed; this is nothing to them; but if their creeds or their opinions, or their inward light, or gifts are touched, they are either enraged combatants, or self-constituted martyrs. A holy stirring up of the Spirit in defence of God's impugned Truth, is as opposite to personal or party anger, as light is from darkness.

It was a noble specimen of this zeal for the Truth of God which roused Elijah to stake his character as a prophet in support of the honour of his God. Ahab and Jezabel led the ten tribes into idolatrous practices, and they laughed

to scorn the truth that denounced, and the faith that believed that the heavens should be shut up, and yield no rain to Israel if they forsook the LORD and served the gods of the nations. The language of their heart was: "We are all idolaters, and there is rain and dew to nourish the fruits of the earth." Then it was that Elijah, jealous for his God, stood forth and cried: "As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." But while he was zealous for the Law of his God in the nation, he was equally scrupulous in obeying it himself, else he would have had no power to glorify God. It was by command he went during the drought to live by the brook Cereth; and when that also dried up, he went by command to Serephath to be sustained. It was on the faith of God's power through obedience, that he said: "Make me a little cake first, and after make for thee and for thy son, for thus saith the LORD God of Israel: The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruise of oil fail until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth."

It was no personal desire for fame or credit, but an eye single to God's glory, which at the destruction of Jezebel's prophets led him thus to express himself to the searcher of hearts: "LORD God of Abraham and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art Israel's God, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast recalled their hearts. Then the fire of the LORD fell," &c.

"Be ye angry and sin not; let not the sun go down upon your wrath." Take care that no hatred arise from suppressed anger. If your neighbour has acted sinfully,