events. "

'Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee." "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God." The God-man, on the sapphire throne, directs the high and dreadful wheels of Providence, constraining them to move straight forward, and promote the good of the human

race.

III. IN THE PLAN OF REDEMPTION.

Man is a sinner, in

A ransom has been

danger of hell. He needs a ransom. found. That ransom is not "silver and gold, but the precious blood of Christ." "By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." (1) He shed his blood for all. "We see Jesus, made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, that he, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man." (2) He shed his blood that men might be forgiven. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." (3) He shed his blood that men, whatever their names and circumstances, might be converted, and made one in Him. "Renewed in knowledge, after the image of God, there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all, and in all." (4) He shed his blood that he might establish a spiritual empire over all the earth. "So shall he sprinkle many nations." "Men shall be blessed in him." (5) He shed his blood that a countless multitude of human beings might inherit the kingdom of heaven. "These are they which have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple." As the atmosphere encircles the earth, the sun enlightens the solar system, so the Atoner blesses all tribes and all nations. In the garden of Gethsemane, on the Cross of Calvary, in the holy Gospel, in every believing heart, in every means of grace, in every labor of love, in the conflict with our latest foe, and, amidst the glories of heaven itself, Jesus Christ is our faithful and loving Saviour.

"Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and Amen."

ever.

P. J. WRIGHT.

SUBJECT:-Man's First Hour in Heaven.

Illustrated by the probable feelings of Abraham at Beersheba, immediately on his return from the offering up of Isaac.

"So Abraham, returned to his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba."— Gen. xxii. 19.

Analysis of Homily the Three Hundred and Fifty-third.

WHAT are the emotions of a man on his immediate entrance into heaven? This question is not unnatural, and may not prove unprofitable. While the Bible says but little distinctly on the subject, analogy may supply some interesting suggestions. We scarcely know of any fact in human history more illustrative of the feeling, that we may suppose would inspire the soul of a good man, on his first entrance into the celestial world, than the return of Abraham to Beersheba, after he had, in obedience to the divine command, offered up his first-born to God.

I.

ABRAHAM NOW AT BEERSHEBA HAD THE SATISFACTION OF HAVING PRACTICALLY RECOGNISED GOD'S ABSOLUTE CLAIM UPON HIM. God's demand on Abraham was :

First: Immense. What was it He claimed of him? It was his son, his only son,-his only son whom he loved, to be burnt in sacrifice. What demand could have been greater than this? A loving father, like Abraham, would feel it even more than the sacrifice of everything else he possessed. Greater even than self-annihilation. Now, you may say, this is extraordinary. In form it is so, but in principle it is not. It is only a specimen of the Creator's claim on every man. He claims not only your property, and your

children, but yourselves. "All souls are mine," says Omnipo"The soul of the father is mine," &c. The claim

tence.

was:

Secondly: Though immense, righteous. This appears from the fact, that God is the producer and preserver of all things. Therefore the absolute proprietor. The practical recognition, or otherwise, of God's claim upon us determines our character, and is the essence of virtue or vice.

"I

It is characteristic of sinners, that they violate or practically ignore this claim, their language is, "Who is the Lord that I should obey him?" The sinner acts as his own proprietor. It is the characteristic of the good on the other hand, that they recognize the absolute claim of God, and feel with Solomon, "Of thine own have we given thee," &c. Now Abraham in offering up Isaac, had practically acknowledged one of God's greatest claims, and had all the satisfaction arising therefrom. What a delightful state of mind must his have been now at Beersheba! have done what the Lord commanded, I have done the right thing. Hard it was to accomplish, but it is done." What are the feelings of the successful warrior in the hour of victory or those of a mighty monarch on the day of his coronation? compared with those of the man who is conscious of having performed a truly righteous self-denying deed. A good man we think, on his entrance to heaven will have a kindred feeling of sublime satisfaction. He will look back upon the sacrifices that he made while in this old world, and say,"In renouncing the world, in subordinating matter to mind, time to eternity, in yielding my whole being to God, I have done the right thing, I have not made one sacrifice for truth or duty in which I do not now exult; and gladly do I cast my crown at the feet of Him that sitteth upon the throne."

II. ABRAHAM AT BEERSHEBA HAD THE SATISFACTION OF HAVING PURSUED THE PATH OF RECTITUDE THROUGH THE GREATEST TRIALS. Look at his trial in pursuing the path of

duty in five aspects :

First: In relation to the period at which it occurred. The severity of a trial is often greatly enhanced by the time of its occurrence. When did this trial take place?" after these things," What things? After he had parted with Lot, interceded for Sodom, pilgrimaged in Canaan for twenty-five years, trained his long-prayed-for and much-loved son to manhood; and after he had settled down in Beersheba as an old man, hoping to spend the evening of a tried and toiling life in peace;-after all these things, this, the severest of all his trials came. Secondly: In relation to the sentiment of his age. In that age it was considered a curse to be without children, but how abhorrent to all must the destroyer of his children have appeared! How few men dare to brave public sentiment. Pilate condemned Jesus, violated his conscience, and clad himself in eternal infamy by bowing to public sentiment. But Abraham breasted the swelling surge. Thirdly: In relation to His theological creed. One of the cardinal tenets Isaac "all the nations of Here was a command strik

of his faith was, that in his son the earth were to be blessed." ing at the foundation of this conviction. Fourthly: In relation to his domestic association. His wife and domestics

what would they say? Fifthly: In relation to his own nature. Reason,-conscience,-parental instinct,-all against it.

What must have been his feelings after pursuing the path of duty through all these trials. What are the feelings of the mariner who has been tossed on the tempest, when peace breathes again through nature, the feelings of a man whose body has been racked in anguish, when pain subsides and ease ensues?

Somewhat thus, we may suppose, will it be with a good man on his entrance on the higher world. He will, from heaven, look back on the storms, changes and trials of his earthly life and feel that all sorrows and storms are over for ever. I am come up "out of great tribulation," &c. He will say, I have weathered the tempest and have reached the haven, I have fought the fight and have won the crown.

III. ABRAHAM AT BEERSHEBA HAD THE SATISFACTION OF KNOWING THAT HE HAD OBTAINED THE APPROBATION OF HIS

-

MAKER. This approbation was expressed in three ways:

First: By a signal interposition. As Abraham, knife in hand, with outstretched arm, was about plunging the cold steel into the heart of his dear son, in the very climax of his agony, God in mercy interposed, and said, "Abraham, Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the lad," &c. The Lord provided a sacrifice instead, "a ram caught in a thicket." This was an unmistakeable testimony to Abraham of God's approval of his conduct. The Divine approbation was expressed -Secondly: By an unequivocal assurance. "Now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son from me.' The Divine approbation was expressed-Thirdly: By the unfolding of a glorious future. "In blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." Here is a wide and radiant future, stretching on through indefinite ages, and each revolving age outshining its predecessor.

With such assurances of God's approbation Abraham now returned to Beersheba. How extatic must have been his joy. The conscious smile of God is the heaven of the soul. Certain it is, that the sainted man, will have in a high degree this consciousness of the Divine approval on his introduction to the celestial state. The signal interpositions of mercy, in delivering him out of all his sins, and trials and enemies, and conducting him to that blessed state, will give it. The "well done good and faithful servant," which in strains of entrancing music, greeted his ears as he crossed the golden. threshold of that supernal world, will give it. The future with its fields of paradise, its seas of stars, its heavens of brilliant suns, stretching away with increased beauty and splendor into the infinite, as it bursts on his enraptured vision, will give it.