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shattered greatness and buried splendour of Egypt, Babylon, Judea, Phoenicia, Greece; but the ruin that sin works in the individual destiny is just as certain, and infinitely more awful. If we could once see a soul in ruins, we should never speak again of Nineveh, Memphis, Jerusalem, Tyre, Athens. “Deceive not yourselves.” God has wonderful ways of confounding us, and we may be sure that our sins will find ,us out. FLATTERING PROPHETS 1. Let us not permit ourselves to be deceived by flattering prophets. There were prophets who spoke comfortably to Zedekiah, assuring him of his own safety and of the 'safety of the city, and these prophets were popular whilst Jeremiah was cast into prison ; nevertheless, the dark things predicted by Jeremiah came to pass. In the present time there is no lack of soft-tongued prophets. Loudly does revela tion declare the obligation of righteousness, and grievous are the judgments that it pronounces against transgressors, but all this in our age has been accepted in quite a modified sense. Men will now hardly allow such a word as “wrath !” They will not permit a man to suffer simply as a punishment for his sin ; the violation of laws hufnan and divine must be condoned and pas'sed over with the least reprobation and vengeance. Let us rejoice in the growth of the sentiment of humanity, but we must shut our ears to the effeminate and sentimental teaching which will inevitably relax and destroy a noble moral ity. The greatness of Rome was built, says the historian, on a “law of inexorable severity,” and the greatness of the universe is built on such a law—a law that will be eternally enforced. Look at the severe laws which constantly are in action to keep the physical universe pure ! Whatever is decay ing, languishing, stagnant, is injurious,-and must be cleared away. Terrible forces stand ready to annihilate rottenness. In ijie river is the crocodile; in the ocean creeping things with insatiable appetites ; in the heavens thè vulture,'eager and cruel;
Some of the decisive battles of the world were won by the small battalions. More than once has the sling and the stone pre vailed against the Philistine army. Battles are won by the big brain; and wherever that may be, slight weapons and resources are sufficient for splendid victories. Now the all-wise God sits on the throne of the world, and we are often filled with aston ishment at the insignificant agents with which Heaven smites its foes, and causes victory to settle on thè banners of right and justice. The world’s Ruler defeated Pharaoh with frogs and flies ; He humbled Israel with the grasshopper; He smeared the splendour of Herod with worms; on the plains of Russia, He broke the power ofv Napoleon with a snowflake. God has" no need to despatch an archangel; when once He is angry, a microbe will do. “The heavens make no sound, Their laughter’s in events.” II. W e n o te th e law of re trib u tio n as exem plified in th e individual life. The great law works infallibly in the personal-history as it does in the national life. • “Who will ) render to every man according to his deeds . . . Unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation arid anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile.” It was very difficult for men of that age to realize their /individuality; but the Apostle declares to them that they stand out personally quite distinct from Church or State, and that each of them will be dealt with in equal justice. ' And in these days of cosmic philosophies and large social conceptions, we must not forget that the individual has not parted with an iota of responsibility.. What is true of the mass is first true of the atom ; what is true of the ocean is first true of the drop. It is'easy to see the law of retribution when it is exemplified in the broad effects of national calamity, but not so easy to apprehend its action in the indi vidual fortune. We stand in awe over the
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