We may learn from the subject (1) The folly and wickedness of a worldly mind. (2) The reasonableness of patience. (3) The duty of yielding ourselves to that Spirit who is working out our deliverance.

C. WILLS, M.A.

SUBJECT:- Self-Ignorance.

"And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity. said to David, Thou art the man."-2 Samuel xii. 5—7.

And Nathan

Analysis of Homily the Four Hundred and Ninety-second.

THE context suggests three things; the notice of which seems necessary to introduce us fairly to the subject we have appointed for discussion.

First: The fearful liability of good men to commit crimes. David was undoubtedly a good man, and even illustrious in some features of excellence; yet in the context we have him perpetrating a crime of astounding enormity. His adultery with the wife of Uriah was a capital offence, an offence which exposed both parties to the punishment of death. But his wickedness did not stop here. This huge crime originated a series of others for its own concealment. Deception, ingratitude, meanness, and even murder, closely follow this one foul act of adultery. Such crimes in any man would be heinous indeed; but in David, a professor of religion, a man venerable in age, to whom Heaven had been especially kind, and who was raised by Providence to be King of Israel, the crimes are heightened to a fearful enormity. Whilst the imperfections of some good men are but as spots in the

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sun, these crimes of David formed for a time, a total eclipse. For many a month no ray of virtue streamed from his life. Another thing suggested in the context is :

Secondly: The remarkable faithfulness of Bible biography. Mere human biography always endeavors to make its heroes perfect. You have their virtues recorded and heightened, and their vices and defects either ignored, or, if admitted, so palliated that they appear simple innocencies. Not so with the Bible; it gives you man as he actually appeared,—it records the bad as well as the good. The man whom, it at one time represents as the "man after God's own heart," at another time it exposes as an adulterer, a murderer, a villain. Great evil has been done by endeavoring to represent the Old Testament saints as perfect men. The Bible does not reveal them as such; it only holds up one perfect man, the man Christ Jesus.

Another thing suggested in the context is :

Thirdly: The temporary dormancy of a sinner's conscience. David's conscience did not accuse him at once after the commission of his crimes. Months seemed to have rolled away before it awoke. In this state of moral dormancy he would be fit for any crime, and it is supposed by some, that the wickedness recorded in the 26th to the 31st verses of this chapter, was wrought by him during this period.

Now, it is to arouse him to a sense of his guilt that the prophet Nathan was sent to him, with the inimitable parable recorded in the verses preceding the text. There are three lessons concerning self-ignorance which I shall draw from the incident before us :

I. THAT MEN AS SINNERS ARE FREQUENTLY IGNORANT OF THEIR OWN TRUE CHARACTER. The parable which Nathan now drew and presented to the mind of David, was in reality a moral photogram of himself. He was "the rich man with the many flocks and herds," who took "the poor man's lamb" and dressed it for the stranger. But David, though he looked at it, could not recognise it as a representation of

himself. Self-ignorance is lamentably common.

Although

there is no subject of more vital interest to man, than himself, and none which he has such facilities for studying; yet of nothing is he more ignorant. He is more acquainted with everything than the elements of his own character. The geography of many countries, the literature of past ages, the history of the sciences, are often tolerably known, where self is wrapt in the shades of deepest ignorance. When the prophet Elisha told Hazael, 1 Kings xi. 8, what horrid deeds he should perpetrate, the man exclaimed, "Is thy servant a dog that he should do this thing?" Yet at that moment the germs of the action were throbbing in his heart, and about to break into luxuriant development. When Christ warned Peter of his denial of Him, the apostle exclaimed, "Though all men deny thee yet will I not deny thee;" but within a few hours, Peter repeatedly and with oaths denied his Master. Why are we thus so ignorant of ourselves? Not certainly for the want of means. A man may plead excuses for being ignorant of the sciences; he may neither have the time, talent, nor the needful instruments of observation and experiment; or he may plead as an excuse for ignorance in literature, the want of books. But no such pleas can be urged on behalf of self-ignorance.

The book

of the human soul is ever within us; the phenomena are ever under the eye of consciousness. We need not traverse far distant lands, penetrate the earth, and ascend the skies; within lies the book written in characters that all can decipher. Why then are we so ignorant of our own characters? may mention three reasons :

I

First The lack of a sin-resisting force.

"Sin says

Caird, in his admirable sermon on SELF-IGNORANCE,

truly measured only when it is resisted." Steam is an illustraation. So long as it is allowed to pass away freely and unrestrained from the boiling vessel, its power is unappreciable, but resist it, endeavor to confine it, and it will gather a force that will shiver you to atoms. Conscience is the sin-resisting force, and this in the sinner is weak, &c.

Secondly: The infirmity of the sin-detecting power. Conscience is this power; and by depravity it often gets deadened and blinded so that it does not feel and see. If the thermometer is frozen, how can you tell the temperature of the air? If the ear is deafened, how can it discover harmonies? If conscience is paralyzed, how can you ascertain the true condition of the soul?

Thirdly:

The repulsiveness of a sin-polluted heart. Man feels that all things within are not right. He suspects that there are disease, danger, and a lurking enemy there, and he keeps away. He regards his own heart as the insolvent debtor regards his ledger, &c. Oh! if the inner world were all bright and beautiful with virtue, would not man live in it, as his heaven? Another lesson we learn from this incident is :

II. THAT THE MEN WHO ARE MOST IGNORANT OF THEMSELVES ARE MOST SEVERE IN THEIR JUDGMENT OF OTHERS.

This

As David looked upon the picture drawn by the prophet, did he admire it? No! His blood grew hot with indignation, his whole frame took fire, and he said, "As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die." He could not tolerate such a sinner. No! Not he! His whole nature revolted at the idea of such a monster living in Judea; and forthwith he doomed him to death. principle is illustrated in the parable of the Householders, Matt. xxi. 33—42; in the history of Caiaphas, Mark xiv. 63 ;. and in the conduct of the Pharisee in the Temple, in relation to the publican. He that has the "beam" in his own eye sees the "mote" in his brother's eye. The men who do not know themselves are the greatest denouncers of their brethren. The self-ignorant Church is the most uncharitable Church. Selfknowledge is the best antidote for all that is censorious and uncharitable. Another lesson we learn from this incident is:

III. THAT HOWEVER

SELF-IGNORANT A MAN MAY BE,
As David was

A PERIOD OF SELF-RECOGNITION MUST COME.

gazing at the picture, with his brow flushed with indignation. and vengeance on his tongue, Nathan pointed to him and said, "Thou art the man ;"-thou art the very man I have described; the very man who has kindled thine ire and whom thou hast severely doomed. With this methinks the conscience of David woke up with terrific energy, and the whole of his past life flashed upon him. Persons who have narrowly escaped shipwreck have said, that when the vessel struck the fatal rock, their whole life stood up in sunlight before them. I have read in ancient history, of a dumb prince who had never spoken a word in all his life; till one day he saw an enemy draw a sword against his father, and as he beheld the fatal blow descending, the terrible feeling awakened unlocked his tongue and made him speak. So it will be with all dumb consciences soon.

The period of self-recognition must come to us all. It came to some of the murderers of Christ on the day of Pentecost, and they cried out, "Men and brethren what shall we do?" It came to Paul, and he exclaimed, “What things were gain to me I counted loss." conscience the man stands self-revealed.

When God touches the

"Awakened conscience acts the artist;
Uses the Sun of Heaven's law,

To photograph the sinner's life;
Then holds it up a life-like picture,

A hideous monster to the affrighted eye."

SUBJECT:-Self-Recognition.

"And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." 2 Sam. xii. 13, 14.

Analysis of Homily the Four Hundred and Ninety-third.

THIS self-recognition of David resulted in two things, which bear the relation of cause and effect under the mediatorial