this partnership in sin. You may have fashionedmoulded some character, some life: the man is what you have made him. Other men's sins may be yours. You originated them-helped them to the birth. When they were born into the world, they have lived, grown, developed themselves into fearful forms, without you. They are yours. You are partakers of other men's sins.

IV. The reproductiveness of sin.

Ages have rolled by. The people have entered the goodly land which the Lord promised to their fathers. There has been the reign of David, the golden age of Solomon. Once more the cry of the wilderness is heard, the echoes of which have slept for centuries," These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." There had been the division of the kingdom, and it was a master-stroke of policy on the part of Jeroboam to prevent the ten tribes going up to Jerusalem to worship. He felt that unity of worship would lead to unity of feeling. The people, however, must have a religion, and so he falls back on the calf worship, and affects to restore the religion which Aaron had sanctioned. The people are taught that that worship cannot be wrong which had been devised and framed by the high priest in the wilderness. And so the sin lives again, and is reproduced. Sin is like some fearful taint which has been latent for generations, but suddenly manifests itself with new power.

There are some things to be noted by us, suggested by this subject.

The last and most subtle form of idolatry will be creature worship. We are leaving far behind the forms and symbols of an old idolatry; getting beyond the worship of the laws and powers of nature, but the creature worship lives, and comes between Christianity and the world. There are, however, some practical lessons which you may be better able to learn than this, and with these, therefore, we will conclude.

Men may make an idol of self. There is no form of idolatry more debasing and deadly. Men should live for God, for His glory. Life should be like a psalm or hymn,-should be worship. But man makes self his idol. His feelings, thoughts, words, labours, life, all are for himself. He lives for nothing nobler, higher, diviner, than himself. Instead of being like Him, of whom it is said—” He pleased not himself," he seeks only his own gratification. Instead of looking on the things of others, he looks only on his own, and lives without reference to the interests, happiness, and destiny of the race.

Men may make an idol of their physical nature. They spend their time in adorning and beautifying their outward life. Perhaps, however, this charge should be partially retracted, for it is questionable if the votaries of fashion, in the present day, do study the beautiful. How much time do many of you

spend in dressing up life as if it were a god, in arranging the folds of its drapery, so that it may fall becomingly. This is the great crying evil of these times, pervading all classes, coming between them and the culture of their moral natures and the concerns of their spiritual lives. And there are others who say "What shall we eat, and what shall we drink," as well as "wherewithal shall we be clothed." All their attention is concentrated on the physical. I have read of vines in Italy that cling to some strong tree and clasp it for support, but they suppress all its manifestations of life by the growth of their own. So the very strength and wondrous energy of our spiritual natures may give intense power to physical sins. There are sins that leave their traces on men. The form becomes sensuous; and in the eye, the nostrils, and the mouth, the passer-by may read a record of the distinctive character of life. Some of you may live only for pleasure; your cry, as you pace the round, which has long since lost much of its interest to you, is, "Who will show us any good?"

Men, plain, sober men, may make an idol of wealth. Go into mercantile cities and towns,-into the exchange, the shop, or the market-place, see the deep and absorbing interest men take in buying, and selling, and getting gain. What is the idol men worship in this country! Is it not a golden one? Men will be rich, they make business a speculation, and use counters for coins in trade. They will be rich,

and they allow no stand in their way. great end of life.

high moral considerations to To get money is with some the "But they that will be rich fall

into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil; which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But thou, O man of God, flee these things, and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life." The besetting sin of some who profess to be the disciples of Christ is covetousness, and though they may call it economy, or prudence, yet, in the words of an inspired writer," Covetousness is idolatry."

Christ's words come to us with great power:"Seek ye, first, the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you." What is that kingdom? Does it not consist in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost? How can you enter into it? You must be born again, or you cannot see the kingdom of God. There must be death that there may be life. It is only by the Cross of Christ that we become crucified to self, to sin, and to the world. The fashion of this world is passing away,-if you do the will of God, you shall abide for ever. "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen."

THE WOMAN'S ARGUMENT.

“And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands, neither would he have showed us all these things, nor would as at this time have told us such things as these."-JUDGES xiii. 22, 23.

THERE was for a long period no king in Israel. There were times of national depression, of subjection to surrounding nations. At intervals, Divine providence raised up some champion for the oppressed tribes; and in their extreme need, deliverance was wrought for them. The book of Judges does not certainly contain the biography of perfect men. We are almost ashamed of our sympathy with the heroes of those days, they seem to have been men who had not only the same passions as their race, but who, in some instances, were more remarkable for them than others. It is, however, necessary to remember, that the outward vices of these men were the common vices of a rude and half civilised people. We have in this chapter some singular circumstances regarding the birth of one of these champions of Israel, and to these we direct your attention.