truth and soul together-to lodge the seminal germs of Christianity in human hearts. Whilst we deplore its present feebleness and manifest inadequacy, we anticipate the day when it shall tread every field of every island and continent of the globe, and scatter the "incorruptible seed" over all the zones of human life. Fourthly. That the connexion which the agency forms between God's word and human souls is of various kinds. There are four kinds of connexion brought before us in this parable :

I. THE CONNEXION OF THE UNTHINKING LISTENER. "Some fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up." In many of the cultivated fields of Judea there were pathways left for travellers: through them the ploughshare was not driven, and the glebe remained too hard to receive the seed. The seed from the hand of the sower fell on it, rested there for a little while, and that was all. It was soon crushed by the foot of the traveller, or borne away by the fowls of heaven. What class of soul, brought into contact with the gospel, does this " way side" represent? The UNTHINKING. Jesus explains this in the 19th verse:- "When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart." He understandeth it not. This is the cause of its being left on the hard surface until "the wicked one" "catcheth" it away. Men hear, but do not think: the word vibrates for a moment on the ear, and then dies away. It falls on the senses, but, for the want of reflection, it does not sink into the soul. In the nature of the case, the gospel can take no effect upon the soul without thought. Thought is necessary both to break up the hard glebe of our nature, and to take the precious seed as it falls upon the outer senses into the soul, where, amidst the prolific soil of moral feeling, it may lie beyond the reach of the "fowls," and there germinate and grow. There is

II. THE CONNEXION OF THE SENTIMENTALLY INTERESTED.

"Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth and when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.' This connexion is marked by four things:-First. Superficiality. The word hath not "root in himself," but merely in his emotions. It has not been digested by the intellect, and then deposited in the soul and conscience. It merely floats on the surface-does not sink into the rich mould beneath. Secondly. Precocity. The seeds that fell into this ground soon made their appearance: forthwith they spring up." The mere sentimental effects of the gospel are very rapid in their development. Thirdly. Joyousness. "Anon with joy receiveth it." Full of rapture for a time all hymns and music. Fourthly. Transitoriness. "And when the sun was up," &c. How accurately these things characterize all mere sentimental hearers!

There is

"Some fell

III. THE CONNEXION OF THE SOUL-DIVIDED. among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them.' Not amongst thorns full grown, but where they were in germs; for in Luke it is said, "they sprang up with it." They grew up together, but the thorns overtopped the seeds, shut them out from the air and light, extracted the moisture and nutriment from the earth which they required for their nourishment, and thus they pined away in the shade. The soil here seems to have been good; it is neither represented as hardened or superficial. No fault is found with it. This

"A soil mingled with stones is not meant, for these, however numerous or large, would not certainly hinder the roots from striking deeply downward, as those roots, with the instinct which they possess, would feel and find their way, penetrating between the interstices of the stones, and would so reach the moisture below; but what is meant is ground where a thin superficial coating of mould covered the surface of a rock which stretched below it, and presented an impassable barrier, rendering it wholly impossible that the roots should penetrate beyond a certain depth, or draw up any supplies of nourishment from beneath." -Trench.

represents, therefore, those into whose moral natures the word goes; those whose consciences are awakened, and partially developed by it; those who understand something of its rationale, and feel something of its moral grandeur and power. But Christianity has not an entire possession of their souls: there are other things interesting it-other germs growing in the soil, which injure the seed of the kingdom, and prevent it from producing fruit. "The care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful."

There is yet

IV. THE CONNEXION OF THE TRUE-HEARTED. "Other fell into good ground," &c. In Luke, we are told that the good ground are those who, "in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience." These are men who allow it to possess their entire souls it fills them, and they produce fruit according to their opportunities and capacities. "Some an hundredfold," &c.

Which of these connexions sustainest thou to the great soul-saving WORD? Is it the unthinking one? Then, thy nature is a "way side," exposed to the hardening tread of every moral footpad; and the winged ones of the air will bear away every germ of truth and goodness that heaven's sowers are scattering over the field of the world. Or is it the sentimentally interested? Does the word find but a lodgment in thy feelings? Has it no grand form of rational thought—no breath of soulinspiration—no controlling principle of moral life? Is it nought but a thing of sigh, and song, and unctuous talk? Then it has no root. The blade and bud will soon be scorched by the sun. Or is it that of the divided soul? Has it taken root in thy understanding and heart in connexion with germs of worldliness? Does it but share thy nature? Are there other antagonistic principles growing with it in the soil? Then it will one day be choked, and thy nature will be like the field

of the slothful, covered over with nettles and thorns. Or is it the connexion of the true-hearted? Then it shall flourish and grow, and produce abundant fruit. It shall cover thy inner and spiritual world with the loveliness of Eden once more, and cover again the tree of knowledge and the tree of life with rich and eternal fruit.

Analysis of Homily the Fifty-ninth.

"And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan."-Deut. xxxiv. 1—7.

SUBJECT:-Pisgah; or, a Picture of Life.

He

Of all the world's great men Moses is the greatest. is the historian of the creation: his pen detailed the remodelling of this planet as a suitable habitation for man, the origin of the race, and the stirring and extraordinary events that transpired in the first stages of human history. He was the legislator, not of a district or a class, but of the world. His code embodied principles on which all governments should be based, to which all men are amenable, and by which all are to be judged at last. He was the conqueror of Egypt's proud monarch: he broke the iron rod of the oppressor, freed his race from a crushing and ignominious thraldom, and became the founder of the most glorious commonwealth that ever appeared on the stage of time. He was an eminent type of the Son of God; and, ages after his departure from the world, he appeared with Elias on the Mount of Transfiguration, and talked with Christ about the death that he should accomplish at Jerusalem. From no man did there ever issue such a deep and ever-swelling stream of influence as from Moses. His name figures in all literature, floats in the traditions of heathens, is a household word in all Christendom, is dear to all the good on earth, and mingles with the songs of heaven.

U

We are brought by this narrative to the last hours of this great man's earthly life. He delivers, in the plains of Moab, his valedictory address to the assembled tribes. Connexion with them being now dissolved for ever, he wends his lonely way up the mountain of Nebo, from whose majestic heights he was to survey the goodly land, and then "lie down to die." When he had reached the point which commanded the best view of the promised land, called Pisgah, the Lord appeared to him, and "showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither." There are several ways in which we may usefully look at this interesting incident. We may take it to illustrate God's method of correcting sin. If we looked at it in this aspect, we should have, at least, two of God's ways of correcting evil suggested to us. First. Revealing to the sinner what he has lost by his sin. The view which was now given to Moses of the promised land would unquestionably impress him—according, probably, to its design-with what he had lost by his transgression at Meribah. By the Bible, and providence, God is ever revealing to sinful men what they lose by sin. There are but few days, perhaps, in the life of any man on which he is not brought to some Pisgah, where he commands a view of blessings that might have been his had he not sinned. Secondly. Concealing from the sinner what he would turn to sin did he know it. The conduct of the Jews, in relation to the brasen serpent, shows that they had a strong tendency to idolize what had been blessings to them. Had they known of the grave of their greatest benefactor, the probability is that they would have treated it as superstitious Christians have done the "holy sepulchre" in more modern times. Hence the Lord buried him, so that no man knoweth of his