ance, our heaven in the sound of His voice. Thus shall we be prepared for that last glorious scene of triumph, when Jesus shall gather His soldiers home, and breathe on each faithful follower the words, "Well done!"

Now, my dear friends, what is your decision this morning? If the true David were standing here, and this congregation were to defile before Him-what would be our decision? Let us begin at the front seat. If the Lord Jesus were standing here, not in His royal robes, or seated on a throne, but as He stood under the arch of old, when Pontius Pilate pointed at Him the finger of scorn and said "Behold the man!" when they put the crown upon His brow, but it was a crown of thorns; the sceptre in His hand, but it was only a reed to mock Him; the purple robe upon Him, but they clad Him in it in derision-there He stands; look at the soldiers laughing at Him. Hear the multitude say, "There is the King of the Jews!" Doesn't He look like a King, with that crown on His head!" Still men laugh at Him. Yes, they are doing it in the 19th century as surely as they did it. in the first. Now if we saw Him there, and an irresistible impulse made us defile before Him, and if as each one passed by, he were made to say what he intended to do, what would you say? Would any say what Ittai did? Ah! how many would look up into His face, and say, “I have a great respect for religion, and I have a great respect for the name of Christ; but then you know were I to follow you, Jesus, I should have to give up this and turn my back upon that, part company with so many gaieties, follies, pleasures, sins, that I have so long been indulging; therefore, though I have a very great respect for you, I do not feel called upon to make such a sacrifice. If would bring down your terms a little, and let me serve you on easier conditions-let me make a compromise between yourself and Absalom, let me give half to Absalom and half to you, I have no objection to that." Dear friends, are there not of many you, if you had just spoken out the truth from your heart, would find yourself saying this? Ah! what a shadow would fall on Jesus' brow, how the fresh tears would rise into His pitying eyes, as you made such an answer to His love!

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But are there not some in this congregation-I hope there are who, when they came in their turn to defile before Him,. would look up into His face and say, "As the Lord liveth,.

and as my Lord the King liveth, surely in what place my Lord the King shall be, whether in life or death, even there also will Thy servant be." "My Lord! is the world going to trample on Thee? Very well, it shall trample on me too. My Lord! art Thou to be cast out of society? Very well, I will be cast out too. My Lord! is the finger of scorn to be pointed at Thee? Very well, it shall be pointed at me too. My Lord! art Thou going on Thy way in sorrow, right up to the cross? Art thou going to pass through pangs unspeakable? Art Thou going to give up Thine own life, and to die to Thy natural will, and surrender Thyself to the Father's good pleasure? O Thou, who liest there, clasping Thine hands in agony, and saying, 'Not My will but Thine be done.' It is a cruel way, it is a rough piece of road that leads up from Gethsemane to Golgotha. But oh, my Lord! if it is the way Thou art going to tread, then by Thy help I too will follow. I dare not say with Peter, 'I will go with Thee to prison and to death,' but I dare to say, 'My heart is Thine,' and from the bottom of my soul I will plead with Thee. 'Draw me '-yes! draw me by the mystic influence of sorrow, -'Draw me, I will run after Thee.' Thine I am! and Thou art mine!"

Soldiers of the Cross! you are called upon thus to give yourselves right over into the hands of your God; you are called thus to make proof of the life of spiritual heroism; you are called upon to be strong and to do exploits. If you ask me, "Where is the power?" It is not in the strength of your own resolution. I am not asking you to make a great many solemn vows in the presence of God, that you will do this, that, and the other thing; but I am asking you with living faith to present yourself into His hands. Put yourself under His control, realise His presence now, making yourself right over unconditionally to Him. Wherever He goes you have to go. What He suffers, you, too, must be ready to endure. But I will tell you it shall not be all suffering. Glory be to God! the Cross has its bright side. When we come up from Gethsemane it is all dark; but oh, when we get behind the Cross, on the other side, there is glory.

"Upon the earthward side of Calvary

There hangs a curtain of deep shade and gloom,

On the other side a light most heavenly

Reigns o'er a land where night and darkness never come."

How true it is that when we get to the other side of the Cross we see the radiance which is reflected from the Crown. We find, having given up all, and put ourselves into His hands, He will put Himself into our hands. Ittai, the Gittite, with his 600 men, did not know what might lie before them. Before to-morrow's sun should set, they might all be lying weltering in their blood on some well-fought battle-field. They knew nothing to the contrary. But you know something of your prospects-you know that Jesus has fought many a battle, and never yet lost one! Yea, and He never will! And those who belong to Jesus will, like Jesus, go on conquering and to conquer," and, while we are conquerors, evil loses its power to injure us, we rise superior to all. “And who is he that shall harm you, if you are followers of Jesus?' Onward, then, ye servants of Christ! Fear not! that bloodstained banner under which you fight was never yet trampled in the dust, no, nor ever shall be.

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By-and-by David's own hand shall put the crown on Ittai's brow; not in death, but in life everlasting, where the glory of the Father shall burst upon His ransomed children, throughout ages of a blessed eternity! and as death has not, so life shall not, separate from Him His own. The last thing we see of the eternal world as it fades from our vision amidst the glories of eternity-the last sight that meets our eye in the prophetic vision presents to us this object-Jesus-leading His sheep by the living fountains! Jesus-feeding them with the bread of life! Jesus-cheering them with His presence! Jesus-beautifying them with His smile! And this is heaven! Are you going there? Are you going there? Oh, Lord! bring us thither in Thine own appointed way-bring us thither, in the footsteps of Jesus. Amen.

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XII.

"How Long Halt De?"

"And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word."-I KINGS xviii. 21.

AM not surprised that they were silent, for there is no possibility of escaping from the inexorable logic of this position. These "halters" must needs be wrong, whoever else might happen to be right. If, on the one hand, the worshippers of "Jehovah," were in the right, the everlasting God, who rules the universe, who holds our lives in His hand, could not look with any degree of toleration upon those who dared to bow the head, or bend the knee, before a rival deity. If, on the other hand, "Baal," whom some worshipped, were really the potentate who held the destinies of all living things under his control, they who allowed themselves to trifle with the worship of Jehovah must have been equally in the wrong. Do you see then, dear friends, that, on the one hand, they who worshipped Jehovah might be right, and on the other hand, they who worshipped "Baal" might be right. "Baal" happened to be "God," people did well to worship him; and if Jehovah happened to be God, people did well to worship Him: but whoever else might be right, those who "halted between two opinions" must, of necessity, be wrong. They could not please "Jehovah" on the one hand, and they could not please "Baal" on the other hand. And thus, in striking out for themselves what they fondly conceived to be a via-media, they could only succeed in making the real deity, whoever he might be, their deadly enemy! Hence, when the challenge came from the lips of the prophet, they were silent," they dared not defend their position.

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If

Oh! how many men there are who are constrained to take refuge in the argument of "silence.” It is one of the most

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difficult arguments that we have to oppose. When a man speaks, even if he speaks foolishly, you can rebuke him; if he speaks rightly and wisely, you may justify him; if he speaks wrong-headedly, you can set his ignorance right; but when the man relapses into positive "silence," he is perhaps more difficult to deal with than a man in any other position whatsoever.

I apprehend, however, that the" silence" of this occasion was not obstinate silence,--it was the silence of men who, having nothing to answer, no argument to urge, thought they had better wait, till something decisive was done by the servant of God, to enable them to take up their position resolutely on one side or the other.

Before we go any further, just let us consider what was the nature of the choice these Israelites were called upon to make. It was no less than this-to make up their minds as to the nature of Him they would acknowledge ever afterwards as Supreme over all their life.

What has God a right to expect of us? A God is not a mere convenience. I am aware there are some people who seem to think so; their idea seems to be that a God is a kind of being whom they can employ for their pleasure, or profit, as the case may be, and dispense with when they do not want His aid; only to be made use of when necessity arises. Although too many treat God in this way, it is not what God has a right to expect of us, or what a God, whoever He may be, will allow. If we have nothing better than this to offer to God as His due, we shall never dare to face the eyes of the Supreme.

What is God? How do we stand connected with Him? If He be really "God"-whether "Baal" or "Jehovah -He is the final cause of my being. I exist for Him; I am here simply as an atom in His universe. I have my place in His universe. If I do not fill it, I am only opposing God's purpose, and sinning against Him, before whose throne I have one day to stand.

A reasonable man, if he believes in God at all, will come to the conclusion that the God he believes in, must be recognised as supreme over his whole nature, or He is not God at all. Further, I regard God as not only supreme over my own nature, but as comprehending within Himself my own destiny: my future, then, depends upon my relationship to my God. If I am in a position of loving, happy, relationship