God has

He has

without a plan. All appears to be involved in inextricable confusion. In the time of our deepest need there is a revelation made to us, and we learn that we have not been forgotten or overlooked; we are able to say with the prophet, "Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul: thou hast redeemed my life." And if we have once seen God, and heard His voice, we may well infer that His intentions are merciful, and that there is all possible ground for encouragement. We are not left without Divine interpositions. always heard the cry of the oppressed. pitifully beheld the sorrows of men. He has risen out of His place, and made bare His arm in their behalf. He who had brought His people out of Egypt, will not permit their oppressors to hold them in slavery in the promised land. In after times, in His love and in His pity, He redeemed them, and saved them out of the hand of their enemies, by raising up men who fought their battles and led them on to victory. These were but the foreshadowings of a great salvation by One who was "mighty to save." The God of Israel visited and redeemed His people, and raised up for them "a horn of salvation in the house of his servant David." There is no salvation without sacrifice. He who saves, gives Himself. "The captain of our salvation is made perfect through suffering." There is a sacrifice, but

the Priest offers Himself, and ascends in the fire to heaven. If God has been at such pains to save us, if He sent His Son to be our Saviour, then surely we shall not be left to perish. If there is a sacrifice for sin, then, sinners as we are, we may be saved through faith in Him "whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation."

We are not left without Divine manifestations. We believe that there was a time when God did come to earth, not only with all the attendant circumstances of majesty, but, in some instances, in human form, as if to prepare the way for the “manifestation in the flesh." gone up again to heaven. manifestations of God? tions for spiritual men.

Christ has come, and has

Are we left without any There are spiritual revelaGod does come to true and

loving hearts. Love will always come to commune with love. Christ has told us that if a man love Him, the Father will love him, and He adds, “We will come unto him and make our abode with him." It is a fact, then, that God comes into men's homes still, that there are yet manifestations of His presence to men; and surely if God visits you, there is ground for the conclusion that God will save you.

We are not left without Divine intimations as to the future. There are promises that may well inspire us with hope, for God who has given them will most certainly fulfil them. There are assurances that this life is not all, that it contains only the germ of the

future, that God will "shew us the path of life," that He has given us the power of an endless life." Surely all these yearnings and longings for perfection are the instincts of a Divine life, and if God has put His seal on that life in the work of His own Spirit, there will come a day of redemption. If you have seen Christ, you need not be afraid even of death; you have the promise of victory: "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

HONEY OUT OF THE DEAD LION.*

"Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath; and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done. And he went down and talked with the woman; and she pleased Samson well. And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat: but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion."-JUDGES xiv. 5-9.

No man can write a history of his life for a year without finding events that deserve to be commemorated, and incidents that are worthy to be recorded. Man's life is not so dreary and monotonous, but that, during a year, there will be some strange if not tragic event. There may be days that are marked in life's almanack, and hours that influence all the future. There is a solemnity and mystery about life. What creative energy in thoughts,—what power in words, -what vitality in the will. Oh, if your words were Sermon preached at the end of the year. .

written, if they were printed in a book, are there no chapters, no paragraphs you would wish erased-no emendations and corrections you would wish to make? If your deeds could all pass before you-the deeds to which you have given form and shape, and inspired them with life, and gifted them with immortality— are there none you could wish had never seen the light, had never been born into the world? The past may supply us with great lessons. We may learn much from our victories and defeats.

I. The text suggests to us that it is through Divine strength that victories are won.

"And

Samson is found among those worthies whose names are emblazoned on the scroll of fame. what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jepthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." When Samson was on his way to Timnath, a young lion roared against him, and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily on him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand. He was thus to be filled with the consciousness of superhuman strength; to feel that Divine power was communicated to him,