is the house of prayer; "for the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth; for such the Father seeketh to worship him." Now that is one of the grandest thoughts, I think, in Christianity, that it is not the religion of a cathedral, nor the religion of a chapel, nor the religion of a nation, nor the religion of a continent; but the religion that has for its floor all space, that has for its roof the whole canopy of heaven; that has an ear to hear it wherever the wind blows, or the rivers roll, or the sea-waves chime; and that can bring down in answer to prayer, blessings, wherever Christ is known, and an earnest heart lifts up its prayers in Christ's name. What a fearful thing it would be if there was no prayer-hearing God in the desert or on the ocean! Most important is it to have places of worship, most important to have public prayer; for "wheresoever two or three are met together in my name, there am I in the midst of them;" but let us never forget that when there is no praying-house or house of prayer, strictly so called, accessible, the ear of the God of prayer is not therefore shut, and the worship of a Christian is not therefore impossible.

Then he closes this chapter with a fearful picture of the condition, probably, of God's ancient church in that day, or probably of what the ministry of the church will be in the last times when men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, without God, unthankful. He is describing here the ministers of his church; whether of the Jewish church at its close, to which the picture was probably applicable, or of the Gen

tile church at its eve, to which probably the picture may be applicable too. He says, "His watchmen are blind;" the Christian minister is represented by a watchman-not only one that, like a shepherd, feeds the flock, but that, like a watchman, gives notice of the approach of danger, gives notice of the sunrise. "His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs." Almost universally in Scripture the dog is spoken of as a hateful animal; but in this one instance it is referred to in language of praise; the dog is made the symbol of the Christian minister, but instead of barking, if I may use the figure of the prophet, they are dumb when the wolf comes to ravage the fold; "they cannot bark; they are sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber." But if this be a picture of the priests of the Jewish church, mark what it proves. It is said that if the Christian ministry have what is asserted and assumed for them, but what cannot be proved, a direct unbroken succession from the apostles, then there is a guarantee that they will speak the truth, and their ministry will be blessed and owned of God. But if ever there was a priesthood that had a succession from God himself, it was the Jewish priesthood. It was founded amid miracles, it was watched over by Deity, it was fenced by privileges, it was instructed by the glory between the cherubim, it had the temple, and the sacrifice, and the high priest; and yet that priesthood, possessed of such succession-unquestionable succession, not dubious succession-came to be characterized as dumb dogs, sleeping, lying down, greedy dogs, covetous; "Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds

that cannot understand; they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter." Well then, if the Jewish church so founded could thus apostatize, let the Gentiles take heed, for by faith they stand; if God cut off the old branches, he may cut off the new, and therefore to glory in anything we are, and to cease to look up humbly and reliantly upon God, who alone can give the blessing, is just to precipitate that apostacy into which the Jews fell, and from which they have not yet recovered. And not only do they do all this, but also, "Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.” How solemn are the words of the wise man, "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." And it is most remarkable that the warnings towards the close of this present economy are especially in this direction. "Therefore let us watch, and be sober. They that are drunken are drunken in the night; but let us who are of the day be sober." "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." Of all the gross and revolting sins drunkenness is the most execrable; and the man that falls into it is fit for and capable of every wickedness. I suspect that very often to alcohol in some of its shapes, and when taken where

it is not wanted, or taken to excess, may be traced some of the worst crimes that have defaced the aspect of society. And one does not wonder that organizations should be formed, to which one wishes every success, in order if possible to put an end to, as they certainly have succeeded in mitigating, so horrible and dreadful an evil. When we speak of temperance societies, it is not a question as to the end they have in view, for the end is admirable and excellent; it is a question simply whether theirs be the best way; and if we do not think theirs the best way, I do not think we are warranted in abusing them. They that pursue it have done good; they believe they are on the way to do good; and of this one thing I am perfectly persuaded, that there is no cure, humanly speaking-I do not speak of the grace of God-for a man who is a drunkard or the man who drinks to excess, there is no cure except in total abstinence from alcoholic drink of all shapes and of all degrees. I only think that because this remedy is necessary for the drunkard, it does not follow logically that it becomes necessary for the sober and the temperate

man.

DEGENERACY.·

ISAIAH LVII.

THE whole chapter I have read is a photographic portrait and a rebuke too of the condition of the church, the professing church of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is taken from actual fact; it is the future translated into history, as if it were the past; and evidently points forward to a day when iniquity shall abound, when perilous times shall come; when men shall be lovers of themselves, and lovers of pleasure, more than lovers of God. The whole of the first section of the chapter is a picture of idolatry, that idolatry which prevailed of old among the Jews; which may prevail in some of its types and shapes in a future degenerate condition of the visible church; under symbols, and metaphors, and figures the most expressive of the indignation that God feels towards it, and of the heinousness of that sin which is necessarily and inseparably involved in it.

He begins the chapter by stating that the departure of the good is neither missed nor lamented by the depraved; he says, the excellent of the earth, "the righteous perisheth;" the good are taken away from the world; but none of those that are left behind have light to see that they have suffered a great calamity, nor sensibility to feel that they have lost the salt of the earth; and if the salt be