with the necessary capital, He sets before them the object they should pursue, enjoins on them the laws that should regulate them in all their exchanges and labours, and fixes a day when He shall call them to account and reward them according to their works. On that day the unfaithful trader will be banished for ever from His Presence, whilst the faithful shall be welcomed to an everlasting participation of the inestimable blessedness of His Own Being.

In this spiritual merchandise, then, all work with borrowed capital. This is one of its distinguishing facts. In secular merchandise men do not always conduct their business with borrowed capital, though perhaps some of the most successful merchants have often done so. In all probability the history of commerce would show that the men who started in business with the smallest means, have as a rule been more successful than those who commenced with ample resources. The reason is obvious; the man with the smallest means has the strongest motives for the exercise of sagacity, economy, and diligence; and these are the best guarantees of success. Spiritually, let us use our borrowed powers diligently and faithfully, and then, though they may be inferior both in kind and measure to those of others, we Ishall have the reward of faithful servants.

We notice another distinguishing fact in the genuine merchandise of souls.

IV. It is advantageous to all in PROPORTION TO THE SUCCESS OF EACH, In material merchandise the more some prosper in their accumulations of wealth, the less chance for others. Material wealth is necessarily limited, and, therefore, the more one gets, the less remains for others. Because in this country the upper "ten thousand" have appropriated so much to their own personal use, the middle-classes have to struggle hard after a competency, whilst the millions of the lower orders are in a starving condition. The time is approaching when Government must interfere, and set a limit, beyond which no man's income should go.

Monopoly

implies social injustice. In the genuine merchandise of souls, however, the case is different; the more spiritual intelligence, practical wisdom, Divine virtues, any man gets, the better not only for himself, but for others, too. The good man, however secularly poor, has the power of making others rich-rich with the "unsearchable riches of Christ.” Man could sooner monopolise the air and the light, than goodness; sooner monopolise the sun, than God. Goodness not only reveals goodness, but reflects it. Each man that attains spiritual excellence, becomes a fresh fountain in the desert to increase and heighten the world's spiritual life—a fresh star to diminish the world's spiritual darkness, and to brighten the hemisphere of souls. In spiritual merchandise, therefore, there need be none of the envious competition that marks and curses the secular markets of the world. We notice another distinguishing fact in the genuine merchandise of souls.

In

It is not so in The soul will ever The more it has, capacity it gets for

V. It is an ETERNAL BUYING AND NEVER SELLING. material merchandise there is "buying and selling in order to get gain." Each merchant is in turn a buyer and a seller. He buys to sell and sells to buy. spiritual merchandise: it is buying ever. be increasing its spiritual acquisitions. the more it will crave, and the more attaining. There will ever be deeper mines to explore, wider fields to roam, and higher heights to scale. John the beloved disciple said, when on earth, "It doth not yet appear what we shall be." Though ages have departed since he left the world, and he has been ever since advancing in spiritual attainments, could he speak to us to-night he would utter the same words. Holy souls are always passing "from glory to glory." But whilst ever buying, there is no selling. Giving, freely and generously, indeed, always, but no selling-no bartering principles away for lucre, no selling of truth for gain. "Buy the truth, and sell it not." It must not be sold for anything. There is nothing equal to

its value. Put worlds in a balance against it, and they will prove lighter than a feather. Sell it not. Not for palaces, not for empires, not for life itself. "Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee; guard thee from the carnal, and the selfish, and the devilish. Truth is the soul's true palladium. "She shall

promote thee." She will raise thee in the estimation of thine own conscience-in the judgment of the whole universe, and in the eye of God. "She shall give to thy head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." The crown she gives is made not of fading laurels, or of mouldering gems—a tawdry adornment for a head of clay, but a crown coruscating with the moral perfections of the Great God Himself.

CONCLUSION.-Are you engaged in this genuine spiritual merchandise? Are you trading in quest of the chief good -the heavenly wisdom? If not, why? "Wherefore is there a price in the hand of a fool, seeing he hath no heart to it?" God has given you a price in your hand to buy it. He has given you leisure, books, society, the Gospel, the ministry, intellectual and moral faculties, for the purpose of getting it. Why have you not got it when the price is in your hand? Are you employing the "price" He has given you to buy wisdom, in purchasing the worthless toys of earth? "Wherefore spend ye your money for that which is not bread, and for that which satisfieth not?" Awake to a sense of your obligation. Be about your "Father's business." Having heard of the pearl of great price, sell all that thou hast to procure it.

CIVILISING INFLUENCE OF COMMERCE.

"COMMERCE tends to wear off those prejudices which maintain distinction and animosity between nations. It softens and polishes the manners of men. It unites them by one of the strongest of all ties-the desire of supplying their mutual wants. It disposes them to peace, by establishing in every state an order of citizens bound by their interest to be the guardians of public tranquillity. As soon as the commercial spirit acquires vigour, and begins to gain an ascendant in any society, we discern a new genius in its policy, its alliances, its wars, and its negotiations."-ROBERTSON.

Homiletic Sketches on the Book of Psalms.

OUR PURPOSE.-Many learned and devout men have gone philologically through this TEHILIM, this book of Hebrew hymns, and have left us the rich results of their inquiries in volumes within the reach of every Biblical student. To do the mere verbal hermeneutics of this book, even as well as it has been done, would be to contribute nothing fresh in the way of evoking or enforcing its Divine ideas. A thorough нOMILETIC treatment it has never yet received, and to this work we here commit ourselves, determining to employ the best results of modern Biblical scholarship.

OUR METHOD.-Our plan of treatment will comprise four sections:-(1.) The HISTORY of the passage. Lyric poetry, which the book is, is a delineation of living character, and the key, therefore, to unlock the meaning and reach the spirit of the words, is a knowledge of the men and circumstances that the poet sketches with his lyric pencil.(2.) ANNOTATIONS of the passage. This will include short explanatory notes on any ambiguous word, phrase, or allusion that may occur.-(3.) The ARGUMENT of the passage. A knowledge of the main drift of an author is amongst the most essential conditions for interpreting his meaning.-(4.) The HOMILETICs of the passage. This is our main work. We shall endeavour so to group the Divine ideas that have been legitimately educed, as to suggest such thoughts, and indicate such sermonizing methods, as may promote the proficiency of modern pulpit ministrations.

Subject: GOD'S MUNDANE PROPERTY AND MAN'S MORAL OBLIGATION.

"The earth is the Lord's,

And the fulness thereof;

The world, and they that dwell therein.

For He hath founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the floods."-Psa. xxiv. 1, 2.

HISTORY.-This Psalm is entitled the Psalm of David, and there is no reason to believe that he was not the author. The removal of the ark from the house of Obed Edom to Mount Zion as described in 2 Sam. vi., 1 Chron. xv., was in all probability the occasion of its composition. The musical performances that attended this stirring event appear to have been arranged with the utmost skill and care, and had doubtless their part in creating that luxuriance of emotion which the king displayed. We know, from various parts of Scripture, that King David devoted immense pains to the due celebration of the musical service of the sanctuary. Hundreds and thousands of the Levites were trained most carefully as players on instruments, and as singers. From the narrative in First Chronicles we learn that on the occasion of bringing up the ark, the singers and players were most carefully arranged, according to the instrument they played on, or the part they sang. It has been supposed by some that the 24th Psalm was sung on this occa

sion, and that it was suug in parts. One body of singers, as the procession nears the city, proclaim the glory of God :

The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof;
The world, and they that dwell therein.

Another body of singers echo the announcement :—

For He hath founded it upon the seas,

And established it upon the floods.

Again, by the first body of singers, the question is asked :

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord,

Or who shall stand in his holy place?

To this it is replied:

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart,

Who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

Still another body, perhaps, join their testimony :—

He shall receive the blessing from the Lord,

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Then all together, perhaps, combining :

:

This is the generation of them that seek him,

That seek thy face, O Jacob!

The strain is now probably taken up by the musical instruments until the gates of Mount Zion are reached, when the first body of singers, gazing up to the lofty battlements, thus addresses them :

Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
And be lift up, ye everlasting doors,

And the King of Glory shall come in.

A party from within the gates ask?

Who is this King of Glory?

From around the sacred ark the reply is wafted majestically :—

The Lord, strong and mighty,

The Lord, mighty in battle!

Immediately the gate is thrown open. Then, perhaps, the procession reaches an inner one, where the same challenge is given, the same question asked, and an answer even more sublime returned:

The Lord of Hosts, He is the King of glory.

Amid this glorious wave of song and praise the ark is placed in the tabernacle, which the king had caused to be prepared for it. "How others may think upon this point," says Dr. Delaney, "I cannot say, nor pretend to describe; but for my own part I have no notion of hearing,