The Rev. W. PENNEFATHER then read a few verses from the 85th Psalm :

"Wilt Thou not revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?

"Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation.

"I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for He will speak peace unto His people, and to His saints: but let them not turn again to folly."

Have we not, in that 6th verse, the expression of faith? May we not say that this question is really an assertion ?" Thou wilt revive us again, that Thy people may rejoice in Thee." It is the language of faith; it is the language of confidence in God. But mark, this confidence in God, this assurance that God will bless, only leads His people to pray; and, consequently, the next verse is prayer-prayer ever flows from faith-" Shew us Thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us Thy salvation, Thy deliverance." And then, thirdly, after we have expressed our confidence in Godpoured out our hearts before Him-what ought to be our attitude? Ought we to leave the throne of grace forgetting that we have been there? Should we not be found, as the Psalmist is here found, in the attitude of those who are listening for the Master's voice? What do we pray for, but that we may receive from God that which He is ready to give? And therefore we find it added, "I will hear"-I will speak to my God, and I will listen to His voice. Ah, brethren, methinks we often go to the throne of grace, we often pour out our hearts in prayer; the prayer may be

really sincere while we are in the act of offering our petitions; but we do not tarry-we do not hush the tumult of our hearts to listen to the voice of God. "My sheep hear My voice, a stranger's voice will they not hear; they know not the voice of a stranger; they hear Me; I know them, and they follow Me." And hence it is said, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak." Observe, it is not what man says; and I feel assured that those beloved brethren who have come here to uphold my hands, and to speak in the Saviour's name, would not have you listen to their voice, but to God's truth from their lips. "I will hear what God the Lord will speak." "He will speak peace." Blessed be His name! He ever does speak peace to the sorrowful, to the conscience-stricken, to the wounded. Peace, peace: "My peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth give I unto you." Unto His holy ones He speaks peace. The world is in a tumult; but He says, "Peace; it is I." Your circumstances are trying, but I am beside you; peace. You are bereaved; I take the place of that one gone to glory; peace. "But let them not turn again to folly." Have we not turned again to folly after Conferences, after seasons of special communion with God? Was it not when Moses had been upon the mount, that he came down and heard the dancing? Was it not when Jesus had heard the voice, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," that He was driven into the wilderness to be tempted? But we have not only been tempted, we have fallen. Oh let us listen, then to-day: may the Holy Ghost

enable us to listen, and let us hear what God the Lord

will speak; for He wil! speak peace to us, blessed be but He will tell us too, "Turn not again

His name;

to folly."

The two last verses of the 7th Hymn were then

"Oh! Christ. Thou Son of David,
Redeemer! Priest and King!
With loud and sweet Hosannahs,
Thine advent we would sing.
Come Thou as our Melchisedec,
Bearing the bread and wine,
To feed Thy fainting warriors,
And bless with words divine!

Soon may we hear the thunder,
The angel's mighty voice;
The King in glory cometh,
Rejoice, O earth, rejoice!
Swell, swell the rolling anthem,
The victory is won,

The kingdoms yield obedience

To God's Beloved Son."

After prayer had been offered by Lord RADSTOCK, the Doxology "Glory, honour," was sung, and the Rev. C. SKRINE then said :—

I have asked the Lord that, if it were possible, not one moment of your precious time should be lost this morning. I would ask it again; but I would just draw your thoughts for one moment to the Scriptures which our brother has given to us for our consideration this morning, in the 4th chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke, the 20th chapter of St. John,

and in the 10th chapter of the Acts. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him." Then in John XX. 2, "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you." Once more, in Acts x. 38, "How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him."

Now in that first passage there are these remarkable words, "The eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him." Beloved, it is our prayer this morning that the eye of every one in the large assembly should be fastened on Him; that there should not be anything before them but just Himself, and that every word we read and every word we hear may, by His blessed Spirit, bring Jesus Himself before us. And I think that there was a wonderful meaning in that little word, "the Father hath sent Me." It seems to account for all that selfemptiness that we see so much in Jesus. How His own will was quite in abeyance, His very Godhead in abeyance, His own power in abeyance, as He waited upon the Father. And then it ex

plains to us those wonderful scenes when in the wilderness angels ministered to Him, and when in the garden of Gethsemane an angel appeared strengthening Him, and also that constant reference to the throne. Look at Him at the grave of Lazarus. When the stone is rolled away, before He will speak the mighty word, "Lazarus come forth!" He looks up to heaven. His eye is upon the throne; the Master is looking up to Jehovah, and He, who was the Anointed One of the Spirit, who was sent from God, is just waiting, waiting for the Father's power, and waiting for the Father's blessing. And is it not this which explains His stooping down in the presence of the adulteress as He wrote upon the ground? Was it not a waiting upon the Father? Was not the great Forerunner in the course of faith, showing us how to wait, and how to hang upon God, and how to look to God in all we do? Then, beloved, it was a mission; and as such, the very time for the mission was fixed and arranged of God. How blessedly He waited for this during those thirty years spent in retirement; and then, only then, when the Spirit has come upon Him at the waters of Jordan, and the voice out of heaven has proclaimed His name-only then, Jesus goes forth. And, as it was a mission, so every step in that mission was arranged. He seemed to be looking up, and continually receiving strength. That voice which came from heaven, as mentioned in St. John, when the people thought it thundered, came, it is true, for their sakes; but it came also because the