‘The hope of the Gospel.’–COL. i. 5.‘God never sends mouths but He sends meat to feed them,’ says the oldproverb. And yet it seems as if that were scarcely true in regard tothat strange faculty called Hope. It may well be a question whether onthe whole it has given us more pleasure than pain. How…

    ‘And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the    prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound:    and he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with    Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favour in    the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper    of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all…

    ‘Thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold….’    –EXODUS xxv. 31.If we could have followed the Jewish priest as he passed in his dailyministrations into the Inner Court, we should have seen that he firstpiled the incense on the altar which stood in its centre, and thenturned to trim the lamps of the golden candlestick which…

    ‘And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come    down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves    together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us    gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses,    the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt,    we wot not what is become of him.…

    ‘They went forth to go into the land of Canaan, and into    the land of Canaan they came.’–GENESIS xii. 5.The reference of these words is to Abram’s act of faith in leavingHaran and setting out on his pilgrimage. It is a strange narrative of ajourney, which omits the journey altogether, with its weary marches,privations, and perils,…

          ‘Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.’–2          COR. ix. 15.It seems strange that there should ever have been any doubt as to whatgift it is which evokes this burst of thanksgiving. There is but one ofGod’s many mercies which is worthy of being thus singled out. There isone blazing central sun which shines out amidst…

          ‘From you sounded out the word of God.’–1 THESS.          i. 8.This is Paul’s first letter. It was written very shortly after his firstpreaching of the Gospel in the great commercial city of Thessalonica.But though the period since the formation of the Thessalonian Church wasso brief, their conversion had already become a matter of commonnotoriety; and the…

    ‘For they are My servants, which I brought forth out    of the land of Egypt; they shall not be sold as bondmen.’    –LEV. xxv. 42.This is the basis of the Mosaic legislation as to slavery. It did notsuppress but regulated that accursed system. Certainly Hebrew slaverywas a very different thing from that of other nations. In the…

    ‘And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now    toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to    number them: and He said unto him, So shall thy seed be.    And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it to him    for righteousness. And He said unto him, I am the Lord    that brought thee out…

    ‘The Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The    Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering,    and abundant in goodness and truth.’–EXODUS xxxiv. 6.This great event derives additional significance and grandeur from theplace in which it stands. It follows the hideous act of idolatry inwhich the levity and sinfulness of Israel reached their climax. Thetrumpet of…