heathen; he knew that Jehovah was just and holy; he knew that the thoughts and feelings and conduct of men were carefully observed by Him; he knew that God's law for the regulation of human life was right in all its requirements; and that, if men sought His knowledge, and favour, and glory, He would direct them by His Spirit, and protect them by His power, and bless them with His salvation; while, on the other hand, if they refused to listen to His invitations and commands, He would visit their sins with stripes and their iniquities with chastisements. The pious and well-informed scribe knew that in many parts of the law and the prophets, the justice and the mercy of God had been declared in the plainest terms. He remembered that his great ancestor Abraham had said, "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? That be far from Thee to do after this manner; to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked. That be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" He remembered that it had been said, "He is a rock; His work is perfect, for all His ways are judgment; a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He." "With the merciful thou wilt show Thyself merciful, and with the upright man Thou wilt show Thyself upright." "The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their cry. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all."

And not only had Ezra those Scriptures which spoke of the character and government of God, but he had the history of his own nation, and of others with whom that nation had had to do. In that history he found many striking illustrations of the truth now under consideration. He knew, for example, that Noah and his family had been preserved while the other inhabitants of the old world had been destroyed; he knew that Lot and his daughters had heen saved when the cities of the plain had been consumed; he knew that when there had been darkness and desolation and death in the land of Egypt, the children of Israel had had light in their dwellings; he knew that his forefathers had been guided and protected and fed during their wanderings in the wilderness, and had been put in possession of the land of Canaan, while the kings and nations that were their enemies had been destroyed; he knew that peace and abundance had been given to Israel when the people walked in the way of God's statutes, and

that war, and pestilence, and famine had come upon them when they neglected the law of their God.

And have not good men as valid grounds now as Ezra had, for a deep and firm conviction of the reality and justice of God's moral government? Is it not true now, as of old, that the way of transgressors is hard, and that godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come? Do not sloth and intemperance and profligacy lead to ruin now as they did in other days? And do not diligence and sobriety lead, in ordinary cases, to respectability and competence? We know that "though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished,” and that "it shall be well with them that fear God." And the truth is presented under a fuller and clearer light in the New Testament than in the Old, that the hand of the Lord is on all them for good that seek Him, and that His power and wrath are against all them that forsake Him.

Thirdly, Ezra was convinced that he and his companions were among those who sought God and on whom God's hand was for good.

In the text he calls Jehovah "our God." They did not worship the gods of the Chaldeans, but the God of the Jews, the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They were like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, who would rather be cast into the fiery furnace than fall down and worship the golden image; and like Daniel, who was willing to be cast into the den of lions, rather than give up praying to his God.

But the text is obviously designed to convey much more than the truth that they were not idolaters. It is intended to teach us that they were in a state of favour with God, and that they knew this; they were convinced that God looked on them with approval, and that they enjoyed His protection and blessing.

From this, as from many other Scriptures, we learn that a man may assure himself of God's friendship,—may know that he has been pardoned and is safe, and ought to rejoice in the assurance of hope. Paul said, "I know whom I have believed;" and again, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness. This sweet and well-founded hope of eternal blessedness in heaven supported him amidst the difficulties and trials of life, and animated him to great devotedness in the service of God.

There is great variety in this grace of hope, as there is with other Christian graces; but it exists to some extent in the mind of every one who believes in Jesus. From various causes, indeed,

the Christian while on earth may be at times disquieted with doubts and fears; but there is no disciple who is an absolute stranger to peace. It is not possible for a man to believe in God's readiness to pardon sin-to pardon his sin; it is not possible for a man to believe in the power and willingness of Jesus to save sinners-to save him, without his tasting of that "peace which passeth all understanding," and which "the world can neither give nor take away."

II. Ezra's declaration of his conviction.

We are not informed particularly as to the time and circumstances in which the good man declared his conviction to King Artaxerxes. But, from the context, it seems probable that while the king had been often, and in various ways, informed of the convictions of Ezra and his companions, these had been very specially brought before his mind when Ezra requested the necessary authority to make his proposed journey to the land of Palestine and the city of Jerusalem. The good man probably felt then that there was a peculiar obligation laid upon him to declare his belief in the government of God over all men, and his humble hope that Jehovah was his own Father, and Protector, and Guide.

And as it was with Ezra, so ought it to be with every good man; for it is not more certain that " with the heart man believeth unto righteousness," than it is that "with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." There may, indeed, be ostentatious and hypocritical profession of our views and feelings in matters of religion. Such was made by the Pharisees in the days of the Saviour the men who made long prayers at the corners of the streets, and made broad their phylacteries, and sounded a trumpet when they gave alms, and went about with haggard looks, and offered tithes of mint, and anise, and cummin. Probably these men were not wholly aware how far their principles and professions differed from each other, but by deceiving others they had come to do what men very often do, namely, to deceive themselves. Probably they knew and felt that to be blessed like Abraham it was necessary to have a character like his, but by degrees they were taken in the net which they had prepared for others. When men generally recognised their claims to superior sanctity, they acquiesced in the judgment; and when they prayed and spoke of heaven and hell, of the righteous and the wicked, and the law and temple, and the Messiah, they had little

or no consciousness that they were acting a part; but the words which they had long used they continued to use as a matter of course, without attaching to them any definite idea.

But the fact that men sometimes make ostentatious professions in religion is no reason why we should not make a sincere profession. To do this has been plainly commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ, and threatening of the gravest character has been attached to non-compliance with our Lord's injunctions. The Saviour has told His disciples that they are the "salt of the earth" and "the light of the world." It is the very nature of light to shine and to show itself even through the smallest crevice; so the light of Divine truth will manifest itself from within the soul. Just as the face of Moses shone when he came down from the mount, though he knew it not, the principles and feelings of a true disciple of Jesus will shew themselves in his prevailing tone and temper, and it will be difficult for him to hide his Christianity, even if he were disposed.

But this is not all; for, in addition to this involuntary diffusion of the light, the Saviour has said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they, seeing your good works, may glorify your Father who is in heaven." He has personally, and by His apostles, enjoined that men are not only to embrace Him, and His salvation, and put on His yoke, but to declare that to the world at large; and He has said that "whosoever is ashamed of Him before men, of them also shall He be ashamed before His Father and the holy angels."

Such a profession as we have spoken of is made by the observance of the outward and positive institutions. When, for example, a man calls his family around him, sings a song of praise, and reads a portion of the Scriptures, and presents an offering of supplication and thanksgiving, he is telling his children and his neighbours that he is a disciple of Jesus Christ. When he goes to the house of God on the Sabbath, and engages in the exercises of public worship, and especially when he takes his place at the communion table, as the Saviour has commanded, he is making an open and decided declaration that he is a disciple of Jesus.

Now, many of us have made such professions-have said to our fellow-men around us what Ezra said to King Artaxerxes. We have declared that there are two great classes of men in the world, namely, those who are seeking, and those who are forsaking God; that it is well with one class, for the hand of the Lord

is upon them for good, and that it is ill with the other class, for the power and wrath of God are against them. We have declared that the Lord is our God—we have entered into covenant with Him by faith in Christ Jesus, and that we profess the high character and enjoy the high privileges of Christian disciples. If our attending the sanctuary, and our going to the communintable does not mean this, it means nothing at all. It is a solemn mockery—a dead and empty service.

III. Ezra's anxiety lest he should do anything inconsistent with this declaration.

He tells us in the text that because he had declared his conviction to the king, he was ashamed to ask a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect him and his companions on the way.

There are two interesting and instructive points to be here. looked at.

man.

First, there was real and great danger in the way of this good He had a journey before him of probably not less than eight hundred miles, and he had, it is supposed, about six thousand persons in his company, many of whom were women and children; he was to take with him such quantities of gold and silver, and other valuables, as he could obtain, for the carrying on of the great work of reformation at Jerusalem, on which his heart was set. It is not difficult to see that such a company presented strong temptations to the bands of wanderers who infested the regions through which they were to pass; and although it is true that the authority of the Persian empire was recognised there, that authority was by no means so powerful at this period as it had been at some other times, for the king had recently been singularly unsuccessful in his warlike enterprises, and had been obliged to return in great humiliation from some of his campaigns.

Besides, in going to Jerusalem, Ezra was likely to be exposed to the attacks of the Samaritans who lived in the northern part of Palestine, as the road from Babylon went through this district, or very near it. These Samaritans were descendants of the old colonists who had been placed in the country by the kings of Assyria; and, as they had intermarried with Jewish women who had been left in the land, and had placed Jehovah, represented by the golden calves, among their gods, they considered themselves as having a right to be associated in the erection of the Temple with the Jews who had returned from Babylon. They