Forty-Fifth Sabbath—Evening.

THE CHOICE OF MOSES.

"By faith, Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter."-Heb. xi, 21.

MOSES was, in a remarkable manner, the child of Providence, strangely preserved, strangely brought up, and strangely qualified to be the deliverer of Israel. When he came to years, he displayed great decision of mind and thought for himself, and acted for himself, and did not lose his reward. Let us consider what he renounced, what he chose, when he made this choice, and what was the principle by which he was actuated.

What he renounced-"He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter." He renounced high honour. He was the adopted son of Pharaoh's daughter, heir to the throne of Egypt, and destined, in due time, to be king; but he preferred the service of God, and the reproach of Christ. He preferred to cast in his lot with the oppressed and despised people of God, while he might have associated with the great, and enjoyed the splendours of a court. He preferred religion, with all its trials, to a throne with all its honours, and he preferred being great with God, rather than with men. He renounced the pleasures of high life. The gaiety of princely society, the sensual enjoyments of a luxurious

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court, and the pleasures of sin for a season, could not make him happy nor save his soul from death. He renounced riches. The treasures of Egypt-in his day one of the richest kingdoms in the world, were all before him, but, like Paul, he counted them loss and dross, that he might win Christ. O my soul, hast thou renounced the world as thy portion, and is thy portion in the skies?

What he chose.-He chose the recompense of reward, though it must be reached through afflictions, poverty, contempt, and slavery. He chose to identify himself with God's people, though outcasts and slaves under a foreign rule. He chose the reproach of Christ, and was willing to bear all worldly loss, that He might honour Him. Feeling his need of a Saviour, seeing His value, and looking to the ultimate reward, he resolved to associate with his afflicted brethren, and try to achieve, through divine help, their deliverance from bondage. What though he should incur the hatred of the world, if he could help his down-trodden kindred, and enjoy the approbation of God! O my soul, wilt thou not mount on the wings of hope, and look for thy reward in the better land?

When he made this choice-"When he was come to years." When we begin the world our hopes are high, our expectations sanguine, and our ambition great. The world's fascinations ravish us. Its golden glories dazzle our vision.

But Moses, when he had a kingdom at his feet, when he had attained maturity to relish sensual enjoyments, flung them away from his grasp, and decided for God, and for heaven. This was the crisis, the turning-point, and the starting-point of his intellectual and moral greatness. He was of age, therefore he made his choice deliberately, and in the exercise of a mature judgment. He did it at the right time, when the pleasures of sense were trying to fold him in their fascinating embraces, and when his noble example might have the greatest influence on others. My reader, hast thou yet come to a crisis in the choice of religion? Hast thou yet a startingpoint for heaven?

What was the principle by which he was actuated?" By faith." He believed that God was the portion of His people, and that they who possess this portion enjoy all things in Him. He believed the promise of God, that He would give the earthly Canaan, as well as the heavenly, to His people, and that the time of their deliverance was at hand. He believed that God was present with His people, though enslaved in a foreign land, and that the time to visit them, the set time, had come. And he believed that though he must suffer tribulation on earth, yet it would be only disciplinary, and prepare him for an everlasting inheritance.

Forty-Sixth Sabbath-Morning.

RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but hath passed from death unto life.John v. xxiv.

OUR duty, our privilege, our safety, our experience, and our security, here demand our attention.

Our duty-"He that heareth My word." Jesus is the speaker, and it is His word we are to hear. His word is divine, it is true, it is spirit, and it is life. We ought to hear it with deep attention. "I will hear what God the Lord shall speak." We ought to hear it with self-application. A message for all is also for each one in particular, and we must not lose ourselves in a crowd. We ought to hear with determination to practise. Unless religion influence our conduct, it is all in vain. Our inquiry should be, not what wilt Thou have me to think, or speak, or profess, but "What wilt Thou have me to do?" "Speak Thou unto us, and we will hear it and do it." "And believeth on Him that sent Me." The object of faith here is God that sent Christ, God the Father in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. On this foundation we are to fix our faith, and we are fully warranted to do so, by

the invitation and command of Christ. Reader, wilt thou not believe the testimony of God concerning Christ, and fix thy faith on Him for salvation?

Our privilege-"Hath everlasting life." By hearing and believing we have life. This life is not physical but spiritual. It is a new creation, a living and abiding principle, that makes us prefer good to evil. "Of His own will begat He us with the word of truth." We have everlasting life. Natural life is soon and often suddenly terminated, but spiritual life never. Once alive, we die no more. Our existence, as to duration, is like God's, and like the angels. Hence, religion which may live to-day and expire tomorrow, is not religion at all. We have it at present. We do not need to wait for it till we die. It is not merely a future, but a present privilege-a privilege so great and invaluable, that we ought not to rest one moment till we have it and enjoy it, and once having it, we must so value it, that we would not part with it for all the world.

Our safety-" And shall not come into condemnation." Before conversion and the enjoyment of everlasting life, we were under sentence of condemnation. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law to do them." But now, possessing everlasting life, that curse is rolled away from