over in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them." Now here is the point : For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear." What is that? I think I see Nehemiah with his notebook in his hand after the work was all finished, and he is turning over and going through in his mind all that he had done and suffered. And he is thinking over it all, and wondering what made all the opposition to the building of these walls. "I never could rightly understand," he would say, "why that was such a tough job, and why there were continually things coming against my legs to trip me up from unexpected quarters. I felt some one was not fighting fair, that the enemy had got into our own camp and was fighting against me unfairly." And it was the mother-in-law that was the whole secret. They-families. of God's people and their enemies—were married and intermarried with each other; and so they had their grapplingirons on the Israelitish vessel. And they pulled the vessel close by this inter-marriage relationship, and they got on board, and could not be kept off. By this marriage relationship Tobiah had got in with the very chief of them, and so struck hard and constantly at Nehemiah. And it was through this marriage relationship they tried to get at Nehemiah and pull him down, and thus cause God's work to cease.

Says Christ, "I am not come to send peace, but a sword; to set the father against the son, and the daughter against the mother, and the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law and a man's foes shall be those of his own household." Indeed, you will ofttimes be fairly perplexed. You say, "I feel the devil at my elbow, and he is whispering in my ear with my own flesh and blood, and

would overcome me unless I set watch with vigilance." This same thing is working to-day. Now, for example, I know a young fellow, he started with great vigour in the cause of God, he started with great vigour to build the wall, especially to build the total abstinence wall. But by-and-bye he married a daughter of a wine merchant, and that brought the building to a stop. Yes. He says now he thinks there are a great many excellent people among the brewers. Was not that the kind of thing they said to Nehemiah? "Moreover, they reported Tobiah's good deeds," and they said this and said that about him. "And now," I fancy Nehemiah saying, “I am so glad that I was faithful. Sometimes I thought that I was over strict, and made no allowances. But now I am able to see how they were all jumbled together. Lord, I thank Thee for keeping me so stern and uncompromising as I was. If it had not been for Thee, they would have cut the ground from under my feet, and I would have been swept away by them." So you have it. Very innocent-looking things may seduce you and take the backbone out of you. You have got married to a certain Church of England girl-a new sect to you-and you were originally a Presbyterian. You were very strict, but now you are quite the opposite; and now you make great excuses for ritualism. And why is this? It is all the influence of the mother-in-law ! She is the cause of it. Your own heart's affections are as Presbyterian as ever they were. But you have got to be a coward. You dare not say "cheep"; your marriage has put you on a chain, and the mother-in-law has the pulling of the end of it!

Once upon a time you here used to be what is called "strict." Your friends called you old-fashioned and Puritanical. But lately you got married, and that has brought you into close contact with a class of people with whom you had little or no dealings before. You had nothing in common. And, to make a long story short, you were at the theatre the other evening-with your

mother-in-law. She has soon called you in off the wall! Everything is altered now. And instead of your going over to carry war into the enemy's camp, they have come unto you, and have overcome you; and you have purred like a pussy-cat where before you were bold and outspoken: and the reason is the marriage, the motherin-law; and the marrow of principle is being thereby sucked out of some of you. You need to be spoken to, and I would that my words were like fire, and would burn. Oh! that some of you would come back to your earlier faith, enthusiasm in God's work, and the blood-heat of your early zeal. For now you are as nambypamby as the devil could wish.

"I used to think," says another, "very harshly of those who didn't hold my views. But now I have learnt to be charitable. I have discovered that many things which I thought were essential are only accidental." Softly, my friend 'twas the mother-in-law made the discovery. You have gone off on that charitable dodge. Ah, God's Word has an eye in every direction.

"Also they reported his good deeds before me," and as good as said, “We know Tobiah; and, Nehemiah, you are wrong about him altogether. He is an excellent man, and he gave five shillings to this, he gave ten shillings to that; and he is a wonderful fellow altogether. He is wonderfully like yourself." Really it is such a pity that two such good men should not meet together and shake hands. But they never could, and Nehemiah kept his hands behind his back and said, “I choose my own company. I know the hands of these fellows too well."

Not long ago I was astonished at one whom I thought would be the last to play fast and loose with the Atonement and Inspiration, and with the need of conversion, and with the eternity of punishment. But now he is off the wall. And why? Because he is married into a certain circle where everything is loose and worldly; and instead of his bringing his new circle of friends up, they have

brought him down. And now to see him gliding along the down-grade with his mother-in-law-is partly ludicrous, and partly saddening, and wholly contemptible. I'm afraid there was more backbone in Nehemiah's little finger than in the whole anatomy of people I shall not name—but you can all be busy thinking. For all these reasons you should make this principle the touchstone of all friendships into which you enter, and all marriage relationships, and everything. How does it tell on the work of God? How does it tell on my walk? Does it cool or increase me in love to God, and in love for His righteous cause and His unchanging Truth? May God bless the word!

Henderson & Spalding, General Printers, Marylebone Lane, London, W.

THE QUEEN OF THE SOUTH

VERSUS

THE MEN OF THIS GENERATION.

A Sermon

DELIVERED IN REGENT SQUARE CHURCH, ON SUNDAY MORNING, JAN. 19TH, 1890.

BY THE

REV. JOHN MCNEILL.

1 KINGS X. 4-9.

YESTERDAY I could not help feeling a little the reaction from incessant work in connection with our Special Meetings. I bent myself somewhat reluctantly to study a new subject. Still, as I bent over this passage, there came even from the dull printed page some glimmering of the glory, and the gladness, and the wonderment, and the mingled fainting and exhilaration of spirit that are recorded here. And my hope is that the Spirit of God may make up for my deficiency, and for yours also; that the eyes of our hearts may see the greater than Solomon, who is here. with us in our own day and in our own generation, by His Word of wisdom, by His spiritual presence, with all its spiritual glory. May no ears be dull, may no eyes be dim, and may the preacher, notwithstanding all physical and mental lassitudes and drawbacks, may he also see and hear, and may he get the tongue of fire to tell out in your No. 11.