cocks in politics, morals, or religion, whose chief end, not to say sole office, is to show which way the wind blows. Still less are they the mere hangers-on of a party or a sect, who fling up their caps and cry huzzah to the reigning Caesar, whoever he may be and whatever he may do, provided only they are permitted to share in the spoils, and, if they follow in the train of Christ, do so only that they may "eat of the loaves and fishes," and give in their adhesion to the prevailing form of government and religion, simply because it prevails and is fashionable. No such understanding or serving of the times as this, is anywhere commended in the Scriptures.

Neither are they, on the other hand, the radical reformers or the unpractical and impracticable philosophers of the day, who take up a notion of their own and proclaim it as the very truth of God, perchance as more sacred than His truth, more binding than His law, and more stable than His throne; who pluck up the tares with the wheat, and turn up the very foundations of society with the plow-share of reform; who mount a blind fancy or a mad passion, and ride it rough-shod over things sacred and profane, till it plunges its rider in the ditch, or carries him a raving maniac among the tombs, or at best leaves him a solitary and gloomy recluse in the waste, howling wilderness. No such idea of right and reform as this, is inculcated in the Scriptures.

Right is one thing, and radical reform may be quite another thing. What we wish, and properly wish, is one thing, and what is wise, what is suitable, what is practicable, may be quite another thing. A Platonic republic may be a beautiful dream; but if practically carried out, it would demoralize and disorganize society. A socialistic community may look well on paper, but it never works

well. It ought to work well, perhaps, but it never does. Men argue confidently that it must work well. But it presents a sad spectacle in real life. Theoretically, the only rightful government over Israel was a theocracy, and when the people first asked a king, God was displeased with the demand, as an infringement of His right to be the sole king in Israel. If your sticklers for unchangeable, abstract right, independent of circumstances, had been among the representatives of the tribes assembled at Hebron, they would still have insisted on the indefeasible, inalienable, divine right of the theocracy! But no ! circumstances had changed, and the course of wisdom and duty had changed with them. It was now the will of God that David should sit on the throne. And it was because the men of Issachar had an "understanding of the times" and of the will of God as indicated by them, that they knew "what Israel ought to do."

On the other hand, time-serving is one thing, and a due observance of the signs of the times is quite another thing. It is one thing to be the willing slave of times and circumstances however out of joint, of men and combinations of men however wicked, of personal and partizan interests however selfish and unprincipled, and it is quite another thing to serve God in our day and generation with a wise reference to the peculiar characteristics and wants of that day and generation. This is just the difference between the true statesman and the mere politician; between the faithful minister of the Gospel and the self-seeking priest or the parish-serving parson; between the good citizen or the good Christian and the blind follower of a schism or a section, a party or a sect. The one is ever ready to accommodate his sense of right-nay, to sacrifice the plainest dictates of duty-to the supposed necessities of his

situation.

The other looks at times and circumstances as one among many means of determining what is right. To the one, supposed expediency is the highest standard of duty. To the other, known duty is always the highest expediency.

There is such a thing as a just and happy mean between the two extremes of a blind subserviency to the times on the one hand, and a mad or a stolid indifference to them on the other. "In medio tutissimus ibis." There is such a thing as an inflexible adherence to principle, harmoniously combined with a wise regard to circumstances. It is beautifully shadowed forth in the character of the men of Issachar, who "had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do." What Israel ought to do was the great question. But the times in which they lived were an essential element in the solution. Duty is the end at which they aim. But circumstances are, as the word imports, the medium through which they must arrive at it, the space through which they must pass, and the surrounding objects which they must avoid or encounter on the way. Right is their pole-star; but in traveling towards it, they are necessarily guided and limited by the circumstances in which they are placed, by the nature of the ground over which they have to travel. If the poor slave should lose sight of the North star, he would probably never reach the land of liberty. On the other hand, if he should never look at anything else, he would stumble over the rocks in his path, lose his way among the mountains, or fall into the rivers. While steadfastly gazing at the stars, the ancient philosopher fell into a well and was drowned. Truth is the sun of the moral universe. But if men fix their eyes too intently, or, as Socrates expresses it, irreverently on his direct effulgence, they will lose

their sight. It is in his light as reflected from the objects by which they are surrounded in this sublunary world, that they must ordinarily walk. Terrestrial voyages are successfully conducted only by means of celestial observations. But the captain and the man at the helm must mind also the winds and the waves, and the pilot must keep a constant look-out for the rocks and quicksands, if they would bring the ship safe into port. So they who would guide the ship of the State or the church safely on its perilous voyage must not only know the great principles of all law and government, whether human or divine, but must have an understanding of the times in which they live, of the men and things with which they have to do, of the dangers to which they, in their peculiar circumstances, are exposed, and the duties which the necessities of men or the providence of God devolves upon them.

The unchangeable laws of man's nature and the government of God are the foundations on which the moral architect must erect his building, and the archetype after which it must be built, if it is to be enduring. But there are a multitude of changing circumstances and variable elements which he must take into his calculation-such as the site on which it is to stand, the material of which it must be constructed, the particular use to which it is to be devoted, the climate to which it is to be exposed, and all the probable vicissitudes of the weather and the times, which, whether in the process of building or in its subsequent use, it is likely to encounter. The spiritual husbandman must not only understand agriculture and the connected sciences in the general, but he must acquaint himself with the climate of his own locality and the soil of his own farm, and must adapt the seed that he sows, and the time and manner of his sowing to these particular

circumstances, or he will never "come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." To come back to the language of our text, the men of Issachar must have "understanding of the times," of the tendencies of the age, of the onward movements of society and government of the wants of the church and the state of the world, of the workings of men's minds and the longings of their hearts, of the leadings of Providence and the plans and purposes of God, if they would know what Israel ought to do.

Two elements must enter into the character of those who, in any age, would have such an understanding of the times as shall qualify them to take the lead, on a larger or a smaller scale, whether in civil or religious affairs.

They must be real men, esteeming nothing human foreign to themselves, with eyes open to passing events, and minds awake to the problems of the age, and hearts responsive to every heart-throb of our common humanityin one word, alive in their whole spirit and soul and body to every vital interest of men in their day and generation. This may be called the human element.

But there is also what may be called a divine element, which is still more essential to the character under consideration. They must be men of God, not only reconciled to His law and government, but in lively sympathy with His character and providence and grace, their hearts beating in unison with every pulsation of that heart which bled and died for the salvation of the world, their hands moving in spontaneous obedience to His commands, and all their powers so instinct, as it were, with the very mind and will of God, that, like the living creatures and the wheels of the prophet's vision, they shall see with His