with whom we have to do, the ground of our existence, and the Lord of conscience, is the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Are there some of us to whom this doctrine of St. John sounds like faint echoes of music from some remote and inacessible shore, which can be very interesting or intelligible only to men of a peculiarly refined mental constitution, or to initiates into saintly mysteries? If we think so, we are wrong. The further we are from this lofty but most practical truth, the further from our own true destiny. Nor is the path to that region untraceable by mortal feet. It has often been trodden by men like us. It may be trodden again, by every one of us, if we will. The top of the patriarch's ladder may be lost amid the clouds which surround the Ineffable Splendor, yet the foot of it is planted firmly on the soil. Here it rests on the hearth, here beside the altar. Would you know God, then cherish every tender domestic feeling, use all neighbourly kindness and Christian charity. Each of these is a mirror of God. Of them all may we say as Christ said of one. If we, being evil, have these good things amongst us still, if these embers of grace are smouldering here in this so distant region, then what must be the flame in Heaven! How much more! How much more! The Preacher's Finger-Post. CHRISTIAN PIETY IN RELATION TO THE FUTURE. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad."-John viii. 56. In this chapter Christ charges the Jews with a cardinal sin, namely, judging spiritual things by carnal principles. "Ye judge after the flesh," (ver. 15). This was their fundamental error in interpretation. In this chapter He speaks to them of three spiritual things-spiritual freedom, spiritual death, and spiritual vision. Each of these they mis-understood, because of their cardinal canon of interpretation. They understood Christ to mean by His statement in the text, that Abraham had seen Christ with his material eye; whereas, Christ meant spiritual sight. The text leads us to consider ;-the aspect of Christian piety in relation to the future, and we injer I. THAT CHRISTIAN PIETY TURNS THE SOUL TOWARDS THE FUTURE. It turned Abraham's mind "to the day of Christ." This refers undoubtedly to Christ's incarnation, personal ministry, and spiritual reign. Nineteen long centuries rolled between Abraham and the period of Christ's incarnation. Still he saw it. Christian piety does two things in the mind in relation to the future. First: It gives an interesting revelation of the future. Science, poetry, literature, shed no light upon the on-coming periods of our being; but the Bible does. It opens up the future history of the race to us, &c. Secondly: Christian pety gives a felt interest in the blessedness of the future. It gave Abraham a felt interest in the day of Christ. It gives the good a felt interest in the glories that are coming. And what glorious things are on their march. We infer II. THAT CHRISTIAN PIETY FASTENS THE SOUL UPON CHRIST IN THE FUTURE. "My day." To the godly, Christ is everything in the future"The glory of their brightest days, and comforts of their nights." Do the rivers point to the sea? Does the needle point to the pole? Do the plants point to the sun? Does hunger cry for food? Does life pant for air? Even so does the heart of Christian piety point to Christ in the future. To us Christ has a day in the future, His universal day on earth, the day of His glorious revelation at the Judgment. We infer III. THAT CHRISTIAN PIETY BRINGS JOY TO THE SOUL FROM THE FUTURE. It made Abraham glad. He was glad with a benevolent gladness, he knew the world would be blessed by Christ's advent; he was glad with a religious gladness; he knew that God would be glorified by His advent. Several reasons might make us glad when we think of the coming day of Christ. (1) In His day there will be a solution of all difficulties. Everything will be explained. (2) In His day there will be the termination of all imperfections, physical, mental, spiritual. (3) In His day there will be the consummation of unending blessedness. "They shall hunger no more." &c. Learn from this subject-First: The congruity of Christianity with the prospective tendency of the human soul. The soul is everlastingly pointing to the future. Christianity meets this tendency, ministers to it, satisfies it. Learn-Secondly: The antidote of Christianity to the forebodings of the soul. Some souls are constantly boding evil, and well all ungodly souls may. Christianity lights up the future. We learn-Thirdly: The supplies of Christianity to the highest aspirations of the soul. Wonderful is the good after which some souls are aspiring in the future. The present and the material have lost for them their attractions. They have done with them; they have thrown them away as boys who have sucked the away the peel. Christianity orange throw the hands of men: and they shall kill him, and the third day he shall be raised again. And they were exceeding sorry.” - Matt. xvii. 22, 23. WE have already noticed a passage so parallel to this (Matt. xvi. 21-23.)* that it is somewhat difficult to strike from this a new line of thought. If we look at the words in order to illustrate two things, i.e. something remarkable concerning Christ, and something improper concerning His hearers, the difficulty may be obviated, and some practical ideas may be developed. I. SOMETHING REMARKABLE CONCERNING CHRIST. Two things here are very remarkable. First: His designation of Himself-"Son of man.' Why should He call Himself the Son of Man? Is not every man the son of man! Are not all the common offspring of the first one man? meets these loftiest aspira- (1) Men, generally, are the tions. Man cannot aspire after anything higher than that which Christianity supplies; "Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard," &c. children of certain races. All modern men, for instance, identify themselves with some or other of the chief races, such as the Asiatic, the European, the Ethiopic, &c.; and they have the physical peculiarities of these great families. In contra-distinction to this, we may suppose that Christ was an ideal man See Homlist, vol. I. new series, p. 615. physically. He was, in His He was, in His corporeal organization, what the original man was, and what God intended a man to be. (2) Men, generally, are the children of certain countries. They have national characteristics and predilections. They live in, and for, their Fatherland. Nationality, in them, is often stronger than humanity. They would sacrifice themselves, and other nations, for the interest of their own. In contradistinction to this, Christ was a cosmopolitan. The round earth was His country, and all men were His fellowcitizens. He lived for MAN, not for nations. His sympathies grasped the world. In this sense He was an ideal citizen of the earth. (3) Men, generally, are the children of sects. They are born, and brought up, in connexion with some religious sects. They are, to a great extent, the creatures and organs of a religious system. Their religious intellect is tied to a creed. Their religious enthusiasm is bounded by sectarian limits. In contra-distinction to this, Christ's ideas came directly from the Divine and Everlasting Fountain of Truth. The Church He lived in and for, was the Kingdom of Heaven. He was an ideal religionist. "God is a Spirit," said He," and they," &c. the loss which they them | Secondly: His future knowledge of Himself. This is a very remarkable thing. He here foresees His Betrayal, Crucifixion, and Resurrection. Two things here are suggested in favor of His superhumanity. (1) His power to attain such a knowledge suggests this. It is not given to men to know the future of their life. Even the morrow is shrouded in mystery. But Christ saw the whole of His future. The mystery of all future ages was open to His eye. (2) His power to bear this knowledge suggests this: Had we a revelation of even the future of one week, I question whether it would not paralyze our energies. But Christ sees His Betrayal, Crucifixion, and Resurrection, hears the facts, and talks about them. II. SOMETHING VERY IMPROPER CONCERNING HIS HEARERS. It is said they were "exceeding sorry." Why were they sorry? Unless they were sorry on account of the enormous human wickedness which was involved in the coming sufferings of the Son of God, which is by no means likely, their sorrow was manifestly improper. What then was their sorrow? First: Was it the sorrow of sympathy for themselves? Did they tremble at selves would sustain at His departure. It is likely they did. But even this sor row was wrong, inasmuch as the very facts concerning His future life, which He had just stated to them, were essentially necessary to their own happiness. Poor shortsighted men, we, often regret the very loss which serves our highest interest! Secondly: Was it the sorrow of sympathy for their fellow-men? Did they think of what their contemporaries would lose by the departure of Christ from the world? and did this make them sad? If so, their sorrow was improper, for His crucifixion, &c., was the only power which could truly help the world. Third Was it the sorrow of sympathy for Him? Did they feel commiseration for Him on account of the dreadful agonies which awaited Him? If so, then pity was ill-bestowed. In His greatest agonies He was not an object of pity, but of admiration. He was not a sufferer from necessity, but from choice. the women who saw Him bear His cross by the way he said, "Weep not for me," &c. To CHRIST AT GENNESARET. "And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gen nesaret. And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased; and besought him that they might only touch the hem of his garment and as many as touched were made perfectly whole."Matt. xiv. 34-36. was THE storm is over, the agitated minds of the disciples are hushed in peace, and the little ship, with its precious cargo, has safely reached Gennesaret. The designation "land of Gennesaret givento the western shore of the lake. According to Josephus, the district extended thirty furlongs in length, and twenty in breadth; the climate seems to have been exceedingly mild, and the soil fertile; to this delightful spot Christ now retired. The practical lessons of this incident are few but important; we shall do little more than state them. |