^ Jesus has drawn very near to us in our generation. We have been made to feel Him as a Brother, as a living, breathing man, touched with all the feeling of our infirmities. Baci in the Gospels in their primal form we have gone, to let the old tale tell upon us in its simplicity. All this has been for the good. Jesus has become alive to many to whom He has been only a theological mummy. Thank God for that. Only remember the nearness of neighbourhood had its own peculiar perils of old when He was on earth, and that these perils exist still. It is just because they knew Him so
^G. Matheson.
ST. MARK i6i
familiarly and felt Him so close in ancient Nazareth, that they rejected Him.^
^ Eobert Hichens, in one of his books, tells the story of an artist who desired to paint a picture to be called " A Sea Urchin." Says the painter in one place, " I had made studies of the sea for that picture. I had indicated the wind by the shapes of the flying foam, journeying inland to sink on the fields. I wanted my figure. I could not find him. Yet I was in a sea village among sea folks. The children's legs there were browned with the salt water. They had clear blue eyes, sea-eyes ; that curious light hair which one associates with the sea. But they wouldn't do for my purpose. They were unimaginative. As a fact, they knew the sea too well. They were familiar with it, as the little London clerk is familiar with Fleet Street or Chancery Lane. . . . These children chucked the sea under the chin." He goes on to say how he searched for a child who was unfamiliar with the sea. In the heart of a London slum he found what he sought. He took the child home with him, told him of the voices that cry in the sea, of the onward gallop of the white horses, of its unceasing motions, its calm and its tempests ; he played music to him in which the sound of waters could be heard. And at last he was rewarded by beholding the wonder of the sea itself dawn in the eyes of the London street Arab. The spirit of the ocean had entered into him, and he was all a- wonder.^
• Canor Scott Holland. ' J. Steele.
ST. MARK — H
y
Retirement for Rest.
(08
Literature.
Aked (C. F.), The Courage of the Coward, 67.
Arnold (T.), Sermons, ii. 150, 157, 182.
Austin (G. B,), Tlie Beauty of Goodness, 122.
Benson (E. W.), Boy-Life, 156.
Brooke (S. A.), Short Sermons, 246.
Christoplierson (H.), Sermons, 2nd Ser., 76.
Davies (D.), Talks with Men, Women, and Children, 5th Ser., 580.
Ellerton (J.), Holiest Manhood, 95.
Farrar (F. W.), In the Days of thy Youth, 307.
Harper (F.), A Year with Christ, 143.
Jowett (J. H.), The Silver Lining, 161.
Ker (J.), Sermons, 2nd Ser., 146.
Lucas (H.), At the Parting of the Ways, 10.
McFadyen (J. E.), The City with Foundatioiis, 227.
Macmillan (H.), The Clock of Nature, 193.
Manning (H. E.), Sermons, ii. 305.
Marjoribanks (T.), In the Likeness of Men, 87.
Mills (B. E. v.). The Marks of the Church, 119.
Moore (A. L.), From Advent to Advent, 128.
Morrison (Q. H.), The Return of tht Angels, 278.
Murray (A.), Like Christ, 127.
Ramage (W.), Sermons, 101.
Sliore (T. T.), The Life of the World to Grnne, 53.
Simpson (J. G.), Christian Ideals, 183.
Story (R. H.), Greed and Conduct, 245.
Thorne (H.), Notable Sayings of the Great Teacher, 58.
Vaughan (C. J.), Family Prayer and Sermon Book, ii. 551.
„ „ Rest Awhile, 116.
Why te (A.), The Walk, Conversation, and Character of Jesus Christ, 248. Wilkinson (G. H.), The Invisible Glory, 282. British Congregationalist, Aug.-Dec. 1906, 520 (Jowett). Christian World Pulpit, ix. 243 (Beecher) ; xiii. 195 (Shalders) ;
xxix. 332 (Rowland) j Ixiv. 93 (Pierce) ; Ixvi. 85 (Aked) ; Ixx.
180 (Carpenter). Church of England Pulpit, xxxvii. 157 (Carolini) ; Ixii. 14 (Drury). Clergyman's Magazine, 3rd Ser., ix. 145 (Vaughan). Preacher's Magazine, vii. 33 (Laird). Treasury, xviii. 82 (Hallock).
■84
Retirement for Rest.
And he saith unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while.— vi. 31.
This is one of Christ's invitations. It is one of the occasions upon which He said " Come." The particular invitation is to retirement, the purpose of the retirement being to obtain rest. The text may be taken up in five parts —
1. The Invitation.
2. The Need of Eest.
3. The Use of Eetirement.
4. How to find Eest in Eetirement
5. The Gains of Eetirement.
The Invitation.
L Christ's tise of the word " Come."
The word " come " occurs more than three thousand times in the Bible ; and in about thirteen hundred places it is a word of encouragement. It is one of the first words Jesus uttered after entering upon His public ministry — the word to the two disciples who asked Him where His abode was, " Come and see " (John i. 39). It is one of the last words we hear Him speak from His place in heaven, " The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is athirst come" (Eev. xxii. 17). It is the key- note of His ministry. It distinguishes the Gospel from the Law, God's message to Moses is " Draw not nigh hither " (Ex. iii. 5) ; for the old covenant is a witness to the separation from God