TIONB HERE EXPRESSED (var. 2), viz.: 1. Of seeking to underst(///1,d God's truth 1M1'd clearly. "And he will teach us of his ways." The consciousness of his imperfect attainments will keep him humble, and preserve him from mere dogmatism and self- conceit. 2. Of endeavouring to be obedient in heart and life to God's will. "And we will walk in his po.the." His reo.lization of the importance of ethical practical life will preserve him from either thinking or advocating the fa.lee notion that piety consists in profuse verbal decle.ru.tions and mere outward professions. Ver. 2.-Higher spiritual life. "Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord." We a.re too prone to be content with living at a very low level of spiritual attainment. We need to hear and heed the voice of God's own Spirit addressing us through our own consciences, and through all the holy influences encompassing us, and bidding us leave the ordinary plain on which we have been content to dwell, and to ascend the mount of the Lord, and thus to rise to the nobler heights of spiritual privilege and goodness. "Let us go up," etc. l. WHAT 18 THIS HIGHER SPIRITUAL LIFE? It is a life of obedience to God and of faith in him. It is a life of holy and hallowed fellowship with the invisible. It is a life sustained and strengthened by hidden Divine springs. It is not perfect life, but life characterized by constant endeavour after the perfect. It is a life characterized by the patient endurance of trial, the successful resistance of temptation, and the cheerful performance of duty. It is a life animated by hopes entering "within the veil," and in which is increasingly realized union with the spiritual world. II. How MAY IT BE BEACHED? 1. The ministration of the truth ii designed to this end. The advancement of the good in Divine knowledge and in the varied graces of the Christian character is one aim of the Christian ministry (Eph. v. 11-13). 2. The commonest duties of our daily life may be so discharged as to be made to contribute to our spiritual elevation. 'l'he aim should be to make every duty subservient to the great end of our spiritual advancement. 3. The sorrowful experiences of our life are all designed to secure to us "more life and fuller." These constitute the threshings of the spiritual man by means of which God would separate hi~ servants from evil, and enable them to enter into the higher joys of his kingdom. 4. And this soul- elevation is to be secured not only by receiving, but also by imparting, holy influences. We rise ourselves as we invite others to rise; as we speak to them the encouraging word, and hold out to them the helping hand. Ruskin reminds us that the name which of all others is most expressive of the being of God is that of" the Helpful One," or, in our softer Saxon, "the Holy One." And we may each know what one has beautifully called the holiness of helpfulness (Dr. Robert Collyer's • The Life that now is,' pp. 63, 64). III. WHAT ADVANTAGES WILL ACCRUE FROM ITS ATTAINll'.ENT? 1. There will be greater enjoyment in connection with religious privileges thwn can otherwise be experienced. 2. Tranquillity will possess the heart amidst the disappointments, changes, and bereavemtnts of life. 3. .A clearer apprehension of the truth of God will be gained. (Ver. 2.) 4. More effective service to God in the world will be rendered. Certain saints of God belonging to the past are sometimes set forth as haviag been specially eminent, e.nd as though the same altitude could not be reached nowadays; whereas we are to be" followers" of such (Heb. vi. 12), and the "helps" they used an, as e.ve.ile.ble to us. Use them, e.nd say- • "Go up, go up, my heart I Be not o. trifler here; Ascend nbove those clouds, Dwell in n higher sphere. Let uot thy love go out To things so soiled o.nd dim: Go up to heaven, o.nd God Take up thy lovo to him."
Ver, 2.-God our Teacher, "And ha will teach us of his ways." How? I. BY WORKING IN OUII HEARTS THE Sl'IRIT OF TRUE HUMlLITY. There must be humility in oruer thnt we may npprchcud spiritunl things We must become "~ 88 THE BOOK OF MICAII. [en. xv. 1-18,
little children" would we enter the kingdom of truth. And this disposition is fitting; for what, after all, are we but children in relation to such knowledge? " Embryos we are all." Too many, forgetting this, and cherishing the opposite spil'it, misapprehend or pervert the meaning of God's truth. Pride of intellect is cherished, and, strong and dogmRtic in their adherence to false intellectual conceptions, they miss the highest truth. "The meek will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way," "As lo"· trees and shrubs are free from many violent gusts and blasts of wind which shake and rend the taller trees, so humble souls are free from those gusts and blasts of error that rend and tear proud lofty souls." "The high tide quickly ebbs.'' "The valleys laugh with fatness when the hills are bare." "I thank thee, 0 Father," etc. (Matt. :z:i. 25, 26). Il. BY COJ,,'STRAINTNG US TO CHERISH THE SPIRIT OF HEARTY OBEDIENCE, By the gentle constraints of Divine love the will is brought into harmony with the higher and perfect will _of G~d; and to the man thus obedient there is unfolded the glorious treasures of Dinne wisdom and knowledge. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant" (Ps. xxv. 14); "Then shall we know, if we follow on," etc. (Hos. vi. 3). III. BY IM.PARTING UNTO us SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT. The heart being rendered humble and obedient, light springs up within; a spiritual insight is imparted; the unction of the Holy One rests upon the man; higher perceptions are his; he appre- hends and understands truths which formerly were unperceived or distorted by him. "Pure in heart," he "sees God; " spiritually minded, he discovers spiritual things. God's ways stand revealed to him, and God's Word is no longer a dead letter, but is instinct with life and power to his soul. Then, with an earnest desire to enter into the full significance of spiritual realities, and with a deep consciousness of our own weak- ness and need of guidance, we do well to cry, "Lead us in thy truth and teach us ; " and to rejoice in the encouraging assurance, "And he will teach us of his ways."