evil spirit will surely enter in. The heart empty of God is ready for the presence of Satan ; he will return in greaf;er force than ever. The house may be swept and garnished by education and refinement; but the devil can be kept out only by the presence of him who is stronger than the strong man armed. Let 118, then, receive Christ into our souls. The peace of God keepeth, as with a garrison, the heart and thoughts of those in whom the Holy Spirit dwelleth; the evil one cannot enter. LEl>SONS. 1. There is evidence in abundance of the truth of Christianity ; only receive it with an honest heart. 2. The histories of past conversions furnish a 0011- vincing proof of the power of God's grace; read them, and try to profit by them. a. Open the heart to Christ ; seek his presence there above all things; trust nothing less. Vel"I. 46-50.-The Lord's mother and brethren. I. THEIR INTERVENTION. 1. The reason of their coming. We know that even later in our Lord's ministry his brethren did not believe in him (John vii. 5). They seem to have been Hebrews of the Hebrews, exceedingly zealous of the Law. They had heard, it seems, of the rupture between Christ and the Pha1isees. 'l'bey knew that the Jews at Jerusalem had sought to kill our Lord because of the cure of the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda on the sabbath day, and now these Pharisees from Jerusalem (Mark iiL 22) had accused him of being in leaµ,ue with Satan. They had been accustomed to regard these rabbis of the holy city with the utmost reverence. Doubtless they felt a deep affection for th~ Lord, though they could not realize his Divine authority. They were in a great strait, full of perplexity and anxiety. They seem to have thought that the Lord's intense earnestness and excessive labours had affected bis mind (Mark iii. 21); and they came in mistaken tenderness, but yet out of real love, to check him, to save him from the con- sequences of his rupture with the Jerusalem authorities, and perhaps to bring him back to the quiet of Nazareth for the much-needed rest. His blessed mother came with them; she knew, as no one else could know, the mystery of his incarnation; she had kept and pondered in her heart the many wondrous circumstances which attended the birth of the holy Child. We cannot tell what her feelings were; doubtless she feared for his life; perhaps, too, there was something of disappointment mingling with her deep love. This humble laborious life, spent in doing good among the poor and afflicted, was not what she had expected in him to whom the throne of his father David had been promised by the messenger of God. Perhaps, as at the marriage feast at Cana, she thought of advising him how to act, in all love and tenderness, but yet not fully conscious of his Divine majesty, not wholly realizing the relations in which he now stood to her. It must have been very hard for a mother who had nursed him as an infant, and cared for him in his youth, to understand always how high he stood above her in the awful dignity of the Godhead. It was not for her to control him; it was not for one compa;;sed with infirmity, holy though she was according to the measure of human goodness, to guide and counsel the Holy One of God. 2. The message. "Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee." Their inten- tions were good in the main. 'l'hey loved the Lord Jesus, but they feared and probably reverenced the scribes and Pharisees; they wished to prevent our Lord from breaking with them. Worldly policy can never really advance the cause of true religion. Sometimes those who love 118 the beet tempt 118 the most; in mistaken affection they urge us not to deny ourselves, not to take up our cross, not to do this 01' that work for Christ. IL 'l'HE LoRD's REPLY, 1. He does not admit their authority. He was subject to his mother once, but from the time of his solemn consecration for his Divine missioD. earthly relationships mw;t give way to the work of his sacred office. He loved his mother tenderly; he thought of her in his death-agony. But he was come to do the Father's will, he was about his Father's business; she must not interfere. "What have I to do with thee?" he had said to her once before, when she attempted to direct him; for she was human, he was Divine. 2. Spiritual relations with Ghrist closer than earthly tiea. He has taken upon him our humanity; we are members of his body, of hiH flesh and of his bones. True Chri8tians who abide in the Lord are nearer to him than they were who knew him after the flesh till they learned to know him so no more, and believed in him as the Divine Redeemer. "Whosoever shall do the will of my Fathez which is in heaven, the JAme is my brother, and sister, and mother;" near to cu. xn. 1-60.] Tll.E GOSPEL .ACCORDING TO ST. MATfllEW. 505
him as his brethren were, near to him as his holy virgin-mother. Blessed words! He welcomes our love; he makes us his own, very close and very dear to him; dear to Christ the Lord as brother, sister, mother, iC only we do the heavenly Father's will It is the blessing of the true disciple. May it be ours! LEssoNB. 1. We must not presume to question the wisdom of God's dealings with men. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" 2. No motives of worldly policy should be allowed to interfere with work for Christ. 3. Try earoeetly to do the will of God; it makes us brethren of the Son of God.