He sorrows over the whole city, not only for the ecribee and Pharisees whose hypocrisy be had denounced ; bis glance takes in the whole population, the poor and ignorant as well as the rich and learned; the deceived 611 well 611 the deceivers, His glance takes iD all times, not only the present rejection of his grace, the awful guilt that was clo11e at hand; but also their past offences, their past refusals of bis offered mercies, Again and again he had wished to gather them together into his little !look, into hi ■ holy Church.; again and again during his ministry upon earth, again and again before his incarnation, when be sent his warnings from heaven, he would have gathered them together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, A most touching simile, expressive of yearning affection, of tender solicitude, expressive too of the Lord's power and knowledge, wide-reaching in its range, all-embracing in its individual tenderness. Jerusalem, with its great population, was as a brood of chickens in his sight; he knew all, he cared for all; he would have sheltered all under his wings. But alas I they would not. He wished to gather them together; they did not wish to be gathered under the shelter of the Saviour's love, 'l'he Lord clearly asserts the great mystery of man's free-will. He willeth that all men should be saved; but he doth not force the will of man. lie would draw us to himself by the con- straining attraction of love. He does not use his almighty power to compel our obedience. Enforced obedience is without value; enforced love is not love; the very phrase is a contradiction in terms, for love is essentially free and spontaneous, He calls us, he invites us; he warns, he threatens, be chastens; he manifests his love, that the sight of that great love may kindle the flame of love in our unloving hearts; he came down from heaven for us men and for our salvation; he, the eternal Son of God, became a :Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; he gave himself to die in the mysterious depth of his exceeding great love; he declares his love by the unanswerable eloquence of the cross. But he leaves us free. Man was made in the image of God.. The human will is a sacred thing; it must not be forced, or moral distinctions are lost, and love is annihilated and holiness is impossible. We know it is so, though we canDot solve the perplexing mystery. Let us try to yield np our will to him; to pray the deep holy prayer which he prayed in his agony, "Father, not my will, but thine be done." 2. The conseq'U,(Jnu of the rejeaion of his love. " Your house is left unto yon desolate." The Lord is about to depart from the temple. It is no longer what it had been-the house of God.. He calls it "your house." It had been long without the ark, without the Shechinah ; now it would be without the presence of Christ, without the favour of God. It was left desolate-left to them ; for God was leaving the temple, the city, the nation. Tacitus and Josephus tell us that, before the fall of Jerusalem, the awful voice of departing Deity was heard," Let us depart hence." Christ was leaving the temple now. "Ye shall not see me henceforth," be said," till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord." They would see him, indeed, once again in his sufferings on the cross. They would see, and yet not see, for their eyes were holden. Yet these last words were words of mercy and hope. He looked on through the ages, through the long period of Israel's unbelief and banishment, to the great restoration that is to come, when they shall look on him whom they have pierced, and mourn for him; "and so all Israel shall be saved" (Rom. xL 26). LESSONS. L As a man lives, so, 611 a rule, he will die. "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." 2. Sin leads on to sin, guilt to yet deeper. guilt. Take heed betimes. 3. The Lord weeps over the hard-hearted. "There lB Joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." May he soften our hearts and give_us true repentance I
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Ver. 4..-Neealeu burden,. The faults of the scribes and Pharisees were not oonfined to their own private liver. Not only were they formal and unreal themselves, and blameworthy on that acccunt; they were harsh and tyrannical in their tTeatment ?f the people. They showed their sanctity in constructing an artificial ~tandar~ of ~oh- neBB for other persons to follow. This is a not uncommon fault of professional rehglon1Sts, and it leads to the imposition of needless burdens of many forms, OB. uru.1-39.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST, MATTHEW. Ul