th11t he wnA; to be 11ffianced to him as the Lord and Friend and Brother of our perfect choice; and have his flesh as meat indeed, and bis blood as drink indeed ;-this is the WRY to the eternal life. But what is this life whose way is thus defined? H must be kept always in view that eternal is not merely another name for endles~. Endless time would not be eternity. The eternal is the timeless. Everlasting existence may be involved; but this is oecanse the life is what it is-Divine, 11nd therefore imperish- able. Christ has supplied many unfoldings of this Divine life (see John iii. 1-13; vi. 32-53; xvii. 3). May the guidance of the Holy Spirit illumine this teachin"' ! and may we all realize the secret of St John: "He that bath the Son bath the life!'?' III. 'l'HIB RULER INTERESTS us. 'l'he narrative concerning him suggests reflections which may be dwelt on with profit. 1. The dijfi.culty, the hindrance, to salvation that is interposed by riches. (Vers. 24, 25.) Great possessions, Christ declares, increase the risk of losing the true spiritual health, are apt to stand in the way of the eternal life. It is not the riches themselves that are evil; it is, as one of the evangelists explains, the trust in them, the sensation of them, that is the evil. And may there not be a trust in riches, even when they are not actually possessed? \Ve may have very little, and yet have such a craving for more as proves that the ungotten wealth stands for our best. More than this, with little there may be as much of earthliness and love of the world as when there is much. It is a wretched slavery which one often sees, and the feeling of which one often detects in one's own breast. Persons are miserably ruled over by the sense of wealth. Neither do they get the good, nor does the world get the full good, of what they have. On the other hand, the poor cannot rise to the real dignity of their being because they set possessions on the height which they regard as the summum bonum. Social life is honeycombed by that trust in riches. "How hard it is," says Christ, "for those that have richeR to enter into the kingdom of God I" (ver. 24). 2. .A crown is refused. Who the ruler wa.s we cannot tell. On a sudden he appears, on a sudden he disappears. Is he wrecked, like a. ship with full sail, at the harbour-bar? It is noticeable that Jesus "loved him;" in this distinction be is bracketed, in the Gospels, with Martha and Mary and Lazarus. For a moment the crown hangs over his head. Did he finally reject it? But he waves it aside. Oh, not the last who has missed the flood-tide-the blessing offered to the man, and the man iurnin,g from it! Young men, all, reflect!
Vers. 35-43.-Bartim~us. Here are two noises suggestive of the human life with which we are all familiar. There is the tramp, tramp, tramp, of the swaying multi- tude, the din of the many minds, many experiences, many mouths, all moving in obedience to a common impulse. Men and women, when they become mere units of a crowd, forget for the time their person&! histories. They are swept on by the cnrrent, sharing and adding to its excitement. There is nothing more unaccountable sometimes than the impulses which are communicated from person to person, and pass by infection to the multitude. Different days have their different idols. Those who are shouting themselves hoarse with their bosannahs at Jericho will shout them- selves hoarse with the cry, "Away with him! Crucify him!" at Jerusalem. Oh, fickle popularity I The Lord knew what the applause of the crowd was worth. The children crying in the temple were far more to him than the loud voice and tha tremendous enthusiasm of the thousands who had swelled the triumph of the entry into the city of David. But through that tumult, in the midst of that noise, there is another-that which always reaches the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Only one voice, at most two voices, shrill and clamorous-the voice of misery and want and prayer! Had he not heard that same voice in highest heaven? Had it not pierced through the praises of angel and archangel, of cherubim and seraphim-the cry of a sinful and weary world? A 1ittle one only in the system of the universe, but the least in need has a special way of access to the Etern:i.l Love. Far off the great Shepherd hears the bleat or the sheep that has strayed into the wilderness. He who heard the sigh of the world from the excellent glory will not turn from the piteous pleading of the poor and needy. God's tenderness individualizes. " This poor man cri<'d, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles." I. REGARD THIS POOR MAN. Perhaps we shall realize that he is our near kinsman. 1. He has been sitting by the wayside begging. And what are we all but beggars at the 120 'i'HE GOSPEL ACCORDtNG TO ST. LUKE. [orr. xvrn. 1-43.