Ver. 28.-Eagerness in the upward path. "He went before, ascending up to Jerusalem." "To go to Corinth" once meant to give way to dissipation. What did it mean to " go to Jerusalem"? To the Jews generally it meant to go to some sacred service, to visit the temple of Jehovah, to enter the sacred precincts where sacrifice was offered to God. To Jesus Christ, now, it meant to go on to martyrdom and to death. But still to go thither was to "go up," was to "ascend," and in his progress to that sacred city he did not lag behind, nor even walk abreast ; he " went before," he showed great eagerness in that upward and most hononrable path. Such was his eagerness of soul that the disci pies were astonished and even awed as they beheld it (Mark x. 32) ; they were profoundly impressed with the ardour and intensity of his spirit: "As they followed they were afraid." We may share the Saviour's spirit of holy ardour and elevation as we tread- I. THE PATH OF HOLY PRIVILEGE. When may we be said to be on the upward road so far as our activities are concerned? When we are pre6iding? or when we are ruling? or when we are winning? or when we are rejoicing? It may be so. But assuredly we are then on the way that slopes upward and heavenward when we are in the path of sacred privilege, when we are "on our way to God "---:-to hi~ nearer presence, to the worship of the Holy and the True One, to commumon with the righteous Lord of all, to fellowship with Christ, to gathering at his table of love, to work in bis vineyard. Then are we in the high places-" in the heavenly places;" then are we engaged in an exercise of human power which is most worthy of our highest faculties and reflects dignity on our human nature; then are we "ascending" i? spirit; .a~d we do well to feel that it is not a time for slackness of speed, for exhaust10n of spmt, for eig-ns of wea.riuess. We should show a sacred ardour, a holy eagerness, like unto him wilo "went before" as he ascended to Jerusalem. OR. xrx. 1-48.] THE GCJSPI1L ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. ----·----------------------- n. Tmi: WAY OF WITNESB-DEARIXG. To go to Jerusalem was, to our Lord, to go whero he should "bear witness to the truth" (John xviii. 37); should bear witness hy words, of which many would be utterly misunderstood, and many treated with hi'.!h disdain; should bear witness by suffering, by calm, brave, patient endurance of wr,;ng. And to do this was to go up, to ascend; as it is to-day, and will always be. Where ohall we find the martyr-witucsaes among mankind? Not as we look down, but as we look up-up to the very loftiest altitudes that human foot has ever trodrlen. Rings and statesmen walk not along such lofty, such truly celestial paths as no they wbo speak amid derision or suffer without flinching to attest the living truth of God. When we go forward toward self-sacrifice for Christ's sake we" ascend up" to the high pbces of the kingdom of God. It may well be with no faltering or lingering ,tep, but with a free and forward movement, like him who now "went before," that we move to those sacred and noble levels. III. 'l'nE MOUNT OF TRANSLATION. Jesus Well~ up to Jerusalem, to ~alvary, to that wondrous redeeming death which is the wo, !d's great sacrifice. We may well say that he ascended to that. That was the culminatin~ point of his career; that not only concluded, but crowned his course. And after receiving all the light which he bas ~bed upon it, we need not be ever speaking of death as a dark valley down which we must descend; we may rather regard it as a mount of tramlation up which we move. In all things physical, indeed, we descend to die ; our powers become lower, our life grows less. But we walk by faith in Christ Jesus. And by faith we regard ou:selves as going up to the gateway which admits to the celestial glories. In view of that which immediately afterwards awaits us, we !leed not lag behind; we may pres~ forward, like our Master, as we draw toward the close, a!ld may eagerly pass on tb way which ends in death and victory.-C.
Vers. 39, 40.-Suppressi()'TI, and expression. It is not difficult to find the meaning of our Lord in this hyperbolical utterance of his. "Why should I silence my disciples?" he says. "Or what use would it be to suppress such strong feelings as tb~irs '? Feeling: will always find its vent. If suppressed in one form, it will express itself in another; if driven underground in one spot, it will only come up in another; if these human beings whose hearts are so filled with exultation were silenced, the very stones would cry out." It is useless, and worse than useless, to try to extinguish enthusiasm by a hard repres- sive commandment. The folly of suppression and the wisdom of a.llowing aud inviting, indeed of providing, the means of suitable expression will apply to many things. I. YOUTHFUL CURIOSITY. Curiosity is an irrepressible thing; it will be satisfied. Age cannot extinguish it, try how it may. It may have occasion to check it, but its true wisdom is to guide it-to take the necessary trouble to satisfy it in the best possible way. Curiosity is not a plant of the evil one; it is rooted in the soul by the heavenly Father; it is a miLin source of knowledge; it ought to be wisely but amply nourished. If we endeavour to suppress it we shall find that it will not be suppressed, but will find other ways of satisfaction than those we disallow. II. 'l'HE LOVE OF LIBERTY. A desire for freedom 1md independence is a strong sentiment of the human soul. Where intelligence exists there it will arise and assert itself. It will not be put down; it cannot be put out. Authority may "rebuke" it, as the Pharisees wanted Christ to act on this occasion ; but the Lord of our nature knows that it will be heard and must be respected. Neither domestic, nor soeial, nor national, nor ecclesiastical despotism can survive beyond a certain time. 'l'he aspirations of the human soul for freedom will not be denied. If not permitted a wise and rightful form of action, they will take improper and harmful ones. III. TnE RELIGIOUS SENTIMENT IN MAN. Philosophy has tried to silence the voice of faith; it has undertaken to rebuke the disciples; and it bas t,nnpornrily and super- ficially succeeded. But it has found that so deep and so stron~ is tbe religious senti- ment in man that when relicrion 0 is driven down below the surface it comes out again in superstition in some form or other. 'fhe sense of the Supreme, a yearning of the human heart for the living God, is not to be erased from the soul, is not to btJ removed from the life of man. IV. l)EFINI1'E IIELialOlTS coNv1cT10::-.s. These nlso are not to be suppressed. Men havt: tii.lleo. very viiriou,; views of t..he doctrines of the Christi:Ln fait.h • 'l:id, as we k.no-., 156 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [oll. x1x. 1-48,