prophecy; there is the valuable contribution of all that is contained in Old Trstament Scripture, which is a rich and precious heritage to the hu,nan race; and there iH, aho,e e.11, the formntion of a pure and reverent people, dist nguished from and iaise,i above nil surrounding nations in the supreme element of moral character, which supplied tl n human material for the first great missionary epoch. Moreover, the very rejection cf JesuB Christ has proved to be the beginning and foundation of ultimate sncce,s, and <Jf a success far deeper and larger than e.ny contemporary and natioual triumph woul,l have been, It has led up to-- III. HIB EXALTATION. 1. Notwithstanding his humiliation. That Stone was reject,, I indeed; that 'l'eacher was silenced, that Prophet slain, that cause covered with infamy ; those hopes, cherished by a few disciple~, were laid in the tomb and covered from sight; yet, notwithstanding all that apparent defeat and discomfiture, that "Stone has become the Head of the corner," that Teacher the great Teacher of Divine wisdom, that Prophet the acknowledged Saviour of mankind, that cause the kingdom of God upon earth. 2. As the reward of his humiliation. "Wherefore also God bath highly exalted him" (Phil. ii. 6-11; Heb. ii, 9, 10), 3, As the result of his humiliation. "I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." The cross has been the great loadstone which has lx·cn attracting the world. It is to a crucified Saviour, once slain for our sins, dying i11 mercy toward our race, that we are drawn in faith and love. It is he "who loved u,, and gave himself for us" unto such shame and sorrow and death-it is he whom we rejdice to make the Friend of our heart and the Sovereign of our life. 1. Learn the place of privilege, It is well for us that we stand where we do stand- at a point in time where we can recognize the Corner-stone. The mountain is best seen afar off, the city or the sea is best seen from above, the character of the generation is best understood after some interval of time. We know Jesus Christ better than we should have done had we lived when he was the Stone rejected of the builders. We could not be better placed than we are by the providence of God for underslanding him and rejoicing in his worth. 2. Know the day of opportunity. Recognizing tho true character of that once-slighted "Stone," knowing Jesus Christ as we know hi::n now, it is for us to accept him without delay as our personal Redeemer, and to commend him, with all devotedness, to the estimation and trust of all beholders.-C.
Ver. 18.-0ontact and conflict with Christ. There is one thing which, as a stone or rock, Christ is willing and waiting to be to us; there is that al:;o which, in spite of his own desire concerning us, we may compel him to be to us. I. Tm: RocK ON WHIOH WE MAY BUILD, 1. Christ desires to be as the Corner-stone or Foundation-stone on which the whole structure of our character and of our destiny is resting. 2. If we exercise a living faith in him, we shall find him to be all this to us. (1) Building on him, our confidence in the forgiving love of God will be well grounded and our peace of mind will be secure; (2) building on him, our character will be strong and saintly, our life will be useful and uoble; (3) resting on him, our souls will be sustained in hours of trial; (4) nbiding in him, we shaU have peace at the last. II. 'l'HE RocK AGAINST WHICH WE ARE BRUISED OR EVEN BROKEN, we cannot come, in any sense or degree, into conflict with Christ without being iujured by the ac:. 1. To turn from him is to deprive ourselves of the best; it is to rob ourselves of the highest motives to rectitude and spiritual worth, of the deepest springs of goodness aud of beauty, of the heavenliest influences that can breathe upon the soul, of the purest and most elevating joys that can fill the heart, of the noblest activities that can occupy and crown our life. 2. To reject him, whether by deliberate and determined refusal or by a foolish and guilty procrastination, is to do conscious wrong to ourselves; it is to injure our conscience, to weaken our will, to suffer constant spiritual deterioration, to be moving along that downward slope which ends in darkness of mind and in self- despair. 3. To disobey the commandments of Christ is to come into collision with those laws of God which are also laws of our spiritual nature, any and every infraction of which is attended with inward and serious injury; e.g. to hate our brother without a cause, to look with lustful eye, to love our own life rather than the cause of God and righteousness,-this is to suffer harm and damage to the spirit. 4. To work against Christ and his gospel is to be construc;ting that which will be destroyed, ill to be 176 THE GOSI,EL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [cu. x.x, 1-47.
delving and building on the sand with the tide coming in which will wash every- thing aWlly. In no way can we tBke up an attitude of resistance to Jesus Christ without "wronging our own soul;" it mBy be by a cruel renunciation of all that is best, 0r it _may be by incurring the judgment which must fall and does fall upon folly aud sm. III. THE Rocx WHICH MAY CRUSH us m ITS FALL. "On whomsoever it shall fall," etc. The snow-dri~ and the glacier are magnificent objects on which to gaze• but how terrible is the descending, destructive avalanche I It is simply inevitable' that the brightest light should c.ast the deepest shade; that fullest privilege and most abounding opportunity should, in tbe case of the guilty, end in deepest condemnation and severest penalty (John iii. 1~; IleJ:>. vi._4-8_; Phil. iii.18, 19). "When God arises to judgment," when the rock of D1vme dissat1sfact1on falls, when the" wrath of the Lamb" is revealed then must there be made known what God intends by "everlasting destruction fro~ his presence." All that is meant by that we do not know: we may well resolve that by timely penitence and loving faith, we will never learn by the teaching of our ow~ experience.-C.