HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vera. 1-3.-The Divine kingdom. Deeply Interesting is this interview between the Nazarene and the Roman, the Jewish Prisoner and the Iloman judge; the one then brought forth as e. malefactor e.nd now seated on the throne of the world, the other then exalted on the seat of power e.ud now sunk to the depth of universal pity if not of universal scorn. "Art thou e. King?" asks the latter, in the tone of lofty supe- riority. "I am," replies the former, in the tone of calm and profound assurance. What, then, was this kingdom of which be spoke? What we.s that kingdom of God, tlmt kingdom of heaven, that "kingdom of the truth" (John xviii. 37) which he foretold, which he came to this world and which be laid down his life to establish? It was the sovereignty of God over all human souls. God's claim-which is not founded on pre- sci·iption, nor uponforce, but upon Tighteousness--is his claim on the reverence, the atrec1ion, the obedience, of those whom be has created, preserved, enriched, who owe to him all that he demands of them. With us, who have revolted from bis rule, this means nothing less than the restoration of our loyalty, and thus our return to his like- 11ess and to his favour as well as to his sway. We look at- I. THE ORIGINALI'l'Y OF THE CONCEPTION. We plume ourselves upon the originality of our ideas, upon our "creations." But when did the mind of man launch on the sea of hume.n thought such a conception as this kingdom of God? Men had entertained the idea of founding by force a widely extended empire which should com.nrnnd the outward homage and tribute of hundreds of thousands of men, and should last for many generations. But who ever designed a creation like this glorious "kingdom of heaven "-a. world-wide sway embracing all living souls whatsoever, exercised by an unseen King, in which the service of the lip, and even that of the life, would be of no account at all without the homage of the heart and the willing subjection of the spirit, characterized by unive1·sal righteousness, o.nd crowned by abounding peace and lasting joy? II. THE IMMENSITY OF THE WORK TO BE ACCOMPLISHED. For what would be involved in the establishmeut of such a kingdom as this? Not only the formation e.nd main- tene.nce of e. new religion that should bold up its head o.nd keep its course amid sur- rounding faiths, but the utter intolerance and complete subversion of every other creed nnd cultus; t.he emptying of all the temples and all the syne.gogues in every le.nd; the dissolution of all the venerable religious institutions which were rooted in the prejudice, lixed in the affections, wrought into the he.bits and the lives of men; it meant the establishment in the convictions 11nd in the conscience of mankind ot' a faith wuich came into direct collision with e.11 its intellectual pride, with e.11 its social sellisbness, with e.11 its powerful passions. III. lTs SUBLIMITY AB A PURPOSI!l AND A HOPE. Not merely to ameliorate the cir- cumstances and conditions of a country, or of the world at large. '!'hat would have been a noble purpose; but that would have been slight and small in comparison with the aim of Jesus Christ. His view was to put away the source of e.11 poverty and sorrow and death ; to "put away sin by the sacrifice of himself;" to found in the hearts an,! therefore in the lives of men e. kingdom of holiness, and therefore of true and lasting blessedness; to restore to God his rightful heritage in the love of his children, and, at the so.me time, to restore to men everywhere their high e.nd glorious portion in the favour e.nd friendship, in the likeness and glory, of God. "\Vas ever scheme, was ever hope like this-so divinely new, so magnificently great, so unapproachably sublime·? 1. The way into this kingdom is by a humble, living faith. 2. 'l'he way on to its higher places is the service of sacrificial love. 'l'he pe.th which takes us to the cross is the we.y to the throne.-(.).
Vere. 4.-12.-The majesty of meekness, etc. Beautiful in the last degree, as a moral spectacle, is the sight ,,f the meek but mighty Saviour in the presence of the scornful hume.n sovereign. But there are many les~ons which we may gather on our way to that striking scene. I. How PITIFUL RUMAN AUTllOnITY MAY PROVE TO BE! Poor Pilate, occupyir,g his high seut of nuthcrity e.nd power, is •• driven with the wind and tossed,'' as if he were 250 THE GosrEL ACCOtDING TO ST. LUKE. [err. nm. 1-M.