King and the kingrlom meeting the parliament of man. Yes, the King mcok anri lowly, but" the mighty God, the Lord, is about to speak, and call the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof." He would not speak until he had con- stituted his Church, For the Man is before the Law, the Voice before the Scripture, the order before the ordering. Tbis has been done, and he comes down to tbe great world with its fevers anrl diseases and sµirits of uncleanness surging before him, and seeking to touch him from whom, as a great stream of healing, the power goes forth. The law, the mnnifesto of the kingdom, is published. What this law is admits of being more fully expoundccl in connection with the Gospel of St. Matthew. The differences between the reports in the two Gospels deserve to be studied. It is sufficient here to indicate the sum and substance of the legislation of Christ the King on the holy hill of Zion. Clearly the old Law, that delivered from Sinai, is fully in the mind of Jesus. It is quoted again and again. But how striking the contrast between that past and this present I That past, when "Around the trembling mountain-base The prostrate people lay; A day of wrath and not of grace; A dim e.nd dreadful de.y ; " this present, the soft grassy slope, the bright sky overhead, the rejoicing world aronnd, the many sitting before him who had received the healing virtue; himself, in tones full of the music of love, declaring the truth for which the soul of man is made as the eye is made for the light. Not that the past is ruthlessly swept away. All is preserved -preserved because fulfilled. But his law-giving is a new law-making, because it penetrates to the innermost regio11 of the life; it searches the spirit as with the candle of the Lord; its dealing is not so much with the mere outer conduct as with the inner motive power. The man is right when the heart is right-this is the cardinal principle. And the sermon passes onward, from the beatitudes with which it begins, through the exposition of true soul-rectitude, to the sublime conclusion which may God help all to ponder. "Every one that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like . . . But he that heareth, and doeth not, ui like," etc. From the great ruin foretold may the good Lord deliver us I
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTilOilS. Vers. 6--11.-Sin disabling, Christ restO'T'ing. Being in the right place, our Lord found an opportunity of doing that for which he came, and much more besides. The doing of duty often leads to the finding of privilege and the exercise of power for good. We learn- I. THAT BIN DISABLES us. This man ea.me into the synagogue with a withered hand. 'fbat which was the natural instrument of power-his right hand-was power- less. Gradually its strength had been disappearing until it had completely gone; and that with which God meant him to do his work, to greet his fellows, to make his mark in the world a.round him, had become an inefficient and useless member. The disease from which he was suffering, whatever it may have been, had by slow degree,i wasted and worn away its vital power, and it could do nothing of all that it was created to do. Just such is the action of siu. It is a disabling spiritual disease. Its effect is to reduce and finally to remove those spiritual powers with which our Creator endowed us, and in the exercise of which our true life is found. Our human power, as we ea.me forth from God, was that of worship, of contemplation, of recognizing and rejoicing in the trnth, of delighting in God, of obedience to his co=andrnents, of acquiescence in his will, of living in our sphere the life he lives in his, of reflecting his own likeness in our character and our deeds. But sin has been taking this !'.way from u!l; away from our race, away from the individual who allows it to reign over his soul. More and more it disables us from taking the part we were intended to take, 11nd doing the work we were intended to do. It is the great and sad disabling force in the spiritual sphere. II. 'fHAT CHmsT COMES TO RESTORE us. He comes to say to us, "Stretch forth thJ hand;" resume thy power; have again and use again those precious spiritual facultic~ l!i4 TIIF. on8rEL ACCORDING TO S'I. u·RF,, [en, Vl, 1-40.
which, under the grievous injnry of sin, have lain dorm11nt within theo. And even !ls be wrought a cure in this afflicted man which was radical and thorough, making the life-hlood to course through all his veins and nourish every nerve and muscle which had shrunk and withered, so does he heal our h~9:rts by a process which is not super- ficial, which does not merely affect the extrennt.les, but which goes to and proceeds fro:n the heart. He •hows w our tnu eelvu-whence we came; what we were creat.ed to be; how for we have fallen from our right heritage and condition • what is our u~~orthines~ and gui~t; whllt we may yet become. And he reveals him;eif to us-the D1vme Mediator, Saviour, Lord, through whom we have acC<'as to God, in whom we are restored to God's favour, unto whom we dedicate, joyfully and unreservedly, all the faculties of our nature. In Christ. Jesus we enter on a new life; all the sprin"s of onr soul are touched and renewed ; we regain our lost possession ; we stretch forth the right hand of our spiritual power; we do our work in his world. III. THAT CHRIST DEMANDS OF us AN DUIIEDIATE, PBACTIOAL BESl'ONSE. That he may heal us, he summons us to act. He said, " Stretch forth thy hand I" and in the act of obedience the cure was wrought. To us he says, "Come unto me I" "Abide in me ! " and as we endeavour to comply we begin to be restored. IV. THAT PRACTICAL KINDNESS IS A PRINCIPAL MANIFESTATION OF RENEWED POWER, The great Restorer was at the same time the great Teacher. Ily the whole incident, and especially by his healing act, our Lord was making known t-0 us for all time that, whatever may be the worth of reliidous observances-and they have their own great value-they a.re distinctly second in bis sight to those acts of human pity and benefi- cence by which we lift a load from a brother's heart, e.od brighten the rest of his life OD earth.-C.