tinuing for many genernUons and acting under all skiee,-" no doubt" that Is from above; it is of God. If we find that ChriHtianity had proved itself to b•! the rJ11H great benignant power in the world, exerting a gracious, redeeming, elevating influence on humanity, than "no doubt the kingdom of God is come" upon us. We shaU see that this is so if we CODsiner- L THE STATE OF SOCIETY WHEN JEBUB aura. And we have to take into our account the parental tyranny; the poRition of woman in her state of inferiority and even degradation; the universal sentiment toward the stranger or the foreigner, spoken of and treated as a" barbarian" and an enemy; the prevalence of war, and its coIJduct with every imaginable cruelty rmd the most shockiDg recklessneRR of life; the prevalence of s7avery under a system in which the slaves were regarded and treated as absolutely without any rights or claims whatsoever; the existence of gladiatorial shows, in which the Ii ves of hundreds of strong men in the midst of life were sacrificed for sport to men and even to women; the common usage of infanticide ; the abundance of pauperiBm, existing to such an extent that in the time of Cresar "nearly three-fourths of the whole population of the city of Rome were on the roll of public succour;" the institution of torture; the practice of licentious shows, and of unnatural and unnameable vices. We have here no more than a bare outline of the evils which existed in the world when "Jesus was born at Bethlehem." II. WHAT AMELIORATION CHRISTIANITY HAS WROUGHT ANO IS WORKING. Three things have to be mentioned-one to be admitted, and the other two to be maintained. 1. That there have been one or two auxiliary forces in the field, which have contri- buted towards the elevatiou of mankind; but theirs has been very much indeed the smaller share. 2. That Christianity was prevented from doing all it would have done by being bitterly opposed. 3.· That its action has been most pitifully weakened by its truth having been so greatly corrupted. But what, notwithstanding, bas it accom- plished? (1) It has cast out the demon of parental tyranny, and made the child to be the object of respect and kindness. (2) It bas raised woman, and made her the help- meet, in every way, of her husband, causing her to be treated with deference and con- sideration. (3) It has mitigated the terrible severities of war, carrying its red cross of succour into the very mid.;t of the battle-field, and, to a large extent, removing ita hideous savagery. (4) It has gone far towards exorcising the demon of slavery. (5) It has abolished the shamefol scenes of the old Roman arena. (6) It has extinguished infanticide and torture wherever it has aathority to legislate. (7) It is carrying on B stern and victorious campaign against impurity and intemperance. (8) It bas built hosi,itals, lunatic asylums, reformatories, orphanages, almshouses, by the hundred, by the thousand. (9) It has opeued Lhe school-door in which youth everywhere is pre- pared for the duties, the joys, and the conflicts of life. (10) It has sent forth its ruany hundreds of heralds to carry light, peace, love, purity, wisdom, into the haunts of super- sti1ion, violence, and vice. (11) It is penetrating the worst slums of our great cities, seeking out the profane, the abandoned, the criminal; and with its touch of holy pity, which surely proceeds from " the finger of God," it is casting out the demons of sin and shame. At the present rate of progress, another half-century will see a most wonderful and glorious change in the aspect of the human world. IIL THE CONCLUSION THAT WE DRAW. If Christianity has done, is doing, will do, all this, then "no doubt" in its advent we have the coming of the "kingdom of God.h No doubt Christ has that to say to us which it is infinitely worth our while to know; that to do/or us it is onr hi;.:best privilege to have done on our behalf; that to be to 1tJ which it is immeasurably desirable be should be. Let us learn of him; be le<l by- h iru into paths of sacred service; and invite him to becon,e our personal Lord uuJ Saviour.-C.
Vers. 24-26.-Spiritualfailure. These words apply to- . I. THE JEWISH CHURCH. Delivered of the demon of idolatry, and havrng a houBt "swept and garnished," perfected with all external religious proprieties, it became possessed of the worse demon of hypocrisy-worse in that it was mor~ ho1 1eless .. For the idolater may be and often is convicted of hiij folly and is led into w1sJom aud piety; but the forrnali11t a.ad hypocrite is Mcan:oly evor, if evor, wou frow his unre:i.l.ity an.J 1piritunl priJu. LUKE. T 122 'J'HE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BT. LUKE. [ea. xt. 1---54.