only, but to the very nature of the opposing forces. Special mention is made of the triumph of tbe gospel over this "great company of priests," not without good reason. Jn addition to the ueno.l causes of the enmity of the human heart to the" faith" of Jesus Christ, and which must in all cases be triumphed over, others were present here and such as asked a strong hand to overmaster them. Notice, therefore that "th; obedience to the faith" of those here spoken of was- ' I. A TRIUMPH OVEB THE DIFFICULT FOE THAT GOES BY THE NAME OF PREJUDICE, It is very c~ear that, let alone any of the forms of dass prejlldice, prejudice itself, puro and simple, was at the root of e. very large preponderance of the enmity showll to Christ and his "faith" on the part of all those who would make any aB11umption of superior knowledge or position. Settled on the lees of self, they had no relish for anything that tended to disturb their opinion of self. And thi~ bred more of prejudice toward Christ and his truth than of anything else, while the mischief of prejudice answers to no name more appropriately than the name Legion. The assumption of knowledge, of goodness, of superiority, was the native element of the priest in the days of Christ's flesh and of his apostles. Against assumption of this kind any one or anything that dared self-assertion dared at the same time the prompt encounter of prejudice the most unreasoning. II. A TRIUMPH OVER THE JEALOUS FOE OF PBOFEBSIONALISM. 1. The simplicity alike of the life and of the doctrine of Christ would sin, from a priest's point of view, against his own faith in professionalism. 2. The unmistakable language of Christ, in reference to the overthrow or the superseding of an order of religious officers, forms, ceremonies, and sacrifices, would clearly sin against the same. 3. The very genius of the character of Christ would be felt to militate unerringly against it, however feebly that genius might be appreciated. IIL A TRIUMPH OVEB THE BIGOTED AND lllALIGN FOE OF PBIEBTISM. The love of the priest's office was one of the devoutest feelings with the true priest. As the office lay with an appointed class in the constitution of the Jewish people, we canuot say that individual preference or bent of disposition decided who should bear it. While no constitutional predilection determined the Jew's choice of the ecclesiastic profession, it makes perhaps more distinctly visible the effect of the office upon him and his character. And very visible for bad was this effect in the time of our Saviour, when an earnest and devout priest was the exception. The love and simplicity and devoutness of the true priest was indeed "precious in those days." And certain it is, for what- ever reason, that" chief priests and elders" led the opposition to Jesus, created it, and for the most part utterly constituted it. The same parts they sustained towards the apostles now from day to day. Moral blindness and moral insensitiveness are the con- stant avengers of the temper. Two things go far to explain why it should be so. 1. The confident and familiar tampering with unseen re:ilities is one. The conventional temper will dogmatically pronounce upon the things which ask for the more reverent toucb in that they are unseen and must be largely unknown. 2. Its pride is to intrude into that most sacred domain, the domain of the innermost life of others. The saying might have been made for it that it "rushes in where angels would fear to tread." And for a bold challenge like this, no one who has at all observed tho phenomena of man's moral nature can for a moment doubt that the recoil must be perilously dangerous. "Have any of the rnlers or the Pharisees believed on him?" was a question that came, in point of fact, from the lips of e. Pharisee (John vii. 48), but for all that was the unwitting tell-tale of saddest and surest facts, deep down in the moral nature of himself and of his most intimately related associates, the priests. And they amounted to self-blight's confession-the self-blight that came of profane presumptuousness towards Heaven and arrogant assumption towards the spiritual life of their fellow-men, and that consisted of ingrained inveteracy of prejudice, infolded affections, and shrivelled sympathies. To throw life and e. healthy beat into the hearts of such men has ever been beyond human resources. They have been hopel_ess of the hopeless, and despa)r has been most familiar with their face. The sovereign touch alone can reach their case. Great then was the victory of the faith on this occasion, for they were "priests," and they we~e "a' great company of priests" over whom it prevailed. ~h~ force of Jesus prevails betimes over every worst form and every worst degree of evil 1n human nature. Why it does not always is a question to which man knows not the answer, 206 THE AOTS 011' THE APOSTLES, [OB. VI, 1-lo.
or at all events not the expl11.nation of the answer. But that force did prevail now, 11.nd it made a great day and great joy. Grel\test of all, however, was the mercy that sped not b,·, but now rested on the wing and alighted with the gift of sl\lvation for this unlikeliest company. Let it be the light of hope and the encouragement of effort for those who work, amid the darkest, blankest, hardest material, Not less should this touch of history warn with most ominous suggestion all those whose native bias, whose solemn profession, whose self-undertaken series of duties, charge them with the dreadest responsibility, not in it.a bearing on others only, but "chiefly" and "first" on themselves.-B.