1!-xt teRches thnt the world could not bear compariAon in respect to worth with the per~o □~ Illtnll'd and referred to in this chRpter; their clrnracter was elevated fe.r above that of the world in general. Let us look at our text- I. Ar; 'l'HE STATEMENT oF AN HISTORICAL FACT. lo all a.gee there have been men "of whom the world was not worthy." Enoch, Noah, Job, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, ,Joshua, Cnlel1, Samuel, et al., 11.re ex11.mples. In the apostasy and exile of the Jews there were Jeremiah and Daniel, and Shadra.ch, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Amongst tl1e Greeks there was Socrates. Amid the corruptions of the Papal Church there was Savonarola, and after him Martin Luther. And at present there are many who are far ~uperior to the world; who are in the world, yet far above it. ll. As AN HISTORICAL FACT OF THE UTMOST IMPOilTANCE TO THE WORLD. With- out the presence in the world of men "of whom the world is not worthy," it would hasten to its doom. A few scientific men" of wh8m the world is not worthy" save it from i;cientific stagnation and death. Some of the statesmen of tho pa.st who were much abused by the world, and far superior to it, are now recognized as its great benefactors. And as for the heroes of faith, the godly amongst men, they are the Ea Yi ours of society-" the salt of the earth," arresting its progress towards utter moral corruption, " the light of the world," saving it from unrelieved moral darkness. The 1ll"esence of ten righteous men would have averted the doom of the cities of the plain. l'he wol'!d knows not its benefactors and saviours. For those who prophesy smooth things to it, it has crowns of honour and thrones of power; but for those who proclaim the truth, it has crowns of thorns, and for a throne the cruel cross. So it treats the men of whom it is not worthy; so it treated the Divine Man (cf. Matt. x. 24, 25; John :XY. 18-20; DX. 1-18). III. 'l'rrE GREATER TIIE .UNWORTHINESS OF THE WORLD THE lllORE URGENT 18 ITS NEED OF MEN OF wonTrr. The darker the night the greater is our need of the street lamps. ,vhen the night is darkest and the storm most furious, the lonely watcher in the lighthouse most diligently trims and tends his lamp. So in the darkest moral night God has often lit and sent forth some of the brightest stars in the firmament of the Church. Israel was in a terrible conditipn under Ahab and Jezebel, and God raised up the intrepid and holy Elijah. When vice was rampant in the Romish Church God summoned Jorth the fearless and faithful Martin Luther. At a more recent datt-, when religion seemed almost extinct in our land, God called and commissioned the Wesleys, and Whitefield, and Fletcher of Madeley, and Selina Countess of Huntingdon. It was because of the unworthiuess of the world that Jesus Christ came into it. IY. THE CHRISTIAN SHOULD 80 LIVE THAT THE TEXT WILL BE TRUE OF HIii, Is it not true that the world is perfectly worthy of many " who profess and call them- selves Christians"? In business, in amusements, in politics, is their standard higher than that of the world? Let us test this question in the matter of gambling: are our hands clean of it? Is it not spreading amongst professedly Christian people in the forms of card-playing, ra.flling, and lotteries? But listen to our Lord : "Ye are not of the world, even as I a!ll not of the world ; " "I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil" And St. John: "If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." Let us live above the world; let us live to God. Be this our ideal, "For to me to live is Christ." V. FOR MEN OF WHOM THIS WORLD IS NOT WORTHY THERE 18 A. WORLD WHICH IS WELL woRTHY. Into heaven the worthy of all peoples and all ages are gath~red. There men are treated according to their own inherent worth. The worthy are worthily received and honoured. How the judgments of earth are reversed in that world I .4.ll true wort/dr,us is "by faith "-by faith in the unseen, in the soul, in truth, iu the Lord Jesus Christ, in the great and gracious God. Let us cultivate this faith. Let us live up to such measure of it as we already possese.-W. J.
Vers. 39, 40.-SucceBSive stages in the dispensation of God's blessings to man. •• And these all, hRving obtained e. good report through faith," etc. Let us consider- !. 'l'BE GOOD REALIZED DY THE OLD TESTAMENT BELIEVERS. 'l'he better thing provided for Christians implies that some good thing was bestowed upon the godly under the former covenant. They had : 1. Divine promises. Many were the promises made to the ancient saints; e.g. promises of temporal ~ood, of providential guidanc11 CH, XI, 1-40,j THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 311