ford, going through the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, crossing the Atlantic, standing up in every place he visited, and addressing thousands of men with a power that was well-nigh overwhelming, and with results that will gladden the ages. I ascribe his matchless conquests not to his genius, his logic, his learning, or his eloquence, but to his faith in Christ. Yes, this is it: "He that believeth in me,”—in me—not in what men say about me ;-not in church theories concerning me ;-but in me, the living, loving, Son of God and Saviour of the world, shall do these the "greater works." The text teaches ::

III. THAT THE ASCENSION OF CHRIST TO HEAVEN IS A GUARANTEE OF SUCCESS IN THE PROSECUTION OF THIS, THE

"GREATER WORK. “Because I go to my Father." "It is expedient," said Christ to His disciples, "that I go away. If I go not away, the comforter will not come ;-and when he is come, he will convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment." In heaven He has the power of sending forth His Spirit to renew the souls of men. His disciples were not equipped for their work until He ascended into heaven. He commanded them to tarry in Jerusalem till He should send them "power from on high." On the day of Pentecost He dispensed that power;-" and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind," &c. Christ in heaven, then, is a guarantee of success in the earnest prosecution of this work. Without the Spirit, all human labors, as we have said elsewhere, would be utterly useless.*

In conclusion, brother, realize the sublime grandeur of thy work. There is no work in dignity equal to that of endeavoring to convert a soul. Yet worldly men see no glory in it. On a calm Sabbath morning there stood in the street of one of our country towns two men engaged in conversation. As they talked, a young female passed by with a New Testament in her hand. "Who is that?" said one to the other. "She is only a teacher in the Sunday School," was the reply * See "Crisis of Being," pages 42—46.

VOL. X.

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Only a teacher in the Sunday School! Who art thou, proud mortal? Mayor, statesman, hero,-I care not who thou art. I tell thee that the young woman who on the holy day of God gathers around her a few little girls, and seeks to inbreathe into their young natures the living, loving, thoughts of Jesus of Nazareth, does a more glorious work for the universe than any magistrate as magistrate, statesman as statesman, hero as hero, ever achieved. Those thoughts shall live and spread, and work beneficently in the realm of spirits long after the most enduring thrones have crumbled into dust, and the most illustrious of earth's names have been blotted from the roll of memory. Tell me of a "greater work," my brother. You say Moses performed a great work when, with his mystic rod, he smote the rock of Horeb, and caused it to send forth living streams to refresh the Israelites for forty long years; but with that old Bible you can perform 66 a greater work" than that. With this moral rod you can break the rocky heart of humanity, and cause it to send forth vivifying sympathies and life-giving thoughts, that shall roll down the ages with a soul-renewing power. You say that Elijah did a great work, when on Carmel's lofty brow he confounded the idolators of his day, by bringing from heaven a divine fire to consume his sacrifice. You can do a "greater work" than that. With this old Bible you can kindle a fire in the hearts of men that shall burn up their depravity, consume their lusts, and transmute their nature into the image of their Maker. You say that Christ did a great work, when on the Galilean sea He hushed the furious storm. I would not say a word to depreciate any work wrought by the Son of God; still I say that with the old Bible thou canst hush more fierce and furious storms than that. Thou canst go to the poor widow whose spirit is tossed with grief, and say to her, "Sorrow not as those without hope," If you "believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him," and under heaven's gracious influence they shall have peace. Thou canst go to the young man whose spirit is being

borne hell-ward by the furious tempests of polluted passions, and thou canst say to him, "Acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace; and thereby good shall come unto thee; and by God's grace he shall have peace. Or thou canst go to the poor soul-convicted sinner, beaten by the tempest of a guilty conscience, and say, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" and he shall find joy and peace in believing. There is no work in the universe greater than that of enlightening, quickening, enfranchising, and raising to the ever-heightening blessedness and ever-advancing honors of immortality, souls that are sin-benighted, enslaved, degraded, and lost.

The Genius of the Gospel,

ABLE expositions of the Gospel, describing the manners, customs, and localities alluded to by the inspired writers; also interpreting their words, and harmonizing their formal discrepancies, are, happily, not wanting amongst us. But the eduction of its WIDEST truths and highest suggestions is still a felt desideratum. To some attempt at the work we devote these pages, We gratefully avail ourselves of all exegetical helps within our reach; but to occupy our limited space with any lengthened archæological, geographic, or philological remarks, would be to miss our aim; which is not to make bare the mechanical process of scriptural study, but to reveal its spiritual results.

SECTION SEVENTY-SIXTH :-Matt. xxii, 34-40.

"But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

SUBJECT:-The Lawyer's Question and the Great

Commandments.

No sooner had Christ disposed of the question of the Sadducees, than the captious Pharisee again approaches Him. If David could say that his enemies "compassed him about

like bees," with how much more meaning could Christ say so? His enemies were like wasps buzzing ever about Him, and endeavoring to sting Him with their venom. The Pharisees now put forward a lawyer. Mark calls him one of the scribes, i. e., a teacher or expounder of the law.

In this reply of our Saviour we have, The sum total of man's moral obligation, and, The moral substance of divine revelation.

I. THE SUM TOTAL OF MAN'S MORAL OBLIGATION. The lawyer asks which is the great commandment in the law. It was one of the subtle refinements of the Jewish theologians to divide the law of Moses into greater and less commandments, and to determine what precepts belonged to each class, and what was the most important one. Some maintained that the ceremonial was the greatest, others that the moral was. Our Saviour's answer exposes the absurdity of such distinctions, and gives the one principle into which every righteous law must be resolved-LOVE. Whatever be the number and variety of precepts in any code of duty, they are worse than trash if they cannot be resolved into this one word, love. This alone gives obligation to a command. In this answer Christ clearly defines the right measure of this love, both in its God-ward and man-ward direction. First In its God-ward direction. Love is to have a Godward direction. Men have religious affections deeply planted in their nature. Who shall it be? Christ answers the question, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart," &c. This is the first and great commandment. To use the language of another, "It is so in its antiquity, being as old as the world and engraven originally on our very nature; in its dignity, as directly and immediately proceeding from and referring to God; in excellence, being the commandment of the new covenant and the very spirit of the divine adoption; in justice, because it alone renders to God His due, prefers Him before all things, and secures to Him His proper rank in

They are made to love some one supremely.

relationship to them; in sufficiency, being in itself capable of making men holy in this life, and happy in the other; in fruitfulness, because it is the root of all commandments, and the fulfilling of the law; in virtue and efficacy, because by this alone God reigns in the heart of man, and man is united to God; in extent, leaving to the creature what it does not refer to the Creator; in necessity, being absolutely indispensable; in duration, being ever to be continued on earth, and never to be discontinued in heaven.' Or to characterize this first and great commandment in language of our own; we may say, (1) It agrees with the conclusion of sound reason. What answer could reason return to the question, Whom should we love the most? but this-"the being that has the most excellence"? (2) It alone meets the demands of conscience. There is no being in the universe that conscience will agree for you to give your supreme affection to, but God. Against every other she enters her indignant protests, and her protests are misery. (3) It secures the necessary conditions of happiness. The happiness of a moral being is in his paramount affection. In this he lives; from it he derives his impulses to action, and his sources of joy or misery, according to the character of the object. If the object be unworthy, misery is inevitable. In order for the supreme love to ensure happiness, there must be three things. The object must be absolutely perfect. In proportion to the affection we have for an object, is the amount of pain the moral heart feels on the discovery of any imperfection. The object, moreover, must reciprocate the affection. The loving heart is in anguish until the affections are returned. The miser is miserable because he loves that which cannot reciprocate his affection. The object must continue inseparable from the heart. Bereaved affection is anguish.*

Secondly: The right man-ward direction. "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Who is our neighbor? He is our brother man,

* See Philosophy of Happiness. Crisis of Being.