minds, in the laws, in the habits, in the life of the world. (2) We may confidently expect that they will outlive all the revolutions in government, in literature, in legislation, in theology, that will yet occur, submerging the old and establishing the new. (3) We must expect that the truth of Christ will be decisive of our future, for good or for evil, when we enter the unseen world. Soon, so far as we are concerned, the heavens and the earth will have passed away; in a few years we shall have no more interest in the scenes that are visible to our eye and the spheres that are present to our mind now. Other heavens will encircle us, on another "earth" we shall find our home. But beneath whatever skies we live, and on whatever ground we tread, the words of Jesus Christ will remain to us. By them we shall be judged and receive our portion. The recollection of them will be car brightest or our most saddening memories. The truths they contain will prove to be universal in the very largest sense, applicable to every region in God's wide domain, never obsolete, but for ever true and apposite in the most distant ages of the future. (a) How poor a thing to be linking our fortune to maxims which the first convulsion may expose and explode. (6) How wise to connect

I.-A CHEERFUL theology. Christianity is not a midnight scare, but a morning vision. When we listen to its message, its introduction is an angel's anthem over Bethlehem. We turn not to symbolical superstitions, but to daylight and to garden. What else is the revelation Christ gives of the beauty of holiness, the love of God, the salvation and perfection of man?

IL-A SPIRITUAL theology. The risen Lord in the midst of the material creation, but not bound by its laws, not fettered by its conditions, is Himself a symbol of the life He gives to men, a life that is superior to the things that are seen and temporal. The suddenness of His appearance and transition in the garden are but hints of the liberty of

the spiritual life. Christ is to be found in every spot of earth, the glow of its beauty, the basis of its strength, for He is the WISDOM of Solomon, the WORD of John, the FULNESS of Paul. And the Christian life is free and strong like its Lord.

III-A PRACTICAL theology. We are to have dealings with Christ everywhere. He is the Gardener of the garden, the Householder of the home, the Teacher of the school, the King of the nation. Expect to find Him anywhere; be willing to listen to Him always, and to obey Him ever. Thus will the world become as this garden of Arimathea, and all men and women, as John, Peter, and Mary were on that memorable morning, all seekers for Christ, and finding blessed rest in Him.

John xx. 19-31.

some

EDITOR.

(Fourth Sunday in Advent.)

WHILST the garden, the road, the beach, the mountain were scenes of Christ's manifestation of Himself, we may not forget that the house also was; and whilst "all days" are promised as seasons of His manifestation, we may not forget that the first day of the week was specially so consecrated.

I-THE PLACE. We do not know what house, or what room, in order that we may not limit domestic manifestations of Christ to the cottage or the mansion, the study or the room of the household. It is enough to know that there was a voluntary gathering of those who were bound together by a common sympathy, and a resolute exclusion of all that was hostile, for "the doors were shut." We might look at that assembly in the house (1) in its historic relationships; (2) in its social aspects; (3) in its far-reaching associations. Similarly we might regard all assemblies in homes and churches gathered in the name of Christ.

is marked as no other is in the calendar of the New Testament, we may well give special heed to it. (1) The history of the first day of the week is profoundly interesting. Look at (a) Its origin. (b) Its purposes. (2) The associations of the first day of the week. Those mentioned in gospels, and book of the Acts, are but the earlier ones of a series that have told more mightily on the destiny of souls and on the course of human affairs than centuries of other days. "The pearl of days," "the day of days," has the first day of the week become to the human race. EDITOR.

John i. 14.

(Christmas Day.)

"THE WORD WAS MADE FLESH."

CHRISTMAS is one of the brightest and happiest festivals of the Christian year. (Illustrate its

social aspects and point out how these help to improve mankind.) We dwell now specially upon its religious aspects. We celebrate the "advent" into our world and the "taking" of our flesh by Him whom we worship as our God. The phrase, "advent of Christ," is itself suggestive. It brings before us a very unique fact. Untold millions have been born into our world, yet of none can we strictly say that they "took our nature," "became flesh." It suggests Christ's antecedent existence. (C.f. the following sentence from a thoughtful book, with not a very happy title, however, by Dr. Clemance:

form.

*

"He took a servant's Only He could take it.

We have no reason to think it possible for any order of created beings to exist in this twofold capacity. They cannot come into another sphere, nor stoop to a lower rank in the scale of being and combine it with their own. They could not if they would. Would they even if they could?

convince us of the absolute Deity of the Son of God it would be found here in His taking a servant's form.") Here then is a strongly attested fact and of surpassing glory and influence. Regard the incarnation of Christ as

OF

A

I. THE CULMINATION SUPERNATURAL ORDER. Gradual upgrowth the universal law of God. This is seen in the two great departments of God's work and providence: in creation and history. So the "advent" of Christ fulfils the supernatural order of (a) Creation. (C.f. "Deity Veiled," a very suggestive book by Rev. H. E. Von Stürmer. "Miller's Testimony of the Rocks." Newman Smythe's "Old Faiths in a New Light.") Christ is the perfect man (b) of History. Christ is the goal of all development. The yearnings of all nations answered in Him.

utmost gift, for it is the gift of "self." (Illustrate points of the character of God as seen in the incarnation of Christ: e.g., goodness, power, purity, &c.)

III. AS ANSWERING ALL OUR SPIRITUAL NEEDS. (a) Our need of an example for life. The tendency of man everywhere to follow some pattern. A deep

instinct this of our nature. The perfect model is Christ. All other religious teachers confess their own weakness. Christ challenges those who love Him and those who hate Him to find a flaw in His character. (Cf. Liddon's "Bampton Lectures," Lec. viii.) (b) Our spiritual craving for quiet and rest. Mental trials, sense of sin, guilty conscience, all met and answered in Christ. (c) Our desire for light upon the future state. Shall we die for ever or live? All the dim hints and guesses from other sources are gathered together, answered, and emphasized in "Christ who hath brought life and immortallty to light."

to pure and lofty heights. "We see Jesus," and He is the pattern for us to copy and to which we can attain. Have we accepted this great fact? Believing it, have we also the witness that Christ dwells in our hearts? Is the incarnation at Bethlehem a type of the "incarnation of Christ" within us? Our only hope and comfort is this "Christ in you the hope of glory."

JAMES FOSTER, B.A.

AUTHORPE RECTORY,

LINCOLNSHIRE.

Galatians iv. 4, 5.

(First Sunday after Christmas.) THESE words record four great facts about the first Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I. He came at the RIGHT TIME. "When the fulness of the time came God sent forth His Son," a word that indicates "the full measure of the time, the full tale of the seasons." The epoch in which Christ came was (1) right in relation to the plan of God. So prophecy indicates. (2) Right in relation to the state of the world. The facilities for travel and personal liberty afforded by the Roman government, the resources of the Greek language then widely in use, the decay of Judaism, the anticipa

tions of Paganism, all mark the era as "the fulness of the times."

IL-He came as MESSENGER FROM GOD. "God sent forth from Himself His Son,"-as the full meaning of the verb teaches. Thus we are led to notice (1) The pre-existence of the Son. (2) The voluntariness of the advent of the Son. The Representative of God is not His Servant, but His Son. Hence the fulness of meaning in His statement concerning His own mission, "I am come in My Father's name." Canon Westcott strikingly says, "As Son of God He knew the Father perfectly; as Son of Man He revealed the Father perfectly. In His own Person He offered the supreme pledge of man's Divine sonship by raising his nature to heaven."

III.-He came as THE OFFSPRING

OF HUMAN NATURE. He was (1) human; "born of a woman." "God manifest in the flesh." This gives to God in man's view, (a) Personality. (b) Approachability. (c) Attractiveness. Imitability. (2) Jewish-born under the law,-obeying its requirements, fulfilling its demands.

(d)

He might redeem." Bishop Lightfoot says, "The two clauses of the fifth verse correspond to those of the foregoing verse in an inverted order by the grammatical figure called chiasm; The Son of God was born a man that in Him all men might become sons of God; He was born subject to law that those subject to law might be rescued from bondage." He redeems (1) from the bondage of religious ritualism. (2) From the bondage of disobeyed and, therefore, condemning law. The legal life is exchanged for the filial life; for redemption is perfected in adoption. Potentially indeed men were sons of God before Christ's coming, but rather as heirs than as possessors of the full sense and privileges of sonship. Actually indeed they were only slaves. When they inbreathe the filial spirit, become through Christ like Him, and can put deep and tender meanings into the name, Father, as they use it about God and to God, then are they redeemed and adopted.

"Bought and adopted, and in Christ a brother,

Claimed and completed, and in
Christ a man."

EDITOR.