remote past of the earth in which we live, of the race to which we belong-the many languages of the past and of the present, in their laws, their origin, and their affinities-the great master-pieces of art and genius which the world will not willingly let die-the story of wars and dynasties, and laws and constitutions-all these things it is good, according to our power, to study and to know. It were ill done to banish any one of them from the range of Christian study; though of many, perhaps of most of them, we must be content, for the most part, to know but little. And yet, if the knowledge end here, it does not sustain, it does not comfort, it does not purify. The lives of men of letters and men of science show that it hardly seems to raise them above the low ambitions and the petty jealousies of life. The wider vision which it gives, or promises to give, is often found united with the narrow aims and contracted sympathies of a miserable selfishness. If it mounts as to the Alpine heights from which men look out upon fair valleys and fertile plains and great cities, and stand at the fountain-head of mighty rivers, and trace them in their winding course, it brings with it too often the chill wind that benumbs and narcotizes; and the light which is without love is like the glare from the wild fields of snow, that first bewilders and then blinds utterly. No! there must be more than this. With knowledge there must be also wisdom-the temper of reverence, tranquillity, content, which sees things as they are in their relation to the eternal life; which, if it hate ignorance much, hates sin yet more; which, if it value largeness of heart as it should be valued, gives a yet higher place to its purity. Knowledge puffeth up; but charity-love, the love which is part of wisdom-buildeth up. Whatever may be the worth of a man's work as a labourer in the great mines of knowledge, even though he contribute new discoveries in nature, or solve some of the dark problems of human history, though the result of his long years of labour be to add something to the inheritance which his generation transmits to its successors, yet, as regards himself, if he has done nothing more, the work is hollow and unsubstantial. There is the semblance, but not the reality of growth. The touch of pain, adversity, disappointment,—the remorse that follows on the sense of a misused life, the shame and confusion of the thoughts that accuse each other-these will make short work with its pretensions, and it will collapse utterly. But to go on day by day, walking in the light while we have the light, using the knowledge which God has given us to His glory, doing His work, not with eye-service, as men-pleasers, but in singleness of heart; to persevere steadily with all patient continuance in well-doing-this it is to build surely and safely. Every day we add stone by stone to that edifice of our lives; and if it is founded upon the eternal rock, then, though the rains fall and the winds blow and the floods beat upon it, yet it will not fall. CANON PLUMPTRE. The Preacher's Finger-Post. Subject: THE CONSTANT RE-EN ACTMENT OF AN OLD CRIME. They crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh.”—HEBREWS vi. 6. Although in the New Series of the Homilist, vol. ii. p. 601 to 616, we have some remarks on this passage, a new method of presenting the subject may justify another reference to it. There are here two remarkable things that strike us at the outset. First: Professed Christians engaged in perpetrating the greatest crime. The persons who are here represented as 66 crucifying the Son of God afresh," had gone a great way in the religious life. (1) They had been "enlightened." True spiritual ideas had broken in upon the darkness of their minds. (2) They had participated in the "divine." They had been made "partakers of the Holy Ghost." The divine spirit had come into them. (3) They had relished the truth, "tasted the good word of God." They had experienced a certain amount of delight in their religion. (4) They had been subject to spiritual forces, "brought under the powers of the world to come." Considerations drawn from the Invisible, the Spiritual, and Eternal had begun to influence them. These are the persons of whom the apostle speaks. And are not such persons Christians to a great extent? Anyhow, they are as much Christians as the best conventional Christians of our age. The startling point is, that these Christian men are spoken of as "crucifying the Son of God." Had they been heathens, atheists, profligates, one would not have marvelled. Conventional Christians crucify Christ. The other remarkable thing that strikes us here is : Secondly: Professed Christians charged with this enormous crime thirty years after Christ had left the world. A generation of men had wellnigh passed away since the tragedy of the crucifixion; and yet here is an inspired person charging the crime upon living men, men who had never seen Him. How is this to be explained? The following propositions will give the necessary light. I. That the essence of an action consists not in its EXTERNAL FORM, but in its SPIRIT. The moral character of an action is not in the muscular exertion, but in the moral volition. 66 As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." philosophy agrees with Christ in teaching that a man might be a thief, who had never taken a fraction of another man's property, a murderer, True who had never struck a blow. Down deep in the regions. of the soul, where no eye can penetrate, are the scenes where moral actions are performed. First: This fact agrees with our sense of moral propriety. Who does not feel, that if his conduct were to be estimated by his overt acts, rather than by his inward motives, he would be grossly misjudged? (1) Our outward actions often misrepresent our motives, either by mistake or intention. (2) Our outward actions are insignificant in number compared with our volitions. 66 Secondly: This fact urges the necessity of a thorough discipline of the heart. Keep thy heart with all diligence.' Keep the fountain pure, let the roots be healthy. Thirdly This fact suggests unexpected revelations at the last day. Men judge each other after outward appearance; and hence many great sinners here pass for great saints, and the reverse. But it will not be so in the great day of final assize. The hidden things of darkness will then be brought to light. Motives will be everything. II. That the spirit that ANIMATED THE PERPETRATORS OF THE LITERAL CRUCIFIXION IS PREVALENT AMONGST CONVENTIONAL CHRISTIANS. What inspired the chief priests and the Pharisees of old? "Envy.” What inspired Judas? Not H malice, but love of money"What will ye give me?" What inspired Pilate? Not personal dislike nor sense of justice, but love of popularity. What inspired the populace to cry out for Barabbas ? A stronger sympathy for brute force and courage, than for spiritual goodness and moral heroism. What inspired the soldiers who nailed Christ to the cross, plunged their spear into His side? A miserable CONCLUSION: (1) Be careful, in denouncing the monsters in history, that you are not as bad in heart as they. (2) Realize the urgency of heart-renovation. “Marvel not that I Ye must say unto you, be born again." (3) Estimate the transcendent value of Christianity. It is the only instrument that can work reformation amongst motives. "But we have the mind of Christ."-1 COR. ii. 16. We have the mind of Christ in three senses : servility, a desire to please Subject: THE MIND OF CHRIST. their masters. Now, do not these feelings run through all modern society: Envy, greed, popularity, admiration of brute force, servility and flunkeyism? The spirit, I say, that animated all, eighteen hundred years ago, engaged in the tragical crucifixion, is here heaving the spirits of living men. III. Under SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES THIS SPIRIT WILL MAKE SIMILAR MANIFESTATIONS. Suppose a man to appear in London from the humbler classes of society, a poor peasant, one without any "form or comeliness," who should set out upon a misson identical with that of Jesus of Nazareth, denouncing everywhere the merchants, the priests, the rulers, the saints, hurling his fulminations into the ears of the hollow of all classes, how long would he be tolerated-three years? No, before three months he would be in Newgate. First: In the sense of meaning. We are said, in common language, to have the mind of another when we understand his leading thoughts, aims, spirit. In this sense the minds of great men come down to us from distant ages. There are three ways in which they descend to us. (1) In the character of their disciples. The schools of ancient philosophy handed down the MINDS of their founders and teachers, Christ founded a school, and that school has transmitted His transcendent mind to us. (2) In literary records. The minds of great men have come down to us in their books. A book is a body with which men go up and down the earth, and thunder out their thoughts ages after their earthly body has crumbled into dust. Thus Homer sings to us now, and Demosthenes fulminates, and Socrates reasons. True, Christ wrote no books; but He had amanuenses, and they have transmitted his MIND to us in their biography. (3) In historic influence. There have been human minds on this earth, such as Alexander, Cæsar, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Luther, who have created epochs, and thus sent their minds down through history. History is what it is to some extent because of them. Thus, too, Christ's MIND has come down to us. He created the greatest epoch in the history of humanity, His "Mind "created Christendom. We have the mind of Christ in another sense, namely, Secondly: The sense of personality. We are not certain that the minds of other men, however great, come down to us in their personalities; but it is so with Christ. He is not only with us in the teachings of His school, in the records of His biography, and the influences of His history, but in His own personality: "Lo, I am with you.' He is not only in the Book, but with the Book. Homer does not go with his Iliad, nor Bacon with his philosophy, nor Milton with his Paradise Lost; but Jesus goes with the New Testament, emphatically His book. Third: In the sense of in spiration. "Let the same If we have thus the MIND of Christ, what are the practical lessons? I. Then we have the MOST VALUABLE BLESSING IN GOD'S UNIVERSE (1) Nothing is so valuable as mind. One intelligent, loving, undying mind, is in itself of more value than the whole material world. What are suns, moons, or stars to a man, compared with the companionship and love of one such mind? (2) Some minds are more valuable than others. All souls are not equally valuable. There are some few minds in all generations of more real vitality, worth, and influence than millions that make up the bulk of the age. (3) The most precious mind in the universe is the mind of Christ. His mind is the perfect representation of the Infinite mind. He alone knows God fully. What an unspeakable blessing, to have such a mind as this amongst us! I thank God for the great minds He has sent down to me in the elevating and immortal books |